The Water Tyrant extinguished the flames and chuckled lightly, as the fire was only a hot bath and not an incendiary bomb.
The Fire Sovereign lit up her fire wings in warning.
"Okay, fine! I'll pay a seamstress, to make you a new robe. Sheesh. It was an accident!" Pef exclaimed in a hurt voice, as healing the singed skin will take hours.
The Sovereign glanced at her hand again, then turned off the wings. A finger was a small cost to win a fight with another Sovereign. And she didn't want to provoke this idiot Tyrant to hit her for real. Seeing that adept get split open had been quite scary.
"You need to take her measures, husband. Although, perhaps not in public..." the oracle said in a fake whisper.
Saren sighed at his suicidal nephew's antics, and searched below for a mansion with a kitchen. A quick qi pulse later, he and his wife dove towards the ground at speed, and the Sovereign followed after them.
"So, same song and dance then?" Pef asked, while admiring the one kilometer long crater left by his skill in the inner city. It wasn't nearly as amazing as the Yellow Tear canyon back home, but it was a good start.
"We'll have to kill half the people here, Pef. About 40 percent, in fact. All men over 12 years old." the oracle said in a sad tone, while her skill estimated the devirginators numbers.
"Huh, my mom was right once again. All men are bad..." the young hero mused, glancing at Xie with worried eyes.
'Can't we indoctrinate, at least some of them?' he asked his glove, a bit appalled at the incoming massacre.
'Dubious. This Locust is really strange. Almost like he's not a Tier 1 god, but an avatar of someone's stronger, like Xia could be.'the glove replied with its new upgrades. It would need a hundred more heavenly strikes to return to full capability, but some things were clearer already.
'Got it. Rivers of blood it is.' Pef muttered back, although his jaws were clenched in anger.
"Aria, you can take care of the women, and prevent the men from retaliating, if you want." Pef said softly, taking out a Tyrant ranked wing from his glove compartment.
Xia followed suit, and dove towards the city below. The Tyrant followed the scary wife, and soon they began butchering the locals with mere touches of their feathers.
Lia sighed and went to hug Aria as she sobbed.
"It would take them weeks at this rate. Wood spikes and sun beams would make less mess, and then we can just burn the bodies." she whispered in her green hair, as panicked screams emerged from the city.
"Yeah, you are right, sister. It just breaks my heart." Aria answered with a pained voice.
"It will get even worse, Aria. Our husband has started the war, and we're not ready. We had 1 percent chance to survive, today." the oracle said gently, then began gathering sunlight, like a ball of pulsating energy between her palms.
Like sunlight rays through thick clouds, beams of light began piercing the sky, snuffing out bad men or merey infected ones. Thousands died in seconds, then more and more, until all men caught in the open were dead, and half a million men trembled inside their houses or mansions, and prayed to their Locust god for help.
But Locust wasn't the helping kind. He used these pawns to gain energy himself, and wouldn't spend a gram of divine power to prop up a lost cause. His own messenger was wounded while maintaining the Nine Breaths Circle barrier around Myrrth.
He would need a hundred virgins just to heal it, and thousands to recreate a mortal shell for its half-divine soul.
Aria floated through the city, her wood domain set on automatic, detecting men and flinging wood spikes through their necks or brain. Cultivators wouldn't be harmed by mere wood, but then Pef and Xie and Lia were still around, hunting.
As the morning came, large pyres were set all around or in big gardens inside the city, burning the dead bodies of all men.
Lady Yuan Ji came to help with that task, her holy fire supposedly purifying the corruption and freeing the men souls from Locust's grasp.
Needless to say, the survivors weren't very pleased at being left without husbands or children, most of them.
Only some were happy to escape the tyranny of Locust cult, and their incessant search for virgins.
Often the first female child born to a household was taken by her own father to a temple, and never seen again. Sometimes the second girl too.
The boys were taken to the temple as well, at the age of 12, and returned changed, more cruel and sadistic, but their mothers loved them nonetheless.
Pef called a hundred of the more realistic women to be Awakened by his glove, 90 of them for a week and 10 of the more promising ones for a month.
'I could send Xie with a transport of orphans and women to Jovis, and import some men. Maybe even former Myrrth locals.' Pef mused while watching a large pyre burn a thousand dead men at once.
'Indeed. Do that for a month, and this city might recover a little.' the glove answered in a flat tone. It didn't see the worth of this failed city anyway.
"Xie, my love. Want to fly to Jovis with some widows and kids?" he asked softly, as his wife was not faring very well right now.
"I think I'd like that. This place creeps me out..." the purple haired Tyrant answered with a shudder.
That morning, Xie flew off with 50 kids and 50 widows on board the Anaconda One, and the Fire Disciples watched the airship in surprise.
"I never knew the glove had such a large storage." Saren whispered while hugging his wife. The woman looked much better now, a bit stronger and less pale.
