《Lord of lust》


 Sam Vegal

    In a mid-sized blue white two-story house with a considerably sized backyard, an alarm clock could be heard throughout the house.


    Beep beep beep beep beep beep be- the alarm was suddenly stopped by a hand reaching out from under the blanks on the bed next to the table where it sat. the hand grabbed the clock and threw it out the closed window across the room at great speed breaking through the glass costing the clock most of its momentum and started to fall where it a black cat the size of a bobcat that let out a very angry and annoyed hiss at the window.


    "Sam, stop throwing your alarm clocks out the window that''s the eighth one this week and the third time you have hit that cat I do not want to be sue again" a woman in her fortis scream from down the stairs.


    "Yes, mom " the teen in the bed now named Sam, full name Samuel vegal shouted back from under his covers reluctantly remove his arm from under his cozy blankets towards the the bedside table to grab his holo-bracelet, a silver band at a third-inch thick and covering most of his wrist when he wore it. Activating it he pulled up his classes for the day and was glad when he saw that he only had three but the feeling was turned to dust when he was that together they lasted all day. Groaning he threw the blanket off him revealing an 18-year-old with a swimmers build and light skin, getting off the bed ran his hand through his short dark and sorta messy hair and open his emerald green eyes to the world.


    After stretching out his body to rid himself of the remain desire to crawl back in to his bed Sam went over to his to his room door to grab the outfit hang off of it, the outfit was his school uniform it consisted of a dark blue button up with red accents plus there matching pants with the schools emblem patch on the upper left breast. Throwing the uniform over his arm sam opened the door and walked out the door intending to head towards the bathroom only to run into his dad walking up the stairs who looked dead on his feet more than usual.


    "Hey dad you are up late for work," Sam asked concerned for his father''s state.


    Letting out a tired sigh his father replied in a voice that only made Sam more worried " actually sam I''m just getting back from work and now I have to prepare for your mother and I trip."


    Shaking his head "dad don''t worry I don''t think mom will be upset preparing for you she knows how much your boss has it out for you so I think you can go take a nap unless you plan to nap during your trip, so what do you think will make her more upset?" Sam asked though it was not really a question they both knew the answer clearly because something similar happened before.


    Shaking his head and not saying anything knowing his son was right Mr.vegal just walked down to the room he shared to get as much sleep as he could, back with Sam he smiled at his victory before going to his shower.


    Exiting the bathroom sam made a quick stop at his room to toss in the grey gym short he slept in into his hamper well on the hamper.


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    Descending the stairs he made to the kitchen to make himself a plate of the food his mother cooked which consists of some sky nut waffles and synthetic bacon an eggs with a glass of freshly squeezed explosive orange juice.


    Sitting down at the table sam grabbed the honey maple syrup and poured it over his waffle. As he dug in he could tell that the sky nuts were fresh which caught him by surprise, but he like surprises of any kind.


    Sky nuts were named for a few reasons one was that they were sky blue/white when they were ripe, two they were light and airy with a sharp tang that hit you like a bolt of lightning, three and the biggest was that the grew on trees flying high in the and their flight paths were almost impossible to predict, which made picking a labor comparable to Hercules''s own.


    So for his mother to make waffles fresh one was shocking and made him really curious what her job was because he knows that''s where she got them from, but he promised not to ask and wait for the day that they would tell him.


    When he was almost done with the waffles his mother spoke up from across the table where she was reading a holo paper for the morning news.


    "So how are the waffles," she asked with a smirk as Sam tried to fit the last waffle into his mouth whole, "pretty good I guess then" her son nodded "so what are your plans for today?"


    Only after swallowing the last of his waffles and drinking a bit of juice did he speak " not much only three classes but they last the whole school day so I won''t be able to see you and dad off at the airport" mostly succeeding in hiding how he would not be able to them for next three months or so.


    It is fine you can see us when we get back and it not like we won''t call, besides school is important and Sam remember the rules, while me and your father are a wayyou can have no more than three guests over a once, all door and windows, must be closed at sundown, make sure you check on the Farwell couples kid and house at least once a week, make sure you ¡­. At this point, sam drowned her knowing already made a list that she planned to stick to the refrigerator.


    After finishing his meal and placing the plate in the sick sam leaned against the counter while he drank the rest of his juice only to almost choke when he was the time was 9:42 which meant he literally had to leave now or he would miss the train while he did have was of making it to school on time without it but they were either very draining or would get him in trouble with the law again. So drowning the little juice left in his cup sam rushed out the door but not before saying goodbye to his mother dashing full speed down the street in the direction of the hovertrain station.


    Sam arrived before the train docked in the station if only barely. While he tried to catch his breath sam entered the train and drooped into one of the seats. By the time he got his breathing mostly under control another teen around his age sat in the seat next to him this teen was 6''1 pale skin grey eyes brown and skinny, the kind of skinny that got him worried looks and had grandmother trying to feed every chance they got, this teen was Daniel Lost and he was Sam''s best friend.


    "I can tell from your breathing" Daniel spoke with his hand on his chin like a detective " that you were once again in a rush to catch the train because you either refused to get up this morning or you took your time eating, so which is it?


    In response, Sam punched him in the arm and answered: " a bit of both really."


    "One more question what did your alarm clock hit today?" he was clearly teasing his friend.


    "A cat"


    "Another cat!?''


    "No the same one, she was really mad".


    "I can imagine your mother was," Daniel said trying not to laugh.


    "No I mean the cat she was really mad that I hit her again." the resigned way that Sam had said it was the final straw for Daniel as he broke out in laughter getting him a few unhappy looks from the other passengers.


    Sam just frowned and laid back in his chair as the train took off from the station.


    In the back of the train car a divine beauty was glaring heatedly at Sam, "so this is the one," she spoke with a voice like honey and silk " the one she considered worthy to succeed her, this foolish mortal this child, as she spoke her tone became angrier but she took a deep breath to calm down "it matters not what I feel I must follow my lords orders I must observe him and then start his trial."


    Back with Sam, he was ignoring the looks he was getting even the one that was much more intense than the others.


    {are you ready to hear more of this lord''s story, well I will make sure to tell it to you all.}

 The Renaissance Academy

    As the hovertrain flew through the sky the passengers could see the beauty that was the city, alpha star city.


    Alpha star is located on the biggest island of the cluster island a group of star-shaped island that formed 400 hundred tears after the rift opened. The islands possessed a large number of resources the biggest was magic herbs. Magic herbs were plants that held incredible power hidden inside of them. That power can be released by an alchemist, in the begin those who used the plants could only release a fraction of that power until Vegratel Noyorth a boy who was able to create the method needed to release the true power of the herbs and that deed granted him many titles the first alchemist, the alchemist god, a monster in human skin, to name a few.


    As the islands were the largest gathering of magic herbs on the planet at the time Vergratel built himself a small house so that he could live here and put all of his focus in to studying herb and there uses in alchemy, but as he was vital to the progression of the world and the best and only alchemist many people came to his home in attempts to sway him too there side and request potions, pills, etc... and as time passed other people decided to build there own house when they realized that vegratel was stubborn as a diamond was hard. As more people moved to the island they built farms, store, entertainment spots, many things that caused a couple of small houses to grow into a village which grew into a city that over the hundred thousands of years it became the city that exists today.


    In the current alpha star city, there are three main powers besides the mayor. One of those powers was the renaissance academy the best and biggest school on the island it accepted all kinds of student it did not matter where one came from, where they planned to go, there beliefs, there skin, there gender, their age, there character all that matter was that you wished to learn to grow to become something. The school employed many teachers, guest lecturers, and other of the sort none were less than people of great skill or knowledge. they came from all over the world with many different teaching styles. The school also offered all kind of resources and opportunities for the student, so that the those who graduated could and would become someone above average just how above average they become is truly up to them when they leave the school. This is where Sam And Daniel were headed this morning, they were both first years and as first years they were required to take all the basic classes math history English science, gym, mana theory, herbology, zoology. Next year they would begin taking classes that would align with their interest and the two years after that would be class that they need for their chosen path in life and then they would graduate and who knows what after that.


    As the train pulled into the school''s station Sam, Daniel, several other student and faculty got up from there seat and left the train and headed to the school building, the school was a four-story multi-building campus. The main building was mostly lecture halls and small classrooms with the gym right behind it, the building to the right was where more explosive subject was learned the one behind that was for storage of equipment of all kinds, the three-story building to the right of the main was the library where their thousands of books on all kinds of subject both hard and digital. format. And the two-story building behind the library was just for clubrooms there were a lot of clubs at this school. The hovertrain station was located in front of the main building.


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    Stopping in front of the main building the two friends waved and split up Sam had a lecture and Daniel was headed to the library for his self-study, but before Sam entered the building Daniel called out to him.


    "By the way night owl you forgot your socks and shoes...again" Daniel shouted before he dashed away laughing.


    Hearing his friends statement he looked down to that what he was saying was indeed true he had forgotten his socks and shoe again a habit he developed when he was around seven years old, then again where he was living at the time wearing shoes was a weird thing so there was that, but he really never really put any effort to break that habit. So ignoring the looks he was getting from others and the embarrassment he felt Sam walked down the halls to room... He forgot the room number, actually he didn''t really check the number or what the class was, pulling up his schedule and checking over it he felt the urge to bang his head, he had history with Mr. dream, his real name was Mr.drazx but because he was able to put anyone who heard his lectures to the land of dreams he earned his nickname, the strangest thing though was that even though no has ever stayed awake for more than halfway through his lectures no one has got a bad grade and they could recall what the lecture was on pretty well.


    "Great not only did I forget my shoe but I forgot my pillow" Sam groaned his neck was going to hurt when the class was over.


    A short while later he arrived at room 2l3, a lecture hall type room, but before he could enter the room he was pushed onto the floor by Bratt chase, Bratt was the top athlete and second richest student in the school he was golden blond hair cold blue eyes stood at 6''0 his figure had compact but powerful muscles. He currently was wearing the school uniform with the uniform shoe a pair of sneakers that matched the color scheme the school had going for the uniform.


    "Make way for Queen Samantha, loser" Bratt growled


    Ah yes, Samantha was the ''Queen'' of the school Samantha was a nickname where it came from sam had no clue but he did know that her real name was Veronica winter. She was considered the most beautiful girl in the school and she was without a doubt the richest, it was just to bad that she was also a complete and utter bitch that was where her second nickname queen bitch came from. So with silky silver hair, piercing silver eyes, 5''7 slim figure and ample chest rosy skin, wearing a uniform shirt that was half a size small and unbuttoned enough to give you a peek at her bra matching skirt that barely fit dress code and matching inch high heels she entered the class looking at everyone as if they were bugs and Bratt following like the lovesick puppy he was.


    "What a great way to start the last day of school" Sam grumbled as he got off the floor and entered the class just before the bell ringed.

 History

    "Good morning class" Mr.Drea-Mr.Draxz greeted after all the student had taken their seats, Sam had taken a seat in the front row. Mr.Draxz is a tall well built, dark-skinned, short dark curly haired, 6''0 55 years old. As mentioned earlier Mr.draxz was known as Mr.dream because he could send anyone who heard his lectures to sleep and he was actually quite proud of that fact, even now as he walked into you could see the pride in his step, the smile on his face, the light in his eyes.


    "Now class, since today is the last school day of this year I thought today''s lesson should be something simple so we are going to review how the tear was created and how it affected our world. At that many of the student started to place pillows on their desk, some pulled out blankets, others just laid back in their seats generally even was making themselves comfortable.


    Outside hidden in the shadow of a tree the beautiful lady from the train is watching the class, right now her brow is creased in anger at how Sam had put his head down.


    "He''s not even taking his studies seriously this only show how unworthy he is" she declared somewhat ignoring the fact that the other students were appearing to do the same thing.


    After everyone was done with there preparations Mr.dream began his lecture, "Around four thousand years or so ago a country had started experimenting with spatial movement tech, the trails were going we and they almost had something to show to the entire world for all their hard work when they were sabotaged by spies who were intent on stealing the tech and weaponizing it but when they tried to escape the scientist activated the lock and trapped every one inside, in a last ditch effort the spies tried to use the spatial movement tech" the entire time he was talking his tone and voice became blander, dry, stale, deadly boring.


    At this point several students were out cold but Mr.dream was unbothered and kept going, "but they had no idea how to use and one of they just smacked it which turned it on but not to do what it was built for the machine detonated destroying the building and the hundred acres around in the wake of the explosion was a tear in space and time, the event was a disaster that causes many deaths and led to many more," at this point more than half the class, Sam was still slightly awake because he had trouble sleeping, to begin with, the beaut outside was only half awake leaning against the tree.


    "The immediate effects of the tear opening kill hundreds everywhere it was chaos, people thought that it was the end of the world then things got weird, a new form of power flooded our world from tear changing it forever.


    The energy that was later named mana had caused the planet to grow 5 times in size, causing many new landmasses to form at incredible speeds.


    After a couple hundred of years had passed the earth had ceased changing but the things that lived on it had started to transform at first was planted some didn''t change too much, others change greatly, but were still safe, other be dangers to even look at, and then were whole new kinds of plants were born there were like nothing that was seen before.


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    Then less than two hundred years afterward animals started to rapidly change, some grew in size, other gain abilities, some changed in mind, some changed in body, some became some that before then only lived in myth. When the animal''s transformation had slowed down to a snail''s pace they turned their attention toward the human race. And so began the worst war the world had ever seen, for over two hundred years the animal now called Evo-beast had laid waste to the human race the city''s they built, though they were at a disadvantage the human at the time were able to hold there ground if only by a hairs breath in a few key locations and prevent their extinction but they live horribly in constant fear, constant hunger, dirty, sick, weak".


    At this time all the student and the lady hiding in the trees had peacefully arrived at the land of dreams but the look on their faces showed that they weren''t dreaming anything pleasant.


    "But everything changed when Dr.Miles Power devised the method and technology that allows us to use mana the way we do today, the creation of the mana manipulation method called MMM or triple M allowed for the creation of weapons, that immediately proved to be much more usefully than any previous weapon tech which if one was luck they could scratch an Evo-beast.


    with the new weapons created the human race was able to turn the tides of war even the odds, but because of how new the technology was there were many faults and problems that prevented it from advancing enough that we could get the upper hand so the war came to a stalemate and there it stayed for almost a thousand years before Evo-beast underwent another evolution, they became sapient and that was bad news for us or it would be if not for the fact that they were willing to create a peace treaty with us and so was born a fragile peace, very fragile. but with the war done came the next stage of history the rebuilding of what the war destroyed and exploring the changed world.


    this stage of history was filled with chaos in the economic kind, due to the many expeditions taken, the market was flooded by many things, new plants, new foods, new land, new knowledge and many other things that were worth a lot at the time, this was one of the biggest problems at that time so many things to buy not enough money could be printed, so the people of the time decided to switch to digital currency, which lowered the value of money but thankfully they were able to prevent the value from becoming too low and making the market crash and recreate the great depression.


    It took many years for the market to stabilize and even now people are worried about something appearing on the market and putting the economy in danger again and it has almost happened a couple of times before and defiantly happen in some places in our world.


    During the event of that followed the tear many organizations both legal and underground were destroyed and" Before Mr.draxz could continue his lecture the sound of hembra drums being played were released from Mr.draxz holo-ring located on his right ring finger it was the alarm he set in advance every class in case he lost track of time during a lecture so that he could wake up his students and they could have time to really get up and wipe the sleep from their eyes.


    Turning off the alarm he activated a different function on his ring the fog horn function pointing his ring at the class, covering his right ear, thanking the fact that the school had all the rooms soundproofed when it was built he let it rip and the sound of foghorn tore the students from their sleep, to this many students had many different reactions some shot up from there seats, some were so surprised that they fell out of there chairs, one or two students jumped from chairs and took battle stances, one jumped and fell on his behind as for Sam he just looked up before putting his head back down. groaning a bit more Sam got up from his chair and started stretching like the other students were doing, cracking his and rubbing his shoulders and sore neck sam moved his limbs around a bit to get the blood flowing again.


    Plopping back in his chair Sam pulled up a clock on his bracelet "only a few a minutes left before the class ends" he thought to himself before looking out the window and watching the activity in the sky.


    outside the lady from the train was just starting to wake she opened her eyes a crack before closing them again only for them to shoot open before she leaped from where she was laying against a tree "what a powerful man to put me to sleep when I was only reading his lips what kind of power does he possess?!"

 mana & runes

    he school bell rang out letting all know that class was over and caused the halls to be flooded with bodies as they tried to move to there next class.


    back in the lecture hall with mr.draxz, the teacher could be seen standing in front of and glaring out the window more specify the tree that the lady was hiding in earlier.


    letting out a huff the man turned around and walked back to his desk. steeping behind his desk Mr.draxz lifted his left hand and stared at the glowing symbol in his palm as it faded.


    "So she noticed and desired my tracking rune, mm that ether means she is a very talented young lady or she is not as young as I thought, but what worries me the most is the fact that she is sneaking around the school and that I only noticed her because she was listening to my lecture, how she did that outside a soundproof is impressive, but this also means she is dangerous i must inform my colleagues" then he activated his hollow-ring and enter the group chat that the all the teachers are part of I was made for official announcements but not even twenty-four hours after it''s creation it was consumed by absurd messages, memes, joke, and just plain stupid chaos, but none of them could not deny that it was anything but boring.


    [Sandman]: there is an intruder on campus


    [muscle love]: what where


    [Sandman]: no clue she destroyed the tracking rune I placed on her


    [deathblossom]: this is an emergency someone activate the lockdown


    [livingpower]: no don''t it will cause to much panic wait until the halls are empty and the students are in their class


    [Sandman]: calm down she possess no intent to harm as far as I can tell I think she is observing for now so let us observe her in turn and if she tries anything we will show her what we teachers are capable of, all in agreement


    [muscle love]:agree


    [deathblossom]:agree


    [livingpower]:agree


    [breackdance<3]:agree


    [thing1]:agree


    [thing2]:agree


    [thing3]:agree


    [music<3]:agree


    Mr.dream watching as his fellow teacher agreed to his plan, "hopefully" he thought to himself as he clenched his fist "that nothing happens and nothing goes wrong" he knew that if something did happen and someone was hurt it would be his fault and his alone, allowing himself to relax as student started to enter the room.


    At this time Sam had already arrived at his next class Mana theory with ms.bell. ms.bell is a sweet lady in her thirties with ebony skin, a medium sized afro, light brown eyes, chubby figure, and a warm clear smile. But don''t let that smile fool she could be a very strict and/or fierce teacher when she had to be.


    the classroom was different from most the first thing is that there are no chairs instead there were small rugs for students to sit on, the rugs were from all over the world and many different cultures so there were many different styles and shapes.


    Sam choose a square Egyptian style Anubis themed rug to sit on. After taking his seat sam pulled up his work schedule and blinked a bit in surprise it said that he was off for the next two weeks, which was impossible for a few reasons


    one, they were understaffed


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    Two, his parents spoke to his boss and made sure he would have a shift at least three to four time a week to make sure he would not just sit in the house all break


    Three, his boss was not the kind of person who would allow for his employees to not work for a whole week seeing as he pays them a set amount every seven days unaffected by how much they actually worked.


    Four sam like his job so he took a shift when he had time and was the person to call if you could not make your shift.


    these reasons were why him not being on the schedule was a strange thing. but before he could think about it more the teacher entered the classroom.


    "Good morning class" she called out grabbing the students attention, "now all of you set down your devices the lesson is beginning" there was not much point in her saying that everyone''s devices were already put away not because they were afraid she was going to take it no what she did was much worse she would have you project what you were doing on the hollow board in front of the class and it would stay there all day letting everyone know your business, this made all students put away their tech without her saying anything.


    "ok class since today is the last day before break so today we are going to do something simple, I am going to teach you a fairly simple rune the plant growth rune ¦Ê¦Á¦Ë¦Ë¦É¦Å¦Ñ¦Ã?." as she spoke she pressed a button on her desk and the word appeared on Holloscreen with the pronunciation under it.


    Ms.bell gave her students a couple of moments to read and try their hand at speaking it but during this time she noticed one of her beads on her bracelet was faintly glowing, raising her right arm to get a closer look at it, the bracelet was a simple silver band with more ten thirty multi-colored glass beads it didn''t look like much and didn''t draw much attention which was why she used it.


    Normally teacher would not be able to wear a bracelet like this a work or any kind of jewelry/accessory. Mostly because they were a safety hazard which was true when you were dealing with teens especially when they were learning how to use mana which tends to get really out of hand like it has many times this year. but there was an exception to this rule if the accessory served a purpose like Ms.bell bracelet did each gem on her bracelet has a permanently active rune engraved in it.


    the one that had shined was ¦Å¦Ð?¦Ã¦Í¦Ø¦Ò¦Ç the awareness rune using this rune on could be alerted to thing that they needed or wanted to be aware of. for example, the rune was currently alerting Ms.bell that someone was watching her class.


    Ms.bells face hardens for a second before it returned to her usual sun-like smile. "now class this rune help accelerate the growth of all forms of plant life very useful for those who garden or have other kinds of plant related hobbies. but I must warn you that when you use this rune that you have to be careful how much power you use or there will be dangerous and weird side effects.


    "Now then let me show you how you would write this rune" as she said this she pulled out her writer glove out of her pocket.


    A writer glove was a glove that covered the middle, pointer finger and palm only, the glove was woven from magic cotton. Magic cotton was a cotton plant that had absorbed a certain amount of mana and even though the appearance of the plant had not changed at all it''s properties could not be more different, the fabric made from this cotton was twice a durable and had great mana conductivity. The mana conductivity was the reason that most writer gloves were made with magic cotton because the main purpose of the gloves was to help with the writing of runes.


    Runes were like. like a. well the easy way to explain it was to say that runes were the langue of mana and using them you could ask mana to help you in some way, well that was the explanation given to children but everyone understood it there were complicated ones but let''s save them for another time.


    Even though people used rune in their daily life there was still an amount of danger that came with them, the most dangerous time is when writing them. There are many things that can happen while writing a rune, like for example, it could explode in your face, you could get mana burns, it backfires which is different from an explosion and depends on the rune but are usually worse than the rune exploding.


    Putting on the glove on her left hand Ms.bell used her pointer and middle finger to slowly draw the rune in the air for all her class to see, after finishing the rune she let it hang in the air as she put a small potted fern from under the desk, using her gloved hand she grabbed the floating rune and formed a fist then pushing a bit of mana into it causing a light green glow to emerge for her fist, opening said fist revealed a small bead sized ball of green light.


    Tilting her hand Ms.bell let ball fall on to the fern, on contact the ball was absorbed in the fern for a moment nothing happened before the fern gave off a bright light green glow a second before it started to grow at an incredible rate less than a minute it almost tripled in size before the glow faded.


    "Now that my demonstration is over I would like for all of you to start up your rune practice apps and practice the rune if you''re able to achieve ten percent correct on the rune before class if you are free to do whatever you want until the bell rings now," reaching under the desk she pulled out an eye mask " unless the school is about to be hit with a moon, don''t wake me up" putting on the mask she sat in the chair behind the desk and went to sleep.


    Unbothered by this the student followed her instructions opened their apps and started to practice the rune.


    Outside the lady was once again spying on sam from behind a tree "learning such a useless rune, what a waste of time"


    "There is no such thing as a useless rune, only those who lack the creativity to use it''s full power" Ms.bell voice rang out above her. She threw her head back looking up to see a grey transparent humanoid figure sitting on a branch above her.


    "Who are you the lady demanded.


    "I could ask you the same thing but I believe you should answer first seeing as how you are trespassing on school grounds and I work here" her tone dead calm.


    "I will not answer to a being such as you" the lady haughtily spoke before she waved her hand at the figure sitting in the tree, from here hand shoots an unseen force the turned the figure and the branch it was sitting on to dust. Turing her gaze back to the class the lady showed no signs that she just used any kind of power.


    "Would you mind answering my question?" this time Ms.bell spoke from behind her without hesitation the lady spun around swinging her arm once more releasing force that vaporized the new figure and a chunk of the ground.


    "This may be a small complication to my mission" the lady mumbled before she wiped her arm right and destroyed another figure before it could speak


    "What mission?" thirty figures spoke as they materialized around the lady who said nothing but planted her feet on the ground and snapping her fingers sending a wave of unseen power the destroyed all the figures at once.


    "Okay more then a small complication, but it will not stop me from completing the mission my master gave to me" she spoke with a resolve made diamond as she braced herself for more figures to appear and they did.


    "And who might that master be" more than fifty figures appeared and immediately they charged at the lady who snapped her finger again but to her surprise the only got rid of about six of them.


    "What!" she cursed as she dodged a punch from one of the figures.


    "Surprised, you can only blame yourself for looking down at your opponent" one the figure spoke as it stood back watching the other figure attack the lady only for her to deal with them like they were flies, very agile flies.


    Back in the classroom, Sam was practicing the plant growth rune unaware that the fight going outside was because of him.

 part-1 Gym

    By the time class ended no one had made it to ten percent on creating the rune, while the task may seem easy it is anything but. While a rune may look like a simple drawing but in truth it was a very complex mix of precise surface strokes and hidden strokes, to make a rune useable you need to get at least half of the surface strokes right but the chance of something going wrong are high, thankfully the danger could be lower by mastering more of the rune and when one mastered the rune they could release its hidden ability, each rune had one. plus mastering even one rune could get you a job as a rune carver but mastering a rune takes about 3,000 hours of dedicated effort at least unless one was talented with runes.


    Even though the bell had rung Ms.bell had not woken up, so the students quietly left the room as not to wake her.


    Sam walked out of the back door of the main building towards his next class Gym with mr.love.


    mr.love was a 6''3 super tanned 29-year-old with compact muscles rich dark hair and eyes a chiseled face and a kind gentle smile made him desirable to everyone but the man had never gone on a date with anyone hell the man has never even had a hookup or a one night stand this was ironic considering his last name.


    Walking into the boy''s locker room sam went to his locker ignoring the other male changing into their gym clothes entering the rune combination for his locker sam opened it and pulled out a faded plain black t-shirt, an old greyish compression shorts, and just as old light grey gym shorts. Hanging the clothes on his locker door sam began changing but not before using his ability to make sure no one would see things that were none of there business.


    After he finished changing sam folded his uniform and put it in his locker, closing the door and resetting the lock sam left the locker room.


    Only to have to turn back around open the locker again and pull out a pair of black socks and his sliver and grey gym shoes, Putting them on then looked down at himself and made sure he wasn''t forgetting anything this time before exiting the locker room and entering the gym.


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    The gym had an old school look with a bunch of hidden tech in it that allowed it to change depending on what the teacher needed. Currently, the gym was mostly empty with bleacher to Sam''s right and the was in front of him with today''s warmups which consisted of 5 reps of 10 different stretches, five basketball court size laps, then 10 pushups and walking until the teacher called. While sam joined the other students doing the warmups other student entered the classroom including but not limited to Daniel, Samantha, Bratt. seeing them enter the class he had mixed feelings Daniel was his best friend, Samantha and Bratt he disliked them greatly. But Mr.love taught self-defense/combat class which meant that there was a chance he was going to have to fight them Samantha and Brett good, daniel bad. The only thing Sam could do was hope he was lucky¡­. "Well, shit," he thought.


    "Alright those done with their warmup sit on the bleachers if you like" Mr.love''s silk-like voice rung out another reason he was so liked. Sam did not hesitate to take a seat he may be in great shape for his age but that did not mean that he would not be lazy if, given the chance, a couple of other students took a seat along with sam.


    Laying back sam closed his eyes, let his hearing level and focused on the hearts of those around him, this was a just a daily exercise for him and a great way to calm down so he just laid their listing to the beat of other people''s hearts until a heartbeat he knew well made its way towards him. Sitting up and opening his eyes sam cheerful greeted his out of breath and sweaty friend who glared at him probably because he was barely sweating and had already regained his breath. Daniel lay on the bleacher and tried to catch his breath but he only had to five minutes before the teacher called the class attention.


    "Okay class today like all your teacher I thought we could do something simple, that is why today we are going to have a combat tournament, one on one matches you win you move, on you lose your out of the tournament, simply right" the class gave various means of response some just groaned.


    "Okay, now I am going to give everyone a number, remember it" the teacher then started calling out names and a number sam got the number 8, Daniel got 9. After every student had a number Mr.love touched his hollow necklace and changed the gym making six small sparring circles appear "I will now innocence the matches and point to their circle move to it when you hear your number now 1 vs 24, 23 vs 2, 22 vs 3, 4 vs 21, 5 vs 20, 6 vs 19. Now to your circle and let the battles begin"


    "Well, this will be interesting" Sam thought his attention on 4 vs 21 that was because of number 4'' fighting technique which was the same as someone from his past, someone who he cared for greatly.

 Part-2 fight

    All the combatants took their stances and waited to Mr.love to begin the matches. Number 4 was a girl a little on the higher side of average weight. She had ivory skin and black braid neck length hair that was died blue in several places, her eyes were brown and her nails had sky blue nail polish on them she was currently wearing a sports pale pink tank top, tights, and sneakers.


    When the single was given she rushed forward and threw out a kick at her opponents legs trying to destroy their balance but they easily step backward of the range of the strike, this was soon revealed to be a mistake as number four before her opponent could regain his balance she shot forward and planted her elbow in his ribs then she grabbed his right wrist with her left and as Sam was familiar with this fighting style and seen this girl battle many times before he knew the battle was decided. The style that number 4 used was one of control. One of the ways the study did this it through body contact to restrict the movement of there opponent once this was done they could break the body and spirit mostly the body and she did this scarcely well.


    Pulling her opponent towards her she struck his stomach with her knee the using her other hand she pulled his head down to another knee strike that causes blood to drip from his nose.


    She then grabbed his shoulders and using him as leverage she leaped off the ground to plant both her feet in his stomach letting go of him she used him as a springboard and leaped back to the edge of sparing circle the moment he feet hit the ground she charged forward full body tackled him out of the ring ending the match.


    Walking over to him she checked on him and see if she was to rough on him, that was something Sam never got the style was so violent and vicious but the users of it were quite kind and gentle people, very strange considering that most people learned a style that matches their personality in some.


    Looking at the other matches he could that they were still underway 24 was winning against 1, 2 and 23 were at a stalemate, 3 had 22 pinned to the ground, 5 had just been thrown out of the ring by 20, and 19 was currently sitting 6''s back wait for the match to be called.


    Saw watch as the matches ended with a blank and bored look on his face, everyone show the skill they gained during the year and how seriously they treated this class, mostly serious as being able to defend one''s self was a necessity in this world of theirs but there was those who toke truly seriously, some even beyond that were those who planned to pursue a career that possed a need for a certain level of fighting ability.


    "Alright lets begin the next set of matches." mr.love called out after all students were sitting on the bleachers, he then called out the next set of matches "18 vs 17, 7 vs 10, 9 vs 16, 15 vs 6, 8 vs 14, 13 vs 11, 12 you got lucky."


    The called student got off the bleacher and walked over to there assigned rings. Stepping into the ring sam stretched a bit and took a look at his opponent male his age looked like he put the minimum need for this class but Sam had learned long age that underestimating anyone would lead to your view being forcefully changed, sometimes painfully.


    sam took his usual stance a neutral looking one that allowed for balance and acceleration speed. The moment the single was given sam dashed forward intent on tackling his opponent only for his opponent to try the same sam stop seeing this and backed up his opponent copying him again, raising an eyebrow Sam had a suspicion and he knew how to test, walking he watched as he was mimicked, made a few more movement before his suspicion was confirmed.


    He was up against a copycat, this one was quite famous in the school''s gossip circle because he could copy just about anything perfectly this was impressive mostly because of his wide range of skill and how young he was. But his skill has made him many enemies in the school and out of it like the rabid beast gang which a small time gang with only about ten members.


    Fighting a person who copies your every move is a complicated thing mostly because of the psychological effect it was to see someone mirror you. This was the reason people had a hard time fighting copycats unless you were like same and fought things much better with messing with your mind, and Sam has dealt with a few copycats before, so he knew what to do. So he started to walk around the ring and when his opponent mimicked him it led to them circling each other in the ring.


    "Okay you can do this, its been a while but you can never forget how it is done," Sam thought to psychic himself up before he slowly and altered his steps but not his pace. To a casual observer this did not look like much but to one who had their focus on him the movement he made causes them to experience an illusion of duplicates appearing behind him, this illusion was something that may look easy but can take months to learn something, that is not easy to copy, that was the reason he used it in this match when it was slight overkill and he did not feel like letting this match drag out.


    The moment his opponent showed hesitation in his steps sam rushed at him with his duplicates following behind him and with a bit more footwork sam made it so his duplicates had spread out as they moved forward. His opponent''s gaze kept switching from one to another.


    When Sam entered striking range he lowered his center of gravity as he prepares to strike his opponent''s legs and the three duplicate he could maintain at the moment moved to attack different body parts. One aimed a fist for the skull, one was after the rightsholder with a kick, the last used a back kick at his family jewels.


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    In a moment the copycat realized he could defend against one, two if he chooses correctly but taking in consideration on where the strikes were going to land he made the choice to defend his family jewels, so he closed his legs used his hands to cover his jewels then braced himself for impact.


    With his eyes closed, he did not see the duplicates fade as they came in contact with him he only felt a slight breeze but when Sam hit his legs he really felt it and his eyes shot open as he fell to the ground.


    When his chest hit the ground sam wasted no time mounting him and putting him into a submission hold and said one word.


    "Surrender" his voice like ice.


    When he didn''t sam put more strength in the hold and spoke again


    "Surrender" his voice colder than before.


    When he put even more strength in the hold he did not get a chance to speak.


    "Okay, okay I surrender just let up dude", hearing his surrender sam immediately let go, got off his back, and took a step back.


    "Are you alright?" Sam asked the boy laying on the ground rubbing his sore body.


    "I''m fine but what the hell why were you so violent? it''s only a simple school tournament" the boy grumbled as he got off the ground.


    "That is how I fight, no matter the reason I am fighting" Sam responded with a bit of sorrow in his voice.


    Looking around at the fights around him sam saw nothing of real interest to him except daniel''s fight which he may be winning it was kind of hard to tell because of his fighting style.


    It took about ten-twenty minutes for all the fight to conclude. The result was Sam won him, Daniel too, along with numbers 17, 10, 6, and 13.


    The next round of fights was more intense as the participants were now considerably skilled fighters. For this round 17 was to fight 19, 10 fought Sam, Daniel fought 12, 24 was against 3, 20 had 2, 4 had sat out this round who that was lucky for was up for debate.


    This round saw was against a meek and shy girl but she could through a mean right hook and a meaner left. By the time Sam was able to pin by her arm on the ground serval parts of his body hurt and a bruise or two were probably forming, but he won.


    Returning to the bleachers Sam sat down as Mr.love called out the final set of matches saw was against 19 who was Veronica, and Daniel had 20 aka Brett, 24 was against 4.


    Looking at the matchups sam could not tell what was going to be the most interesting match, but he knew for certain that they were all going to be fun to watch, too bad he couldn''t.


    Walking over to one of the now large sparring rings. He turned to face Veronica and took his stance. For the moment before the match started Sam thought about what he knew about Veronica''s fighting style.


    It was a close contact style that included many holds and much body contact but one of the biggest things was that she made full use of her body''s assets this part she was very skilled in aspect to the point she could throw off anyone who had the slightest interest in females, most of the time.


    This was bad for sam as his style had a lot of body contact as well so this put him at a disadvantage. He could ignore her attempts to throw him off up to a certain point he was a teenage boy after all.


    Her gym outfit didn''t help as it was two steps away from being a Two pieces swimsuit!


    Mr.love gave the signal but unlike the last two matches sam did not make the first move, no he waited for Veronica to do so and he did not have to wait long. As she started to strut forward swinging her hips her arms folded to lift her blossom while maintaining complete eye contact with Sam.


    When she was within range sam did not waste a moment to try and take her off her feet she responded by leaping off the ground and aiming a kick at his face that Sam dogged by throwing himself onto his back where he rolled to the left to avoid a heel to the spine.


    Getting off the ground as soon as he was out of veronica''s range sam faced he and charged at her, when he got close he tried a few strikes to throw her off balance but she responded in kind and she placed a kiss on his cheek before they slip apart.


    A faint blush appeared on Sam''s face for a moment before he went back at her and this time he was able to land a blow on her stomach that caused her to stumble, Sam did not waste this chance and unleashed a quick combo on her body before a last hit to the face knocking her to the ground where sam mounted her and tried to pin her but she recovered quickly and threw sam off where she mounted his back.


    On his back, she grabbed both his legs and pulled them to where it hurt.


    "Surrender or I will break your legs" she threatened clearly angrily most likely about the hit to the face.


    "Never" Sam had a habit of being unyielding to people like Veronica.


    She tightened her grip and pulled even more, "surrender now"


    "Need my focus for this," he thought before he told the girl on her back "not on your waistline" and then for a moment his hair turned pure ash white and at that moment saw reached back (bending in a way that humans shouldn''t) grabbed her shoulders and neck. This shocked her enough that she let go of his legs so that Sam could throw her off his back and in front of him.


    Quickly he got on her back used his right hand to grab her throat, the left was lifted as a fist and said: "surrender or lose your flawless face and trade it for a pig''s" he paused " no I don''t want to insult any pigs." with a voice like a knife.


    "...Fine, I give" her face was worth a lot in more than one way.


    Hearing that sam unclenched his hand but he didn''t get off her but he shifted so that it was comfortable for both of them and waited for the teacher to end the matches. While they waited they watch the fight between Daniel and Brett (the other fight was finished, number 4 winning before their fight ended) it was interesting to watch as they were complete opposites when it came to how they fought. Daniel was calculated and sly, Brett was emotionally and straightforward and it seems that Daniel was taking advantage of this fact as he taunted brett in several ways. The insult that really made brett furious was a comment on how small his rod was, this caused him to charge Daniel with reckless abandon. Like Daniel planed it seemed as right before they collided daniel spun out of the way and unleashed a roundhouse kick on Brett''s back knocking him out of the ring winning him the match, but that didn''t stop Brett from trying to deck him thankfully Mr.love was able to.


    After making sure Brett wasn''t going to try and hit Daniel again he sent them back to the bleachers.


    "Today all of you experienced the difference in your ability, today you learn if you need to improve or not, remember you combat ability is a form of power and if you wish to be more then a face in the crowd you need some form of power, and with those words I wish all of you a great and safe break have a nice day." Having said everything he needed to Mr. love waved at the student before leaving the gym to head to his next class after grabbing something to drink from the teacher lounge and talk to the others about the lady who was watching from the ceiling.


    The students went to their respective locker rooms to change and pack their gym clothes so they could be washed over the break and went to their next class or just to grab their uniform and head home, it depends on if they still had a class or not.


    As for Sam, he chooses to rinse off first, he forgot his deodorant this morning. Daniel waited for him as he would not put it pass Brett to try and ambush him, strength in numbers they say. Plus he didn¡¯t have any class after this so he was going to ride the train with him.


    When Sam had finished his shower and put his uniform on they left the locker room and headed


    for the hovertrain station.


    ¡°Hey sam I have a favor to ask, can I come over tomorrow I need your help with something,¡± Daniel asked cautiously, Hearing him Sam stopped. In his tracks.

 Begin

    Sam and Daniel meet when they were about 14 -13 years old. It wasn''t the best first meeting, Sam had just moved to the island and he was exploring the city, taking in the sight, finding mental landmarks, planning an escape route, finding the local gangs hangout when he came across a bunch of kids hi sage picking on a10 year old. Have a vast hatred for those who picked on those weaker then them just because they could Sam wasted no time attacking them he dealt with most easily but ruthlessly, breaking at least a bone or two but the apparent leader a boy named Brett was able to fight back and landed a good hit on his right eye but Sam throw him into a wall followed by a mule kick to the face knocking him out.


    With the bullies taken care of, sam made to leave before someone came because of the screams and cries, he wasn''t ready to meet the local law enforcement yet. When he was stopped by the boy he just rescued causes he had asked for his name. sam didn''t say anything and just left. The boy tried to follow but sam was master at pulling a disappearing act on people. He thought that was the end of that only for the boy to track him down to his house.


    Turns out his family was the only ones who had moved to the city in months. At first, Sam was planning to ignore him but he scrapped that idea when looked him in the eye cause in his eyes he saw the type of determination that got him on this island in the first place.


    Giving up he gave the boy his name, and learned his name Daniel lost (it wasn''t until about three weeks later that he learned he actually a few months older than him), they went to the same school (he didn''t question it, he thought that he had skipped grades) and the ones who had been picking on him picks on almost everybody. Since he was new to the island Daniel thought the best way to pay him back was to be his tour guide Sam had no problems with this and it marked the beginning of an interesting but strong friendship.


    During the course of their friendship, Daniel had learned that sam collected favors like one did stamps, so he wasn''t against doing a favor for other plus he was fine and capable of doing a wide variety of tasks even those that were greatly questionable. So the fact that he was hesitating was kind of worrying to sam, that meant the flavor was close to the few things he wouldn''t do as a favor or for other in general, like murder or helping to hide a body or being in a fake relationship (bad experience).


    Turing to his skinny friend Sam narrowed his eyes "what is it" his suspicion clear.


    "I need your help with a video game," Sam just raised an eyebrow "it''s about conquering the world by conquering people in bed" are you kidding me was what sam''s face said.


    ¡°Who makes a game like that? And where did you find it?¡±


    ¡°Internet¡± sam just sighed.


    ¡°Fine you can come over, but if my parents find out you are taking the blame¡± his parents worried when he got involved with things of the sexual nature not that he could blame after what had happened a year ago.


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    ¡°Great¡± the train then arrived and after boarding, they made more planes for tomorrow and a few for the break like going to see a movie that was coming out, maybe try that new restaurant opening everyone was talking about or they could just vege out on Sam¡¯s couch.


    If asked they would both deny that the last one was most likely.


    When the train reached sam¡¯s stop he told Daniel ¡°see you later¡± before he got off the train. Leaving the station he headed down the street to his house.


    Halfway their Sam stopped and spoke out loud ¡±would you mind and give it a rest, I know you have been watching all day,¡± the only response was the sound birds flying in the sky ¡°if your curious how I know its because I am remarkably sensitive towards negative emotions especially one aimed at me.¡¯ again no response ¡°fine don¡¯t come out but I warn you I am the farthest thing from harmless¡± with nothing more to say sam walked the rest of the way home.


    Hidden on a nearby roof the lady who had been stalking sam all day narrowed her as in annoyance, her mission was not going as she had pictured it at all with that absurd rune teacher and her target knowing about her all day moreover he didn¡¯t seem to think she was a treat well that would a mistake he would regret.


    As Sam entered his house he thought about the person who had followed him all day cause whoever they were they were quite patient to wait all day with all the negative emotions aim at him. But the real question was who were they, were after him because of something he did before or after he came to the island hopefully after it would be much easier to deal with them for that mostly because he has done many many things that got him on the bad side of many many people, but who it was whatever reason they were here he knew some way he would make it he all way has.


    After he removed his gym shoes sam walked over to the fridge so that he could make himself some lunch, open it up he looks through to find something he was in the mood for and after a bit of decision he chooses some artificial chicken breast.


    Placing the chicken breast next to the sink he grabbed a pan from the cabinets, some seasoning from the spice drawer, two slices of tart honey bread, giant goat butter (the goat was giant), and hot potato chips to snack on he was ready to cook.


    First, he was the chicken and seasoned it, then he turns on the stove placed the pan on the hot spot and dropped a bit of butter into and let it melt before laying the chicken in the pan.


    He then let the chicken cook as he dealt with the bread by placing it in the toaster to be lightly toasted.


    By the time the bread was done, it was time to flip the chicken. After the bread cooled down enough he adds a bit of butter to is so it wasn¡¯t dry.


    Then putting the butter back in the fridge he grabby a ruby tomato and some Antartica lettuce, a few smooth nife movements later and there were thin slices of tomato and lettuce on his bread putting the vegetables back he turns to his now done chicken he grabbed a different knife and he cut the chicken into strips that went neatly over the lettuce and tomatoes before being cover with the other piece of bread. Plating his sandwich he moved over to the table so that he started his meal.


    Not that he got the chance to, as before he could even pick it up for outside the lady had finished setting for completing her mission.


    Going back to around the time Sam opened the fridge. The lady calmly and smoothly walked onto the street in front of Sam''s house. Bending down she placed her hand on the ground and began to chant in a tongue unspeakable and unrecognizable by humans, as she spoke as black light appeared under her hand and then this black light slowly moved from under her hand circling the building, when the light returned to under her hand, the chanting she spoke changed to one of a more ominous nature, with the change the line of black light began to bubble and from it emerged symbols these symbols were nothing like the runes sam had learned over the course of his life they were much more.


    More than a hundred and fifty of these symbols floated into the sky before the chanting increased in speed the symbols slow started to rotate around the building before moving faster and faster until the became nothing more then streaks of light.


    ¡°It is ready¡± she spoke just as Sam went to pick up his sandwich "let the trial begin"

 trial

    Making a series of hand signs she spoke a final word to the chants, as soon as this word left her lips the Kong''s of black light expanded into a dome covering the house.


    The dome quickly became transparent with a slight warp but not enough that one would notice if they didn''t know to look for it.


    Getting of the ground she dusted her hands and said "there it is done" turning her back to the house she walked down the street as her back began to bugle near her shoulder blades, if anyone had been around to see to beautiful large crimson wing slip out of unnoticeable sits in the back of her top.


    The wings shook them self a bit before spreading them self to their full length and started to flap, the wing started to increase in speed when she bent her legs than with a leap she took off to who knows where.


    With Sam he didn''t notice much he felt a spike in energy but that was pretty common on the island even if he couldn''t tell you what kind of energy, he remembered when he first got to the island how the slightest spike would put him on high alert for the rest of the week.


    After finishing his sandwich and chips he grabbed a glass of water to wash it down and walked over to the living room couch he used the remote app on his bracelet to turn on the 20-inch hollow screen tv.


    He surfed the channels a bit and found something to watch it was a decent reboot of an old cartoon after about ten minutes he got up off the couch and walked over to the fridge, he didn''t open it he just grabbed the folded piece of paper and went back to the couch. Laying on the couch he unfolded the paper and looked at the chores his mother had left him, a glance told it was just the usual wash the dishes he used, take the garbage to be energized, check up on Tyrone, etc.


    Even though he knew and understood why she left a list, but it still annoyed him. A smirk showed its self on his lips as an idea appeared in his mind going over to the sink he held the paper over it before he drew the spark rune on it. Summing the required mana from within himself he activated the rune and watch as the paper sparked and caught fire.


    Letting go of the burning paper he watched a bit as it turned to as before he turned on the water to douse the flame and let the remains go down the drain. Turning off the water he started to walk back to the couch so he watches the show that from what he could tell was reaching its climax someone knocked on the door, and if sam recalled correctly this kind of knocking was of someone who was in a panic.


    Slowly walking to the door he began to draw the only battle rune he knew. When he arrived at the door he activated the runes on the door frame to turn the door into a one-way mirror was surprised to see a woman on the other side but his surprise turn to worry when he saw the state she was in.


    Her hair from what from sam could teel used to be in a simple braid had come partially undone, her make had become smudged they it does when one get into a fight, there was a couple of scratches on her, she was wearing a torn one pieces blue and green summer dress, there were some forming bruises all over her arms, with the way her dress was torn at the bottom front and in the chest area sam could tell someone tried to rape her, amazingly her high heels wear still on and in one piece.


    Putting his head on the door sam considered if he should open the door and help. If he did he would invite trouble into his house and the only reason his parents let him stay behind this year if he stays out of trouble at least enough that the police didn''t get involved again. But if he didn''t open the door who knows what will happen to her and it will because of him, he knows without a doubt he will regret that. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath there was no going back after he did this.


    Taking his head off the door he turns of the runes and . . .


    Unlocked the door.


    "I already have too many regrets in life, I don''t wish to add more"


    When he opened the door the women on the other side froze Sam wasn''t sure if it was in surprise or fear. But he didn''t worry about it.


    "Are you coming in?" he asked stepping to the side, she blinked before speed walked inside, "you can take a seat on the coach if you like" he suggested pointing the way she thought about it for a moment before she took a seat farthest from him and wrapped her arms around herself rubbing her arm trying to find warmth.


    Sam said nothing, after closing the door he turns and walked into the kitchen, he opens the cabinet with his collection of tea leaves, he decided to make a night mint lemon balm tea for his guest he knew it would help her calm down from his own experience.


    Setting a kettle of water to boil and preparing a cup for her, Sam went to the closet next to the stairs and pulled out one of the thick soft blankets (he noted it was Christmas themed) and silently placed it on the couch. He walked back to the kitchen and to a seat at the table.


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    A bit of time went by before the kettle had started to whistle, Sam, moved over to the stove and turned it off. Placing the needed leaves into the cup he pours the boiling water in the cup a let them seep until it was just right.


    Removing the leaves Sam carefully bright the tea over and set it down in front of her.


    "This should help you calm down and if you feel like it, you can tell me what happened and what you want to do next"


    She said nothing for a moment as she tasted her tea and seemed to like as she immediately drank more.


    "I was attacked as you can see by some random guy on the streets on my way to a date with my boyfriend. He was a lost. I knocked him out easily enough but more lost came at me I was outnumbered so I ran through the city being attacked by more lost and running into other people until I made my way here and I could not run anymore after losing them. I choose your house because it was the only one with lights on."


    As she spoke Sam could tell she was telling the truth but that didn''t mean he thought a few things she was saying were strange, like what were the lost, and why was she walking to her date he dress was from what Sam could tell was worth a pretty penny so unless she wasted all her money on it she should be able to afford a care or can if she didn''t like to drive, another thing she ran across the city that was kind of impossible especially if she was running away from someone.


    When running away from someone you don''t pace yourself, you go at full speed and do not stop until you can no longer move your legs and if she was going on a date acrosses town that meant she probably came from fortune lane, fortune lane was the city hotspot for nice food, nice atmosphere, many forms of entertainment, and great bars of all kinds. And all this was about fifty minutes from Sam''s house by car in good traffic, so running here a feat for a normal person even those beyond may have trouble doing so.


    "Why are you referring to people as lost," Sam asked his other questions could wait, but the way she looked at him made rethink that for he did not like being look at like he was crazy (he had got his fill of that twenty times over when he lived on the streets).


    "What do you mean why because they are lost" her confusion clear.


    "I don''t know what you mean by that so I asked" the boy stated bluntly


    "How could you not know, do you not watch the news?" she asked a little annoyed


    "Never I find it too depressing and it does not help my faith in the people of this planet," she could not say anything to that because he wasn''t wrong about that.


    Shaking her head she spoke again "the lost have been appearing on the news for months now, they are people who have been lost to their sexual desires, they are identified by their constant state of arousal and a faint blue glow coming from there eyes. They a rabid and out of control with only one goal of sexual pleasure, they started appearing in the last few months but it was one case of one person at a weeks or so not thirty at once, what is happening?" at this point her breathing started to pick up a bit, before she took a calming breath when she started to talk but sam stopped her it was clear the topic was starting to upset her he could find out more on his own and he told her that before he went upstairs. As he ascended the steps he pulled up his rarely used news app and checked the news on the lost, he found a lot along with a nice story about a lost dog finding its way home overseas.


    Entering he his room his heart jumped as his bracelet let out a shrill beep, that beep meant he had just received an island-wide alert, it seems the lost problem has gotten really bad cause now they were telling people to get inside and stay there until the situation was under control.


    "This is really bad this is getting dangerous, what should I do first" asked himself. He considered his options and decided to first contact his parents, friend, and the Farwell''s.


    He asked how his parent trip was going and told them what was happing on the island, he asked Daniel how he was doing and what he planned to do about this situation, as for the Farwell''s he told them what was going on and asked if they wanted him to do something about their son. With that he looked around his and let out a growls of annoyance and a bit of anger cause his mother had cleaned his room, he knew his room could get really messy but he preferred if she didn''t one he had a lot of things hidden in his room of all kinds of natures, two when his mother cleaned his room she one complete purpose and sometimes extremely rearranged his room.


    For example, she moved his bed across his room, all his poster were on the ceiling and upside down? Probably, his dresser which was usually covered with trinkets from his travels was covered with his shoes and many other things.


    Letting out a huff he started to look through his room for some clothes to change into and a good five minutes later he found them. Changing out of his school uniform he put on a t-shirt for a horror-themed rock band he like, a pair of loose jeans, some ghost-themed socks.


    By the time he was done everyone was able to answer him, his parent trip was going fine and they asked he not do anything too extreme by normal people standards, Daniel was doing fine as well and asked if he could to come over tomorrow if things calmed down enough, and the farewell asked that if he was okay letting their son stay with him during the time of the emergency.


    He told his parent on, Daniel it depends, and told the farewells that the in trouble was getting the boy out of the house and that was no real trouble to him at all. So grabbing a blue pair of sneakers from his dresser and headed downstairs as he passed through the living room/kitchen he passed the lady who on the phone probably calling he boyfriend or family. Before he opens the door Sam stops when he relished something he didn''t know her name Turing around he cleared his throat to get her attention. When she turned to he told her "


    "excuse me I have to step out for a bit but I shouldn''t be gone longer than an hour I have to pick up somebody, also it seems we never introduced our self''s. My name is Sam Vegal what is your name?"


    "Sophia never hope, I''m surprised you did not recognize me and before you go I have a question how are you so calm with all the noise in the background?"


    "Noise?" He asked "I don-wait" it hit him "I just turned down my hearing so that I can barely hear anything on the edge of seven feet away." he said like it was nothing Sophia''s expression said otherwise.


    "Where did you learn such a thing," she asked curiously with a greedy undertone.


    "I can''t tell you, it was one of the conditions for learning it" he plainly told her hearing the greed, thought he was telling the truth mostly.


    "Too bad" she sighed she looked like she was going to say more but the person who she was one the phone with got tired of being ignored, so she went back to that conversation and sam left the house to pick up the Farwell''s kid.


