CHAPTER 18

Over the next four months, we turned the lite area into a decent village. Jessica made us create showers with one of those cisterns. We even planted a small farm. Yet, when the cold hits at night.

The real troubles came. Creatures that didn't show up during the summer came out. They were more vicious and clever than their summer counterparts.

To the point that we lost two people from the dragon lolis. Not surprising as they sort of took this as a vacation with me on overwatch.

Which is ironic because Jessica and I were held up by a very big gorilla. Even in my dragon forms I was utterly suppressed and struggling to keep myself from dying.

I say was, yet it is still trying to kill me. We have been fighting for three days. It's underlings bullying mine with numbers. Yet, the true test was whether one of us was one over the other.

That is the difference in our power compared to the next up.

My body rolled over the bastard fist, my foot and tail slammed into its head. Followed by a phantom tail strike. The move was strong and sat the gorilla down, causing it to be dazed. Yet, a second in the fight wasn't enough to end the game at our level. Its body still followed through with instincts, it still blocked my dragon claw technique.

The only difference between before and now was that it had a new wound which added up to the other wounds. While I had many crack scales and internal injuries.

We went head to head again. Like many times after we recover chi, we spammed our best techniques.

Phantom steps into dragon tail slam into dragon palm. Followed by a spin and moonlight sword.

The moment we ran out of mana and went to passively fighting. Trying to heal and recover quickly, the battle on the ground level went into a pause. Both sides often stop to watch our crazy spam session before starting back up.

However, neither side moved as the gorilla swayed while staring at me. We were both injured severely enough. Yet, it dealt me blunt damage while I put out sharp damage. Its lifeblood was flowing out from multiple body wounds. Its arms had wounds stacked to the bone.

I think it is almost finished. Raking in a solid breath, I pulled the moonlight back into a sword and I slashed at the next gorilla. Its arms tried to rise, it tried to take a step back, yet it collapsed to its knees. My swing adjusted and sliced through its neck. Not sending the head flying or even taking it off. It just helped the blood flow out faster.

A roar wanted to come out of my heart but I stifled that shit. There were a bunch of small timers trying to capitalize on their numbers.

Later that night, I was lazing in a tub. My entire body felt so much like someone trampled me. Considering I piss out blood, that could tell you everything.

Tori walked into my hut and I raised an eyebrow.

"It has been three months and I can respect your decision but I need to vent."

I shrugged, "my girl doesn't want me sleeping around."

Tori rolled her eyes as she took off her clothes. "Well funny thing is, lily doesn't mind me being one of the three women. So.."

Oh, she talked lily. Damn, she is evil.

However, I didn't get up because I couldn't. But it didn't stop her from worsening a few of my internal injuries by pressing into my chest as she rode me.

I had to admit as a man, I couldn't take it anymore. I pushed her arms off my chest.

"Stop using me as a fucking arm rest!" I snapped.

Tori didn't look apologetic at all as she grabbed the rim and threw that ass back. When she was done, she grabbed her clothes like we had an issue.

"You are slipping. This wasn't the best fuck at all."

You want a good dick from a man who went toe to toe with King Kong?

"Let me ask you a question. Do you realize this might be why your husband doesn't fuck with you anymore?"

I spit blood into a wooden barrel as I stepped out of the tub. Tori's face actually looked like I hit her with a low blow.

"Are you going to go there?"

"Says that person who just said my dick was trashed, when I didn't even want to fuck to begin with."

"That doesn't mean you…"

"You might not understand but you don't seem to get it. I like you and your aggressive personality is cool sometimes but I just went toe to toe with king kong and won. My body isn't thinking about sex but how stupid I was. Do you think I am going to be on my game but you had to say my game is trash. Bro, get out of here with that stupid shit."

Tori blinked a few times and looked like she wanted to apologize as I struggled to crawl into bed in a way that didn't hurt.

Like a goddamn dumbass she walked out without further words. My eyes barely closed when Jessica and Tinashe came in laughing like best friends.

