Night had descended as Desmond made his way back to his room. The Lodge naturally had a residential district set up for hunters and staff. Desmond used his key to unlock the door. As he stepped into his residence, he looked around. To his right was a walled green space with some grass, a few trees, bushes, and flower beds. To his left was his room proper, with a large sliding door separating it from the green space. He was currently standing on a covered walkway that split the two halves. Looking in front of the sliding door, Desmond noticed a pair of shoes.
It would seem Riki had beat him back. She did have her own room here in the residential district, but more often than not, she just elected to stay at his. Desmond wondered if she had fallen asleep yet. Riki was a very light sleeper, and he always felt a little bad waking her up when he came to bed.
Desmond stepped out into the courtyard and took a moment to look at the stars. They seemed dimmer than usual, after his trip to the Soul Realm. The night sky here was always a bit brighter than in his past life, which made stargazing a less enjoyable hobby. This was mainly due to the 3 moons. The one he was currently looking at was the biggest. It looked a lot like the moon from his past life but easily twice the size, and it lit up the green space like it was almost day. There was also a much smaller purple moon that Desmond couldn’t currently see, but it was the final moon that left the biggest impression. This moon had likely been massive, much bigger than even the first. But now it was broken. Shattered into tens of thousands of fragments that formed an ever-present disk throughout the sky. It looked like a small asteroid belt around the planet, but there were some larger fragments mixed in that spoke of what it had once been. This ever-present ring made it so there was never true darkness at night. This ring was also the celestial body that the Church held in the highest esteem. A representation of their Goddess, or so they claimed.
Desmond moved back towards the sliding door. He had wanted to go through Ben’s spatial ring tonight but was still feeling mentally exhausted from his fight. As he slid the door open, Desmond found to his delight, that Riki had not gone to bed yet. She was standing there in front of the bed, fully nude and clearly a little peeved that he had taken his sweet time in the courtyard. Her expression quickly changed to that of a smile as she noticed his stunned appearance.
She looked absolutely radiant standing there in the moonlight. The way the moon made her pale skin seem to almost glow. The shine in her sharp piercing green eyes. Her slightly damp, short brown hair that stuck to her neck. Her powerful physique that was on full display, alongside her massive tits. Even the claw-like scars across her chest made her look more beautiful. But the thing that truly stood out, was her expression. It showed compassion, with an equal measure of mischievousness. But there was something else, hidden within her smile that called to him. It was like a touch of madness or insanity, that Desmond couldn’t help but find extremely attractive. It looked like he was not getting much sleep tonight.
***
Riki’s eyes snapped open. Something had tripped one of her enchantments on the door. Focusing, she used her mana to reach out to the shadows, something that was second nature to her at this point. It would seem that they had company. There were 3 people outside the door and 2 more in a neighboring courtyard that looked ready to come over their wall. The idiots at the door had tripped her detection spell, and from the looks of it, they were still a long way from breaking the four different locks on the door. There was no rush, they were clearly amateurs. She still had plenty of time.
Sitting up, she retrieved her dagger from the bed, then looked over to Desmond, still fast asleep beside her. Sleeping lightly was a natural skill for hunters, but this oaf could sleep through a fucking hurricane and not stir. How he had managed to live so long as a hunter was beyond her. Looking at his face, she was momentarily captivated.
This was something she had missed. The trust and companionship she felt from Dez filled a hole in herself that she didn’t even know was there anymore. A relationship built on compassion and caring for one another, and not just about benefits. Riki felt a smile come to her face. She was starting to like this kind of thing. Riki reached out and slowly traced Desmond’s jaw with her fingers before pulling away.
It was time to deal with their guests. From what she could tell, they were all tier 4. She could just handle this herself, but Dez would be pissed if she didn’t wake him up for it. Lifting the hilt of her dagger, she jabbed it into his ribs, hard. Probably harder than was strictly necessary, but it did take a lot to wake him up.
***
Desmond woke up to a sharp pain in his side. He brought his hand to his ribs as he slowly sat up, still groggy and half asleep. Looking out the window, he judged it to be about half an hour before daybreak as he could already see the first signs of light in the sky.
Why had Riki gotten him up so soon? They had literally just fallen asleep, and he had every intention to sleep until at least midday. Looking over, he could see Riki getting out of bed, and he couldn’t help but stare at her shapely ass. Noticing his gaze, she turned around and started to use sign language.
“Five enemies. Three at door. Two at wall,” Riki signed before making her way towards the sliding door.
Well, at least that explains why she had woken him up. Given Riki’s unconcerned look, this must be more of an annoyance than an actual threat. Desmond quietly got to his feet. If there was no rush, he would at least put on some pants. Fumbling around in the dark, he found his underwear and quickly picked them up. Looking at them, he noticed that they were shredded, and completely useless. This caused him to remember back to last night.
