Chapter 321 - Lacking All Subtleties.
"Kick my ass? It's a little premature to be planning that when you might not even survive this, don't you think?" Hal asked with a sneer.
He knew why Wade was now starting to show hostility which was that what Lucile had said at the party hall and what Hal had said to it had finally sunk into his thick skull.
Hal had no interest in playing dumb.
"I might not survive this? What, you think because you were able to take care of some almost powerless guards, you can actually outlive me during this attack?" Wade asked with a sneer of his own.
Hal's expression remained the same,
"Of course I do. You see, the one Gavin is actually after is you. If I trade you to him in exchange for both I and Lucile's safe exit, I am sure he would accept.
Granted, he could very well change his mind and stab us in the back eventually but at least you would be long dead and unable to gloat by then. Am I right Lucy?" Hal asked. Once again, showing off his tendency to shorten names.
Lucile tried not to let show how much she liked it and answered in a clear voice and with a shrug,
"Of course you are."
Wade gaped,
"You are taking his side?"
Hal looked incredulous,
"It's like you haven't even been paying attention. She did not go against Gavin for you, she did it for me. Also, are you really that stupid or just in denial. You rejected her proposal of investment and you still want to act like everything is okay.
Come on man, that's not the way to a woman's heart. At the very least, you should have agreed to the investment. Used it as a building block. But you lack all the subtleties of a player."
Lucile cleared her throat,
"You do know I'm right here, right?"
Hal smiled at her,
"Of course I did. By player, I obviously meant 'incredible lover'"
Lucile rolled her eyes and looked to Wade,
"I was really upset by your decision not to assist me and I could very well have found ways to force you, especially since it would have been easy to get you alone. But I refrained because it was your choice.
Even without your help, I am confident my business will thrive. Now can we finally get a move on? I'm tired of this."
Wade gulped at the intensity of her gaze and sighed as he turned around and continued leading the way.
Hal waited a few minutes and then asked the question that had been on his mind for a while,
"Hey, Wade, exactly why do you believe this temple to be our safest bet?"
Wade was quiet for a while before he finally decided to speak,
"The temple is a sort of monument to the black lake that used to be in this area. Because of its unusual color, it was believed to be sacred. Drinking from it would result in instant death. It's nonsense if you ask me. The water was probably just poisoned.
Anyway, a pool was built in the temple and was filled with water from the Black lake.
However, something strange happened after... The lake dried up in a matter of days. Because of this, the belief that the lake was sacred was given even more credence and that it had dried up because of the tampering of men.
Personally, I believe the dry-up was the work of someone who wanted the lake to be believed as sacred.
It was kind of pointless anyway since not many even believe or care about the legend anymore.
To cut the long story short, the temple was embedded with defensive Arrays that were to be activated in times of distress so that pool of 'sacred' water will remain undisturbed.
As for the fitting of the teleportation circle, I can only guess it was meant to be for emergencies such as this.
The only reason my and Gavin's ambush of the former Sheik worked was because we did not allow him the opportunity to use the temple as a strongroom of sorts or even to escape"
"Wait, Black lake? Why then is this place called Black lagoon?" Hal asked with a confused expression.
Wade adopted an expression that suggested the answer to that question should have been obvious.
"Because Black lagoon sounds so much cooler." He said.
Hal raised an eyebrow mockingly,
"Are you sure about that?"
The walk continued and soon they were climbing up a ladder or actually, Wade climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch, exited the underground passage while Hal and Lucile simply leaped out of the passage only to see that there were some people who had gotten to the temple before them.
"Damn it!" Hal swore as he quickly noticed what it was the guards were doing which was damaging the embedded Arrays.
Thanks to their 'hard work', he could clearly see where the teleportation circle was and the damage to it was so far the most extensive.
The moment the guards heard him, they turned around and their eyes widened to see their arrival before they ran right out of the temple.
However, angry as she was, Lucile was not about to let them escape.
Without taking a single step, she sent cosmic Auroras at them all, and before the guards could even think of making an escape...
*Bang!!!*
They were blasted away from their positions and dead before their bodies even touched the ground.
Hal did not really witness this impressive display as he was already dashing towards the damaged areas of the Arrays to survey the damage and see if there could be a fix.
For one thing, he was completely incapable of fixing the Teleportation circle which required more knowledge of space and void than a quick crash course could guarantee.
They were trapped here now.
The defensive Arrays though, were still patchable. However, they were old and complicated and his Astral sense was probably not enough to have an in-depth knowledge of them.
And it did not help that Wade was now close to him and breathing down his neck.
"Could you please back off" Hal snapped at him and Wade actually did so with an embarrassed expression.
The truth was that he felt a tad bit guilty for the damaged arrays. He felt that had he not let his jealousy get the better of him and just kept leading them through the passage, this would not have happened.
That said, he also felt it was Hal's fault for indulging him and would have actually said so, if it had not been that Hal was the only runemaster present and the only one who had a chance at fixing the damage to the arrays.
Hal told them he was powerless against the teleportation circle not only because it was way above his rank but because he was also not particularly adept in the use of space manipulating runes and that was essential. But could probably still mend the defensive Arrays as best as he could.
Lucile sighed and then became resolute,
"Screw it. Now we just do what I feel we should have done at the party hall. We wait for Gavin here and we kill him. I am absolutely sure I can take him." She said.
Her words were mostly directed at Hal, most likely looking for his input but Hal remained silent and his attention was completely on the Arrays.
Or at least, that was how it looked to them.
In actuality, Hal was in his mind space and looking through all Rune books he had which could give him an insight into this complicated assortment of arrays.
"This is really annoying" He said in front of the holographic screen in his mind space. He found what he needed, it was just very difficult to assimilate and he was getting really frustrated really fast.
"Maybe Lucile has the right idea. I mean, even if you have managed to fix the array, it will only be temporary and only be able to buy you a few minutes at most." Grimoire said.
"Those minutes are important. If we don't even hold Gavin off for a few minutes we would no better than sitting ducks.
I need those minutes for my exaggerated plan to bring out backup." Hal retorted and by backup, he obviously meant his forces both in the harem space and the Beast habitat.
He quickly got to learning all he needed to learn about the array.
After about a minute of bombarding his brain with the required knowledge, Hal opened his eyes and got to work patching up the arrays.
Then, knowing how draining the arrays and formation would be and having no intentions of powering it and weakening himself in the process, he slotted in Blue gems to keep it running.
*Schuaa* *Whuumm*
The sound of the activation of the Arrays marked his success much to the wide-eyed surprise of the other two.
Not to mention that it was just in time too...
... because Gavin just arrived with his mutated men.
Chapter 322 - I'm Thirsty.
It was already heading towards late in the evening and it would seem Gavin had no interest in letting Wade see the light of tomorrow.
He wanted him dead and he wanted him dead now.
With the scroll floating in mid-air in front of him, the ex-advisor walked in behind his force which numbered at about two hundred with the weakest being at the Cosmic Phenomenon realm and the strongest being at the peak.
While the force was a tad bit small and the size of a small gang in the old Salmon city, Hal knew there was really no comparison.
Their cultivation was what mattered and in a situation where the weakest of them was worthy of becoming mayor in old Salmon city, the disparity in strength was clear.
Hal felt he would need backup and was a good thing he had already thought of something and actually had his ladies with him.
The duo of Wade and Lucile however scoffed at this force because they were not really worried about getting overwhelmed.
"Please don't be complacent" Hal warned them because now that they were mutated, these men were bound to be far above whatever level the two put them at.
Both Lucile and Wade physically composed themselves and realized Hal had a point.
Gavin looked up at the little hut of a temple from afar and grinned, at least he did until he noticed the sure sign of an activated array on it and then barked out Master Fenrir's name.
The Runemaster was by his side in a matter of seconds,
"You called?"