"Are we going back? With your wounds and our achievements, we have enough experience." Jessica said as she poke my chest.

"Is it that hard to last six months?"

"No but what is the point? Everybody is already on the path of creating techniques. Several of them can equate to tier two spells in area destructiveness. Only you and Edward have anything over tier four but the rest just don't have the chi to handle those."

"Fine, when I fully healing, we can head back

Before then, everybody started mining the caves." I closed my eyes and nourished my injuries with nature's vitality and light's nourishment which sped up my natural healing.

The next three days were peaceful. Yet when I walked out into the sunlight with a hint of Winter's breaths. I could sense a kind of weird feeling. It only took me looking at Edward in shorts by a ring to know what was up.

I was injured and he saw his chance to be king.

"Lonnie, I'm glad you can join us…"

I pointed at his lovely little mage who was only slightly overweight with a long ass. That didn't mean she was bad looking through. Just not outstanding compared to some of the others.

"It's fine if you want to challenge me but you have to put something on the line. Her and your half of the casino. What do you say?"

Edward froze, he didn't seem as confident. He looked at the girl who I knew was his wife. She gave him a confident nod and he sighs and takes a step forward.

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"Okay, I accept. Get in the ring." Edward jumped in and showed off his pecs.

I chuckled and hopped into the ring. We circle each other and I saw an opening called like to talk too much.

Phantom steps!

I appeared at his side and my fist whipped right into his jaw as it opened to spit out words. His poor posture sent him stumbling and I met his arms with my leg.

Upon seeing him at least blocking now, I stepped back and smirked.

He rubbed his jaw and made the same mistake. That talking shit like this is WWE or some kind of drama.

Two real life illusions appeared beside him and he went to block the high right. My leg came low from the front. His feet lifted up as I spun off the impact and sent a heel into his chest. His stupid ass hit the hard ring and bounce twice.

Shaking my head, I pulled the sunlight into a sword and casually swung it. Sword beam shot forward in crescent.

Edward flipped backward and barely dodged the first but not the next two which opened up his chest.

I felt disappointed. I knew his standards and he wasn't bad. It is just that he relied on the crowd hype. Thinking I would be kind enough to allow him to speak right now. This wasn't some spar where a minor bet was the only loss.

"Surrender?" I asked while attacking.

He had conjured his own chi sword but his wounds limited his movement. And I was casually showing off my ability to abuse morons.

Edward gritted his teeth and jumped out the ring. He did apologize to his wife as he was attended to by the dragon Lolita.

I respect him for that and I turned to look at the crowd. "We leave in four days. Let's get all the ore we can before then."

I ignored my prize and headed to the mine, conjuring a pickaxe. We put in work that made me proud to be a shifter.

Later that night, I sat on my bed while eating. My eyes hadn't been on Edward's wife but I could feel the nervousness radiating off her like heat from the stove.

"You know I respect your husband's balls. To challenge someone several sizes bigger than him is amazing. Yet, he picked a perfect time." I dropped the plate on the table.

My eyes finally landed on the Hispanic. I patted the bed beside me as evil rose up in my heart. The desire to take something from another man was almost as delicious as killing the man himself.

Mrs. Lopez sat on my bed, her hands clenched tightly together in her lap.

"Yet, your husband has a huge issue. He relies too much on showboating. It's fine during normal things but when you have your life on the line. The life of your wife and business, you should show some signs of seriousness."

I took off my shorts and stood up in bed beside her. One of my hands ran through her thick, shiny black hair while the other held me up to her mouth.

"Go ahead." I shook it in front of her. "Show me why he loves you and I'll let you go the moment we leave. If you are lackluster then I can only put you on display like a trophy."

Mm, you can probably guess what went through my mind. I wanted to make her limp back to her husband smelling like me. On top of that, leave him with an obvious reminder that I am king for a reason.

***

When I got back, I found piles of notes on my desk. Clips and clips of a mage family's son acting up. So I did the right thing. I called up a few boys and we headed out. Drove in black jeeps with a desire in our hearts.

