PHASE 77 - LOVE TRIANGLE TROUBLES

It’s an early Saturday morning, where the skies are clear and the sunlight does not sting. I’m in the backyard with Heushac, and both of us had our Weapon Gems deployed. We’re having a sparring session to see how much we’ve improved.

We will be switching to the flat edges of our blade, Battousai-style, to prevent any harm from both parties.

“Here I go!” Heushac made the first move as he recklessly jumping to me with the plan of just beating me up. “!!!”

I jumped back to effortlessly evade the attack. As soon as his giant sword hit the ground, the earth trembled, and the soil turned into a volcano’s crater, launching burning stones and some lava squirt! With the help of my , I effortlessly evaded all those projectiles.

But Heushac didn’t stop there! “!!!” He swiped his sword sidewards, and a crescent flame gust emerged! That spell was used by Diadem when we first had our battle, so Heushac must have been inspired to learn that very same trick!

Too bad, I know to counter it! “, Set!!!” My katana was engulfed with pure white energy, making its blades wider and thicker. And then I made a composed downward slash to dispel the flame shockwave.

Heushac was never contented with that, so he released seven consecutive ! To parry those flame winds, I used my to cover my whole body with static electricity which gave me a massive speed gain! In the blink of an eye, my katana went through each and every fire projectiles, cutting them like butter!

“What the-” Heushac exclaimed after seeing his useless attacks. Now that he's running out of spells, he resorted on making swift hacks and quick slashes.

With the help of my , I predicted each and every attacked. I evaded it with no effort by sliding left and right.

“How can you do that!?” Heushac’s jaw hanged.

“Instinct.”

“What kind of instinct is that?”

“Ultra.”

I immediately bolted forward with the katana positioned on my waist. I closed my eyes as I cast my spell! “!!!”

My opponent was blinded as everything went dark for a split second. Then there was a silver streak, signaling that he has been directly hit in the stomach with my blade! And I just teleported behind Heushac!

I don’t intend to stop there! “!!!” I said as our bodies swapped positions. Now we’re looking face-to-face! With this, I can cast a powerful skill!

“!!!”

The same as , blinds the enemy. But is an upgraded version in which I can deliver a whopping twelve slashes in a blink of an eye. Though not as impressive as when I used it with the mystical invisible sword (99 strikes), this spell is still the best damage-dealing attack I had in my arsenal.

“Ooooah!!!” Heushac fell to the ground as the muscles on his body ached. He dropped his sword which made a loud series of clanging.

“EZ GGWP!” I said as I coldly glared at my fallen friend.

“Stop boasting around! It’s unfair because you have a lot more experience. But I’m sure I can beat you if I’m equipped with !”

I lent out my hand to this complaining bastard as I reasoned out. “That’s more unfair because you will be using Key’s power too.”

As I helped Heushac stand, there was someone who was applauding our exhibition fight. It was a blonde short girl who is wearing a casual vacation outfit.

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“You guys improved a lot! Tres Bien, my dear colleagues.”

It was Amy! Finally, she’s back! Hey, why am I so excited?

Beside her is a tall black man who is carrying two backpacks, two heavy suitcases and dozens of shopping bags. That’s her ex-boyfriend Kristoff, who looks so pitiful from afar. That kitty bitch must have abused him for the whole week. And still, Kristoff is willing to play as the masochist. The things we do for love…

“How’s the investigation going, Amy?” I asked.

“Is that the first thing you’ll say to your friend who got stressed for the past week?” Amy puffed her cheeks as she held her hips. “I-I could really use some friendly hug, you know!”

“What?” I tilted my head due to confusion.

But then suddenly she jumped to me and hugged my chest tightly. Now his fuckboy ex-boyfriend is staring at us with a sorrowful look!

“Hey, stop it-” I was about to reply in the same dense manner but then her body was covered in golden light! It remolded herself to be the tall booby and booty goddess of love, Freya! Now she’s burying me on her soft cleavage!

“Moff! Mtoffp! Mmmmp!” I can’t speak! I’m suffocating!

Suddenly, I heard footsteps from the house. Key’s monotonous voice entered our eardrums.

“Let’s have a breakfast now. Tiara cooked the meal and it looked delicious.”