    After closing the door behind his Sam turned up his hearing to the max and he could hear all kinds of thing in that range of, he had no clue, he hadn''t checked the range for his sense in a long while, he made a note to do that.


    But for the moment he identified the sounds he could hear, screams many types, car, police, battle, skin hitting skin, moans, someone giving out orders he couldn''t exactly what they were saying but they were really loud and something he couldn''t identify that was coming from everywhere at once.


    He would deal with it later he had more important things to do he walk onto the street and crossed it to the house over.


    This house was was similar to sam''s except it was a pale red color scheme moderately unkept yard and was in need of a good wash.


    Walking up to the door he rung the doorbell in a pattern to let the occupant know it was him and not some random person so he would come and open the door, after waiting a moment he raises his hearing to hear inside the house and he heard footsteps on the stairs, reducing his hearing he waited for the door to open. He soon heard the locks in the door clicking and it opened and reveals-.

 Plan-part 1

    On the other side of the door was a 13 year slightly pale brown skinned 4''7, amber-eyed, and short curly black hair this was Tyrone Farwell. Tyrone has been one of Sam''s neighbors since he moved to the island and has knowe him that long as well. Back then Tyrone was an energetic child who loved to meet new people to the point he talked to random stranger on the streets, this worried his parent greatly especially when they traveled off the island which was completely understandable more so to people who knew just how dangerous strangers could be, that was probably why they hired Sam to be his babysitter, Tyrone was fine with this as sam told story of his travels toned down, so they appropriate for a nine year old a lot of them had a part where a stranger caused trouble for sam at this points Tyrone just gave him a blank look.


    It was a pretty peaceful time then Tyrone learned the hard way why you don''t talk to random strangers causes one day he talked to a women who looked in her late twenties she was beautiful and hand kind eyes, later they found out those eyes were fake incredible so, she and Tyrone meet more then once each time talking for quite a while the third time Sam was with them and he noticed something odd the moment he laid eyes on her, at first he wasn''t sure what it was but his instincts were telling him danger so he tried to leave with Tyrone but him the lady stopped that plan quickly. It was not long after that she showed her true face and it was an ugly one. She had moved fast as she blasted Sam through a wall before knocking out Tyrone and running full speed into the alleyways. She probably didn''t expect anyone to recover from the shock of what happened soon enough to follow her least of the boy she blades through a wall. But Sam did and he was pissed, he tracked her down by heightening his sense of smell to a bloodhounds before the tear he followed her perfume and Tyrone''s natural smell but the damage she caused forced him to slow down to where it took him almost two and a half hours to find them and he was not happy when he did.


    He found them in a small apartment on the edge of the city he waste breaking into it where he found her in the middle taking off the last of Tyrone cloths with his hands tied to the frame of the bed he was laying on, this was sadly a tame sight for Sam so he wasted no time attacking her. At this time Sam had used a different fighting style it looked like a rabid beast but very calculated. During their fight, Sam used his ability to remove her right arm, permanently scar her face, bit her leg, and break more than a few of her bones. Seeing that she couldn''t win she tried to escape not that Sam was going to let her but at that time Tyrone had started to move ( Sam later found out she had really paralyzed him) drawing his attention and she hightailed it like a bat out of hell. Sam for a moment considered chasing her but Tyrone was more important and if need be he could hunt her down later.


    He had untied, redressed and was comforting Tyrone in a blanket by the time the police had arrived, not that they were slow in truth the fact Sam was impressed by how fast they found them. The police wasted no time taking control of the situation first they took them to the ambulance to check Tyrone for wounds and treat sam''s, after the emergency workers were done with them the police questioned about the kidnapper and what went down, then they questioned Sam about his actions they were very worried that he said he took her arm caused he aimed to take her alive, after that they had an officer take them home but Sam had to come to the station with his parents tomorrow, during all these events Tyrone had stayed glued to Sam''s side.


    When they arrived on the street between their houses the cop was upset to find out that Tyrone''s parents have been off the island for the past week but calmed down to find out they were already on there back, but their plane would not arrive until tomorrow a little after noon so Tyrone was staying with them not that there was much choice as Tyrone was unwilling to leave Sam. thanks to Sam parents that day was able to end on a positive note.


    This event marked a great change in both Sam''s and Tyrone life. For Sam it marked the first time he got involved with the island law enforcement but not the last, For Tyrone, it marked the day that his career as a recluse began but it was also the day Sam and Tyrone really started to be more than neighbors babysitter and babysat.


    Due to his time as a recluse Tyrone had gained a few ''habits'' for example because a Tyrone refused to leave his house, he could not visit a barber or such so he took great care of his hair himself to the point his and sam''s mothers were jealous of his skill. But he also refused to step out the building to take out the trash so it piled and he sucked at cleaning so his house tended to messy and stink and he just got used to the smell. Another thing was that he had a horrible sleeping schedule, it was incredibly inconsistent some time he slept during the day sometimes at night sometimes he just had nothing but naps. This boy was kind of a mess.


    "Hello, Sam what can I help you with," Tyrone asked through the slightly open door that barely allowed Sam to see him.


    Taking a breath for the challenge that he was about to face Sam answered him, "an island wide emergency has been issued when I informed your parents that asked that you stay with me during the emergency at my house" the last few words were said slowly for Sam knew just how Tyrone would act.


    And act he did cause as soon as he registered what Sam said he tried to slam the door close but Sam''s hand prevented that, he really didn''t want to make him leave his house but he knew it was better for Tyrone''s safety if he stayed with him.


    " Tyrone I know you are not happy about this but you will not be safe on your own, so you are coming over one way or another" Sam told Tyrone his face stern. But the younger boy didn''t buy it for sam voice betrayed him he hated having to force others to do things, he knew what it was like to be forced and he hated that feeling so if he could avoid he would.


    "And what if she appears" he asked fearful, she was the women who kidnapped him, who while evading the police for years still managed to appear any time Tyrone left the house waiting for the chance to finish what she started, but she never got close enough to do so and if sam, his parents or Tyrone''s Han dang thing to say she never would.


    "I promise you if she shows her face I will finish what I started years ago, so are willing to come over you can bring over your computer setup" shifting his feet for a more comfortable stance in preparation for the usual argument he had with Tyrone when getting him to leave his house as rare it was, he has only had to do this four times before but every time it has taken more than an hour for it to end, they are tied on winning hopefully he won this time.


    "Alright" Sam immediately did a double take, he gave up quickly and was impossible Tyrone was a stubborn boy very stubborn.


    Before he could say anything about his surrender, Tyrone walked back in his house to get ready to stay over. Still shocked sam followed after him and then his shocked turned to concealed disgust at the state of the house and slight impress at the state of the house.


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    There were trash bags piled up everywhere and dust covered that and everything else there was a smell that showed rats had moved in and "OH SHIT" Sam screamed at the sight of large copper and silver caroches otherwise known as metal cockroaches scurrying over the floor.


    Sam has been many places many much more of a mess then this place was much more. He has once slept next to a nest of metal cockroaches where they crawled all over him in his sleep(and had nightmares about), he has gone weeks even months without bathing, but that didn''t mean he was completely ok with it well he was but after living on the island and with his parents all these has made him soft, well soft compared to his time on the streets anyway.


    After screaming sam immediately wrote a light rune and activated it so the roaches ran back into there hiding places. Sam turned to Tyrone and told him to pack up while he cleaned up.


    After Tyrone went upstairs Sam entered the kitchen only to back out when he heard something hiss at him. Drawing another light rune he activated it and threw the light into the kitchen scaring away many things in the dark. Before the light faded sam turned on the kitchen light, and after a thought, he turned on the living room light as well. Entering the kitchen he opened the sink cabinet avoiding the dirty dishes and garbage laying about. From the cabinet, he pulled what at first glance looked like a thousand piece Rubix sphere that was mostly blue with two white stripes going through the middle.


    This was a cleaning sphere, it was one of the more common pieces of rune tech around the world. Rune tech as the easiest and hardest ways to use tune and tech together in unison A confusion description but an accurate one. To make rune teach you needed rune engraver who knew the needed runes, several people to build the device its self, a large number of raw materials, someone to coordinate the worker and a few other things. That is the easy part the hard part is getting it to work, mana is an unpredictable energy form and even after all the years of study there very little known about it compared to what it can potentially do.


    This unpredictable lead to it being difficult to use like with machines which could not adapt like living things could, so when rune tech was made they had to make sure that the machine had a certain range of mana frequency so that lasted a decent amount of time. Another thing that made rune tech difficult was rune had to be engraved by hand. All this put rune tech on the lower side of expensive.


    Programming the sphere to dust, sweep, energize the trash bags, eviction the roaches, and then mop. Activating the sphere Sam watch it go for a bit before he walked around ground floor opening the windows to let some fresh air in.


    When was done he saw that the sphere had made little progress and made a mental note to talk to his mother about checking on the farewell house to clean more often.


    Going upstairs he checked on Tyrone to see him working on packing up his computer setup, and what an impressive setup it was, Sam knew for a fact that it was custom made my Tyrone himself by gutting several other computers, ordering military grade components, taking several computer related classes, etc.


    Even before he was kidnapped Tyrone was good with computers and his parents encouraged this, but they made sure he stayed healthy.


    Impressive as it was it took hours to pack it up, so Sam quietly move by Tyrone as to not bother him and started with his closet. Here he pulled out all the clothes hanging in it because he rarely left the house Tyrone''s closet mostly contained cartoon, movie, video game, and book themed t-shirts along with an assortment of shorts and sweats not a drop of fashion sense could be found.


    After he folded the clothes he laid them on the bed and moved over to the dresser to pack Tyrone undershirts, underwear, and socks. Only for the younger teen to slam, the dresser closed when opened it.


    "[I can pack these my self]" Tyrone messaged with a slight blush on his cheeks.


    "Ok then I''ll go get the travel capsule" Sam suggested not commenting on the fact he went with Tyrone when bought them but Tyrone was probably hiding something he didn''t want him to see, Sam has seen all kinds of thing people hid in there underwear drawer from weapons, money and ''toys''.


    Tyrone nodded then watched as Sam left the room before he opened the drawer and started to sort what he would be least embarrassing to bring.


    Sam checked on the where''s progress before he went to get the capsule and he could see that the sphere was making great progress but it seemed to be losing to the roaches, well it was outnumbered. But the roaches went doing all that much damage to it, to begin with so Sam was going to let that be for now.


    Returning upstairs he went to the storage closet at the end of the hall. When he opened the closet it took a bit of searching for him to find the traveling capsules.


    Traveling capsules well the ones that Farrell''s owned were about the size of a small book a hundred and sixty something pages thick. While it looked black when on looked closely at its side you could see that it was made of multi-colored layer and if counted you''d get about six hundred.


    He found them in a box under a box of combat knives one of which he pocketed. Grabbing one of the capsules he put the closet back to its previous state.


    When opened the door to Tyrone''s room he found it was locked he was surprised for a moment before he realized that Tyrone might not have less interest in him seeing his underclothes then he first thought, he couldn''t help but laugh a little at that before he knocked on the door.


    "I have the capsule, are you going to let me in or do I have to let myself in" the older teen spoke through the door.


    [i''ll take the capsule, you should take look through the fridge who knows what will happen to the food while the house is empty], was the response he got.


    Rolling his eyes sam asked "well are you going to open the door a-" before he could finish the door was unlocked and opened for Tyrone to step through with his hand out to accept the capsule,'' well okay then" Sam gave the piece of rune tech to Tyrone and went to look through the fridge.


    When he came downstairs he was greeted with the sight of the roaches being marched out the house (along with a good amount of trash) by the sphere, that sight only made him node his head before he entered the kitchen.


    The Farwell''s kitchen was different from the Vegal''s largely, one was the state the Farwell''s showed many signs of disuse expect the fridge, microwave, dishwasher, and stove to a lesser extent. In turn, the Vegal''s used the kitchen every day. Another thing was appliance the vegal had all kinds of small kitchen appliances a few out in the open, the farewells well let''s just say any they had had cobwebs and were probably just better to replace. There was more but the causes of this was the fact that Tyrone could not cook well he knew how but for whatever reason all the things he cooks come out inedible and poisonous so no one would or could eat it ( not even sam and he had eaten many disgusting and dealy things plus he built a decent poison tolerance over the years), it was kind of unexplainable trust they have tried to find one with many ways(personal Sam thought Tyrone might have an unawakened ability).


    Because he couldn''t cook all the food in the kitchen required little to no cooking ability whatsoever like fresh fruit or frozen meals, so time he ordered delivery but that was rare, the only home cooked he food he got was from the vegal''s or when his mother came home from one of her many business trips (his fathers cooking was just as bad).


    Opening the fridge and freezer he saw exactly what he had expected, the freezer was full of frozen meals and foods the fridge had fruit, juice, and some of the lasagna Sam''s mother gave Tyrone last week.


    Looking at the open appliance Sam thought for a moment if he should take it with him or not. "No I can easily cook for the tw- no three of us with the food in the fridge, and I can use some of the vegetables in my mother''s garden or use the emergency food stores around the house I have hidden around the house,but first I have to check if they are still usable it has been a while".


    Closing the fridge sam walked back to the living room and watched the sphere go at the mess for a while before he opened his messages and the news. Sam spent the next 2-3 hour it took Tyrone to pack up, during that time he contacted a few people he knew that could get him more information on the situation worldwide and checking the news to see the information that had been released to the public.


    For the moment law enforcement with the help guilds and freelance fighter and magic users were detaining all the lost that appeared to hospitals and for the moment things were calm but anyone with the right experience could tell that this was drizzle before the hurricane, but Sam wasn''t too worried at worse he would probably relapse to his time before the island and that was not something Sam wanted but he could deal with that if it came to it.


    "I need to make a plan" and just as he said that Tyrone came down send Sam a message telling him that he had finished packing everything he needs and wanted to take over to Sam''s house, "are you ready to go outside" Sam softly asked.


    Tyrone hesitated before nodding his head sam didn''t say anything because he knew that was the best he was going to get. Walking to the door, he dodged the still active cleaning and made a mental note he was going to have to come back for that later.


    Placing his left hand on the door handle and reached out his right for Tyrone to grab "let''s go shall we?" and when Tyrone grabbed it he opened the door.

 Plan-part 2

    After they crossed the street in a rush Sam quickly opened the door. He waved at Sophia as he leads Tyrone upstairs and to the room that was prepared for him a long while back.


    "Alright this is your room you can get unpacked as you like but in an hour need you come downstairs so that we together with the lady downstairs can put together a plan on how we go about our time in the house during the emergency," seeing the question in Tyrone''s eyes he answered it calmly "no you can''t stay upstairs and send messages, you have to at least text her face to face, I know you won''t like it but you have to do it causes the emergency is not going to end anytime soon not for at least two months, people who spend that much time together in a small space either get along, tolerant each other, or kill one another, and I would like to evade the third one if it''s all the same to you." He stopped and let Tyrone consider this and Sam prepared the next part of his argument.


    [alright]


    "Alright? You''ll come downstairs just like that, to talk with a stranger!, Really?" Sam asked disbelievingly. Tyrone nodded his head mostly firm. "Ok, I''ll you downstairs in an hour so why don''t you get unpacked."


    Tyrone turned to his belongings while Sam left the room, it wasn''t until he arrived at the stairs that Sam realized that he didn''t see Tyrone open the travel capsule to retrieve his stuff. Such was impossible because he was standing next to him since he entered the house.


    Sam narrowed his eyes as that felt familiar like it has happened to him before but he couldn''t be sure where, too many strange things in his life, but he could look into it later, for now, he was gonna talk to Sophia get a better grasp of her personality and see if he could do something about her dress.


    Descending the stairs Sam shot a quick message at his mother asking if he could borrow some of her clothes.


    "So how are you doing?" Sam asked as he entered the living room. Sophia jumped before she snapped her head at him, Sam pushed down the urge to laugh at her he could guess how much she would hate that.


    "Would you mind not doing that" her glare spoke of her feelings even the fear that had faded from her attack but she did a good job of hiding it.


    "Sorry, didn''t think I was walking that lightly I''ll make sure to walk heavier next time" well he would try but that wasn''t a habit he was able to break and he kind of didn''t want to.


    A habit of decreasing his presence as his feeling of danger increases. Never could tell if it was a good or bad one.


    "So how did your call go"


    "Fine I was able to contact everyone I needed to and take care of a few other things" the look she gave him clues Sam in.


    He calmly stated "you looked me upright", the look changed " don''t worry I haven''t the slightest interest in harming you", his voice turned to sharpened steel "but I guess you don''t buy that", he walked in front of her and bent to stare her in the eye " so let me tell you this, I came to this island to start fresh and leave my past behind me" he stood up straight before he continued " and I have no reason to open whatever tiny closet of my past you managed to find"


    "Tiny closet?" she questioned worriedly


    " my history contains much and there is no way you managed to find much of it, at most you probably found out what I was doing months before I came to the island and that was one of the more legal things I have done" his voice returns to normal "no I have a question would you like to borrow my mother''s clothes or are you fine staying in that dress I sure don''t mind the view " the smirk on his face was mostly playful.


    Sophia, on the other hand, turned red in the ear and tried to move her torn dress to cover more of her skin not that it was doing much.


    Raising an eyebrow she asked, "Yes I would like some intact cloths but are you sure your mother won''t mind?"


    " I just sent her a message to ask if I could borrow them" Sam answered


    Sophia noted something strange about the way he said it, "You told her it was for me right".


    "Wouldn''t be the first time, I borrowed her clothes for myself so it doesn''t really matter", Sophia opened her mouth to ask but Sam was faster " I was doing a favor for someone I had to be their fake girlfriend"


    "Why?" Sophia felt there was a very interesting story here, but before he could answer his holo-bracelet rung, look at it he could see it was a reply from his mother.


    [sure are you being a fake girlfriend again?] Sam could just feel her laughing.


    [no it for a girl I let in the house she was attacked by a lost, her clothes are damaged and I know most females have this thing about wearing men''s clothing] he replied


    His mother text came back instantly [you should''ve gotten the cloths first and then asked, do you have any idea how she might be feeling]


    [I know very well what she is feeling and these things you must take slow and calmly at the pace set by the victim] when he sent this message, Sam''s brow were very wrinkled, Sam took pride in his empathy and emotional intelligence was it was born of experience and a side effect of his ability so he did not take well to it being insulted.


    [first lower your turn, second your right you know more on this subject how you know we will be talking about later]


    "Shit" Sam thought "she baited me" over the years since he moved to the island he has talked to his parents about the things he has done and learned during his time on the streets few by choice , but there were plenty of things he didn''t tell them and his parents knew this and have tried various methods to get him to talk and quite a few have worked.


    [side note make sure she doesn''t go into the chest in the back of my closet okay]


    [ if the fridge runs low let me know and I''ll send money for groceries, Sam please don''t hesitate to contact us if there is trouble I know you can handle yourself but it makes us feel better if you tell us yourself and we don''t find out another way]


    [okay, I''ll tell her and I''ll try my best for the second one]


    "My mother day you can borrow but ask you don''t open the chest in the closet and no I don''t know exactly what''s in it," Sam said to Sophia after he sent the message.


    "Will do," she said as she stood off the couch and headed for the stairs and stopped at them and turned around and asked Sam "where is your parent''s bedroom and what do you mean you don''t exactly know what is in the chest?"


    "their room is at the end of the hall on the right, and I what type of thing is in it but no clue what exactly,"


    "What type of thing?"


    "The type of thing ¡­ you know what it''s better if you don''t know and I don''t want to talk about" he had no intention of talking to a stranger about his parents night time bed activates or at all if he could help it, ever.


    Sophia for a moment look as if she was going to press but decided not to, this Sam thought was not strange as from what little he knew about her sam could tell she was a stubborn one very much so, but he could be wrong.


    After Sophia moved up the stairs Sam entered the kitchen to get started on dinner. Opening the cabinet containing all the pots and pans sam thought about what he could make he knew that Tyrone would eat anything if it was homemade and had no spinach, well not any he could see or taste, for Sophia he had no clue and really he just hoped she was not a super picky person, he just couldn''t cook for those who were too picky with what they eat it got on his nerves real quick but as long as he wasn''t cooking they could be as picky as they licked.


    After a bit of thought Sam decided to make something that no one ever complained about a plate of three meat spaghetti taking a look in the fridge sam decided to use beef, chicken, and a bit of pork, all artificial meats, of course, few people actually eat real meat anymore of most of them end up in straight jackets in a white padded room.


    This is because of the evolution all animals went through the one that gave the human level intelligence and self-awareness, not the one that gave some of the animal''s powers and abilities. Less than twenty years after this evolution animal had made significant progress in their equal rights movement one of these major successes was making it illegal to keep barn animal against their will and killing them for them to be food, not that it was very difficult to do seeing as many animals were learning human languages and it felt really wrong to do so. But they did agree to sell there byproducts like eggs and milk at reasonable prices, around that time the human-animal alliance was born like its name it was an alliance between humans and animals with the mission of helping humans and animals solve their differences and help bring peace between the two groups. This alliance still exists to this day and it has grown greatly to the point that it was one of the world''s top ten organizations. Many people were passive level members of this group like Sam.


    Artificial meats were the main source of revenue for the alliance. Artificial meats looked, tasted, smelled, felt, and even sounded like the real thing. There were many types for sale ranging from common barn animals to things like dinosaur meat (when dinosaur meat came out people were shocked and curious how they got a sample the tear didn''t receive the dinosaurs, the alliance never told how they did it). The making of artificial meat was similar to artificial organs, skins and limb it all used stem cells with the help of 3-D laser printer. But there were a few main differences between the real and artificial meats, one was nutrition Artificial meats had less nutritional value and this caused people to eat more of leading to weight gain and appetite increase world round (thankfully staying fit became a life or death matter years before the creation of artificial meats), another difference was Artificial meats kept longer even when they aren''t refrigerated but when they went bad you would know as they began to rapidly rot in to a foul-smelling sludge. One more was the price artificial meat was surprisingly cheap considering how it was made but that mostly had to do with the advances of technology over the years than anything else.


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    Sam turned off the heat for the pot of noodles so he could drain the water from it. Then after rinsing the noodles, he added them to the large pan that contained the meats, sauce and a few other things for flavor.


    He turned the heat for the pan to low it would stay warm until it was time to eat.


    After that same began to clean up, during this time Sophia came back downstairs wearing some of him moms old sweats and from the moisture on her skin and less tense she appeared she probably took a nice hot shower.


    "Something smells nice, what did you make?" She asked when she walked into the kitchen


    "Three meat spaghetti, I used beef, chicken, and pork." Sam answered before he turned to face her "if don''t want that there are a few frozen meals in the freezer but that''s all cause I''m not cooking any more today" he told her as he grabbed a plate and some tongs so she could make her plate, "so do you want to eat now or after we make a plan"


    "A plan for what?"


    "A plan for our time in this house during the in my house, you would be surprised the difference having one makes," Sam told her grabbing two more plates and three forks.


    "Do really think a plan will make a difference?" She asked as she walked to the stove and looked at the spaghetti.


    "Yes, it''s more about how having a plan makes one feel then really using it" Sam had decided to be truthful with her on this matter, if he was going to stay with her he needed to build a little trust or at least convince her that he wasn''t going to kill her (without good reason(not that there was ever a truly good reason)). " plus you never know what can happen and you need to learn about my house defenses."


    "Defenses?" She questioned, a fork in her mouth as she tasted the food, Sam was curious how much the surprise was at the fact his house had defenses or how the spaghetti tasted.


    "Of course you saw a bit of my history I have plenty of enemies who would use this emergency as a chance to get back at me if they could." He told her as she reached into the fridge and pulled out the Parmesan (made with real cow milk(he didn''t like it on his spaghetti it bothers him more then he liked)), " so back to my original question do you want to eat beforehand or afterward?"


    "During" she answered blunt like, this caused Sam to smile, and think" You may be more interesting than I first thought".


    "Then let me call down Tyrone, I must warn he can be a little weird with strangers so I ask for your patience with him" then the boy turned around, took a deep breath and shouted "TYRONE" causing Sophia to jump at just how loud he got when he was quite soft spoken.


    Immediately there was the sound of something falling on the ground.


    Then a few moments later when the sound of movement died, Sam got a message


    [I''ll be down in a minute]


    (Again Sam couldn''t help but think that it was too easy.)


    Not long after the sound of footsteps could be heard on the stairs


    When Tyrone reached the bottom of the stairs he walked over and sat at the table. An awkward silence draped over them.


    "This will be a trying time won''t it" Sam groaned in his head before he spoke to them "let''s start with introductions alright" neither one moved to say anything, " introduce yourselves" this time his voice had an edge to it.


    [tyrone] he respected Sam


    "Sophia" she was terrified of Sam


    "Good, now we need a plan, so any ideas" again they said nothing " okay then, may some higher being give me strength" the latter part of that was said under his breath.


    "One of the major problems we might face is supplies such as food, water won''t be a problem unless they shut off the plumbing, there is enough food in the fridge to last one person a month but-," Sam was cut off by Sophia


    "Hold up why is there a month''s worth of food in there and how" her confusion was kind of reasonable.


    ''I dislike shopping in general so I find ways to avoid it and I use shrinking and expansion rune to make more room I would have made even more but my parents forbid that something about me being on the path to becoming a recluse, but moving the food in the fridge may last us the entire emergency if we are careful.


    [do you really think that the emergency will last so long that we will have to worry about food]


    "Yes causes they don''t know what is causing people to become lost much less how to help them, so unless they find out all this before the sun rises tomorrow we will have to worry about food."


    "Well I can help with the food problem by bringing the number of people down to two"


    "And how do you plan to do that Sophia," Sam asked he drawing on his mana in case she tried something.


    "My ride will be here soon to take me home," she said looking at a screen in front of her.


    "That won''t work," he told her plainly


    "What," her head snapped towards him "why wouldn''t it"


    "When the island enters emergency mode they closed down all rode so the police and military vehicles can move quickly and freely so unless your ride is one of those it isn''t coming."


    she slightly deflated before asking" so what do you suggest we do about the food?"


    "We ration as much as we can and make use of my mother''s garden to grow there are seed somewhere in her gardening supplies," he paused to let them digest this " another problem is the sleeping arrangements, I can not let you sleep in my parents room or on the coach Tyrone has the only guest room and I don''t think you would like sleeping in my room" Sam told them and at once they asked.


    [can''t she just share a room with one of us]


    "What''s wrong with your room?"


    This is one of the times Sam can see just what effects being a recluse has had on Tyrone as he had no clue about the interactions between the male and female gender or with people in their teens and up for that matter.


    "Were to old to share a room Tyrone it would be inappropriate," he said staring the younger boy in the eyes her hen turn to the female in the room "and my room is haunted" Sam ignored the surprised looks on the other two faces "now I think we may have air mattress somewh-" at that moment cut off again


    "Your house is haunted!?" Sophia screamed her hands on the table lick she was ready to bolt out the house.


    "No, just my room now would you like to see if we can find the ai-"


    "Hold boy we need to talk about the ghost, they could kill us in our sleep" She demanded fear lacing her voice.


    "There is nothing to fear the ghost won''t hurt anyone there my friends and they fear me too much to try anyway" all of what he said was true but he hated the second part but it was necessary to tell them as it would put them at ease for now at least.


    "So we have nothing to worry about," Sophia asked with understandable suspicion.


    " Yes, no harm will come to you from the ghost in my room" he wholeheartedly meant that.


    "Okay so about the air mattress-" they talked more about there plans like about what they should do if someone broke into the house or if one of them became a lost way to go about their eventual food problem, Sophia'' clothing. After that Sam started a conversation about a lighter topic to deal with the tense atmosphere that had settled over them while they ate the food he had made.


    As soon as they were done eating Tyrone retreated back to his room the small smile on his face told Sam that he was in a pretty good mood and knew exactly why just because he was now more cautious did not mean he stopped his favorite activity.


    While washing the dishes by hand Sophia returned to the couch and pulled up her phone to talk to someone and it didn''t seem like it was a happy one.


    By the time Sam was done the call was getting a little intense as Sophia was getting quite upset with the person on the other side after he dried Sam walked over into the living room. When she saw him coming Sophia ended her call.


    "Should we get started looking for the air mattress" Sam asked her as cheerful as he could (it wasn''t much, he wasn''t a cheerful person he has seen to much) she nodded her head and they got to work looking for it and ten or so minutes later they found it, but not the cord that went to it.


    Sam knew that it was probably in the box of loose cords that was deep in the attic when he told this to Sophia she had this to say, " know what" throw her hands up " I''ll just share your room it is much less trouble and I am ready to fall asleep on my feet so please point me to bathroom so I can have a relaxing soak and then sleep for a month" her tone made it clear that if he didn''t he would feel pain, so he told her where she could find a towel, a sponge, and his bath salts if she wanted some.


    After she entered the bathroom, Sam went downstairs and set the house alarm and put up the leftovers, with those things done, he walked into his room he walked to the middle of the room and knelt down placing his left hand on the ground in front of him.


    Closing his eyes his hair turned pure ash white like it did in gym class and began to slightly float as an aura the same color as his hair began to emerge from him.


    "Hello I know i don''t usually talk to you while the sun is up but I need to ask that none of you come out tonight, I have guest I promise to introduce you later but today one of them had a very horrible day and she is staying in my room tonight and she didn''t react positively when I told her about you"


    "&@&-/:$&$$/@-);((;,.)(/&"


    No, I didn''t tell her anything specific just that there were ghosts in my room nothing and they were harmless"


    "¡ª//;(&@($@$(;:/&@$@&;:/(&@"


    "I know you all are the farthest thing from harmless but I was trying to make her feel better, not worse and I meant you wouldn''t attack or anything"


    "@&/)/@$);!?$):"


    " don''t sass me,"


    "$:$.)/$&.&!($,&/"


    " you wanna go, cause I will fight you"


    "@-$&/"


    " then it is on"


    "&/$;-"


    "€*€|*\_?¡ê~+=*_%#|<~}€~%+{\¡ê~"


    "Alright fine but we will finish this later, Toby"


    "&amp(/$)-/$;@$);"


    Getting off the ground Sam grabbed his towel and washcloth along with under a t-shirt and a pair of old shorts to sleep in to take a shower in his parent bathroom. When he was done he saw Sophia standing in front of his room.


    ''Let''s get this over with shall we?" she asked to witch Sam just nodded his head and opened his room door.


    When Sophia enter the room the sight of it made her regret her choice not enough to change her mind but regret it nonetheless.


    Sam''s room had a certain theme to it scary, his bed sheets had a blood splatter design to them, his walls were covered in posters for horror movies and monster celebrities some terrifying well done drawing of monsters, on the center of the dresser was a few skulls of different animals and two human all of them had faint lights in their eyes there was a small collection knives on the wall behind the skull on the left were books they were a mix of survival guide, horror stories, cookbook, books .. on how to start your own business. To the right of the skull were a few potted plants no of them look friends heel Sophia got the feeling that they were looking at her, past the plants were trinket like gift shop trinket from many places across the world. His desk was a bit more normal as it was covered with common school supplies but the supplies were in certain like black, red, and grey. The walls and ceiling weren''t so bad when you first looked at them just pure black, but a closer look showed that slightly different shades of black were used to create very detailed predators all looking at the bed. When she took all this in Sophia could not help but feel a chill go down her spine.


    "You can have the bed," Sam said bringing her out of her thoughts on his room.


    ''What huh? no thanks, I wouldn''t want to impose more than I already have" that was half true she didn''t think she could sleep in that bed without nightmares.


    "No it''s fine you need it more than I do, I have slept on worse and sometimes I don''t even sleep in the bed so it''s fine," he told her as he rummaged through his closet and pulled out another comforter this one had police tape and skeletons on it.


    He wasted no time walking over to the center of the room before cocooning himself in the comforter and then dropping on the ground. "Goodnight"


    Sophia had nothing to say, she just shook her head and climbed into the bed but her eyes didn''t close she stares at the ceiling until she found the predator directly above the bed and then she turned on her side closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.


    In his cocoon Sam was wide awake which his hearing raised to the point he could hear Sophia heartbeat, he stayed awake until he heard her heartbeats slow to its sleeping rate.


    Sam let out a sigh of relief seeing that she was able to fall asleep, he then raised his hearing to see what Sam what Tyrone was doing and he could hear the clicking of keys so that meant he was on his computer that he set up soon then Sam thought he could.


    "I guess he faster at it then I thought" he whispered before he drawled on his mana to draw a rune, the sleeping rune ?¦Ð¦Í¦Ï?, just like he did on nights like this. Nights he knew he needed all the sleep he could get but wasn''t likely to get it.


    When the rune was finished it turned to beautiful golden sand that Sam let fall on his face, when the first grain hit his face he felt he eyelids gain a mountain with of weight and by the time the last grain hit him he was already on his way to the kingdom of dreams.


    {he is doing better than I thought he would I guess I will have to speed things up a bit} a voice rung out from everywhere at once.

 A Trap

    The next morning when the sun was rising above the horizon a ray of light founds its way through Sam''s room window, located next to his closet above his desk, and shined its way into Sam''s eyes.


    In response, Sam rolled over, buried his head under his comforter and tried to return to his dreams, and give on that notion a moment later. If there was one thing Sam didn''t like about himself it was that once he woke up nothing short of a strong blow to the head good blow to the head could get him to sleep until at least twelve hours pass he couldn''t even take a nap he hates how efficient his body was.


    "What''s worse," he thought "tonight was actually a good night sweet dreams and I feel completely at peace" groaning Sam threw off his comforter and got up, he walked over to his closet and pulled out a pair of combat jeans a black t-shirt with white lines that formed roses.


    After he changed in the bathroom at the end of the hall and put the clothes he slept in back in his closet, Sam went downstairs to the kitchen to make breakfast, which he decided would be homemade waffles that were in the freezer. For a few moments, he considered if he should hear them up in the oven or the toaster,


    In the end, he chose the toaster that would allow him to give them a little variety in their shade.


    A good twenty-thirty minutes later all the waffles were done and stacked lighter one on the bottom and darker ones on the top. Placing the waffles tower on the kitchen table he grabs the maple giant syrup and butter then places them on either side of it.


    Rooting through the cabinet he found the food stasis stones, he placed the stones at four points equal distance from each other and summoned a bit of mana to active them.


    When the Mana entered one of the stones, the runes on the stone light up before a small beam of bluish-white light flew out the stone left to the next stone and that stone''s runes to light up. Then that rune let out a beam of light that well you get it.


    When all the stones were connected and powered up the beams started to rise to form a dome over the tower of waffles, when it was completed the color faded until the dome became mostly see through.


    That done Sam went to the backyard to do some light morning exercise in the morning sun.


    Stasis stones were a were another form of rune tech, one of the easiest and cheapest pieces relatively speaking. This was because to make them you just needed a strong enough stone to handle the force of the mana needed to create the stasis field.


    There were many forms and uses of stasis fields, for example, the stasis stone that Sam used are for mostly temperature and a bit of time stasis. This kind was pretty simple to make especially for non-living things, living things were a different matter.


    Putting living things in stasis was difficult because there at least a hundred things you had to take account of and that is for plants and if one thing was wrong what was in the field may not last half the time it would outside the field.


    Some of the most common uses for stasis was long distance delivery services, long term storage units, and time dilation learning.


    Time dilation learning came in two different forms with multiple mixes of the two, the forms were physical and mental.


    There are very long and detailed explanations of how these stasis fields work but the simplest was putting the body in stasis and letting the mind experience for mental and putting the mind in stasis and letting the body experience for physical, Vague yes but accurate.


    Mental time dilation learning was the more used of the two, mostly used In high end schools were they are used to give students days worth of learning in just a few hours, it was a moderately effective method it would be more so if it didn¡¯t cost a tiny fortune every time it was used which was way they were early used by those who didn¡¯t own a large and steady income. Physical time dilation learning was cheaper not by a lot but cheaper nonetheless for healing the body was easier than healing the mind


    Mental time dilation had another use that was very popular around the world in prison, with the use of mental time dilation stasis fields criminal could serve their sentence in a short amount of time even if it was several years long, but this option was only offered to those who crimes were minor in terms of crimes, those who from the bottom of there heart regretted what they did, those who had no other choice and were desperate, or has good behavior and got their time reduced, (The last one was the most common the first was the least).


    Sam reenters the house slightly sweaty, tired, and sore from his workout, ¡°does this mean I am out of shape or out of practice,¡± he said to himself as he walked over to the kitchen to get some water, after grabbing a bottle from the fridge he walked up the stairs and into Tyrone room to find him asleep on the computer chair head on his desk that he set up last night.


    ¡°He must not have finished putting his set up together if he is sleeping in his chair like that¡± Sam sighed as he walked over to Tyrone and straightened back into his chair carefully as to not wake the boy. Then he grabbed a blanket off the bed and draped it over the younger teen before he made the chair recline to Tyrone''s usual preference.


    Exiting the room sam returned to his room and quietly as a ghost he put on some deodorant before he went back downstairs to eat some of the waffles he made with a bit of butter and a moderate amount of syrup.


    When he was done he placed his plate in the sink, then entered the living room and sat on the living room couch turning the holo-t.v. first, he watched the news for a bit to see how things were going and the answer was mixed the situation the island was going in a positive direction but worldwide it seemed to be getting worse like it was spreading strange as it sounds that was a clear possibility in the world sam lived in.


    When he was done with the news sam surfed the channels a bit before he decided on a game show about eating mysterious mesh and guessing what made the mesh, he watched this for about maybe two hours before Sophia dragged herself downstairs well at least Sam thought it was Sophia, her hair was a mess it looked like a rats nest after a twister hit it twice, it also appears that she didn¡¯t remove her make up last night and that she was not a morning person at all.


    ¡°Good morning Sophia¡± he greeted her full of energy just to annoy her.


    ¡°Morning¡± she responded with negative energy and an annoyed tone, ¡°do you have any coffee I can drink?¡±


    ¡°No we don¡¯t keep coffee in the house not after my dad spent five days awake drinking nothing but coffee,¡± Sam said turning back to the show they had just entered the final round.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine¡± she sounded kinda miserable so Sam took mercy on her and told her


    ¡°But we do have teas with caffeine in them, would that work¡±


    ¡°Yes, thank you¡± she sounded like he just saved her life, Sam had to push down the laugh that came with the thought.


    Getting off the couch sam asked her ¡°so what kind of tea would you like?¡±


    ¡°Any is fine, I don''t have much experience with tea,¡± she said giving a dismissive wave


    ¡°Then how about chamomile, its what my father uses now,¡± he asked when he opened the tea cabinet.


    ¡°If that is what you recommend?¡± sam was unsure if the curiosity in her voice was about the tea on the show on the tv.


    ¡°Yes, that is what I recommend¡± he responded with light sarcasm while grabbed the tea leaves.


    ¡°Then ill shall have it dear host¡± threw the sarcasm right back.


    ¡°Then I''ll have to ask you to be patient while I prepare¡± he threw it back while he filled the kettle with water, while the water was boiling the two of them continued to talk with a good layer of sarcasm in there words, they talk while the leaves were steeping but the sarcasm level went down as the topic became a bit more serious for they talked about what say saw on the news earlier.


    When sam gave Sophia her tea she took a small sip then another before she asked a question ¡°I been meaning to ask but what with that stack of waffles on the table¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s breakfast¡± he answered


    ¡°You made waffles all those, How long have you been up?¡±Sophia asked both curious and surprised, Sam was confused why before he remembered what the waffle tower looked like to an outsider, that he spent hours hand-making waffles which meant he had been up to do.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s about 7 so I''ve been up around four hours I think and no I didn¡¯t make all those waffles in that time there in the freezer¡±


    ¡°So they were store-bought,¡± the female said with hesitation


    ¡°No homemade just stored in the freezer¡± the hesitation was replaced by curiosity


    ¡°Okay so what kind are they¡±


    At that sam paused ¡°what flavor were they again,¡± then he told her ¡°mystery¡±


    ¡°Mystery¡± the hesitation was back


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there is nothing that will cause an allergic reaction, so there safe to eat but I can''t say anything about the taste though?¡± he told her in a positive tone with a little mischief in the end


    ¡°Alright, ill keep that in mind,¡± Sophia said before she turned her focus to her tea.


    Sam returned to the kitchen to make his own breakfast, grabbing three waffles from within the stasis field he placed them on a plate and then lightly drowned them in syrup, he also made himself a glass of milk to go with it.


    When he was done with it all he put the dishes in the sink and rinsed them off so they would be easier to wash later. He returned to the coach to continue to watch another episode of the game show.


    As for Sophia after she finished her tea she tries a piece of one of the waffles and must have decided that they were fine because she grabbed a few whole ones and put a little butter on each of them.


    While she was eating, sam observed her out the corner of his eye, ¡°well she has relaxed considerably in the short time that she has been in my house, to fast to make sense really she was sexually assaulted and she knows a bit about my past there is no way she should be this calm in my presence or trusting. its possible that just what kind of person she is but that is way to fast and I don''t for a second think that she was the innocent type not with that bra she was wearing last night,¡± as sam thought more on his house guest and how strange her trust for him had risen the way it did he remembered what happened with Tyrone''s luggage, that and how easily he gained Sophia''s trust made his suspicion of the situation arise.


    These two things may seem completely unrelated and they were, there was no real connection to them but in how they happened by something being skipped and this was vastly related to many kinds of illusion what kind sam didn''t know but he would find out and how much of the world around him was an illusion as well, he knew more than one way but for now he was going to see who won this game show.


    When Sophia was done eating she joined him on the couch, but nowhere near him. Time passed as they watched the game show and a few other in silence, around 10:30 sam got up off the couch and head back into the backyard.


    The Vegal''s backyard was pretty simple and large when you went through the backdoor to your left you would find the shed which held gardening, training, workout supplies, and a few other things.


    The farthest ten feet from the door was Mrs.veagal¡¯s garden, the garden contained mostly herbs with a dash of flowers and tea leaves. There were a few types of herbs in the garden medical, seasoning, and mystical. The flowers all fifty of them were from around the world and a gift from sam(he had called in a few favors to get them all), the herbs Mrs.vegal bought herself so she could start a garden when she and husband bought the house forty-something years ago. The herbs and tea leaves are grown in the garden were, when fully grown, dried in the shed to the right of the back door and then stored in mason jars around the house depending on their purpose and if there was extra it was sold at the island open-air market at the end of the week.


    Sam walked near the center of the backyard so that he was far away from everything so he wouldn¡¯t damage anything. Folding his legs under him the dark-haired teen folded his hands in his lap and closed his eyes. He slowed his breathing and relaxed so he could enter a semi-meditative state.


    In this state sam felt for the mana in the world, he did this to confirm the type of illusion that was being used on him, when creating an illusion there were two main methods infusing and replicating. When you used the infusion method you did so that you could control the real world when you used replicating you did so that you could make a world to control. At first glance, it was impossible to tell them apart but if you could see the signs you could see the difference, one of the major signs was the mana it was ether apart of everything or was everything.


    But it seems that those two methods were not in use as the mana appeared unchanged. sam opened his eyes and narrowed them as he realized what this meant, whatever illusion sam was in it was made using a method he didn¡¯t know and that sent two shivers down his spin one of chilling fear, the other of burning excitement.


    Sam went back inside and returned to watching the t.v., well he looked like he was in truth he was making a mental check of things of ways he could prepare for the invertible fight he was going to get into. He considered many things weapons, runes, clothes, environment, and his ability (this he considered very hard).


    Sam spent the next few hours on the couch watching t.v. and making his checklist it was around noon that got he off the couch and went to his room to gather some supplies. After he closed and locked his door sam erased his presence completely, well as much as he could with how out of practice he was. Sam moved quietly and quickly around gather the thinks he needed, one of the knives from his collection, a plain-looking leather bracelet in the of his sock drawer, a woven green and blue wool and silver beads bracelet hidden in a sneaker, then he opened the loose floorboard under his bed grabbed a box that was no larger than a sponge, from a fake bottom drawer in his desk he grabbed a thin obsidian ring.


    When had collected everything sam laid it out on his bed, and for a few minutes he did nothing but look at all the object as memories of the past washed over him the good, the bad, and the weird.


    Pushing the memories down Sam took a deep breath before he slowly geared up, the leather bracelet went on his right wrist, the wool and bead on his left, the ring joined the leather bracelet on his right hand, the box went up his left pants and was strapped there, the knife went down the front of his pants.


    When everything was in its place sam walked back and forth a bit to make sure that nothing in his pants moved or would be uncomfortable. After a few small adjustments, sam left his room and checking on Tyrone (who was still asleep) returned to the couch to be surprised that Sophia was surrounded by a group of women in tuxedos, this surprised him a lot for a couple of reasons. One only certain groups can move outside, two he didn¡¯t hear the door opened and it was anything but quiet, three he set the houses security and the door wouldn¡¯t open with his or his parent¡¯s approval¡­ wait, scratch that last one he forgot to do that. ¡°So that''s how they got in the house probably but that didn¡¯t explain the other two things.


    While sam walked over the door and set the house''s security he tried to figure out how he didn¡¯t hear the door squeak, the whole reason his parents let the door squeak was so that sam could hear it open and close they had sound amplification installed on the hinges and on the windows so they could be heard opening anywhere in the house (this was done so sam would feel safe in the house, this was the first of many things they did for that purpose and all of them put a lot of warmth in sam¡¯s heart).


    Sam couldn¡¯t figure out how they did it, any method he could think was disproved rather quickly, the man reason was time as he was only upstairs for a little over five minutes, ¡°it is by all reason impossible i can think of impossible¡± the moment he that crossed his mind sam froze ¡°that''s right it is impossible, in the real world¡± sam now knew what was happening and why he didn¡¯t recognize it until now ¡°my house has been pulled in to an illusion dimension or at least something similar, well fuck¡± the green-eyed teen swore.


    An illusion dimension is a trap, a very powerful one that required a monsters amount of power to create and sustain for even a moment. That is why sam had only encountered one, years ago, it had belonged to a ghost of an old school principal who was a little under a thousand years old.


    The principal was a nice man in life but his death changed everything about him, for he was killed by a prank from one of his students while the school was undergoing some repairs, no one the specifics but it ended with the principle dying trapped behind a concrete wall and it was painful. The death caused his soul to bind itself to the school, at first there was not much he could do but over the years things changed as not only did he grow more powerful but he saw many things going on in his school, horrible things from small bullying to straight-up assault of multiple forms, this causes rage to bloom in his heart, rage that only grew as time passed he tried many methods to help those who needed it, but it did little, and for almost one hundred years this continued before the principal''s mind broke and his method changed. He started to trapping people in the school at first by sealing doors shut but luckily many people were able, then time passed he grew in power and his methods grew more complex fewer able to. After a year of trapping people, he learned he drain energy from the people he trapped and he grew stronger. Now i know what your thinking why was the school not just closed down two reasons one it was a reform school with a poor success rate and two they were only missing during the night during the day they attended their classes, so the principal''s actions went unnoticed for years until sam arrived at the school for something he didn¡¯t remember but it must have been something big in the eyes of the law but not in his, this put him at the top of the principles capture list.


    And Within a week he did it not that sam made it easy for him even after he was captured as for several factors the principle could not bring him under his control like the others but sam couldn¡¯t escape his grasp for the entire school was the doorway to an illusion dimension and sam had no clue where to find the exit much less open it.


    So he spent almost a year in that dimension before he figured out how to escape using his ability at full power in the light of the moon he was able to tear space and escape into the real school where he found the principles real body, which he violently tore it apart and then burned with a special fire that left little ash.


    Without his body gone there was nothing holding the principle to the school and this plane, without his soul to maintain the dimension collapsed and all those who were trapped were free, then many of them dropped dead in front the study body and faculty. After that the police were called the story was told, the school shut down, the students were sent home well those who had them, as for sam he skipped town hell he skipped the state.


    Sam blinked away the memories as he returned to the present, he quickly finished up with setting the security to recognize his guest and that it was an island-wide emergency. With that done he turned to kitchen clock which was frozen at 4:58:45, fun fact about illusion dimensions certain clock types clocks didn¡¯t work in them because time was mostly depended on the creator of the dimension, if the creator didn¡¯t take account for the clock it would not work and would inform the traped that something was off.


    Putting on a gentle smile sam greeted the new people in his house, only to get a cold and rude response from one of the women in suits with an apology from Sophia following it.


    After he accepts Sophia''s apology he asked the women if they would be having dinner with them, another one african women told him in a professional tone that the had bought their own dry rations. Sam spoke to Sophia about what he had in mind for lunch, at first he was planning to reheat the spaghetti from last night but destroying space takes a look of energy and if he fails he is going to need to eat something, something specific so he didn¡¯t do anything he would regret because of the side effects of his ability the witching hour!

 Witching hour

    The meal sam had in mind was a simple soup, well it looked simple but it was the farthest thing from it since he was making lunch sam decided on a simple soup with a nice side so he was making a vegetable soup made with beef stock and greek salad side.


    After he created the meal plan sam opened the fridge and freezer to grab the ingredients he needed.from the freezer he grabbed stock and a couple of frozen vegetables from the fridge he grabbed more vegetables and a few lemons, closing the fridge and freezer sam opened the cabinets and grabbed the seasonings and the special ingredient of the meal, a powder made from two magic herbs the white dream clover and black waking clover.


    The two magic herbs weren''t very rare nor powerful but the applications for them were endless, the white dream herbs despite it innocent name it could kill under an hour without extreme caution half the size of a yellow woodsorrel clover it was fresh snow white and had a very calming pleasant smell it was one of the deadliest plants on the plant and some can eat a whale whole in seconds. The white dream clover had the power to put anything that eats it in an endless sleep where they dream in nothing but a white world where there is nothing. In the white world, one will float aimlessly as they quickly lose track of time then the will slowly lose all their senses until they only had their thoughts to accompany them which would slowly drive them mad.


    The black waking was just as dangerous but in the opposite way, twice the size of a yellow woodsorrel clover pitch black with a jolting and awful smell instead of putting you to sleep it keeps you awake but it also made you blind, so you could only see black, you were more likely to survive the black waking than the whited dream and you are more likely to keep your sanity as well.


    As stated earlier these herbs have many uses, for the white dream, there were two professions that used it the most assassins/hired killers and doctors, curious right. You can easily guess that assassins/hired killers use the white clover as a poison to kill or knock out there targets, doctors use it to put their patients under for surgery and the like.


    The black waking was a different matter its most common use was in coffee, yes people added a deadly plant to their coffee to stay awake. It works but it must be incredibly diluted if you wanted to keep a little of your vision.


    There were, even more, uses to the herbs if they were used together, because of the ratio meant everything depends on it you can get an array of effect both helpful, harmful and a mix.


    The ratio that sam was using was in the third category on the more helpful side well for him. 3:4, this ratio would put the consumer into half-awake state sorta high drugged state. It wasn¡¯t a pleasant feeling and it got worse after the effects of the herb wore off as the consumer became violent sick like seriously considering going to the hospital sick. But it was what sam needed if his plan to escape failed epically since he had multiple guests who didn¡¯t have the strongest emotional states.


    After sam had chopped all the vegetables, half he put them in the pot he had already filled with the beef stock and set it to boil the other half was for the salad put in a bowl and quickly cover lemon juice and then tossed a bit before a little seasoning went on to it as well before he tossed it again. Covering the salad sam placed it in the fridge so it was cool when the was done so he could serve lunch, as for the soup it just needs to cook until the vegetables are soft.


    ¡°Now that the salad is done and soup is on its way I have to make the other preparations I need to break out,¡± he said to himself ¡°since I don''t know who made the illusion I don''t know how strong they are, so it¡¯s best if I go all out in my attempt to break out. So how shall I do it.¡± while he thought it out he slowly stirred the soup so the bottom didn''t burn or the flavor settled at the bottom. ¡®Okay, then¡± taking the wooden spoon out of the pot sam placed it to the side ¡°I will use ghost to draw in angry to cast the blood moon spell using witch to increase the destructive force of demons to the point I can break space, hopefully¡±. Turning the heat to simmer sam put the lid on the pot,¡± okay then to cast to blood moon spell Iwill need a few ingredients, thank god i am slightly paranoid and have all of them hidden in the house, now where did i hide them again?¡± closing his eyes sam went over the mental map of his hiding places of stuff around the house. ¡°Let¡¯s us the process of elimination under the couch is some valuables I can exchange for quick cash, the pocket in the ceiling I carved put has phones I acquired from my travels, under the loose roof tiles is my emergency runaway supplies, in a different pocket in the ceiling has an old weapon I really should put somewhere else like a volcano¡­.¡±, as he slowly went on the map went sam could help think he really needed to do something about all of this but what he was unsure of but he was going to do something.


    Halfway through the list sam found the hiding place of the ingredients for the spell, in a hole dug in the backyard¡­¡± now where is the shovel¡±?


    Dipping the spoon in the soup sam pulled up a piece of vegetable and pressed it between his fingers to check that it just the right amount of soft and hard, satisfied sam turns the heat down to the warm setting so the soup doesn''t go cold while sam is busy.


    As sam walk over to the back door sam call out to Sophia ¡°lunch is ready, the salad is in the fridge if you want some, the soup is vegetables with beef stock, if Tyrone wakes up while I am in the backyard make sure he eats something, you can snack on the leftover waffles if you like.¡± sam then opened the door and closed it behind him.


    Only to open the door and stick his head through ¡°also it best for your health that you ignore everything you hear see and feel coming from the back yard, if you enter the backyard I can¡¯t guarantee your survival or sanity¡± his tone cheerful.


    Sophia had nothing to say as she starred as sam closed the door again, she didn''t know why but she felt a horrible feeling that sam was telling the cold hard truth, then an even worse feeling as a question appeared in her mind ¡°what on earth could he be doing?¡±


    In the backyard after sam had grabbed the shovel from the shed and dug up the drown leather satchel that contained the ingredients for the spell. Sam opened the satchel to make sure everything was in there and in good condition, seeing that it was sam placed the satchel to the side so he filled it in.


