Lyner was blind to the world outside of his courtyard. He had been drinking and eating with Leyara and Azarinth for the last three hours. And well, Lyner was plastered as were the other two. Leyara was the giggly kind of drunk, Azarinth wanted to go to a bar and start shit, because why not? And Lyner, well he was a little bit different. The alcohol sharpened his senses, he indulged yes, but he never let the haze take over.
Ever since he returned home, there were more than 50 pairs of eyes on him. After showing his strength, those eyes were no longer uncaring but held inside was killing intent. It was a slight slip, but that was all Lyner knew. His instincts and intuition were beyond what could be explained. All it took was a single glance, and he could read an individuals inner thoughts. All it took was a pair of eyes to rest on him for a millisecond too long, Lyner would be able to pick up on it and decipher the thoughts behind that particular gaze.
And this is how he was here now with Leyara and Azarinth, he felt anticipation, excitement and a thrill of not being the prey that he believed others to suspect him of being. It was even so his eyes were tinted red, and if he were made to wait any longer. Lyner would just go and kill every single one of those mother fuckers, killing two birds- no, a hundred or so birds. He would annihilate them and savagely kill them all, to send a warning to his siblings.
His birth mother of Kalaedonic, Azarinth, Leyara were his only family that he shared familial feelings for. The rest to him were no different than dog shit on the bottom of his shoes.
"Big brother, why are you being so serious? Lighten up and have some fun. It's been so long since we've been together. Mother will be thrilled to see you again. She was devastated when you were sent away. For the last 7 years she came here and cleaned everyday hoping for the day you would return." Leyara said as she stood in front of Lyner, with an ale in offer in her left hand, and a drumstick of barbecued mutant beast meat in the right hand.
Lyner took both the offerings with a smile, and then for good measure used his Mana to steal away Leyaras mug downing it, and then his back to back. "You look like you've had enough to drink for the next 3 months Leya, we told you to go easy on the alcohol."
Leyara huffed with enough frustration to lift a mountain range off the ground, then she kicked Lyner right in the shin for good cause. But the expected outcome didn't happen, it was Leyara who started hopping on one foot while holding the other. "Son of a bitch! You and your damn Mana Lyner! It felt like kicking a block of steel!" Leyara cursed and cursed... and cursed... so much so Azarinth sobered up enough to look at her in stunned silence.
"Whoever marries this one better have a fetish for being humiliated. She's got a bigger set of balls than half the boys in the family here." Azarinth sniggered, picturing all the dates Leyara turned down, and for some of the boys that pissed her off. She ended up nailing them into the ground, ripped their pants off and used whatever she had on hand to beat their ass black and blue. Mind you, these situations were more so done to the individuals that always mocked Lyner for his lacking aptitude towards cultivation. Something that Leyara knew was only temporary until her older brother began spreading his wings.
"You two are both a pain in the ass! You're always so secretive and you never tell me anything at all. I'm tired of being left in the dark, I'm tired of feeling like I'm not good enough to know what you both have planned! It pisses me off you treat me like a little girl who can't defend herself, or who doesn't know right from wrong! I'm not some sheltered clans or families princess. I've killed more beasts to grow in power than 85% of the pathetic men in this family. Stop leaving me in the dark!" Leyaras eyes were red and tear stained at the edges and then she pointed at Azarinth with so much hate it shocked him. "I expected Lyner to hide things from me. But I did not expect to find out you became a Lieutenant in the Flower Of Seven Sins when I was out on a mission and your underlings nearly killed me. I did not expect you of all people who advocated to Lyner to let me face danger to grow, get cold feet and baby me. I know how you've made people "disappear" I know you both have a hidden agenda. I'm not a goddamn child!" Leyara was shouting at the top of her lungs by this point. "If we are family you wouldn't hide such things from me. Instead you would let me help plan for the logistics to lessen the risk you would face. I've seen how you've come home nearly dead Azarinth. I can't lose either of you. You're all I have in this world!"
Leyara stomped towards the door in a complete huff, she was not having any of that bullshit Lyner and Azarinth was saying to try and placate her.