“W-Who are you?” Lord Freya tilted her head due to confusion. Finally, she released me from her grasps. I almost thought that my death will be due to snu-snu!

The white-haired homunculus tilted her head.

“I’m Key.”

“W-What!!? It can’t be!...” Lord Freya’s jaws hanged. Now she can’t believe that a thirteen-year-old is a lot taller than her base form. Good for her.

<>

We’re now on the dining table. While Tiara is preparing the utensils, Heushac told the story about Key’s mysterious rapid growth.

And now Amy has a solution to solve the mystery.

“There’s only one way to know the answer.” Amy said. “And that is to investigate the place where the Phoenix Incident happened. Apparently, our next quest is to investigate that place because it might still give us a hint about the New Order.”

“Phoenix Incident?” I held my chin to analyze the discussion. “I’ve been hearing that thing a while now.”

“Phoenix Incident is a large-scale war of Gate Guardians against a Legion of Cursed Guardians ten years ago. Those Cursed Guardians experimented and tapped human life, creating the homunculus and other artificial humans just to create powerful creatures to add to their forces. Key is one of those test tube babies that is a product of their experimentation."

“Ooooh,” Heushac said. He’s certainly interested in Key’s origin. And for some reason, his brain cells work like how normal persons do. “So where did this Phoenix Incident happened?”

“It’s in the abandoned test site in Leng City.” Kristoff answered. “New Order is also told to be active in that place.”

Leng City is just a few kilometers away from Dradecim. It’s a large, organic and peaceful city between Mirose Grande and Dradecim, and I quite know the place since the bus always goes roughly that city’s town proper. It is the home of beautiful parks and sceneries, though there is a nuclear test site that seemed dangerous.

“M-Meal’s ready~”

At last, time to eat breakfast. Tiara sat beside me and revealed her dish which is a uniquely soft and yellow egg omelet, hotdogs that were shaped and carved into cute octopuses, fried tempuras, and fried rice with bamboo shoots, beef chunks, and onion chives! This is so extravagant for a breakfast!

“H-Here you go, Rikkun…” Our adorable cook gave a bowl of fried rice to me.

I made a small bite on each and I can’t criticize her! These are all delicious, and the flavors perfectly blend on my tongue! I’m not a fan of egg dishes, but she made me pick the omelet as my new favorite!

“All your meals are amazing, Tiara!” I praised her with a high jolly voice.

“R-R-Really!?” Tiara jumped with joy. She uncontrollably had her face red, but she used her hands to cover her blazing hot cheeks. Then she started to mumble nonsense when she talked to herself.

“T-This is the first time I cooked breakfast for Rikkun… I-It feels a lot more like I-I’m a w-w-wife now. I-I just wanted eight children... Ehehehe~”

I’ll just keep eating and ignore that I didn’t hear her delusional monologue. Gotta consume it while it’s still hot…

Tiara finally continued talking to me as I chewed a tempura on my mouth. She’s still red as ever, and she’s shyly covering her mouth like a princess.

“R-Rikkun… After the meal, d-do you want a bath...or...or...d-do you w-want m-me...me…”

“Huh?” I mumbled. I didn’t hear her because the crunchy tempura is noisy when getting chewed on.

Suddenly, Amy slammed the wooden dining table. She’s quite furious.

“Hey, wait a minute! Why isn’t there any eating utensils at my table!?”

“C-Can you please n-not disturb our moment here, Necchan!” Tiara shouted with her curled eyebrows and flaming eyes. That character change is surprising! This is the first time I ever saw Tiara verbally fought back to a person other than me! “You have two hands, why don’t you get those plates and spoons for yourself!?”

“H-How dare you to talk back to your leader!” Amy stood up! Crap’s about to get real!

“You may be my leader, but there is only one person who can order me around! I have secured an unbreakable bond with Rikkun!”

“Ric is not yours! We already kissed, remember?” Amy gave a malicious smile as she held her waist.

“D-D-Don’t think highly yourself! B-B-Because… Because… I have kissed Rikkun tooooooooo!!!”

Tiara shouted with all her bravery and might.

There was a long silence. Everybody stopped eating for a while because their mouth remained open. And all of them turned to me with their judging eyes.

I hate love triangles.

And I regret being born as a beautiful man.

If only I’m not that handsome, I would never get in this trouble.