Riki had brought her dagger to bed again. This had definitely become a fetish for her at this point. A fetish he would never admit that he shared. There was just something incredibly alluring about a sexy woman cutting the clothes off his body. Riki had been the first woman he had been with, at least in this life, and as it turns out having ridiculous strength changes things in bed a bit. You couldn’t exactly get lost in the passion when you had the strength to break your partner in half. Riki had initially brought the dagger to bed as a form of teaching aid. Like a sexy teacher with a ruler, but this one could stab you to death. Which was somehow more attractive.
As it turns out, the fear of being stabbed was a great teaching tool. However, it might have awakened something deep within him. Danger and arousal are two wires that shouldn’t be so easily crossed. Even after Desmond had learned to control his strength, the dagger still frequently came to bed with them.
Desmond had to admit that Riki was beautiful to watch with the blade. In the same way that a ballerina or a skilled craftsman was beautiful at work. Someone who had perfected their craft so thoroughly that everything they did seemed like art. She was able to slide the blade across his chest with the perfect pressure where it felt like it would cut him, but in reality, it wouldn’t leave a single mark. Though, when she came her control would slip a bit, but a few nicks here or there was a small price. Desmond found the whole experience hard to describe. It was sort of like getting a full body shave with a straight razor while a beautiful woman was on top of you.
Discarding his boxers, Desmond quickly found his pants. He had been sure to take these off before he got into bed with Riki. Due to Riki’s nighttime habit, he had been going through an absurd amount of clothes recently, and it was starting to get hard to find pants in his size.
Putting the pants on, Desmond walked out of the now-opened sliding door and made his way out onto the porch. He was just in time to see Riki slip into the shadows of the courtyard wall. It looked like she would take the ones coming from over the wall. So that left him, with the ones coming through the door.
Desmond examined the area around the door, looking for a good vantage point to ambush the assassins when they came through. There was a pillar holding the porch up that was close to the door, but it was just a tad too small to hide his bulky frame. There was also a large bush in the courtyard, close to the door. But that would be in the line of sight the moment they peeked in, and he wasn’t confident the bush could fully hide him either. That left only one option, to hide behind the door itself. There was a gap between the wall and the door that could fit his size. It was perfect, just like in the movies. He would hide behind the door. Let them enter, then attack them from behind.
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The final of the two chain locks on the door clicked and fell free. Desmond quickly and quietly got into position behind the door. From his vantage point, he could see the whole courtyard and only now thought that this hiding spot would be incredibly stupid if they chose to come over the wall first. He would basically just be standing there in the open.
Desmond shook off these thoughts as the door slowly opened a few inches before stopping. The assassins were clearly examining the courtyard through the crack before entering. They were being too cautious. Desmond became concerned about his hastily devised plan.
After a moment, the door opened a little more, maybe around a foot and a half, before a figure dressed all in black slipped through the gap and onto the porch right in front of him. Desmond had not considered this, the door was simply not open wide enough to hide him. The figure quickly examined the courtyard before looking at the sliding door to his bedroom. At this point, Desmond had evidently entered the individual’s periphery as the assailant suddenly turned their head to make direct eye contact with him. There was a moment of stillness, as the individual was clearly shocked to come face to face with Desmond like this.
In this moment, Desmond saw two black robbed figures come over the wall and disappear into the shadows of his courtyard. Then another cloaked figure entered the door behind the first and started looking around the courtyard. These figures hid their presence well, but Desmond would guess they were all only crisis class. How someone had thought five crisis class assassins could kill him was baffling.
The moment ended as the first assassin drew his dagger. Desmond closed the door with his hand and slid one of the deadbolts back into place, all while never taking his eyes off the first assassin. He wasn’t going to let the third assassin come through the door behind him. Besides, these two were now stuck in here with him! As the first assassin approached, Desmond took note of the liquid on the blade. These assassins might be weak, but Desmond knew firsthand never to underestimate a poison.
As the first figure advanced, their right arm holding the dagger seemed to vanish from the shoulder down. It was some sort of light-based illusion magic. Desmond hated illusions and chose to just outspeed the figure. Desmond stepped forward in a blur and punched the figure right in the chest. He made sure to disperse the force with magic across the person’s torso, as he didn’t want to simply punch through them and bloody his porch. After a horrible crunching sound, this individual shot off like a rocket, smashing into the courtyard wall.
Desmond quickly closed in on the second assailant who had entered through the door. This individual was evidently an amateur. He was more focused on where his companion had just splatted against the wall, than he was on Desmond’s approach. This let Desmond take the second individual by surprise, quickly putting them into a chokehold and simply twisting until he felt their neck snap. Dropping the body to the ground, Desmond focused back on the door. The deadbolt was still in place, and it would seem the third assailant had elected to run off. Which was a wise choice, in his opinion. Desmond’s thoughts were then interrupted by Riki’s howling laughter.