    Removing the contents of the bag sam placed them in front of him his heart trying to beat out of his chest. Anytime he had to use this spell it was never good not once has it ever ended in anything positive.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Taking a breath sam kneeled on the ground and for the first time in years summoned the full power of his ability the witching hour- the power of the darkest hour and all that thrive in it.


    Abilities strange yet amazing phenomenon that happens to very few people in all kinds of ways, no one has been able to explain how an ability happens but the power gained is unmistakable and immeasurable is well known. Abilities come in many forms from elemental to animal types to making white holes, The kinds of people who got were just as varied.


    Sam¡¯s ability is a pretty simple one it allows for him to summon three forms of power, the power of a ghost, the power of a witch, and the power of a demon. The power came in a form of energy that sam could summon from a place above his heart, but for whatever reason when sam draws on any of his powers his appearance changes like in gym class he used the power of the ghost so his hair turned ash white, this happens for the side effect of his ability the more power he uses the more he becomes, small thing causes the change to revert in a few hours or days big things well sam usually finds a way to minimize or balance it out with the other powers like what he was about to do.


    Feeling all three powers flood his body sam felt his body change, all the hair on his body turn ash white with silver moon edges before the hair on his head grew to the point it covers his eyes in the front and cover half his back, his skin became ghostly pale, his left eye turned demonic red with the pupil turned slit, his right eye turned completely sclera and all with a violet star pentagram taking over the area of the iris, his teeth became small daggers that made it difficult to completely close his mouth, his ear gained a rather large obsidian black point to them, four small jagged demonic red horns grew from the side of his head, his nails on both hands and feet grew became an inch and a half long light violent claws, though not visible his vital signs dropped to near death. This was the form his body took when he was at full power.


    Sam raised his hands in front of his face and took a long look at them, it had been so long he had mostly forgotten what it looked and felt but he couldn¡¯t forget what it was capable of. Pushing down the urge to power down sam raised his palms to the sky and spoke as a pale white aura covered his hands.


    ¡°&$*!@&%)@%&@$&%@(&#%_)@*%&%(##&@!&%$


    This was a call to all nonliving thing within the range of sam¡¯s ability, a very large range sam didn¡¯t know the specific number, and from within that rage pale light beams of vast colors floated into sam¡¯s backyard where they slowly began to orbit with sam in the center. After about 70 beams entered the backyard sam put his hand on his knees sweat dripping from his body.


    ¡°Damn i am really out of practice I used to be able to at least call twice this many lights before I started to feel tired, I also forgot how hard this can be and how the power of the ghost makes it easier to sweat.¡± placing his hand on his back sam stretched back ¡°okay now for the spell.¡±


    Kneeling on the ground sam grabbed the ingredient for the spell which consisted of four bottles of ground-up herbs three bottles of questionable liquid and one polished ruby sphere.


    Grabbing the first ingredient, a bottle of ground moonlight fern, sam pored the moon hire powder in three sizes the smallest with a radius of three feet the next circle was two feet larger than that and the largest three feet larger than that one.


    The next ingredient was a bottle of moon rabbit blood, something that was near impossible to get as rabbits charge an arm and a leg, he used the rabbit''s blood to turn the innermost circle red. When he was done sam spoke the first incantation of the spell ¡®morf emac uoy noom eht hcaer rewop ym pleh tibbar noom eht of doolb¡¯ the now red circle glow in ominous light before it floated off the ground and flew to the rising moon.


    ¡°That¡¯s the first step¡± Sam whispered as he stared at the red circle on the moon. ¡°Now for the next step¡± grabbing the ground star petals a glittering silver powder and the ground moonstone a pale white-grey powder, sam used the moonstone to make the four major moon phases at the four compass points of the middle circle, He created twelve small stars on the outside of the circle then he grabbed the next ingredient , tears of a wolf which was used on the moonstone. ¡®Sdeen ym ot noom eht retla cigam ym pleh noom of enots flow eht of sraet¡¯ with the second incarnation said the second circle joined the first on the moon locking it in place.


    ¡°Now for the last part¡±


    Grabbing the last two ingredients ground full matured blood vines a dark red powder, and the extract of the blood vines an even darker red. Using the powder sam created a star pentagram identical to the one in his eye the size of the largest circle and the bottle of the extract was placed in the center of the star,¡¯ ecnad yam serutaerc leurc os der leurc a noom eht nrut cigam ym yb eniv doolb¡¯ the incantation caused the extract turn to as witch fused with the floating magic circle.


    With that the last ring on the moon sam spoke the final incantation ¡®enalp siht no enihs dna noom leurc eht morf won¡¯ halfway through the incantation sam drew in the colorful beams that were floating around into his left eye after he lifted his hair out of the way. As the beams entered his eyes the star in it glowed started to glow with black veins growing from it, when the final light entered his eye it shone like a floodlight and the veins covered most of the right side of his face.


    Closing his right eye as he pushed down the pain coming from it lifted his head so he was looking at the moon he opened his right eye. The star on the moon changed from red to the violet of his right eye for a moment before both stars turned blood red, the star in his eye removes itself leaving his eye completely sclera placing his hand under the floating star and gently pushed it towards the moon causing it to shoot into the sky. Sam watched as it hit the moon in the dead center of the magic circles on the moon where the moon started to turn blood red in a way that was identical to blood soaking into clothing, as the moon turned red so did the world around him the more the world changed color the more lively the demon power inside sam felt. when the moon was completely red( the magic circle was a smidge darker than the moon) sam felt that the power was about to break out and run wild if he didn¡¯t do something with.


    Taking a breath to steady himself sam spread left hand behind him and directed all the demon power in his body to it, as the power built up his arm began to change, the small claws on his hand grew to 6 and a half inches long and turned bright crimson, the skin turned pitch black with a few dashes of crimson completely up to the elbow where the black and crimson lessened slowly into thick black veins with spots of crimson that at his shoulder lessened more into thin veins that ended over his heart.


    Sam clenched his teeth as the demon power pooled in his arm so he didn¡¯t scream in agonizing pain of his arm eroding on a level unseeable to the eye, when the power reached the peak of what his body could handle and not explode sam let out a groan of pain as he swung his arm overhead at full force, his left arm moved with no resistance not ever air until it was stopped cold by something unseen.


    ¡°This is going to be harder than I first thought,¡± sam thought as he tried to move his arm to tear the space in front of him, arm not budging for several seconds ¡°sam called out ¡°noom doolb deelb¡±.


    Drops of blood slowly began to fall from the moon, with each drop sam could feel the demon power breaking out of his arm more and more causing a faint black smoke to start leaking from his arm, but thankful sam¡¯s arm began to move to tear the space.


    Inch by inch the hole in space began to grow by the time the fifth drop fell it was two feet long but sam was reaching the limit of how much demon power sam was comfortable with using.


    ¡°This is as much space I can destroy with this much power I am using, think Samuel what can you do,¡± Sam thought to himself as a small panic bubbled in his chest. ¡°Damn it, chingada madre , Enculer¡­¡± as mentally let loose his long long long list of swears he has picked up over the years as he tried to think of something only for the situation to get worse.


    The space was starting to repair itself on instinct sam used his right arm to try and keep the tear open, which was really stupid as all children learn very young that holes in space have a lot of energy in them and could easily cause energy burns, so when his hand touched the edge of the tear sam let out small scream of pain as his skin started to burn.


    ¡°§¢§Ý§Ú§ß, if my mind can¡¯t help escape then I use my body¡± and with that thought sam stopped thinking and let his body take over, half the demon power in his left arm to his right to defend it from the energy of the tear in space, then stretching the space as far as he could sam used both of his arms to throw himself into the hole in space.


    Sam could only start swearing this time out loud as he went through the tear in the black void that lies beyond.

 New Lord part 1

    Jumping thru a hole in space less than two feet wide was not a safe idea but it worked even if sam got several energy burns across his body and his clothes and made his stomach feel like it was about to quit on him, on the other side of the hole there was nothing but darkness the only light came from the closing hole sam had made.


    ¡°Man, it¡¯s cold in the void between dimensions,¡± sam thought as he watched his breath turn ice particles¡± I have to do something before I freeze or suffocate to death,¡± flipping around to he was in a standing position went over his situation. ¡°Okay i can¡¯t use the power of the demon in my left hand unless I want to do some real damage to it, I could use my right hand but it would be weaker than my left at twice the effort, plus I am already at the limit I set for myself years back, I don¡¯t know how to use the power of ghost or witch to break dimensions I mean I could try but space is fickle. I guess I could call in a rain check with Daniel but,¡± sam stopped talking as to things happened sadness welled up at the thought of canceling on daniel his best and only friend, the other was the feeling of gravity taking hold of his body and pulling his forward.


    Feeling gravity grabbed hold of his body Sam went on high alert, for nothing naturally existed in the void, not even gravity for it to bear here it had to be created or brought and the power to do so was no small amount.


    Sam immediately used ghost power to negate gravity effects on him, floating backward sam stared at the direction the gravity was pulling towards as he gathered more ghost power in preparation of anything.


    The only thing that happened was a portal opening in front of him. Unlike the hole, he tore open the portal looked stable and safe.


    ¡®Are you coming?¡¯ a most likely male voice spoke out from beyond the portal, ¡°don¡¯t be afraid I just want to talk, you have impressed me greatly¡±


    A very unpleasant look formed on sam¡¯s face as he started floated forward having no other choice if he wanted to leave the void or survive, as he moved closer to the portal slowly readied the ghost power he built up to attack at a moments notice.


    Stopping in front of the portal sam mumble something that he would never repeat in front of his mother before he stepped into the portal.


    Going through the portal was vastly different from going through the tear, for one it didn''t give him any energy burns pulse it didn¡¯t make him feel like he rode a twirl and hurl six times in a row after a feast of greasy carnival food, if anything it felt like swimming in a cold lake.


    When sam reached the other side of the portal he found that he was in a throne room. The ceiling was about three stories up, the walls were a light blue and many paintings of sexual acts ranging solo to a straight-up orgy between the cream pillars that had snakes and some kind of bovine carved into them. Under sam¡¯s feet was a long silk blue carpet with violent embroidery that when looked closer at spelled the lust repeatedly, the carpet stretched behind sam to a large and elegant granite door and in front of him to a throne that was on a story high elevated part of the floor. The elevated part of the floor was made of large silver stone steps. The throne was a large and very expensive embroidered pillow. Behind the throne was an enormous window that showed the night sky.


    The window was what really worried sam, he couldn¡¯t recognize any of the stars, that meant he had no clue where on earth he was if he was on earth.


    The sound of stone scraping made sam turn around to see the granite doors opening just enough to let a figure through.


    The figure was what looked like a male two years younger then sam, his skin was dark with red undertones and dark curly hair that look like someone gave up trying to straighten it halfway to the front, it was easy to tell that they were in great shape because the only thing they were wearing was a bed sheet badly wrapped around their waist.


    Walking down the carpet the figure said nothing until he stopped in front of Sam ¡° hello Samuel, I must admit I am amazed how quickly you escaped the illusion I created¡±


    ¡°Who are you,¡± Sam asked politely whoever this was they were not someone that sam could fight at the moment, ¡°because we obviously don¡¯t know each other if you though that poorly made illusion would hold me¡± just because he couldn¡¯t fight them doesn''t mean he couldn¡¯t annoy them.


    ¡°Your right we have never met but I have been watching you since you dealt with the sex trafficking ring last month.¡±


    ¡°How do you know that?!¡± it¡¯s true he did take down a sex trafficking ring last month mostly because they tried to add him to it and he was the vengeful type plus he hated those who took the freedom of others and took advantage of them and he was in a really bad and stressed mood do to finals that month so he was taking it out on them, really all he did was break in to there hideout find a decent amount of information concerning the ring sent it to the police and then beat the crap out of them so no one would escape and he mad to leave a signature.


    ¡° I was watching them because of my job and I happened to see you decimate them thoroughly, it must have been difficult¡±


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°Not really they were prepared for the police but they had never heard of anything like me before,¡± sam told them sounding bored, the ring was pretty small and new.


    ¡°That is true, you are one of a kind in so many ways¡± the joy in their voice creeped sam out.


    ¡°Man I hope they aren''t a collector of some kind,¡± Sam thought to himself as he stepped back.


    ¡°Now I am sure you''re wondering why I trapped you in a fake world¡± they spoke as they walked around sam and towards the throne.


    ¡°Yes but first would you mind telling me your name,¡± Sam told them as he turned to keep they in his sights.


    ¡°Yes, I guess I forgot my manner it has been a long time since I talked to anyone, my name is eros and I am a cosmic lord, the lord of lust to be precise,¡± Eros said starting off cheery then turning dead cold.


    ¡°What the hell is a cosmic lord, I know there are many mysteries in the world but this really out there,¡± sam thought.


    ¡°The reason I trapped in that fake world was to test you if you were worthy to be my heir¡± eros spoke as they climbed the stairs.


    ¡°Heir? you look too young to be looking for an heir¡± the eighteen-year-old said.


    ¡°Why thank you for the compliment but I am over 7 trillion years old, but I''m not dying I just found a person truly capable of being the lord of lust,¡± they responded the joy in their voice increased.


    ¡°7 trillion! that''s older than the milky way, I think?¡± sam thought to himself ¡°I am in some real abyssal deep mega scheisse aren''t i.¡±


    As eros sat on the throne they spoke again ¡° I had multiple stages in the fake world to test your character and ability, but I didn''t expect that you would be capable of breaking out before the second phase could start I¡¯m even more surprised that you noticed so fast, If you would be so kind as to inform me where I went wrong in the illusion?¡±


    ¡°Mostly details, like the fact that my house guest agreed with me to easily or the kitchen clock, hadn¡¯t in more than twelve hours, or how several people entered my house without me noticing, small things really plus I have been trapped in a weaker one before¡± sam politely answered.


    Eros hummed in thought before speaking again ¡°I guess I should have taken the warnings of your planet¡¯s gods more serious when they told me you were dangerous¡± the smile on eros face said that they were not really bothered by it.


    Sam could say nothing to but a very uneasy smile appeared on his face.


    ¡°But, moving on because you broke out of the fake world i wasn¡¯t able to get a good look at your charter but you did show me that you have power and skill to be a lord, it quite the problem for me,¡± the joyful tone vanished ¡°thankful I know how to deal with it¡± was said in a sad tone.


    Sam didn¡¯t get a chance for a thought to form before eros appeared behind him, sam immediate turn around ready to blast them across the room with ghost telekinesis, only to be stopped short by eros grabbing his face, ¡°this won¡¯t hurt physically¡¯.


    Over the course of his young life sam has experienced many forms of pain, small things like scraping his knees and hands while playing at a park when he was about 2 or 3, to big things like being stabbed five times with a thousand degree knife, and it was not just physical things there were mental pain like the illusion that he was trapped in for whole thirty days and nights the replayed all the deaths he had witnessed, and spiritual pain when his soul was half-eaten by that two thousand crazy spirts. With all he has experienced sam thought that nothing could compare anymore.


    But eros proved him wrong he hadn¡¯t thought possible he made relive his life, every single moment of it from the second he was born to this very nanosecond, and it wasn¡¯t like watching a movie no sam felt, saw, tasted, heard and smelt everything he had in his life, both the great and horrible, the blood he spilled, the death he saw, the battles he fought, the sights he saw, the emotions he felt.


    It all rushed over him at that moment


    And


    It awakened something he has been carrying deeply hidden in his heart for almost 14 years


    HATRED


    Pure hatred that consumes his mind body and soul every time it was set free, a moment before it completely consumed him he thought ¡°this happened once again¡± with complete despair before he turns back to his original appearance.


    During that moment eros had gone through about ten years of sam¡¯s life and could only think, ¡°this kid could have been the lord of lust by the time he was ten, how the hell did I notice him,¡± then he realized what was happening with at the moment just as the boy looked at him with demon red slit eyes ¡°oh great¡± they said before they blocked a knee to the face.


    The side effect of sam¡¯s ability is becoming, the more power he uses the more he becomes, to prevent himself from turning into a demon witch or ghost sam set limits on how much power he could use and still, for the most part, be human as well a revert within a few days or so. Breaking out while difficult was within the limits sam set, but there were incidents that made the self-made limits worthless, like when his emotions consumed him.


    This was a case of his hatred resonating with his demon power in his body it was worse because of he already had faint demon thoughts in the back of his head that sam had no problem suppressing, then he got angry and well it best you read for yourself


    When eros blocked the knee sam brought up the other one to there chest when the knee hit sam felt like he was hitting a block of tank grade metal maybe something stronger as his kneecap shattered.


    ¡®AAAAAAHHHHHH¡¯ as he screamed in pain sam blasted with more ghost telekinesis at Eros¡¯s eyes that did little more than blow his hair a bit.


    When sam was about to unleash the fourth attack, eros narrowed his eyes and sam felt his skull shattered and his body disintegrate.


    ¡°Have you calmed down?¡± eros asked there cheerful tone returning as nothing had passed.


    As for sam he was drenched in a cold sweat unbreathing still as a statue, ¡°that was incredible, it¡¯s been so long since felt such thorough fear this is the second time I knew that there was no way I could ever escape¡± as afraid as he was also excited because he very deep down is a battle junky. He didn¡¯t like the fact that he was but he was.


    ¡°Okay so you haven¡¯t calmed down but I can work with this¡± eros then tossed sam into there pillow throne.


    Then before sam could react eros was sitting on his center of gravity and had his hands pinned to his chest, in a moment sam figure two things one there was no way he was getting up until eros released him, two eros was not a man.


    ¡°I hope you are comfortable because I need to tell you the story of how the title of Lord of lust came to be.

 New lord part 2

    Before there was light before even darkness there was the source as he is called and he was all there was, it is unknown just many eons he existed like this, but it was known what he did when he wished for the nothingness to end. He snapped his fingers and created darkness.


    The darkness led him to create his eyes which led him to create light, manipulating this new world of light and darkness entertain the source for quite the eons before he desired to create more.


    Next, he creates sounds (high and low, quiet and loud, quick and slow) with ears to go with them.


    third, there were smells (pleasant and rancid) which led to the nose.


    Fourth, came touch (soft, hard, hot, cold, light, heavy) gave birth skin.


    lastly, was taste (sweet, sour, spicy, salty, bitter, umami) that gave birth to the tongue.


    He created more and more as he grew more excited by his creations eons passed as created and experienced before his greatest and worst mistake happened.


    It is known as the first allergy! This allergy caused the score to sneeze and this the result was what the people of your planet called the Big bang.


    "Hold up" sam interrupted eros story "are you telling me the universe was created because of allergic reaction" the disbelief could not be more clear on sam.


    {even I still can''t believe that and I am more than a half-million years old}


    "Moving on"


    The source was amazed by the big bang to him it was beautiful, it was fascinating, it was something he never thought of.


    As he watched the universe form he learned the concept of time.


    This as a good and bad thing good because it allowed him to know it''s existence, it also revealed something about the source himself he wasn''t all that patient. Even with his excitement at watching the universe form her evenly knew bored and then he fell asleep.


    During the time he slept one planet form and life started to grow on it. It was mostly vegetation. But the source was ecstatic to see it when he woke up. For thousands of years he played in the vegetation feeling it on his skin, the smell it gave off, the taste of it. Before he realized it more forms of life began to pop up on the planet. The source enjoyed their presence it filled something in him that he didn''t know that was empty and for the first time in his existence he smiled.


    "How sad" sam thought, sam thought to himself as he tried to wiggle his arms free into the right position to attack eros. "He was lonely and had no idea" sam''s eye moistened as an unpleasant memory rose up, but no tears fell.


    Eros didn''t comment on the wetness of his eyes and continues on her story.


    The source had long ago learned how to live with the life of the small planet, when a new form of life appeared on the planet self-aware life, just by looking at this self-aware life the source could tell they were different, he wasn''t entirely sure how but he could tell.


    So he watched them, watching as they grew in numbers, as they grew in mind, as they form groups, as the groups became tribes, as the tribes built village, and the villages turn to towns.


    The source watch from afar never truly interacting with for he was still uncertain what made them different from everything else in the universe, when he did interact with them he took the form of there equivalent of a preteen.


    This changed when he met her, the woman he would one-day call mother. This woman found him wandering the streets of her hometown. Took one look at him and dragged him to her place thinking he was nothing more than a lost and very dirty child.


    She bathed him, feed him a warm meal, and gave him a bed to sleep that night. When she woke up, she found that he was gone.


    As for the source he was conflicted, the women made him feel warm inside, in a way different from the animals did and he knew her less than a full day. Curious he watched her from a distance until she caught him and took him for another bath and a hot meal, only for the boy to disappear in the middle of the night again even though she stayed in the room with him that time.


    Time passed and a pattern was made the source would watch her, she would catch him then bath and feed him. Over time the source learned a few things from the women, how to speak was one of them, in turn, he had unknowingly taught her a few things like how he was something beyond a god.


    The calm peace they had ended when of other members of the town realized that the source was anything but ordinary and reacted in fear and violence.


    The simple respond in kind by harming those who attacked, the only reason he didn''t kill them was simply he didn''t like to break his creations, even if they were an accident.


    The fear they had for him only grew because of that incident, but the source wasn''t bothered by it as the women didn''t fear him at all, this caused him to relax around her more.


    Over the course of the planets solar orbits the situation in the village changed, with the help and insistence of the women the source work to ease the fear mild success, the source used his power to help the general welfare of the villagers, he also made friends with people the age he looked and acted.


    During this sto- eros was cut off by sam sending a blast of silver fire into their face. Jerking back in surprise eros blinked the fire away.


    "Oh come mercy fire didn''t even scratch them" sam screamed in his head as he put even bit of his strength trying to force his arms out of eros grip, his arms were barely moving.


    "Why did you interrupt me? Eros asked as they blinked away the last of the fire.


    "As interesting as your story would you mind getting to the POINT", as he spoke he voice got louder until he was shouting and the red of his eyes got deeper.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Jesus you become a real jerk under the influence of your demon don''t you" the slight narrowing of their eyes was the only thing that showed their annoyance


    "You trapped and kidnapped me, my impatience is justified." the teen yelled in response as he shoots a blast of ice fire in eros''s face.


    Sneezing away the fire eros spoke, "ok that''s fair, but seriously can''t you sit still until the story is over." Eros asked


    "Get eaten by paska" Sam''s answer.


    "Never heard an insult like that before, but your right I should get to the point, but first" Then to Sam''s surprised eros kissed him, thankfully even though they put their tongue in his mouth it just rested on top of his.


    Now sam wasn''t a stranger to kissing, not even when it came to kissing strangers sadly. But it was always him who had initiated it, so he was lost.


    It didn''t help that eros was very very skilled with there mouth, this was evident by sam''s blood flowing south. Thank god he sewed a rune into the groin area of all his pants so that the sign of arousal wasn''t noticeable, it also helped when he had to act unaffected by men and women who were trying to put the moves on him it also helped when dealing with the willing prostitutes of the sex ring.


    Sam attempted to get eros off him but he still could get his arms free much less push the cosmic lord off of his, after five minutes sam started breathing through his nose, It was approaching eleven minutes when eros finally ended the kiss.


    Sam after a few moments to regain his breath sam began to curse eros out in inhuman tongues.


    "That quite the thank you"


    Sam stopped cursing them out in shock before he started screaming at them "thank you thank you you forced you self on me and I should thank you if that''s what you think then our head screwed on backward along with your mish mash body".


    "Mishmash body?" Eros mumbled a bit hurt by that before they spoke up "you should thank me because I absorbed the energies forms that were changing your mind and body, so now you don''t have to wait days for them to fade like you usually do"


    Sam jaw dropped in shock, in all his travels he has never found or even heard of a method to deal with the side effect of his ability, but they did it with a kiss, so letting his jaw hanging was a completely reasonable response.


    "Good, now you wanted me to wrap this up, right," so after hundreds of thousands of years many things happened, the people of the planet started treating the source like the god he was, the women who feed and bathed the source became a god of her home planet, the people of the planet were named the first by the source, the first began to help the source with the care of the universe, a few other things happened but you will learn about them later.


    During the time one of the first discovered excessive eating or more commonly known gluttony, it was the first sin discovered and it wasn''t the last, that first discovered many more, among them was wrath, sloth, greed, envy, pride, and lust!


    The discovery of sins didn''t cause much of a stir, then that first did seven great crimes that turn them from ordinary sins into deadly sins!


    The crimes also turn that first into something else a being we now know as the original sinner.


    The original sinner''s transformation granted him unmeasurable great power and a wide range of abilities that allowed him for thousands of years to evade the source, the companion, and the first who helped watch the growing universe.


    But he couldn''t escape the source forever and when he was caught he respond like all cornered beings he lashed out, the fight between the two was extraordinary legendary, the classes between them smashed star systems, by flying near a plant they wiped life off it, they hurled the lifeless planet at each other like a game of cath along with stars, the source threw the sinner into a black hole in return the sinner throws him into a white hole.


    A good twenty percent of the universe was decimated by there fight in the week it lasted before the source was able to land a killing blow on the sinner but he also gained a grave injury.


    And then the sinner''s body split into 7 parts, these parts became several horrid and ugly beasts. The seven beasts attacked the source while trying to escape but the source was able to deal with them easily by splitting himself into eight bodies one to deal with the injury the others to deal with the beast.


    The beast was quite weak, the parts of the source were able to kill the early but that was where the problem lay they wouldn''t stay dead. After killing each beast three times in different ways, the parts decided to cage them until he could think of a permanent way deal with the beasts.


    So the source turned back time to undo the damage to the universe while he was at it he sealed the beast inside of planets core, stars, black holes, black matter clouds, anti-matter fields, and more unexplorable places,


    After the universe was repaired there was a moment of peace that was shattered by the sources injury reveling it true severity, the sinner was aiming to poison the source so he could escape. But it took longer than anyone could think of for it to take effect


    Though the poison had no chance of killing the source it did take a lot of power from him and made it hard for him to regain his lost energy, the best way to overcome the side effects of the poison was for the source to rest until he completely regained his power. So he choose to hide away in the center of a place that most beings under him would run away at the site of and closed his eyes planing to rest for a short while.


    While the source was resting the companion took overlooking over the universe. Things went well for a while before the beast started acting up, she was able to quickly put them in their place but it never lasted long. They caused more and more trouble trying to break free from there prisons, much time passed before the companion found out a long term way to keep the beast under control. To have someone watch them, control them, rule them.


    But she knew that if the some wasn''t right the power of the beast may corrupt them so she would have to choose carefully but until she found them, she herself would have to rule the beast so splitting her self in to eight bodies one would stay behind to watch over the universe with the help of the first the other would become the lords of the seven deadly sins.


    "Hold up so you are a part of the companion whatever that is" eros nodded " and the complaint was female and you appear to be male, what is up with that."


    At this eros cocked her head to the side before answering " most of his body is male but here "lifting the sheet she was wearing eros revealed her genitals to sam "is female."


    Sam said nothing as his face turned redder than his eyes as he used telekinesis to move the sheet back over eros legs.


    "Hey, I just removed the energies don''t add more!" Eros shouted.


    "Why the hell, did you reveal yourself like that" the red hadn''t faded from his face at all when he shouted back at her.


    "I had to prove it to you" she deadpanned


    "That was unnecessary, I believed you there was no need for that kind of proof." sam took a few deep breaths before speaking again calmer "you finished your story right"


    "Yes"


    "Then get the porro off me"


    "No, you''re comfortable"


    "I will rip your throat out and beat you with it"


    "If I hadn''t gone through you memories I would have trouble thinking you''re the right person to inherit my title, but I have so let me formally ask you." placing her face an inch away from sam "Samuel Nomad Vegal, will you inherit the title lord of lust?"


    The emerald-eyed teen didn''t have to think about his answer "Find someone else"


    "What why, I need your help the universe needs it"


    "Look I want to help" sorrow entered his voice " but you look through my memories right, you know all I have done good and bad, all those I''ve helped I''ve harmed." in the last word his voice cracked "then you can understand a tiny bit" His voice was cracking more "why I just want to move on, live a calm, peaceful life with those I love. It''s all I want now more then anything but if I accept that title I don''t know what will become of my life, on a lesser note I don''t know what I will become maybe I won''t change much but I could also become something worse then what I was four years ago.'' taking a breath to steady his voice sam continued talking "so I can not become the lord of lust but if you need help with anything else I can help you"


    Eros didn''t say anything but a look of deep regret crossed her face.

 New lord Part 3

    In a low voice, she spoke, ¡° there are a few details I kept from you so they would affect your choice but now it seems I must tell you¡­ The source has not recovered and won''t anytime in the next two hundred years, within the next one hundered and ten years the power the campaign used to split will run out and the eight parts will be forced to fused back together and when that happens the campaign will be in a weakened state for about fifty years, then a hundred and ten years from now the caged sins will break free. And finally the beast of lust is caged in your planets sun, and you yourself know just how hard it is to find a person like you couple of overcome extreme desires of the flesh I may not find some for hundreds of billions of years. I know you can understand what will happen if you don¡¯t become the lord.¡±


    ¡°I really want to cuss you out for that but I can tell you were telling the truth about not wanting to use that information to influence my decision and I can see that you''re really desperate, but I really want to cuss you out¡±


    ¡°That''s fair¡±


    ¡°So seeing that don¡¯t have much choice unless I want the death of immeasurable numbers on my conscience I will accept the title of lord of lust.


    ¡°Thank you, Sam,¡± eros said with sorrow and relief, putting on a business tone eros spoke more ¡°Sam when you receive the title you won''t immediately receive the power of a cosmic lord¡±


    ¡°Obviously¡± sam interrupted.


    ¡°For two reasons one the mortal body couldn''t possible handed the raw power¡±


    ¡°I could have told you that¡± interrupted again


    ¡°The other is the pure lust that is intertwined with the power is far beyond what your mind could handle-


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be so sure of that¡±


    -on a physical level¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s better¡±


    ¡°Will you be quiet!¡± Eros yelled


    ¡®Hay this is your fault¡±


    ¡°How could this possibly be my fault?¡±


    ¡°You kidnapped me, and guilt-tripped me in accepting something I didn¡¯t want and pinned me to this pillow throne, kiss me against my will, you were probably stalking me at some point, so I think I this is your fault!¡±


    ¡° you know what your right, but you don¡¯t have to be rude about it¡±


    ¡°Well since I can¡¯t harm you physically I will do it mentally¡± the smile sam put on had a cruel flavor to it.


    ¡°Smart but I doubt you really could, a major part of being a lord of sin means have a mind that will not break under the pressure of your beast. But you can try if you like it¡¯ll keep you busy while I transfer the title to you¡± eros smile had a don¡¯t give a fuck vibe to it.


    ¡°I will do more then try¡± his own doubt invisible in his voice.


    A moment after he said it violet-blue streams of energy seeped from out of eros body, lager streams coming from places like her hand, mouth, and groin, that flowed into matching place on sam''s body.


    The next forty to fifty minutes were filled with sam mildly annoying eros and eros mostly succeeding in being unfazed by the things he said so she could focus on giving his the title of lord of lust.


    The energy had a strange feeling to it, it was different from the energy forms in his body he was familiar with, it had heat like the demon power but it wasn¡¯t burning like a fire it was more like body heat of another person, it had a female feeling to it like his witch power but with what he could only describe as a male feeling, it was faint like his ghost power but it wasn¡¯t elusive. Above all else, it made a kind of itch known, like very known.


    ¡°There,¡± eros suddenly said as the last of the energy streams faded into sam body. ¡°You now have the title of lord of lust.¡± she then realized sam¡¯s wrist and jumped off the throne all the way down the stairs doing several backflips along the way before landing in a kneeling position.


    ¡°Dramatic¡± sam thought as he rubbed his wrist trying to get rid of the light tingling of his hands and sat up in the throne.


    ¡°Now that you have the title there is your first task as the new lord and then you can go home and then you can do whatever you like until the next task,¡± she said as she stood up from the ground.


    Turning around and lifted her left hand in the air, the air around her hand began to shimmer before a portal similar to the one sam came through opened up.


    ¡°Step through you for your first task, stepping to the side with a bow gesture for sam to walk through.


    Getting off the throne sam began to descend the stairs¡± what is the task?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t complete if you know what it is¡±


    ¡°Can I get a hint?¡± his tone making it clear he didn¡¯t expect a positive response


    ¡°Can¡¯t think of anything on the spot¡±


    ¡°Is this going to get me killed¡±


    ¡®Depends on you,¡± that was the last thing said as sam descend the stairs.


    Before he steepened in the portal sam turned to eros and flipped her off before stepping into the portal. He heard her say something before the portal closed and even though he could make it out he was sure that it wasn¡¯t anything nice.


    The scene on the other side of the portal could only be described as a wasteland, there was no vegetation or life to be seen, the ground dry and cracking, the air was dry and smelt of death and sex? Sam raised an eyebrow at the smell of the air. It was quite strong but under the smell of sex, there was another smell one he was not familiar with, following the strange smell he turned around and saw what appeared to be a giant bull snake thing.


    It had the strong body of a bull but the violent skin of a snake, a large and odd number of snake eyes, numerous sharp passion dripping fangs, rattle tail, half a dozen horns and seeing as sam was more than a dozen hundred football fields away yet it appears bigger than his house said a lot for it size.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Sam could tell by the fact that it was still dozing that it either didn¡¯t think he was a threat or didn¡¯t notice him yet.


    Moving to back away from the beast the hair on his body stood on end. immediately he dropped to the ground, and luckily he did a kick flew over him and smashed the ground in front of him to dust.


    When the dust settled it revealed the girl who had been following him today. But this time she was butt naked.


    ¡°I see you accepted the title puny man,¡± she said with a crazy smile and arrogant tone, ¡°not that it will matter causes your dying now.¡± she then charged at sam intending to slam her fist into his skull.


    Sam immediately threw himself to the right in a crouch, after the dust cloud from she strike rose same began to draw a rune in the air.


    The moment he completed the rune the nude women jumped out of the cloud. This time sam threw himself on his back. As she passed over him sam activated the rune in her face, and it burst into a great flash of light.


    Blinded by the light she messed up her landing and ended up rolling on the ground. Taking the chance sam drew another rune this one much more complicated than the one he learned in class today.


    When the rune was finished he crushed it in his fist, before softly placing both hands on his shattered knee cap, which was starting to hurt more than he could ignore. He watched the woman as she slowly stood off the ground, eyes still closed.


    ¡°Come on just thirty more seconds,¡± Sam thought to himself as the lady made her way to him and as hating himself for not learning a different healing rune.


    When she stopped in front of him san thought of all the ways he cold doge while keeping his hand on his knee, there weren''t many and they all depend on how she attacked.


    As she lifted her hand for a hammer strike sam prepare to use the uninjured leg to push his body out of the way. Only to be surprised with a kick to his chest. And another to the stomach.


    Nether blow had the force to throw him back but they did knock the wind out of long enough for her to deliver the hammer strike to the top of his head, which was followed by another kick that threw him across the ground.


    Amazing he was able to keep his hands on his healing knee. ¡°Just a bit more time¡± sam thought as the women rushed towards him. When she arrived in front of him he left leg was pulled back aiming for his stomach again.


    Releasing her leg a cruel smile appeared on her face that immediately vanished when at the last second sam crossed his arms to block the kick.


    ¡°Payback time¡± the new lord said before he uncrossed his arms to grab her leg and twisting it making her fall but she didn¡¯t go down easy bracing the women did a great display of core and upper body strength by lifting sam then slamming into the ground before he could realize what had happened and let go.


    ¡®Okay I will admit that was kind of impressive, but damn did it hurt.¡± The boy thought as released her legs and jumped back moving to gain distance.


    Righting herself the women made to chase after sam only to be blasted in the face by his ghostly telekinesis.


    At the moment she was reeling from the blast sam started writing a rune, and when she and recovered and crossed half the distance he stopped drawing for a moment to throw another telekinetic blast at her feet which she jumped over.


    Before she landed sam was able to finish the rune and throw it at the running female, as the rune flew at her it changed into a crescent blade.


    Spinning out of the way of the blade she pulled back her fist aiming to plant it in sam¡¯s smirking face, only to duck at the sound of air being cut behind her.


    She watched as a few of her hair fell to the ground as the crescent blade came back for the third time. She jumped over it only to see that it was turning towards her, the moment she landed she had to move to avoid losing her leg. But she did get a decent cut on her cafe.


    ¡°No blood¡± sam thought.


    But the blade didn¡¯t stop chasing her and she couldn¡¯t stop dodging even worse for her the blade seemed to be getting faster the more it chases her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that sam was directed the blade, she tried multiple times to attack him only for the flying blade to cut her off.


    While she was sliding under the blade realization hit her sam was driving her closer to him and the blade was getting faster as she got closer, smirking to herself she used a large amount of force propel herself several miles away from sam.


    Smirking as the blade slowed down as it came after her, she ripped out a medium size rock out of the ground and threw it at sam. The rock shattered under the force of her throw becoming something similar to shotgun pellets but at thrice the speed


    ¡°She¡¯s clever,¡± sam thought as he threw the rune he drew while the women was dodging his mana created blade. When the rune hit the blade for a moment nothing happened.


    Then the blade shattered into five dozen mini crescent blades, blades that were harder to control had less destructive force but where caple of breaking the sound barrier. And that is what they did as sam directed them to destroy the stone bullets and then remove the lady''s arms and legs from the knees and elbows down, not a drop of blood appearing.


    She didn¡¯t realize what had happened at first but after her face hit the ground she started screaming cursing and crying as sam walked up to her.


    Kneeling in front of the girls he lifted her by her hair, ¡°look I have had a long day so why don¡¯t you stop fake crying and tell me why you attacked my or I will destroy your legs so thoroughly they can¡¯t be reattached with whatever method you have.¡¯ sam told her coldly.


    ¡°You''re ruthless,¡± she told him boiling with rage not even a second after he stopped speaking.


    ¡°When I need to be or in a bad mood, right now it¡¯s a bit of both.¡± he responded with a bright smile tone unchanged, ``Now why did you attack me?¡±


    ¡°I am a part of the beast, I kill you and there will be no one to keep us here¡±


    ¡°That''s quite the plan attacked the newly titled lord before he could gain power¡±, too bad I''m more dangerous than you expected right,¡± he laughed a bit before he dropped her head, now what to do now you obviously weren''t the task she sent me here todo or my way would have already appeared¡± while sam though about the matter he mindless rounded up the severed limbs.


    Dropping the limbs in front of their owner and ignoring the woman''s cry of careful. Sam began to pace he thought over his options more, taking a look at the beast in the distance he violently shook his head before pacing more.


    ¡°Will you quite with the pacing¡± the women yelled, sam turned to her to see that she had somehow flipped her over.


    ¡°No¡± he answered curtly before pacing more, after that she demanded he stop pacing but sam responds by pacing with heavier steps and at a faster pace.


    ¡°What will it take for you to stop¡± as she attempted to move closer, sam immediately compared her movements to a flopping fish.


    ¡°Do you know the task I''m supposed to do?¡± he asked as he kneeled in front of her again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, if I knew the task I would interfere with it¡±


    ¡°Fair enough¡±


    ¡°But who the hell do you think you are mortal to treat me in such a way?¡± she yelled at him as she tried to bite him.


    ¡°Who am I, that is a great question, over the course I have been called many things over the course of my life, but my newest title is lord of lust. As soon as those words left his mouth as a new voice appeared in his head.


    ¡°And I welcome the new lord.¡± the soft voice said.


    ¡°Who the fuck are you¡± sam demanded as he prepared to push the intruder from his mind, ignoring the looks the limbless lady was giving him.


    ¡°I have no name but my purpose is to help the cosmic lords and ladies with their jobs, like a butler or a secretary.¡± the voice said tone even with a hint of pride.


    Sam hummed a bit before he asked ¡°so do you know what I¡¯m supposed to do here?¡±


    ¡°Yes I do and you have already done it¡± the increased.


    ¡°I have?¡± The confusion was clear.


    ¡° yes the task you were supposed to do had two parts, the first was to fight and win against the beast spawn witch you quite violently, the second was to acknowledge yourself as the lord of lust¡± the voice explained to Sam.


    ¡±so I finished the task and I can go home¡±


    ¡±yes¡±


    There was a pause of silence, ¡± So how do I do that?¡±


    ¡±of course, allow me to explain, summon the power of the lord that sleeps in you and use it to conjure the door out.¡±


    ¡±Alright!¡± Sam said as he closed his eyes to enter a light meditative state.


    ¡±it might take a while bu-¡± the disembodied voice was cut off by violet-blue energy bursting from sam¡¯s body.


    ¡±Open¡± sam spoke no differently than he usually did but there was a great well of power within it.


    In front of him, an elegant silver oak wood door rose from the ground, after the door rose to its full height of ten feet it opened wide for sam.


    Standing up from his kneeling position sam walked towards the door as he did the limbless female started yelling at him. Cursing him, demanding he turn around among other thing but sam paid her no mind as he left the cage of the beast of lust.

 Destressing

    Sam''s eyes shot open As he shot back in his chair at the kitchen table. Instantly sam was on his feet.


    Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, "great just great" he groaned as she picked up the chair he knocked on the ground. Poking his untouched sandwich, he grumbled more unpleasant things under his breath before he drew a heat rune and used it to return the sandwich to it''s freshly done temperature.


    After silencing his stomach he checked the time to see how long he was out. Five hours he has been out for about five hours, no wonder he felt stiff.


    After washing his plate sam headed up to his room, to grab his combat gloves and then went to the back yard but not before filing a bottle with cold water and ice. In the back yard, he dragged out the hoving sandbag his family-owned from the shed.


    Putting the bag down sam began stretching he was not in the mood to pull something.


    When he was done stretching he turned on the sandbag on he set it a low evasive mode. Taking a step back so the bag could rise off the ground sam put his gloves on and raised his fist.


    Letting out a breath sam threw a light punch at the bag. The bag quickly moved out of the way. His eyes narrowed before throwing a fast punch, This one hit but the bag didn''t budge. The next punch was strong and caused the bag to move a foot back.


    "I really have weakened" the boy mumbled to himself. Then he charged at the bag.


    The next ten minutes were filled with sam warming up on the bag. Backing up sam taking a couple of sips of water before he took a deep breath and screamed in rage as his eyes turned demonic red. Charging at the bag full force he unleashed a combo of punches on the bag.


    "I can''t believe it" the dark-haired boy screamed as he backhanded the bag. "After four year of calm, of peace, of happiness." with each word his fist hit the bag with all of his strength.


    Leaping back from the bag sam charged back at this time attacking with his legs instead. "And now" hitting the bag with a partially strong knee strike "and now I''m heading back into my nomad years" he screamed as the bag flew away from him.


    After that sam began to simple wail on the bag, his strikes fuelled by his emotions most were one he buried long ago. He hit the bag every way he knew how. Punch, kick, elbow and knee strikes, picking up the thing and slamming it, a german suplex, chopping and stabbing it with his hand.


    He unleashed everything at it until around ten-thirty when most of his emotions had settled all except one. Flopping onto his back sam began to cry not quietly, for the next few minutes sam laid on the ground wailing as twin waterfalls came from his eyes.


    When he sam gained his self-control back he got off the ground and beat on the sandbag a few more minutes before turning it off. Placing the bag back in its spot in the shed grabbed his water bottle and took a few sips before he began his cool-down exercises, drinking more water between them.


    When he was done with his cool down he had back inside and put some water to boil he was going to need it soon. Going upstairs he enters his room to gather a towel and some clothes for bed.


    Placing the towel in cloths in the bathroom he used the bathrooms control to change the overhead shower into a tub. While the change happened sam opened the sink cabinet and grabbed one his bath bombs, a few scented candles, and a small white corked bottle.


    After the tub finished forming sam turn on the water to a relaxing temperature, well for him. Throwing in the bath bomb sam began lighting the candles with the spark rune.


    After he lit all the candles. Sam grabbed the white bottle, he held it out in the palm of his right hand and spoke with a bit of annoyance," by the grace of the holy lord" then using his left and he drew a white glowing cross in front of bootle.


    The crossfaded into the bottle followed by the cork popping out. Catching the cork sam began to pour the contents of the bottle in the tub. As the sparking liquid fell into the tub sam thought back on how he got the bottle, it wasn''t fun and mildly painful but at least he got what he came form and a bonus of a preacher license.


    "That''s enough holy water," he said as he put the cork back.


    Putting the bottle away and turning off the water sam began to remove his clothes revealing to the world his flawless skin except for a small black heart tattoo on the left side of his chest. Once all his clothes were sam slipped into the tub, ignoring the stinging feeling of holy meeting his skin, resting his head on the edge he closed his eyes.


    For a good while sam laid in the tub and as he did the world received a big shock as the entire sky was covered in a violet and blue northern lights, prophets fortune-tellers any in general with power to see or predict the future got the same two messages the first was that a natural disaster level being was reawakening the second was a new immeasurable power has just been born, the world leaders were informed within the hour, discussion and planes had begun to form by midnight but all were afraid it may not be enough.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Back with Sam, he had washed up and gotten out of the tub. After drying off and putting on his clothes that consisted of a sleeveless gray tee and blue basketball shorts with grey highlights. Uncorking the tub and putting out the candles Sam exited the bathroom.


    After hanging his towel in his bedroom he grabbed the quilt in his closet. The quilt was quite ugly in all honesty made with a mix of bright almost neon colors squares and an almost white yellow border, but it was made by someone held in his heart and had plenty of happy memories attached to it.


    Bring the quilt with him downstairs he laid it on the couch while he poured the water he let boil during his bath into a cup with a few peppermint tea leaves.


    Placing the cup on the living room table he turned on the tv and connected it to his bracelet and put on one of his playlists, the one labeled happy.


    The playlist was full of song that brought sam a good mood either because of the lyrics and melody or because there were good memories associated with them.


    Letting the music plays in the background sam warped himself in his quilt and opened a book he had saved on his bracelet. The book was a kinda cheesy romance novel a great deal of action about a space pirate who accidentally steals a priceless gem along with a princess and her male servant. As they were being chased across the galaxy romance blossoms but the author of the book hasn''t had it clear between who yet.


    Sam himself was betting on it being between the space pirate and the male servant because of the looks the servant was giving the pirate when he thought no one was looking. His mother thought it was between the pirate and princess because she thought they would be a cute couple, his dad thought it would between the servant and the princess because they were already close when the story began and the situation would allow them to grow even closer.


    This is how he spent the rest of his night reading while he listens to music with the occasional sip of peppermint tea warped in an ugly quilt with his senses adjusted to give him the most comfort until he fell asleep and didn''t wake till his friend daniel knocked on the front door.


    But that is later now hundreds of sextillions of light-years away what appears to be seven beams of light are converging. When the lights converged they mixed together into a ball of light grew to the size of a small star before shrinking into a two-story-tall female shape being of light.


    This was the companion, she floated in space for a moment before shooting off into the distance. She flew as if she was dancing with a face splitting on her face.


    After she had traveled to the edge of the universe, she stopped in front of a ridiculous sight, an enormous antimatter and black batter field, on the right side of the field was a black hole the sucked in the black matter and antimatter, on the left side was a white hole that was spewing out energy that turned into black matter and antimatter, inside the field are countless white stars that were constantly moving due to the gravity of the other stairs ad the black and white holes, were also a few comets flying around capable of smashing Jupiter to space dust.


    The companion flew into the deadly space and moved with ease using the gravity of the stars to move seamlessly avoiding the dangers, until she arrived in front of one certain star, And then dived into it.


    In the center of the star sat a small hole in space. The companion entered this hole and on the other side way what could be described as the garden of Eden universe edition. As she enters the garden she rose above the tallest planets and soared over them. She flew to the center of the vast garden and that was a small stone altar laying on that altar partially cover in roots and vine was the source.


    The sources current form was that of a male shaped light of about 14 years old, what would immediately draw your eye among seeing him is what looks like a giant black wiggling scar located over the place of the human kidney and a larger cut in his form over the location of the human heart.


    The companion gently landed next to the altar and waved her hand to remove the greenery covering the source.


    Sitting on the altar next to the source she began to talk," it has been so long since I visited, hasn''t it? I have done so much in the time I was away." the companion sounded like she was going to cry.


    "I''m not sure if you can hear me but if you can you''re going to love the stories I have for you." and she began to tell him everything thing she had done while he was resting from how the universe had grown to the lord she raised.


    She used her power to project images of the events to bring forth smells and sounds. She told the stories aware that the corners of the sources lips hand turned up.


    Back at sam''s house at around midnight in the teen''s room, three softly glowing orbs rose from under his floorboards. For a moment the orbs floated in silence before the small one about the size of a tennis ball started making noises similar to the sound of a small bell.


    *$(!@&amp^$^$(&$*@$^%(#&!


    The largest the size of a basketball respond with noses similar to a hawk.


    )($^&$^$%@*^!*%^#&$^#(#&


    The largest and the smallest started to argue and were quickly interrupted by the middle size one making noises similar to a lioness


    )&$^$^!&*$&#*$^*)$&@


    With that, the middle size orb went downstairs, and after a moment the other two orbs went after it.


    When the orbs arrived downstairs they paused at the sight of sam rapped in his quilt out cold before they speed over to him making panicked sounding noises before the smallest made a certain sound.


    *(&(#^$##


    The other two respond in sync before they all began to float above sam''s body in a kind of orbit as they began to glow an array of calming colors, they flew around him for a good hour before they landed on sam, the smallest rested under one of sam''s arms, the largest landed on his stomach, and the middle size took its place by on sam''s head. Throughout the night they continued to glow in calming color for the boy who allowed them to stay despite the pathetic ghost they were.

 017

    Near the western edge of Alpha star sat a small mansion, this was the home to the lost family. The lost family specializes in the exploration of the world.


    When the world expanded all those years ago, an age of exploration was sparked and that spark never went out for two main reasons, new lands and areas kept popping up and some places were much too dangerous to explore, there was also small reason like even places that have been explored stilled held there mysteries.


    And because of that explorers were needed to uncover those mysteries and survive the danger that companies them, and the lost were one of the best because they were cursed. No, really there are a cursed family, there great to the fifth grandfather cheated on his great witch girlfriend claiming that he got lost often when in truth he was hitting on random girls he came across. So when the witch found she used her magic and cursed his so that he really would get lost all the time.


    And so he did, the curse had a bit more power than she expected for the man now got lost walking down a hallway. When he left his house he ended up crossing the city and have no idea how.


    For several months after being cursed the man lived as a shut-in before he had enough and declared he was going to conquer this cure. But first, he broke up with his girlfriend. And then he gathered his supplies and set out to conquer his curse.


    The man got lost before he made it down the street. Over the next decade, the man accidentally explored uncharted regions and purposely record all he saw. And with the help of another witch, he was able to control his curse for the most part.


    When he returned home he celebrated with his parents and friends, telling all he had experienced. It was less than a week after his return that one of his friends noticed that he was unhappy.


    When asked why he shyly admitted that he actually likes his directionless wondering of the world and he was starting to miss it. But he knew that he couldn''t live a life like that.


    His friend then told him that he was wrong he could join the explorer union and they would littery pay him to wander aimlessly and report his discoveries to them. And so he went to see if she was telling the truth taking one of his traveling journals with him.


    He left the explorer union beach building with a new job and almost 3.4 million international credits


    That was the start of the empire of the lost family, Well after he changed his sirname to lost.


    Over the years the lost family, fortune grew as they took more business ventures. From just explorers to many other groups that existed in the world after the rift changed it.


    In the present, the youngest member of the lost family and current heir to the fortune, Daniel lost was waking up.


    Grumbling daniel rolled out of his large four-poster bed on to the silk carpet floor of his room. Barely opening his eyes when he hit the floor daniel began to crawl his way to his closet. A little after he made it halfway his room door and one of the housemaids entered.


    "Really daniel you are so dramatic in the morning" the dark-haired maid sighed before she walked to the closet and pulled out a casual outfit consisting of graphic t-shirt and jeans.


    She dropped the cloth on daniel head before going over to his dresser and pulled out some underwear and a t-shirt. She threw that on top daniel as well.


    "Now get dressed, your breakfast is almost ready," the maid said before she walked out of the room. Daniel grumbled something in response ass he stood off the ground, letting his cover fall off him showing the only thing he wore to bed last night was his birthday suit.


    Daniel got dressed half wake then headed down the hallway to the grand stairs that lead to the front door before he descended them and turn to the dining hall.


    Daniel sat down at the large dining table on the left side of his mother, no sooner than his but met the chair a maid and butler placed his plate in front of him and a large bowl-sized coffee mug and moved out of the way as he thanked them, his parents said he could only have on a cup of coffee a day so he had a cup custom made. His parents decide to ignore it because they decided it wasn''t worth the argument, but unknown to him they had caffeine content in his coffee lowered to less than an ordinary cup of coffee.


    He ate in silence while his mother read the morning holo-paper, the only sounds were of him eating and the footsteps of the maids as they move through the mansion. The silence was broken by his mother speaking up.


    ''So you have plans to hang out with Sam today, correct" the women who gave her son''s hair asked.


    Daniel swallowed the food in his mouth before he answered her, "yes, he''s helping me with a video game, I bought recently." he moved some of his food around the plate.


    "What kind of game?" she asked nothing more than curious about her son''s interest, but it did cause daniel to choke on his food.


    Immetaly his mother moved to help him but daniel was able to clear his throat before she was able to get out of her chair and leap over the table.


    "It''s .. a .. um.." cough "murder mystery game." daniel answered before he drank some of his coffee.


    "A murder mystery?'' she question, "why would you ask him to help you with it?"


    "He figures out who the murder in any of the books we read, movies and show we watch, so he''s great at mysteries" but to himself in his thought "well I hope it''s mysteries and not the other option.


    "Well, what a nice skill to have," she commented before she turned back to the paper. Daniel nodded his head before he turned back to his food.