Lyners heart thumped thrice in rapid succession, and the pit of his stomach felt as if he was on the Ring Of Fire ride being left at the top in suspension upside down. Not even considering the implications of why, all Lyner knew was his instincts just hit overdrive. Before his mind could even initiate, or begin to give the mental commands to his body, he was already up on his feet. Lyner reappeared beside Leyara, and shoved her out of the way. It hadn't even been a full second since Lyner pushed his younger sister out of the way. A gigantic explosion occurred from the outside of the courtyard door, the molten splinters of wood were controlled by an earthen Dao and pierced into his body. Lyner reacted just barely 2 seconds before the attack came, dodging all the fatal strikes that would limit his combat capability.
Two daggers appeared in Lyners hands, he stabbed out with the right dagger, the assaulter on the outside dodged to the left, where Lyners leg was waiting and tripped the assaulter out from the bottom of his legs. Within his left hand he held a reverse grip on the dagger, stabbing upwards. With the combined downward and upwards momentums, the dagger pierced through the assaulter's forehead effortlessly, piercing through the brain and instantly killing the man before the pain could even be transmitted to his nervous system.
Lyner then tossed the body, which was shortly after impaled by throwing darts, needles and icicles from a high tiered Ice Dao Seed, the foundation of the building was ripped out by an earthen Dao. Outside there was a boundary separating his courtyard from the outside world, and he could tell there was a peak Divine Illusionist Barrier erected. It would take the family guards too long to react, this was a thoroughly planned out assassination mission. There was no time to think, there was no time to commute what his Mana Sphere was relaying to him. Lyner had to keep moving, he felt the aura of a level 125 Cultivator within the midst, and the rest were all between levels 75-100.
There was no doubt he could punch way above his weight class, but this lineup was way beyond what he could cope with. Even with a drunken Azarinth nearby, they wouldn't be able to handle this situation even when not implicated by the influence of alcohol. All that he had on him was his daggers, which made his Sword Dao and 99% of all his skills in a state where they could not be used, the only exception was Mana Blade as he could force it to work through his daggers, but that weakened the overall effect of the skill by 70%.
It was time to nut up or shut up! Back on Earth when the Underworld struck it was never when you were prepared, it was sudden and with a vengeance. You either died or you lived, although this situation was heavily against them. Lyner truly excelled and lived for the rush he felt when things got fubared so far out of his control.
"Azarinth damage control, protect Leyara above all else. This must be set up by my royal bastard of an older brother, their target is me and I will deal with this situation. Do not under any circumstances leave Leyaras side, that's a weakness and it will be used against me. I'll stall for time until somebody notices the commotion here." Lyner ordered whilst bobbing and weaving his way through Dao impowered balls of magic, blades of wind, icicles, earthen spikes, water bullets and the like. These were all common and weaker Daos that only got stronger when evolving into a higher rank than just Dao Seed. But Lyner would not make such a mistake, there was no trashy Daos or Skills. Only trashy users that could not properly bring the strengths out of their Daos and Skills.
"Keep your head above the battle lust Lyner, you cannot afford to lose the control over your body. That is when mistakes are made even if relying on your monstrous instincts and intuition." Azarinth said with some concern in his voice, he was too befuddled and could not fully operate. The best he can do is to keep Leyara out of harms way, he had gone too far into their indulgence of drink. What's more, he did not truly believe that anybody would dare to go after the life of the heir of the Lutherian family. Azarinth was slapping himself mentally, it was with this kind of naiveté that got people killed, if he were still a peak individual of the Multiverse. No that's not a good enough of an excuse, Azarinth knew his edge had dulled far too much since those immemorial times.
"I don't need any of you to protect me! I can fight in any situation and I will not be a detriment. It's not just Lyners issue, we are family and we stand by each other as individuals, through the good and the bad." Leyara said while pulling on Azarinths hand dragging him to the sink in the room, dunking his face and head into the ice cold water. Then Leyara slapped him back and forth. "Get your shit together and wake up already. Your a Lieutenant in the most feared assassination organization, start acting like it. Lyner and I don't need dead weight to hold us back in this fight." Leyara said as she rushed out of the room, leaving behind a humiliated Azarinth bubbling in a seething rage.