Gavin pointed,
"What the hell is that?" He asked.
"Well, it's a hut my lord, but also looks to have been built like a temple" Fenrir replied while wondering if there was something wrong with Gavin's sight or he just had never seen a hut prior to today which should not have been so.
Gavin growled and his eyes narrowed in anger,
"I know what it is, you dimwit! I meant what is that array activation?" He asked.
Fenrir made an 'O' shape with his mouth in understanding especially since he had been informed about the guards moving to damage the arrays,
"I see. Well, the damage was patched somehow. By that *shivers* Hal I suppose. It won't hold for long if you focus your attacks at that front which is where the patch is most." He said.
Gavin eyed him,
"Did you just shiver when you said Hal's name?" He asked.
Fenrir tried to look confused,
"Did I? I didn't notice" he said, having sworn to keep what he had seen of Hal to his grave.
Gavin gave a noncommittal shrug and then smiled as he ordered his men to attack while they all became encrusted fully in the thick grey crust of the mutating technique.
Then they charged the array and began their attempt to overwhelm it with their numbers and monstrous strength.
Lucile frowned while charging up an attack to toss at them once the array was breached,
"Go ahead Lucy" Hal said with a smile still seated on the ground.
Lucile tossed the attack and watched it go through the Array and blast her target back.
Wade looked over at Hal,
"I didn't know the array allowed attacks." He said in a surprised tone.
"It took a few tweaks. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to study this black water before the Array becomes overwhelmed which is inevitable."
With that, he stood up just as the two began blasting men back with comic attacks and walked over to the black water with which he had been feeling an affinity since he arrived at the Temple.
He dipped his hand into it and the feeling was unmistakable, the water was a kind of liquid Devil energy. It would explain why people died from drinking it.
They were not Devils and hence, it was dangerous to them.
To Hal however, it was god sent or more accurately, Devil sent. He wondered how it was here and upon closer inspection, he could detect impurities.
This was not really genuine Devil energy but a synthesized one which was most likely the work of the Devil tribe on the Dystopian continent.
That of course did not mean it would not prove useful for Hal because it would, it was just that the water being of this nature pointed to further infiltration of the Dystopians.
Hal mind shrugged. If they were here and planning something against the Denizens of the Haron continent, he really could not be bothered to be concerned as long as his ladies were safe.
He cupped his hand and took a sip of the water and felt it was incredibly light. In fact, it seemed to evaporate the moment it touched his tongue and all that was left was the Devil energy which his body refined of all impurities before it was absorbed into his blood to be assimilated.
After that sip, Hal fashioned for himself a makeshift straw and began to draw up the water in the pool.
The sound caused the two to pause and look back at him and their eyes widened when they saw what he was doing.
First, he was still alive and looked to be enjoying himself, and second why the hell was he even doing it in the first place.
Hal noticed their eyes on him and passed his sucking,
"What? It was a long walk, I'm thirsty" he said and got back to it.
Once the water was completely drained and the energy was assimilated into his blood, Hal took a deep breath and stood to his feet while patting his stomach with a satisfied sigh.
"Alright, there is no point with you two wasting your time with these small fries. I'll handle it" he said.
"What?" Lucile exclaimed.
Hal smiled.
"I said I'll handle it.
With the mutating technique, Gavin is no longer really a Late-stage Cosmic Aurora realm cultivator but can actually be related to the power level of the Early stage of the Cosmic Pagoda realm. With a tougher defense should he use the technique to shield his entire body.
It will be hard for the two of you to defeat him if you have spent all your energy here.
Lucy, can I speak to you privately."
Hal said and she nodded and walked to the side with him under the jealous gaze of Wade,
"You speak like you've experienced this technique" Lucile said and Hal smiled.
"Well, of course I do, Beldar used it to battle me" he said.
Lucile nodded with an understanding expression,
"So Gavin was right. You are involved with the man who interrupted the auction." She said.
Hal nodded having cast a noise-canceling rune to keep things quiet,
"Yes. Now I need you to do something for me. Let Wade get beaten up. Preferably to unconsciousness, but don't let him get killed. I know that would leave you to contend with Gavin on your own but I am sure you can hold him off till I can offer support."
Lucile looked at him for a long while before shrugging,
"Okay. But I can defeat Gavin on my own" she said and walked off just as the Array gave way and allowed the influx of mutated guards.
Hal released immense Astral energy, the entire supply he had stored in his body, and created a Dome of Astral energy that covered him and the mutated guards but left out Wade and Lucile.
The guards having not lost their sense of reasoning paused at this new development only to see a portal appear by Hal's side and out of it emerged Twenty-four ladies with Rita and Marla leading the charge.
"Oh finally! This will be so much fun" Marla said and was already summoning her cosmic armament while also releasing her avatar.
"I trust you will keep her close" Hal said to Rita with a smile and she nodded,
"Of course"
Then he opened another portal and out of it slithered Sassy and she was leading the forty beasts who had come out when he battled Beldar.
This time, however, he gave them an edict that they were not to devour the bodies. Not yet at least.
They were already showing signs of advancement on account of their feast of monster bodies earlier in the day.
The mutated guards still outnumbered them with almost two hundred to sixty but this time Hal's attention was not occupied with anything else and he would be fighting by their side...
Chapter 323 - Their Eyes!
With a bright grin on his face, Hal let the energy from the Black lake water pass through his body and further increase the level of progress he had already made with his Devilish Bloodline and thus pushing it a tad bit closer to the next stage.
It was far from enough to push him over the threshold but it was enough for him to be sensing another Armament and by consequence, getting in touch with another set of Demonic ability and presence.
However, he had no interest in indulging it at the moment, mostly because the issue before him was far more pressing and one he could not put aside when his ladies and Beasts were looking unto him for leadership.
His skin turned crimson and he sprouted his Devil horns while he summoned Executioner and his large wings spread out of his back.
The mutated guards growled at this development but shook it off and looked on with confidence as they easily outnumbered their opponents.
With his grip on Executioner tightened, Hal pointed his weapon, and with it came the beasts leaping into the midst of the mutated guards for the start of a battle of a much larger scale than they had already been part of.
The semi-succubi ladies' eyes turned bright purple as they used their lust flames to imbue their bodies with abnormal strength and those among them who were already at the cosmic Armament realm like Camilla and Irina unleashed their Cosmic armaments and moved into battle as well.
They had practiced it so many times in the Harem space already and could curb their outburst of lust well enough to completely ignore it and focus on the task on hand.
Rita summoned her sky-blue long sword cosmic armament while also imbuing herself with lust flames for increased strength but as a full succubus, she went a step further and actually released the lust flames so that they coated her weapon and even created a very light layer over her body.
Hal had to admit that she looked incredibly sexy at the moment.
Marla beside her unleashed her Cosmic Armament which she had finally formed while she also released her Dark Avatar and condensed it to be a mere coat about her form.
Her glare at the enemy and the slight smile playing on her lips meant one thing: She meant business.
Lillian and Olivia shared a quick glance before their eyes turned Blood red and they released fiendish fogs while also summoning their Cosmic armaments for their first official action as Blood Knights and not as just any Blood knights, but ones who had been graced by the lord's favor.
"The Commander is really going to hate that she missed this" Olivia said and by commander, she obviously meant Karmen.
Lillian sighed,
"Best not to tell her then" she said just as she smacked a mutated guard's crusted and heavy fist away from her face and kept it distracted enough for Olivia to attempt striking it down with her Armament.
Hal took a deep breath and with a Flap of his wings, he gave himself an impressive boost to dash into the midst of the mutated guards and strike one of them down immediately with a strike from Executioner.
However, that was not all as he twisted his body and sent a spear made of Devil energy to another a few distances away from him.
The beady eyes of the mutated guards widened and Hal saw them begin to coordinate while also noticing what a large threat Hal posed to their survival should this go on.