    When he was done with his food one of the maids took away his plate, daniel thanking them as he did and asked them to pass a thank you to the chiefs. After they left the room daniel stood from his chair and bid his mother goodbye before he left the dining room and headed to the garage.


    Mrs.lost watched her son leave the room before turning back to the paper only to be interrupted by her holo-necklace beeping indicating a message. Opening the message she froze as her eyes flew wide open, it was a summons for all beings above the upper great mage level and all kinds of influence people, She was in both. "What on earth could be happening." she thought before she had one of the maids gather her things and another to tell the driver to pull up front.


    Daniel entered the garage then waved and greeted the family driver before he passed the five top of the line cars his family owned and made his way to the twelve more common models they owned.


    Daniel opened the door to the red hovercar he usually used when he was going to see Sam. using his holo-ring to unlock the car. Opening the door he sat in the driver''s set, buckled up and activated the self-driving program.


    He sat back as the car pulled out of the garage and onto the driveway and then onto the road.


    As the made its way to sam house watch the spectacle that was his hometown, Alpha star city had a certain type to it overall. Largely the city was made from bricks and steel with a couple metal and glass high rises, there were signs of advanced technology throughout the city but weren''t obvious. What was obvious was that articular aspect that was constant throughout the island. It could be seen in the gardens, potted plants, window sill planters, community gardens, and not just for the magic herbs that make the island famous there was also many products and cash crops. This was not to mention the trees and flowers planted everywhere.


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    All the planets gave the city a nice fresh colorful feeling, especially during the spring season a couple of months back where everything was blooming. It was also the biggest tourist season of the year.


    From the highway the car was driving over Daniel could see some of the city''s most important buildings and structures. There was the statue of Vegratel, the Hermes trading corporation, the explorer''s corporation, the fighter, and the magic-user freelance agency and a couple more.


    When Daniel got bored of watching the city he turn his holo-ring on and turn to the news for a few minutes before he got bored and turn to a mobile game about fighting rabbits.


    He arrived at sam house after playing a few rounds and losing all of them, as the car pulled into sam''s driveway he couldn''t help but ask himself "why do I suck as this game so much." before getting out of the car.


    Going up to the door, he knocked on it and waited a moment before knocking again, then he started to get worried, sam always answered before he could knock a second time, hell a couple of times he answered the door before he could even knock on it.


    He knocked on the door harder a little worried something was wrong, but before he could knock for the fourth time the door swung open to reveal a disheveled annoyed and tired sam with a rather ugly quilt held over his shoulders by his left hand who glared at daniel like he was ready to tear off his hand and then use them to tear out his heart.


    Daniel backed up a couple of feet, "good morning sam'' he greeted in a cheerful but cautious tone.


    "I was sleeping," sam told him plainly, this caused guilt to bloom in daniel''s heart twice, he knew that sam had trouble sleeping falling and staying asleep, then fear bloomed in his heart four times over because he knew how angry sam got when the sleep he did get was interrupted.


    "I can see that so," he cautiously moved closer to the tired teen," are you still up for helping me with the video game."


    In response, sam took a breath in through his nose and out of his mouth before stepping aside to let daniel in the house." come on"


    Daniel smiled before entering the house and slightly pausing at the sight of the couch where sam had obviously been sleeping. When he had been friends with sam for more than half a year and it was clear that he was here to stay sam''s parents sent their son on a small errand while they sat Daniel down and told him a bit about how sam lived before he met them and explain some of his habits, but one thing they explain in great detail is how he deals with something that''s too much for him by cutting himself out of the world and that was what right in front of him, luckily it was low level cutting off.


    "When we go out for lunch, I don''t feel like cooking today, and you what I think of ordering out," Sam said as he reached the stairs, Daniel made a sound of understanding as he turned to the holo-t.v.


    When sam returned downstairs the only thing different was that he threw on a button-up t-shirt that had screaming ruby skulls on it.


    "One of these days you''re going to tell me where you get your clothing from" daniel stated as the title of the game pop on the screen, contest of bodily desires. Accumulated by the sounds of pleasure.


    "Where did you get this game" sam asked.


    "my random gamer subscription." the curt reply, sam nodded his head and sat down on the couch next to daniel.


    Daniel summons holo-controller with his ring and started the game. Sam slouched in the couch before asking daniel a question, "so how far have you gotten in the game?" when daniel didn''t answer he looked over to see his friend looking anywhere but his direction.


    "Daniel," he asked with an edge in his voice.


    "Didn''t get past the title before I knew I needed your help," sam just hit him in the arm," so do you have any advice on conquest?"


    "Yes, first never call or think of them as conquest it rude on so many levels." daniel nodded his head as he half listed to the game intro.


    "Second, it depends on the mood of the person, the mood decide the path you must take."


    "Third, kindness and gentleness will get you into more people''s beds and it''s also less likely to get you hit in the face and arrested."


    ''That seems kind of obvious"


    "It is but you would be surprised how many people don''t do it, some time its arrogance, sometimes there really drunk, a lot of times its stupidity."


    "Stupidity?" daniel asked as he started the game tutorial.


    "Yes stupidity is everywhere," Sam said with an annoyed tone.


    "Can''t argue with that." daniel said before a calm silence overtook them while he played the game.


    While this silence the disembodied voice returned to sam''s head. "Good morning dear lord"


    Sam didn''t even bat an eye.


    "I''m sorry I took so long to contact you. I believed contacting you anytime earlier would have gotten me a negative response" the voice sounded upset with itself.


    "I must say you have good judgment because if you had contacted me before now you would have been cursed out." sam said as he waved off the worried look daniel gave him out of the corner of his eye. "So what do you need of me"


    "I need nothing of you, I exist only to help the cosmic lords. So I ask would you like me to start your tutorial.


    "Sure, no time like the present"


    "Okay, you can pause and resume at any time." for a moment the voice didn''t say anything.


    "Welcome newborn lord", okay now it sounded like the voice for action movie trailers with a bit of horror trailer thrown in, "as a cosmic lord you have gained a huge responsibility needed for the life and happiness of the entire universe. But with this responsibility, you have been gifted many privileges and services."


    "Among these services is the status screen, using biometric scanning, neural scanning, and an energy scan, you can see the measurements of your physical mental and energy capabilities.


    "The next is the skill record, over the course of the life''s lord it has been proven that they collect a large number of skills and sometimes forget about some of them so the skill record service was created. Currently, the only skills on record are the ones you used while you were trapped in the fake world by your predecessor.''


    " the third service available to you at this point is a store that services the entire universe run by a group of first''s, this store sells everything that exists in the universe. From food to weapons, furniture and knowledge, countess forms of entertainment, raw materials, workforce, and even things your planet doesn''t have words for yet."


    "You can access these easily by stating their name in your head or out loud, please open one so I can continue."


    Sam didn''t open one immediately to give him some time to digest and it looks like daniel was going to need his help in a minute.


    A minute later he was right, he had started the first seduction. It was the chieftess of the main characters home village.


    "Okay, so what should I do here," daniel asked sam.


    "First take a good look at the women''s body language what does it tell you" sam instructed. Daniel looked at the screen focusing on the chieftess for a couple of moments.


    "She keeps rubbing her shoulders and their bags under her eyes so she exhausted."


    "So which of the options offered would be best" daniel choose in a moment to offer her a massage, only to be rejected because they weren''t any trust between them. But he did get a small quest to start earning some.


    [status] while daniel did the quest sam opened his status menu.


    Samuel, sam, Vegal


    Lord Of Lust


    Mind-1.9


    Body-1.4


    Energy-4.4


    Lord Level-0


    Note: three abnormal energy core detected.


    Note: two forms of energy poisoning detected


    "Interesting" and sam truly thought this about his status


    "The body state is made of the collective information of your bodies functions such as your body strength, reflexes, flexibility, endurance, immune system, healing speed, and a few other factors."


    "The mind state is made from the information of your brain and nerves, like your memory, information processing, defense, and more factors


    "The energy state is decided by the amount of energy in your body you can use and how well you control it,


    "Your lord level is a face value state, it is your level as a lord as a leader. Currently, it is at zero because there is no data on your leadership skills. When you showcase your skills it will change."


    "The states will change accordingly to the state of their respective representations."


    Sam thought over the new information for a bit before he asked, "how are my states? Are they good or bad? And what about the two notes at the bottom."


    The voice was silent for a moment before answering "in comparison to the rest of your species they are higher than anyone in a mildly active life you live now, for a lord there must be raised post haste, the notes are things that you should note that are detrimental or beneficial to your states."


    "The second note is detrimental the first has yet to be decided" sam wasn''t able to name what was in its tone but he got the feeling it wasn''t happy.


    "Well the first note is about my ability witching hour and the second is the side effect about using it, though I never called it energy poisoning." sam informs the voice that needed a name. It mumbled a bit and all sam got was something about collecting data.


    "Careful to your right" sam told daniel as he played a mini-games that looks like dodgeball with grenades.


    "Thank you, so how long till you explain why you''ve been talking to yourself," Daniel respond his eyes never leaving the screen the mini-games in this game was bizarre, you can tell the creators had a lot of fun making this game.


    "Something is speaking into my mind, I just don''t feel like thinking back to it. Said flatly as he stretched a bit before getting off the couch. "Hey you want something to drink?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen.


    "Coffee!" daniel demanded.


    "Your addicted" sam stated.


    "You''re an addiction" the grumpy reply came.


    "Got that right" sam said with a smirk, that confuse daniel for a moment.


    "Just get me some ice water," he grumbled before turning his attention to the chainsaw wilding slime. After grabbing daniel ice water and himself a glass of explosive orange juice he sat back on the couch.


    Handing daniel his drink he said ''skill record"

 018

    Energy manipulation


    Sense manipulation


    Energy circuit creation - langue method


    Presence control


    Culinary


    Meditation


    Astral sensing


    Intimidation


    Soul speaking


    Fear resistance


    Telekinesis


    Spirit summoning


    Ritual execution


    levation


    Close range combat.


    Pain tolerance


    Pyrokinesis


    "Man do I have a lot of skills," Sam said to himself, he knew he learned how to do a lot of things over the years but seeing them listed before him was eye opening.


    "Yes it is quite the impressive number, this is the blank slate of the skill record. You customize it to put the skills into categories and subcategories. Please choose a skill as an example for the next part." Sam the skill he used the most.


    Sense manipulation


    Upper mortal rank


    Rare


    A skill used to control the five main senses of the physical form.


    master, upgradable.


    "What an excellent skill possess dear lord," the voice sounded real happy about this, "skills are given ranks based on their full potential power. Some skills are capable of raising their rank via an upgrade. How a skill is upgraded depends on the skill itself. The rarity of a skill depends on how hard it is to find/learn/create the skill. For example, your sense manipulation skill is rare because while there are skills to manipulate a singular sense this one allows for all the main five."


    Sam hummed as he listened to the explanation and watched as daniel played another min-game for the second task to earn the chieftess trust. When the explanation ended sam followed the voice''s instructions to make his categories. For now, he made three categories battle, life, and magic.


    "Now that you have finished with the skill record the next function is the shop, please open it, dear lord."


    "Okay we will have to do something about this dear lord thing," sam told the voice before he opened the shop.


    Sam was surprised by how the looked, it looked like an ordinary website for a store before you looked at the items, "what the hell is a sun fragment, oh been awhile since I''ve seen lightning in a bottle, didn''t know it came in black." sam looked over the trending section before looking over the side menu.


    Raw materials


    Raw foods


    Pets


    Health


    fitness


    Tools


    cloths


    Books


    Technology


    Furniture


    Services


    ¡­.


    Lords only


    The list of categories on the side was quite long but what really drew his attention was the lord only section. But he decided to wait before he let his curiosity take hold.


    "As you can see the store has many things for you to buy, while there limit to want you can buy some do to your level as a lord, some due to the fact that your planet isn''t ready for them, some just aren''t safe for you to own at this point in time."


    "To purchase something you must register an account, which I will help you with later, pay in a galactic level currency and then have it delivered, later on, you will be able to pick it up from the store."


    "Trust her daniel, she looks like she could kill you but is really a cinnamon roll," Sam told daniel as he talked to a rather by that he meant extremely dangerous and crazy looking 20-year-old women, that was currently holding a knife to daniel charters throat.


    "First of all, did you just meme," Daniel said as he turned to look at his friend with an eyebrow raised "second of all, she is holding a knife to my throat" the other eyebrow joined the first.


    "Her eyes give away how nervous she is, she has never done this before. And she isn''t even holding the knife correctly I don''t think she could do any real damage to you anyway, to herself self a lot." sam sated and daniel had to agree with him she looked like she was about to hurt herself before she hurt him.


    "Anyway, the store is definitely interesting and even more so useful." sam commented to the voice.


    "It certainly is dear lord, but a piece of advice order a test item, as your planet is unregistered in many places in the universe, so it is unknown how long it will take the store it delivers your package or much it''ll cost really causes the weight of your planet''s money is unknown


    "Noted", sam said before he stretched out a bit before he grabbed the rest of his now room temperature juice. "So the job of the lord of lust?"


    "Of course dear lord, the main job of the lord of lust is to keep the beast of lust from breaking out of its sell there are as many ways to do that as there are ways for the beast to break out. The beast most used method is to amplify then absorb the lust of creature in its range to power itself up to force its way out of the cage, you were supposed to experience the beast doing this on a worldwide scale in the fake world but you escaped before the companion could show it to you"


    "You can interfere with this by beating the beast to the punch and deal with lust in any way you see fit, By absorbing it yourself dispersing it or destroying it. It is entirely up to your choice."


    "For now I will alert you to lust that is in danger of being affected by the beast in your range until you are able to sense it yourself." the way the voice sounded gave sam the impression that it was kneeling before him.


    "Thank you!" for a moment after he said the voice was quiet before it quickly tried to tell him that that thanking it was unnecessary, witch sam ignored by asking what daniel felt like for lunch in maybe an hour.


    "Not really in a picky mood, he said as he returned to the chieftess after finishing the third task for her, "do you know any good restaurants in the area?" he asked in return.


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    "A couple, in a twenty-minute drive range around my house there three restaurants I think you might like, there a nice Mexican restaurant that''s run by a couple nice couple with a few dogs waiting tables, there as a sweet restaurants run by some real peppy girls, and the last one a family runs out the front of their house the foods good but you can''t tell what''s on the menu until you get there." sam told daniel as he watched the cut scene of the chieftess getting a massage mostly clothes, not that she was wearing much, to begin with.


    Daniel hummed for a moment before announcing his decision, "let''s go to the last one, can you tell me the address"


    "Yeah it on 9806 providence lane, it''s called roulette house," Sam told his friend before he went quite.


    "Oh this is definitely a great place, it reviews are through the roof why-" daniel shut his mouth in a moment as he saw that sam had fallen asleep. Pushing the urge to laugh at his drooling friend he muted the t.v. and turned back to the game.


    As he slept sam talked in his sleep, something half-listened to as when sam talked in his sleep it was either funny or something about his past.


    "Je suis d¨¦sol¨¦ de t''avoir fait saigner, mon ami, j''esp¨¨re qu''un jour je le pourrai avant d''¨ºtre donn¨¦."sam mumbled before rolling over.


    "I have no idea what he just said." daniel said before he moved onto the next test so he could earn more of the chieftess trust.


    Maybe about an hour and forty minutes after sam fell asleep the emerald-eyed teen shot awake, daniel turn to him and opened his mouth "good mor-" only to have to dodge the pillow saw was trying to smash his head with. "Dude what the hell" he shouted after dodging causing sam to blink dazed before sam shook his head and put the pillow down.


    "Sorry," yawn Sam rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose before mumbling"bad dream, my blood and battle lust woke up for a moment there." daniel''s face showed confusion as he was unable to make out what sam said.


    "Anyway," Sam said as he stood off the couch and stretched "let''s go get lunch" then he walked upstairs to grab some socks and shoes.


    When he had returned downstairs daniel had turned off the game and was standing at the door. they quickly went out the door and into daniel''s car. After they buckled up daniel turned on the car it pulled itself out of the driveway and headed down the road.


    While the car was moving sam and daniel talked about mostly nonsense and a bit about the few plans for the break. Daniels plans mostly centered around sam his family, sam due to what happened last night now consisted of training and relearning some of his skills.


    Daniel asked how he was planning to train and responded that he was going to do a bit of everything and a few things he couldn''t tell him as it would make him an accomplice. Daniel shrugged his shoulders as that wasn''t the first time he said that and probably wouldn''t be the last.


    When they arrived daniel could see that it was exactly as sam described, the family were serving people out the front of their house, and they really were in the front yard of the house were several tables with hovering umbrellas covering them, some occupied with people eating or chatting, one person was reading.


    A boy and a girl were walking in and out of the house bring food out or dirty dishes in, the two were clearly related. After they sat down the brother brought them a menu. Daniel spent a couple of minutes choosing what he wanted sam choose after looking over the menu once.


    After they ordered sam pulling a browser app on his hollo-bracelet to do some research, daniel took another hit on his rabbit game.


    When their food arrived sam wasted no time digging into his chicken parmesan, while daniel hesitantly tasted his chicken salad, then dived into when his taste buds deemed it good.


    They ate in mostly silence, that was interrupted for sam by the voice. "Dear lord I hate to interrupt your meal but I detect high-level lust in your vicinity."


    "What direction?" sam thought not looking up from his meal.


    "What you would call 3-4 o''clock?" it sounded unsure but sam could tell that was more if it was saying it right.


    Tilting his head in the direction given sam saw three people, dark hair male dressed for the gym a light-haired female dressed for the office and female teen dressed for a date. "Witch one?" sam asked.


    "The older female" was the prompt answer. Sam focused in on her and it took him a moment to realize he knew her, but the outfit threw him off.


    "Is something wrong?" daniel asked his friends. Sam turned to him and shook his head before speaking, "nothing I know her just didn''t realize I did for a moment because of her outfit." he stopped to take a bit of his food.after swallowing he answering the question written on daniels face, "she lives in my neighborhood I see her sometime when I go walking, but when I do she usually wears a crop top and stained sweatpants looking like she just got out of bed. So that appearance is kind of a surprise."


    "I can see that" daniel then turn back to his salad. Sam laughed a bit before turning to his food as well.


    "So it seems I have my first target as a lord, ahh this brings back memories, I should renew that license. No, I should renew all my licenses. My driver''s license is going to be the hardest but first. How do I go about her lust?"


    Sam spent the rest of the meal planning how he would deal with her lust. But before he made any of his plans concrete he needed to know one thing, "how do I absorb lust?"


    "That is simple my lord at your current level you just need to come in contact with the person and later on you will be able to summon the lust to you!"


    "So physical contact is the key, that makes things simple yet difficult, hope I don''t end up needing a ski mask." sam thought as the plates were taken away. "So," sam said eyeing daniel "what do you think of the food?"


    "Pretty good, and pretty cheap too" daniel answered before grabbing a toothpick and removing a piece of chicken from between his teeth. Sam just gave a small smile before he reopened the browser on his bracelet.


    When the digital bill arrived sam and daniel stared each other in the eye for a moment before they each threw out a fist as they called out


    "Rock"


    "Paper"


    "I win this time," sam said before electronically paying for their meal. Food paid for daniel headed for the car while sam walked over to his target. "When I come in contact with her will the absorption start immediately and how long it will take," he asked the voice.


    "Yes it starts automatically and the time needed depends on the individual, but with your growth as a lord the time needed will become less and less, the only restriction is that you must touch her body."


    "Alright," sam thought before he tapped the lady on her shoulder. Immediately she spun around her left hand in her pocket, even though she was smiling sam could tell she was ready to strike. "Hello miss" he greeted with a gentle smile and his hands in plain view" I''m not sure if you''ve seen me but we live in the same neighborhood." she looked confused for a moment before she smiled at him.


    "Oh I''ve seen you around once or twice, but never got the chance to greet you young man so let me do it now, Hello my name is Francine Cabral Neves may I have yours?"


    "Samuel vegal, do not call me young man" sam held out his hand to shake," but it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Francine took sam hand and they shook. While they shook hands sam notice two things one warm energy flowing into his hand, two a small bar on the corner of his right eye.


    When the handshake ended sam said a few words to her before telling her goodbye, and heading to daniel''s car.


    As he buckled himself in sam asked what held him up, "nothing just a greeting." he said with a smile.

 019

    As the car moved down the road sam conversed with the voice, a peaceful smile adorned his face.


    "Dear lord you have failed to absorb her lust at a level that is acceptable" it sounded scolding.


    "I am well aware of that, it was a test."


    "A test"


    "We didn''t shake hands more than a second and how much did I absorb?"


    " 0.42%"


    "How much do I need to absorb?


    "At least 70%


    "So 0.42% per second so for 70% i would need to maintain contact for about 170 seconds, so about three minutes. That can be done" the smile sam was wearing looked very worrying to a stranger and even more so to those who knew him.


    When they arrived back at sam''s house, daniel imetale returned to his game while helped him at certain points and work out the details of three minute contact he needed.


    They spent a good couple of hours like this, but around five in the afternoon daniel paused the game and turned to his friend. "Can we talk?" the seriousness in his voice caused sam to pause in his planning.


    "Alway" sam answered as he stared daniel in the eye.


    "Then can i ask what set you off last night?" everything about his as he asked spoke cation. And after hearing the question sam entered his flight or fight, and after a few moments of tense silence sam answered.


    "A higher being trapped me in a fake world."


    "A god trapped in a fake world,"his brow creased "what''s a fake world?" daniel confusion increased as sam started to laugh.


    "I''m sorry hahaha it''s not hahaha the question it''s just bwahahaha that no god would attack me" at this point sam was laying on his side holding his stomach but then a thought crossed his mind that caused to stop laughing instantly "except a war god but they would issue a challenge first." sitting back up sam turned to his friend.


    "A fake world is his grade illusion created inside of a pocket dimension, hard to regonzie harder to break out of. I was trapped in one last night by a cosmic lord, from what i learned a cosmic lord is a being who rules over something on the cosmic level, hence the name. They trapped me because they wanted to see if I was worthy of being there successor it seems i was and after a little guilt tripping I accepted the title of cosmic lord, the lord of lust it seems." the more he said the more empty his voice became.


    " and then what?" daniel asked after he sat next to his friends when sam gave him a confused look he elaborated "sam i seen you give a mugger life advice while he held you at gunpoint demanding your money, that does not sound like soundlike some that should really bother you so i''m missing something."


    " what really upset me was the thought of what I would have to leave behind for me to do the new job." sadness had invaded his voice "I like the way live now i don''t want it to change."


    "Sam" daniel quietly said keeping the pity non existence but not the sympathy ''haven''t you told me that change is apart of existence for even if you yourself do not change the world around you will."


    "Uuugghhhhh, i can''t believe that you''re quoting me, I feel both proud and ashamed. And if you don''t wipe that smirk off i will.''


    Wiping his face clean of any expression daniel spoke again "so how can I help you?"


    "Thank you for the offer but I don''t plan on getting you involved"


    "I''m your best friends let me help"


    ''It''s because you''re my best friends that i won''t let you help"


    Daniel stood and placed his hand on sam sl\houders while he started the other teen in the eye,"as your best friends I can''t in good conscience let you do this alone"


    "Thank you" sam said with a smile like campfire that then turned into a forest fire. The change in the smile caught daniel off guard long enough for sam to throw him down on the couch and sit on his back "but I meant it when I said I don''t plan on getting you involved".


    "Fine" the skinny teen said as he tried to throw his friend off his back "if that how you feel then so be it,"daniel gave up trying to throw sam off " uuggghhh can you get off i want to go home," Sam quietly move off his friend.


    The two said nothing as daniel left the house slamming the door behind. Sam stayed sitting on the couch until he could no longer hear the sound of daniel car.


    "Dear lord may I offer you some advice" the voice asked after a few minutes of silence.


    "No" the lord said before he got off the couch and headed upstairs to his room where he grabbed the leather bracelet, the wool bracelet and the obsidian ring along with a five inch long karambit pure black knife.


    He then returned to the stairs were he began knocking on them one by one, when he knocked on the 7th sair down it made a different sound from the rest. "There you are" then using the knife he prided the tread off revealing a cavity that sam had madde years ago that contain an obsidian rock the size of a grown man''s thumbnail on a thin piece of steel tread.


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    After removing the necklace from the cavity sam replaced the tread and descend the stairs. Sam then made his way to the back yard. When in the backyard sam took off his shoes and socks, put on and tuck the black stone under his shirt.


    "Now to get in as much practice I can before sun down." as he spoke sam took a sprint start position. He took a breath in and when he let it out he took off towards his mother''s garden, when he was a step away from the garden he jumped over it and use the fence behind it as a spring broad so he could grab hold of the roof of the house behind his. Not masting a second sam braced his feet against the wall and kicked off filling himself on to the roof.


    After landing on his back hard sam rolled over and got on to his hand and knee, ''dam i really have let myself go huh" getting to his feet sam looked across the rooftops for a path to take okay then let''s go" he charge to the edge of the roof jumping to the next when he reached it.


    At a small cafe between Sam''s house and daniel''s, Daniel was angrily eating his was through a freanch cappuccino parfait deluxe. "Stupid overprotective friend not letting me help him with his probaly dangerous stuipid job" stabbing his cold treat with three time the force necssery. "I don''t understand why he wouldn''t let me help him I know his parents have spent years teaching to accept other help to lessen his burden, but it seems that they haven''t been able to make anything really stick." then proceed to stuff half of his parfit in his mouth and swallow it and regret it as his brain froze not long after.


    Placing his thumb on the roof of his mouth daniel opened the message app on his hollo device he sent a greeting message to sam parents.


    They responded five minutes later asking what did sam do,he told them that sam got a new job that might be super dangerous and how sam straight up refused his offer to help.


    They didn''t respond for seven minutes, but when they did they asked for sam exact words when he refused.


    ''He didn''t plan on getting me involved''


    ''Yeah that sounds like sam, double meaning and all''


    ''Double meaning'' that did sound like sam


    ''Yeah the key word is plan, and you know what sam say about plans''


    "There are things in this world you just can''t plan for, no matter how much you try to bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha. Even after all these years i still fall for sam''s tricks." sending thank you to the elder vegals daniel finished off his partially melted treat.


    Now in better mood he paid for his meal and aplosed for the noise he made, man was he glad sam thought his how to ignore the stares of others, daniel rushed in to his car and programmed it to drive him home because he had his own planes to make and they had to do with an old promise.


    At the time the sun touched the horizon sam had made his way to a rooftop about twenty thirty miles from his house and his clothes were drenched with sweat. Stretching his body sam "Damn my muscles are going to hate me when i wake up tomorrow. But I must say I miss this feeling of adrenaline flowing through my veins it has been too long," done stretching sam made sure no cars was passing in front of the building he was on top of before he jump off it.


    During is hang time he drew the asrob rune ¦Á¦Ð¦Ï¦Ñ¦Ñ¦Ï¦Õ? and placed it on his feet when they were above his head. When his feet hit the ground the rune asrobed the impack with sam only feeling a little tingle in his leg that he quicky shock off before walking down the street.


    After stopping by a luckly nearby convenience store to grab an after workout sports drink and a sandwich sam climbed back to the roof tops and sat on the edge of one. There he watched the sun set as he sipped his drink and nippled on his sandwich.


    When the sun set he stuffed the sandwich wrapper into the empty bottle set that to the side and pulled the black stone from under his shirt. Cupping the stone so that no light reached it he whispered to the stone, "temps de danser dans l''heure la plus sombre de la nuit".


    For a moment nothing happened then the stone soundly exposed developing sam in a vantablack sphere. When the sphere reside sam''s outfit had completely changed. In place of his casual outfit was a form fitting vantablack tuxedo, matching shoes, button up shirt, and tie. The cufflinks were made of the same material as the stone.


    Sam spent a few minutes moving around in the suit looking at with a smile on his face, "after all these years i still look good in this, now let''s get this done." grabbing the bottle sam began bounding across the rooftops, on his way he threw the bottle into an energizer bin.


    Sliding to stop on a house rooftop sam walked to the edge so he could get a good look at mrs.neves house. Turning up his hearing and sight sam scanned the house any signs of life. Only finding small heart beat and maybe a couple dozen insects, after triple checking that he hadn''t missed anything sam back away from the edge so he could get a running start. Jumping off the roof sam laned in the street this time without the help of a rune. Causley the green eyed teen walked to the front door of his targets house, placing his right hand a centermenter away from the door sam closed his eyes to feel the energy flowing in and around the house.


    "This must have very expensive" he mumbled after getting a basic feeling for the ten layers of security of the house. Most small houses only had one or to layers, store maybe there four if they were spurging, a small mansion had seven layers,a bank had twenty, a government building had twenty five. Sam own house had five layers to it and they were pretty complicated with some of sam''s own touch. "I''m in luck that the layer are identical, now the best would be this correct" placing his pointer fingers he channeled a faint amount of many into them before tapping the door with them.


    Feeling the energy reaction to his tap sam smirked and opened his eyes, pressing the rest of his fingers together and channel the mana to them as well. Pulling all the finger apart he paid no mind to the near invisible energy claws he placed his fingers on the door and let his mana mingle with the energy of the house.


    While this happened sam made sure to keep a heighted ear out for anyone who could see him breaking into a house. After his mana througle mingled he opened a temporary gap in the security of the house that allowed sam to open the front door and walk right into the house.


    Closing the door behind him, sam followed his ear to the source of the small heartbeat he heard earlier. not making a sound sam ascend to the second floor where he stopped in front of a room door decorated with cartoon animals wearing suits and dancing. The door pretty much told sma what was behind the door but he opened it anyway.


    "Daniel it time for dinner" the sound of his mother yelling caused daniel;s head to shoot up from the desk it was laying on. Removing the paper attached to his left check he got up from his chair and left the private office his parents gave him as a birthday present. it was a great place for privacy which he needed as a healthy male teen.


    Arriving at the dining room he saw only his mother,"dad''s still at the office?"


    "Yes, there was an emergency meeting we both had to attend i was able to leave for a bit but he couldn''t" she said barley looking up from the hollo-files in front of her. Daniel quietly took his seat. Throughout The meal daniel glanced at his mother he had never seen such an intense look on her face, not even when he set the house on fire.


    "What on earth could have that meeting been about" the teen taught as dessert was served.


    "So what were you doing in your office?" his mother asked as final looked up from her files.


    "Oh nothing really"as he shrugged his shoulder before wiping his mouth "just an old project me and sam are going to start doing agian."


    "Well now you have my attention, what''s the project?" she raised an eyebrow at him.


    "Well that would be telling wouldn''t it" he then took the last bite of his sweet pudding.

 020

    tiredness was all Franciane felt as she laid back in her seat while her car drove it way home. "Why does my boss have to be such as a slave driver, my work was great before I started working there and it was always on time. people loved anything I wrote, my blog was full of incredible and moving articles about events that people can relate to but no this bitch wants me to write about food.." she spent the rest ride ranting about how much he hated her job and her shitty job and how she should have listened to her wife and stuck with her blog and write a book or something.


    When her car pulled into the driveway he got of the car and grabbed her bag all while saying things she wouldn''t dare say near children under her breath. Walking towards the front door she searched through her bag looking for her something when she glanced up and saw that the door was cracked open. For a second she froze before the sight registered in her mind running forward left her heels behind and threw her door open only to freeze again at the sight of strangers in a tux rocking her one of her twins sitting on the couch.


    Taking a shaky breath she spoke, "put my son down!" the stranger turned towards her and smiled, before waving their hand and slamming the door closes.


    "I''ve been waiting for you, I got bored so I had your children entertain me" as the stranger spoke his tone kept changing from happy to upset to happy again. "And I must say they did a good job" the giggle that followed sent chills down her spine.


    "So you''ve been waiting for me, well I''m here there no need for my children to entertain you anymore" as she spoke she slowly crept forward while wondering how she could take them down and where was the daughter. "So what do you want?"


    "oh, I''m just here to collect something of yours. But don''t worry its something you can afford many times over" that giggling was very unnerving, it became even more so when he stopped cold. "Now drop your bag and hold out your arms" another shiver went down her spine as his tone changed to a cold blade. When she opened her mouth the stranger cut her off by telling her she had no choice if she wanted her children to survive the night grundling she did what she was told.


    When her arms were in front of her the stranger one-handedly undid his black tie before throwing it at her. Franciane reeled in shock when the tie moved like a snake shooting through the air at her. When the tie reached her it wrapped around her wrist and then increased in weight drastically, the weight dragged her to the ground as it almost ripped her arms out there sockets.


    The stranger walked towards her giggling once more, they squatted in front of her. "And you call yourself a mother can''t even tell the difference between your child and an illusion. Flicking the nose of the baby it shattered like glass before fading away. "But it works for me anyway," franciane''s eyes widened before she lunged at them in rage trying to bite them.


    They just giggled more as they caught her face hand nowhere near their mouth and then he began happily counting." one, dos, tri¨²r, pedwar, f?nf". Franciane didn''t know what was going to happen but she wasn''t about to find out if she could just move.


    Franciane tried her best to move before despite as the numbers rose, when the number reached a sixty she tried spitting in his face witched calmed dodged when it reached a hundred and twenty she tried using her mana to increase her arm strength but the makeshift restraint just absorbed it. When the count reached a hundred and sixty she closed her eyes to prepare for the worst and when the count reached a hundred and seventy her eyes shoot open when the word, "all done" reached her ears.


    "What?" eyes and mouth wide open.


    "I got what I came for, so goodbye" with that walked to the door intending to just leave just like that, but before he could make the opened to reveal franciane''s wife. A woman who looked like she lived in an outdoor gym. The suited stranger took a step back while the wife took in the sight of her love on the ground wrist tied and eyes filled with fear.


    Charging forward she threw her gym bag before jumping off the ground to drop kick her target. The target of her attacks grabbed the bag and using its momentum spun around to slam it into her side. twirling midair she used her hand to absorb the bags momentum and add it to her own and deliver the boosted kick to the shoulder of the stranger.


    The force of the kick caused the invader knees to buckle and the title floor to crack franciane''s wife smirk but it was quickly wiped off when the home invader recovered and grabbed her leg with one hand and drew a rune with the other. Acting quickly she drove her other leg into their stomach but it barely made them falter.


    The rune was finished a moment later and it was slammed onto her captured leg, the wife screamed as she felt a high voltage of electricity invade her body. The electricity was active for thirty seconds and in that time the formally dressed person used her leg to lift her into the air before slamming her into the ground.


    Letting go of her leg they jumped back over the couch to back wall of the living room, flicking his hand he recalled his tie to him. Then while he was putting his tie back on," thank you for the unexpected entertainment, but I must go now, adi¨®s!" the two women could only watch as the invaders seemed to melt into their shadow. "Okay," the charged female groaned out "what the fuck just happened."


    On a rooftop down the street sam was back in his casual clothes lying on his side holding his stomach and right shoulder." dear lord are you alright? Have you been injured" the voice came from within sam''s head?


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    "Yeah I''m fine there no injuries just pain, god I haven''t been hit like that in maybe five years." standing up sam brushed himself off, "I wonder if she would be willing to spare with me. Okay now that I''ve absorbed her lust now what?''


    "At the current moment, the lust is being digested, in a few hours when the digestion is completed your own lust will be affected for a brief while before it infusing with the energies of your body."


    "How much will my lust be affected?" sam asked as he started to move across the rooftops towards home.


    "It depends on the person you absorb the lust from, different people have different limits before they are noticed by the beast." Vaulting over a chimney sam hummed interest.


    "So what can I do with the lust after it has infused with my own energies?"


    "With the current lust you are digesting not much, but there are still many things you can do with it. For example, you can manipulate the lust of others or you could infuse it with food and drinks to give them an aphrodisiac effect or maybe you can infuse with plants to mutate them. The possibilities are endless and you just have to explore them."


    "That sounds like a lot of fun and trouble, I can''t wait to try it out." an excited smile graced sam''s face as he soared through the air. Arriving in his backyard sam did a bit of after workout cool down before he went inside.


    Immediately he went to the kitchen and open the freezer to pull one of the frozen meals he stored in it. The meal he ended up grabbing was a veggie and pork lasagna witch sam decided he was fine with so he activated the rune on the bottom of the conditioner so it could be heated up. Setting it down on the stove sam went to the bathroom to grab the muscle aids. Bandaids for your muscle useful after intense leg workouts or freerunning for the first time in years.


    Sam returned downstairs slower than when he went up as his legs were starting to give out on him. Slumping into one of the kitchen chairs sam opened the box of muscle aids and pulled one out before rolling up the right leg of his basketball shorts, he applied the muscle aid to the tops of his thigh grabbing another he applied it to his lower leg before repeating that with his left.


    Applying a small amount of force to the muscle-aids to break the hundreds of bubbles in them to release the medicine, Sam let out a sigh as a wave of cool washed over and seeped into his legs. After enjoying the coolness for several moments sam began to massage his legs until he could smell the lasagna.


    When he went to stand his legs almost gave out on him and would have if he hadn''t put his weight on the table taking a moment to think about how he was going to get his food decided to take a simple solution he walked on his hands to the stove.


    Grabbing the hot food off the stove with his feet Sam hurried back to the table, when his food was secured on the table sam got off his hands sat back down in his chair. It was right when he was about to dig into his food that he realized he forgot his silverware and it took him less than a second to decide fuck it and ate the lasagna with his bare hands.


    "Mom would kill me if she found me eating like thing, dad would just leave the blast range." sam thought as he licked some sauce off his finger. When the food was gone sam tossed the container into the sink and then licked his finger clean.


    When we''re free of any remains of his meal, sam respond the browser he was in during lunch." so if don''t rush the order it will be here in three days I can work with that." after filling in the information for his order sam confirmed his order, with that done close that page and opened another to look up gyms in the area.


    The gyms within his walking distance had decent reviews but the one he choose to try out was one with a logo he had seen earlier today on the bag that was thrown at him a little under two hours ago. Saving the gym on his navigation app sam moved on to renew the licenses he gathered over the years," okay for my priest license I have to go to a church, for my chief license I need to go to a culinary school, my combat license I need to go to a fight club or a freelancing agency," sam took a moment to test the strength of his legs as the muscle-aids started warming up his legs.


    Seeing that his legs were able to support him if barely sam one slow step at a time made his way to his room, where climbed into his bed. Laying with his back to his covers sam fouled his arms and closed his eyes."ÕÒµ½Ô¿³×,´ò¿ªÃÅ,×ßС·,×ß½øÎÒ×Ô¼º,µ½ÊÀ½çÀï,ÎÒÁé»êµÄÊÀ½ç," as sam chanted this his pulse, breathing and thoughts slowed all the forms of energy in him settled down, He was entering a death-like state.


    After what felt like years of chanting sam felt the feeling of his body fade away and so he opened his eyes to the world hidden within his soul and immediately jerked back at the sight, " I keep it had to have changed over the years but I never thought it would change like this."


    Back at franciane''s house five minutes after sam left the police were currently going over the building with a fine-tooth comb, while a detective talks to the wife outside and a medic check over there children and themselves. "So neither of you can describe them?" detective F asked the wives.


    "No I can''t even recall you there gender or body shape much less anything about their face," franciane answered as she tried to rock her son to sleep.


    "Same for me fucker, couldn''t even tell if I hit flesh stone metal or something else, it weird as hell I have never seen anything like it." Darcy followed up after her wife as she rocked her daughter.


    "Well, that new" the detective scrunched his face in thought before addressing the females in front of him, "I''m going to talk crime scene investigators I''ll let you two find a hotel to stay at for the night, I''ll call you in the morning with any changes have a good night madam darcy." with that the detective F walked away ignore darcy call out his name, entering the house he talked with CSI and learn what they found.


    Nothing no hair, no shoe prints not even in the spot where darcy drop-kicked them in the shoulder, no residual energy from the rune he made, the only thing they did find was where the attacker sunk into his shadow it was a simple image three faces with no identifying features the first looked straight up demonic, the second pure white, and the last was female with pentagrams in its eye. Above the heads was the word midnight shaped like a crown.


    "Some Kind of signature, I''ll have to check the database to see if a can find a match so something similar. Turning to the head CSI "bring in some deep scanning equipment see if that can find anything"


    "Way ahead of you, its already on its way" she responded not ever looking away from her work.


    "Of course you are why am I not surprised" detective F laughed a bit wearing a smile, but in the depths of his gut he knew this was gonna be trouble, he just had no clue how much trouble it was gonna be if he did he would have chosen to retire that day.


    {you really were something else, then again we all are}

 021

    Sam''s soul world in one word could be described as horror. Not that it bothered Sam the place was a representation of him at his very core and Sam was pretty self-aware of himself but not as much as he thought if the unexpected changes to his soul world meant anything.


    Originally his soul word was pretty simple with a thin layer of blood on the ground that never dried and filled the air with an iron smell, there were also statues of the people sam had killed damage in the way he killed them, Along with the junk that sam stored in here that was his soul world.


    Now they could not compare. The blood had become bright red grass with white tulips growing sparsely, the statues were cleaned up and had different flowers in front of them with the flower knowledge he picked up from his mother the meaning of the flowers had to do with why he killed them, the random junk had been organized around the edge of the world. The biggest changes were a goddamn tower and a door he instantly recognized.


    It was the door he left through from where the beast of lust was trapped," yeah I''m just going to ignore that for now, definitely need to look at that tower later but first what I came here for." sam walked towards the edge of his circular world sam began to walk the edge of it looking through his junk. It took him walking three-fifths of the border before he found what he was looking for a large pocket gold plated journal with lock sealing it shut.


    As he took one last look around, he made a note to come back and clean up and investigate that tower but first, he has to deal with this book. Holding the book against his left side sam used his free hand to reach forward and mimic opening a door caused a simple steel door to materialize open. Sam walked into the darkness that sat behind the door.


    Opening his eye sam was back in his body, "why does that always leave me so sore?" stretching to get rid of the aches from entering his soul the voice gave Sam an answer.


    "That is because entering a soul plan even one''s own is extremely stressful and strenuous especially on those who don''t fully prepare as you did but nonetheless I am impressed that you were able to do so at all." sam hummed ass he kneaded his back.


    "I know how to fully prepare correctly but I don''t possess the resources to do so, besides body pains aren''t that bad, anyway I have a book to deal with." sam grabbed from where it rested next to him. Biting his thumb hard enough to draw blood he wiped the blood on the spine of the book.


    The blood sat there a moment before it was absorbed into the book. A gold and black key then popped od of the spin, sam took the key and used it to unlock the book. He opened the book to its first page where one thing was written and the helper spoke, "I have never seen such a complicated language or code where did you find it and why are you blushing."


    Sam was indeed blushing a full face one, "it''s in french and it is not a code I just have terrible handwriting." then there was silence but sam could swear that the helper was laughing at him, sam placed his hand on the inside of the front cover, "link".


    For a moment nothing happened then the book began to pulse in sync with sam heart witch could now be heard throughout the room."Ahhhhh" sam cried as he clutched his throat, the journal began to flip its pages on it own, word begin written in as they turned. Over a hundred thousand pages turned before it stopped on a blank page and then closed.


    "You know I forgot how that felt, but at least the book has been bound to me again." sam thought as he rubbed his throat.


    "Lord if you wouldn''t mind me asking but what exactly is that book, I have found a few things similar to it but nothing exactly the same." it was well hidden behind the professional tone the voiced used all the time but sam had caused that feeling in others enough to recognize it.


    "My book of life. It automatically records my life in incredibly detailed I''m going to need it later in my training so I thought I should get it out of the way." as he answered the voice he had placed his book of life on his desk. "Now that that''s taken care of I need to refine my wires." laying back down on his bed sam once again closed his eye but this time he focused on his internal mana.


    Sam had never learned there official term so he called them wire, but what he was talking about were the pathways which one''s mana flowed through in the body, they were also the only part of the body there were completely protected against the negative effects of mana, but there was a limit to how much mana could flow thru them at a time before the pressure became to how much and they burst similar to how a pipe would.


    Refining one''s wire happened for three reasons, the first was to raise the pressure limit of the wires this would allow sam to release more power in burst, the second was to increase their number sam didn''t know why people did this, the third was repair and this was what Sam was trying to accomplish.


    Before moving to the island sam didn''t know any runes, so to create effects on the same level of a rune he had to manipulate pure mana with great control in large amount much larger than what was needed for a rune and because of this he more or less had constant mana burns on his hands feets arm and legs some time his head but his wires had reached the point there could support this without even being bothered.


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    But moving to the island sam was not looking to draw attention so he stopped using this method and adapted to using runes not that he used them the way you were supposed to. Because The longer used his wires to their fullest anymore they fell into a state of disuse and now sam was trying to undo that.


    The method sam was using was a pretty simple using flowing mana through the wire while slowly increasing the amount until they reached their limit stop and then repeat, the whole process took about maybe an hour. Witch is why sam was only able to do it 8 times before the sun came up.


    When the light of the rising sun hit his eyes sam for the first time in years was glad he was an insomniac. Getting off his bed sam did some light stretches before taking shower and putting on a fresh set of clothing consisting of t-shirt cover in wailing ghastly faces and some grey and red athletic shorts.


    After finding a duffle bag sam packed it with the things he would need for the day he left the house only to have to come back ten minutes later to retrieve some shoe and sock after a jogger happened to notice he wasn''t wearing any.


    Now wearing shoes and shocks Sam walked out of the house. It was about a ten-minute walk with a twelve-minute cab ride later that Sam arrived at his destination. Fortuna''s internal bank, this bank was different from others, the main reason was that they worked on a blind system as in they didn''t give a fuck about who or what you were everyone was equal to them. This actually got them in trouble with local government as they allowed known criminals to access their account or make them with no more trouble than a police officer


    But that was the reason sam was here as this bank let him set up his own account during the time he wandered the world, an account he hadn''t touched since moving here, the fact that they let a child opened an account on there own was impressive the fact they took the time to explain everything until he understood was even more so. Walking into the medium-sized building sam wasted no time getting into the line to the counter not even a moment later one of the employees walked over to him.


    "Are you here to open an account or do you have an existing account?" the female worker asked.


    "I have an existing account but I haven''t registered it at this branch yet." sam told her as he scratches his ear.


    "Well I can help you with that, just follow me." sam nodded and follow after her. She leads him to one of the offices and sat down. "Okay first thing is to find your account, do you have your card or account information."


    "No on the card but yes on the information, my account number ###5##2"


    "Okay give me a moment," two moments later. "Here we go account number ###5##2, from what I see here it hadn''t been touched in almost four years." when she looked at sam for an explanation he told her he just didn''t need anything from that account in those four years. "As apart part of our policy, I''m going to have to confirm your identity by the multiple methods specified by the account. Is that alright?" she asked with a wide smile and a slight narrow in her eyes.


    "Yes that alright I would worry if you didn''t," sam told here with a calm smile and loose shoulders, mentally he applauded her body language control.


    Soon they were going through the motion to confirm the methods to confirm his identity using the methods he placed when he was younger because he was (read is) a paranoid person he had designed the methods in riddles with you had to notice and then solve them before he could use them.


    The first riddle spoke of sakura petals but was really asking for a drop of blood, the second riddle talked about dance steps but the answer was a four-digit code, the third method was hidden by an old Halloween song that spoke of many things that went bump in the night, the answer for the passwords was three creatures sam was incredibly familiar with.


    With his identity confirmed his account was registered and move to this brach sam went about updating his information before he dumped half the IC he had stored in his bracelet in to the account with turned out to be a little over four thousand dollars, Sam knew he didn''t spend a lot of his funds but was it really that small or was his income that large. "I should probably look into that when I get home". After the transaction was complete sam said goodbye and wish the women a good day before leaving the bank.


    After leaving the bank sam wandered a bit before he made his way to his next destination. Turning down a dark alley sam found an abandoned holo-phone booth, entering the booth sam entered the for his job.


    "Hello this is the manager of the midnight bar, how can I help you?" a polite sounding female answered the phone, Suppressing a laugh sam told the person on the side that it was him. "Sam, why do you never call from your phone?" the woman demanded all politeness leaving no trace in her voice.


    "I have my reasons, but anyway, the reason I''m calling because I checked my schedule and found that I have no shifts any time soon?"


    "Actually I was wondering when you were going to call about that," the tiredness in her voice increased tenfold, " a pipe in the storage room burst and the room partly flooded a few things were salvageable."


    ''There more isn''t there."


    "Yes, it turns out we had sparkling ivy seed stored away deep in the room." yeah that explained it sparkling ivy was nice to look at if you ignore the fact it grew an inch in the time it took to blink and was incredibly stubborn plant, looks like he wasn''t working for the next few weeks unless!


    "Veronica, did you know where to get flowers from different countries?" sam asked. Receiving a positive answer sam told her about a flower that was very territorial and would release poisonous pollen to kill any other plant in its territory and would at most aggravate the allergies of humans and animals.


    "I have never heard of this planet but if you are telling the truth this could save me a lot of money and time." with a happy voice veronica began to mumble so this sam couldn''t catch without raising his hearing. Interrupting her mumbling sam told her goodbye so she could get to work, hanging up the phone sam left the booth and headed to the gym he picked out last night.


    Entering the receptionist quickly greeted him, "hello welcome to mountain gym where he will always climb to the peak, how can I help?.


    "I''m interested in joining can I do that today?" his answer was to follow him into the gym.

 022

    Sam was impressed by what he saw as they moved through the gym passing a large variety of equipment for all kinds of work out under sunlight do to the one way see through walls and ceiling, then they enter another area filled with VR-platforms and solid hologram platforms were in use. The next area had four boxing rings three in use, what immediately caught his attention was Francine''s wife was in one of the rings." well now I want to fight her even more," sam thought as he watched darcy combat and teach 6 children at once it the ring.


    The receptionist climbed onto the ring, "hey boss," when darcy turns to him he gestured to sam, "this guy wants to join." gesturing for the receptionist to leaves she caught the kick of one the kids as she looked sam over. Humming she told the children to step out of the ring and cool down before calling sam up to the ring.


    "So you want to join my gym?" to which Sam nodded. "I hope you think that will be easy." she narrowed her eyes as a smile grew on sam face. "Do you have some clothes in that bag?" sam told yes "good then go get changed. If you''re joining my gym I want to see what you''re made of." after receiving directing to the changing room sam left to change.


    When sam returned to the ring he was wearing black and white loose athletic shorts with a matching t-shirt. Dropping his duffle bag by the ring the emerald-eyed teen climbed into the ring, "so how are we going to do this." his answer was his feet flying from under him. Blinked as his back hit the ground, "I forgot how much the tux amplifies my abilities". Rolling out the way of a stomp to the stomach sam quickly rolled to his feet. Turing quickly sam had to dodge a series of strikes aimed at his face.


    Crossing arms to block the last strike sam threw a hook kick at her chest that she spun out of the way. Throwing a sidekick into sam''s stomach she raised an eyebrow ass he caught it before returning favor witch she caught a well. As a stalemate Darcy asked as something," since I knocked you on your back you''ve been smiling why?"


    Said smile strong on his face sam answered, ``I haven''t fought like this in years, it got my blood pumping and my battle lust swelling so I hope you don''t mind but I may get violent."


    Dary narrowed her eyes before she threw her free leg over sam shoulder as an anchor than just as she twisted her waist sam grabbed her other leg and threw her away. Recovering darcy landed in a crouching position before spring back at sam. When the two clashed sam was the one on the offensive unleashing combos of punches and kicks that darcy easily blocked and deflected.


    This carried on for a few minutes with the children watched in amazement, to be even more amazed when darcy deleted a fist to the face leaving sam open enough so she could smash her fist in the smiling teens face knocking him off his feet and a few feet away.


    "Well it seems I didn''t mind a-" a wave of something spread throughout the gym freezing all the occupants and delivering a chill down their spines, from the walls seeped blood and giggles of children that carried the feeling of wrong and just when it sounded like the giggling children were about to speak it all vanished.


    "Well that''s embarrassing I let so much out so easily, I guess I let it build up too much." sam said as he stood up with his cheeks dusted red. "So do you want to continue or would you like to stop here." when he asked this darcy was in a fight or flight stance. Taking deep breaths she decided that they would take a break.


    Stepping out of the ring sam took a seat at one of the nearby benches, he sat leaning back to stare at the sky for a seran moment before he brought his hand up to cover his face.`` I got too excited and slipped out and on such a large scale too, this well it could''ve been worse and it can get worse to" pulling his hands from his face sam thought back over the fight and could barely stop the giggles coming up his throat.


    "I guess going soft won''t be all bad, causes people around me are stronger in comparison. It gonna be great¡­ sometimes I hate being right." as soon as that thought move across his mind the lord''s helper spoke up.


    "You have completely digested the lust you absorbed last night."


    "Yeah I noticed when my blood flowed south.", he mentally snarked, now what do I do 1 could ignore it until it goes down or quickly take care of it in the bathroom," while he was considering it he could easily do either really. But before he could decide his attention was drawn by the sound of children arguing.


    Turning to the children was previously teaching he took in the sight of the other children working together to push the largest of them towards sam."hello" putting on his best child friendly smile sam asked them if he could help them with something while thanking the rune sew into the crouch of his pants and shorts.


    The largest acted as a shield as a dark skin girl with an afro ponytail, asked what he did earlier with the whole bleeding walls and creepy giggling." oh the battle illusion."


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    "Battle illusion," the largest kid asked?


    "Well, that is what I prefer to call them a more common term is power impression. What you saw was an impression of my power, a small one but an impression all the same. An impression is unique to a person because it is formed by their experiences and views both unique so while you may see similar impressions they will never be the same. Does that answer your question." nodding the children moved away from his like bats in hell. Except for one, he studied sam a moment before skipping away to join the others.


    It was about thirty minutes later that darcy called sam back into the ring thankful his lust was able to settle down in that time so that was one problem taken care of, but it seems darcy was upset because when sam enters the ring darcy wasted no time beating him into the mate multiple times. The third time he came in contact with the mate sam was able to say without a doubt that she was holding back the first two times they fought.