"Trillions of years lacking stimuli, and believing myself to be unkillable still has dulled my edge. Since when have I, Azarinth the Blood Eclipse Asura, needed a little girl to talk sense into me? Since when have I let myself fall into such a pathetic state?" Azarinths thoughts raged inside of his mind. His humiliation and rage building as the Heavenly River Demonic Art started surging at a heaven defying speed.
"Me? Deadweight? So useless a 15 year old brat dares to disrespect me? So useless that I am only good enough for guard duty? NEVER!"
A holy-demonic aura exploded out from Azarinths body, it was white-black tinged with a chaotic purple flame burning inside. The reinforced wooden floor boards with an Empyreal strengthening formation cracked under Azarinths feet. Shooting out of the room in a comet of rage.
"Fuck playing the role of an assassin! Tonight everybody dies!" Azarinths fury clouded his mind, he had gotten comfortable and desensitized from life in the Multiverse. His edge was dulled, and his heart wavered. When the explosion first happened, he felt fear and trepidation. His first intention was to.. escape to the shadows and wait out this situation. Azarinth felt disgusted with himself, it was then he realized all the missions he'd taken in the Flower Of Seven Sins were all labeled "safe." The risk of death was the lowest of all the possible missions. It was unacceptable, he had fallen so low, so damn low he could still see the disdain in Leyaras eyes as she looked at him.
Blood red bats fluttered out of his body, flying into the sky as they congregated forming a scarlet moon in the night sky. Azarinths eyes turned crimson, and the blood in his body roiled as he felt it heating up in intensity. He had to salvage this situation and fix his Dao Heart, or it would stop him from pushing forward. He would stagnate at the weakest level of Cultivation, never making his return to the Multiverse where he would make the legends of his past deeds resurface.
Azarinth flashed forward, dozens of blood red daggers were summoned and spinned around his body within a 2 meter diameter outside of it. The daggers he could control independently with his soul and spirit power, and also through the activation of his personal talent, Invisible Hands. He could use the hands as an extension of his limbs, fighting multiple individuals at a time as if he was fighting them all at once. All of his attributes were behind Invisible Hands, there was not much in the way of drawbacks of his talent. It just drained his soul and spirit power at a rather brisk pace.
The daggers shot forward, Lyner and Leyara had their backs together as they were exchanging blows, Lyner uppercutted with his elbow into one of the assassins chin, then pulled him in by the excess material of his clothing. Leyara ducked down as the assassin on her side slashed out with his Sword, decapitating his ally. Lyner put his hands together as Leyara used them as an launchpad, he threw his two daggers to her in the air and she slashed out in an X cutting the man into two separate pieces. Leyara then threw the daggers back as Lyner gripped, and then stabbed backwards behind him into another enemies gut all in one swift motion.
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He rolled through the attackers legs, uppercutting him in the ballsack with such force it lifted the poor bastard off his feet. Leyara pounced forward pushing her momentum forward as she skidded across the ground, chopping out with her leg taking the attacker to the side of his head. Then bringing the momentum downwards she smashed the back of her heel into his face. Lyner dashed forward twisting his center of gravity, two fists landing on the assassin who appeared behind Leyara. One fist to his chest, and the other to his abdomen as Lyners Mana exploded forward into small hoola hoop sized rings. The Mana rings hollowed out the mans stomach and chest, his blood and organs draining out like a torrential rain shower.
"Lyner fire, light up the surroundings!" Azarinth appeared and shouted immediately afterwards. Lyner having full trust in Azarinth did as ordered. He fueled his Fire Dao, sending balls of fire out attaching them to the tree branches above them. The flame in the relative darkness lit up the whole area, in which many objects and assassins now had shadows exposed.
"Shadow Lance!" Azarinth fueled his class ability as dozens of lances made out of thick shadow tendrils appeared from the assassins shadows. Piercing into legs, arms, chests, backs, and the eyes of those who were too busy not to pay full attention. The Shadow Lances took many by surprise, but these were all high level individuals, Azarinth was level 25 and had just gotten his class two weeks prior. All of his skills were still low in proficiency, and were not fully able to be combined with the Shadow Dao.
Lyner saw some of the Lances dissolve and then splitting his attention, he used a separate stream of spirit energy to activate his own Shadow Dao, reinforcing the Shadow Lances stability so that no more would dissolve due to shaky Dao and Skill combination.