They needed to bring him down now.
Hal decided to try something as they began to converge around him. He flew up to the top of the dome and projected three different Runes, all of the explosive nature, and they expanded before slamming against the ground at locations where the mutated Gauds were most congregated.
He was careful to make sure no part of his force was in the vicinity to could be caught in the blast.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
The consecutive blasts were earth-shaking and created tremors that were felt outside of the Dome.
When the dust settled, other than being disoriented and pushed back by the wind or impactful pressure, there was no sign of damage or injury on the mutated beasts.
"Just as I thought. They have enough semi-saint pressure in their encrusted shells to nullify my Astral attacks. It seems I will really have no choice but to resort to classic hack and slash." Hal mumbled.
He had the advantage of flight but he had no intentions of staying away from the battle by remaining in the air. It would only increase the burden of his forces.
He landed and with a spin of Executioner, he was back to lopping off mutated guard heads with nothing in his face to hint at a possible show of mercy.
He wanted them all dead.
Meanwhile, even with her heightened strength, Rita was feeling quite frustrated with the battle and it had nothing to do with Marla who was enjoying herself and letting loose but taking care to remain close to Rita.
The reason for her frustration was the same as the rest of the succubi which was that their preferred mode of attack was with lust flames and while punching and watching their hard-bodied opponents crumble was fun, it was not the same.
Unfortunately, they could not find a way to infiltrate their opponent's body and it was really starting to get on her nerves.
The mutated guard she was facing and had just punched a few steps back was moving closer when it was suddenly blindsided by a dark figure,
"Ah-ha, Gotcha" Marla yelled and leaped on top of the guard's back and began to ride it somewhat.
Then she raised her Cosmic armament which was a spear-like weapon with a boulder-like ball at the top of it before it was capped with a long dagger blade.
It looked incredibly heavy and it was. However, its impact was nothing to be scoffed at, which was why Marla had been so creative with it.
Anyway, she raised her weapon as effortlessly as though it weighed nothing, not because it was her armament but because she was that strong thanks to her physique, and pointed the sharp dagger head at the side of her opponent's face.
The guard was not worried about the dagger as he was sure it could not penetrate his hard-crusted exterior and he was right because the weapon remained a cosmic armament and not a Bloodline armament like Executioner.
It was why Rita was now contemplating using Essence stealer and resort to long-distance attacks.
Then suddenly, just when Rita planned to interfere and protect Marla, the guard flinched and moved his head to the side to evade the dagger only for Marla to laugh out loud and smack his head with the heavy boulder-like ball of her weapon.
*Bam!*
The guard slid away while struggling to remain on his feet.
Rita was suddenly at Marla's side but before she could ask if the younger girl was alright...
"Their eyes. It might be transformed and beady but it's not protected. Not by any hardening. That's your way to infiltrate their bodies with Lust flames"
...Marla yelled out loud.
Rita did not even ask if she was sure as she dashed towards her opponent and evaded a kick from him to stab the point of her blade into his eye and flood it with lust flames that ate him out from the inside out and drained all of his essence for her.
"Arrrrggghhh" he yelled before he fell to the ground with the hardening still on his body but his life extinguished.
Chapter 324 - Just You And Me. Part 1
Immediately, all around, the semi succubi began to pinpoint their tracks to that small window which for them was perfect. Since as long as they could get their lust flames into the system of their victims, the rest would take care of itself.
However, long before Marla made her discovery, Lillian and Olivia were already aware of where their attacks should be concentrated and it was why their fiendish fogs had been tapered at the end to stab into the opponents' eyes and tear them from the inside.
In the process, they never forgot to absorb the blood essence of their victims and make their presence felt by making their mark as Blood Knights.
The beasts, however, did not care about the revelation of a weakness, or more accurately, other than Sassy, neither of them cared.
They were only focused on double-teaming the mutated guards and tearing them apart with their dastardly near-devil claws.
Even Borus seemed to have lost all rationality in the fact of such a potential feast and looked to be going for the messiest killing yet.
Sassy could have called them back and or tempered down but she preferred to let it be since it was bringing results. However, she made use of the information on the eye weakness.
Her fangs were sharp and strong enough to rip through the encrusted exterior of the mutated guards and since she shared Hal's cultivation, she could easily fight above her realm even when she did not make use of her Bloodline.
But whenever she had the choice between the easy way and the complicated and strenuous, she would always pick the easy and it was why the news of the weakness was very welcome.
You see, while she crushed the encrusted shells in her mouth, she contemplated letting out her toxic fog since the weakness she had personally picked up was that, while her poisonous gas would most likely be ineffective on their hardened skin, the same was not to be said of them breathing it in.
After all, tough as they were, they still needed to breathe.
However, using it was bound to affect the beasts who were battling and in their current frenzy, it was a pipe dream to actually expect them to listen or heed her warning.
That was the only reason she had refrained thus far.
However, now she could refine her plans a bit...
*Bam!*
She swiped a guard to the ground with her tail and while pressing him down to the ground with said tail, Sassy raised her head above him and opened her mouth to condense a toxic arrow.
It was so small it was practically minuscule and yet she had charged with the same amount of toxin she charged her normal arrows with and...
*Spfsssss*
... at a speed that caused the arrow to all but disappear, Sassy shot it right into her victim's eye and it went inside in the entirety and then exploded within.
Because the concentration was so high, even after the guard was dead, Sassy's gas still leaked out of him.
"*hiss* I need to better my precision with attacks" Sassy mumbled in human speech before she turned her emerald eyes to another guard.
The entire thing with the now-dead by poison guard had barely taken more than a few seconds and Sassy was ready to stalk her next prey.
She condensed another tiny arrow and this time, she reduced the concentration and then shot it before she even got close to her victim, and yet he did not have a chance at avoiding it.
It stabbed right into his eye this time, there was a clear reduction in the amount that leaked out.
Sassy stretched her body while her green scales glimmered,
"That's better" she cooed and allowed herself a glance at her master where he was breaking part encrusted bodies as though they were nothing while also drawing their Blood essence.
Then she returned her attention to the many more she wished to kill and got back to work.
Then the beasts realized her poisonous attacks had joined the fray and they were disheartened because they knew they could not feed on those that died by poison and would need to steer clear.
Many of them groaned and just as Sassy pinned another guard down and shot an arrow into his eyes, she turned to them and snorted,
"If you want to be able to feed on them once all this is over, then you had better have the good sense to get to them before me. Coordinate your attacks better and take them down before I ruin your meal."
She said with her serpentine maw actually managing to look like she was smirking.
"She has a point" Borus said...
*Boom!!*
... and blasted the fire element he knew so well how to control and got, if possible, more aggressive.
Meanwhile, just as Sassy had observed, Hal was indeed tearing through the ranks of guards and hacking away at them but it was not exactly as easy as it had seemed.
For one thing, much as his forces were doing their best and killing off many, the situation of him being outnumbered did not lessen that much. At some point, he was surrounded by about ten guards who actually got close enough to do a sort of dogpile on him.
They fell on top of him in hope of pinning him down while the one closest to him attempted to stab him and he only made it out by blasting a cosmic phenomenon that tossed them all far away from him before he went after them and finished them off.
It got to the point that he was making use of Cosmic attacks infused with Cosmic phenomenon to hold them at bay so that he could get closer and use Executioner to cut through them.
If he meant to use only cosmic attacks and cosmic phenomenons to defeat them, it would be much too energy and time-consuming.
Strenuous as it was, using Executioner which could cut them down as the forefront of his attacks was why he was making record time.
And he needed to hurry too, by now, Lucile must have taken his advice or suggestions and allowed Wade to battle first and in the process get beaten up.
Knowing very well that Wade could not possibly win, he felt Lucile would need all the help she could get once she faced against Gavin.
However, maybe, just maybe he had underestimated the Sheik too much.
...
On the outside...