    When she was done giving sam a beatdown she told him that as long as he didn''t break the rules of the gym he could use it to get back in shape, " she was able to figure out I''m trying to get back in shape I want to fight her more," sam thought as he peeled himself off the mat. Returning to the bench sam was greeted who gave him the virtual forms he would need to fill out.


    After filling out the forms sam walked around the gym taking a look at the equipment and services the gym offered before changing back to his previous outfit then leaving but not without saying goodbye to darcy who back at teaching the children. Back on the street sam head to his last task of the day, which he called a cab to get to.


    When the cab pulled to a stop sam paid the computer, before getting out and walking into the building sam repeatedly clenched and flexed his hands trying to get rid of the energy buzzing under his skin and ignore the forming bruise from darcy.


    Walking to the front desk sam forced on a smile and his usual polite tone,"hell" he greeted the man sitting behind the desk ''is doctor Pekelo in?" receiving a positive answer sam asked if he was free for a check-up getting another positive answer he was told he take a seat while he filled out some forms and the doctor prepared.


    While doing the forms sam tried not to think how badly this check-up was going to go, it wasn''t because he was afraid of doctors though he wasn''t comfortable with them but it was more than the dr.pekelo was afraid of him and that was entirely sam''s fault but it was his parents'' fault that is was his fault they should have told him that dr.pekelo might stab him in the arm and then he wouldn''t have reacted so badly. Man, they were lucky he and the clinic didn''t press charges.


    When he turned in the forms the receptionist looked over them before sending him to the examination room. Entering the room sam saw it was empty so he placed the duffle bag in an empty chair before moved to stand behind the door.


    It didn''t take long for the Hawaiian doctor to enter the room. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of an empty room and then almost jumped out of his skin when has closed the door. For a moment, no one moved then the doctor began to quickly back peddle until his back hit the wall. "Long time no see, Samuel how you been?" his voice was steady but his eyes were frantically scanned the room for an escape route.


    "Fine doctor how about we get started on my check so we don''t have to drag this out." sighed the doctor told him to sit on the examination table. The check-up went smoothly except for the atmosphere that only a laser could cut.


    At the end of the check-up, Dr.pekelo gave sam a clean bill of health despite the bruises and sore muscles. After the doctor dashed out of the room sam grabbed his duffle bag and left the clinic. Wandering the streets sam looked for a good place to get lunch. He found a nice pizza place where he got three large slices of meat and veggie. When he finishes his food sam called a taxi to take him home.


    Five minutes into the ride sam got a video call from daniel to his surprise, bracing himself to be yelled at or cursed out sam answered the phone. "Sam my chaotic friend, how are you doing this day." with a smile and voice to rival the sun.


    ''Okay I have missed a step,'' sam thought before Daniel told him that he talked to his parents, "there it is, well there went that plan what else can I do to drive him away." then daniel told his he was calling in on a promise they made.


    "Which promise, we have made quite a few?"


    "The one about making videos together." Sam immediately cursed he knew exactly what Daniel was talking about and he couldn''t break this promise because when it was made their friendship was young so they used a contract rune that thanks to the kind of person sam was had some dangerous but no lethal consequences if broken.


    "I hate being outplayed," the cosmic lord mumbled before speaking up" alright how do you want to do this?" the rest of the drive was filled with the two on how they were going to fulfill their old promise, when the car arrived at his house sam hung up on daniel telling he needed a nap, and a nap was what he got just flopping face-first into his covers dropping his duffle bag at the foot of his bed luckily he hadn''t put his shoes or socks back on at the gym.


    While he slept daniel doing work on their promises, his boss veronica had finally found someone who has heard about the plant sam told her about, the police were still looking for a lead, and sunset.


    Waking up sam noted the lack of sunlight before pulling up the clock up in his bracelet." so 10:06 that a six-hour nap," groaning sam turned over rubbing the full-formed bruises on his body. Stretching out his limbs sam went over his day with a smile as he accomplished everything he set out to do."okay since I got my checkup today I can get my combat license tomorrow then I talk with daniel then register at the freelance office then I go to the gym."


    Having created a plan for the next day sam got off his bed and went down the stairs to have dinner with ended up being some vegetable pasta, this time he remembered his fork. When the food was gone and the dishes washed sam took a shower washing his hair.


    After drying off and getting dressed in his usual sleepwear sam climbed onto his bed laid down and began to refine his wires once more.

 023

    the rising sun pulled sam from the meditative state he used to refine. getting up Sam stretched before changing into business casual from the back of his closet and then packing some casual clothes with other things he would need for his plans for today.


    putting on business shoes sam grabbed a quick but heavy breakfast. calling a cab sam stood at the end of the driveway waiting, closing his eyes sam looked inside himself to the energies within focusing on the newest one. it felt identical to the one the power eros gave him but at least a centillion time weaker. drawing the lust energy to his right hand opened his eyes. seeing nothing sam closed his eyes and redirected the energy to his left eye. keeping his left closed sam opened his right and pulled out a roll of bandages out of his bag. "didn''t think I would need these so soon," he mumbled as he wrapped his closed eye.


    "my lord may I ask what you are doing to your eye," it asked curiously. ''i''ve seen this before but it can''t be this planet is too young.''


    "marination, I''m going to let my eye soak in the energy to provoke a change, "tying off the bandages sam moved his hand in front of his face to check his vision impairment.


    "I strongly advise against this action, energy mutation is not something you can do like that it is a very risky process with a vast array of consequences." the helper the proceeds to lecture sam on these consequences until sam arrived at his destination.


    "you know I was curious what it would take to make you snap, for the record this isn''t the first time I have done this, it''s the only way I could bring out my full power of ability." opening the door to the fight club sam was assaulted by the sound of cheering and flesh hitting flesh plus the smell of sweat, blood, and bile. walking inside sam began looking for someone who worked here.


    this turned out to be pretty difficult as there was uniform and everyone was focused on the fight taking place. sam asked twelve people who rudely brushed him off before someone spilled a bright acholic drink over his head. in response his hair turned white and that person went flying into the ring knocking over one of the fighters. landing on top of the fallen fighter sam addressed everyone," who the hell works here!" the one to answer him was the man he was standing on apparently he was the manager. "I''m here to get my combat license renewed can it be done today?''


    "yes, if you get off he now,'' sam did and the manager stood up dusting himself off then threw a punch at sam, who barely blinked as the punch froze an inch away before its owner was blasted away to the edge of the ring. standing up manger addressed everyone," it looks like we have a surprise for all today," he pointed to sam, "this young man came here to renew his combat license and what kind of person would I be if I didn''t help him," at that the crowd responded with cheer and laughter. "so let''s have Samantha test his abilities here and now." the crowed cheered ever louder as he grabbed the sam had hit him with before jumping out of the ring.


    Turning to his opponent sam blasted away the foot aimed at his face. undeterred the blond fighter spun with the blast hitting sam with a foot to the back of his head. unfazed by the kick his white hair flared, Samantha was then slammed into the ground by sam''s telekinesis. "sorry but I''m not in the mood to play today so I''m going to be a little cruel," after whispering his to her sam took a deep breath before letting a screaming heard by all living things in the building.


    A scream of a thousand dying tortured souls full of anger and sorrow. All who heard it felt the pain of these souls if one possed the right power they can defend against it, sadly Samantha didn''t as well as everyone else in the club. everyone covered their ears and squeezed there eyes and closed causes of this none of them saw sam quite literally kick his opponent while she was down about twenty times on the back.


    ending the scream sam kicked her one more time on the side knocking her to the edge of the ring, immediately sam began to write his only combat rune. letting the finished rune hover above his hand as it grew into a shuriken the size of sam''s arm. floating above his head the newly formed shuriken began to spin while it''s creator stuck a thinking pose. "now what should I add, last time I brought it into smaller pieces...maybe I could...no that''s slow...how about," while sam thought out loud Samantha slowly stood clutching her stomach.


    ''Why does it hurt so much it was just one kick,'' bring her fist up she charged. opening his eye sam smiled as the shuriken flew at his opponent who dodged to the right. the smile stayed strong as he brought the shuriken back around, jumping above it the female sam tried to plant her heel on male sam''s skull. stepping back he watched as the shuriken severed at the knee spraying blood on both combatants.


    hitting the ground Samantha clenched her teeth before trying to only to be stopped as hands were removed while she reived a thin cut on her stomach. sam clapped his hands as Samantha attempted to stand, "what a strong spirit you have now let m-," sam was cut off by a large and fully brown shaggy cat landing on his face and then unleashing her on it with there claws before jumping to one of the floating corner poles of the ring.


    "you''ve shown everyone what you can do so enough with this farce." the cat stated as it calmy groomed its self. meanwhile, sam was grumbling several sailor worthy things in multiple languages holding his stinging face. taking one of his hands off his face he snapped his fingers. originating from his finger the world began to crake like it was made of glass and then it fell apart.


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    the next thing anyone knew it was like the clock had turned back with the manager picked off the man sam threw. okay, what the fuck," Samantha asked.


    "that boy used an illusion a rather well put together one if you ignore the fact that he forgot about the crowd." jumping from the pole it dodged a telekinetic blast that knocked over a member of the crowd.


    "who the hell are you," sam demanded with his teeth clenched one arm out the other still on his face.


    "I trained that idiot who manages this place and its owner. Sadly it seems that he needed more mental training," the cat stated while shooting the manger a glare, the manager gulped loudly before nodding his head as he sweated a river.


    The cat put on a mischievous smirk, "On the note of your license we''ll need more information of your skills before we can reinstate it." sam felt a shiver down his spine a second before he was looking at the ceiling. At that moment he got a good look at the cat''s collar on it was a symbol of a golden scarred cat-eye. This symbol was given to the top graduates of the cat''s hidden fight school. the global top cat training school finding it meant you were pretty strong entering was another challenge to graduate at the top meant you were the strongest cat in the world.


    "I''m gonna need more bandages," sam thought before he lowered his sense of touch to the minimal he could manage and raising his sight hearing and smell as high as they could individually go with giving himself sensory overload. he did all this just in time for the shaggy cat to slam themselves into his stomach slamming the teen into the ground.


    when sam left the club about two hours later there saw a part of him that didn''t hurt even parts he felt in years. but he had his license so mission accomplished even if he had taken more damage then he expected. calling a cab sam reached into his bag for disinfectant cream for the scratches covering his face and arms. when the cab arrived sam switch out the disinfectant for bruises cream he applied this while the cab headed to the cafe he and daniel were meeting at.


    Opening the door to the cafe sam quickly found daniel digging himself on some kind of coffee-based treat. taking the seat across from him sam started the conversation, "okay so let''s get this over with."


    looking up from his treat daniel did a double-take at sam," what did you fight and did you start it?" sam told him that it was for his combat license and no he didn''t start it, at daniel''s raised eyebrow he emitted that he didn''t initially start it but he may have. suppressing a laughe at how unsure sam looked daniel asked what he did the last few days. giving a brief breakdown sam returned the topic to the video channel.


    "it''s simple we are going to do a video channel and see where that takes us. I already got all the equipment and set up an account on a streaming site so we just need to make a video." daniel was struck "what are your plans for the rest of the day."


    "to a freelance office and then I''m going to the gym, then heading home once my muscles have an ache in them." then something hit him "no you can not record me working out."


    "why not? I know you aren''t body shy if you were you be more upset about how often you forget your shoes."


    "it has nothing to do with being body shy, it more like cameras don''t like me if I am paying attention it''s not a problem but it''s likely ill get absorbed in my work out."


    "I''ve never noticed this camera problem"


    "Have you ever taken I picture of me when I wasn''t paying attention?" sam asked while he politely waved off the waitress trying to take his order.


    Daniel scuffed, "no not after that time you broke my wrist for trying." and now that he thought about it that made more sense." so the problem is that you''ll get absorbed in your work out then I just have to make sure that doesn''t happen right." daniel stated whit a wide smile.


    a small smile crossed sam''s face before he shook his head," now we just need to find out if there are rules against cameras in the gym," as he said that sam brought up gym rules on his hollodevices. it didn''t take long to find the rules on cameras, blur out the faces of anyone who didn''t what there face showing, besides that nothing else the owner considered it free advertising.


    telling this to daniel who said he was on it sam gave him the address for the gym before telling him he was off to a freelance office, standing up sam waved his friend goodbye and the waitress a tip and called a cab as he walked out of the cafe.


    it was about twenty minutes later that he arrived at the building, though it was called an office it looked like an adventure guild from a fantasy manga, not that the design was undeserved because that was what it was. and adventure was what were freelancers were. during his nomad years, sam didn''t do a lot of freelance work but he was because the badge work as a form of identification and a passport plus it was a great excuse for why you were somewhere you shouldn''t be like the middle of a bank robbery.


    walking up to one the receptionist he told her his business here today and she responded to give her a moment nodding sam turned around to watch the people in the lobby area, listened to the chatter sam herd many things that piqued his interest most of it was gossip, he was pulled out of his eavesdropping by two things." lord a person with high lust is approaching your right," at that moment a loud came from said right.


    "hey move it human", said a small elephant as it used their trunk to shove sam out of the way. cathing himself on the counter sam stood up slowly turning to the elephant. sam looked them up and before turning away and ignoring him. the elephant tried for several minutes to try and get his attention with no results losing his temper the elephant grabbed sam around his waist with his trunk," listen here you pathetic mammal-"


    "you''re a mammal," sam interrupted looking ready for a nap. making an angry elephant noise he turned sam upside down and began to shake him while cursing him out,'' so how much lust have I absorbed?'' sam asked the helper after a minute or two.


    "About 10 percent, the requirement for him is about 30 percent, would you like advice on how to reach that?"


    ''naa I''m just going to late him rant like this,'' and that was what sam did until he had absorbed about 45 percent of the elephant lust and then proceed to kick the elephant in the mouth then punching him in the eye.


    when he was released as the elephant stepped back sam turned to the receptionist," so have you found it?"


    "yes you''ll have to talk to one of the higher-ups like the one you just kicked in the mouth." she politely said while pointing to the elephant rubbing his eye.


    ''so that why no one interfered or there all assholes.'' grimaced while the elephant walked away motioning with its trunk to follow him.'' well I least I did no permanent damage.'' sam said as he walked after the than a two hundred pound mammal.

 024

    Taking a seat in the African style chair sam looked at the obvious African forest style of the room while the elephant prepare two cups of coffee." when I was called down because someone wished to reinstate their license I expected someone a lot older," receiving his cup sam smelled it before turning down the bitter receptors on his tongue before taking a sip," but I''m curious how skilled you were six or seven years ago but that''s later now I have to ask you a couple of questions. first off why did you lose your last license?" then took a sip of his cup.


    "I no longer had a use for it at that and I haven''t until recently"


    "HHhmmm, what did you use it for?"


    "a passport, identification and a way to earn a little extra cash"


    "What kind of jobs did you take?"


    "mostly jobs that involved or suspected the involvement of ghosts, witches, demons, or creature of the night in general". the elephant asked why he took these kinds of jobs." some of my oldest memories include ghost I was raised amongst witches mt first friend was a demon, my early years were of creatures of the night that is why!"


    ''so they are creature he was familiar with but how much of that was a lie, there was no way a witch would take in a male child or a demon would befriend a human,'' as this went through his mind sam could read the disbelief in his expression and could guess what it was about it wasn''t the first time and wouldn''t be the last. the elephant blinked as the pleasant smile the teen had been wearing became a little stiff. rolling his eyes he asked the next question did he plane to do jobs like that now sam said yes without hesitations. the next few questions were about sam''s team workability which he did not have the best answer for.the questions after that were about sam''s skills with clients again not a good answer but he said he didn''t use violence well he wouldn''t use it first.


    "How are you with traveling? what your preferred method of travel?'' sam was asked as his cup was refilled before answering he added sugar and cream to his coffee as he reverted his taste.


    "I enjoy traveling and no real preferred method of travel.'' he said happier with the taste. the elephant hummed as he refilled his cup.


    "How are you in life-risking situations?"


    "thrilled!" the elephant spit tanked.


    "trilled?!" he asked eyes wide"


    "if something can threaten my life, then it is something big and complex that gets my blood pumping, my adrenaline rising to its limit!"


    "you''re an adrenaline junky?"


    "I try not to indulge in it," a thought occurred to him that''s what she meant when I could have a lord at ten."


    "well that a quality a freelance should have." then the elephant threw his cups at sam who caught it gently before placing it on the table. "you know most people just dodge," then retrieved his thrown cup. standing up the elephant left the room to return with paper forms and a pen causing sam to gulp." fill these out and you''ll have your new license in seven to fourteen business days," huffing he grabbed the ben and papers before getting to it. it was a long forty minutes later that sam finished and handed the papers over. upon seeing the gray mammal spit tanked sam expected that and what was about to be said while the temperature of his face rose.


    "Your handwriting is horrible," a pause ", what langue is this?" he asked while he rotated the paper.


    "a mix," said lowly


    "of what ?" to this Sam shrugged.


    "I was never taught how to write formally so my writing is just a collage of what I have picked up over the years."


    "it''s going to take some time to decode this so you''re going to have to wait for your license."


    ''i expected that'', "thank you for the help and your time" with that sam said goodbye before heading to the gym, where daniel was probably waiting with his camera.


    turns out he had more than one and mikes, rubbing his forehead sam walked into the locker room to get changed, walking back into the main area he greeted his friend. "so do you have a plan or are you gonna wing it."


    "yes, I have a plan I had one before I joined the gym," sam then proceed to where the weights were kept to put on five pounds arm and leg weights. swinging his arms and leg to test how affected he was, smiling sam walked over to one of the sandbags. taking a stance he pulled his arm sam prepared to throw a punch when daniel shouted for him to pause so he could activate the cameras three of which the floated around sam one getting an over the shoulder angle another getting a birds-eye view and the last getting a left eye-level shot pressing record he told sam to go, pulling his arm back once more sam hit the bag with his full weight.


    when the bag swang back sam hit again and again and again until his arms were tired and his knuckles hurt, while he was punching hear could hear daniel taking into a mic. stepping back from the bag sam switched to kicks, alternating between his right and left legs. when his legs felt weak sam stepped away from the bag over to the yoga mats. to start his stretches he tried touching his toes good news he could bad news his back made a loud cracking sound in the process." are you okay?" the skinny teen asked with his free hand warily reached out.


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    "Yeah I''m fine but do me a favor and run your hand down my spine and push down on the 7th bump you feel." slowly daniel did what he was asked, pushing down the specified spine bump another cracking sound could be heard. pulling his hand away as if burnt daniel demanded to know what the hell that was. "artificial bone I forgot about until this moment. but seriously can you push down on it.


    "shouldn''t we call a doctor," daniel asked while reaching for his device.


    "no, a doctor will remove it I need it to stay there!" statted annoyed while he flexed his fingers.


    "then why do you want me to break it?"


    it only temporary its made of memory material, I''ll just have to lay still for a few minutes for it to retake its shape." though he couldn''t see his face he knew his friend was still unsure so he promises if something went wrong he could call an ambulance, so wearing a mixed expression and using a shacking hand he pressed down on the bump until it gave way, instantly sam straightened his back before falling back onto the ground.'' that hurt in ways glad I turned down my pain receptors."


    "you alright," daniel asked fingering his device, sam hummed before closing his eyes.


    opening his eyes he turned his head to his friend," so shall we do something for the video channel while we wait from the artificial bone to repair its self."


    "fine, so you can explain your work out"


    ''i forget how little you know about physical health, my work out is to build pink muscle witch consist of doing light weights with high reps and heavy weights with low reps, I trowing in a mix of flexibly training and combat practice."


    that sound pretty intense work out shouldn''t you warm up first


    "That was my warm-up"


    "you''re going to tear something."


    "technically a work out isn''t fruitful if you don''t tear a little muscle,"


    "no comment, so why pink muscle?"


    "it better the red or while muscle and they fit my fighting style best.


    your fighting style, you mean reacting to your opponent


    "yeah that",'' i forgot he hasn''t seen me fight the other way.'' daniel quirked an eyebrow at sam''s mixed expression.


    "Why are you in a gym you use rune and mana tricks mostly,"


    "that true but its neer a bad idea to improve on your weakness, that a reason for you to join me.


    "no! so that all you plan to do today.


    "at the gym yes"


    "okay by the way what with the eye?"


    "you remember that cat I hit with my alarm clock with


    "twice" daniel interrupted with a smile


    "yes, but let''s say this morning that delt their payback," he grumbled rubbing his cover eye.


    "a great example of why you should stop throwing your alarm clock, I don''t think your mother is happy about it"


    "she more upset I keep hitting someone with them then I''m throwing them than the fact I''m throwing them," then in a low voice, "I guess it because its an improvement to my earlier reaction to them." daniel hummed in response before a thought crossed his mind.


    "hold up that bone you forgot about it until it cracked not long ago, so what your saying is that until now you''ve never had a problem with it?"


    "no, I forgot to do the maintenance for it, the past little more then a year I think, really should have since the last few days have probably done a bit of wear on it touching my toes was probably the last straw." raising his sense of touch sam checked on the state of the bone,'' a bit more and I should be good to go.'' the next couple of minute samlet the noise of the gym wash over him as daniel started to increase his nervous questioning. the second he felt the bone in one piece he leaped to his feet. stretching his back he smiled at daniel, "See what did I tell you it''s fine". ''i just have to remember to maintenance it.''


    reaching down to touch his toes sam began to go through a very of stretches when he completed the stretches, he changed the weight for heavier ones before going back to the bags and striking it five times with each limb before switching to lightweight and doing 25 five strikes each then he stretched before going back to heavyweights.


    sam continued this cycle taking frequent water breaks until his body had no more strength and every inch of his body was soaked with sweat." well that it from me today " the emerald-eyed teen said out of breath hands on his knees after catching a bit of his breath sam returned the weights before going to a vending machine to grab after workout drink. chugging the berry-flavored drink, sam told daniel he was going to grab his bag.


    "wait, aren''t you going to shower?" asked as Sam walked away.


    "I''ll shower when I get home" sam responded when he returned with his bag.


    "Alright but I''m staying out of smelling range," he said as he deactivated the cameras and mike, while sam sniffed one of his pits and recoiled he had forgotten how badly he could smell when he sweats,'' at least it human sweat.'' when the recording equipment was packed the two left the gym but not without saying goodbye to the receptionist. they walked through the parking lot to daniel''s car talking about what they could do next for their video channel, the talk continued until they arrived at sam''s place. saying goodbye he walked to his front door, but before he could open it his covered eye began to burn like the stars.


    "shit, it''s happening now" grabbing at his eye sam ripped the door open. leaning on the door sam started to unwrap the bandages before the helper added his two cents," I warned you that this was a dangerous process, now if you go to the store-"


    "Laeh, tsiser, nehtgnerts, worg, rewopmi"


    "My lord!" standing took a step towards the stairs.


    "Laeh, tsiser, nehtgnerts, worg, rewopmi" another step.


    "Laeh, tsiser, nehtgnerts, worg, rewopmi" another step.


    "Laeh, tsiser, nehtgnerts, worg, rewopmi" and another.


    with each step, he repeated the chant infused with the power of a witch, as his hair grew. when he reached the stairs his now free eye began to shed red tears. ascending the stairs he wiped the tears and used them to draw the pentagram of his eye into the palm of his hand. at the points of the pentagram, he wrote the words he was chanting.


    stumbling at the top of the stairs, he got up and continued to chant. directing his witch power to his hand and eye he stumbled his way to the bathroom, leaning against the door he shoved it open. stumbling in front of the sink he used it as a crutch, "LAEH, TSISER, NEHTGNERTS, WORG, REWOPMI" he screamed as he placed the pentagram over his bleed and burning eye. screaming at the top of his lungs maintain the control of his power, from the space between his hand and eye a velvet-blue and purple light escaped.


    taking deep ragged breaths sam peeled his pentagram free hand away from his face, smiling he let out a demented giggle and then proceed to clear his throat.'' I thought that was gone.'' "so what were you saying about it being a dangerous process" sam asked the helper as he opened the eye he had closed all day, revealing its changed state the sclera was still white but there were multiple symbols of some kind floating around in it the iris was a rotating blue pink purple and violet-blue the pupil had taken the form of the satanic incubus symbol.


    "It seems I underestimated you, my lord. I sincerely apologize!"


    "it alright you are not the first to make that mistake and it''s unlikely that you''ll be the last one that you better prepare your self because things are about to pick up" the mirror reflected his excited expression with his mitch matched eyes.

 025

    in the last month, there have been a series of strange break-in and assaults across the city, the assailant is decried to wearing a tux with there face blurry, they have left no trace of their presence exact damages from fighting and a strange mark on the floor or wall. The police have been able to confirm the intruder is after something, what that thing is they are unsure but are deterred to find out. they a sure everyone this criminal will not get awa-.


    at that sam closed the new article no longer able to contain his laughter, "Hahaha...". ''my lord you shouldn''t be laughing at this the local law enforcement could prove to be a real problem!'' taking a deep breath and clearing his throat sam addressed the bodyless voice, "I know but this article is too funny they make it sound like the police are a step away from catching me." standing up from where he was sitting on his couch and checking the time sam walked up the stairs to his room where he grabbed his shoe before he walked out the front door. putting on his shoes sam started jogging down the street moving around under and over anyone he came across.


    coming to a stop in front of a tree Sam let a breath of steam as he supported himself on his knees,'' still, nothing but steam for the moment but I should get smoke in a week or so.'' lifting his armpit he took a sniff,'' nothing great that means I made it right''. turning around sam rushed back to his house just in time to see daniel pull up to his house, jogging up to the car sam tapped on the window.


    daniel rolled down the window before greeting his friend," so how are you this fine morning?" with a bright grin.


    sam smelled bull," what are you doing here?"


    "you remember how you said you have work today," oh so that''s what he''s planning. it had taken less than forty-nine hours after calling Veronica that had been able to get her hands on the flowers setting them up in the bar they took care of the vines and gave the place a nice lavender-rose-sunflower sent, so sam was able to get back to work within the week. the reason daniel who never showed interest before was because it turns out that sam was popular on the internet, it all started because sam off handly answered a random ass question like he had done research and wrote a paper. how was it his fault he had extensive knowledge on the weaponizable fruits and vegetables, but it did get them quite the following as sam answered more questions that were abnormal.


    "you''re not following me to work and if you try," sam''s hair turns white and his eyes turned red filling in the rest of the threat. Daniel swallowed his spit he knew sam wouldn''t hurt him but he also sam didn''t need to hurt him to make him regret it.


    "ughhhh, fine I won''t follow you to work. guess I''ll have to figure something else out for the day." a lightbulb went off in his head, "gotta go bye." with that daniel hurriedly pulled his car out of the driveway to race down the street.


    it didn''t take long for Sam to realize what was going through his head, "I have got to stop making double meaning promises, but I guess that what I get for a demon for a childhood friend. I wonder how that ass hole is doing these days." while he reminisces over some memories sam walked inside and into his room to get changed for work.


    Five minutes later Sam was descending the stairs wearing black loose pants with grapevines that spelled out midnight with a matching t-shirt and unzipped hoodie. but no shoe or socks veronica had no problem with him being barefoot, then again some of their customers didn''t wear pants. steeping in front of his front door sam raised his hand to knock on the door.


    "I knock for the entrance to the bar of midnight," KNOCK. sam related this twelve times each time the door slowly turned black, becoming completely black after the twelve knock sam opened the door to reveal a small locker room. stepping inside sam closed the door behind before turning around and opening the door again but this time it opened to cobblestone hallway. the hallway turned into a large room the north side wall was covered entirely by a bar and shelves filled with all kinds of bottles. the south bar was cover by music instruments and a small stage. the east wall way covered by hundreds of door nobs no two the same. walking away from the west wall sam paid no attention to the cobblestone shifting and sealing the passage leaving a graffitied cobblestone wall.


    the floor of the bar was cover with 50 to 60 small tables about half-filled, as sam weaved his way through the table he was greeted by several of the occupants. leaping over the bar sam greeted the owner," hello Veronica!" turning to him sam took in his boos usual appearance a sleep-deprived college student of Chinese ethnicity. bags under her teal eyes her black with blue strips hair was in a messy ponytail.


    "sam thank god for your here. luke came into day and he crying up a storm," Veronica looked like she might join him soon. sam patted her on the shoulder," alright I''ll take care of it but I warn you that my friend may be coming in with a camera."


    ''i''m already here" Daniel said as he popped up from behind the bar with jazz hands," by the way why didn'' you tell me your workplace serves monster!" he whispered screamed his eyes moving frantically, in response sam rolled his eyes.


    "form and shape of the body mean little to the form of the soul, do not let their appearance scare you, they quite nice people, no go talk to them I have to calm a weeping storm god''s child before he floods a city or something." leaving his friends with a confused look sam walked to the end of the bar where teen was face down on the counter weeping surrounded by empty glasses. "you know you shouldn''t be drinking it makes your control slip."


    "I know but look at this," luke pulled up a picture from his ring-shaped device the picture was of a small child dressed like Raijin waking another child dressed like Fujin with a holographic thunderbolt. look how cute they are!" he shouted as he shoved the picture into sam''s face.


    unfazed sam nudged the hand to the side, "you truly love your kids don''t you but you have to stop getting drunk when they are too cute its the reason people call the police on you thinking you''re a child prediter...wait a moment" luke refused to look at sam. saying nothing sam collected luke glasses before putting them in the sink to be washed before turning to give luke a glass of water." so what''s with the costumes Halloween isn''t for five months?"


    "costume birthday party, they wanted to go as there grandfather and granduncle." luke answered as he looked through the picture he took of his children in there costumes more then half the posed for.


    "these are some excellent pictures," daniel stated from behind luke scaring the god''s child out of his chair. sam just threw an olive into his face, doughing the Olive he took a seat next to luke who was climbing back to his seat." so I talked to someone and he asked if I would like to visit hell, then I came here.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "let me guess he was wearing an upside-down Christianity cross


    "yes"


    "then that guy was a demon who was hitting on you. he was asking if you would like to come to his place." after hearing that daniel''s face turned an interesting shade of red. clearing his throat daniel puled out a mike-collar and handed it to sam before pulling a hover camera from hid backpack and handing it to him as well. putting the collar on sam turned on the camera causing it to hover around him recording. it was a few minutes before they went live and during that time sam served a few drinks and chatted with a few customers.


    "Hello and welcome to our video, today we are at sam''s workplace the midnight bar," the camera then spun around doing a panoramic of the bar and its customers. when the camera was back on him daniel pointed to sam and asked him a few questions about the bar. sam thought a moment before answering," the bar is located in Schrodinger space," Sam held up a finger to hold off daniel''s question", we serve a vasty list of drinks and finger foods, we can serve any kind of creature, were open 25/7/365." handing a filled shot glass to a sparingly dressed female sam continued," Schrodinger space in simple word is enclosed space that is there and isn''t at the same time." sliding a beer down the bar sam paused to think for a moment before pointing to the wall covered in doorknobs," each of those doorknobs represent a real door somewhere around the world when they open the bar is behind them but when there not it might be."


    "so what your saying is that if you open the door the result is certain but closes it''s unknown yes"


    "Yeah that''s correct." daniel asked how hard it was to create shifting space," incredibly so, the energy needed alone is incredible then adding in the concentration needed plus the right material which had to be processed in a very specific way makes it a low-level miracle for a normal human to make one, mostly because of the time need is about a hundred years at least." sam finished his short lecture by pouring a drink into a martini glass and sliding said glass down the bar to sea green dress wearing women.


    "I have more questions but let''s answer some of our viewers first," daniel used his devices to scroll through the list of question people had for sam until he found an interesting one." okay here we go, puppy queen676 ask my job has a strict dress code requiring that we wear pants for safety reasons but because of what we sell and the fact we are moving around a warehouse it becomes incredibly hot and uncomfortable any suggestions."


    finishing up the whipped cream on a cake slice he had pulled from under the counter sam answered promptly, "okay I have two ideas the first is long skirts or if that doesn''t work or isn''t allowed try dessert survival pants their designed to be comfortable and keep external heat out while keeping you cool, and if all else fails you can get a lawyer because I''m not sure on the specifics but they are making you risk overheating." daniel watched sam she talked and half-filling two cups with a red iron smelling liquid then vodka before handing the cups to a couple you looked like they were born on the beach.


    "okay puppy queen there your answer and sam does that skirt thing actually works?" sam laughed a little," oh definitely when people make dress codes they do so thinking guys will only wear pants or shorts not even considering dresses or skirts."


    why did you specify guys


    girls don''t have this problem their busy struggling with pockets and being looked at like pieces of meat not that the second thing doesn''t happen to guys as well truthfully it happens to everyone really." daniel nodded in agreement before moving on to the next question.


    "hail_the_dancer, ask what kind of books did you read to know all you do?"


    "less than you think, most of what I''ve learned is by word of mouth the best way to learn in my opinion." saying that sam pulled an explosive orange and a peeler from under the bar.


    "How so?" daniel asked as he scooted away from the dangerous fruit.


    "During my travels, I have heard the stories of more than a few people learning useful bits of information." carefully moving the peeler sam removed the orange rind while trying to keep the fruit from detonating.


    "how many stories have you heard?" daniel scooted farther away.


    "hundreds!" just the memory of them made sam giggle and nearly set off the fruit. taking a deep breath sam removed the rest of the fruit rind. placing the rind down sam tossed the orange to a suit-wearing chimpanzee who dug in before placing the rind into a small bottle of vodka. placing the bottle back under the counter. "so next question?" the rest of sam five hours shift was filled with sam answering questions from there viewers while serving customers replacing empty bottles, cleaning glasses tabes the bar top, mopping up spills and vomit, stoping serval people from hocking up and fucking in the bathrooms (siphoning a bit of there lust), stoping bar fights by wining them, the usual at the midnight bar.


    "...and that''s the end of this week''s video see you next time singing off this is daniel and sam." turning off the camera daniel placed them in his bag before turning to sam who was finishing up a couple of orders, "how do I get out of here?"


    "go over to the wall, find the doorknob of the door you came through, grab it waits for its door to form ope it and you''ll be back on alpha star." sam instructed his friend. ''that was pretty good considering this is the first time he was around what the majority calls monsters," letting small smile grace his lips greeted his coworker who came to take over the bar. leaping over the bar sam walked over to the doorknob cover wall and grabbed the one belonging to alpha star island, it was a pretty simple gold with black accents. it didn''t take long for a matching door to form sam twisted the handle and pulled the door open to a quick alleyway where Daniel was leaning against the wall opposite of the door.


    "you didn''t have to wait" sam addressed his friend as he closed the door behind him.


    "wanted to, plus I need a moment to calm my self."


    "understandable," was all Sam said before walking out the alley with daniel at his heels. the two chatted mindlessly as they got into daniel''s car and moved down the road. six minutes into the drive sam received a message from the DMV alerting him that he could retake his driven test now.


    ''you took a driving test ?!?" daniel look a sam with an expression of amazement and confusion sam just shrugged, "I took four, but I can''t drive well not how the law would like."


    "then how do you drive ?"


    "action movie chase scene"


    "your jocking?" he hesitantly asked sam was sensitive with this kind of thing.


    "am not, learning how to drive from a getaway driver can do that to you." the emerald-eyed teen replied dismissively.


    "getaway driver?" Daniel mumbled as the car turned into a highway. but did not comment it was low level weird for sam. they return to meaningless conversation for the rest of the drive to sam house. getting out of the car sam invited the other male in for some food seeing as he didn''t eat at the bar." no it''s fine I''m craving something spicy and spicy foods don''t like you,!"


    "so true" sam said before saying goodbye and walking into his house. closing the door sam walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge complementing if he wanted some premade or fresh. grabbing a container full of a fish paste his mother made sam closed the fridge," there is still a decent amount of food in there so I don''t have to go shopping soon. unless I start using the stocking pile technique soon, but that depends on the heart fire technique."


    sam opening the container was interrupted by the helper speaking, ''are you sure you should relearn this temperature control technique first, I don''t see a need for it anytime soon in your plans?'' before he responded sam channeled his body heat into the food.


    "your right there is no need but I want to for several reasons, the first is that it makes it comfortable to wear anything anywhere at anytime witch was always my favorite part of it, two it works well with my demon power for some really neat tricks, three this is the original order I learned them so I know there are no unexpected side effects for cross energies."


    ''understandably! would you like to do the progress check?'' the helper asked as sam grabbed a fork.


    "yes open my [status]," the human said as he stabbed his fork into his hot fish dish.

 026

    <div>


    [status]


    Samuel, sam, Vegal


    Lord Of Lust


    Mind-1.9


    Body-2.1


    Energy-6.3


    Lord Level-0


    Note: abnormal energy cores have entered a light slumber


    Note: traces of energy poisoning detected


    Note: new energy core forming


    Smiling at his status sam took a bit of his food, he was certainly on the path to his past power and then beyond." so what do you think?" he asked the helper.


    ''you are doing well your energy has shone the most progress but your lord level and mind stat have shown no improvement.'' it answered it''s lord.


    "yeah this the expected progress, soon I''ll be able to get serious without major risk to my life. but I''m not sure when I should deal with my mind stat, no" he whispered to himself "rather it how long until I am forced to deal with it." looking down at his food with a complicated expression sam lost his sense for a moment. taking a deep breath sam pressed down the negative emotion rising in his throat. ''it will be okay, it will be okay it will be okay...'' sam mentally repeated this to himself until the negative emotions were pushed someplace deep until he was ready to deal with them or they overflowed again." I guess I should find an isolated place soon before my safe breaks open and I don''t want to have to move plus my parents will be pissed."


    Stabbing the food Sam returned to eating in silence with more than a few thought running around his head the helper stayed quite not sure how to help him in the mouth that they had been assigned to the new lord of lust there preparations had been proven shallow, their lord was a unique being who seemed to have everything under control and no need for there help. they were glad their lord was so caple but it made them feel unnecessary hopefully they will be able to be of real use sometime soon.


    done with his food sam placed the container and fork into the sink for now, ''okay I''ve eaten what was my plan for the day again. after work I was... oh yeah work on the lust in my body.'' laying down on the couch sam started too take measured breaths as he turned his senses inward. specifically towards his energies quickly finding the warm feminine but masculine feeling energy. that was mostly floating around his body except a small bit lingering in his left eye and another lingering in his groin. taking account of the amount of lust in his body ''not enough to completely form the core but close to it maybe one or two more people. returning his senses outward sam got off the couch.


    "where going hunting!" he told the system before going upstairs to grab his obsidian necklace ring and bracelets before walking out the front door into the street. running down the street to pick up sam channeled mana to his sholes as he ran towards a random house, crouching a few feet away from the house the mana exploded from his feet scorching the ground and propelling sam into the air.


    sliding to a stop an inch from falling off the roof sam steadied himself before looking over his shoes and feet." thank god all my clothing have self-repair runes in them, I make them worth the three-figure price I would be paying six-figures for the clothes I damage and lose." sam took his shoe before tying the laces together before hanging them from his shoulder.'' this should do for now,'' focusing more mana to his soles sam ran to the edge of the roof releasing the built-up energy as he jumped.


    it was three hours and a leg cramp later that sam stopped running across the rooftops, "I can''t believe I didn''t come across one person with a high lust level. didn''t I already deal with them all in my immediate area." the lord said after limping to aa place to sit.


    ''that would be an appropriate assumption the other possibility that the one you missed have dealt with there lust on there own!'' sam nodded in understanding before starting to massage his legs.


    "I guess I''ll have to head out farther to find someone." massaging his legs in silence sam watch people go about there day until his leg was better. jumping up from where he was sitting sam once more took off down the street weaving his way through the crowd like a rat through the sewer. soon he arrived at a nearby hover train station, sam got on the next train and didn''t get off until he was in another part of town.


    Off the train, sam began to wander the streets staying in crowded places as he wasn''t familiar with the area. At one point he grew bored so he turned up his sense of smell and his other sense down leaving him to navigate with his nos. It was always interesting to do this as not only was it challenging but he learns things about the people he passes based on their smell. like on guy smell liked he bathed in bear from how much he drank, one woman was in her time of the month, he smelt a couple who smell like each other, sweat, and sex a lot of sex. He did this until the helper informed him of high lust in his vicinity.


    following the direction from the helper, sam found himself standing in front of an abandoned-looking storefront in an alley. ''is this a hidden store?'' sam had run into his fair share of hidden stores during his time,'' now that I think about it a probably need to find a witch supply store and check on my ingredients hidden around my house! where my spellbook?'' for a moment sam train of thought derailed from gather lust and to his witch relate things.


    ''my lord you should focus on dealing with the lust then you can focus witching later.'' the helper said knocking sam from his thoughts.


    ''you''re right, let''s get this over with.'' opening the door with a lot less muscle then you would think looking at it, sam walked into the store. Smelling around sam raised an eyebrow at dirty carpet covered in trash." how detailed," sam commented before channeling mana to his hand as he reached forward with it "shatter" he clenched a fist. The world splintered and fell apart revealing a punk goth designed shop. Sam reverted his sense before looking around the shop bouncing on his toes. this store had beautifully dark styled clothing and lazy dark styled as well and kinds of witch spell ingredients, witch spells and potions, cursed charm and blessed ones, and so on... so on...


    Sam slowly made his way through the store look at the merchandise and for the source of the lust, it didn''t take longs there was only one other person in the store the clerk. the clerk looked maybe in her late teens but her outfit told sam that it was far from true for it was a witch style outfit darker shades of colors and very dramatic looking."hello," greeted her pulling her attention from her holo-ring.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Immediately she did a double-take at the sight of him before narrowing her eye," title please!" she was asking for Sam''s title as a witch, these titles composed of the witch''s specialty magic and level as a witch with a little flair on occasion.


    "prince of night curses." keeping an eye on him the witch typed something in the screen of her ring probably looking him up on the W-work, ''thank god I updated my W-net profile awhile back.''


    turning of her ring she turned back to sam with a disinterested stare, "well hello prince welcome to Sally''s witch store what can I help you with?"


    "I''m looking to restock on my ingredients for spells, also I''ve been away from the witch community for a few years so I need any night curses books published in the last four years, as for the ingredients I''m looking for are the blood of rabbits, wolfs, ravens, several kinds of cats, moonstones, moon dusk, light of twilight..." as sam detailed as list of ingredients he thought about how he could absorb the lust that was inside her.


    "is that all? she asked after typing in the last of sam''s order.


    "Yeah, that''s it," Sam said as he pulled up his digital debit card.


    "now would you mind telling me why you came into my store, it''s obvious you didn''t know it was here before." sam''s lip twitched a bit witch''s needed high observation skills to survive and it all way reminded him of one of the witches who raised him.'' i wonder what she does now.''


    "several hundreds of thousand miles away a large burly woman sneezed as she tended to her garden just before backhanding a giant bone eater lotus trying to sneak up on her.


    a shiver went down sam''s spine not a moment later after that thought, probably still as strong and fierce as ever.'' letting out a sigh he put on a serious face, "I came into here because of a job I was given to prevent a creature older than are planet from influencing people and breaking free from its prison. to do that I need to locate certain people."


    "what do you do to those you find?" she reached a hand behind the counter.


    "absorb a form of energy from them, that has no effect on their health?"


    "and after that?"


    "nothing, I leave them alone unless that energy builds up again."


    "how do you absorb this energy.


    "simple physical contact, for the time being, I plan to learn to do so from a distance." the witch thought for a moment before keeping one hand under the counter but handing the other to sam. smiling he took hold of it and immorality feeling the now familiar but Microscopic presence flowing into his hand.


    "so how long do we have to hold hands


    "depends on how much you have," she hummed in response and braced he elbow against the counter as the muscles in her arm tensed. sam relived what she was suggesting so he braced his own elbow and tensed his arm," on the count of three". the witch nodded "3..2..1!" the second they said one they each tried to force the others arm on to the counter.


    The two struggled for a couple of minutes before sam used a burst of strength to win."Go again she asked with a smirk that sam returned. For the 8 minutes, it took for sam to absorb her lust and 7 more after that they had 11 matches sam winning 6 of them. After paying for his order sam thanked her for her help and cooperation and she thanked him for the entertainment and information as sam headed out the store.


    Back on the main road sam turned all his sense to near zero except hearing, navigating the streets sam spent the next almost five hours wandering the streets finding few people whose lust he had to absorb before turning back and heading home. well that was what he planned to do but that plan was trashed by the helper.'' my lord we have an emergency, immediately head north northeast you must cross 2.4 miles in 30...29...28...''


    The moment sam heard the word emergency he dashed to a nearby alley, activating the obsidian necklace sam climbed to the roof as the vantablack tux formed on him. flipping on tho the roof sam dropped his shoes there midair before bursting north northeast with enough force to crack the rooftops with each step.


    By the time the helpers count down reached six sam arrived above an alleyway where a mugging was going down well, it was a mugging as the attacker was beginning to tear off the victim clothes, half a moment passed before a chill filled the alley and I give you a hint it wasn''t the wind.


    both the victim and assaulter froze as the chill came over them, "the he-" he attacker didn''t get to finish as his head was suddenly snapped to the right before snapping in the other direction before she sent flying into the right wall. before she could even slide onto the ground she was knocked into the opposite wall back and forth she went more than a dozen times before she was dropped in the middle of the alley where sam landed knees first in her stomach.


    the victim blinked in confusion as she couldn''t understand what just happened, it happened to fast all she saw was a blur of movement." call the police," a quiet voice entered her ear making her jump. the order was repeated with a much more forceful tone deciding not to test the person currently curb stomping her attacker she quickly pressed on her hollo-earing three times connecting to emergency services.


    "hello this is emergency dispatch what is your emergency?" she quickly explained what was going on," a patrol car is on its way." sam''s head snapped up as he heard a police siren in the distance.


    ''i got a few minutes until it arrives," he looked down at the beaten women at his feet and gave her one more kick before grabbing her collar and dragging her to the woman she attacked, "what should happen to her?"


    "what do you mean?"


    "should she live to be arrested or should her life end here? it''s your choice," she reeled back in horror. "she wanted to hurt you it''s only fair if you decide if she gets hurt as well," sam lifted her just enough so that her bruised and bloody face could be seen. ''it also a great step to moving on from this experience''.


    Silence filled the alley as the attacked female thought swallowing her spit she spoke in a shaky voice, "let... let the police deal with her...she''s... not worth the blood on our hands!"


    "so true people like this are not the pain and nightmares, now before I go I have something to tell you. Do not run from today or it will chase, face it and defeat it so you can move forward stronger than ever." sam then let go of the beaten women''s collar before juping towards the right wall and scaling it to the roof.


    when she could no longer see her savoir she flopped onto her back her heart beating like she had run a marathon,'' what an eventful day this has been when I wish for some excitement this was not what I had in mind, maybe going on a trip or a fateful encounter. I guess this contents as a fateful encounter but seriously.'' eventually she got soo deep in her thoughts that she didn''t notice the arrival of the police until one of them laid a hand on her which nearly got him punched in the face.


    after apologizing she got a good look at him and instantly she realized," he cute." seeing his face flush she realized that she said that out loud and her own face turn red in response. the laughter of the other officer who was applying the plasma cuffs broke the atmosphere that was building between the two. clearing his throat the first officer held out his hand to help her stand. their hands remain together as they walked to the squad car just as the ambulance drove up.


    upon the rooftops with zero presence sam watched the two women were taken to a police cruiser and ambulance respectively," so when someone lust draws the attention of the beast it will manipulate them so that they attack someone so the same happens to them."


    ''that is correct my lord,'' if it had a body the helper would be sweating more then a woolly mammoth in the desert on the hottest day of the year.


    "I see, "was all Sam said before he walked back to the train station and head home, ''it seems that my plan of being passive is in need in revision.''


    {this is were thing really took off didn''t they?}

 027

    sam closed the door behind him before dropping his shoes to the ground and waking over the couch to flop into it. sighing Sam turned his senses inward focusing on the lust within him, "time to make my fourth core." drawing all the lust except for the bit in his eye towards the pit of his stomach sam focused it into the loose form of a ball,'' now the hard part," taking a deep breath sam compresses the ball of energy only for it to resist his efforts. applying more power Sam began to sweat as his blood began to pump faster, the energy ball fought back with just as much power as sam applied to it.


    it was a long game of back and forth before sam found the power level beyond that of the energy ball and force it to compress slowly until it reached the size of a golf ball," now the painful part." giving the ball one more squeeze sam let go of it letting it float for a moment before it sent a pulse of energy throughout his body. sam took a deep breath and relaxed his body as much as he could knowing what was going to happen next.


    the moment the lust pulse reached his heart his witch demon and ghost core reacted violently. each core sent out the own pulse with much more force then the lust core did. when the lust core was his by the three other pluses is shoot as small cracks appear on it for a moment before healing. "Ficken," sam managed to curse before the lust core shoot up to his heart knocking the other cores out of it. this was the start of a brutal battle of the core across sam''s body doing little damage thankfully but hurting like a bitch.


    Sam let the core expend their energy fighting each other before using his mana core to knock them down and put them back in their places the lust core in his groin and the other thre-." no that''s wrong," sam realized before he placed the demon core in his right hand the witch core in the center of his forehead and ghost core in his throat. feeling the core settle for now sam got off the couch and went to the kitchen for a glass of water.


    ''My lord, may I ask the reason for the placement of your energy cores?''


    ''the method I use their powers I attack with my right first no matter the fight it''s a small habit so the core with the most destructive power goes there, the ghost core works with my soul which is between the brain and heart don''t know its exact location, the witch core relates to yin power so it''s near the source of mind power." taking a sip of his water sam rubbed chest where cores mostly fought," the reason they were in my heart before was I wanted to hide them." pushing off the counter sam set his cup down on it," now let''s go find my hidden items in the house."


    ''allow me, my lord, I have the ability to find anything hidden in a certain area'' the helper excitedly informed.


    sam usually calm smile widens a bit, "really that going to save me quite some time, go when you''re ready".


    ''then I shall go'' using their lord body as the center the helper sent out sonar waves followed metal detaching energy detaching and many more waves to cover the house, moments later the helper spoke. ''I have located everything hidden within the area of your home.'' a 3-D blueprint of the house along with front and backyard appeared with more than a dozen red dots spread across hit.


    " Great let''s get to work" sam took one last swig of water before leaving the kitchen. across the city, daniel was currently in his room reading over the comment of the last video a majority of which wear taking about the patrons of the bar or that sam was working a bar, to begin with.


    ''i have to agree with on that sam isn''t old engine to work at a bar but its sam he''s probably taking advantage of some kind of loophole.'' reaching over into the bowl of coffee gummies and hard candy he tossed one of those things into his mouth,'' okay so what''s next...check my email.'' pulling up his email daniel scrolled through it,'' junk...junk...coupon...junk...ad...porn...company response...junk...'' he paused ''COMPANY RESPONSE!'' he swiftly opened the email.


    "dear mr.lost we are happy to inform you that we will," daniel eyes widened, "GLADY PARTNER WITH YOUR STREAMING CHANNEL for our upcoming project..."HELL YES" he screamed from the top of his lung jump to his feet to jump on his bed." he jumped on his bed for a couple of minutes before he calmed himself down enough to sit but not the least bit still, "hahaha okay okay deep breaths haha... deep breath... in...out...in...out" it took more than thirty breath before daniel calmed himself letting out one more weak laugh he reached over for his candy bowl only to realize he had knocked off his bed in his excitement, "well shit...such a waste of candy." mood successfully dampened Daniel turned back to the email to dig up some details.


    "oh sam will love and hate this, I can''t wait to tell him, I wonder if will see a conflicted expression haven''t seen that on his face before," saving the email daniel went through the rest of them finding nothing as interesting or exciting but he did find a coupon. closing his email daniel started doing research on the event mention in the email, it took a while but he found that this wasn''t the first time the event had been held." well this just got ominous" daniel whispered as he read the news articles, "thankful sam loves the ominous". scrolling down the article to see a rather horrific and bloody image," that the end of that" daniel stuttered as he slammed his holo device off. shuttering daniel drops back on to his bed and shivers, so much gray matter.


    "I need to get my mind off that" daniel mumbled to himself after a few minutes of the image flashing across his mind despite his attempts to think of something else. getting on the floor he cleaned up the spilled candy before dumping it into the trash, which quickly turned the candy into energy. while he took the bowl to the kitchen he encountered several of the houses staff and exchanged greeting with them, more than he usually did. in the kitchen he learned that there were having guests over, his parent was having a meeting during dinner.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    after gaining this information daniel headed back to his room with an arm full snacks and beverages that would hopefully last his the night, he had no intention of being dragged into one of his parent boring dinner meetings the conversation was as dry as Sahara desert during noon on the longest day of the year.


    back in his room, he placed the drinks in the mini-fridge under his bed and the snakes in his closet before pulling out a bag coffee taffies and one of his book from the overflowing bookshelf at the foot of his bed. "the tales of squid mike, one of my favorites," it didn''t take long for the book to absorb daniel allowing an hour to pass without him noticing. reaching one of his favorite parts daniel was rudely interrupted by the ringtone he set the wailing of a ghost. frowning he answered the call frowning at the noise he heard on the other side it sounded like chanting, " daniel, you said that one of your uncles bought and sold gems right?" rubbing his forward daniel tried to remember the answer to that question.


    "yeah that my uncle luke, why do you need to buy from him?" the chanting stopped with the sound of wood hitting wood.


    "no, I plan to sell" daniel marked the bag of his book and stretched his back,'' where did he...what am I talking about its sam the man describes himself as an abnormality of abnormalities.''


    "do I want to know where you got them?" daniel asked worriedly.


    "I tell you when I remember where I got them, so anyway what his number," as sam rose his voice to speak over the sound of a laser saw activating.


    "I don''t know but I can ask my parents later tonight"


    "please and thank you", sam said before hanging up.'' guess that was all he wanted...even though I know he all ways does this does not make it any less annoying I''ll definitely get back at him later on but for now, my book.'' picking up where he left off in the book daniel was quickly reabsorbed by it and stayed like that for the rest of the night.


    back at the vegal residence sam was sitting on his bed look at the collection of things across the floor, ''first, off I''m going to have to clean all this stuff off.  then I can organize into what I can remember the purpose for and what I can''t '', "would you mind making a list of the thing I don''t remember so I can check my book of life for them."


