Chapter 19: Lesser's fun 

For the last week Fang had been going to his secret forging location each day early in the morning. Master Dan and his assistant on the other hand chose to stay there and work on everything that fang had opened for them with his new techniques. This morning should have been no different except that today more than a few people were following him. 

Although this was normal while he was in the city once he had lost them it was a completed affair and no more people would follow him. But for the last three days there would be multiple people watching him all around the city, some even tried to follow him after he left. 

Because he always went a different direction these people would never be able to completely grasp where he was going. Today however was different although people were watching him they gave off a malicious feel, almost as if they were ready to strike. 

Prior to this Fang believed that it was his father’s men trying to figure out where he was going or even someone from the king’s side trying to get what he was making before the trade. 

But this seemed different. making his way out of the east gate of the city Fang began to head in a random direction in order to lose his pressures and head to his forge where Master Dan was waiting. Before he could make it however he felt the presence of multiple people in the area he was headed. 

Because fighting multiple people on an open field would be disadvantageous fang decided to head to the more forested area instead of a mostly open rocky area. But not only were his preservers increasing there were also more waiting in the forest. Without minding the increase in number fang continued to head to the forest. 

“East wake up.” East hearing Fang’s command began to stir and quickly realized that they were slowly being surrounded by thirty or so people. 

‘You think they grew tired of being lead round?’ 

This was a possibility but fang believed that the ones following him were different people. 

“No they seem different the other’s felt more trained these feel… Disorderly.” 

‘Then what are we going to do should I just start firing spells?’ 

Fang shook his head without knowing the group’s real strength wasting mana that could be used in a better situation would be a bad idea. 

“No for now go around them and attack when they surround me then we either Finish them or escape when you create an opening.” 

East in all this time had grown increasingly strong and could fight on par with Fang even when he gave it his all, the only issue she had was that she could not use ki externally. That however didn’t stop her from using ki internally and strengthening herself to a significant degree while also using her absurdly tough body. 

‘Okay master but after this we need to get some nice food, we’ve been eating rations while in the forge and I'm tired of it.’ 

Fang nodded and let East slip off his shoulder and disappear into the woods as the ones following him grew closer and finally stepped out of the shadows. 

“Boy, because you have something someone important wants we have to play a small villain role.” 

Fang looked at the man who spoke, he was tall for a human reaching almost seven feet in height and was built like a bear. Fang in preparation to fight took a stance as if he were holding two daggers in reverse grip, but nothing was in his hands. 

“Haha look he thinks he can fight us. Boy if you would have stayed with your mommy and sucked longer, then you might have had a better chance but today you can say goodbye to that nice life.” 

Without any further words them and began to confidently walk up to Fang clearly underestimating his strength. When he reached Fang and quickly made a move everyone expected him to have no troubles. But reality was different in his hands Fang was holding two daggers that seemingly came out of nowhere. 

The first one he stabbed into the arm of the man and used it as a way to launch himself into the man's throat, without any hesitation Fang had already slit the man’s throat killing him. Killing was nothing new to him and came as second nature. 

“Bastard! He killed big brother! Get the brat!” And with that the signal for everyone to attack was sent. All the surrounding men were jumping to Fang when they heard a scream from behind, for those that looked back they could see a scaled ferret clawing out the throat of one of their men. 

*    *    *

Around the time that Fang was being attacked by the group of bandits under the noble Lesser was taking a stroll outside the city. 

“This seems far enough. Oh this is going to be fun… Though I feel as something interesting’s happening in that direction, I could check it out before my play time with Luna but I guess this is a bit more interesting.” 

While the seven behind his were obediently walking behind him listening to his ramblings they contemplated telling Lesser that the boy they were after was most likely to be outside the city rather than the location that he had given them, after all they had listened to the entirety of what the noble had said. Deciding to trust their all powerful teacher they stayed quiet. 

Lesser having no idea about their internal struggle turned around. 

“Okay here take this note and leave it where you steal the boy, in the house that I had previously told you about, right now Luna should be out and the boy likely only has one guard. quickly knock out the guard and bring the boy somewhere a safe distance from here. I'll need him after my fight with Luna.” 

As instructed the seven left after giving Lesser a salute. Because he likely had some time before Luna would arrive Lesser allowed his curiosity and fun loving nature to get the better of him and headed where he could feel a battle happening. It only took a couple seconds for him to reach his destination despite it being relatively far. 