Immediately after Hal surrounded himself and the mutated guards with a Dome of Astral energy, Wade sneered at the figure of Gavin which he could not actually see on account of the opaque royal blue astral Dome.
He walked around the obstruction in quick steps and soon he was in front of Gavin who was smiling at him with his hands behind his back,
Master Fenrir left the scene immediately with no interest in participating in this battle that he rightly felt was way out of his league.
"So, here we are." Gavin said and paced a few steps forward and closer to Wade, "you ran and tried to make an escape but we still meet for a final showdown. Well, you think it's a showdown... I know it's a slaughter."
Wade's lips twitched and took a quick look around,
"Where is the one who helped you acquire the mutating technique?" He asked in a sniding tone of voice.
Gavin sighed,
"I had to let him go" he said.
Wade chuckled,
"Too bad for you, with no support, you will have to face both of us all by your lonesome" he said just as Lucile walked over.
"Actually, I will not be interfering" she said and Wade looked back with wide-eyed shock,
"What? But..." He began, however, he was unable to complete his words...
*Bam!*
... as Gavin just punched him with his transformed right hand, sending him flying back to make an impactful contact with the Rune Dome.
*Bang*
Chapter 325 - Just You And Me. Part 2
"Humph" Wade groaned and struggled to return to his feet but Gavin was not interested In waiting around as he used his untransformed hand to send a Cosmic aurora at him.
Wade released immense cosmic energy to protect himself while also sending a Cosmic aurora of his own to intercept Gavin's.
*Boom!!*
With the interception came a force and aftershock that blew at Wade who stood his ground with considerable effort.
Lucile who was standing by the side with an apathetic gaze was not exempt from the shockwave but a wave of her hand through which she released a mild cosmic attack canceled out any shock or impact.
Wade allowed himself a glance at her and even Gavin stopped attacking for a while as he did not yet believe Lucile was really going to be apart from the whole thing,
"If you don't fight with me and I lose, you'll be next" Wade said.
Lucile shrugged,
"I can handle myself. Consider this payback for rejecting my offer" she said.
While she did not know why Hal wanted her to allow Wade to get beaten up, she was ready to go through with it and it gave her a sort of vindictive pleasure to see Wade scrambling.
"Bitch!" Wade spat and turned back to face Gavin while Lucile looked on as though she had not heard him.
Gavin on the other hand smiled,
"You seem to be coming back to your senses. That boy in the dome will be dead soon because let's face it, how can one win against two hundred, and once I have dealt with Wade, it will just be me and you. I assure you, I will be sure to show my appreciation for you not interfering." He said.
Lucile sighed but decided not to dignify his delusional words with a response and instead continued observing the battle for the moment Wade would be unable to go on.
While keeping in mind, that for some reason, Hal still wanted Wade alive at the end of all this.
Wade suddenly dashed forward and even all of Gavin's cosmic attacks did nothing to stop his advancement as he did well to avoid them all until he was right in front of his opponent.
At which point, his spear cosmic armament had been summoned and he was stabbing it toward Gavin's chest while working to make use of the fact that he was one stage ahead of his opponent.
With him being at the peak stage of the Cosmic Aurora realm while Gavin was at the Late stage.
However, whether it was in the heat of the moment because he really, really wished to put an end to his ex-advisor's life or maybe just as Gavin once said, he really was an idiot, he completely forgot the fact the technique's strengthening factor.
It seemed too big a detail to forget and yet...
*Bam!*
... Gavin grabbing his spear with his now-transformed left hand to stop its progress into his chest while he punched the side of Wade's head with his right hand.
*Crack!*
Wade was hit into the ground, so hard, the pavement of the Temple grounds actually cracked.
While he was groaning on the ground, Gavin was completing his monstrous transformation but while he grew taller and bigger, it still remained in the range of a really tall and buff man.
Almost as though he was just wearing a suit of armor.
This assessment was given even more credence when Gavin's head did not transform completely, but his head was simply encased in a war helmet-like crust that offered protection for his head and also allowed his angry and quite frankly, deranged look to be on display.
There was just something wrong with the whole picture. Something Lucile did not like.
However, that was not really anything new as this situation was bullcrap from the start.
She crossed her arms beneath her large breasts and watched on as Gavin raised his large mutated leg to slam into Wade who still remained in the ground.
Before he could make contact, however, Wade was already rolling over and tossing a dagger at his unprotected face while also rolling out of the way.
*Clang*
...was the sound the dagger made as it hit the helmet which had crept to cover the side that had been targeted.
Showing that the opening was by choice.
It crept back to how it used to be and showed off Gavin's grin while he picked up the dagger from the ground.
The dagger was jet black with intercepting black serpents on its handle and Gavin was inspecting it with a gaze of familiarity,
"Ah yes, I remember this. One of a set. Mid-tier Phenomenon rank Twin dangers. One of the many goodies you kept for yourself." He said.
Wade withdrew another dagger which was identical to the one in Gavin's hand,
"Of course I kept them for myself. I am the Sheik!" With that declaration, Wade let out the pressure of his cultivation base while dashing forward.
He stretched his hand and the dagger with Gavin suddenly shook and ripped from his grasp and right into Wade's outstretched hand.
Gavin chuckled and clapped his hands but it instead produced a *Bam!* sound as he used it as a medium to release a highly condensed cosmic attack that pelted towards the advancing Wade.
With his instincts guiding him, Wade leaped to the side and the cosmic attack went off to smack into something else while he jumped up and tossed both his daggers towards Gavin's exposed face once again.
Gavin sighed in disappointment since Wade was merely using the very same tactic that had already failed. When his helmet crept to protect him again, the dagger's suddenly changed direction.
"What?!" Gavin exclaimed and cursed his own stupidity to forget why the twin daggers were so dangerous which was their versatility in attacks which was their ability to move as though capable of thinking for themselves.
Of course, that was not really the case, it was really their owner who was still in control and having them change positions to find weak points in Gavin's defense.
While the daggers changed positions and sought entry points, their owner Wade was not idle as he once again summoned his Cosmic armament to leap and spin in mid-air so that he could kick at Gavin's head and attempt another thrust.
Except for this time, the spear hard was pointed at his neck.
"Grr" Gavin growled and his helmet covered his face completely as he swelled in size to approximately the size Beldar had been.
Now Wade was thrusting his spear towards the lower part of Gavin's chest and very close to his abdomen before he was swatted off by Gavin's larger-than-life arms.
*Bam!*
Wade rolled to a stop on the ground with numerous parts of his body now hurting. However, he ignored the pain and withdrew a mending pill, however, before he could swallow it, Gavin was kicking his side...
*Bam!*
*Crack!*
... and cracking more than a few ribs.
To make matters worse, the mending pill was now out of his hands and he could only watch it roll away from him.
Gavin's size reduced to what it had previously been and he walked over to Wade and picked him up with one hand before sinking his fist into his abdomen and thus lifted him.
And then while Wade was still in mid-air, Gavin blasted him with a Cosmic attack...
*Bang!*
... which sent him to smack dab into the Astral energy dome for the second time that day.
"Ack" Wade groaned when his back made contact before he slid to the ground and fell unconscious.
Gavin took one step towards him and suddenly paused when he felt a distinct feeling of loss that he could not explain.
So intense had his battle with Wade been that he had not really noticed the tremor caused by Hal's explosive Runes.
Lucile had not missed it though and had looked behind her at the Dome with a little worry.
Gavin looked at the Astral Dome with such an intense gaze, he seemed to be trying his best to see through it.
Something that did not sit well with him was going on inside that Dome.
When his attention returned to Wade, he saw Lucile standing beside his body and inspecting to see if he was still conscious. Once she ascertained that he wasn't, she turned to Gavin and her feline eyes flashed.
"Well done Gavin, Now it's just you and me"
Chapter 326 - Chest Piece Armament.