    ''certainly my lord I exist to help to help you in any way possible'', hearing this sam paused in carrying the dirty bag containing the ingredients for the blood moon spell to the bathroom.


    "if that is how you wish to spend your existence go ahead but do not say that it is your existence is to help me." resuming his path to the bathroom sam waited for the helper to say something but they didn''t even when after he sat on the edge of the tub. sighing and hoping he hadn''t offended them sam started removing the contents of the bag before dropping the dirt caked bag into the tub.


    looking over the vials sam was happy to see them in better condition then he thought they would be, covered in tiny small crakes and cobwebs but in good condition seeing as they been buried underground for the past few years. setting it all by the tub he went back to his room to grab a mushroom cardboard shoebox he had hidden next to the driveway. ignoring the mushroom that was starting to sport from it sam opened the box and examined the insides. ''bullets, I have a box of bullets why I never liked guns,'' picking up one of the bullet sam examined it why he had hidden it was on the tip of his tongue. raising his eyesight to get a closer look at it he could see faded blood stains and that jogged his memory.


    "the bullets I have been hit with over the course of my life...damn I been shot a lot!" dropping the bullet back into the half-full box and covering it before the memories related to the bullets could rise up. placing the box next to the spell ingredients sam return to grab a giant leaf wrapped around something and sealed with twine. undoing the twenty knots sitting while sitting on the tub sam had a bad feeling about what was in here, unwrapping the leaf sam got a peek at what was inside before immediate rewrapping the leaves and retying the twenty knots plus a few more. gently setting the leaf wrapped object down sam pushed the bile down, guess I''m still not ready for that part of my past.'' heading back to his room this time he came back to the bathroom with a small jewelry box.


    the few hours until about 9:30 sam slowly made his way through the previously hidden items, most of it he knew the purpose of a few things made him remember unpleasant things but he found one thing he that he missed having at his side, a ten foot silver ribbon. immediate upon freeing the ribbon from the paper bag he had it in sam tied one end around his left elbow before wrapping it around said arm and hand letting the left over ribbon dangle fon his wrist, "somehow having this calms me down?" he whispered before he got back to sorting.


    when he was done sorting when left it all in the bathroom to deal with later before going downstairs for dinner, which was a Hamberger and a cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. when the food was gone the dishes drying sam entered the backyard. breathing in the night air he taped into his witch core. opening his pentagram eye he undid the ribbon knot on his left wrist. bring the end of the ribbon to his lip sam whispered to it causing its color to change from its simple green to the violet of the pentagram in his eye.


    when the color change was complete sam released the ribbon but instead of falling the ribbon hovered a moment before drifting around sam forming a single circle and then a pentagram within it Sam standing in the center. reaching for the lust core the male witch used its energy to form a small flame on the tip of his right pointer. he stared into the flame for a bit placing it at a point of the pentagram where it divided five smaller flames. four of the flame floated over to the other points. "rehtag", he was the last thing he said before sitting down crisscross eyes closed, the ribbon remains floating above his head.


    ten minutes later sam opened his eyes, "twenty miles steady flow, that''s pretty good for a core I formed today with a stranded sized energy gathering spell ring." walking towards the door sam snapped the ribbon undoing the spell ring and extingusing the flames. rewrapping and knotting the ribbon as he walked back into the house, sam thought about which knives he should bring with him to beat the shit out of the local gangs,'' i should probably bring some first aid supplies as well. Across the island, several people felt like they were in for something painful.

 seven blades warfare

    walking through the streets sam hummed a little eerie tune making the hair of those who heard it stand on end. ''i know they meet in his area so where are they hiding?'' then the wind blew by and he got a sniff of smoke a particular type of smoke.'' found them!'', changing his heading to follow the smoke.


    it didn''t take long for him to arrive at the source, "well hello ladies" he greeted the group of thirty females, "I have a proposal for you and no it''s not prostitution or anything like that I just need you to ignore something that about to happen, are you interested? they were quiet for a moment before a blond stood up and walked over to him sam guess she was probably one of the leaders or just a hothead.


    "what do you want us to ignore?" she got up in sam face.


    sam took a step back before responding "just the destruction of a few other gangs".


    "why do you plan to destroy them?"


    "simply to train my own abilities I''m going to use them as sparring dummies" for a moment she thought about it before throwing a fist at sam''s face." I''m guessing that a no then, he said as he tilted his head out of the way. ducking under the swipe at his head tried threw an uppercut at the blonde who smacked it away and the following three punches before counter-attacking with a fist at the face which sam once again ducked.'' that''s enough of a warm-up'' sam thought before dropping down for a leg sweep.


    the blonde didn''t react fast enough to dodge but was able to catch her self on her hands before her head breach was cut off by sam''s right foot burying its self in her stomach. knocking her own to her back where sam would have hit her in the face if she hadn''t rolled away in time. refusing to give her the chance to stand sam attacked relentlessly.


    this went on for a while before the blonde grabbed the male legs as she twisted away knocking off balance only by digging his other heel in was sam able to stay on his feet barely. taking the chance the blonde got back on her feet pulling a pocket knife from her pocket and aim to cut out sam''s eyes.


    sam blocked the blade with a dagger from the ribbon on his left arm, they pushed back and forth a bit before breaking apart, switching to a backhand grip sam charged at his opponent who evaded his slashed while giving a few of her own that only slashed the air,'' it seems we''re on equal grounds when it comes to our physical abilities but the way she fights tells of numerous street fights but no formal training guess she opted out of combat gym in school'' ducking under the knife sam spun the dagger in his hand to stab the right arm only managing to make a shallow cut when she jumped back but drawing first blood.


    "are you ready to stop now?" sam asked her flicking the blood off the dagger.


    "no," she firmly stated charging at sam who sighed while he thought ''stubborn''. the moment she was within arms reach sam blurred out of her sight letting her pass the spot he previously occupied just before sam heels crashed into the back of her skull rapping her face into the concrete. landing on her back sam checked over her, "sturdy one aren''t you but you should have taken my offer it would have saved you a lot of pain. enhancing his right leg sam used it to knock her out with another blow to the head.


    stepping of her he turned to the other female," so whos next?"


    "ME" screamed a brunette as she charged at sam with a crowbar ''i didn''t know people still made crowbars,'' sam murmured as he buried his fist into her stomach stooping her charge cold." NEXT!" no one moved, "fine then I come" channeling mana to his legs once more sam charge at the women, soon the area was filled with the sounds of combat that last for almost twenty minutes before they ended.


    Hands on his knees sam was trying catching his breath while unconscious body laid at his feet,'' my lord you lust levels are rising''.


    "I expected that to happen, nothing gets my blood pumping like combat, "taking a deep breath sam wiped the dagger on the pants on one of the girls before putting it back within the folds of the ribbon, oh god how I missed this feeling." straining out his clothes the best he could sam started dragging the limp forms together before tying them together with some wire he brought just to do that." now I wait," the emerald eye boy mumbled to himself as he took a seat on the ground, "hey can you show me my skill record?"


    ''of course, my lord which group would you like to view?" sam quickly answered battle. scrolling through the record sam picked out the skills he used in the battle.


    [engery enhancement-short busrt]


    mid mortal rank


    common


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.A skill using energy to enhance the physical form in a strong burst


    near mastery


    upgradable


    [short blade-wielding]


    lower mortal rank


    common


    A skill to wield short blade weapons


    mastered


    upgradable


    ''i forgot to ask but how does the upgrade of skill work?''


    ''by an information network that spans across the galaxy to ask how to improve said skill, more times than not multiple methods are suggested.''


    "hmm, that interesting I''ll have to try that out someday but for now let''s open the store I still haven''t found anything for the delivery test," it was annoying that sam was having such a hard time picking out one item for more than at least quintillion options.


    almost an hour passed before one of the females started to regain conciseness drawing sam attention from the shop,''well there the first one'' sam thought as her eyes shot open wildly looking around as she struggled against the wire immobilizing her wrist and hands. her struggles affected the two to her sides making their eyelids and faces twitched in response starting a chain reaction, the one on the left looked particularly angry to be woken up to sam amusement.


    the chain reaction quickly woke up all the bound females, "welcome back to the world of the waking sorry" sam announced as he stood, "for making you leave it now can we get back to negotiations I would rather not have to fight you all twice."


    "fuck you," the brunette who attacked first cursed to which the redhead to her right shoulder checked her, "what?"


    "oh be quiet this is your fault," the redhead took a breath to calm herself before continuing, "look my sis here is a hothead with a strong sense of justice who jumps to conclusions, knowing her as long as I have I can already guess what conclusion she jumped to but based on the fact that were mostly unharmed and clothed that means you aren''t as bad as she initially thought." the brunette opened her mouth to say something but a green hair on her left shoulder checked her to shut her up, the brunette shoulder checked her inturn this quickly turned into a fight that everyone decided to ignore.


    "you made it clear that you''re going to crush a bunch of local gang as a form of training but let me offer you a different method, you probably heard of the seven blades warfare league?"


    "I have not!" sam told her bluntly.


    "ok okay" she responded blinking her eyes wide," the seven blades warfare league is a mass free for all battle that expands across the globe with hundreds of millions of participants. if two participants cross path they may battle you can even send out challenges to others so you can fight them specifically."


    "I''ll defiantly have to check that out later, thanks for the information!" she sighed in relief followed by her fellow gang members before sam told them how to get free of the wire.


    "How the hell do you tie wire like a Chinese finger trap," she mumbled as she tried to figure out how to get her hands out of the specialty tied wire. sam sat back, watched and subtly recorded for the entire hour as the female only gang struggled their way to freedom.


    when they were free sam collected his wire and then booked it before anyone could attack him. stopping a couple miles down the road sam opened the browser of his bracelet and entered seven blades warfare league into a search bar.


    looking over the results sam found out why he never heard of the seven blades warfare league it was mostly talked about on the news which he didn''t watch and the sports channel didn''t watch that either. ''who guessed my dislike for the news and lack of interest in watching sports would lead to this, well live and learn... let''s see to join the league I have to supply my combat license and my most recent health report after that''s been checked I have to fill out some paperwork then a refiere will come to my house to explain the rule and do some check on my fighting style is not too much of a danger to my opponents than a few more things. when it''s all said in done I''ll in the SBWL."


    ''it seems that this will take a while, my lord,'' sam hummed in agreement before closing the browser and picking up the pace to the next gang hang out he knew of and it was maybe thirty forty minutes later that sam arrived at the park filled with holographic hard light trees and fake grass. the least popular park on the whole island and thee favorite hang out of a large gang of crows, they were rather a large nuisance across the island but they went the people sam was after.


    ''there he is, ''sam thought as he caught sight of a green eyed male a few years older than him when he was within three yards of the older male sam called out to him blurred out of sight reappearing in front of him.throwing his right foot up sam aimed at his chin. the older male eyes widened as his head moved to the side. sam''s foot scarped his cheek but sam wasn''t deterred. bring his foot done on the other shoulder. knees buckling but still staying the older one spoke, "hello sam you feral brat". throwing sam''s leg off him he through a few punches that missed.


    sidestepping under a punch sam spoke," don''t call me a brat Garry!" before going down for a leg sweep.


    jumping over the leg Garry gained some distance," so you don''t deny the feral part." sam didn''t respond as he rushed at him. they went back forth giving and receiving or dodging blows, at some point, the crows gather around and started cheering them on. one started commenting on the fight " and black hair goes for a gut check but blonde hair spins out of the way with little grace. black hair continues his assault with punch after punch but none ar-*smack* he landed a surprise backhand."


    Several hits to the face followed the backhand to every common weak point to the human body sam knew of. steping back sam watched as Garry fell to the ground groaning in pain." thanks for the spar," the other male grumbled something sam couldn''t hear with the current strength of his ears. "sorry didn''t catch that?"


    "I said " Garry lifted his face of the ground grabbing the fake grass with his right hand, "fuck you!". he threw the grass at sam''s eyes. sighing internally he let the grass hit his eyelids. Garry launched a fist at sam''s face smiling as it landed on the teen nose. only for his entire arm to explode into meaty red chunks, showering the two in blood and the entire area in silence.

 29

    flopping onto his bed wanted nothing more than to sleep but he knew it would not be possible at this time, new energy core was messing his body as it adjusted to it. so no chance of sleep for now but no one knows what the future holds for them.


    rolling onto his back sam manipulated the ribbon to take the form of the energy gathering spell ring in the standard size. closing his eyes and entering a meditative state sam started to stretch his senses to there upper and lower limits. after a couple of minutes, the teen returned his sense to baseline before sitting upon his bed. Focusing on the flow of lust from the spell ring he directed to his core tentatively with bad results.


    The newest core completely rejected the energy, thankful sam was prepared for that possibility so his body was prepared." bad luck," Sam mumbled to himself after the rejected energy brushed against his chest organs. ''thankful it didn''t escape my body", laying back down on the bed sam mentally poked his witch core it poked back. he then pocked his ghost core it shied away from the finger. poking the demon core resulted in almost losing the mental finger." they haven''t changed much in their time of inactivity, there was a bit of hope they would.'' sighing once more sam focused on the ghost core and closed his eyes.


    it didn''t take long for a faintly glowing ball to fly out of his mouth and his body to lose all tension init. the sphere flew in a circle before shooting up and phasing through the ceiling and into the starry sky. stopping miles above the island the sphere shot off towards the ocean.


    gliding above the ocean the sphere flew until the island could no longer be seen before slowing to a stop and floating above the waves and under the twinkling night sky, staying there until the light of the sun peeked the horizon the head back to sam''s body.


    no a moment after it entered the raven''s throat his eyes snapped open. sitting up his body makes small cracking sounds Sam let out a satisfied groan before a peaceful smile bloomed on his face," I really do enjoy letting my soul out/astral projecting!" getting off the bed sam grabbed some clothes before heading down to the bathroom only to remember the giant mess he left there when he opened the door, "NOPE" before turning right around and using his parent shower.


    now clean sam headed downstair for substance but before he could take the first bit the helper spoke up.'' my lord have you been warned how dangerous what you did last night is?''


    ''more then a couple of dozen times'' he mentally replied as he chewed on his pancakes'' but i don''t do it often enough for it to be any real danger.''


    ''i meant more on the terms of something taking your body while your away!'' sam thought about that it wasn''t a worry that crossed his mind and he told the helper just that and how it would be nothing more than a nuisance really, hopefully.


    when his plate was empty and drying sam decided that he had stalled enough it was time to clean the mess in the bathroom. in no hurry he went upstair and into the bathrrom graoning before getting to work, it took more then a while to transfer the mess to the roome and start ogranising it all. things he did have any immeadlt plans for went under his bed or the back of his closet, thing he did have plans for or just whanted to easy accees to whent next to or on his dresser.


    afeter placing the last thing down sam went to the kicthen and activted the cleaning sphere to sweeep and dust the house. as the shpere started up sam opened a few windos abefore taking a seat on the couch and turning on he tv to a channel he discover yeasturday for the seven blades league.


    currntly the channle was showing a anylas video about a fight between to gunslingers one wiielding a single shotgun and the other a enegery pistal. the anylas video went for a good seventy minties but sam paid no atteion to the words the battle took all of his focus epecally the look in the fighters eyes they both wanted to win that was clear.


    that flame in there eyes wasn''t something sam saw on the island, so far from any high engery points the people eveirment and aspomere were calm and relaxed. sam would deni that he like the calm after spending a mojority of his life in high action never really stoping, and the opssite life he live on the island lead to one thing . . .boredom, sam knew part of the resaon he was bored becuese hoe he used to live his life another was becuaese he enjoyed the feeling of adreilin flowing through his vains.


    ''i wonder what my path will be return to my previses life stlye keep this one or something entirly new" sam giggled as he watched the battle ,'' the future is exiting whe its un cetain what will i choose in the end''


    the helper who obsereved there lords thoughts before using more of there abilty to run the sernisos and nubers using the data on his lord to find the best soluction for there lord who obviasly didn''t like to take the esay way, this became clear when the helper gained acces to the would largest information source the internet (they still didn''t understand the large quantly of ? memes? and funny animal videos) to see that there were a lot easyer ways to acmplish some of the task sam had set for themselves, when the helper spoke of the easer methods sam replied that there weren''t intreseting.they didn''t hve a response to that absurd statement.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    "i have to sign up by the end of the day" sam decided as he pushed down his battle lust as a new video started on the channel, this one showed a battle between two hand to hand fighters the difference in their styles was clear even before they clashed one had displine the other didn''t.


    "that''s interesting," sam commented as the announcer commented on the fact they were dating, just before the disciplined one kissed the other on the cheek, before hitting said cheek with his heel." they are enjoying this is how they dance" sam comment with complex expression,'' this reminds me of my time in China, I wonder how their marriage is going?'' for a while Sam let the memories wash over him.


    "after s pening afew hours watching videos from the SBWL before he turned off the tv and opened the leagues web site. ''lets see'' the raven thought as he scrolled through the site''here we go sign up''.


    it took a more then a dozen mintes for sam to enter all the needed information."thats for singing up,"sam read," in five to eight busnness days someone will arrive at your ouse to interview you and addres your combat abilty the n give you a rundown of the rules the 3-4 busness days later you will be a member of the warfare league."


    sam reread the text to make sure he didn''t miss anything sam closed the browser and turned the tv back to watch a few more fights before getting out the house,the level of skill in the warfare leeague was great there contles stlyes from what ive seen... my battle is reallly threating to burst free. hoplyful i dont hurt anyone to bads when i do,'' sam brow creased for a mommrnet before flatteing aftre a second.'' i should make my preparations the gangs on the island had nothing on the fights he just watched.


    ''so how should I fight in the league barehanded, weapon, or magic.'' Sam thought on this because fighting styles could be used to identify people and he rather his fighting not give him away for the crimes he committed in the past month or any he commits in the future." sam considered this problem for a while before remembering something in the past during his time in Russia.


    it hitting as hard as the russin winter he was getting too strong to ejoy the fights he had been getting into with the gangs he could find, he had two options finds stronger prey or limit himself. he deceid to limti hisself becauses stronger prey was rarer prey that he didn''t know where to find. getting his hands on some dice with a less then legal method he used them to deced how he would fight and now he was going to do so again.


    his bare feet carried the raven teen across rooftops to his destination until he ran into a speed bump in the form of a cop,'' MIerda'' sam thought before ducking behind a chimney, hearing highted to keep a metaphorical eye on the cop sam allowed himself to wonder what the fuck a cop doing on the rooftops.


    the answer came with luck sam didn''t usually have,"so why am i on these rooftops again?" the cop spoke into his comnunit.


    "becauses,"sam could barly hear so he turned up his hearing even more,"yesterdays witness and assorted vedios from the past month suggest that the suspect for the break ins for the past month make a resonible conclusion theat they like to travel by the rooftops or does so often."


    right "the roof cop grumbled before turning off his radio and pulling out a pack of gum.


    ''an annoyance has poped'', sam thought before shifting his feet and erasing his already weak presence, moving with calm and confidence sam was easily able to pass the cop and the other he ran into on his way to the bottomless pit restaurant where you got paid to eat all you could. this worked because they streamed you eating to the world the more views you brought in the free food and money you got. sam could care less about the money but it was exactly what sam needed without going broke.


    Sally had worked at the bottomless pit for three years and she had never seen anything like this boy who entered the store less than ten minutes ago and has already eaten four times his weight in food while remaining impeccably clean," what a monster" she thought as he literally inhaled a wedding cake.


    ''no matter how useful it is fleeing the second heart is disgusting.'' eating a four-pound steak sam stomach made angry noise before calming down when a salad joined the steak, just as they were both digested becoming nutrition and energy stored in the black heart tattoo on his chest that has currently grown to the size of a tennis ball.


    sam continue to eat like a starving man-beast for several hours bringing a lot of views to the restaurants which allowed him to eat uninterrupted, but he stopped after his taste buds at there near zero sensitivity started revolting with his stomach as an ally.'' yeah that''s enough for today,'' wiping his mouth and hands before standing slowly as to not make his stomach any Angerer. walking up to the register he received a digital receipt and check for his unspent money before exiting the establishment.


    outside sam called a cab while his stomach started to settle*BRUP*''well there''s the gas-*BURP...BBRRRUUUUPPP-it just got old''. while he waited for the cab sam looked up where he could order some custom dice.'' it seems that there''s a place on the east side of the island*hic* well that''s just heavenly'' the young adult thought sarcastically as his cab pulled up.


    getting inside the vehicle his train of thought change unwilling to his job as the lord of lust,'' how much lust I can absorb on the island is limited-bulking his seatbelt sam shook the thoughts out of his head-now, not the time for those thoughts I need to regain my previous threat level so few will come at me and fewer can stop me, as I am now letting loose in an hour form could barely sink the island''.


    the helper decided to comment on that last thought ''my lord yours underestimating yourself, based on the simulations I run daily you could easily sink all the star shaped islands that somehow to form the big dipper constellation, there is no way that happened naturally, while ending lives of those who live on and around them.''


    ''you run simulations?'' sam asked.


    ''constantly, so that I can find the best ways to help you, on that note a recent simulation suggested possible use for the lust you have a gathering.''


    ''i have a few plans of my own but what did the simulation suggest?''


    ''you explained that you know how to influence others dreams using the lust you''ve gathered you can some interesting dreams!'' sam could feel the smile on his face and was glad no one was around to be scared by it." I usually influence dreams for torture or scare people but that''s a great idea."

 dreams full of lust

    good night!" daniel shouted as he climbed the stairs letting out a yawn,'' staying up to watch a movie marathon was worth it completely even if I''ll be tired in this morning."


    opening his room door, his half open eyes flew open at the sight at the several scarcely dressed men and women stood before with rose petals falling from the sky, the real kicker was his best friend standing in the middle of them hold a bouquets of rose the only thing covering his modesty, when their eyes sam just smirk before waving his free hand.


    one of the loin wearing men grabbed his right hand and pulled him into the room while a leather bikini wearing women closed the door behind him, "SAm what''s happ-" daniel was cut off by a pair of warm lips colliding with his own.


    taking a seat on daniel bed sam smirked, "do not think just enjoy," as he finished speaking hands began to peel off daniel clothing leaving him a nude as the day he was born, "well aren''t you full of energy" he commented on the state of daniels sword which was bigger then he thought it would be.


    "Listen to your friend," a silk wearing female said," enjoy" she softly guided his back to the floor "for the rest of your life TiME MorRtAl" her mouth opened to reveal rows of teeth and three slimy tongues.


    "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" daniel screamed as his eyes flew open, sitting up in his bed he wildly looked around as he clutched his chest the other hand at the ready right runes."AAAHHh" he screamed again as a ring tone played, after taking a few breaths to calm himself he answered the phone''great hearing from him after that dream I just had'' daniel groaned as the memory of a mostly naked sam played through his mind which was helping with the stiffness between his legs.


    taking a deep breath he answers the call," so how did you like the dre-?" he ended the call.


    twenty minutes later after daniel had taken a cold shower and had a cup of coffee in hand did he answer another one of sam''s calls, "what the fuck did you do!"


    "I needed to pratic a dream influencing method to causes wet dreams."


    "why me"


    "I can contact you and see how it went from your end this method makes it hard for me to see the dream"


    "fine" the blush returned weaker than before" until the end where it became a NIGHTMARE"


    "that was a possibility because this method was created especially to make nightmares, but changing at the end I can work with until I figure out how to adjust it...so guys and girls!?" daniel ended the call.


    ''at least he doesn''t know he was in it'' at that moment he got a test from sam.


    [for the record I am flattered to be apart of your wet dream]


    *CRASH* daniel''s cup coiled against the wall right next to a rather weird looking vase groaning unintelligibly the teen hides his face within his arms, his day could not be any worse.


    it was five minutes later that sam sent him another text,[funfact of dream influencing it is incredibly easy to insert yourself into the dreams of others :p]


    the moment it connected daniel sent a text to sam [i''m calling your mother]


    [no wait] sam hurry replied


    [why] daniel sent after a moment


    [you can choose my next target]


    [and?]


    [i''ll teach you something of your choice], daniel already knew what he wanted to learn and told sam what that was.[thats what you want to learn]...[alrighy but no tear I''m not a gentle teacher] daniel already knew that he remembered when sam had to tutor that one kid in knife throwing, sam was a teacher with affective methods but using the boys fear of the dark was a bit much even if he cold now pin a fly buy it wings without looking.


    [as for your next target I think Samantha the queen would be a good choice], in response his friend sent him a lot of mischievous looking enjoy,'' i hate when he''s in a pranking mood-daniel thoughts stopped cold-sam is in a pranking mood I need to skip town'' daniel instantly realized that was unnecessary and probably wouldn''t work, for the record daniel didn''t believe he was being dramatic ask anyone who has been a victim to sam mischievousness and them will agree with him to skip town except for the other teens mother.


    when he was in this kind of mood his pranks could range from annoying to traumatizing, ''God I''m having flashbacks to when he got mischievous on those thugs... I wonder do they still fear the ringing of bells hopefully sam doesn''t go too far this time.'' sadly that was hope remain just a hope.


    Sam was in a great mood the last few days have been great fun messing with people''s dreams,'' my lord you should be more careful you could be discovered!''


    "your right that is a possibility I have to put more time between giving people wet dreams I can use it to prepare or other things but higher beings that were great-take a few deep breaths to remove the straight-up savage smile from his face the rave placed the small cauldron in the corner of his room-okay remind me what was my other plan for the day?"


    ''you wanted to visit the gym and a florist,'' the helper answered. "yes thank you" after grabbing the gym bag before leaving the house, locking the door behind him he adjusted the strap on the bag before setting a jogging pace.


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    a long jog later sam arrived at the gym he joined a month ago, entering he greeted the receptionist before heading to the locker to change. coming out of them a few minutes sam immediately began on the bench press turning on the auto spotter he began 20 pounds for 20 reps before increasing the weight and number of reps.


    As he worked his body Sam let his thoughts wander mostly about the other plans he had ''so I guess I should make the website tonight but I don''t know the first thing about that do I know anyone who does...Tyrone'' at this point sam had moved to a treadmill.


    ''he spends all day on his computer so he may have some idea and I can use the chance to check up on him in person instead of over the phone like he has been doing the past month''. increasing the speed on the treadmill sam changed his train of thought away from that mistake. running on the treadmill for twenty minty at most sam sat down for a short break and to rehydrate.


    when he deemed his body rested enough sam headed over to a free punching bag, it was different from the one he had at home which was literally just for him to wail on this one had all kind of measurement devices in it to tell many forms of data. setting it to tell him the force of his blows.


    he started with a straight jab which if his memory served him right at his strongest past strength it went through an inch of steel on pure strength. now he according to the holographic numbers he wouldn''t even make a dent and probably hurt himself.


    *sigh*''no point in mopping on my strength or lack of it, let''s see about energy enhancements''. summoning his mana it flowed through his wire to every inch of his body ready to be used at a moment''s notice. unleashing another straight jab with a burst of mana sam knocked with the faint sound of flesh hitting the bag rigging out. ''so the force surpassed the noise suppering a little''looking at the number displayed he had to double take he expected the force to be at least double but almost five times was a bit much ''are my wires stronger than I thought?''


    considering the possibility for a while before shaking the thoughts out of his head before trying out the force of a constant mana enhanced straight jab, then keeping the mana enhancement up sam began to unleash dozens of blows onto the bag eventually settling in mindless rhythm. only stopping to get water and putting on his gloves.


    after three hours at the gym, sam head home every part of him aching but feeling satisfied. when he returned home he dropped his bag in his room before grabbing a stasis jar from the cabinets filled with something oatmeal cookies, personally, sam didn''t care for them but Tyrone loved them especially sam''s mother recipe.'' lets apology and bribery so what else will I need-sam snapped his finger-that brew should do''.


    heading up to his room sam grabbed an empty caldren but was stopped there by the helper ''my lord didn''t you wish to visit a florist''.


    ''FANDEN'' setting the caldren on his bed sam booked it outside and down the street constant mana enhancement to give him more speed, not twenty minutes later he slid to a stop in front of a small shop. wincing at the scrapes on his soles and the minor mana burns he felt sam entered the store. waving at the cashier sam went around the store accessing the merchandise before picking a signal white rose a single red rose.


    Handing them over to the cashier he paid for them to be teleported to an address in South Africa along with a short message, though current teleportation technology could move anything heavier the average five-year-old he knew the flowers would arrive at there destination before midnight even if it cost sam a hundred American dollars.


    steeping out of the store sam looked up to the moon in its half full glory,'' the night sky I wonder how the view is from where,'' as he feet carried him home sam watched the sky wondering about the receiver of his flowers, the helper privy to there lords thoughts and a few memories that the source''s companion thought they would need to help there lord knew who their Lord was thinking about.


    ''with the protections you have set for them I can assure they are most likely happy and healthy and it not like you lack the methods to check on them!''


    shaking his head sam responded to the helper'' you''re right my emotions got the best of me for a moment.'' picking up the past sam considered if he should cheek up on them, '' it wouldn''t be hard but there problem of what I would do it would definitely be rash.''


    even after he entered his house sam went back and forth on the issue in his heart he wanted to but he knew in his head it would be a bad idea his stomach wanted candy. putting the issue aside for a moment sam went back upstairs grabbing the cauldron sitting on his bed and setting it down on the floor.


    lifting the lid he wiped his finger across the inter to check it was clean nodding in satisfaction sam went about gathering the necessities for the potion he was making. it was a pretty simple to make and usually, the first potion any witch made, the brew of satisfaction was the potions name completely different level from the bottle of dreams potion that sam has been using to mess with other''s dreams.


    the brew of satisfaction started like all potions lighting a witch flame under the cauldron and half filling the cauldron with the base liquid which for the potion was simple triple purified water. while the water came to a boil sam summoned up his witch power to his hands, the only sign of change was his fingernails turning violet and growing half an inch.


    when the water started to boil sam began to wave his hands as if conducting call forth all kinds of items from around the room. the first thing to go in the water was ground prolorn, stir to dissolve followed by seeds of a targeting apple which soak for five minters before being removed and replaced by the seeds of an explosive orange, repeat with over ten kinds fruits and vegetable seeds. then leave on simmer for thirty minutes and you''re done.


    putting out the witch fire sam wrapped the hot pot in witch telekinesis lifting it from the ground, holding it in front of him sam made his way downstairs where he set the cooling cauldron down on the kitchen table, before grabbing a plate from the cabinets. opening the jar of something oatmeal cookie sam began to dip them one by one in the clear potion before placing them on the place until he had twenty.


    closing the jar he placed it back in the cabinet before grabbing another jar of homemade treats. until he had used half the potion which left 2-3 cups which he used poured in a water bottle, before grabbing some paper rapping and a long stream of ribbons to create a gift basket. he quickly checked the time,'' no good he napping around this time so that means I have an hour or so before I can deliver this gift''.


    sam debate with himself what he could do knowing whatever it was couldn''t take to long before an idea hit him, ''how about a daydream''. returning upstairs sam grab the cauldron placing it on his bed and pulled off the lid,'' since I don''t have anyone specific in mind let''s find someone,'' calling on the power of his newest core sam reached to the lust of other within the 10-mile range.


    ignoring the helper comment on how his range has improved sam focused on those with low-level lust, ''oh she''ll do'' keeping a lock on his target he called on his witch core making triple sure the two energy didn''t cross(the core still weren''t getting along). the power of a witch allowed him to change the potions state of matter into a senbon.


    moments later the senbon was infused with the power of sam''s lust core and on a warpath to the targeted female. when it entered her arm it revered back to a liquid state allowing the potion to enter her bloodstream, leaving her thinking she had been bitten by a bug.


    from his room, sam watched as the daydream formed in her head,''i should have made some popcorn''.

 31

    rubbing his eye Tyrone let out a yawn as he descends the stairs to his trash filled living room, paying no mind to it he made his way to the kitchen. opening the fridge he grabbed one of the containers sam dropped off a few days back reading the reheating instructions on it. following the instructions because sam would somehow know and while sam wouldn''t say anything he takes pride in his cooking and not following the directions so you could enjoy its full taste upset him, not that you would know unless you could read sam''s hidden micro expressions.


    just before Tyrone could dig in the doorbell rung and his heart rate jumped, with a shaky hand he placed the food down and grabbed a butcher knife from the knife holder. slowly creeping up to the front door Tyrone activated its peephole. ''its just sam'' he thought in relief when he saw the raven through the door. tossing the knife behind some trash and doing his breathing exercises Tyrone opened the door instantly getting a package shoved in his arms.


    looking at the package he couldn''t tell what was in it so he looked at Sam who was just wearing a slightly guilty look, "its apology gift for not making time to properly checking up on you plus a bit of bribery because I need a favor of the technological kind". Tyrone nodded before stepping aside to let sam in.


    walking inside sam headed to the kitchen to grab the cleaning sphere as he talked about the treats in the younger teen''s arms."...and all the treats have been dipped in a potion of satisfaction using up half a batch the rest is in a bottle in the center.''


    "potions of satisfaction?"


    sam paused in programing the rune tech, "MHH it''s a pretty simple position with great effects but not used often because it can be addicting if one''s not careful, which won''t be a problem with your lifestyle, anyway the effects consist of giving the body all the nutrition it needs for 3 to 12 hours depending on how active you are." turning on the sphere sam tossed in the air where it got to work cleaning up the house. taking a peek at he smiled seeing Tyrone with a cookie already in his mouth.


    covering his mouth to hide his laughter sam took the treats away from the younger mail and put them up in the pantry just before he informed him of another side effect of the potion," my stomach could shrink"


    "The stomach stretches when you fill it often and shrinks when you do the opposites why do you think I refuse to let you live off smoothies and similar forms of nutrition, have your stomach shirk is a pain let me tell you." Tyrone nodded he could tell that sam was peaking from experience.


    finishing off his cookie "so what the favor you want?" Tyrone asked.


    "I need to make a website, I''m wondering if you know how, "Tyrone nodded telling sam that he did know. "that great I need to learn for a little project of mine!" the younger male felt the temptation to ask but he saw that smile on sam''s face and knew he wouldn''t get an answer at least not a straight or real one.


    heading upstairs with sam following the two of them entered Tyron''s room where the younger male took a seat at his computers. "okay so the simplest way to make a web site is by . . ." as he began to talk sam remember something, ''isn''t this boys perception of easy and hard vastly different from the ordinary persons nut I can''t really talk seeing as I''m the same" as he listened to Tyrone speak sam couldn''t help but wish that he could raise his mental state to keep up with the other teen but he wasn''t ready for that.


    Tyrone spent hours explaining and sam tried his best to keep up but he quickly got lost in the waves of information. when Tyrone was done he noticed the concealed lost look sam had which confused him for several reasons, "did I do something?"


    "what no! this is just much more complicated then I expected!" sam quickly told him before any guilt could form in the boy''s mind. cocking his head Tyrone asked, "what did you expect?"


    "that this might take months, now this might take more then a year maybe more if I get too busy" sam''s thoughts were racing to rearrange his half plans." what if I help?!-" sam train of thought stopped as he turns back to Tyrone,"-with making the website your busy right I can make it for you if you like!?"


    that was a great idea and it said something about sam that it didn''t cross his mind and he chooses not to think about that at the time."I''m making a summoning site, do you know what that is, "they were by no means a common thing nor were they advertised. Tyrone''s brows creased in thought before he shook his head no, "you know there are beings that live on different planes or dimensions" Tyrone nodded to this," sometimes the only way these creatures can come to are plane if they are called or summoned."


    "don''t think summoning is easy, to call something you need to know things about it or you''ll end up in a very bad situation. this is what a summoning site is for it provides the information need to summon certain beings safely. I plan to make a site like that!"


    "so what going to be summoned," Tyrone asked after a moment of silence.


    "nothing appropriate for anyone under 18, now for the record you should be careful making deals with a different plane being or you''ll end up in the situation like I''m in right now"not a complete lie or a lie at all depending on how you look at it.


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    "Okay I''ll have to do some research but it seems simple eno-" he stopped speaking there noticing the narrowing of sam''s eyes. never assume that something will be simple and a challenge will not surprise you Tyrone can''t tell you the number of times Sam has told him this.clearing his thought he asked sam if he knew any summoning site and the older teen began to list off about a dozen sites each with a warning not to try and summon something from them.


    after that, the topic change to small talk about food and recent events they glimpsed from the little news they watched. after talking for almost two hours sam return to his own house where he quickly showers and climbs into bed decided to sleep this night prepared for the nightmare to come.


    ~he was dancing on in blood, he was alone, he felt free as he danced he felt alive, nothing could hold him as he danced~


    ~he didn''t care for the blood or the scream, he didn''t care that he knew them or not, he just wanted to dance forever~


    ~he didn''t know how long he danced before his limbs became too heavy, his stomach became to loud, his throat became to dry~


    ~satificing his body he began to dance again ignoring the pools of red beneath him, ignoring the sents in the air, ignore the shaking of the earth, ignoring the passage of time he just wanted to dance FoVeR~


    shooting out of his bed sam raced to the bathroom where just in time for him to drive heave into the sink ''fuck I haven''t had that dream in a long time,'' slowly sam brought himself to the present away from the dance, away from that time where his fate changed.


    ''my lord would you like to talk about it,'' the helper asked as their master breathing returned to a manageable level,'' it one of the best ways to deal with fear and stress''


    sam said nothing as he sat on the ground, "stress maybe but fear no, that dream never scares me" the fear was for something else. taking a deep breath ''it''s not like they can tell anyone," it an old memory from when I was young detail have faded not there was much, to begin with, it was when my life began and I left behind my-"


    --------------


    "it time like this I wish my body wasn''t immune to caffeine" after talking to the helper which made sam fell better then he thought it would the raven was unable to return to bed so he decided to do maintenance on his knife and dagger hoping the simple and relative motion would put him to sleep instead he entered a meditative state until the sun started to rise and he was wide awake." the day is just beginning hopefully...oh god I''m tired that doesn''t like I need an energy drink or some fruit"


    opening the fruit drawer of the fridge sam thought over what he should eat when the front door was kicked opened by his parents "where bac-" the father''s words were cut off by an apple entering his mouth knocking him to the ground.


    "that''s why you went first," his wife said steeping through the doorway," so sam how was your month home alone?"


    "a new form of chaos and boredom," sams said as helped his father to his feet and retrieving the apple he threw in one movement, "anyway I''m now a cosmic lord."


    "Alright," Cora vegal said while giving her husband a look asking what a cosmic lord was, Natale''s brightened with realization before asking his son" is that the possibly dangerous job you didn''t plan for daniel to help you with?" sam nodded as he pulled out a cutting board to begin cutting up the fruit.


    a few minutes later his parents returned downstairs after putting away their luggage and took a seat at the table before telling their son about there cruise trip, "hahaha how does end up with you getting melted cheese in your pocket''s Hahaha" sam laughed putting aside the fruit he finished cutting.


    "the same way you accidentally broke into someone''s house just to return their necklace" Natale countered shutting his son up as red bloomed on the teen''s face.'' damn I thought that was forgotten about!'' grabbing a bowl from the cabinets sam threw in the fruit as his parent continued there tale.


    "so this chic had been hitting on him for a couple of hours trying to seduce him and I have just been watching laughing at her sad attempts,"


    "I am happy in the faith you have in me"


    "of course if I didn''t have faith in you we would have married as long as we have, besides I know you''re type and she wasn''t it"


    "true that, so anyway final I had enough of her so I pushed her in the pool we were next to before walking over to Cora taking the pool chair right next to her watching as the chaos I caused and it was then I realized that you two have been influencing me" at the accusation both his son and wife just gave innocent smiles like they did nothing knowing it was true while his own became stone.


    when Natale''s face remained stone sam threw the seeds of the watermelon at his face at speeds that his father easly guarded against with a wall of mana not that it stopped sam for firring seeds at him or for his wife to join starting a seed war through the kitchen.


    after seeds had been scattered to every surface Natale called for a ceasefire so they could clean up, "this is going to take a while" Cora commented" right Sam" she addressed her son only to see that he was gone along the fruit salad he had made," it been years since he''s done that"sighing she joined her husband''s efforts to clean.


    more then a dozen minter and miles later sam entered a crafts store finishing off his fruit salad, carrying the empty bowl with as he found a store clerk to direct him to the correct lane, this store made excellent use of expansion runes and boarded on the size of a full mall. it would take hours to find what he wanted by wondering.


    gathering and paying for the supplies took longer then he thought it would but sam was glad to have it all and be out of that store.'' i can''t believe I got lost in a simple store, the hell, the d¨¬ y¨´'' as sam continue to curse in his mind gritting his teeth not noticing his blood lust was leaking.


    when he did notice after a cat hissed at him he pulled it back inside wondering,'' what the fok its leaking too easily?!'' he then felt a phantom hand smacking him upside the head as a memory spoke.


    "remember sam blood lust and battle lust like yours doesn''t disappear, they''ll probably be apart of you for your entire lifetime so make sure you don''t try and suppress them to long or it''s possible they may escape your control remember or" at that point sam shiver remembering the unsaid threat, oh god she was going to kill him when they met next.


    but at least he knew what was happening he has been suppressing his lust to long now it was coming back to bit him in the butt, "when is the person from the seven blades warfare going to appear, because joining just became a lot more important!"


    ''my lord if I may make a suggestion," sam told that would never be a problem, "if you find a place where it won''t bother anyone you can let go the blood lust you have been suppressing"


    ''that''s an excellent idea and I know a couple of places that fit that requirement, but for now, I have dices to make." returning to his house sam snuck in through his room window and immedatly got to work making the dice

 32

    he was using white clay for the base of the dice than with a mildly steady hand he carved twelve little simples on to the six sides of two dice shaped using his ghost telekinesis,'' one for natural the other for supernatural abilities, one for each of my cores, one for knives ribbon bare hands and the sword I have to retrieve." turning his thoughts away from his favorite weapon sam started on a baking heat rune.


    "man I can''t wait," the raven thought as he dices baked." wait for what" at the words entering his ear sam almost jumped the little world he had entered whipping around fist first. barling leaning out of the way of the blow Natale rubbed his nose while thinking ''well this is happening again... at least he didn''t use his teeth''.


    "so what are you making?" he asked as the hostility left his son''s body.


    "dices" was the curt answer.


    "the heats to high''-sam cocked his head-''the clay will crack if you don''t turn down the heat" sam did just that Natale made a living crafting objects sam had no reason to not listen to him. the next hour was spent with the older male instructing the younger one how to correctly speed bake clay using runes.


    after cooling the dice down sam tapped into his mana core and pulled a large amount of energy much more than needed for a rune. taking that energy he bathed the dice in it, making them with his mana signature, for most marking an object with there mana signature was just a way to tell other this was mine but sam knew thanks to his time living with witchs that there was so much more you could do with them. one was to never lose the marked item another as being able to summon said item.


    when the mark was done forming sam set the dice down while he prepared the paint he brought. painting the base light grey sam painted each symbol on the supernatural die the color that his mind''s eye associated the power with. for the other, he used dark red on the edges before filling them in with an appropriate color.


    when sam was done with dice waiting from them to dry his father asked if he could touch them up, add a bit of flair, sam just cocked his head in questioning." the design is kind of plain for you, would you like me to enhance it" sam thought over it for less then a second before responding "yes!"


    Natale smiled as he swiped a rune into existence, the rune transformed into a small twister of wind thaT engulfed the dice for two moments. the dispersed twister left behind to perfect dry dice grabbing the paintbrush his son was using before getting to work, while his father was painting sam tried to use the rune his father just used. said father mentally laughed at that trait of his son while pretending not to notice just as his son pretended to notice that he had noticed.


    nearly an hour later they heard the doorbell ring and soon after carol answered it before, "sam it''s for you" she called out from downstairs. it didn''t take long for Sam to arrive at the front door to see some man in a suit standing in the doorway, ''he''s from the seven blades warfare league'' the raven realized upon seeing the badge on his leftb breast pocket.


    "Samuel vegal?" he asked


    "yes that''s me, you''re from the seven blades warfare league correct" sam replied putting on his best non-threatening smile. the man put on a matching smile of his own.'' this man is interesting!''


    "you''re joining the SBWFL, honestly I''m surprised you didn''t do so sooner" in response to her tone sam pulled a childish move and stuck out his tongue, his mother just rolled her eyes. turning to the referee she asked if he would like anything to drink." just water I don''t think I will be here long." while his mother headed to the kitchen sam lead the way to the kitchen table.


    he pulled out several digital documents explaining them before handing them over to sam," the first document is a copy of the SBWFL rules and regulation most are focused the rule of battle", sam skimmed the document for now taking the next one" this is for your insurance" that one was put to the side because the teenager lacked any form of insurance, "this is a release waver so you can''t sue us" sam wondered how often that happened or someone tried," this form is for you to fill out on equipment you mean to use in your fights" sam got to work on that, "this last one is the current top ten fighters of the warfare league."


    ''now that was interesting'', sam thought as he looked at the pictures only for his heart to start beating like wild seeing the face of the number five, "so this is what''s become of you Defi," his smile became elated with a slightly feral edge,'' i can''t wait for the day we clash!''


    the referee was in shock here sam words he knew the Defi, he was the most reclusive(read: shy) of the top ten whos past was blank, there was no record of the boy before he joined the league five years back and yes he meant boy as defi recently turned 14 the May." you know him" he asked after he gained his composure.


    "yes we met in the past I can tell from the picture he''s changed much from the child I knew then...but we can talk after we finish up our business." the referee nodded and pulled a ring from his pocket "please grab your weaponry and any gear you fight with!" sam nodded knowing it was time for him to test out his fighting ability.


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    upstairs in his room sam wrapped the ribbon around his left arm and grabbed serval of his knives and daggers plus both the leather, wool, and silver beads bracelets. he decided not to grabbed the obsidian ring and small box mostly because his father sitting in the room and he wanted to keep a few tricks up his sleeves. returning downstairs the referee held out the ring to sam, who could already guess its purpose. the moment he touched it he felt tugging sensation at his center of gravity as the world blurred.


    when everything was righted sam took a moment to catch his breath with his knees on the ground,'' i forget how teleportation disagrees with me'' letting out a long breath sam straightened his back taking in his new environment, a forest a dead one. there wasn''t a single sing of life no animals wild or sentient, not even the trees were alive there was no wind the soil was a lifeless grey it reminded sam o- ''can''t let that train of thought continue nows not the time for a flashback. so where the referee?'' sam considered upping his senses but decided that was more likely to do him harm in this environment.


    "well if that options out I should try my other senses," the raven mumbled to himself as he started to move towards a tree. climbing said tree sam consider which core he should use any one of them could help in this situation," demons out it can only sense those I can tempt, witch I lack the supplies, ghost looks for the soul, lust searches for... well lust, and the mana core can sense other forms of mana...in this dead forest any of the last three would work quite well, but which one this is why I need those dice."


    leaping from branch sam tried to figure out the tracking method to use all while he looked for any physical signs of human presence. it was after fifty trees or so that sam decided on mana sense. stoping on a branch strong enough to support him sam''s inner mana reached out to the mana of his surroundings.


    the picture the mana painted in his mind showed sam just how truly dead this forest was,'' look for human ignore the death that surrounds me'' commanded himself. it wasn''t near him but sam found of a trace of human presence shooting off in that direction unwrapped a length of the ribbon lets see his response.


    he found the referee standing with his arms crossed behind his back, unhesitating sam pulled out a two-inch cresset dagger as he lept at the shoulders for one of his arms. the referee raised his head to look at sam while his arms whipped into action bladed mace appearing in the right.


    just before they could colloid sam pulled on the ribbon wrapped a tree branch stopping midair sam just for the mace to brush by him before gravity did its job. flicking his wrist the ribbon released the brach, not a second after he touched the ground sam jump back a rune half-formed.


    kicking off the ground the referee chased after sam twirling his mace above his head. when he got in range sam had already compted the rune, tossing the knife in the air crush the rune in his right-hand sam ran it over ribbon lighting it ablaze.


    ducking under the mace swing barely sam grabbed his falling dagger using it to block the second swing, the two struggled for a bit until the referee jumped to avoid the burning ribbon sam whipped at his face. the distance between the two grew as the raven continued to use the ribbon as a whip, thankfully there''s no grass or it would have caught and I would be fighting in a forest fire...huh that would have been a first for me...neat''


    as the referee dance around the ribbon he analyzed sam''s movements,'' this boy is more than the rest of his age group...he not growing impatient he''s willing to wait for me to make the first move just to snare me in a trap. let''s see your trap boy." leaping off to the side he charged at sam fast and low mace scarping the ground.


    ''almost'' sam thought as he leaned back to avoid the raising mace, kicking the referee stomach he knocked the older male backflipping the dagger into a backhand grip sam relentaly attacked.


    ''where the trap", the referee thought as he dodged the slashes,'' almost'' sam slashed up. ''where is it,'' he tilted tot he left,'' just there'' sam thought while stabbing at the man''s biceps.'' here it comes'' he realized pouncing away, sam smirked at the futile movements.


    "you can''t run from," his hair bleed white as he called on the power of the ghost inside of him, the little warmth was drained from the air as the forest came to life, in a manner of speaking, the trees reached out for the referee with the braches and rook as white shades in the shape of animals came from between them racing towards the man jaws maws and beaks wide open ectoplasmic drool falling from them.


    ''it''s men a while since I saw such a large number of rabid beasts '', rabid beast these creatures are a small percent of the animal population that have gained power but has become much more ferocious inturn. bigger problems in certain places in the world, sam have visited one or two, the real problem of them was the animal population ranged in the billion made them somewhere in the thousands are far as the public was aware.


    observing the savage creature sam took note that most of them didn''t have a clear death-wound or form of power. but neither the less sam watched as the referee attempted to fend off the creatures with his apparently blessed weapon. but not blessed enough seeing as it only temporarily dispersed the shades he hit.


    "as much fun as it is to watch him struggle I should end this so I can deal with my battle and blood lust...thats an idea," taking a deep breath sam uncorked the mental bottle his blood lust was contained. the area''s temperature dropped even further.


    the moment sam''s blood lust him the referee felt like a semi-truck had hit him again causing his to chock and falter in his swing, allowing for what look rabbit with shark teeth chomped on his ankle. smashing the fully beast he tried to resist the chill entering his heart, what the hell!'' spinning to the side he slammed his mace into the face of a wolf a sec before he elbowed the nose of a deer. ''lets see what else this kid has up his sleeve,'' channeling his mana into his mace the head popped leaving a barely visible energy chain connecting the two pieces.


    now wielding a frail the referee charged his way through the hoard towards sam, who made no move except focusing his blood lust on him. stumbling the referee was still able to block the tree root aiming for his throat. smashing the root he resumed his charge. sam still didn''t move, watching as the man tried to fend off the roots and branches of the tree he was leaning on.


    ''too close'', sam thought before his white hair flared and the referee was slammed int the ground by an invisible force," so how much more do you need to see?" sam asked as the shades pounced.

 33

    "much more" he responded as a shockwave burst from his body knocking away the shade tree branches and sam. ignoring the beginnings of a bruise across his back sam watched as the referee stood up, the change in the man''s power didn''t deter sam.


    "you want more then I give you more!" lashing out with both arms the ground in front of sam was decimated by the telekinetic wave. slamming his frail into the wave dispersing it the referee was caught off guard by next one catching him from the side right into a shade. knocking the see-through wolf he rolled to the side to avoid the on fire ribbon.


    after rolling around on the ground for a few minutes mentally cursing and deciding to fuck it the referee activates the other rune cave into the mace. swinging the mace into the ground a small quake spread through the forest. though the raven was less caught off guard then he would have liked he did lose the chance to stand racing at sam.


    this time sam didn''t interrupt his charge instead he meets it head-on, dodging the frail sam drove his fist into the older man''s face before another fist into the stomach and then slamming his heel into the back of his head stunning him." here''s more" directing the power of his ghost core to his voice box sam rubbed his throat,'' forgot how cold this feels'', kneeling down began to whisper into the older male ear.


    sam wasn''t sure what he was saying but he knew it working as the color drained from the man''s face. by the time sam pulled the referee was crying no weeping his eyes out. "a perfect example of why I shouldn''t whisper to people''s soul at least not offensively definitely helped with Travis, god how is that boy doing?"


    ''my lord you focus on your opponent, and I agree that is not a technique you should use offensively''. right before sam could brush off the warning he was knocked of his feet. he blinked twice before the face came in contact with his face. on pure reflex, he unleashed an omnidirectional blast of ghost energy.


    watching sam standing from where he landed the referee could tell instantly he was fucked. slowly sam reached up brushing away the blood revealing no wound, looking at the crimson liquid a dark crocked smile grew on the teens face. "when was the last time I bleed?" sam asked as the referee found himself floating in the air. he was forced to watch as sam left-hand entered his chest, his shock prevented him from noticing the lack of pain.


    clenching his fist sam prevented the man''s heart from beating, as his vision faded the man saw the raven mouth open like a god damn anacondas," thanks for the meal" before attempting to bit the man''s head off. grey rose tattoos immediately formed across sam''s body connected by there thorny stems and freezing him in his tracks. sam struggled against the tattoos before his mind cleared up. blinking the raven jumped away from the referee and put out the ribbon in one movement.


    "This fight is over if you value your life!" the referee blinked not only because of what the teen screamed but the fact his voice was shaking along with his arms. "I''m serious next time you injure me you will die!"


    "Alright, I already got what needed" reaching into his pocket pulling out a container, placing one of the mints-like things in his mouth he felt it melt and sigh as the coolness that flooded through his body the aches and pains of his body. putting the container away he traded it for the ring that brought them here "come on you want to leave right" sam said nothing before walking straight up and grabbing the ring.


    a blink later and they were back at the kitchen table immediately Sam pulled his hand away," is that all you need for the day" nodding his head he thanked sam''s mother for the water before leaving the house."FUCK" sam screamed slamming his fist into the table.