Lyner was only level four now, and barely had any Qi in his body as he had already used it all up by forcing Mana Blade to activate with the daggers as its base.
Lyner communicated through their Soul link, whilst still exchanging blows and deflecting the more dangerous ones. The ones he could do neither about, he made sure to take the hits in lesser lethal spots that would not handicap his ability. "The leader is at the top of the tree crowns above us. He will not act until he knows for sure has a sure fire kill shot on me. I will use myself to bait him out. You need to use a full powered Twin Blade Harmony to break through his Mana Barrier. I can-"
Azarinth cut him off immediately. "There will be no need for any trickery in this fight. The leader is mine, you take care of the riff raff here with Leyara." Azarinth communicated back, then ran up the tree forming Mana hooks to hook into the branches, using them as a launchpad to accelerate his speed.
"CLANG CLANG CLANG DANG KENG!"
Azarinth acceleration instantly brought him face to face with the leader. Without any ceremony, they began exchanging blows. The leader had attributes 45% higher than Azarinths, but his combat ability left a lot to be desired upon. Azarinth had spared many times in the time dilation space with Lyner, who was a complete monster at finding weakness and taking full advantage of them. Now, Azarinth had to redeem himself and reawaken the sleeping momentum and combat instincts sleeping deep within the core of his being.
Six crimson blades of blood sprung out from Azarinths back, and Azarinth activated his innate berserking ability, Seraphic Liberation. His statuses instantly doubled, his Qi and Mana became chaotic as this body could not yet withstand the pressure of the apex berserking ability. Azarinth was now barely able to trade blow for blow, as the attribute superiority dropped to 27.5% between himself and the assassin leader. Azarinth could now confidently use this battle to awaken his sleeping instincts.
"Blood Moon Eclipse!" The blood moon in the sky intensified as it radiated an palpable aura of blood and killing intent far surpassing that of a Soul Palace realm Cultivator.
"Gate Of Burning Blood!" In the Heavenly River Demonic Art there were a total of 7 gates. Each gate opened acted as a multiplier, increasing the strength of the physical body, the soul, attributes, Mana and Qi. But it also brought upon a tremendous pressure the user had to bare. If Lyner and Azarinth were not careful with the activation of the gates, it could grind their Soul and Soul Space to smithereens. Effectively making them a vegetable, and no different from being dead.
The flesh across Azarinths body split and tore apart, blood exploded out from his body. The bones in his body creaked and groaned with each passing second Burning Blood was activated. Azarinth controlled 3 of his blood daggers to flank the assassin leader causing distraction, while he burst forth with the momentum of a high speed rail train.
Azarinth kicked his leg out three times in quick succession, the assassin leader grabbed him by the foot so he leapt up bringing his knee to connect with the jaw of the leader. But he felt nothing but empty air, twisting his body forcefully in midair, Azarinth crossed his daggers in an X parrying the downwards chop. Azarinth was sent barreling to the ground, the assassin leader followed in pursuit throwing out numerous throwing knives, and charging up for a final attack. Azarinth used his Mana hooks to connect his waist, and the tree as he used it as a base to dodge the throwing knives.
Contracting the Mana hooks and accelerating forward again, Azarinth held his two daggers parallel with each other, they combined to form a destructive Mana Blade three meters long and 1 meter thick. Azarinth ran up the tree activating Seraphic Steps to further increase his speed.
"Twin Blade Harmony!"
"Meteor Impact!"
Azarinth and the assassin leader called out at the same time as their skills collided. The tree was cut apart down the middle, the errant winds of the skills impact further chopped it down into twigs, making numerous pits and scars in the ground destroying the courtyard and the house altogether.
Azarinth and the assassin leader were stuck in a struggle of confrontation, neither user and skill was able to break through the other. Six scarlet blades condensed behind Azarinths back, pushing out all the remnant Qi in his body. Azarinth used his wings as a transfer to further power the Twin Blade Harmony. With that last bit of help, he broke through the assassin leaders skill, piercing through the middle of his ribcage and going through his back.
The leader, unwilling to go out without fatally wounding Azarinth, wielded his long sword with one hand and slashed down with all his remaining might. Azarinth felt hesitant momentarily at the ruthlessness of the assassin leader, but he pushed it down and fought on. Azarinth burned his blood as it turned into scarlet flames, elongating the daggers into a twin pair of crimson blades.