Pef patted her hand for a health update. 'Teria Meng Xi, age 43 thousands. Volcanic Fire Ardent, 3 meridians open. Projected lifespan barring new rank or accidents, 7000 years more.'
"Aunt Teria, my wife Jian is a Fire Disciple too. But with the Xi method, she will never get sick, and will become a Tyrant in years not millenia. But you, just eating an unwashed fruit, or touching a poisonous critter, and you might sick again." He told the old woman in a kind voice.
"But I won't hear god again. For me is not worth it." The Fire Ardent answered with a head shake.
Pef smiled gently and sighed. "Don't be silly auntie. Ask Volcanis, if he can talk to Jian even now. Sure, my glove can suppress your link, but doesn't have to."
Saren glanced at his Tyrant nephew in surprise. He had tamed the glove spirit somehow, making it do what he wanted.
The golden aura woman approached them at a slow walk, and held a finger towards the gloved hand. A neo knife emerged and sliced a tiny cut on her finger, then hid back inside the glove.
The strange woman then continued walking without a word, still deep in thought.
Saren looked at Pef's face, but the young man didn't seem to care, apparently used to the strange encounter.
"That can't be Patriarch's knife. So it's the cursed one. Only seems tamed, a little..." the Fire Tyrant observed in a surprised tone. Everyone who tried to use that broken knife had died, but this boy seemed fine.
"So, I'd need some more pills. Red and Black. In exchange for your wife's new rank and immunity to disease" the weird nephew demanded instead, just as Teria returned from her communion with the Fire god.
Saren glanced at his wife in surprise, but she just nodded with some confusion.
The Lady Ignited arrived next to the fire just then, and growled at Pef for some reason.
"What did you do, idiot Xi?" she asked with an angry voice.
Pef ignored her, taking a few steps and holding his left hand right in the fire. While it wasn't fire qi, the heat was strong enough to evaporate meat and calcinate bones.
After a minute the young Tyrant returned with a raised eyebrow, holding a tiny fire sprite in his palm.
The Fire Sovereign replied by opening her own left palm, to present an identical sprite.
"I guess it was a marriage ring after all." Pef answered airly, then flew up with an angry Sovereign after him. His sprite folded to become a flame like tattoo in his left palm.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Husband, there's a pain inside my soul, like..." Saren's wife whispered in a surprised gasp.
The outcast Xi Tyrant cursed loudly, then picked his wife up and flew to their room, to guard and care for her while she awakened again.
"Damn that boy! He should have asked!" Saren yelled while wiping a tear from his wife's face.
"I love you Saren, but you're a moron, just like he is. He did ask me, didn't he? It was my choice in the end." his old wife whispered with a pained laugh.
"And Volcanis agreed with this? Really?" Saren asked in a confused tone.
"Your nephew is Ignited now. Now make me some tea and shut up!" the suffering wife demanded with a growl.
Saren nodded and set up a small tea brewing set on the table, emptied a leather water pouch in the green jade teapot, and began using his fire qi to boil the leaves.
He wasn't happy at being outplayed by a 20 years old youngling, even if he was a Xi, a Tyrant rank and now an Ignited.
In his mind, he counted the ingredients for Red pills he worked so hard to gather just to have a reserve in case the Patriarch asked for another tribute. Plus the Black pill herbs, for which he and Lady Yuan had to brave hundreds of wild beasts and evil men on this cursed continent.
Meanwhile, high above the city of Myrrth, Pef was being strangled by an unexpected new wife.
"Take back your ring! I don't want a husband!" Lady Yuan pleaded in a desperate voice.
Pef leaned into her hand and hugged the firm body of the Ignited Disciple.
"Never! I'd be refusing a gift from Volcanis. Anyway, it's only a name, Lady Yuan Xi. There's nothing forcing you or me to perform lustful acts, nor can we. I'm a mere Tyrant, after all." the young man explained in a calm tone, while gently wiping a few tears from the virgin's face.
The 350 thousand years old virgin stopped a little, to consider the words. Slowly a bit of hope emerged, and she calmed down. "Hah, you're right! Your little thing would break, haha. Phew, I was so worried for nothing..." she replied, exhaling heavily in relief.
Pef tried to squeeze her round posterior, but found that shape to hard to mold with his hand, like caressing a warm diamond. "Still, daily hugs are compulsory for all my wives. And kisses for big favors!" The man laid out the rules, as they always worked great til now.
"Hmpf! I might break you in half if I hug you, young Tyrant. As for favors, who will ever ask for favors from you!" the Sovereign declared proudly, convinced her so called marriage was a mere test of faith.
He smiled kindly, convinced the day would come. It always did, after all.
The month passed a bit slowly after this, with Yuan acting up every day, but slowly getting used to hugs for the delicious meals, Aria needing more grief counseling and building new homes for the poorest families, while Saren guarded his wife and barely came out at all from their room.