Gavin chuckled,
"Yes, I suppose it is, but I truly have nothing against you Lady Lucile. Let me just get to Wade and end this."
Lucile shook her head,
"I'm sorry, that will not be possible. I want him to remain alive" she said.
Gavin looked confused,
"Why?" He asked and Lucile understood his confusion.
She shrugged and glanced at the Dome which blocked her view of Hal's ordeals with the guards,
"Even I don't know. You see, to get to him, you will have to go through me." She said.
Gavin growled and how eyes looked to be tinged with red as his helmet crept to cover his face completely.
The manner in which he leaned forward and tensed was incredibly feral before he sprung towards Lucile with his large arms raised.
He was still at a reasonable height and not yet a giant so while he was imposing, he was far from being something Lucile would actually be worried about.
With her hands stretched before her, Lucile let the figure of her incomplete Cosmic Pagoda appear behind her and imbue her with the strength to withstand Gavin.
The mutated advisor pulled back his fist for a punch but when he made to deliver it...
*Bam!*
... he only made contact with the ground as Lucile was already gone
When she next appeared, it was right above his head and with her breast trembling lightly, she delivered a solid blow of her own into Gavin's protected skull.
*Bang!*
So strong was the impact that the mutated man found himself slammed into the ground face first.
However, there was no groaning to be heard.
In fact, before Lucile could afford to be complacent, Gavin was already waving his hand at her, even with him still lying face down on the ground, to send a Cosmic attack imbued with a Cosmic aurora at her.
Lucile sneered as his feet made contact with the ground and saw the attack heading in her direction.
She stretched her hand and released her own cosmic attack which easily intercepted Gavin's and destroyed it.
Even after that, it still had enough to continue its progress towards Gavin who was ready to receive the attack and further test the limits of his defense.
*Bang!*
The impact was minor and the damage was non-existent.
He looked from his chest to Lucile while his helmet crept back to reveal his wide and deranged smile,
"Don't bother. Give up now because nothing you do will actually have an impact on me. Without the technique, I am a late-stage Cosmic Aurora realm expert who given the right conditions can hold his own against a peak stage.
You might be at the Early stage of the Cosmic Pagoda realm, but you are not strong enough to truly pose a threat to me while U have this technique."
Lucile sighed,
"Well, we'll just have to take the technique from you then, won't we?" She said and her eyes darted over to where the mutating technique still floated beside him.
"With your long-distance attacks? I'd like to see you try" Gavin sneered.
Lucile's eyes widened mockingly,
"Long-distance attacks? You must be joking" with that she finally summoned her cosmic armament.
Right before Gavin's shocked eyes, Lucile's armament revealed itself to be a chest piece Armor that was quite form-fitting to her large breasts while they stretched to her arms where they formed long insanely sharp claws.
The claws were attached to the gauntlet of her chest piece armor and were thinly veiled by a cosmic phenomenon just like the rest of the armor.
"Impossible" Gavin said "you're insane!"
Lucile shook her head and chuckled,
"I'm insane? Have you looked at yourself?" She said.
However, she understood why Gavin had said that.
Creating an armament was a one-time thing. Once it is created, there are no do-overs where you get to choose something else that better suits you. You make the choice and you stick to it.
However, other than that, there were not really any other limitations, in that, you could choose any type of Armament you want. The keyword being 'Armament'.
It did not have to be an obvious weapon. You could decide to make your Armament a full-bodied armor in which case you will be stuck with that and be unable to create an actual weapon.
Your Cosmic Armament will become only truly useful for defense and while there were alternatives that include Artifacts or the use of Skills during combat, most would prefer to do it the other way around.
Which was to create a weapon-type armament and equip a defensive armor-like Artifact.
However, Lucile had managed to find the perfect mediation between attacking and defending with her amber-colored armor and claw armament which was sure to play really hard on how good she was in close combat.
As Gavin watched her clink the claws of both of her hands together, and then smile up at him, he knew for sure that Lucile knew what she was doing and it would do well for him to be...
*Whooshh*
*Bam!*
... careful.
In the second or took him to come to this realization and decide not to take Lucile's attacks flippantly, he saw her disappear from his sights. Only to appear before him and deliver a roundhouse kick up his face.
Once he rolled to a stop, Lucile was already there and stabbing down into the ground with her right-hand claws.
The thought of actually holding his own against those sharp-looking claws did not come to Gavin's mind as he quickly rolled out of the way of her attack.
Lucile's feline amber eyes flashed and she was already tossing a condensed cosmic attack at Gavin while he was still on the ground.
*Boomm!!!*
Once again, Gavin was able to roll to safety but this time he straightened up and looked over at Lucile with widened eyes of shock.
The power he was feeling rippling off her skin was not that of a mere Early-stage Cosmic pagoda realm expert.
At first, he contemplated that she might have actually been hiding the true depth of her strength but he soon discarded that thought when he felt the pressure of her cultivation base remained the same and at the Early stage of the cosmic pagoda realm.
It was not about her cultivation base but instead, her battle prowess which he realized, despite how serious he had been, he was still underestimating.
Lucile sauntered over to him with slow and confident steps. While the chest piece armor kept her large breasts from jiggling, it did not stop it from looking enticing.
However, Gavin was in no situation to revel in how sexy she looked at that moment. Especially since the look she directed at him was deadly serious.
Lucile took a deep breath,
"You know I told him. I told him, I could take care of you all my own. I think he plans to come out of that dome and to my rescue but he won't need to cause by then, you'll be dead." She said calmly.
Gavin frowned,
"Why go to all this trouble to kill me? Because I said I'll kill that annoying and suspicious Hal?" He asked.
Lucile nodded,
"Of course it's because you said you'll kill him. As for why..." She began before vanishing as she ran the short distance left between her and Gavin to stab at him with her claws,
"... it's because he gave me a massage"
*Dumm*
Gavin caught her arm before the claw could make contact and his eyes were now blood red as he snarled,
"A massage? To hell with that!"
Lucile tried to pull back but found she could not. Gavin seemed to have come to a new level of strength, in process of which he seemed to be losing rationality.
And then his size increased as he took on a giant form while Lucile found herself being lifted off the ground and up to his eye level while the monster drew back his fist and she, in turn, condensed a Cosmic Aurora...
Chapter 327 - Lucile Versus Giant Gavin. Part 1
Meanwhile, inside the Astral Dome...
The mutated guards' numbers were slowly dwindling and the smaller in number they became, the faster they went down as Hal's forces were now the ones outnumbering their victims.
Marla was now allowed to run wild on account of there always being more than enough more powerful members of the force around to have her back.
Hal had to say, he was quite impressed with the manner and ease with which she wielded her weapon. The boulder-like ball on the Dark cosmic armament had become a menace.
Hal could see that she had only really added the sharp spearhead for cases in which she needed to actually pierce something because otherwise, she seemed to really be enjoying bashing her victims encrusted faces in with the use of that heavy ball.
Right now, she leaped into action and the closest guard to her saw himself getting smacked to the side. He rolled and stood back to his feet almost immediately.
He growled and mumbled wome words, showing that the guards could still speak but just for some inexplicable reason, they preferred not to, for the duration of this battle.
Hal had at one point contemplated letting some of them live but eventually decided against it. Too bad for those guards but they followed the wrong person and would now become nourishment for his forces.
Both through their essences and their bodies.
For one thing, he did not actually feel any of them was actually being forced. Sure, they might not actually feel any true loyalty towards Gavin but they still believed he was the best to rule, and in there lay their error.
Although to be fair, they might actually be right and Gavin, pre-mutating technique might actually be the better choice to rule as opposed to Wade but he had made his claim to aim for Hal's life and that already canceled out his legitimacy as a candidate.
Not to mention that he was slowly getting corrupted by the mutating technique and was bound to get put down sooner or later.