Azarinth crossed the blades, his eyes increasing in red intensity, greenish black aura intermixed with the blood energy. Behind him a six armed Asura appeared wielding various daggers and swords. Azarinth deflected the last ditch effort of the leader, crouching down and using the crimson wings as a pad. Azarinth shot forward, appearing behind the assassin leader. A flash of crimson light flashed across the leaders neck, then the blood energy increased in intensity as the crimson flames burned the leader into a pile of ash.
The energy in Azarinths body collapsed as the weakness of berserking skills, and opening the Gate Of Burning Blood stacked upon that. The bones in Azarinths body snapped and shattered, as he was currently unable to rouse any energy to deactivate it.
Lyner killed off as many as he could, while keeping some attention on the process of Azarinths fight. Seeing Azarinth plummet powerlessly without the ability to close the second gate, Lyner burst forward with all the speed he could manage, while blowing Leyara a distance away from the remaining assassins with his Mana.
Catching Azarinth like a sack of potatoes in his arms, Lyner pushed his Mana into his brothers body, finding the open gate just above Azarinths heart. Lyner had to be precise and decisive to close the gate without injuring Azarinths heart.
Lyners Mana formed complicated formations, and then moved onto rewriting the sigils to subdue and control the Gate Of Burning Blood. After closing it without causing any more damage to Azarinths internal system, Azarinth let out a sigh of relief as the pressure on his body disappeared. "Good hustle brother, I didn't know you had that kind of ruthlessness and determination in you. Being a pure assassin doesn't fit you, that was a stellar performance." Lyner complimented sincerely.
Putting Azarinth into a hiding spot and activating his Shadow Dao to hide his aura, Lyner returned to the fight below. There were not many enemies alive, Leyara was completely spent, Azarinth was down and out for the count. Lyner himself had long been running on empty, it was only through sheer will power he was able to keep himself going. Until there were no more enemies, his body would not stop moving. But this itself was dangerous, his Qi, Dao and Mana energies had been burnt and overdrawn upon. All that remained behind was his life essence, overdrawing upon something that could destroy foundations and lead to death.
Steeling his heart to activate the third gate, it would give him the instantaneous burst in power he'd need to get the job done. The barrier surrounding his compound was shattered by the family guard captain, and orders were issued aloud.
"Secure the young masters compound, bring the three siblings to safety. Retrieve the corpses and capture the assailants alive. They need to be alive to give information of who hired and instructed them to attack the young master."
Lyner coughed gently as he appeared out of the shadow of the guard captain. "Getting all of the crucial things may be important, this guy is already long dead." Lyner took out the decapitated head of the assassin leader. "This is also his personal belongings and spatial ring. I've already unlocked all the contents and debugged the traps left on the high priority items." Lyner said as he tossed the spatial ring over to the family guard captain.
The guard captain stood in utter shock, the young master standing before him was always at the top of the power scale in the younger generation. Even with his lacking ability to Cultivate, one could still level up through endless slaughter, one could still gain power through enlightenment and the Dao. It would just take a lot longer, and be much harder to improve the foundations of a non Cultivator to let them pass through into the Soul Flame realm and beyond. It wasn't impossible, but it would take tremendous wealth, a monumental amount of resources and natural treasures.
And yet it was that very same young master standing in front of him with minor to a few nasty wounds. His aura was stabilizing at a rapid speed beyond belief, not only that the young master looked dissatisfied and uninterested with the fight that took place. While standing there looking Lyner in the eyes, Achille felt like he was standing in the midst of a primordial beast. The hair across his body stood on end, he could almost feel his foundations pledge fealty. Which meant only one thing, the young master had to have a high tiered Soul Flame Foundation, in the Foundation Building stages. And if that was true, the Lutherian family had truly shit the bed. The familial bridge had long been burnt.