    "glad it''s self-repairing*sip*now whats set you off"


    "nothing the fight was below my expectations"


    "you know I know your tells, so what the truth did you lose your cool o-"


    "I said nothing happened! now mind your business" the moment the last word left his mouth, it clicked shut as a wave shame washed over him. immediately sam tried to head up stair only to be stopped by his father, "I thought that it was clear when we fight-"


    "We do not run from each other" sam finished before grumbling as he returned to his seat, all while refusing to look at either of his parents. after his father took his own seat at the table silence enveloped them. during that silence sam briefly thought on the first time they argued that had to bind sam with chains so they could talk it out, sam felt a bit of warmth in his face remembering how he acted afterward clingy and crying.'' god I was fragile then wasn''t I!'' though part of it had to do with the emotional side effect ghost power fierce but easily altered emotions.


    "so what happened?"


    *sigh*" he landed a hit on me and I reacted badly, almost ended him." the two parents were silent for a moment before Cora spoke up, "we kinda expected this might happen someday-" sam looked up surprised and offended"- because you thrive in situations of chaos, combat, and action. we knew one day you would return to your previous action-filled life."


    After a few moments of silence, sam spoke: "your right I don''t like it but your right the calm life isn''t for me even if I wish to dear god it was" both parent hearts ached for there child, both stood from there seat walking over to there son wrapping him in their arms." it does not matter what kind of life you live as long as it makes you happy!"


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "even if I became a criminal?" the youngest jokingly asked.


    "your already a criminal!" Cora deadpanned.


    "you can''t deny it" Natale followed up.


    "Please you can never prove it!"


    "I don''t know you have told us all kinds of thing over the years"


    "how many of those things do you remember?" sam asked smugly causing his mother to flick his ear, sam immediately returned the favor. Natale flicked them both telling them to knock it off. the two troublemakers locked eye before double-teaming the man.


    they messed around for a while before Natale showed sam the dice who only had one thing to say upon seeing them, "excellent!" with an excited feral look in his eyes, tossing the and catching the dice he connected to the mark in them as he tapped into his witch core,'' probably not the best idea when I''m already feeling the effects of my ghost power."


    after feeling his eye shift, he began a chant dinb llac dinb nommon bind, then another ecrofne ecnahne elbakaerbnu, and finaly nommus kcol-viam pugna fuerit placuit,yek-sit decernere pugnam iter. reapting these chant until the they settled in the power of the dice.


    it was after that he remembered his parent was in the room, parents who he rarely showed his ability to them or anyone if he could help it,'' well at least they didn''t stare'' the raven thought to himself as he placed the dice in his pocket. taking a seat the table sam considers what he should do for the rest of the day, losing control put a damper on his mood but he still had a lot of things to do like... prepare for the summoning site.


    leaving a coffee shop daniel felt a shiver down his spin almost dropping his, "what the hell is sam planning?!-" he took a sip of his frappuccino "-and how to I avoided it?"


    back at the vegal household sam was explaining how one mutated plants using what the masses considered abnormal energy, "so you just let it soak and change on its own!?"


    "that''s how I do it" sam reasoned as they shifted through Cora''s seed collection.


    "so there are other ways!" she put aside a pack of sunflower seeds.


    "yes, there easy to learn if you know where to look... why did you never plant these?" he asked holding up a pack of artic burst lilies he got for mother''s day.


    "they attack people" she deadpanned "not to mention they only grow in -30 F"


    "they can be trained plus its not that hard to make a mini-environment" Cora just shoot here head before asking why he didn''t tell her that when he gave them to her, "I thought it was obvious".


    "Even after all these years you still don''t understand how vast your knowledge is! I don''t know how you keep track of it",*smack*, "What?" she asked after sam facepalmed.


    "I just remembered something I need to check after we find a plant to mutate." they returned to shifting through seeds, eventually they decided on some red roses. tapping on the core located in his groin Sam blinked at the heat that flowed within him. momentarily ignoring it sam focused the sexual energy through his hands into the seeds.


    after several minutes of focus, sam placed the seeds down, "now we just wait to see if the change takes hold." Cora nodded before taking the seeds to prepare them for potting, even if they didn''t take to the energy they would be beautiful.


    sam went up to his room while she did that going over to the books on top of his dresser pulling out his book of life from between a cookbook and a travel guide. after cracking it open he focused on the images of the gems that filled the box currently located in his closet. for a moment nothing happened before the pages of the book began to turn.


    the pages slowly settled on a filled with sam''s otherworldly handwriting,''you had those gems for seven years'' the helper commented before sam could read the pages, "you can read my handwriting!" was the lust lords response.


    ''i would be an insufficient helper if I couldn''t read my lord''s handwriting,'' there were proud of themself realized but sam was impressed, few learn to read his handwriting but back to the book.


    readding the two pages brought up the memory on how sam was planning to sell weaponized jewelry,'' can I still do this ... yeah I can nothing can stop me, dad would probably like this ...well it seems I found my father day gift or his birthday...there right I need to keep track of the date more.'' pushing the thoughts aside sam focused on more of the objects he forgot the purpose of and the location of a certain blade of his.


    it was sundown when he placed the book back on his dresser before going downstairs but not before grabbing the box full of gems. Cora was currently making dinner while Natale was looking through something on his device. noticing sam had entered the room he asked what was in the box." your birthday or father''s day gift whichever comes first."


    "his birthday, which I need to get a present for, "Cora spoke not looking away from the onions she was chopping.


    "you don''t already have a gift," Sam asked as he placed the box on the kitchen table.


    "of course not his birthday it three months from now in June," she said swiping the onions into the sizzling pan.


    "so what my gift?" Natale trying to take a peek into the box. sam moved it away as he gave him a smile before telling him, "an idea" with an incredibly vague tone. the father lunged for the box and sam easily moved it out of the way, Natale tried to peek in the box for more then the few minutes before giving up and taking the box back upstairs when he came back to the living room he was in the middle of a call with Daniel, "-his interest ha been sparked and he wants to see them for himself."


    "great he''s that type-" sam rubbed the crease of his brow "-can you have him call me I''ll talk to him myself."


    "Yeah, I can do that on another not why didn''t you tell me that your parents were back in town and what on earth are you planning to do to me."


    "thank you, you would have found out soon anyway," at the last question just gave a smile before ending the call." what are you planning to do to the poor boy?" Cora asked as she added the meat to the dish.


    "mother please daniel is far from poor and it hasn''t been decided yet" the teen then took a seat on the couch pulling up a digital book set in an undersea colony where two guys were chasing the same girl, who wasn''t into guys and the two guys chasing her falling for each other. it was mostly fluff spiced with drama and hurt plus a drop of comedy.


    /looking into his eyes he noticed for the first time how bright they were like forest/ sam read./he also notice how soft his hair looked, also the freckles how had he missed them.'' man I sound like I''m in love, ohoh oh no oh shit. curse his cute face/ suppressing his laughter at the character''s freak out.


    he was a bit more before he noticed the smell of the meal, '' oh she made that'' warmth and memories filled his mind and heart of his first homecooked meal, the first time he thought a place could be home, that day four years ago. a recipe of passed down through Cora''s family, walking over he saw her finish up plating the meal turning up his nose power sam took a deep sniff of the food moaning in delight,"barbeque sloppy joes!"


    "dinner''s ready"

 34

    dinner and the night passed peacefully for the family, the rising sun woke sam opened his eyes leaving his rune induced slumber. pulling off his blood splatter cover he crawled out of bed and got ready for the day, "so what were my plans for the day" the teen asked himself as he rinsed out his mouth.


    ''paperwork for the warfare league, weapon care and checking on the rose seeds and meeting with Tyrone one the summoning site.


    "thank you for that" sam spoke with a hint of sarcasm as he put away the toothbrush he almost dropped. leaving his bathroom heading to the kitchen putting order to his list of tasks for today. entering the kitchen he found his mother nursing a cup of tea. Cora waved at her son as he started on his breakfast but note before making himself a cup of tea.


    "so plans for the day," she asked as he pulled out the table, "many" sam responded before digging in. Natale joins them thirty minutes later on the verge of falling back asleep, but that didn''t stop him from making his morning meal.


    sam moved around his father to put his dishes in the sink before heading out into the back yard. in the shed sam''s hand hover over the rose seeds checking how they were taking to the lust,''they doing so-so the energy isn''t taking but it isn''t rejecting-'' sam stop to think to try and remember what he was supposed to do when this happened ''-if I''m right I shouldn''t add new energy and manipulate already existing energy.''


    using his newest core saw tapped into the dust that coated the seeds, closing his eye sam focused and began to manipulate the energy weaving it in and out the seeds a couple of times. when he was done the lust had been partially accepted by the seeds with the rest hanging near.


    "so I check back in a few hours and see how they''re doing" going through the house sam crossed over to Tyrone''s house after he was let in sam join the younger male in his room before telling him more on summoning sites." one of thing you should be aware of is the kind of people who visit summoning sites in general, despite the fact the one were making would be an expectation. anyway, the type of people are like me abnormal different than the rest outcast however you want to say it they are the unpredictable."


    stopping for a moment to look Tyrone in the eye," that brings us to another problem, while look at summoning site a bet you notice the rule they were plaster on them right" noded "while you can''t be arrested the police will bother you if you aren''t careful."


    "bother?"


    "yeah like repeatedly asking questions that you have already answered, but I want you to direct them to me, and if they try anything give me a call so I can havea little chat with then!" his smile gained an edge the time his voice turned dark.


    "you mean maim them" Tyrone mumbled to himself as he sluthered a boss in the online game he was playing, sam herd him but didn''t comment before talking more.


    "the sight has to be split into subcategories and level based on what they want to summon and what they have the skill to summon."


    "skill?"


    "summon is far from easy and anyone who tells you it is is either a nitwit or a con artist." a vaguely annoyed expression crosses the raven face for a brief moment before his unbothered smile returned. "there are general requirements for summoning that I don''t remember because I didn''t care and summoning is weird with me"


    "why is it weird," the younger male asked as he unleashed a fifty hit combo "actually has anything worked normally for you"


    "I''m offended even if it is true and that has to do with the fact that I can be summoned technically" a light bulb goes on in sam''s head,'' that would get him out of the house.'' immediately after this thought crossed his mind Tyrone felt a shiver in his soul and he knew it was because of sam." how do you feel about tattoos"


    "There aren''t that bad but what the hell are you planning?!"


    "a summoning tattoo for you it may be a way to get you outside" Tyrone tensed as he curled in on himself," I don''t plan to force you it just an idea" sam reassured, "get a tattoo so you can summon me at any time, that would make you safer going outside wouldn''t it."


    "that not a bad idea but..." he could shack off the fear that was gripping his heart since that day,


    "it fine there no time limit to this idea, when every your ready even if that day never comes." sam reassured him before changing the topic ao the Tyrone could calm down. they started talking about games a topic sam had information because both daniel and Tyrone were hardcore gamers and he wanted to be able to hold a conversation with them(plus knowing about videogames was normal for his age).


    sam eventually returned to his own home he was sure (read: forced) a meal in the younger one''s stomach. slumping into the living room couch the raven started to fill out the paperwork for the warfare league but not turning the tv to its channel, "let''s see the first thing on here is the wavers lets see ... not responsible for injuries ... in case of dismemberment ... in case of decapitation ... in has of trauma physical or mental ... not of these are a problem for me ... this one might be" but nither the less sam signed her and there with the occasional initial.


    Then he moved on to the rules which led to some rather demented laughter coming from sam his parent felt bad for someone they didn''t know who but they knew they were.


    <hr>


    around the world hundreds of people felt a shive come down there spine,'' why do I feel like a toy a child has set their eyes on??!''


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    <hr>


    After reading through the rules twice to make sure that he understood them(and their loopholes) sam moved on to the weapon registry form, "let knives, magic ribbon, my entire being, should I put the gems on here ... Nah I didn''t put the sword on the die so there that" add the other three weapons he planned to use for the league before. at the bottom of the form, it asked if he possed an ability, deciding to save the future self some trouble sam said yes thankful they were smart enough to not ask for more.


    a commonly know fact was that an ability possesser didn''t share the details of there ability to those they didn''t trust, in fact, it was the greatest sign of trust for them.


    next, he filled out the defense gear which included the ring and bracelet he put on yesterday before the fight. keeping the box off the list sam moved to the clothing that was worth of battle which was all his clothing." I don''t wear shoes in battle or most of the time... I dislike gloves...whats a mask gonna do for me...do I have any massively destructive or instant kill techniques, plenty" Sam knew what he was doing later.


    there were a few more questions that sam quickly answered before closing the form, then after two quick stops at his room and the storage closet sam returned to the living room taking a seat on the floor. one by one he placed all of his knives to his right before removing the blade maintenance supplies from there container and onto the ground in front of him. tacking a breath he grabbed the first blade.


    placing it on the wet stone sam took a deep breath before his arms fashed in movement, a high pitched sound rang out. holding the blade age to his eyes sam examined it,''bit more''. placing the dagger on the wet stone once more he created another high pitched noise." good" placing aside the wet stone sam grabbed a bottle and cloth to the oil the dagger before butting it back in its sheath.


    he repeated the process for everyone one of his thirty-plus blades using more care the older the blade. at one point his mother came down to investigate the high pitched noises he was creating. when he was done he let out a sigh of satisfaction and a bit of pride as he rolled his sore shoulders. he cleaned up his mess quickly trying to get some feeling back in his shoulder when the helper spoke up for the second time today.


    ''My lord, I''m pleased to inform you that a new skill has been registered''


    "is that right " sam said before opening his kill record to look at the new skill.


    blade maintenance-flash movent style


    mid mortal rank


    common


    used to maintain the sharpness of a blade with fast and fierce movement.


    near mastery


    upgradable


    looking over the new skill sam remembered that he wasn''t to test out the skill upgrade and then he remembered he never ordered anything from the shop. "and here I thought I would have time to waste today "after he said that he started going through his skills picking out the mastered ones before deciding on astral sensing.


    astral sensing


    lower demi-immortal


    common


    open the mind to sense thing beyond flesh and blood thing without true form


    mastered


    upgradable


    "I would like to upgrade this skill and I need to figure out when I learned such...no wait is this my third eye"


    ''i will get right on that and third eye?"


    "the third eye is a human belief opening it is the key to enlightenment higher understanding...the opening of mine wasn''t a pleasant thing so no more questions for now." sam brushed away the rising memory by opening the shop and after a bit of searching through the infinite options decided on a map of a nearby star system.


    "wow, the time testament if about a week from now, I have to figure out how to pay them by then" sam comment after placing the order through the account he set up a week after he became a lord. closing the floating screens sam decided it was time for something a certain curiosity he had after first seeing his states and skill record, "prepare yourself I''m about to show you the force that makes me so unbothered by this world" sam finished as he closed the door behind him.


    <hr>


    "WHY THE HELL CAN NO ONE FIND ANYTHING!" shouted the head of the seven-blade warfare league." it has been more than a month since we have received the warning about the coming of two natural disaster level being and no one has found a thing."


    the hard light projections before him grumbled in agreement, "whatever these being are they are showing no signs well none we can see." a representative of the eastern guilds commented.


    "How the fuck is that possible," the western guild''s representative shouted," no one sign of a natural disaster level being there not know for being stealthy!"


    "most of them aren''t"a woman who looked in her seventy commented, "I think you all remember that rowdy little devil bear" even in that nodded remember what a headache that teleporting bear was even more so when it died out of now where five years ago." then there was the sea snake" a snack the breathed plasma and moved at Mach 1 in the water that it just so happened to blend into perfection." and don''t forget the those wo-"


    "Okay, you have made your point. we need to think of a way to find it."


    "I may have missed this but what''s wrong with divination."


    "I can answer that" the chosen representative of the see beyond the group." what even it has the power to interfere with our sight, leaving us with nothing but horrid images and well" the man started to blush "people''s intimates" the conference was silent before the deservingly young women commented, "well that something unexpected."


    "anyway what should we do, what other information gathering methods are there ?" the room was filled with suggestions and them being shot down or accepted it was a while before the conversation turned to what they could do after they found the being. the complemented what kind of creature it would be, its possible size, if it could fly, how aggressive it might be, did it have the ability to use magic, maybe it used abnormal energy. they talked for hours and when they were just about to conjure an emergency transmission came in," the irony" warfare league head commented.


    the transmission was projecting an image received live from a satellite over the arctic ocean if there was sound they would have heard the sound of the ocean return from where it was displaced, they in the center of the aftermath of a large scale explosion floated a being coated in a darkness deeper then stupidity with grey feathery wings that spread behind them." so this is what we hunting for, doesn''t look to dan-" they were cut off by the figure turning to look at them and in doing so filling the room with there bloodlust.


    it smiled at them before part of the darkness condensed into the palm of there hand to the size small then a strawberry seed when they raised that hand the video feed cut out.


    for a while, no one said anything, "so...how do we fight something that can snipe down a satellite and creates an explosion with a radius of at least three football fields, not to the mention the blood lust we felt what was that about?!" no one had an answer for him they were asking the same thing themself, "I guess I should cancel my fall plans with my wife"

 35

    "I think there growing well," sam commented on the sprouting plants, his mother nodded before tilting the watering can giving the purple plants a nice shower.'' there growing a little farther then I thought they would, they been planted for five days and already nearing their second stage of life." the plants they were observing happened to be the tose seed that sam infused with lust, after three days the seeds finally absorbed the energy and were ready to be planted.


    during that time sam has been able to get a lot done, partially thanks to his parents forcing there help on him. to his hidden embarrassment. the summoning site was almost ready to go live missing the creatures to be summoned, the forms for the SBWFL were sent(sam was amazed to find out he had life insurance), sam met up with Daniel and made another video and afterwords leaving him in pain because of his teaching method, collected more lust while getting into a few fights, dealt with his blood and battle lust.


    ''interesting week it has been'' sam thought to himself as he helped his mother dig out holes so they could transfer the new plants if need be." in a few hours I need to get out the house and head to the gym, I don''t have any plans after that so I think I will read" until then sam was going to zone out the closet thing to a nap he could get.


    "I will never get over hos strange that looks," Cora commented realizing her son had zoned out on the couch. her husband hummed in agreement as he tried to match clothing designs. the two let a peaceful content silence wash over them both of them doing their own thing for there jobs.


    it wasn''t long before the silence was interrupted by the sound of a call. huffing at the ruined atmosphere Cora picked up the call, "hello core vegal speaking!". Natale had to double take at hos fast his wife''s expression changed into utter disdain." I told you to stop calling me! I made it clear that I cut ties with you all!!" well that explained that there was only one group of people she had ever cut ties with, Natale felt his expression change as well he didn''t like them either.


    "well I don''-why am I even talking to you" she then proceeds to end the call and then blocks the number," I''m going for a run," Cora says before going upstairs to grab her running shoes. before she closed the door Natale commented on her getting into a fight with birds.


    "at least we didn''t wake him" the father sighed after looking at his zoned out son. I can''t believe they''re still trying after all these years, talk about thick-headed," huffing the man turned back to his work.


    <hr>


    " man everything aches as usual" Sam muttered to himself as he left the gym considering if he should apply a cream or something to the black eye he was sure to have.'' i glad to have found to some to use the rings with.'' feeling basking the glow of his adrenalin sam walked home peacefully until he noticed someone was trying to tail him.*huff8 was sam only reaction before losing him by simple erasing his presence to the point you would have thought he was a tree. he watched a bit of his would-be tailer search for him in vain before heading back home.


    "you have got to be fucking!" sam cursed when he realized someone was stacking out his home. narrowing his eye sam headed straight for them he didn''t feel like toying with pray at the moment. letting mana flow through his body sam grabbed her by her neck lifting off the ground letting out a bit of blood lust aimed at her, "why are you staking out my home?!


    sam had to loosen his grip when her answer came out nothing but a chocked noise." someone named Charles pay me to look into Cora vegal."


    "well let me tell you this before I let you scurry off, you won''t survive a second encounter with me!" then he dropped her and let her run not before giving her a full taste of his bloodlust.


    entering the house he found his mother sipping tea, "someone by the name of Charles hired some yo look into you" then he went up stair to shower. "should I shower I do plan to-" his train of thought was cut by the sound of wood cracking and for a moment he shifted into battel mode hearing at its peak to identify the threat.


    the moment after he realized there was no threat, his mother had stuck the table taking a chunk of the furnished oak, he reset his hearing after she started cursing,'' so it seems she knows this Charles guy I hope she lets me at him."


    decided on a soak instead sam laid in the hot water for a good while relaxing but getting out before he started to fall asleep. right before he let the water out sam noticed that it had changed color and smell a bit different from the lavender soap he used, '' its something from me but since I don''t recognize this effect it must because of the lust core.''


    Sam didn''t consider this bad news at all it meant his body was taking well to the lust core and passive changes were appearing, on affecting his sweat glands, or body oils those are the only to thing that he can think of he could turn his astral sense/third eye inward to see for sure. cleaning up the bathroom after himself sam retired to his room where he massaged out the rest of muscle pains before he took a meditative position. ''in... out... in... out... '' slowly he let the world faded away turning each one of his sense inwards even the one he usually kept off.


    taking the chance sam looked at his health making sure that nothing bad was happening with him noticing, nothing new had poped up...no growing from his groin. ''there the mutations... a new form is being born this may be trouble.'' sam brows creased in confusion why was a new form being born they should only exist for the power his ability summoned.


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    he thought on the matter but coming up with nothing sam decided to put it away for a while, he had a bigger problem his new from.'' based on the progress I got a few weeks but what the hell do I do when it''s complete,'' against his will memories of the time his demon form(fire, screams, the god damn laugh) witch(nothing matter but his research, they were in his way become a test subject) ghost(misery, endless regrets, tears, and wails) all them last at least a week.


    ''in..out.. in..'' slowly sam was able to calm his racing heart, ''let''s focus on the good news of this............................new powers! is that all I got...yeah so let''s go with it.'' sam jumped to his feet," to powers I can''t wait to discover them." suddenly sam''s legs gave out on him, "two hours and there asleep."


    while the pins and needle faded from his legs sam attempt to come up with a plan to deal with the coming transformation. ''the worst part will be how the transformation messes with my mental state,uuuuggghhh'' decide all he could do was but wait sam crawled under his covers.


    <hr>


    " that mother fuking piece of royal shit" Natale cursed as he helped his wife carry in their new kitchen table, this one was blue marble." we should sick sam on him, I dought he would bother us after that!"


    "aren''t you the one that said we should help are son hide body!" she cracked her back after they set down the table and she thought the wood table was heavy." and anyway I can deal with hid this time with legal action, I''m going for a restraining order at lest and maybe sue them!"


    *sigh*" at least something going to happen...wait have you never taken legal action against them hasn''t he been stalking you for what twenty years at this point." Cora could understand her husband''s disbelief, she really could at times she wondered by she hadn''t but she knew it was the embers of the love she once held for them.


    but she now she was done she had ben the bigger person for years trying to move on, but they simply refused to take the hint so now she was going to make them piss off."emotions can be a real pain at times," she then placed the napkin holder on the table. Natale was about to open his mouth to say when their house was filled with heart-stopping bloodlust.


    "something got sam rilled up" each word the man pounded on his chest to make sure that his heart kept beating. yeah, think his wife''s face said, "SAM" she cried out leading to them being able to breathe normally again and bring there son downstairs.


    "I just my first match, it a week away." they had to take a moment to process the pure undiluted joy on his face, the usually calm teen was bouncing on his toes. in sync, the parent remembered the last time he acted anything like this the first time he ate something with a large amount of sugar forget bouncing off the walls sam moved in a different time flow.


    "that''s great!" Cora cheered, wondering how she was gonna trick sam into celebrating this.


    "I know right I can''t wait to send them away in tears", neither parent was worried about the statement he knew not to give permanent wounds.'' what is my life?'' Natale wondered at the moment before asking who his opponent was, "some female named Sarah, I can''t wait to fight her!" for a brief moment his lust leaked out again before sam took a couple of deep breaths.


    "so what do you plan to wear?" the fashionista within Natale emerging, the younger males carefully smile gave him the answer, "you just gonna wear whatever aren''t you." silence was his answer a very telling answer, ''that was not happening no it was not what does sam currently have in his closet.'' seeing his father head to the stair moved in front of him faster then the man could react.


    "I would stay out the closet, your father day present is in there along with other questionable things," he should rehide the gems after tonight.


    "like what?"


    some of the things I left all over the house during my first year living with you." his parent proceed to take two steps back remembering some of the things sam had hidden away especially that thing wrapped in leaves it set oof the survival instincts.


    "fine I won''t go into your closet but we will be dealing with your outfit. I''m thinking we go with your usual dark color scheme maybe some short no they offer less protecting then pants. maybe a jacket...."


    "and we''ve lost him," Cora said before leaving to ready herself for bed, sam following her up the stairs leaving the older male to his planning. they learned long ago not to distribute him, climbing back into his bed sam reopened the message Sarah br- br-bri....been awhile since I have seen something a can''t pronounce, think it''s german. anyway, I wonder what kind of fight she''ll give me!!" clenching his fist sam tried to control himself.


    <hr>


    " sam vegal, new to the league no record according to the test he used a possible magic ribbon, daggers, and some kind of necromancy." Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, "uuugggghhhh anyone with a brain can see he wasn''t going all out why is it always me going as peoples first match" she knew she was being a bit dramatic but it happened to often to be up to chance.


    "your fighting style is to blame," her sister answered who Sarah responded by giving her the middle finger, "rude I''m just trying to help you!" she said with mock offense.


    "your idea of helping is locking me in a ROOM!" SLAM! when she finished speaking she slammed her fist into the table they were sitting at.


    "Are you still not over that..it was six years ago"


    "I had to change school because of that"


    "well what do you want me to do"


    "pay for my physiatrist appointments"


    "fine...wait what" Sarah then made her exit from the cafe they leaving her sister to pay the bill, "that girl!" slumping into her seat she pinched the bridge of her nose hoping to stave off a headache.


    As for Sarah, she was making her way down the street on away to a shop to pick up some supplies, she didn''t know what her opponent was fully caple of but she could at least do something for the necromancy, plus the shop she was going to sold information maybe she could find something on him.


    "hey, Finn" she cried as she entered the hidden shop. the male witch looked up from his spellbook, "hello Sarah please tell you are here to buy something!?"


    "yes I am, information and something for fighting necromancy?" the witch pushed the book to the side and pulling out another one from under the counter.


    "I''m gonna need you to be more specif on the necromancy but what information do you what?" she showed him a picture of her opponent, "bitch you dead!" he responded the moment he saw sam''s face.

 36

    "did you just call me a bitch" Sarah accused, Finn, gave her a look that said really "you focus on that!?" he shocks his head before telling her the price of the information.


    "A BILLION CREDITS!!!" information has never cost her that much.


    "it not that the information rare" Finn began to explain, "it the risk factor in giving you this information to hunt him" Sarah instantly explained that she wasn''t hunting him," the price has dropped to at least 200,00 credits". she could pay that still pricy though, "okay what is the info?"


    "for the record, this info is at least three to four years old," after Sarah noded Finn snapped his finger changing the entire atmosphere of the shop, the lights when out replaced by the lighting of candles throughout the shop, "Do not repeat this knowledge to another mortal soul this boy is neither kind nor mean, his justice is blind, his blade unhesitating, is soul is dark then the blood on his hands, he stays in mortal flesh to be entertained, he is a master od the shadows, he is kind of the bump in the night, he is human in appearance alone.


    "well, that was... I got nothing I don''t know!" it wasn''t the first time she got information from him but it was never like this." so what you''re saying that he is incredibly dangerous unpredictably but everyone is equal in his eyes, he not really a human male, he kills with no hesitant have I got that right"


    "yeah, I''m guessing you don''t know what the rest of it meant," Sarah make a not a clue motion, " okay so why are you after information of that bump in the night?"


    "he''s entered the SBWFL and I''m his first opponent"


    "I will visit you in the hospital!" she flipped him off.


    <hr>


    " someone talking about" sam mumbled as he rubbed his nose, "anyway back to you," Sam said to the man pinned under his foot. lifting the foot sam brought it down with enough force to knock the breath out of him." you attacked that girl for a reason that pisses me off greatly." he ended the sentence with another stomp to the man''s chest.


    "now what should I do before the police arrive, I have many ways to make you scream," kneeling down sam placed his hand over the man''s heart," GAH! AAAHHHHHH!"


    "ssshhh, you''re gonna attract attention," sam gave a dark smile before the demon core pulsed once again tearing more screams from the man''s lips. his screams filled the alley up until the police arrived to catch sam''s shadow on the rooftops. ''my lord I suggest you head north northeast to deal with lust on the edge of gaining the beast''s attention," sam nodded before turning that way as mana flowed through his legs.


    the bottom of his feet smarted as he slid to a stop on a tiled roof, sam looked over the edge to see a man in his thirties taking a smoke break. a second was all he needed to decide his path of action, stepping over the edge Sam let gravity take him right onto the shoulders of the man, unconcerned by the snapping sound sam quickly began to drain the man''s lust while he called up an ambulance.


    then he hurt a reverse snapping sound, "regeneration" sam realized before he leaped clear of the man landing ready to fight.


    "man what a pain kid", standing up he glared at sam before lighting another smoke." now what do you want you faceless punk?" sam didn''t even conder answering before bursting int motion. staying low to the ground sam removed his tie channeling mana through it, making git a makeshift dagger." you''re fucking brutal going for my heel first" the man cursed as he dodged the attacks.


    pulling out what looked like a revolver, the man aimed backpedaling away from the faceless suit-wearing person before pulling the trigger. leaning out the way of the projectile sam recognized it as a nerve disrupture, one of the few kinds of bullets police could legally use.


    ''i hate nerve disrupture,'' sam thought as he avoids (barely) another shot, pulling his arm make he threw his makeshift blade at the gun forcing the maybe cop to dodge or lose his weapon, rushing mana to his legs sam blurred out of sight reappearing midair next to the cop.


    with a show of core strength, sam kicks the gun free of the man''s hands followed by another to his face breaking his nose in a movement. At the same moment one of his feet touched the ground sam drove a knee into his opponent''s stomach followed by sam climbing onto the man and putting him into a headlock.


    they two guys struggled for a couple of minutes before sam let go that, "get laid more often" sam then disappeared, the cop rushed out to the street where he got the feeling his attacker went only to find no trace of them, "how the hell did they disappear like that?" he mumbled to himself before taking a drag of his cigarette.


    ''years of practice'', sam thought to himself as he watched the cop pull out his phone from where he was leaning at the mouth of the alleyway. pushing off the wall sam pulled up the hood of his hoodie before he started walking away from the scene of the crime with a little hop in his step, that fight was satisfying well not the combat it was lacking in his opinion but what was satisfying was the accomplishment of drain the man''s lust from a distance.


    "I need to work on the speed of it but it worked even though I didn''t pay a lot of attention to it." moving through the foot traffic sam tried to resist scratching himself, "bloody hell these mutations feels likeIi got attacked by a poison and itching powder army. he''s been feeling like this since he woke up.


    eventual sam found himself at his original destination, the edge of the island. walking closer to the cliff edge sam pocked his ghost core.'' one.. three... six total'', sam sighed as he reached the edge of the suicide spot. letting the power of the core flow out of his body sam calling four the souls that have died in the area.


    the raven felt his eye burn seeing the six souls, none of them older than forty years old. closing his eyes sam molded the energy flowing out of his body for one of his least favorite skills. his hair faded to white blown by a nonexistence breeze as he opened his now pure white misty eyes, the faintly glowing tear that fell from the cosmic lord''s eye was known as the spiritual cleansing and as far as sam knew they were only useful for cleansing/healing a spirit or soul.


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    one by one the tear fell to the once below where the body of the spirts laid, unblinking as literal waterfalls of tear fell from his face sam watched the wounds of the spirts heal, their color return to the point they were see-through but human-looking.


    ''she here!'' sam thought as he felt a familiar presence come up behind him. but he kept his tear-filled eyes forward knowing exactly what he would see if he turned around and he was not in the mood for that today. "you''re still doing this kind of thing after all this time''" their smooth sensitive but chilling voice spoke behind him.


    "why would I not?" he responded like he did every time they asked this question.


    "I still don''t understand why you haven''t grown tired of healing these poor souls,"


    sam huffed as he ignored the rattling of chains, "I understand the desire to end it all, I also know what will happen to souls like this if they are not healed."


    "you are a strange being sat-" the chains halted as the raven cut them off.


    "THAT IS NO LONGER MY NAME" sam creamed almost turning around to look at the entity behind him.


    " you still show me no fear" dark grey chains wrapped around the hands of the soul before the teen


    "Why should I fear you, you are an inevitable death" and with that, the entity was gone along with souls. Sam let out a long breath just before falling back on to his ass tired in all kinds of ways.


    <hr>


    " Welcome back to our channel, the results for the poll is driving. we are going to see how much truth there is to what sam spouts to his driving skill." daniel said as he spun around in his chair sipping on a caffeine drink, sam sitting next to his snapped to his friend, "what I spout do you think I''m lying?"


    "lying no exaggerating maybe causes you do say some pretty outrages things some times, like fisting fighting god and getting a rocking chair from his son." in response to this grumbling about how God wouldn''t stop smiling like a fond parent. "any lets had off to the track?"


    "so time I forget how rich your family is!" twenty minutes later sam commented as he zipped up the race suit in the locker room the race track daniel had rented out, the entire thing for the whole day." if I had known that you rented a track I would have called my mortal ride."


    "mortal ride? know what you can explain it later," daniel told sam as they left the dressing room heading for the garage, "so which do you want?"


    "no thanks I got my own" sam then proceed to whistle a horror movie tune while he drew three sixes in the air, confusing Danila and their viewers until the ground cracked open silently a foul-smelling smoke coming up from it. daniel will never deni how amazed he was to see the smoke condensed around his friend forming a sleek as hell racecar.


    "what you think?" asked after rolling down the car''s driver''s window. daniel walked around the car taking in the pitch black, from what he knew about cars it was GT(grand touring) type. the metal was oddly cold as daniel ran his hand on the hood,''this boy will never run out of surprises will he''.


    "so what kind of horsepower does this thing have?" sam shrugs at the question before telling his friend that he never really check," plus this is the first time I''m going to drive this thing."


    "what?!"


    "I have two other cars, this one that resided in hell and the mortal one in a garage in South Africa" commented offhandedly as he tried to figure out the controls.


    "what do you mean resides in hell" daniel slowly moved his hand away from the hood.


    "it alive, doest say much thought" now skinner one was stepping away from the alive car. It was a few minutes later that sam was able to start the car. the engine roared as firey light seeped through the cracks in the car sam whistled impressed, he did have much experience with this thing but he could feel the power coming from the engine in more than one way.


    daniel quickly join his friend in the car, smirking sam gently set the car to drive and pressed the gas having to stomp on the brack a moment later when the car soared forward stopping an inch from the garage door. daniel felt his stomach sinking seeing the smile on his face is was savage like a beast catching a whiff of there prey.'' oh god'' Daniel mentally moaned as the garage door opened clearing the way to the track.


    "take it SLLLOOOOOWWWWW!!!" the vehicle shot forward pressing the tens into there seats saw only laughing in contrast to daniel screams. turning on to the track sam straightened out the wheel ignoring the squeal of the tires. the first lap toke nothing more than two and a half minutes, which meant they were going near 180 mph. not that either of them cared at the moment as sam was getting familiar with the controls as daniel got familiarwith his last meal.


    after more than a dozen laps sam spun the car to a stop at the starting line," there I understand the control," he said to his friend who currently had his upper body out the window gagging. wincing in guilt sam exited the car moving around it to rub his best friend''s back, it was a few minutes before daniel felt well enough to climb out the car flopping on to the track the floating camera following.


    "well-he turned to face the camera when his stomach settled-it seem that sam''s driving skills are legit,uuuggghhh I wish I didn''t get in that car with him it felt like a hyper roller coaster on steroids." at this point sam decided to take over for a bit by telling their viewer how they could get an iron stomach whether he meant it figuratively or was up in the air.


    by the time he was done a whole 3/4 an hour later daniel stood up brushing himself off, sam turned to his friend with a wide smile and mischief in his eye" ready to go again" the flat look he got caused laughter to bubble out of his chest.

 37

    "This is new a mutation" sam mumbled to himself shivering as he felt what was without a doubt the begins of a tail growing from his tailbone. sighing because there was nothing he could do for the moment besides hike the band of his trunks over the new appendage before changing out of his workout clothes. after he was completely dressed in a way that wouldn''t bother the tail sam led the gym after a nice relaxing work out that he mostly worked on his flexibility.


    "It felt similar to the tail I got from my demon form but it was a lot more sensitive" a light blush appeared for a second as he recalled the feeling from his finger brushing the little bump." what does that say about he that I think tail and not bug bit or something else?" brushing aside the thoughts of his strangeness sam started thing about the clothing good for a growing tail he decides he either need to cut a hole in the back of his pants or break out the shirts and dresses, he decided with the later simply because his father would be pissed at his for the first.


    ''so I''m getting rid of the hair on my legs tonight,'' he moved a few miles down the street before he herds the helper''s voice.


    ''my lord I have two pieces of good news for you" the moment they received the go ahead they gave the news," first off the evolution suggestions for the astral sense skill have arrived second the analysis of the rose seeds growth potential.'' sam hummed in interest before opening the evolution suggestions, closing it not moment later to prevent the coming headache.


    the rose seed analysis was no better filled with terms he had no understanding of,'' i guess that''s the downside of having street mark over book mark like what in Christian hell is libido manipulative non-Newtonian fluid.*sigh* we''ll I guess its time for the internet.'' sam decides as he steeped aside letting a mother cat race after her kittens she thanked him as she passed by.


    a quick web search reviled that libido manipulative non-Newtonian fluid translated to sex drive controlling slime and that his helper was capable of translating the text to bring down the reading difficulty, which he allowed for current and future text. he arrived at his street at that point so he put off the reading until he was free of dry sweat.


    thirty minutes later sam was clean and making his way through a bowl of flavored popcorn and granola,''the best upgrade method for me seems to be-see beyond my plant open my senses beyond this planet.'' sam one w that it was nowhere as easy as it sounded even more so as he remembered how long it took him to open his third eye in the first place.


    ''look I know what I''m doing for the next few nights, anyway, let''s see the analysis''. sam still regretted reading this even though he understood the terms the context and what the message was saying was lost on him all he knew what that the flowers were going to change drastically in a way that allowed them to harvest there own lust after they started blooming.


    "cant wait to see that change I feel like it gonna be something out of an ecchi game," sitting up on the couch sam set the half-empty bowl on the table before closing his eyes and letting the third eye open letting him see the world in it trust forms.


    the beauty astonished him but sam did spend long on it before expanding the range to it, allowing the arura of his mother and father to enter its rage. before long daniel joined them after that it was a long while before sam saw an arura he recognized but over time he slowly puts the in his view but not without giving a ?? astral nod?? to others using their third eye.


    ''i am amazed that she is still alive but I''m glad'', the raven thought to himself after he trades ?? astral nods?? with the female who thought him to control his third eye. waiting a few breaths after he has the entire sam begins to push his sight towards space and hits a wall immensely, literally.


    the first hurdle that sam didn''t try to pass just yet first he studied the wall poking and prodding it, ''pretty solid but won''t be too hard to break, now why is every single instinct screaming that I shouldn''t do this!''


    "that''s because it''s keeping things out not in" sam barely withheld the groan as he looked around to face the arrogant dick know as Zeus king of the Greek gods. "that barrier is vital to the continued life of this world do not break it", now saw wanted to break it just to spite the arrogant god but he had to learn what exactly it was keeping out maybe he could ask a god with a brain or the helper.


    ignoring the thunder god sam began to pulling his sight back in which took an unidentifiable amount of time. cracking open his eyes sam looked at the kitchen clock it was 3:42 am," I''ve been out six hours...can definitely feel that in my legs." waiting for the pins to fade from his legs sam asked about the barrier.


    ''something the source had placed on all planets that show signs of life along with someone to watch it, I find it strange that is still in place the power you had at ten years old would have broken it along with at least a dozen hundred other being that currently living on this side of the hemisphere.''


    "damage, people with that much power are wary of doing to much damage to the people and land so we try to keep it contained" at the raven explained this he was also stretching out his limbs.


    ''something like that would keep the barrier intact. you could break it yourself but I must suggest you wait that barrier is keeping things out.'' sam made a comment about foreshadowing before heading out to the garden to check on the rose which looked like there were going to bloom soon he was going to have to be near when that happened, for they would start hunting for lust themselves when that happens.


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    bathing in the moonlight sam turned his thought to his upcoming match against Sarah someone who he passive looked into and could honestly say he was impressed and hungry for the fight. very hungry he needs to blow off steam, sighing sam took a deep breath before reaching for his ghost core letting the power flooded his body.


    "GAH" sam revered the flow of power immediately as he fell to his knees following the pain that racked his body. am moment before sam regained his breath, "ghosts are dead they don''t have body understandably that they can''t feel physical desires." fun fact about energy types some just don''t work to together at all just like gosht and lust any of the power that the raven can command.


    originally if he tried to use more then one power at a time it caused his great pain because they were tearing him apart but eventually he found a loophole that he took great pleasure in using. now he would have to find more but not tonight, after his body stopped aching he moved to the front of the house and summoned his heel ride. starting the engine the car rocked towards the high ways,'' if I remember correctly there is a street racing ring in the city, I don''t think it''s been shut down.''


    extitcing the high way sam slammed the breaks just in time for to cars to blaze by him, shifting the gear sam shot off after them. it didn''t take long for the raven to catch up with the other cars allowing him to get a better look at them the currently winning ride was neon green and purple while the other was bright red with a tacky dragon design.


    pressing the gas more sam prepared to overtake the dragon car, at the same time it seems both cars noticed slowing down a bit as their windows followed down, "you wanna race us?", "How cute !" to similar and female voice rang up above the wind.


    they were loud sam realized as they tried to box him in, then failed as sam slammed on the bracks forcing the cars to pass him. he instantly switched to the gas when there was enough space between overtaking the female drivers," now then are they going to show me what they got?"


    sam got his wish pretty quickly at the next turn losing the lead and almost getting knocked off the highway, straightening the car sam rose the gear to chase after them. sam wondered if they were trying to lose him or if the track was just like as the cars soared above a hovertrain. grunting as the vehicle landed sam straight it out before passing the neon car putting himself right behind the dragon car.


    a couple more tight turn happened with them trying to knock sam off the road before the dark-haired teen felt the presence of a large crowd, no he was felling they lust '' another one for the list''. drifting around the last turn sam rolled down his windows and prepared his throat and voice, " thanks for the race" followed by him pressed a nondescript button on his dashboard.


    the and drivers watched in shock as the black car turned into smoke leaving only the smell of burning flesh behind.


    .


    .


    .


    "Okay, what the hell," a member of the crowd said after a moment.


    about a mile away the car reformed in a parking lot before sam climbed out of it dry heaving wonder what was the taste in his mouth. the moment he stopped heaving sam headed to the nearest store buying something to ride the unknown taste from his mouth.


    after spending the equal of forty American dollars on high flavored drinks and snacks sam climbed back into the cars he leisurely drove around the island a bit before returning home. "should I take another shower?" sam asked his self as he sat on his room floor, he decided not just before he closed his eyes pulling his mana core forward.


    the invisible energy gathered at his fingertips slowly it lost if mist-like from condensing slowly over his hands, rushing up his arms over his shoulders. down his chest and up his neck, over his hair and stomach, over his legs feet covering his entire body.


    taking a breath sam manipulated the mana to form small hair seized thorns over his body, thicker patches over his hands and firearms along with is legs and feet. another breath before he removed the spikes sharpening the mana surrounding his fingers and toes.


    the third breath sam changed the mana into a defensive form becoming thicker over his chest necks and head. the next breath and the mana shifted concentration at his feet and then a final breath the mana returned to under his skin, quickly giving himself a once over sam was pleased to find no energy burns but the small pain in his skull told of the effort needed."T¨¡ m¨¡ de, I could sleep with mana armor on now it taking attention I can fight with it but still, it displeased me."


    grumbling at his deteriorated skill sam prepared for another mana skill, this one was more cosmetics the combative well unless you had great timing. directing the mana out thought his feet the ability user lightly raise one of said foot sam brought it down*BANG* a tremor filled the room a bit but nothing fell over.


    walking the length of his room using the trick the raven smiled remembering the tricks he played using this trick. before long he decided to shift to another cosmetic trick after opening the window burnt hair was a fool smell, with his head out the window the mana flowed into his scalp before vibrating.


    two seconds passed before sam black hair began to smoke for a brief moment before igniting and catching fire. it a moment later that sam remembered that his trick was best used in his demon form because it was fireproof,''MIERDA". after dunking his head under the shower and changing his wet shirt sam hide in the bathroom until his hair grew back and the burns vanished. ''im glade for my regeneration,'' returning to his room sam decided for one more trick before knocking himself out for the night.


    for this trick, sam need to push out a steady flow of mana out certain areas of his body and circle him creating a breeze barely strong enough to ruffle his clothing and hair, this mans down was sam''s favorite mana trick it was subtle but man did it make an impact. following up with a couple of poses sam played around with this trick until he noticed a forming burn around his waist. grumbling sam studied the burn for a bit before climbing into bed under his murder scene cover drawing the sleep rune as he went, crushing the rune he left the sparkles floating onto his face taking him to the realm of the sandman.


    <hr>


    A cosmic distance away from earth hidden away in a pocket dimension inside of a star, the companion looked at the window formed by trees showing the lord she had created in her time. "the seven sins are doing well, pride could control himself a bit more and wraith had destroyed another building sloth is doing nothing once more greed is getting richer gluttony is causing food shortages envy has sabotaged others once more and the newest lord is expertly hiding his lust.so how much longer should I wait before I have them all meet?" she didn''t expect a response from the source and didn''t get one. she wondered how they would react to each other she should probably use a vacant moon.

 38

    ''keep the lid tight'', Sam repeated this as a mental mantra as he ate his breakfast. the raven was currently trying his best to keep his poker face on, doing a decent job of it, but he was just so excited for today he was going to fight Sarah his first real battle in the warfare league. smacking his cheek so he could focus on his meal tried to take his mind off the upcoming fight instead he thought on the almost fully bloomed rose which recently attained thorn free vines that clung to anyone who got close thankfully they had the power of a child.


    "I have never seen his so distracted", core commented from the living room, her husband nodded in agreement along with her son''s best friend and Tyrone who was on a video call. they were all tense unsure what was coming Sam was barely predictable when he was calm, now they felt like a bomb squad dealing with a live explosive.


    "if I didn''t think I made lose day I would try to get back for some of his pranks," tone looked at him like he was nuts for even suggesting that." you act as if he has never pranked you before" Sam hadn''t which lead to Daniel grumbling about favoritism." so what do we just wait or what?"


    "well I don''t know about you but I have to get Sam dressed," leaving the living room Natale went up stair to grab the outfit he made. by the time he returned to the first-floor, Sam had finished eating sitting at the table mindless twirling a knife in his hands. Telling Sam to put down the knife Natale placed the outfit on the table in front of Sam, the teen blinked a bit as he focused in before grabbing the cloths taking the knife with him. a quick minute in the bathroom allowed Sam to return downstairs in a completely different outfit.


    the first thing that drew attention was the jacket which at first glance seemed a simple shade of black but the second would show that it but it was several different shades that when hit with the right light reviled when the clock strikes 12 I do. next were the pants which were designed similarly there hidden text on the legs saidpain incoming, the grey shirt under the jacket had no words but was designed like it was on fire. knowing his son didn''t wear shoes much Natale didn''t include them instead used dark toeless socks.


    stepping before the front door Sam immediately began to move, throwing all kinds of punches and kicks to an invisible enemy. the others in the room couldn''t completely see his fist and feet but from the smile on the raven''s face they could tell he was pleased with the outfit." this is great it much better for a fight then all my other clothing, I can enchant this too!"


    "wait what was wrong with the other clothes I made you," the oldest male asked. Sam stopped mid kick to tell him both, "these clothes are just a higher quality then the other more designed for fighting." Natale hummed taking up a thinking pose Cora just sighed shaking her head before asking if Sam had a plan for the fight, the bright and innocent smile he gave his mother the desire to pray for the young girl.


    "smile of the devil" Tyrone commented before asking how were they going to watch the fight, Sam quickly explained it was airing on a channel or live stream in about twenty minutes. at that point, it seems Tyrone had reached his people limit for the day and need the call with a short wave.


    "that''s longer than usual" he continued answering Daniel''s unasked question "he doesn''t do people often so he had little stamina for them." by the time he had finished speaking Sam stretched his right legs as high as it went making a 150 angle.


    Daniel didn''t say anything after that turn the holo-t.v. to the league channel which was displaying a replay of an underwater fight. unimpressed Sam went about his warm-up moving over to energy after ten minutes, poking the cores one by one he pulls a bit of there power out then putting it back before it could affect his appearance or it could cause him pain. moving on to mental stretches which were just letting memories flow dark memories.


    after putting the fark memories in there place Sam remembers that he had yet to load his weapons on him. a quick trip upstairs fixed that pretty easily,'' still a bit of time''.deciding to fuck it Sam closed out letting his mind drift to some random things and thought Sam tried to avoid thinking.


    before long the ring buzzed which was a new sensation," it time" Sam whispered before he was teleported out of the house. when he opened his eyes next he said one thing," haven''t been to a swamp in a good while." his first move was to exit the water climbing a tree, from the top of said tree Sam was able to get a lay of the land. with his eyes closed Sam rose his smell hearing touch rise to there limits, he could smell natural gas, hear something moving in the water and he could feel-


    dropping down Sam felt the chain fly over his head, vaguely he noted the chain wasn''t making any noise. being down his sense to the point he could salty open his eyes Sam followed the chain to where his opponent might be "decernere pugnam iter" the dice appear in Sam''s hand before he had to move again. he had to dodge the chain a couple more time before he got the chance to roll the dice.


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    "so it witch and knives today", flicking his wrist two different daggers appeared in small hands before crouch to avoid the chain that was starting to get on his nerves, quickly speaking the chant to send the dice home he began another as he headed to the score of the chains. twirling under the chain he flung on his knives at the source,'' an autonomous weapon then" leaping above the chain Sam stabbed the knife into one of the links pinning it to the root of the tree. after making sure it would be coming after him for a while Sam climbed the tree first retrieving his knife then checking no the setup of the weapon just as he finished his chant.


    a very worn backpack appeared on his back, picking a flower off the bag Sam reached inside, "tracking" pulling out serial small corked bottles Sam briefly opened them to sniff the contains before shaking his head. he kept going until he sniffed a bottle filled with dark purple dust, smiling he sprinkled some of the dust on the chain before recording the bottle tossing back in the bag and jumping from the tree.


    the moment he feet left the tree a glow the same shade of the dust began to envelop the chain. when the chain was free and comply covered by the purple glow it moved not to attack Sam but off into the distance Sam on it tail, "attack" the contents of the bag changed with the command.


    ''where is he?'' Sarah thought to herself self looking like she hadn''t gotten a goods night''s sleep. which was true since she learned how dangerous her opponent truly was so instead of sleeping she spent the time researching and preparing.'' there is no way that train should have kept him this long unless he was playing with it'' and according to the rumor that was very likely.


    before she could worry more her chain came flying through the trees at her, ''in one action she grabbed the train and forced her mana through it gain control back, just in time to as 10 to 12 knives and dagger came flying at her from the same direction as her chain. rotating the 12-foot worth of titanium links she deflected the knives then pivoting one her foot she swung it the one that came from behind.


    it wasn''t the last one either, more and more knives came flying out of the woodwork, she lost count but she thinks the stopped after the 30-something blade. taking the chance to catch her breath she briefly wondered how he was carrying them all. she took steps back preparing to jump but after tacking two steps forward she felt a sharp pain in her left leg looking down he heart sunk seeing one of the blades she knocked down had inserted itself in her leg, "fuck" just as the wound started to bleed and the other blade rose off the ground.


    as her arm moved to intercept two things happened, first her injured leg gave out on her strangely making her realized the blade was poisoned. second, the chain came to life pulling her out of the way but the blade gave chase,'' your finally awake Cobra chain'' ribbing the blade free she reached into her side bags pulling out two pills almost dropping them at a from a sharp turn and blade. popping them in her mouth she gagged at the bitter taste of them, ''thank god I prepared for poison''. the power of the pill worked instantly the strange color started to fade from the wound as the blood stopped flowing from it.


    once she deemed her leg healed enough she gave the cobra chain a mental commanded ceasing her retreat and putting it into defense mode, as her feet touched the ground she swung the chain at the chains incoming blades. leave the chain to keep the weapons busy Sarah searched through her side bag, she needed to find the other fighter she had something for that even if it costed her a pretty credit. making a sound of triumphant she leaned out of the way of a spinning blade she pulled out a fist-sized compass.


    holding the compare above her head after jumping over two zipping blades, she injected the device with mana making it release a plus over the swamp. she had to dodge three more times before the compare locked down on Sam''s location bringing her free hand up *whistle* the chain instantly flew towards her wrapping around her waist and dragging her upwards.


    point her body in the right direction she let the chain pull her while she got to work putting together a battle rune, the shot rune was a generating type which meant making something that in case of the shoot rune were 0.22LR-9mm bullets depending on the mana amount used. slapping the finished rune on the back of her hand she made a finger gun and *BANG* *CLANG* one of the knives chasing her fell from the sky.


    *BANG* *CLANG*


    *BANG* *CLANG*


    *BANG* *CLANG*


    *BANG* *CLANG*


    shoot all the knife out the sky Sarah turned forward trying to see if she could see her opponent...'' there he was... is he dancing'' Sam wasn''t dancing his feet were firmly planted on the ground. she didn''t like the look of what he drew in the ground urging the chain to move faster with a burst of mana she prepared to shot.*BANG* the same moment she fired Sam spun out of the way facing Sarah with a smirk.


