Chapter 44: Vassals
“What did you just say, base!?”
A brash, muscle brained youth shook off his companion’s grip and furiously walked over to Zan.
“Conrad!”
Gayle panicked and she lunged forward in urgency to bring the bumbling buffoon back. In the next moment however, her eyes widened as she quickly found out she was too late.
The group looked at Zan, stunned at the scene they were looking at. With but one arm, he lifted the tall, brawny youth off the ground. A steel-grip gray hand was wrapped around his throat, locking his movements and the air in his lungs. Watching the strongest member of their group subdued so quickly and so easily brought many of the unseasoned, untested youths to descend into panic and nervous agitation.
Unfortunately, one of the members of the group lost all of his composure, and haphazardly activated his bloodline to attack Zan. From the open palms of the negligible youth, a small fireball manifested and flew towards his target.
Perhaps a normal human, or even a mutated novice would have to take the incoming attack with some caution but Zan did not. When it hit his beefy gray shoulder, it was supposed to burst into a spread of flames all over his arm and body. It was supposed to cling on to his skin and flesh and burn his very life force away.
Instead when it hit his shoulder it simply faded away. No, it was more fair to say his shoulder absorbed the flaming energy like a ravenous creature.
Zan continued to hold Conrad in a death grip but suddenly he shifted his gaze towards the fireball thrower. In a single moment his glowing red eye pierced through the windows of the soul and brought the perpetrator to his knees. The boy’s chest locked in fear and he struggled to breathe.
At the same time Zan strengthened his grip. He was not threatening to choke Conrad to death anymore, but instead show them that he could break his neck on the spot.
Gayle's mind raced. Numerous courses of action cluttered her mind. Ideas such as starting battle, running away, and simply begging for mercy exploded in her head and she struggled to make a decision. In the end however, there was but only one choice.
“Please, let him live. Let us live.”
A glowing red eye looked down on her from above while her companions watched their proud, bright leader they admired, kneel towards the ground on both knees. Placing her hands and even her head on the dirty floor, she pleaded for mercy.
“Please…”
“...Oh?”
The dominator walked towards the prostrating girl, one arm still raising the sack of meat in the air.
“Raise your head.”
Gayle lifted her face from the ground but she did not dare to look up.
With his other hand, the tyrant lifted her chin upwards to meet his oppressive gaze.
“Would you have let me live if I was weaker?”
Gayle's eyes opened wide. She knew the answer in her head and it was of course, a resounding no. If not for the threat of total annihilation of her group, she would have not rushed here. Not for the fate of a single base human. While she pitied them— perhaps even sympathized with their circumstances, she did not care enough to save each and every one she met.
In both disappointment and shame, she started to look down towards the ground again. Well…Gayle tried to. The powerful hand of the one before her would not let her avert her gaze.
Steel-like muscles bulged, and every part of the arm that was currently killing her companion, ballooned in size. Gayle prepared herself to watch Conrad die…but the moment never came. Despite the demonic strength in those arms that could snap Conrad in half, not to mention easily break his neck…none of that power was directly applied.
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Zan relaxed his body and his muscles deflated. Gayle, who did not even know she was holding her breath, breathed out a deep sigh of relief.
In the next moment however, the demon’s arm suddenly turned into a blur, the sack of meat he was holding, turning into a blur also.
BOOM!
Conrad's body flew like an arrow into the remains of the metal beast, slamming hard into the black steel.
Gayle's companions were stunned but their leader kept her composure, even choosing to bow her head towards the ground again.
“Thank you for letting him live.”
“Hmph.”
Zan had controlled his strength. Conrad was not dead, although…he was on the verge of dying. Most if not all his bones were broken, some even piercing his lungs and organs. But, he’ll live. As long as this demon lets him…
Gayle looked up at Zan once again, as if asking for permission.
“Go.”
The owl eyed girl bowed her head once again, and signaled one of her companions to take care of the broken youth before he actually does die.
“Ummm…”
“May I speak?”
“What the hell? You’re speaking right now aren’t you?”