I had to admit that the mages had an excellent barrier but Jessica tore it down in a second flat. I marched on through and kicked in the door a little too hard. It exploded inwards, tiny shards stabbing into everything.

A couple plain ass warriors ran up with scorpions. I lashed out with sword beams and walked on through the blood that painted the walls.

"I can't believe we walked away for a little bit and they dare try this shit." Edward murmured as went into the living room.

I stomped upstairs and smiled at the young buck that stumbled out his room in confusion. A sheet dragging behind him.

I grabbed him by the back of the neck as I lifted him straight up. It took one peek in to see that the situation was just like I expected. There is something that even I couldn't approve of and this was it.

Sighing, I dragged him downstairs and dropped him into a chair. He looks shit scared but not completely desperate yet. Maybe he was expecting his dad to save him.

Edward came back in with blood on his hands. "I found some disturbing shit."

The others had that same look like they couldn't believe this kind of shit was actually happening. I grabbed the entire set of kitchen knives and walked back to my guest of honor.

"I guess you thought this was your house. You can do whatever you want, get away with whatever you want, that movie type of shit." I searched the dresser for a knife sharpener.

I heard some very hurried footsteps. Edward lips curled up, he had a six year old daughter and this shit probably set him right off. His boys surrounded mr. Bright and led them inside. Just the aura of hatred that came off them made me want to run. Much less this guy in his fancy suit.

Sometimes you had to take things to a certain level of brutality. Had to let people know that you had that in you. That you could bring that at the drop of a hat. This was one of those moments that I was ready to showcase my ruthlessness.

"I already told you that I didn't want this kind of shit on my streets." I grabbed a random knife and began sharpening it.

"Dad, I didn't do anything wrong. They all came willingly." The sick bastard said with a straight face.

Mr. Bright didn't even look at his son, he just followed Edward to look at the evidence. When he came back down, he had an obvious concern in the depth of his lips.

"I don't need you to say anything. It isn't like I didn't warn you. It isn't like you can't see that we, shifters, run this place. Yet, you failed to reign in this child of yours." I stabbed the sharp steak knife down to test the sharpness.

It bounced off a bone and I pulled it up to see that the blade wasn't chipped. I grabbed the wound and began flaying the leg. The kid screamed and pushed against me. Punched at me and even tried to run. Which all made the cut sloppy. The serrated edge was already terrible for this kind of thing and adding in the movement.. just wasn't right.

Just to teach him a solid lesson, I flayed his leg to the bones. Then I randomly picked another blade and began sharpening it.

"Honestly, I have never done this kind of shit before. I was merely a street thug gone clean. I shot my enemies head to head. Stabbed them and watched the light vanish from their eyes." I kicked the boy back to the chair. Two guys helped him in it and I know it had to piss him off as he was close to crawling to his father. The man who was clenching his fist so hard that pink flesh was turning red.

I got to work on the other leg as the boy screamed and cursed. He actually had the strength to curse me for an evil death. When I finished with that leg, I stood up and began washing my hands.

"The art of leaving a message isn't really the torture itself. It is all about what happens after the torture is over. See.." I walked to one of the dead warriors and picked up his scorpion. "The torture is just to remind the boss that we are coming." I put a round in the boy's head and turned to mr. Bright.

"His death and screams are just for you. I wanted to see your anger and helplessness. I wanted to see how you would react deep in your heart. Now I know." I tossed the gun aside and yanked on the shadows.

A blade of shadows formed in my hand and Mr. Bright summon a barrier. Jessica's hand snapped out and the spell that melted his barrier. I sliced off mr. Bright arms at the shoulder. He brought up another shield but the same thing happened and I laughed as his last arm fell.

"Honest, I had high hopes for you. An actual rival but your son is such a waste of air. I would never allow my child to become such a cancer to me." I cut off his head and he died with better dignity than his son did.

I walked outside to see a woman holding a girl in her arms. Maybe someone else would spare them but not me. The girl had such a prime resemblance to her father. Probably who he was really training to take over. After all, she was a tier three mage.