When he arrived he saw a young boy no older than ten fighting a group of about thirty men. His first thought was to just in and save the boy but he stopped himself when he saw how the boy was fighting. 

In his hands the boy had some type of ever changing weapon sometimes he would hold two daggers and strike with speed and precision while at others he would jump into the air and suddenly wield a hammer twice his size allowing him to strike with tremendous force. 

After observing for a minute Lesser also saw that he had the help of what he could only think of as a small lesser dragon. 

“That boy’s impressive. Wonder if he has a teacher… Oh so he can turn it into a whip as well.” 

The weapon in the boy’s hand intrigued Lesser and after closely observing it he realized what it was. 

“That’s a ki construct and from the looks of it, it seems to be ashes. That boy has a good imagination.” 

Just as he was saying this a burly man swung down with a greatsword at the boy. Without any hesitation the boy turned the ashes he held in one hand into a sword and instead of receiving the blow directly he directed it to his side while simultaneously moving his body to attack. In his other hand appeared a rapier which he thrust straight into the man’s unprotected heart. 

“Oh this boy is good to already be able to do this, ahh today is a good day. Later I’ll come and ask him to follow me and become my disciple, I can make him the next lesser war fiend and retire. Then truly go around the world having fun.” 

To him his legacy as the Lesser War Fiend was important and the true reason why he had been recruiting so many disciples along the way many had either broken or gone mad with none actually being satisfactory but this was fine because the ones he picked up were always bad people. 

While watching the fight continues between to boy, the lesser dragon and the group of armed men he couldn’t help that the boy was beginning to slow down. Obviously he had not refined his ki to it’s optimal state, but that was obvious as he could only be at most ten. 

It was surprising enough that the boy could already change his ki into whatever element he had. But this was also taxing him greatly and the men he was fighting realized it. 

“Go he’s slowing down, I don’t know what kind of monster he is but think of the reward and persevere!” 

The men while they should have lost their moral long ago from losing half their members seemed to have gone mad from greed by some promised reward. To the side the lesser dragon was also beginning to struggle as it could only continue to to fight for so long, strangely enough it would sometimes show a fierce display of power whenever it was in danger. 

Lesser however had no interest in the dragon further then wondering what it was doing helping a child or how the child made friends with a dragon. Seeing that the boy would not hold on if this continued Lesser opted to help his future disciple and began throwing rocks. 

Despite it seeming simple the rocks thrown by him had tremendous force behind then and soon all the attacking bandits were lying dead on the floor of the forest. Having finished watching something so interesting and gaining a potentially perfect disciple Lesser walked back to his spot where he would wait for Luna to arrive.

*    *    *

Fang had no idea how the rest of the attackers had died but decided that their was someone watching him who was far above what he could perceive, because of that he thought it would be better to go home and inform either his mother or his father about what had happened. Wasting no time he ran at full speed back to his home with East following quickly behind. 

‘Master at the end I couldn’t tell what happened, do you think your mother followed us?’ 

Fang shook his head denying East’s statement. 

“Last time someone attacked me mother killed him quickly I don’t think mother would wait until I tire before stepping in.” East simply jumped onto his shoulder and rested while he made his way back.” 

*    *    *

Mathias was happily playing on his own, while he would have liked for his older brother to be with him right now he couldn’t. The first day that his brother was gone all day he cried his little eyes out and before he could get his older brother to promise to spend the day with him instead, his father had explained to him that Fang was doing something important and that they would be able to spend plenty of time together after he was finished with it. 

Because of this Mathias had found that he should also make friends because unlike his brother he disliked being alone and couldn’t stand it. This was also the reason his body guard doubled as a nanny. 

She would be considered a lovely woman in the dwarven perspective but to others there was hardly a difference between her and a male dwarf. Normally Mathias couldn’t tell the difference and no one would really mind after all his father was odd in this category so it stood to reason that his son's may be as well. 

While looking around Mathias started feeling sleepy and passed out while seven unknown men entered his room. The guard nanny was wo laying on her feet looking harshly at the seven men who walked in without being notice. 

“Good the sleeping powder has taken effect quickly get the boy and leave the note.” 

While the unconscious Mathias was being taken he muttered one word in his sleep. 

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“Brother.”