“You should have seen their faces.” Riki had to stop and catch her breath between fits of uncontrolled laughter. “When they came over the wall, and you were just standing there, right in the open. They were like fainting goats. I swear their mouths literally dropped open. Then that first guy entered, and just stared at you. Like he couldn’t fucking believe that you were just standing there. Oh, that was priceless.”
Desmond found himself smiling as Riki continued to laugh like a maniac. “I will admit, it had not been my best ambush,” Desmond said in a deep boorish yet sarcastic tone. “But it worked! I managed to stun them all. Just... As... Planned!”
This only made Riki laugh harder, as she had practically collapsed onto the ground by this point. Desmond started to laugh as well. He found Riki’s laughter was somehow infectious.
After a few moments, Desmond collected himself and decided it was time to clean up. He wanted to get back to bed, but knew he would have trouble sleeping with dead bodies just lying around his courtyard. However, if they were in the neighboring courtyard, he could sleep just fine.
So Desmond approached the second body he killed to find 5 different glowing orbs above the body. He ignored the gray and green ones, as they were basically useless, and focused on the 2 floating blue orbs.
[Greater Agility](Rare): +46 Agility.
[Greater Strength](Rare): +77 Strength.
Desmond found the spatial ring in the pocket of his pants and proceeded to move all the orbs into it. The gray and green orbs were not of much interest to him, but he decided to keep them for now. Besides, they were small and took up very little space.
Desmond grabbed the corpse by the ankle and walked across the courtyard. By this point, Riki had stood up and was mostly functional again, though she was still fighting back tears of laughter.
“That was great, Dez. You could sell tickets to that,” Riki said as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“I’m just glad I could be of assistance,” Desmond replied with a smirk.
Riki almost started laughing again but held herself back. “Alright, deep breath,” Riki said before taking a slow, deep breath.
“Better?” Desmond asked.
“Much. Now, I’m going back to bed. Do you mind cleaning this up for me?” She said, gesturing to the two dead bodies on the ground behind her.
“Sure, no problem,” Desmond responded. It was the least he could do as the assassins were likely here after him anyway. He also wanted to loot the soul orbs while he was at it.
“Thanks,” Riki said as she made her way back towards the bedroom.
Desmond couldn’t help but stare at her ass as she walked away. Riki tended to sleep in the nude, and it would seem this little late-night interruption didn’t even warrant her getting dressed. Desmond shook his head to clear his thoughts and brought his focus back to what he was doing. He examined the wall of his courtyard. Somehow, the assailants had disabled the enchantment on it, letting them pass over the wall unimpeded. He would have to get the Lodge to fix this, but it worked in his favor for the moment. Desmond simply swung the corpse he was dragging and tossed it over the wall into the courtyard next door.
Bending down, he then examined the body he had slatted against the wall. There were 7 orbs here: 4 gray, 2 green, and 1 purple. Jackpot, Desmond reached out to the purple orb.
[Light Opacity](Epic) +1 Light Affinity. Allows the holder to give more substance to their light constructs.
So then, like, an illusion that can stab you? It sounded interesting, but Desmond hated light magic and illusions especially so. This orb wasn’t going to change that. He put the orbs away and then pealed the body off the wall. With a quick throw, the body was out of sight and out of mind.
Desmond then moved over to the two Riki had slayed. Examining the bodies, they both had a deep cut through their necks, so deep in fact that it almost decapitated them. But the strange part was that their wound, if you could call them that at this point, were not bleeding. There was a film of shadow over the injuries, keeping any blood from flowing out. Riki was a true assassin, she would not even leave a blood trail behind.
Looking at the first body, Desmond was disappointed. This poor bastard had nothing higher than a green soul orb. Luckily, the second body had both a blue and purple orb to compensate for it. Desmond reached out to the orbs.
[Exceptional Wisdom](Rare): +12% increase to Wisdom.
[Fading Light](Epic): +1 Shadow Affinity. Allows the holder to temporarily fade into shadows, becoming completely intangible to the world. (2 charges)(2 hour cooldown)
Now [Fading Light] was a pretty nice ability to have. The fact that Riki ended the fight so quickly must mean she took this once completely by surprise. Maybe his stupid antics did help? Not that this guy would have had a chance even if he survived Riki’s surprise attack.
The [Exceptional Wisdom] orb might even be more interesting. Desmond wondered how the bonuses were added together. Could he keep stacking up Strength multipliers until he reached some truly insane level? Also, the fact that it was just 12% means that the orbs used a base 0 system and not a base 100 system. This would mean that his bonuses from [Giant’s Blood] were a 4 times multiplier and not a 3 times multiplier. This didn’t change his current total Strength, but it was good to know how it worked. Now, if only he could find a way to use more than 3 orbs.
After collecting the orbs, Desmond once more threw the bodies over the wall before heading back towards the bedroom. He would deal with everything else in the morning. For now, it was finally time to get some sleep.