Hal preferred sooner.
The mutated guard sent a Cosmic attack infused with a phenomenon at her and she leaped to the side to avoid it while making use of her Dark avatar to protect herself from any blowback of the attack.
Then, after a quick glance at her side to make sure no one would interfere until it was absolutely clear that she could no longer do it alone, Marla dashed towards her opponent with her Dark avatar condensed to a coat around her.
Once in front of the guard who stood in place with confidence and summoned his sword cosmic Armament that was thinly veiled with a Phenomenon, she swung the large boulder ball of her weapon towards her opponent.
The guard leaned back to avoid the attack easily and then chuckled before slashing towards her to send a cosmic attack at her which he believed she would not be able to avoid in such close distance.
He was right...
*Bang!*
Marla was blasted back and right unto another guard who in the process was pushed to the jaws of a beast. She groaned in annoyance before taking a deep breath to calm herself.
Alas, that was a luxury the guard was not ready to afford her and wass quickly kicking at her head with his mutated leg. Marla ducked to avoid the kick and timed her punch just right so that when she punched upward...
*Bam!*
*Crack*
... it was against the back of her opponent's knee and she somehow knocked it out of place.
The guard groaned but did not go down as his encrusted shell of defense had absorbed most of the impact rendering the crack mild and something he could simply knock back into place.
"See that little girl? The perfect defense and offense" he said with joy. This was why he had joined Gavin.
He was finally reaping the fruits of his good decisions.
Maria shook her head,
"Idiot! Take a look around" she said.
The guard paused and for some reason, he did as she had said and what he saw came as a shock...
...He was the only one left alive...
All of his comrades lay on the floor no longer breathing. As large as their numbers had been, they had still being slaughtered.
"This battle is only still happening because it's a means to test the limits of my capabilities. Suppose you win, you will still die none the less in which case I assure you, you will not have been successful in killing me." Marla said while casually swinging her weapon.
She was curious if all of her demoralizing words would drive her opponent to give up and let it all end now with his peaceful death or if he would see the opportunity to make use of his superior cultivation base to overpower her and maybe gain a ticket out of here.
The sudden resolution and bloodthirst in his beady mutated eyes told her he went for the latter.
However, once their battle resumed she would realize it was not exactly as she had thought.
This man was not seeing her as a ticket out of the encirclement of the enemy...
"Ahhhh"
*Boomm!!* *Boomm!!* *Boomm!!!*
... he saw it as a final kill right before the end.
He had already come to terms with how this was all going to end for him.
The continuous blasts of Cosmic attacks from a Phenomenon realm expert were far from being something Marla could afford to be hit with and Hal was quite ready to step in at any moment.
However, he did not need to as Marka was able to avoid getting hit point-blank. She was taking advantage of the guard's nonchalant take on life and by consequence nonchalant attacks that lacked sorely in accuracy.
Soon, the guard seemed to realize the same, and rather than actually attempt more accurate shots, he opted for close combat in which he could possibly overwhelm Marla with his stronger cultivation base.
He moved so fast with his hand drawn back and ready to pierce her chest when Marla suddenly released a dark fog that enveloped both her and her opponent.
The guard lost all sense of direction and could not, for the life of him, pinpoint where Marla was or how to attack her.
Marla took advantage as it was what the whole situation was for and took to attacking him from all sides while he fought her off quite well with cosmic energy and his hardened body. And then...
*Bang!!!*
... it was the boulder ball of her weapon connecting with the side of his face that finally struck him to the ground.
Then with incredible accuracy which deserves even more praise considering how that weapon was not exactly high on the equilibrium list, Marla stabbed with her weapon and the sharp spearhead pierced her opponent's right eye.
However, she had no way of killing him with that one clear shot since she could not siphon his essence or burn him up with lust flames.
Then again, she did not have to.
Once the spearhead stabbed through in the process of which, the boulder ball smacked into the guard's face, the force pushed him right out of the fog domain Maroa had created and right into Hal's waiting hands to be finished off with a swing of executioner.
Once Marla was out of the domain and grinning excitedly, Hal decided, after congratulating her with an indulging smile that it was about time everyone returned. The ladies after all needed to refine all the essence they had gotten and that, of course, included Lillian and Olivia.
As for the Beasts, they would have to wait for a while before they could feed on the carcasses.
Excluding the ones Sassy had damaged of course...
...
The Dome faded as it was deactivated and Hal was treated to the view of Gavin now as a Twenty-five feet monster that could very well be seen by those in the city, and Lucile dashing up his arm to strike at him.
Her size in comparison was minuscule but even then, it was Gavin who was howling in pain.
Chapter 328 - Lucile Versus Giant Gavin. Part 2
First thing Hal felt upon seeing the scene was surprise. The size of Gavin was unexpected and he almost cursed the dead Beldar for not even letting it slip.
However, upon closer inspection, he noted that there was something manic about Gavin's gaze and actions that pointed to the effects of the mutating technique finally getting to him and along with that craziness was an outburst of energy which was responsible for the humongous increase in size.
But Lucile was holding her own quite well as she dashed along his arms until she was at his shoulder and stabbed down with her amber claws.
With commendable speed, Gavin raised his hand to where she was and swiped it in an effort to toss her off his shoulder. Lucile was able to leap up to avoid the smack but then Gavin turned and took away her foothold.
She was going to freefall towards the ground and well aware that a fall from such a height could not really affect her, Lucile twisted in the air with incredible grace and slammed her condensed cosmic aurora at his face.
Gavin groaned just as Lucile's feet touched the ground but she was already tensing to leap back up and get back on the offensive.
Hal tore his eyes away from the battle and onto Wade who was unconscious on the ground.
He smiled to himself and bent low to brand the Sheik with the Devil mark which had been his objective from the start and the reason he told Lucile to allow him to get beaten to unconsciousness.
This was a very convenient outcome and he knew Wade would be fine once given the time to regain his strength.
He contemplated forcing him awake now and enlist his help to battle the monstrous Gavin but he decided against it.
He would wake up on his own any minute now anyway
He summoned his cosmic Armament and let out the pressure of his cultivation base to make the run towards the battle where the two were so preoccupied, they did not notice his advance.
That changed however when after Lucile was back to leaping up, he was swinging his Armament at Gavin's leg.
Of course, his weapon we not only thinly veiled by a Cosmic phenomenon but also by Devil energy which ensured that his slash secured a large gash on the large man's leg.
"Arrgghhhh" Gavin yelled and as she had not done anything, Lucile glanced downward and a smile spread over her face as she saw Hal stabbing at Gavin's leg.
She would never admit it, but she had been worried for him which was to be expected since Hal had locked himself up with two hundred mutated guards.
Speaking of which, she looked over at where the guards had been and were more than a little shocked to see that they were all dead which was an outcome she could not comprehend.
"How?!!!" Gavin yelled and that pretty much summed up Lucile's thoughts.
Hal stepped back a little so he could look up and see Lucile much better,
"Good to see you're alive" she said.
As much as she had questions, now was not the time.
Hal chuckled,
"What, were you worried?" He asked but Gavin had no patience for whatever the two were about to begin and raised his leg to aim a kick at Hal who evaded it and actually managed to land on the said leg.
However, he did not begin a run up Gavin's large frame.
Instead, he released Devil energy that twisted impressively and then formed tapered ends to stab through the encrusted shell on Gavin's body.
With Gavin having a stronger cultivation base than him even without the use of the mutating technique, it stood to reason that without the complete use of his Bloodline, Hal had no chance whatsoever of defeating him.
But he did not need to. He was only offering Lucile support and doing whatsoever he could to make it easier for her to do what he could not.
"Hey Lucy, were you worried?" He asked as Gavin's rage increase all the more with the realization that all those he had marked and mutated to be his fighting force were now dead.
"Of course not" Lucile snorted just as she finally came up with a plan of sorts to end this.