*    *    *

When Fang Reached his home he called out to his mother and father but got no response. Thinking about it this was the time when both of them would be out doing something else. So the next best thing was to inform Mathias’ guard/nanny who was a subordinate to his father. 

“Beth! Is anyone here?” 

‘Maybe they're avoiding you because you reek of blood?’ 

Fang wasn't’ really in the mood to argue with East and he probably did still reek of blood despite changing into a different set of clothes on his way here. Looking at the table in the living room the was a well written note. Thinking it was from Beth or his mother he picked it up. 

“Dear old friend I took your little one and I'm going to have some fun with him unless you have some fun with me. Your friend Lesser. P.S. He’s in a separate location so don’t thinks that you can just take him back quickly. So let's have a good fight.” 

After reading the note Fang quickly ran to his brother’s room. 

‘Wait don’t go in there, it’s filled with sleep powder and Beth is most likely unconscious.’ 

Fang didn’t know how to proceed, there was someone challenging his mother so that meant that it would be impossible for him to take back his brother. And finding where his mother had gone would take to long. 

“East can you track Mathias?” 

‘I'm no dog but it shouldn’t be too difficult follow me.’ 

Jumping off Fang’s shoulder East quickly caught the trail of her master’s younger brother. Fang was anxious and didn’t even think to have East look for his mother instead. As he followed East out of the house and into the roads leading to the south gate Fang couldn’t help but be worried. In his previous life he had never felt this even now this was the first time. 

When he fought his only thought was kill or be killed and even if he lost that was also an acceptable outcome.when he fought the guard of the young noble he didn’t think he could win but didn’t really care if he died either. 

But now that they had taken his brother he thought that he had to win, he had to live. Until now he had been to care free, he allowed East to be revealed for no real reason. He had been lax about his strength, sure he was stronger than the average adult and with his sense for battle he could fight off almost anyone below the law comprehension level. 

But there was more he could have done he could have, as East stated before, begun attempting to comprehend a law. But because of his lax behavior and apathy to what happened around him he could only be considered weak in the bigger picture of this world. And even if it hurt him more he could have begun to run raw mana through himself to be stronger. But none of these things could be changed now and his brother was taken from him. 

The only thing he could do is take him back if the separate location his brother was in wasn’t to heavily guarded while his mom, if she sees the note fought and killed whoever took Mathias originally. while he was thinking of all these thing he had arrived at the southern gate and proceeded to the mountainous area which it lead to. 

Because the capital city of the dwarven kingdom was built in a location between a bare mountain volcano and a forest the location he was heading to now was a number of higher elevation caves. With East leading the way there was no chance of losing the trail of those that took his younger brother so Fang wasn’t worried. 

At this point fang had calmed down considerably and determined that the one to challenge his mother and the ones who took his brother must be separate because depending on the time his mother read the note the kidnappers would be in the same area and his brother. After twenty minutes Fang had found that there were seven opponents sitting around his brother and ignoring his cries. 

“Waaaaa! Help! Fen! Waaaaa!” Hearing his brother crying for his help Fang could no longer just watch and charger full speed while holding East who had transformed into her tome form. 

*    *    *

When Luna arrived to her home it was considerably quiet. She found it strange as her little Mathias would be crying for his brother around this time. 

“Hmm, well I should go see if he fell asleep. Ahh he’s so adorable when he sleeps… Oh I remember when he was just two and how adorable him and Fang sleeping together looked, if Tal hadn't moved me away I could have watched them all night.” 

While talking to herself she moved towards Mathias’ room to she if her little one was sleeping but noticed a note on the dining room table, thinking it might attribute to the reason why the house was so quiet she took it and read it. Almost as if all hell had been unleashed the atmosphere in the entire house became deadly. 

“Admit lesser if my sweet boy turns weird because of you, no why be mad at a dead man. Just have to go and kill him.” With that she focused all her senses on finding Lesser which wasn't hard as he was unrestrainedly releasing his aura. 

With the fury of a thousand Devils Luna began preparing every spell she knew and even gathered small amounts of blood from all those around her, these amounts were so small no one would even feel faint but when they looked up into the sky a cloud of blood could be seen forming and moving towards the east gate.

*    *    *

Seeing the cloud of blood gathering and heading towards him Lesser was startled. Had Luna gone completely mad and began killing people on the way to gather enough blood to fight him? Or was her control that much better than the last time they met? 