Jessica waved her hand before I even made it over. Several life-like serpents pounce on the two, tore right through the meager barrier and turned them into ashes. Ashes that just became more dirt on the ground.

"Cambria, I need you to come work with Remy and establish a binding contract."

"Yes, sir."

I slipped into the car, "by the way, how is your daughter doing? I heard that she joined the Remy team and became a tier 3 mage."

"Yes, she is researching a better seed that can reduce world hunger."

"That is noble of her. Okay, I have to go. I have some sordid business to handle."

I hung up and got out after we pulled up a brown brick house. Just like the last house we rushed in.

Oh wait a minute, the fat fuck was sitting in the living room with having dinner. Smiling, I picked up his little four year old daughter and passed her to Jessica.

"What do you want?" The man sat on the edge of the seat as he looked between me and his daughter.

"You have a child, fam. A four year old daughter and yet you actually helped that kid do that to those girls." I looked at the wife who was a looker.

I picked up the silver hand gun and checked the cartridge. "I don't think you understand how sick that boy was but what he did. It made my stomach crawl. I don't think I can look at myself in the mirror from now on. How about you, Ed?"

Edward growled, "I don't think I can sleep at night. How am I going to look at my daughter and not see that shit. Not imagine what kind of shit we let into our community." He opened his mouth but he couldn't even continue.

I walked around and sat on the table. Sat right between him and his wife. "Honestly, I understand why you did what you did. The girls were basically orphans. They wouldn't have had anybody to protect them. Shit, they were little better than burdens." I waved the gun between the two as I got started.

The man raised his hands, "I didn't know what he was going to do with those girls. I just know that if I don't support his son, he would do to me what he did to the other guy. I have a daughter. I can't let that happen to her."

I could tell that he wasn't lying. Scared and nervous, hell yeah. Yet, he wasn't lying.

"I believe you but you have to pay for it. However, I am a fair man and I'll let you pick the punishment. You have two daughters and a wife. You have four limbs. You can choose to let me and my boys enjoy your lovely wife here for a few hours and we leave after. Or you can lose a limb. Go ahead and choose."

I motioned for Jessica to take the girl outside to play. His wife turned to her husband, "sacrifice me. You need both of your limbs to cast magic. You are still valuable. What is a little sex compared to that?"

He wasn't valuable at all. I was still going to kill him. I was only curious what kind of choice he would make.

The man did not hesitate to agree with his wife. Which earned him a bullet in the head with a quickness. His wife was too stunned to understand why he was slumping backwards with blood trickling from a hole in the front of his sweaty forehead.

I pump a round into her ass right after. "Have one of the last two groups that hang out with this shit stain. Clean up both houses. If they don't get in line after, we just cut them down as well."

We walked outside to see a pile of ashes. Jessica was hella more ruthless than me but she lived that life while I just played a part. It was like role-playing a thug while she was already neck deep in life that I would never have understood. Today, it showed. No hesitation, no mercy, pulling snake out the grass and the grass roots.

***

Late at night, Iaid wide awake while watching a random TV drama. My hand was rubbing Lily's stomach as I thought about what life would be like for our child. Would it be a boy or girl? Would I have set up the kind of community where she can have play dates? Where is the worst thing? Is she falling on the playground or off a bicycle?

Like sometimes, you have to ask yourself. Is this shit worth it? I know that people will be people but sometimes they go too far. I licked my lips as Lily sat up, she fumbled with the pillows before leaning back comfortably.

"Okay, so what have you rubbing my tummy and sighing a thousand times?" She asked after checking the time.

"Just some disappointment."

"Oh, the mages."

"Yeah, them."

"Then why don't you lay down stricter rules? You and Remy are the strongest here, do anything you do or say will have weight."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not worried about what other people will do. I was just thinking if we would have a boy or girl? What to name her? Who would be her friend since nobody else is pregnant? Maybe I should impregnate some other dragon creature."

Lily eyes went wide before she pursed her lips in that hunger look she gives me before sex. I pulled her on top and my night got a little more exciting.