She needed a particularly powerful attack that would bring Gavin down, by which she meant, bringing him back to his normal size.
She saw no point in using a skill as all forms of attack had practically being proven useless against the entrusted shell on his body, so she needed a way to attack him from the insides.
And she had just found it...
... His mouth.
In this form, Gavin's head was not really protected by a helmet since the skill no longer serves as am armor about his actual body.
The technique's effect before had been more to offer protection as opposed to mutating Gavin himself, but now, with this size, he could be said to have truly mutated.
Which meant his body was still the same... only bigger and very hard and tough to crack...
... So to speak.
And as such, his mouth became obvious when he yelled and growled and hence it became Lucile's target of attacks.
She jumped up to avoid another swipe of his arm and a cosmic aurora he pointed directly at her face since apparently, his size and monstrous form did not stop him from making effective use of cosmic attacks.
After evading, Lucile took advantage of Gavin's grin and tossed a Cosmic aurora at the little opening that was his mouth.
It would have made for quite a satisfying end since Gavin's complacency would have cost him the battle and by consequence, his life,
However,
Almost as though he had expected it, Gavin closed his mouth at the last minute and caught the blast with his encrusted jaw.
*Bang!*
It was so forceful that it actually caused Gavin to take a few steps back but since he had avoided the worst outcome, there was smugness radiating from him as he looked over at Lucile who frowned still on his shoulder and ready to leap off.
Just then, Hal stabbed Gavin with a blade of Devil energy and while it was not very deep or impactful on account of it being weaker, it was enough to cause the monstrous man to gasp as he felt the slight prick of pain.
The gasp created an opening and one Lucile did not let go to waste as she tossed another condensed cosmic Aurora down Gavin's gullet just as she jumped off his shoulder and to the ground by Hal's side.
As the multicolored aurora made its way past Gavin's mouth and down his throat to explode in his stomach with a force worthy of a cosmic pagoda realm expert, there was only one thing that came to his mind to say...
"Oh"
... and then...
*Boommm!!!*
With the explosion came the almost instantaneous reduction of Gavin's side as well as the deactivation of the mutating physique, leaving the advisor completely naked.
His whole stomach region looked as though it had been burned raw and his whole form looked emaciated and shrunken as though malnourished. His legs were shaking and he looked to be on the verge of breathing his last.
Lucile's aurora attack had really done a number on him.
It was almost merciful when she finally moved closer and stabbed him with her claws and ended his life except that it wasn't and she had done so with vindictive pleasure. Very glad to finally have it all end.
Then she looked over at Hal who was smiling lightly,
"I told you I could handle him" she said.
Hal shrugged,
"With a little assist from me" he said.
Lucile narrowed her eyes as she dispersed her Cosmic Armament,
"Are you really trying to vie for credit right now?" She asked.
Hal chuckled,
"Of course not"
Lucile nodded,
"Good..." She began but Hal interrupted to complete his sentence,
"I just want my contributions to be noted" he said with a shrug.
Lucile paused and then smiled,
"It will be. As long as you can tell me how you could defeat two hundred all on your own" she said end moved closer to him.
Hal pressed his face closer, with him being a few inches taller than her, until his lips were almost brushing hers and his warm and pleasant breath blew on her face as he whispered,
"Maybe I wasn't on my own, maybe I was, either way, I have my means and I don't think we're at the secrets sharing phase yet."
Even with her heart beating fast, Lucile did not back off,
"Oh? Then which phase, might I ask, are we on now" she asked.
Hal smiled,
"Is it not obvious? We're so close together. Clearly, we're at the kissing phase" he said but before he could capture her lips with confidence that she would not pull away...
... a certain Sheik groaned as he regained consciousness.
Chapter 329 - Negligence.
"Ah, my head" Wade groaned as he raised himself from the ground.
When he looked forward and his eyes cleared, the first thing he noticed was Gavin's dead body after which came the proximity of Hal and Lucile.
In fact, their faces were so close together that they looked about to lock lips.
The fact that the one who had been after his life was lying a few meters from them was easily ignored... Their almost connecting faces was the priority.
"Oy, what are you two doing?" he asked in a bid to call their attention but that was not really necessary.
Both already knew he was awake and were just satisfied to ignore him and act completely oblivious to his presence as well as the fact that there were dead bodies around.
The moment was much too precious.
However, now that Wade had ruined it, Hal felt he might as well take a little breather. After all, there would be other moments.
He turned away from Lucile who groaned silently and glared at Wade with her eyes blazing with annoyance.
"Hey Wade, how was your nap?" Hal asked and walked closer to his newest recruit who was still oblivious to that detail.
Wade sighed and finally took a mending pill which was a luxury Gavin had denied him before, to begin to mend his injuries and relieve his aching muscles.
Then he stood straight and glared at Hal.
That was when a voice he recognized as Hal's but commanded more authority spoke loud in his head,
'Before you go yapping your gums and getting me mad, you should take a few moments to process the fact that you now serve me' the voice said.
Wade's eyes widened at Hal who was still smiling jovially and amicably, quite unlike the authoritative and very close to getting pissed off voice the Sheik could hear.
'Serve you? You're kidding right?' He inquired. Finding it very impossible to even comprehend such a scenario.
The voice, Hal, chuckled without humor,
'I assure you that I am absolutely serious. Look at your right palm.' He told him.
With trepidation evident in his actions, Wade raised his palm to eye length and looked into it to see the Devil mark appear as it had been branded on him.
With the appearance of the mark came the realization of a submissive tethering that tied him to the blue-eyed young man in front of him. Also, he received an influx of information regarding the Devil mark and even abilities he was privy to through the mark.
However, it was reiterated to him by Hal that his branding was not to actually make him a part of his force but to ensure that Lucile got the investment she wanted.
From that moment on, Wade was given an edict which was to make use of all of his resources to fund Lucile's business or whatever proposal she might have in mind.
'Who else poses a threat to your rule as Sheik?' Hal asked him and Wade frowned.
'No one comes to mind. In our bid to take away the old Sheik's support system. All those with enough strength to actually threaten us were systematically taken out. Gavin and I are the strongest indigenes of the Black lagoon' He said.
Hal nodded as he understood the implications of those words which was that they had just taken out Wade's biggest competition.
Now all Wade needed to do was recruit men into his force once again, excluding an advisor of course, which was a system the Sheik had completely lost faith in.
At that moment, Lucile finally got tired of the two staring at each other and saying nothing as she addressed them both,
"If you two are just going to stand there, I think I'll just go ahead" she said and that was exactly what she did.
Stepping over Gavin's body, Lucile headed to the Sheik's residence which remained where she had been lodged for the duration of time she had been at Black Lagoon for the auction or more accurately, to solicit for an investment.
At first, Hal wondered if she would simply head over to a teleportation circle after the Sheik's residence since the lockdown array around the whole city was now down upon Gavin's death, and finally leave Black lagoon but he felt it was more likely she would stay around for a short while longer.
Once she was out of sight, Hal walked over to Gavin's body and picked up the mutating scroll that had stopped floating upon his death. He inspected it for a while and could see it was still very well active but since it had not been activated, it seemed more susceptible to damage.
He pointed at it and projected a rune (Burn) to incinerate the scroll to ashes just as Wade looked behind him to the dead bodies of the two hundred mutated guards.
"What the Fuck?!" He could not help but exclaim and made a double-take on Hal and wondered what had happened while he was unconscious and just how Hal could have accomplished this.
Hal of course had no interest in giving him a definite answer. However, he also did not care if he found out.
He created a Dome of Astral energy that enveloped the whole location of dead mutated guards and then opened the portal to the Beast habitat so that about ten beasts made their way out of it to drag the bodies into the portal for a grand feast. Or at least a grand meal.
They gave the ones that had been poisoned by Sassy a wide berth though.