Pef and Lia focused on creating a civilized city in Myrrth, with new schools and trades, while Xie did daily rounds with the airship to Jovis, to import single men and export single women.
But after the month passed, Saren and Teria emerged from their cocoon much happier, as their love began again, stronger and manifested.
Then the alchemist grudgingly began crafting the promised pills, and Pef and his wives all cleansed their third meridian, even Lady Yuan, while Aria and Lia received a Red pill as well.
Pef even extorted two more Red Meridian and Black Meridian pills for his golden aura wives back home.
There just weren't enough ingredients for everyone, but he knew he had to nurture the golden auras in particular. In time, or perhaps when he got stronger, there will be more such amazing pills. But Lara and Lin would benefit the most, and help in the final fight as well.
Then it came the time to leave, and Pef took Saren aside. "Uncle, you and auntie should visit old Deng. He is dying, you know." he said softly, but not mincing words. The Patriarch was dying, even if not right away.
"Huh, it was about time. I'll be free from his damn tribute now..." Saren Xi replied, not appearing upset at all.
Pef poked the defector in the forehead. "You may lie to me, but don't lie to yourself, idiot uncle. Go say goodbye, like a filial son. And introduce your wife too. Teria's a Xi now, isn't she?" the nephew muttered loudly then walked away, and bounced off his statuesque wife, which was right behind him for some reason.
"Hey Yuan, my firebird! Didn't see you, for some reason. You've grown prettier and even more delicious !" he observed with a wide grin, then stepped aside and continued walking away, proud of his profound words.
The Lady Ignited forcefully restrained a punishing firestorm, and closed the door with a soft touch.
Fire qi swirled around the room, and then she turned towards Saren.
"What will you do, Ardent?" she asked in a wary voice.
"What are you doing, Lady Ignited? My nephew is like, 10 thousand times younger than you..." the Ardent asked a bit confused. He wasn't sure how old the Ignited was, but she had to be at least as old as the Patriarch.
"Nothing I can do, Saren. God commands and I obey. But if the Xi Patriarch is dying..." she mused out loud. Yuan wasn't that worried about the sham marriage. And the daily hugs weren't hurting or anything. Just payment for her young husband delicious meals, is all.
Saren nodded in concert. "Billions might die on Blue Xi, just like half a million did, here in Myrrth. There are the Arachne spiders which we failed to contain, plus those Niruan golems...in a hundred years, humanity may become extinct." the Fire Ardent said in a wary voice.
Yuan Xi sighed with a pained heart. At least Teria was back, and much stronger now. She may even reach Sovereign rank in a decade. Her holy fire wings were not manifested yet, but a hazy outline could be seen by her Sovereign senses.
In a month, Teria had grown from a sick and dying mid ranked Tyrant, to a healthy peak Tyrant, just like her husband.
They were the hope of the Fire Circle now, to ascend to the next rank and carry the torch, should another apocalypse happen, like before, when Yuan was a child, fleeing from beasts and monsters.
War between gods always impacted mankind even harder, and Blue Xi was the juiciest target of them all.
And their great defensive Wall won't be of help from the real weapons gods prefered to use, tiny animals plagues or changes in weather, or insidious mind parasites, mockeries of a godly comunion, like it happened here in Myrrth.
Her husband did well to burn these poor and cursed men, but he was about to leave, and sometime soon, another infected will come, and start this all over.
Yuan sighed again, trying to imagine her life among a harem of Xi wives, who might hate and despise her. Although these three she had met seemed more amused at her, than hateful, like a huge joke was being played without her knowledge.
Which was impossible. With her powers she would know. She was almost certain of it.
An hour later, Pef gathered his four wives, and set off back home, his Roaming over for a while. He promised himself to come back, and continue his work with Black Magma continent until he civilized all the cities.
Saren and Teria Xi left towards the Red Dew Continent, a few years earlier that they expected.
A week later, Pef arrived on the Saint continent with only three wives, as Yuan was getting bored and annoying and thus was sent ahead at hyperspeed.
Rumours about the crazy Tyrant returning set the Empire into a fit, especially as his new Sovereign ranked wife sped from place to place and interrogated people at random.
She stopped in Stoneport for a day, to meet the Volcanic Fire disciples, and rest in some peace.
Even these low ranked disciples asked incessantly about her husband and when is he coming to cook again.
His exploits were legends on the continent, and the newly upgraded Guardians were proof of that reputation.
So she flew at speed to meet the rest of the family at Smithtown. What Yuan didn't expect when she did meet them was hugs. All the hugs. Even attempts at kissing.
But she should have. The other wives were just as eager to hug and pet her, just like Pef was.
That man had brainwashed 10 women to use hugs instead of words. Yuan began fearing for her soul.