Luc took full advantage. "Flight forward march." As one the group began marching forward toward the group of enemies who stood silent at my revelation. Taking one synchronized step forward, banging their spears into the shield, then another step. Then another.

Ramos glared at me. Threw up a hand and launched a black lance of energy at me. The man's features withered noticeably telling me he had used his life force to launch the spell.

Ray of death

necromancy spell. Lifeforce given up to deal high amounts of damage to an enemy.

I scoffed. Necromancy again. Did he not get Lord of the underworld. I held up my left hand. I knew My Lord status would reduce the damage, and my signet ring would further reduce it. It would do well for my reputation to make a show of it.

The spell hit and it hurt. Hurt, hurt. Worse than getting shot, but not as much as when Hades blessed me. Black veins erupted from my left hand. I could feel the necromancy flowing through me and I knew instinctively that if it reached my heart I'd be done.

But I could Feel the negative energy. Feel the entropy, and I could direct it with my will. Using my own affinity for the necromantic arts I guided the spell up over my shoulders around my scapula and out my right hand through the spear launching the lance back at Ramos who stared on in horrified shick.

Unfortunately one of the men in his charge jumped in the way, taking the spell full in the chest.

The man shriveled up, veins blackening. And his skin dried out and sucked in. A horrid mummy of crisscrossing black veins. Until he crumbled and then turned into glittering blue sparks. Leaving another signet ring and a belt on the ground, the only proof he had existed.

The rest of the men collected Ramos and began fleeing to a couple of panel vans across the street.

I leaned heavily on the spear. My veins still black along the trail I had pulled the spell through my body. A red bar popped up in the corner of my vision blinking at thirty percent. I was unsure how much of that was from fighting the son and the spell from the father.

As I watched it ticked down to twenty nine percent. "Shit. Luc I need Kate ASAP please." I yelled. Vision blackening. "Twenty eight percent and dropping." I started pumping my mana into my healing. Again the skill Iwas instinctive and easy to do was breathing to me somehow even though i hadn't used it before. But I didn't have much mana left either. I could feel I was halting the damage but not healing it.

"What the fuck was that?" Kelly berated me.

"Winning the fight." I shrugged. "And setting up to avoid the next one."

"You won't win shit if you are dead." She yelled at me.

"Fix now, berate later." I said reaching into my shadow space to pull out the spell cards I'd bought with Kate in mind. A heal, a heal over time, and a cleanse spell.

Then slapped my hand down and summoned Titan. Wanting the comfort his goofy, furry face brought. I sat down leaning on his furry bulk. He was easily able to support my huge frame.

Kelly instinctively took a step back from the massive hound gasping in shock as it appeared out of no where.

"What the hell is that?." A severe voice asked. I looked up to see the golden haired asian staring at Titan, a golden staff held out defensively in front of her, Kate shyly poking her head up from behind her.

"Oh no Liz, Sir Chris is hurt." Said Kate rushing over to me. Pushing out a fist to the mastiff sized doberman "can i try and see what's wrong with him puppy?" She said gently to him.

Titans sniffed her hand and whimpered turning to snuffle at my hair, and lick my face.

"Awe he loves you." She said, smiling brightly. Her hands glowing a light green as she put a hand on my chest. I felt a warm tingling travel through her hand into my chest a look of concentration on her face.

"You never told me you had a pet bear," Thalia said. Eying the big beast that came out of my shadow.

"Oh relax. I'm the bigger monster and i already ate you," I said. Laughing turned into a wrenching cough. "Ouch. Fuck." I wheezed.

"It looks like he has a necromancy spell eating at his life force, kind of like there is entropy essence left over." Kate said a look of concern wrinkling her forehead tears in her sea green eyes. "I can't help though. I only have a diagnosis spell and a warmth spell."

"He brought these for you." Kelly said, handing kate the spell cards.

"These are expensive, I can't take them." She said sadly. "What if I mess up and don't learn from them?" She said starting to breathe fast in the beginning of an anxiety attack, a feeling i knew all to well.

I leaned forward and cupped her cherubic face in one hand, forcing her pretty sea green eyes to look into my own deep brown.

"Hey kitty Kate, im going to need you to take a deep breath. I believe in you. Kelly believes in you. Liz believes in you. Most importantly of all. Titan believes in you." The hyper intelligent dog barked once in affirmation, bouncing forward once to lick her face once before returning to support me.

"Ok, ok,ok." She said quietly as she held the first card to her head. It flashed in a searing green light and she gasped. It was kind of adorable.

"One more." She said determinedly. "One more." Again she held the card to her forehead face completely immersed in concentration. Again a flash of green light.

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"Ok, ok, ok." she whispered to herelf, and immediately put a green glowing right hand over my blackened veins, holding the left out to my chest and I felt the immediate release as she pulled the sick black gunk from my veins running a stream of green healing mana through my body and out dragging the inky gunk from me.

"Oh that's nasty." Kelly said. "You took that into you?" She asked derisively.

"Look." I said feeling better almost immediately. "It was their top tier enforcer's best spell. I ate it and sent it back. Psychologically it's a huge hit to their ego."

"Yeah I see that. It was a sound tactical decision, but still lord, some caution would be advised." Luc's deep voice growled. "Kelly, does your mother know you are here?"

Kelly blanched in the way only a busted kid could. "Uhhh.." she started.