Achille clapped Lyner on the shoulders and spoke on with appraisal and concern. "You siblings are truly monsters hiding inside of human skin. I pray one day your blades will not be pointed at the Lutherians. I understand the young master has come back to reclaim your honor and pride. I hope it does not go beyond redeeming what you lost, they are still family at the end of the day. Many people stood in opposition of the family leader sending you off. Many of which were exiled and are still held in prison. Not everybody in this family is like your siblings or share your fathers belief. Please only stake your revenge on those who deserve it, and leave the innocent alone. The Lutherian family provides shelter, food and pay for many people. Do not take that away from those who did not wrong you."
Looking away, Achille left more orders for his men. "Repair the surrounding topography, rebuild the young masters' home and bring the Empyrean formations elder. The mistress has already given orders and is personally on her way over. Do not forget who pays your salaries and treats you as an equal!"
"Yes captain!" The family guards saluted and then began their work. They were not slow, nor were they fast. The guards worked with such smooth momentum they were like a well oiled machine. Lyner was already having thoughts of yoinking some family guards, then his internal thoughts were interrupted by a womens voice and embrace.
"Lyner my son, you have finally come back home! You've become a fine young man." Leneth, Lyners mom had pulled him into a warm hug. Lyner could feel the wetness of tears on his shoulders. It momentarily shaked his belief, but it did nothing to erase the deep seated hatred, anger, rage and fury he pushed deep down into a pot.
Lyner stayed quiet for a long moment, but he relented. Leneth never did any wrong to him, and had gone behind his fathers back numerous times to send resources to Harmony Village. When it was Lyners birthday, Leneth had sent a card every year in detail about Azarinth, Leyara, and her sadness over not having control of what happened back then. It was true, Leneth had cleaned his compound personally every day. And many times had stayed all night, cooking hot and fresh food every night in hopes her son would return. Leneth had wasted hundreds of thousands worth of gold coins on spoiled food. But that did not matter to her, her heart ached and was torn apart after losing Lyner.
Lyner covered Leneths hands with his own much bigger and calloused hands after many years of Blacksmithing. "I'm back mother, there is no more need to cry. Thank you for all you have done for me over the years, even if it displeased him."
Leneth hugged Lyner tighter and cried even more. Her son's voice was soft when talking to her. But when it came to his father, Lyners voice carried a palpable and ruthlessness a son should never hold toward their father. "I'm so happy you've come back my son. I waited for so long and dreamed every night, one day you'd come back home and we could all be a family again. Do not worry about your other siblings or father. Your mother will take care of everything."
Lyner knew what he would say next was going to devastate Leneth, but it had to be said. "That's why I have come back home. I have not come back to become a part of the family. I have come back to utterly stomp my generation into the ground. I will break their pride, I will stomp all my siblings down beneath me until it forms heart demons. There are few people I have any familial love for, the most I can promise is I will not kill anybody during the family competition." Lyner said with a ruthless decisiveness.
The expected shock and sadness Lyner expected did not happen, but it did shock him nonetheless. "You do what you need to do to fully awaken your Emperor Cultivation Manual. I will stand by your choices and support you no matter what my son. For years your father has treated me as nothing more than a pretty trinket to keep by his side. If it means you ruin his ambitions and destroy the younger generations' momentum. Do what must be done, at the end of the day, you three are my children by birth and blood. The rest have always suppressed us. I have built my own faction in the dark, it will be brought to the light sooner than later. By then we will be fully prepared and ready for what's to come." Leneth said with a cold and bloodthirsty desire that craved to watch the Lutherian family burn down to the ground.
Then she turned Lyner around and that ruthlessness was gone, all that remained was a smile and loving nature he had known of his mother. "Come, let's let the family elders deal with this. Let us four go and feast on barbecued pork buns and hotpot. It's my treat tonight." Leneth said while dragging Lyner by the hand, grabbed Leyara and then found her way to the still hidden Azarinth. She popped a pill down his throat, and a green light lit up her palm as all of Azarinths wounds and backlash was instantly healed. Azarinth woke up in shock to see Leneth, Leyara and Lyner practically being dragged by Leneth.
"Barbecued pork buns and hotpot." Is all Leneth said. Azarinths stomach growled with a clear affirmation to the statement, and then they disappeared and were soon later sitting at a table, with enough food to feed a small army troop of 1,000 people.
"Let's eat!" The four of them said at the same time, and then the biggest battle of the millennium began. A hidden Demigod was fighting with 3 Foundation Building stage children over who could eat the most.