Either way her reaction was much greater than what he had predicted. Despite his obvious surprise however the grin on his face only continued to grow. And proved true the information that he had gotten out of Liz in exchange for the promise of teaching at her academy on a later date for an unmentioned amount of time. 

At first he thought that she had over exaggerated after all this was Luna although she was called a mad blood elf by others they knew she was more or less a calm and struck person, so how could he not go and see the change for himself. When the cloud of blood was only a short distance away and he could see Luna face he almost left out in joy. 

Her face was the very picture of anger and carnage, anyone who saw her right now would say that the horror stories told to children throughout the years did her an injustice. If any man stood before her now they might wet themselves from fear. 

“Lesser! If you scared my little boy I’ll kill you now tell me where he is!” 

It seemed that she was giving him a last chance sadly or due to good fore site depending on one's perspective Lesser had sent his disciples to retrieve the boy and he only knew the approximate area of where they would be. 

The only way to get the child to her would be to send out the signal to bring him to them while they fought. After all he didn’t want to kill such a fun sparring partner. With the biggest smile that he had had in years the Lesser War Fiend proudly declared. 

“Old friend let's play a while and then I'll tell you what I did and then we might even play some more!” 

Without waiting for anything else Lesser circulated more than two thirds of his ki into his blood to prevent Luna from instant killing him. His division was correct as he could already feel the flow of his blood slow from the pull of Luna’s mana. 

Smiling while brandishing his sword Lesser began to repel every drop of the blood rain that suddenly poured down from the blood cloud and made his way to Luna who was completing her next spell. 

*    *    *

With East in his hands and ki flowing through his eyes to strengthen his reaction time fang launched two level two Fire Lance spells at the group to separate them. The group seemed to be made up of talented individuals as they moved into two separate groups and took a battle ready formation. Not being deterred Fang fired his next spell. 

“Earth wall.” 

Now being hidden from the seven Fang began to spread his ki in order to make a storm of ashes that would abstract the vision of the seven guarding his brother. But they didn’t wait for him to finish his preparations and armed with swords charged. From what they could tell fang was just a very talented young magician and his weakness would be close combat. 

Unfortunately for them this was what he wanted, spreading the ashes over a large space was not what he wanted and if he was able to catch them by surprise then killing them and rescuing his brother would be a simple task. 

When they were in the exact distance he wanted Fang lifted his hands and a storm of ashes rose in the vicinity, with their view obstructed Fang used East and launched seven ice lances. Only five of them were hit and only two of those were killed the others only sustaining minor injuries. 

The surviving six felt no discomfort at losing two of their own and instead raised their vigilance towards Fang. With only five left fang decided to take another surprise when they again charged towards him he faked a clumsy dodge to one of their swords and tossed east in the direction of another who reached out to catch her. 

But when his arm was close enough she transformed into her lesser dragon form and run up his arm until she reached his neck and killed him. 

‘Master these people don’t seem to care whether they live or die. That stupid stance reminds me of you.’ 

Fang had no tome or words to refute her as that was indeed the case however looking at his brother who was tied up Fang realized that he could no longer think that way and had to live, survive, and become strong enough to deter any would be criminal. Summoning his Ashes to him Fang held a great sword in one hand and a large war hammer in the other while staring down at the remaining four. 

However something strange happened at that moment and the four dropped to the floor dead. Looking around he found East had moved and begun releasing something from her mouth. 

“What did you do?” 

East brought her head up and proudly said one word. 

‘Poison.’ 

Fang never knew what she could do and was still finding some of the things she could do strange but gave up for now and went to his little brother. During this whole time he had been calm and when the first death happened he closed his eyes and had yet to open them from fright. 

This was something that Fang didn’t entirely understand but he knew it scared his brother so he decided not to tell him to open his eyes instead he gently picked him up and said. 

“It’s okay now let's go home and mother will make something good to eat.”

As he exited the cave he was in Fang looked up into the sky as a cloud of Blood and a blazing flame drew closer. 

(Author's note: so I was going to post this on Sunday or Saturday but thing came up. For not doing so I made this one extra long. And I used the *.        *.       *.     As a separation instead of the normal _____________ I don't know what's better and really don't see a difference but someone told me it was better with the stars. I really don't know bu tired it anyway. Hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading.). :)