Speaking of Sassy, she did not miss the chance to come out and ask that Hal no longer ignore her which he had no interest in doing as he punctured his skin and fed her drops of his blood.
Sassy stretched contentedly while coiling around his body to put her head close to his face and bump his cheek with a pleased hiss while Hal stroked her head with a sigh.
Then he turned to Wade who had been included in the Dome and whose eyes were widened in mild shock as he wondered who this young man really was.
"Close your mouth will you?" Sassy said suddenly and nailed him with her emerald eyes.
Despite being stronger than the serpent cultivation-wise, the Sheik still found himself intimidated by the large green serpent and her gaze was particularly threatening.
He closed his mouth after she asked him to, and she continued snuggling up with Hal while the beasts cleared up the scene and retreated into the portal.
Once they were gone, Hal projected runes to the bodies Sassy had poisoned and incinerated them all while Sassy uncoiled off his body and slid into the Beast habitat as well.
Then he closed the portal and the Dome of Astral energy faded to mark the completion of the clean-up.
While he had indeed closed his mouth, Wade still stared at the scene with wide-eyed surprise just as Hal turned away and stretched.
"You really should get back to your home now and reestablish that you have quelled the unrest and once again secured your position. Feel free to embellish on how you battled against the odds which was over two hundred men who were against you.
It will probably help with recruiting new guards and even instilling them with a healthy dose of fear that if with all he had, Gavin could not succeed, then it is impossible for them." He said.
Wade gulped,
"But I didn't do it alone though" he said.
Hal shrugged,
"What does that matter? It was still three against two hundred." He pointed out and the Sheik nodded.
With that, Hal left the temple grounds with his hands behind his back and heading towards his hotel for a well-deserved rest. The day had been quite eventful and it was already quite late in the evening already.
However, in front of his room door, he realized someone had taken advantage of his negligence when it comes to locking doors and was waiting for him inside.
Chapter 330 - I Like Being In The Middle.
Silva Duchy Capital...
The Duchy Palace...
Adeline walked the halls with a clear destination in mind. It had been days since her brother's return from the Kirsten barony and she had not really had the opportunity to have a sit down with him and actually have a conversation.
The fact that it was already quite late did not factor in or make one bit of difference.
Of course, when he had first arrived, Pierre had had a lot to say about his experience at the Duchy, in particular, the blue-eyed young man he had met and felt for certain he could build a friendship with.
Granted, he had drawn his sword on the very same young man, but he was quite sure that there was no bad blood.
Adeline had not had the time to really invest in the chat as at that time, she received a summon from her Alchemy master who asked her to visit the Alchemist organization building.
She answered the summon but left soon enough with the excuse that she needed to further refine her alchemical skills for the same event they were discussing.
And then she met the pervert right on her way out.
Ugh, thinking about him really annoyed her.
Not to mention that over these few days, when had been informed of how he had gone missing right at the Alchemist organization.
She has been quite ready to scoff at the disappearance and claim it was a stupid attempt at attention seeking, however, the struggle that was said to have happened before the kidnapping made it impossible for her opinion to be popular.
To make things worse, her master had confided another vital information to her which was that the pervert was actually now a Rank 4 alchemist.
Granted, his workmanship had been said to be shoddy at best. That did not change the fact that on paper, they were both in the same rank. In one day and one sitting, he had established himself as her rival.
Or at least that was how her master saw it.
Adeline on the other hand was quite convinced that he was not worthy of actually being considered as a rival of someone of her caliber and talent. A point that her master had to admit definitely had credence.
That said, she was not still pleased with the events and quite frankly hoped he stayed missing.
Once back home, she was informed of her brother going into seclusion for a few days and he was only just out.
He immediately moved to the training grounds to hone his weapon skills. Mostly with his sword which despite the family's battle-ax, remained his preferred weapon.
Although he was busy, their sibling talk was long overdue and she would just have to make do with the location...
Training grounds,
Pierre could be seen shirtless while he battled what looked like dummy puppets wielding weapons with Runes etched in their bodies and powered with Cosmic energy just like activated already drawn runes. Clearly products of Runemastering.
With his silver hair tied in a knot at the top of his head, Pierre ducked and evaded a swing of his puppet opponent while he slammed the flat side Of his weapon against them.
As he was using his phenomenon rank artifact to better get used to wielding it, he was careful not to cause too many damages to the puppets. Especially damages he would have been unable to cause had he been using a normal sword which could not affect cultivators or the puppets.
As was expected of a handsome and shirtless young man like himself performing splendid swordsmanship, he garnered attention and the cooing of maids and female external members of the Silva family.
"Young master Pierre is so impressive"
"That's an understatement."
Acting completely oblivious to his audience, mostly because he rather preferred to be left alone during his training and also because he had no interest in any of those females, Pierre continued his impressive wielding of his sword.
In a bid to increase difficulty, Pierre pushed himself past the limit by handling even more puppets than he originally would and any hit from them was bound to wrack the spot with pain.
Even then, he prevailed.
Whirling and dodging their attacks to smack them with his weapon and even perform incredible moves with a lot of kicks and punches that tumbled the puppets over.
When he saw the crowd begin to disperse, he deactivated the puppets because he could sense the presence of the one who could bring about their departure,
"Hey there little sister" he said as he sent his sword into his spatial ring while he turned to face Adeline whose arms were folded beneath her breasts as she pouted at him.
"What's with the long face? What evil being could have actually dared to make my lovely sister look so angry and pouty?" He asked.
Adeline rolled her eyes and scoffed at his theatrical sounding words,
"Enough with the nonsense. Cultivation and training are more important to you than spending time with your sister? Other than a very brief moment, You haven't sought me out since you returned from Kirsten" she said and resisted the urge to stamp her leg against the ground in annoyance.
Pierre sighed,
"Adeline, You misunderstand me. After returning, I reported first to father after the brief moment I allowed myself to spend conversing with you all. It was he who made mention of me slacking off and ordered me to cultivation seclusion.
This training is just to complete that session. I just need to play to his good side. I was planning to come to see you once it's over." He said.
This time, Adeline could not stop herself from stomping her feet against the ground but not anger towards her brother but towards her father who was always hard on him.
Pierre shrugged when she made mention of this,
"I'm not his little girl and I'm not his heir. That's you and Elder brother. The constant pestering of father aside, I quite like being in the middle" he said and walked away from where he had been standing to dab at his skin after that particularly intense workout of his.
Adeline continued pouting all the same and it was mostly because all that Pierre had said was true. It was just a pity that she could not use her position as 'Daddy's Little girl' to stop the way Pierre was treated.
"So are you really just here to talk to me is there something actually bothering you?" Pierre asked.
Adeline narrowed her eyes at him wondering since when her brother was so perceptive. The answer was that he was not.
Pierre did not let the charade go on for too long before he was chuckling,
"Garrett might have mentioned something in that regard when he came to check up on me. Apparently, you met a perverted blue-eyed young man at the alchemist organization." He said.
To that, Adeline frowned but said nothing about it.
Eventually, she sighed,
"The one you met in the Kirsten Barony, Describe him to me" she said.
Pierre shook his head,
"No need, from the little Garrett told me of his appearance, I'd say it was definitely him"
Adeline groaned in annoyance,
"Just great. Oh well, I hope you are not really serious about having him as a friend because the next time I meet him. I will not be holding back" she said.
Pierre smiled at his little sister with squinted eyes because he could tell that this went further than a simple coincidental and most likely misunderstood encounter.
...
Meanwhile...
Black lagoon...
Hal's hotel room...
"Fancy meeting you here" Hal said in a grim voice when he was inside the room and facing the seductive Elsa seated on the bed.
Elsa had her sexy legs crossed with a light smile on her face,
"That doesn't sound very hospitable. At least offer me something as a guest. That's just good manners, don't you agree, Hal Klint?"