"It will be ok." Luc said. "She will understand wanting to help friends." Then reverting back to chief of security. "Circle up. Sanchez, Parlor, retrieve vehicles." He barked at his team.

Kate finally pulled the last of the death gunk from me. It spattered on the ground reeking of, well of death. Then she cast the healing spell and I could see my health bar fill out quickly. I stopped spending my mana on my self healing ability.

"Um, what is your constitution. I can feel that you have a ton of health, and were actively healing the entropy?" She asked quietly.

"Eighteen" I said easily. "I recovered from near death injuries without magic over a dozen times before I was reborn. Next best thing to ritual scarification I'm told." Answering the question. And the question i knew would come next.

"How many of these injuries were gained trying to save people?" Thalia asked.

"Majority. A few were from fighting convicts in a prison, or being jumped outside of work. Corrections officers aren't popular on the streets." I said truthfully.

"Liz are we going to go with them?, they know where we live. Its not safe." Kate asked sadly.

"I would welcome you both in my home as guests until you either decide to work for me, or find other arrangements. I give you my word that i wont try to coerce or force you into any sexual activity." I said seriously.

A blue screen advised me of my oath and that penalties would be severe. And I had a feeling like a lasso roping and tightening around my heart, no not physically my heart, more like my core, or soul. Binding my oath to the two girls.

"Ok." Liz said. Reading the notification with a far away look in her eyes. "What about the spell cards. Does she owe you for that?"

"Uh no." I said blandly. "I just said no coercing, and it was magically enforced by the source of all magic." Here there is another heal over time, and a skill for a Qi user to move faster. No obligations. Just a gift."

"How do I know you don't have the power to change how I view the source, or have a Boon powerful enough to get out of jail free for breaking an oath." She said vehemently

"Christ the chip on your shoulder must be HUGE" I said. "Share profile sheet with Eliza Wu and Kate Ivanov." I said tiredly rubbing my face. As I lay on the ground.

"Um girls he is new. He doesn't know the implications of that!" Kelly blurted out Immediately.

I looked over at Liz's confused face and then up at Kate's deeply blushing face. "Implications?" I asked mildly panicking "what implications?"

"Usually that's a deeply intimate thing. Like wedding vow type stuff." Kelly said abashedly. "I'm sorry no one told you yet."

"Shit im so sorry if I offended you girls." I said, groaning. Nothing I was doing was working out.

"No, it's ok. I appreciate the gesture for what you meant to do. We will accept your offer of hospitality." Liz said tired now that her fire was snuffed out.

"Yes!" Kate exclaimed, pumping her arm. "Sleepover." "I totally want some of that coerced sex though."

"Kate!" Liz exclaimed

"What? you saw that constitution?" She said, grinning wickedly. "I bet that translates to lasting in bed."

"You have no idea." Thalia said, nodding. "Fucking amazing, and he is Kink friendly" she added with a wink at Kate who blushed an even deeper crimson, almost matching her hair.

"Peter! I'm gonna need more Bangs!" I yelled. Groaning internally.

Once i closed my eyes i saw that i had notifications waiting.

New skill.

Necromantic redirection.

You can absorb and redirect a single target necromantic spell that targets you. damage must be low or artificially low.

Congratulations you have killed one John Necrosi with a redirected Necromancy spell.

Boom new skills. But not one I would be using alot any time soon. It hurt quite a bit. Unless the pain was from the first time learning it? Hmm questions for tomorrow. My brain hurts from overusing mana.

Peter pulled the hummer up and we got in. To my surprise Kate draped herself in my lap, cuddled into my chest and promptly fell asleep.

"Well that's cute." Thalia said.

"Yeah she used two spell cards than immediately used a ton of mana to cleanse and heal the Lord." Liz said.

"Jeez, Liz. Just call me Chris." I said. "The Lord stuff is getting tireing." Then looking to kate's sleeping form

"She is so small,'' I said. "How old is she?" I asked nervously. Looking at her pink fluffy crop top hoodie and black lycra leggings with some chibi anime character I vaguely remembered.

"She is 25, don't worry. You won't catch a case." Liz said tiredly. A small genuine smile on her lips. Her own black gym clothing was torn and shredded in some places.

"How about you? Do you need medical attention?" I asked concerned now that i saw the damage to her clothing.

"Nope, I'm good. My QI makes me pretty much indestructible as long as I have some in the tank. Just if you can give us a room together, that would be great. We have been together since I was five and she came to the orphanage I was at." She said then grimaced at her oversharing.

"It doesn't have to be like that." I said sadly. Cuddling the small auburn haired beauty to my chest

"Like what?" She said focusing her usual hard stare at me.

"The hostility." I replied evenly speaking softly so as not to disturb Kate. "I want us to build a team to help mortals and little people of the world of Myths." I said.

"At what cost to them and us?" She stated blandly.

"Uh we serve the lord of everything under the earth. Underworld and wealth." I said confused "we aren't hurting for money. We can do charity work, it's the right thing to do. Like I said, I have no interest in coercing you to do anything you don't want to."

"You mean that dont you?" She said, a new look on her face. Disbelief and hope, Or rather the fear to hope.

"Yes. I know this world has been fucked. Especially here in New Mexico. But I will be different. I don't believe words amount to much. So I will show you with my actions." I said, Determined to be a good Lord.

"She trusts and believes in you." She said gesturing at Kate's sleeping form. "Don't let her down. She can't handle many more let downs."

"I won't" I promised my voice hoarse with the responsibility I took on with those two words.