The girl’s face turned red in embarrassment but she proceeded to ask her question regardless.
“May I ask…who you are?”
“My name is Zan.”
“Ah, of course…”
“Are you from the fog lands?”
“The fog lands? What is that?”
“I see…you’re not from there.”
“Why do you think I’d be from there, owl girl?”
‘Owl girl…’
“Umm well, your arms and legs match their appearances.”
“Are you perhaps one of their princes?”
“So what if I am?”
Zan lied through his teeth.
The girl bowed her head down to the ground once again.
“I deeply apologize for the lack of respect! I will never let this happen again!”
She slammed her head on the ground, her forehead lightly bleeding.
“Fuck. You know I was just kidding right?”
“...”
The group looked at them both, stunned. Gayle meanwhile, wanted nothing more than to end her life because of the deep embarrassment.
“My turn.”
“Who are you?”
Gayle looked to her companions, then to the convoy miles behind her. There wasn’t really anything to hide, but she felt that she needed to acknowledge them before she revealed their identities. Zan meanwhile was also observing the group of youths.
Two of the five individuals not counting Gayle still seemed unconvinced at the sequence of events. The manner to which they conducted themselves, the tiny movements in their body language, told Zan all he needed to know.
It was as if they were saying, “We could take him as a group if we just tried!”
Gayle’s ears perked and she turned around to face Zan only to gaze at empty air. She swung her head back to look behind her and there he was, holding the same individuals up in the air by the neck.
The two grasped at his hands to try and pry his fingers from their neck, all the while swinging their legs in a pathetic attempt to shake Zan’s balance. The demon stayed dead still despite it.
“You really think you weaklings could take me on?”
The owl eyed leader bowed her towards the stone floor once again.
“Please…”
“You’re fuckin annoying me. Why don’t you try and fight?”
“The outcome would be clear.”
“You never try to defy the odds?”
“Only when there’s a chance to do so.”
“...”
“Whatever.”
Zan let go of the individuals and they plopped towards the ground breathless, choking on the air and spit they tried to inhale.
“Who are you?”
“...I am Gayle, from the Greenfire colonial lands of the millennium empire of Agni. The one you threw, was Conrad, an individual from a distant branch of the main bloodlines of the royal draconic lineages. The one who threw a fireball at you, was Jasul, a fireborne commoner from the—”
“I don’t care.”
“Why are you weaklings going towards the slave city?”
“Gayle we can’t tell hi—”
“For opportunity!”
“The draconic lineages, they have a tradition not to use the main powers of their family. They must fight tooth and nail for every opportunity they can find, to ascend in status and power within the nobility. The purity of soulfire contest ends when all bow to one.”
“What’s that got to do with you?”
“Nobility, commoners, peasants and even some lucky slaves might be taken under the wing of a royal descendant. And…there are widespread rumors that four royal bloods are in the same place, competing for a core at the level of prime. Many other powers are coming, and we wish to…support our prince and princesses.”
“You’re all quite weak. Can you even do anything?”
“...We aren’t weak.”
“I just threw you around like a bunch of ragdolls.”
“That’s because…you are strong.”
“People with power at our age are very strong, at least for our background.”
Zan let out a steam of air out of his nostrils.
“How strong are some of you then?”
“I am a highly advanced Adept, and my physical abilities generally are valued at Enhanced.”
Gayle did not lie, but the amount of things she hid through not fully revealing her abilities was enough to lead Zan into thinking she was much weaker than she was. She also did not share that her most powerful abilities were not combat related…
“Conrad is barely an adept, but his talent and purity of draconic blood grants him to barely pass through Strengthened in terms of physical ability. Strengthened is a huge milestone for any individual who cultivates their body. It shows an elite among the elite.”
“So what level am I to you, then?”
“...I have not seen your energy manipulation.”
“Your physical abilities…I can assume are at Inhuman, but I haven’t seen more than your scuffle with Conrad.”
“Hmm…”
Zan pondered in thought for a time, before Gayle voiced another question.
“May I ask…will you be letting us go?”