    "you''re just in time for the main event" Sam shouted leaning out of the path of another bullet before slamming both hands on the ground forcing a large amount of mana through them into the spell circle he had crafted which began to trembled not a moment later.'' now to buy time for the spell to activate'', Sam planed before flicking his wrist moving two more daggers to his hands.


    throwing them at the chain wielding female Sam changed his legs with mana before leaping into the sky, throwing more knives he pulled out a vial filled with a bubbling grey lighting from his bag and flung it at her. as she Didi before for she shoots down the knives and daggers then made the mistake of shooting the vial opening it letting its content mix with the air.


    "that reeks" she screamed as the unholy scent reached her nose, it seems wore the death and vomit it was making her eyes water and throat close up. "oh god I can taste it" she complained as the chain flew higher trying to escape the cloud not that it was letting her.


    *slam* she hit the ceiling of the area hard,'' fuck, I need to get out of this cloud before I hurl chunks" this time she had the chain head for the water knowing at least she wouldn''t be able to smell anything underwater.


    "smart'', Sam commented as he saw the cloud of foul heading for the water the spell was almost ready so he took a seat on a tree branch waiting for the show to begin, "I''ll admit that her will is strong most people lose their ability to think in that cloud.*SLPASH*


    Sam made sure to keep a heightened ear out for her as he watched the spell circle tremble along with the muddy soil it was written in. the circle sunk into he soil leaving it bubbling letting the smell of rain forest fill the air, the soil settled for a moment the same moment the could of oil dispersed and Sarah burst from the water looking as pissed as a wet cat. she rushed at Sam chain at the ready but when she got close and saw the smirk on his face and she paused for just a second. that second was all it took for a massive hand to burst from the soil its shadow covering her comply, "FUCK!"

 39

    the spell circle that sam had crafted was a variation on the battle golem spell, with the original spell the body would be crafted from whatever the circle was on and the more energy injected the larger the golem would be, and the longer it would run. they lack the ability to think and follow orders to the later and very literally witch usually caused problems of there own, the bodies were a bit faster than their minds.


    the variation sam used could only be used on soft materials because it made shapeshifting golems, cable of freely changing their shape at the cost of burning through there energy stores, more flexible thinking faster in general. generally that didn''t come in that large of size there creates preferring smaller so they didn''t gain energy burns.


    Sarah barely roughed the ain''t hand as all information on golems she passed moved through her mind, gaining space away from the golem cursing under her breath the entire time, before unleashing a hail of mana bullets on the golem doing temporary damage, ''that at least narrowed down the type". changing the shape of the bullets Sarah fired at the rate of a submachine gun while he chain deposited her a safe distance before following her command to find and attack sam again, a sure-fire way of defeating a golem is defeating its master.


    the chain circled Sarah for a moment before for shooting upward just to meet sam, the raven rolled dispersing the force behind the chain and escaping its attempt to capturing him."I hope this isn''t too much for you because I haven''t had my fill yet," sam ended the sentence by throwing several vials at Sarah who learned her lesson from the cloud of foul.


    when the vails crashed against the ground nothing happened, then the ground started to melt and freeze simultaneously." what the hell man", Sarah cursed seeing the vails effects not letting up the golem which was slowly moving closer to her. sam shrugged unapologetically before grabbing one end of her chain and ramming one of his knives into the links pinning it, pulling out a vial identity to the last one he poured it over the chain melting and freezing it.


    "that take care of that, now what to do with you,'' humming a haunting to sam searched though his backpack confident that the golem would keep his opponent busy. ''i wonder how much she''s freaking out'' if not for the raven''s high-level self-control he would have been crackling up a storm. pulling out a 5ml vial filled with dancing yellow smoke uncorking the bottle sam took a deep breath as the smoke rose into the air, releasing the breath he blew the smoke at Sarah who was now using her fist to try and fend off the swamp soil golem.


    the moment the smoke hit her face she dropped like a marionette who strings had been cut, before some incredible violent tremors reacted her body foam and spit leaking from her mouth. as her eye rolled into her skull the shapeshifting golem slowly encased her in its body. when she was comply incased the golem shifts its form to that of an iron maiden, crimson slowly began to seep into the wet soil of the golem." now just to be sure", the power of the witch core followed out causing sam''s hair to grow out to waist length. plunking one of these hairs sam focuses his witch power through it turning the hair into a needle stronger than steel, there was no sound when the hair needle was flung forward.


    only to be caught mid-air by a red-headed ten-year-old, well they looked that age no human ten-year-old would have the retirement to catch a witch''s hair needle. there was an obvious answer, "you''re the refugee for the match!"


    they nodded, "the match you won after Sarah was encased in your golem", they waved their arm destroying the golem and freeing sam''s opponent. they returned the hair needle before tending to Sarah by stringing rune together, closing the numerous wounds around her body except for her face, it was a form of respect that sam kept from using scarring attacks on the face, leaving no evidence save being a lighter shade of skin.


    sam watched Sarah get healed before raising his sense of smell, he had knives and daggers to find, ''thank you for the idea to use a scented oil!"


    ''your quite welcome my lord, so did you enjoy the fight?" the helper asked already knowing the answer even before they lord cracked a smile," she was strong to bad we didn''t get a chance to go all out."


    "I believe the second round will give you both the chance", the referee caught the knife sam threw at them in response. jumping down from the tree they returned it along with the rest of his scattered weapons. after sheathing his weapons sam asked what he meant by the second round, "did you not read the battle format?" sam tilted his head wearing a plainly curious expression that ended quickly as it felt strange for him to display his emotion to a stranger so easily." all battle within the league can take the form of 30+ way, like the 2 out of 3 battle your fighting.


    "I remember skimming that in the rule, I was more interested in knowing the restriction of fighting", the refugee blinked before telling sam to get ready for the next round before leaving the pocket dimension. laughing sam summoned his dice,'' would want it to easy for you..." a pleased noise left his throat as he saw the result of the roll." demon and ribbon..you know I just realized I''m luckily these haven''t fallen into the water."


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    reaching into his pocket and pulled out the ribbon the should not have fitted inside if it didn''t break at least some laws of nature. wrapping the ribbon sam tried to feel out how much the use of witch power had affected him.'' it could be worse'', as though to himself promoting life to try and prove him wrong. static passed through the raven''s body followed by confusion and surprise,'' what''s happening ?!" following that thought heat started to build, it turned his face red and his breath ragged.


    '' lust core,'' realized as quite a bit of blood headed south, he vaguely heard the bell for the second round. gather himself for a moment sam climbed a tree blending with in the leaves to wait out whatever was happening with his fifth core. the feeling of something falling onto his leg alerted sam to the fact that he was drooling and then to the fact he was starting for something...something he could smell coming.


    he was barely able to stop himself from leaping out of the tree towards what would sate the hunger,'' so this becoming of the lust core...unpleasant''. after using a few tricks sam was able to calm himself and stop drooling, flicking some dagger into his hands the raven tapped the source of his demon power grunting as it refused to release its power. sighing sam poked the lust core grunting louder as another wave of heat washed over him, "fuck". then he heard the parting of air, diving out of the tree he rolled into the ground getting wet dirt on his back, stopping momentary-on his feet sam kicked himself into the air.


    locking at the splashes made by the mana bullets, sam guessed their flight path before putting a tree in that path.'' its her I''m smelling isn''t it" he asked not expecting an answer but getting one.


    ''most likely my lord, would you like some asstanince?'' he could her the helpers cautionly offering him some help.


    ''not yet, for now, I need to cool down,'' groaning internally sam coated his body in mana before leaping off the tree diving into the warm and murky water of the swamp.'' colder then I thought'', sam complement before diving deeper until he reached the bottom where he laid down. closing his eyes he let the motion of the water flow over him eventually he zoned out and may have entered a meditative state until he lungs started to burn.


    preaching the surface sam greedily took in air before his higher sense picked up danger, forcing him back under the water seeing to bullet pass by his face followed by a chain that almost caught his neck. tapping his demon core once more and not getting a negative reaction he let the power bleed from the core filling up his chest cavity andneck, his neck turned black a split in six spots on the sides.


    taking a breath through his new gills sam moved more power to his hand and get turning them to there demonic form with webbing added, debated adding to his eyes but he was pushing it with his focus, ''i''m gonna have a killer headache later on". now with aquatic demon pant sam was able to guild thought the mater weaving through attacked easily until he decided it was time to counter.


    gathering demonic power in the palm of his hands he let golf ball-sized orbs emerge from them and rise to the surface, watching the dozens of demon mines rise to the surface sam wondered how Sarah would deal with them to bad he couldn''t watch himself. after three digits worth of mine were above the surface sam sank back to the bottom and returned to his meditative state, when his mind was blank he picked out what was the becoming causes by his ability.


    ''This is bad, I don''t recognize this kind of behaved I don''t know a creature that acts like this...guess I have to go looking'' sam began to swim his way the surface stopping just breaching it.'' i don''t hear anything, raise his eye above water level explained why Sarah was currently in what looked like a painful position to avoid a cluster of demon mind. from the damage to land, sam had to guess she set off more than a few of those minds, that was probably what happened to her clothes which were barely keeping her modestly and her chain.


    rising from the water sam let out lighter with a slow clap, you know you''re less injured then I thought you''d be..now let''s fix that. raising his still transformed arm sam charged the nails with power before bringing it down, besides a distortion in the air there was no warning before five feet deep gouges headed for Sarah, apparently she decided to take her chance with the mines then whatever sam just released at her.


    twisting her waist she moved between and away from the mined just in time for the gouges to tear through the tree was just on, spitting out swamp water she ignored her aching waist and tried to swim away, another gouge in the water appeared cutting her off going any other way yielded the same results, "if I can''t retreat fight!" calling the remains of her chains she had just enough for her to be lifted above the water toward sam, smiling the raven waved his hand like a conductor tearing up the landscape.


    avoiding the unseen attacks were by no means Sarah was lucky that she only received deep cuts all over her body. Sam remained grinning as he moved his arms to block the females opponent *smack* the blow was heaven the would have thought with her lack of traction but he brought his leg up to return the favor. Sarah caught the blow using it to gain some height preform a downward heel strick.


    ''okay I have been using a bit to much demon power", sam thought after dodging the heel so he could sink his teeth into the ankle drawing blood. ignoring the test of iron sam grabbed the leg before throwing her was following up with another invisible slash, leaping to a tree sam drew the demon power back into its core.


    daggers reappeared in his hands before sam flung them at Sarah''s soaking form, sam followed the blades using mana to keep above the water.after dodging the blade s Sarah moved with small difficulty to avoid the attacks sam was unleashing upon her. soon a blow landed but that didn''t slow sam at all, he grabbed her braided hair wrapping it around his face,'' sorry about this,'' he then greeted his fist to her face*SLAM* then again. nad again and again and again...


    "that''s enough, you win," the refugee said as he stopped sam punch mid struck, sam took a calming breath as well as taking in the state of his fist and Sarah''s face. both were very blood and probably hurt a lot, as sam released her hair he caught sight of the water below it seems that blood from both of them had fallen in colored it red. it wasn''t much but it was engorged to remind sam of bloodier times.


    he was surrounded he could tell that even though he could see through the mansion rain, at least the blood will be washed off he thought before charging toward his first prey. between their legs he went tearing out muscle as he went, he was on his feet in a moment one on the next one who fell to demon power pricing six. the one after got his sword through his body no organs to harmed. next, his ribbon wrapped around the next of two who tried to pincer his falling unconscious after their heads were slammed together barely hear over the rain. more and more fell before him he didn''t know why they were after him but he didn''t care he would fight and wi-


    "-estint sam are you alright?" the referee asked pulling sam from his flashback, "I''ve been better and worse" sam answered the half-heard question. they huffed before returning there attention to healing Sarah''s face, ''this peeks of the boy control there only brushing and abrasion of the skin the bones underneath are comply fine how horrifying injury like this want do percent damage or kill easily how long would he have gone on if I hadn''t stopped him.'' the refugee took a peak at sam who was currently leaning against a tree trying to keep his eyes open.


    ''i need a nap'', before yawning he hasn''t used this much energy in a long while.

 40

    "you know I thought this would end with a lot more blood", daniel commented at the end of the fight. Cora and Natale nodded in agreement as the wife finished off her cup of tea." so should we call about the cake now or when he gets back," Natale groaned as he got up from the couch after sitting there the length of the fight and teaching out his body.


    "hello sally bakery we''ve decided on the text from the cake...yeah we want it to say congratulations, you beat the shit of out of someone!...yes were certain...thank you and have a nice day!" at that he hung up the call. "so the cakes should be here in an hour or so,'' he loudly stated as he returns to the couch, just in time to see his son lunge at his opponent during the awards.


    "Okay so apparently she said something that pissed sam off and he now trying to choke her out." the father just sighed before bidding his face behind his hands. the mother laughed but on the inside was wondering what the hell she could have said to him.


    A few moments earlier


    her face was going to aching for days, Sarah realized as the reward and break down section began, "you were an interesting fight." Sarah turned to the source of her face pains," just to bad it need so soon, you could have done some research on me!"


    "I did research you and brought somethings to counter you based on that information, but it''s more outdated then it thought it would be" Sarah sighed ignoring how sam snapped his gaze towards her, he asked what she brought and offered to tell him if it would have worked. she listed off a few things she brought not wanting to review her entire hand, all the things she brought cost her a pretty credit in total so she was pissed she didn''t even get to use more than the chain and battle rune.


    "hmmm, the holy water was too low of a grade to have much effect but you should have doused your chain in to distract me more. the chain was good but you should have sprung for self-repair it would have saved you in the second round with a surprise attack..." sam contained to tell her if what she had brought would have any effect and telling her better ways to use them then she plain.


    "you are absurd why on earth are you offering me advice?"


    "because I want the rematched to be worth something!"


    "rematch?!"


    "I told you are an interesting fight, I want to fight you again when you have grown more!"


    "hahaha-" a feather laugher burst from Sarahs'' lips"-you live your title as the battle loving child who bathes in blood." a moment sam was silent as the word registered then he lunged at her, the referee stopped talking got in his way" where did you hear that name?!" the rage flowed from sam resonated his demon core making its power leak into his voice.


    *crack*''you have got to be fucking'' the refugee thought as the stone stage started to give under there feet.


    "from a witch, I know," Sarah said after to preparing to defend herself, only to be surprised that sam calmed hearing that. "that good there are few people who giving neutral information like a witch," Sarah had to agree with the raven about that.


    the refugee asked if they were going to causes any more trouble, "No" Sarah told him "maybe" was what sam said. "they don''t pay me enough to deal with you" sam just looked proud of that. " grumbling they turned back to the floating carmakers," so as I was saying the winner sam has earned 200 credits"-the teen didn''t even blink" while the loser has earned 50 credits," she shrugged that was better then she thought." his next fight will be in a few weeks against a yet to be determined fighter. she will not have any fights for the following month," not too bad.


    they formalities went on a bit longer before the fighters were sent back to where ever they had been before called to this place. opening his eyes when his feet were sam was immediately ducked away from the tackled hug from his mother," before the celebration I''m sure you have planned I would like to take a nap or several energy drinks." his father handed him a cups of tea," this works!" the raven then took a sip of the hot drink felling the earth of it spreading pushing away the minor chill from his dip in the murky swamp, now that the adrenaline was fading sam started to notice a few things he ignored in his battle focused mind.


    the waterproofing on his clothing if excellent, his underwear was completely dry, the effects the lust core on his mind were rising again, he wanted a cold shower like now. pulling out bits of algae from his hair sam chugged the rest of the tea, mentally thanking his heat abstention from preventing any burns, sam headed upstairs for a shower.


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    a quick shower and a change of clothes sam returned downstair to see the living room and undergone a small translation, now decked up in grayscale decorations a large on over the tv read congratulations you beat the shit out of someone. rolling his eyes sam let out a mocking laughed before turning towards the kitchen which was decked out to feed a small army, not to mention the multi-tier cake from what he could smell it was assorted flavors.


    "so when are we digging in," Daniel said from where he was sitting his raven friend didn''t need any more promoting after that moving over the table. filling his plate before his behind hit the chair, this will be a great way to distract from the raging wood in my pants''.


    devouring a chicken wing synthetic bone and all sam ignored daniel shaking his head next to him. turning to his own, none of it coffee-flavored, daniel listed as the core asked sam felt about the battle league now," it passed the zero expectations I had of it." daniel gave him a look before asking what he thought of it now," "a worthy place to entertain me!"


    "Why are you acting like this?" daniel didn''t see the small on sam''s face for his head was in his hands.


    "all power comes at a cost, sometimes that cost is the mind!"


    "is that why your nuts all the time, OW" sam didn''t even look as he hit his friend in the stomach. couching daniel flipped sam off, who paid no mind and dug up a spoon full seasoned rice." wait, what kind of power makes you extra?"


    "you''ll find out on day my friend" Natale ''coughed'' at the one.


    "so how do you think your next fight is going to go," Tyrone spoke for the first time since sam returned. the raven looked at the device the reclusive boy was streaming through," a win but at what cost I don''t know" Tyrone nodded ln complete understanding. with a wave of his hand a napkin appeared in sam hands" so anyway I should have asked early but how are the rose behaving?" he asked after wiping his mouth with a bit of flair.


    Natale just hid his face away from the younger males, Tyrone and Daniel looked with curiosity as core patted her husband on the back," they attacked you didn''t they!" he didn''t need a response but he did need a new fork."I''ll train them tonight they would bother either of you again. Cora shook her head before grabbing another fork," they tore up his clothes and gave him a few scratches, he hiding because he had to rush back to our room in his birthday suit, I didn''t mind the show."


    natal smack his wife on the arm multiple time she responded with detail on what she saw, they both ignored the gagging of the boys. sam, on the other hand, was preparing to destroy his eardrums. done teasing her husband she told sam she already dealt with the rose, the edge in her voice convinced him was handled so he stoping planning to temporary remove his hearing and returned to food before him.


    after sam had eaten half his body weight in food, making daniel and Tyrone a little green in the face. they all turned to the cake he gave sam an entire tier of the cake before giving everyone else their slice (he wrapped a slice for Tyrone to receive latter).*coucgh* they turned to Daniel who was chugging his soda, "I forgot Sam like this kind of cake". immediate sam took a bite of the cake,'' spicy icing and black heart chocolate cake" sam favorite sweet types in one dessert. they could see sam struggling with himself to not decor the entire tier in one movement so he could savor the taste of the cake.


    there wasn''t much conversation for a while, as they were too focused on the cake. Tyrone was watching the other trying to eat the incredibly strongly flavored cake. "by the way sam, you remember my uncle that you wanted me to call?" sam nodded whipping some icing from his lips, "well he be in town in a few days."


    "that''s good, I wonder if he will buy the energy gems?"


    "energy gems??" Natale asked.


    "These gems are raw energy given solid form, like a fire or the tide maybe a tornado. the one I have been cut in a way that turns them into beautiful weapons." for a moment daniel was quite before making what he wanted his uncle to do with them." they can be made into jewelry that the reason I''m giving dad some!"


    "When am I''m getting these exactly," Natale already had some plans running through his head he pouted when sam just smiled at him. while he tried to figure out a way to get the information from sam, next to him core was watching the show.


    "What kind of gems do you have?" Tyrone asked making the other wondered this as well.


    "mostly demon witch and ghost gems, because they''re related to my ability. following are explosive mana, pricing mana, cutting mana, etc... sam ent one for almost five minutes telling about the type of gems he had ended it by saying, "sadly I can no longer tell them apart so that''s something o figure it out!"


    "that why we call you ridicules sam," Daniel said with Tyrone nodding along. sam almost smacked his friend before changing his mind and running his tongue over his cheek, the was a brief moment everything froze."WHAT THE FUCK," daniel screeched before vigorously rubbing his face, ''play it off'' sam decided.


    "well hitting you didn''t seem to have any effect" on the side he was cursing the lust effect but thankful he didn''t kiss him or something along those lines. once he was done whipping his face daniel began to wail on sam''s arm, the raven just lowered his sense of touch of letting him go at it.


    "I wanna know how that logic works?" Tyrone asked after watching the chaos.


    "people build some kind of pain tolerance in this would of ours, mental or physical, so don''t use pain to get to others. that what someone thought my and he right, I''ve gotten more people to break with feathers then pipes." no one knew what to say at first butyrone had a question "what were you doing with pipes?"


    "Your internet access is still restricted from those topics aren''t they!" stated before telling the younger male he would explain later." can we return to the feather thing, how did that work," sam''s mother asked with a twinkle in her eye one sam matched a moment later.


    "well it starts by finding there most sensitive spots, then give frequent but short breaks so that can breath but not calm down these are the two main point but remember everyone is different so you''ll have to be flexible" Cora aborded information before turning to her husband the twinkle in her eye brighter." so Natale what my birthday press?," the man opened his mouth before scrambling away from the table shooting out the door, "well I''m off to catch my self a man!". the teens watch as she rushed out the door leaving them in silence before."I''m gonna need ear plunge tonight!"


    "to much information sam," daniel cried with a mix of unease and amazement that sam said that straight-faced. when Tyrone asked why sam have him a deadpan look, "you know very well or-his expression shifted into a smile-should we have the talk again?" Tyrone ended the call there leading to sam''s laughter and his friend''s confusion.


    after laughing and finishing his cake sam asked if daniel wanted to watch something, he agreed abandoning his cake at the table. they moved to the living room turning on the tv and after a bit of channel, surfing found something to watching a comedian reforming for a live crowd.


    daniel found the comedian pretty funny but sam didn''t get a few of the jokes but the ones he did get were decent. ''so what the next step my lord?''


    ''work on the summons and the relays,'' the raven didn''t even hesitate to answer," can you start the calculation for the relays, please?"


    "of course my lord, by the way, something from the companion is arriving in the next few days you should prepare for anything!"


    "What exactly is coming?!"


    ''the only thing I can tell you is that is a test and a gift''


    ''well, that''s not ominous at all.''

 41

    ''I may have to reconsider my place in the league,'' the reason for this thought was simply he had ben recognized the faith time in two days. sam didn''t like being recognized by strangers it has never gone well for him in the past and it was giving his stress this day he almost knocked out a little girl after she grabbed his shirt.


    he was already stressed by the ominous message by the helper, making spell relays, dealing with the lust mutated rose witch kept trying to escape the garden. thankful this wasn''t the first sentient plant sam had Putin the garden, the first that wanted to fuck people though. making the rose creatures summoning circles was proving to be difficult because sam failed that class in witch training,'' what do you know they were right I should have learned to summon other living creature then my self looking back why did I putt summons on all my stuff it would have saved a ton of space.''


    ''there no time like the present,'' sam didn''t respond as he had reached the checkout and started scanning the things he brought which were several pounds of cloud stone to be delivered to his home, it was a faintly colored grey stone the light drifted defy the laws of gravity. it was used in some beautiful statutes or decorations if you were normal, the abnormal used them for different reasons sam remembered a person who used them to make a war hammer.'' what a deceiving weapon that was broke a lot of bone In that fight''.


    walking down the street sam pulled out his life book, he felt jittery bring this out of the house but he needed to study his summon classes.'' i really hope I don''t have to call her she''ll send her familiar at me,'' he considered calling her just so he could fight that thing, it would make a good measure of my current ability*sigh*whatever lets focus on other things."


    summoning is linked to identity, this was what sam was having a problem with. identity everything had its identity shaped everything, sam had a strong identity he knew who and what he was but this caused problems. one was in summoning which one needed to understanding identity, sam had empty to understand emotions and choices but he also saw all as all. except for special cases, one thing wasn''t different from another, one person was no different from another to him this was Sam''s problem with summoning.


    ''you have any advice?'' he asked the helper have closed the book stopping his building headache.


    ''some and a update,'' the helper usually warm and patient tone disappeared replaced with that of a commander ''you forget you are the lord of lust the one who impressions and will one day commanded the beast of lust such a small plant should be child play." sam coved his mouth with both hands, worrying the helper that it had gone to far.


    "hahaha," sam could barely keep his laughter contained," I had wondered when you would drop the submissive act but that''s good advice I''m a lord so I should act like it right."


    ''yes my lord, no as for the update it has entered your solar system and will reach earth''s atmosphere in about ten minutes if you do not wish to attract attention I belives it best for you to find a large and secluded area!''


    "well, I guess it good I brought the obsidian necklace with me," taking off down the street sam channeled a bit of mana into his legs as his presence disappeared. with the releases of mana, sam gained the height needed to land on the rooftops. another mana power leap, midair sam pulled the stone from under his shirt "temps de danser fans l''heure la plus sombre de la unit!"


    the vantablack share enveloped him for a moment leaving him in the vantablack suit. he landed making no noise before shooting off like a bullet, the world blurred around him as he pushed to the limit looking for a place secluded enough to give him time to escape or hide if need be. "it probably best if I head out to sea but will I have enough time to get far enough away...one way to find out!"


    with a challenge in mind sam headed for the sea, which was a thirty to forty-minute drive from where he was using the sixty miles average speed limit no traffic. sam knew he could reach the necessary speeds in the past, but now he didn''t sure do mean he wasn''t going to try. Channing all his mana to every muscle, the suit multiplying the force he used and finally he let his suppressed instincts come forth the blurry world faded away until the only thing Sam could feel was the movement of his own body.


    he was snapped out of it when he hit the water, literally. frailing like a wet cat for a bit sam was able to fix himself so he could start swimming farther from the city. ''it has reached your planet atmosphere, it should be here in 5 minutes visible in three'', mentally cursing at the update sam pushed it while wondering how he was going to catch water ever it was.


    ''wait, I don''t have to catch it, just got to make sure it doesn''t get lost a sea.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    deeming himself far enough (and not wanting to swim more) sam looked to the sky to see if he could spot whatever was coming his way. only after etching his sight to match an eagle did he see it, "FUCK!" from what he could tell it was as large or larger than a double-decker bus. immediately he was reminded of that time someone throw a bus at him and he threw it back before he diving underwater to avoid the impact and shock wave.


    Maybe two minutes later he could hear and feel it hit the sea after the water calmed sam headed for the surface when he got close he noticed something,'' it''s not sinking...thank you, someone!" Breaching the water sam looked over it, not a clue he decided after a moment. so he saw closer as he asked the helper what this was, the answer he got was he would know when he touched it. so he did and the material under his hand briefly flashed, before glowing lines spread over the box-shaped object before it fell apart.


    batting away a spiced that would have hit him sam looked at what remained, he still didn''t know what it was. climbing up on the still in one piece bottom of the box-shaped object. shacking the water out of his hoe sam approached what looked like a few floating cubes, "seriously what are these?" he poked one of the cubes tilting his head as it jiggled he leaned closer after poking it for the second time.


    "AAAAHHHH," the thing attached itself to his face before he could react and it had quite the fucking grip. as he tried to rip the thing off sam spewed every curse word he learned over his travels, ''i''ll sufficient if I don''t get this off soon!" summoning the fire in his heart he let it build as it climbed his throat into his mouth, the slime attached to his face screamed before it flung itself away.


    ''so it doesn''t like fire huh,'' as after catching his breath sam paid no mind to the smoke pouring out of his mouth. taking a deep breath sam prepared for roasting slime,''noo my lord do not kill it!'' *clank* the lord''s mouth snapped shut forcing him to swallow the fire,*cough COUGH cough* sam banged on his chest forcing ash and smoke out of his chest.


    "wh-why shoul-shouldn''t i*cough* ugh"


    ''theses are in your current language mimic slimes, they are caple of turning into an enormous number of things'' the first slime started to grow and wiggle as it slowly turned into a nude copy of sam,''close but I don''t have that much hair and my dick not that small either not to mention the lack of clothes," sam was interested.


    "so why send me these?" sam scratched his chin in thought the mimic slime copying him.


    "to see what you could do with them!" at the moment sam was dancing with the slime mirroring him.


    "what I can do with them huh," sam already had a few ideas most of them broke the law in some way. ''i guess I should get out of here before some shows up, so how do I move them?''


    ''they belong to the lord of lust, your power as the lord will be all you need!" sam wasn''t directing the question to the helper but he would take it. ''my power as a lord, I am the lord of lust my power is lust. how do I command with lust?,'' after a few moments of brainstorming sam remembered his voice-based powers from his ability.'' those are a good starting point,'' closing his eyes sam pulled some power from his highly active lust core. he guiled the power straight to his voice box and mouth.


    "listen", the words left his lips sounding like silk and honey. the slimes stilled showing that it was working, for now, sam pulled open the suit jacket, "enter the pocket!" the slimes followed the honey silk words instantly turning into spheres before they bounced into the pocket like rubber balls."cartoony," was sam''s comment before walked back towards the sea he had to swim back to land before *woo-woo-woo* that "§¥§Ö§â§î§Þ§à!"


    Turing sam could see the outlines of speed boat closing in, "coast guard" thinking about it he wondered if it was worth it to beat them and take a boat. "Nah I don''t feel like doing that today," so he tried to brainstorm another idea he wanted something to ride because he could out swim a boat currently and he was still dealing with the side effects of from his ability and manifesting lust mutations.


    ''too bad, I can''t access any of my vehicle cable of water tra- no that''s not entirely true" wishing the horror movie tune sam drew the sixes in the air. more than a hundred miles below him one of the active underwater volcanoes rumbled as black smoke erupted from racing to the surface, the rose from the water swirling around sam as it formed the gt racecar. "okay where the owner manual?" searching for it sam could hear the sirens getting closer, he made a small sound of triumphant when he found it under his chair.


    "let''s see the table of content, shift mode, plane mode, submarine mode, drill mode, dragon mode, here we go boat mode. note, come back to dragon mode. let''s see I turn this three to the right pull out and then push back in making sure to do over or in the water to avoided damages, warning motion sickness." tossing the manual back under the chair sam started the car and drove it right into the water following the instruction when he pushed it back into the car turned back to smoke for a brief moment swirling rapidly around taking sam with it, he now understood the motion sickness warning he felt like debris in a tornado.


    as the smoke twister died down it forms an action movie worth speed boat, it had the same color scheme as it car form except for syren figurehead on the front. putting the boat into drive just as the coast guard arrived, he finger saluted them before the boat rocked forward his cracking behind the wheel. three of the five boats followed him while the others stated near the rapidly decomposing platform.


    looking through the mirror, sam considered the way he could lose them he quickly ditched the one with caused explosions,''there rides can''t go from sea to land or air but I can''t drive a plane or a submarine!" turning the boat sam began to craft the blade battle rune. hitting the break he unleashed the rune on one of the boats as it passed it before gunning ramming the other boat, he quickly wrote another blade rune send it to the other boat''s engine.


    he ignores the final boat and turns back to the island increasing his sight he lined the boat up with the road,'' i have to time this right or I''ll crash! I know I''ll survive but man will it hurt.'' increasing the speed he grunted as the boat landed after its short air time. it became incredibly bumpy as he came closer to the shore the boats air time increasing,'' almost *ugh* almost*grunt! almost §¥§Ö§â§î§Þ§à! ...NOW!"


    while the boat was mode air sam sifted the dial back four pulling it out and shoving back in, the boat turned to a vortex of smoke then the race a second before it landed, "AAAHH!" it was a smooth landing but he was in one piece, slamming the gas the tires screeched before the car shot down the road weaving between cars heading inland. shifted the gear sam drifted around a corner, before wonder which high way he should take.


    ''if I take highway six I can go straight home but that will lead they straight to me, I could take highway 12 and double back once I lost them but that could take some time, highway 2 takes me near the amusement park, highway 4 takes me...not a clue." slowing down the car a bit he squeezed between two cars passing by a police cruiser that began to chance him.


    "if I ditch the car I can lose them...doesn''t this thing have a self-driving feature?" reading under his seat he pulled out the manual and checked."good I''ll use this and lose the MERDE!*CRASH*

 42

    "ow! ow! ow!" with each sound of pain pulled a bit od debit from his skin, he didn''t need to do this but it helped him heal faster. his parent has always told him not to take his eye off the road when he drives a car, today was a good example of why he should do that seeing as he cracked into a restaurant. thankful no one was hurt except him, it helped him lose the cops and he got a snack from there kitchen.


    pulling a metal nail from his arm sam stuffed another puff pastry into his mouth, he was going to have to visit when they reopened."oW!" that was a splinter from his wrist and the last thing he could remove with his fingers, "they did say that having the suit shield activate only when it sensed a certain level of danger. crashing a car into a store at almost a hundred miles didn''t count, well the car took the brunt of it before disappearing to hell leaving sam to flying the kitchen through a wall.


    Currently, his body felt like a big bruise and something in his left leg was craked so he was climbing but he knew he would be fine before sundown early if he actively healed. putting the last pastry in his mouth sam savored the taste before tossing the box into a conveniently near dumpster. stretching his sore limbs sam tried to figure out the direction he needed to go, he didn''t visit this part of the island often, "hey a hovertrain stop nice!"


    Running up to the station sam quickly found the map, he found the station near his house. "take this train... transfers here ... transfer again and then I get off and walk home. good!" walking from the map sam took a seat waiting for the train the arrive by pulling up the news. he was already on it, apparently, they were calling him a mysterious figure he muffled a laugh he hadn''t been called that in years.


    they didn''t know anything, the news that is, but they were looking for clues and tracks. they wouldn''t find anything and even if they did sam could take the cops. his train arrived soon after sam was done with the news and read of the digital novels, he continued to read it after he boarded the train heading home. the ride was simple and a little long before he got off at the station near his house, he walked home from there until he reached the front door where he stopped.


    hostility, his mother brand of it and a lot," who pissed her off?" unlocking the door he was assaulted by a screaming match walking inside he saw her a mord away from a fistfight she colled her feathers going from raging rage to controlled," i have told you to fuck off more than a dozen times I do not care for your money fame or you have lived a very filling life without them so hope you take and shove them up your underweight behind!"


    At this moment sam remembered why he had a healthy amount of fear of his mother she will make you live in terror, something he only had a few years of practice doing on purpose. he watched as she then cursed them dangerously calm until they got the hint and decided to leave, one his way out he tried to bump shoulder with sam. the raven knocked him to the ground, with a fake smile sam offered him a hand which the guy tried to knock away.


    forcefully taking the hand sam squeezed with a small amount of mana enhanced strength getting weak cracking sound as pulled they to there feet and shoved him out the door." so do I have to break limbs or what?" he asked after making himself a glass of water." probably not, so what did you do to get on the news?"


    "I have technically broken no laws to my knowledge!" Cora responded by asked what laws he knew. sam just took a long sip from his water digging through his memory at the Sam time, "yeah I got nothing" Cora giggled a bit as she considered lecturing sam on the laws once again. they exchanged a few more words as sam finished his water and headed upstairs to the bathroom he wanted to check on the mutations he could feel the tail but something was wrong so said his gut.


    in the bathroom, he lowers his pants with his back to the mirror. the nub that was to be a tail had grown it no longer looked like a bug bite now it looked like a large welt a darkly colored one. "ah!?" sam made a noise of surprise when he touched it, there wasn''t pain but he was sure how to describe the feeling. leaving it alone for now sam searched for other changes, ''my skins darkening!" no matter how much time sam spent under the ray of the sun his skin naver changed for its pale shade until now.


    it wasn''t the biggest change just a bit more color but sam was calmy frecking the fuck out, "please let this be because of the new core and not something else." putting his clothes back in places decided to trim his nails they were getting a bit long,*clink* that could be a problem *clink, clink, clink" after trying a few more time to cut his nails sam decided this was probably another change caused by the lust core." so, my skins getting darker I''m growing a tail and my nails have increased in durability I don''t know the creature that I''m turning into?!"


    take a few measured breaths sam calmed himself and put the thought of his slow transformation out of his mind, it would do good to work himself up. leaving the bathroom he entered his room and laid on his bed pulled up one of the digital books he owned, he tried to read it for a bit but he couldn''t get absorbed into it. sighing he decided his emotions, restless uneasy, he needed to do something with meaning. while wondering what he could do he heard a roar come from the backyard," the rose!"


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    leaping from his bed, sam climbed out his room window onto the roof which he crossed to up into the backyard. the growling rose paused at his presence, shrinking back ass sam advance on it clearly remembering the ''talk'' the human had with it. the power of his forth core well in his throat as Sam made his way to the plant, "give me your identity!" the rose froze twitching along it vines sam understood after a moment it didn''t understand the question. ''well it wasn''t even a month old'', how did he explain this...!


    "give me you, what makes you the being you are, give me that information!" this time the rose understood the question. even after all his travels sam had run into few plants that were caple of speech, but that didn''t mean he was incapable of talking to plants with a certain level of intelligence mostly though sign language modified of course. he was impressed by how much the rose learned he just gave it a book and left it to its own devices though it possible his mother helped it. with the knowledge and passive active witch core, a summoning circle was forming in sam''s head.


    ''that the final part!'' sam instantly kneeled down, filling a finger with as much witch power as he could without aggravating the lust core. steadily sam drew out the summoning circle onto the lawn, in term of a summoning circle it was pretty simple that didn''t stop the strange beauty all summoning circles possed. when the circle was complete sam took a step back to take a picture of it, now he just needed to bind it that was a bit more difficult for a living thing. inspiration hit him he walked up to the rose ignored how it leaned away from him taking one of its petals he placed it in the center of the circle.


    a bit more witch power into the petal and it was time for the chant,'' let see something in Spanish I think...no that won''t work...closer...there!'' " vienen hermosa pero peligrosa flor de la lujuria, ayudar a revivir mi lujuria con su belleza enga?osa!" The circle was bound to the rose and sam no longer felt restless, now he could read his book in peace. giving his thanks to the flower sam turned around and with a running leap barely grabbed back into the roof. he crossed it and swung back into his room sliding into his bed pulling the virtual book back open.


    he wasn''t sure when his stomach made its emptiness know but he did know he was coming back to that book he wanted to see if he could reach the point one of them realized their feelings, three sandwiches later he was back to reading. "I''m gonna kill this author,'' one of the main charters just got shot sam was not pleased but he did appreciate how their friend preceded to go feral on the attacker." that is not how you wield a chair!"


    the light of the rising moon told sam that it was time to stop reading unless he wanted to finish the book today. stretching until his joints popped he sighed,''time to deal with the mimic slimes,'' summoning the suit he noted that there was still a bit of damage from the crash. he didn''t mind the suit would repair itself in time, opening the coat the command the slimes onto the floor before him.


    "go explore and mimic, return before the sun rises, stay out of sight", the slime bouned out the window into the night.


    ''was that wise my lord?"


    "probably not but they need more form do they not, besides this will show what they can really do!'' stretching a bit more sam headed downstair for water. "so what do you think is the next thing I should mutate, I''m thinking some kind of fruit tree." that last bit was probably his stomach talking but it was a good idea and would probably have fun results,'' so what kind of fruit should use as a base.'' sam considered the options as he took a bit out of a granny smith apple its acidic taste washing over his tongue.


    eating the apple while considered the fruit he should mutate reminded sam of all the apple he encountered over the years, he laughed remembering the apples that bit back then he stopped to rub his upper lip as the memory of pain surfaced, ''no one would notice a new kind of apple and I think I know someone who runs an apple orchard now is my relationship with them good or bad.


    finishing off the apple sam kept the seeds and head up to his room where he pulled the life recording book from where he hid it. opening the book sam flipped through trying to remember where he met them,'' i think it was an English speaking country...I''ve been to six ... Did I cross a swamp before meeting them? or was it a blizzard I remembering being wet whiles stealing some apples and some cider. there were fresh-baked pies and tarts candy'' his stomach was talking again he needed more than an apple but he thankful he found that chapter of his life.


    "Marie Bruun", that was her name she had courage from sam remembered her knees shook as she confronted him. he also remembered her kindness as well. he needed to know how she was doing these days, how should he go about it ...'' social media!'' it was actually pretty easy to find her account. it looked like she didn''t post often most of what she did post was about apples or showcasing the fact she was a member of the human-animal alliance just like sam was ''oh I could send her a message through that''.


    after that though, sam noticed that she was an active member of the alliance this only improved his opinion of her but it made it harder to send her a message, protocol, and such.'' okay so I need to figure something else out could I send an e-mail?'' sam closed and resealed his book of life.


    ''if I may be of some help," sam easily gave the go-ahead," one of the more common of mimic slimes is to send messages to have the mimic your appearance and voice give them the message and send them on their way.'' sam opened expressed how happy he was with this idea. " that''s exactly what I will do, I bet she had never gotten a message like that before," he chuckled as he entered the kitchen instantly going for the fridge. he decided on some leftovers, while he heated them up the helper went into detail on mimic slime messaging, it was pretty simple but he had to be careful slimes were not the brightest creatures.


    platting his reheated food sam popped it into his mouth absorbing the heat and directing it to the fire in his lungs, while he ate he pondered on the next step on teaching the heart fire to daniel. he still hadn''t gotten it to ignite but he had reached the point where he could store heat, ''build up the heat at this point and direct it thought the body that''s what I have to teach him next.'' popping more hot food into his mouth sam drained it heat while the source asked a question.


    ''why do you use such a skill you are more then caple of controlling your body temperature without it,'' sam had to pause there he did have that kind of power.


    "sentiment!" sam would admit to how he smiled at that moment

 43

    "you doing it wrong," Sam said from the edge of the jacuzzi. Daniel looked at him with a very annoyed and red face from where he stood in the heated water." you must guild the heat not force it," not once looking up from the screen he was designing how he was going to carve the cloud stones that were arriving soon, who would have to guess the something mystery falling from the stars would delay the mail well it gave sam more time to think which allowed his to release that that the relays would probably be shot down unless he disguises them or registered them he chose the first, more fun!


    "step out the water your overheating, try and expel the hear from your body" daniel slashed some water at his friend before doing as he told. sam was a strict teacher but patient teacher, he gave instructions and hint then waiting until daniel got it, but that didn''t mean things were going smoothly. Daniel wasn''t sure he enjoys a hot tub after this, all the lessons have taken place in a hot tub one at the highest setting. first, he had to grow familiar with the heat then he had to learn to control it now he was leaning to store the heat then he was going to learn to generate his own.


    daniel was able to expel the heat after a couple of tries then got back into the steaming water, he winced at the temperature. but he focused on that dragging the heat into his body so it didn''t harm him, he probably was directing even half the heat that entered his body but it was enough. from where sat sniffed the air,'' he doesn''t smell like he cooking so he can stay in for a bit''. he would have preferred to use another sense to keep track of his friend''s health but his senses were acting up because of the lust core.


    he was sure what was up with them, his sight kept going black and various shades of purple, his hearing kept picking up some kind of pulse that was fucking load along with some unintelligible whispers, his smell was picking up news sents but sam could ignore those to an extent, don''t get him started on his taste and touch. sighing he looked over the designs for the six relays he planned to make, they would be enough to reach the other island he based them on flying creature from his nomad time.


    "I think I''ll start with the phantomwings," pesky little felines the size of a car that made no sound what so ever striking only when they were certain it would kill. as deadly as they were the creatures were majestic almost otherworldly and they knew this and used it. subconsciously sam rubbed he could feel the phantom of fangs closing in of his neck, after a deep breath the phantom teeth were gone and he focuses on his friend who was making progress.


    sticking his barefoot in the water sam channeled the force of his heart fire into the water slowly turning it red, daniel resited for three seconds before he screams and clears the jacuzzi steaming a bit he was mad as well." what the he-" he stopped as sam held up his hand and pointed to the water which had begun to rapidly freeze then melt and boil, simmer then evaporation followed by condensation then half boil half-frozen, An incredible show of control and a bit of showboating. daniel watched amazed and a bit confused why was sam showing him this, " impressive right this what you can do with the heart flame. now take some ice and melt it using this skill!"


    "okay?" was all Daniel could respond with pulling son ice from the frozen half of the water and wondering how sam was pulling that off he got to work on his assignment. several melted ice chunks and numb fingers later daniel wasn''t getting it, he could melt the ice on purpose. "how am I supposed to do this?"


    "draw heat from the boiling side of the jacuzzi and direct it to your hands," both of the paused before daniel started laughing knowing that sam didn''t mean to answer that and he was blushing under his lightly tanned skin, which he should probably ask about. grabbing another chunk of ice daniel stuck a leg in the boiling water, he ignored the cold in his hands and focused on the hot surrounding his foot drawing the heat into his body he leads it to his hands forcing the cold out.


    he could feel the ice start to melt faster cool water flowing out of his hands, he remained focused when though he was excited by his success and surly the ice was completely melted. "this little trick is useful in frozen wastelands where liquid water is scarce, or you can boil water to clean it. you can even cook with this trick though I wouldn''t recommend it the food always tastes funny, that may have been because I didn''t know how to cook then?" sam paused to think on the question. daniel took the chance to rest he had been at this for the past three hours he felt like a boiled vegatble, he crawled over to where his water bottle and book bag was sitting mildly glad that sam warned him against bringing coffee but he didn''t have to smile like that when he did.


    "get back in the water I''m going to teach how to breathe fire," his friend almost choked on his water.


    "won''t that hurt!"


    "not if you do it right and if you don''t I know how to treat internal burns"


    "no fucking no lets do something else!"


    sam just rolled his eyes reassuring his friend he would be fine, but daniel remained stubborn so they changed to learning how to start a fire instead. sam then took a chunk of wood from his own messager bag and set it down, he set his pinky on it and a moment later it started to smoke and caught fire. sam then pulled out smores supples and tossed another piece of wood at his friend who ducked, sticking a few marshmallows on a skewer sam began to describe the difference of the processes of melting and starting a fire.


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    wondering if he had been played seeing how prepared his friend was daniel tried seeing the wood on the fire, by his fifth attempt he got a puff of smoke. ''adding enough heat can melt anything, but unfocused heat will never start a fire, just like sam just said how do I focus the heat...the finger wasn''t sam being dramatic it was filled with enough heat to burn and start a fire.'' holding up a finger daniel pooled all the heat in his body into it, placing it on the wood which smoked but didn''t ignite. so daniel focused the heat into the tip, the wood finally caught after a stressful moment and the teen pulling his finger away watching the flickering flame grow.


    "here!" daniel jumped realizing his friend was next to him offering out marshmallows and Coffe chocolates! he quickly popped a chocolate piece before getting to work and roasting a marshmallow." so what am I supposed to learn after this?"


    "form the hear fire, what I''ve taught you are things to use after it been formed!" said responded as he brought over his burning wood, " there are plenty more but you really should focus on forming it!"


    "Okay so how do I form it," Daniel asked as he made a smore.


    "ignite your breath, let your heart burn and the heart flame becomes...that all I remember on forming the fire...don''t look at me that way it was when I was around nine maybe."


    "I still can''t believe you forgot how old you were, what do those words even mean?!"


    "well igniting your breath is the hard part control will let your heart burn after that!" sam put out his marshmallow before popping it in his mouth.


    "How does that not burn?" sam just threw some chocolate and gram crackers in his mouth, smacking his face how his friend was daniel prepared to cook another marshmallow while trying to figure out he was going to ignite his breath. it sounds like fire breath but how ould that make his heart bru-,''oh hell no.'' igniting his breath and breathing inward would make his heart burn and kill him burning his form the inside out. ''how did sam survive it?'' daniels asked just that explaining his deduction of hint.


    "control will let your heart burn, that is how you survive control the ignited breath and the heart fire is born!"


    "could you be more extra!!"


    sam took that as a challenge, "control is an important part of life, control your hunger control your rage, joy sadness pain instinct and you will control the path of your life even when life tries to control you."


    "I should be mad but that was pretty damn cool," daniel sighed as his friend wore a victory smile. ''do I have the control to tame an ignited breath and let my heart burn I''m risking my life for this skill, but it will be of great use when I start wondering the planet like the rest of cursed members of his family have done. would sam come with me?''


    sam twitched at the look on his friend''s face, he was weighing his life. he was taking a risk if he tried to start the fire now. sam was thankful that daniel didn''t want to light it today and they changed topics to there next video, daniel wanted sam to share some of his nomad time tales. "no I could get arrested for some of those stories, not the mention the people would like to track me down! I think we should show off something of yours."


    "why you much more interesting!" but sam didn''t waver telling his friend that he was incredibly interesting sam would know. making a mental note to complement daniel more sam listed off the things that he found interesting about his best friend uncaring how daniel''s face became redder the longer he went on. "all right you made your point please stop! you know for all the find interesting about my I still don''t understand what interesting about my dancing skills?"


    "I have seen a thousand dances and I have seen anyone who dances quite like you," it was basically a subtle way to say he danced like he had three left feet and two of them were broken. but it was incredible to watch in a way enchanting like the waves it was amazing sam thought every time. "and I promise that if someone mocks you they will see me in their nightmares!"


    "The fact that I know that will happen makes me feel better but worry about a whole new bunch of things like being sued!"


    the cosmic lord scuffed, "they can''t successfully sue without proof and you can''t track my methods I spent a year to make sure of that fact." daniel opened his mouth to ask but decided not to possibly deniability something he had a surprisingly lot in relation to sam seeing as he talked about his many exploits.


    "that doesn''t mean they wouldn''t try or dirty your reputation." he wasn''t sure how to feel about the way sam started laughing when he asked why sam told him that his reputation was dirty already and could only get worse if he became a terrorist or a rapist. he decided not to comment on how he found those two on the same level, he then noticed that the fire went out sometime during there talk and he was bit wet and cold.


    "I''m going to put my clothes and you should clean this up I do but that the gym owners would like evidence of a fire in their jacuzzi." sam didn''t say anything he just got to work writing a rune to create a burst of wind that blew the ash into the jacuzzi waters ad then another to purify that waters, if daniel was still in the room he would have asked why before dropping it. standing up sam took in a deep breath drawing in all the heat of the room temporarily turning into a freezer allowing his body to dry before releasing it.


    out of the jacuzzi room, sam quickly put his shoes on before walking out of the building where he waited for daniel. minutes passed before his direction cursed friend joined him and they headed out to a nearby park. they walked with sam leading not much conversation, when they got near sam felt a familiar being. ''well shit!'', he considered turning around but the being noticed him as well sighing he prepared to be annoyed it got worse when he felt another presence.


    ''Garry should not meet them, I can''t take that much aggression...and not retaliate in kind'', he considered introducing them. they were similar in certain parts but their differences would prevent them from getting along and he would unleash something terrible on the islands and a good part of nearby ocean life. *sigh* "looks like I have to punch a god-he smirked- he willed be pissed but I wonder what he''ll do about it," sam already knew the answer.


    "um, what are you talking about?" daniel asked a little afraid to know, what god and why was sam going to punch him.


    "Ares the Greek god of war, we have an unpleasant history together let just sam he wanted me to do things I have never agreed with." the look on sam''s face stopped him from asking, that look sam had it sometime when he talks of his past reget and acceptance sometimes there were more emotions positive or negative.


    grumbling daniel asked if he really had to punch the god, "well no but that''s the best way to deal with that war god."


    *sigh*," let us get this over with I want to enjoy some peace before the sunsets." sam smiled while wondering what the fuck he meant by us he could be planning to be at his side while he dealt with the god. then he remembered that if he wasn''t keeping his actions secret from him and his parent they would totally be helping/interfering with his business as the lord of lust.


    ''i have no idea what going to happened to I!''

 44

    in all honestly, he thought things would be going to right about now. sam rubbed the fist he used to punch the war god who was currently being talked down by daniel. he always gets whiplash when the teen pulls on his business face, but he was convincing the god, who came to the island because of sam, to leave. apparently he was going the ''you can''t convince sam to do what you want'' path, and he was right he was not preaching to that god he didn''t like slaughter no matter how easy it was for him.


    "but it is his natural talent, he should embrace it and I can teach him how to do that!" the god argued.


    "true you can teach him but how would you feel if he turned that power on you." the god actually paused at that like it hadn''t occurred to him. sam long ago proved that if nothing held him back he could match a god, several at the risk of his life, he still wanted to acquire him but not in a way that would make him declare revenge. huffing the god dispersed in a blood-red flash leaving behind the smell of war grounds. sam watched as daniel flopped to the ground, probably because a large amount of tension leaving his body so quickly, sam grabbed him under his armpit and dragged daniel under a dree so he could rest.


    "SAM!" turning around sam saw the person he didn''t want to meet the war god coming his way. waving at him the raven thanked the angry boy''s timing, any sooner and he would have seen Ares. when he was close enough Garry asked what sam was doing her, he paused and shifted into a fighting stance. Sam let him be for a couple of moments before smirking and telling him that he was hanging out with Daniel and he was more than welcome to join them.


    "you don''t mind do you?" sam asked his resting friend.


    "not at all, I''ve been wanting to meet the famous Garry."


    "and I have been meaning to meet the famous daniel."


    seeing there matching smiles sam had one thought," I should have let Garry meet Ares and not daniel!" the friends of sam immediately started trading stories about the raven. spilling what Sam had told them about each other, while the raven was considering knocking them out and keeping the heat away from his face. when they started trading full-on stories sam had walked away not wanting to be right there listening to them and their voices filled with fondness, it was embarrassing.


    out of the average hearing range, sam looked at the sky, ''how much more time do I have like this? my past is catching up on Ares was most definitely watching the warfare league how many people who want something were watching...*sigh* well let them they could take me in the past now they have even less of a chance." numerous faces flashed through sam''s mind some were clear than others.


    a breeze blew by him causing him to shiver, it seems that the darker his skin got the more sensitive it became he couldn''t negate with his sense manipulating technic. it was worse than it felt good, sam had years of experience with pain not so much with pleasure. ''still can''t tell what I''m turning into but I can feel like I know it. thanks to the markings that are appearing on my body." they were faint and he could say anything certain but they looked familiar, pushing it out of his mind he focus on something else like school the break would be over soon probably sam had lost track and he may not go back this year.


    minutes passed and sam was starting to get a crick in the neck "well..bad luck today huh!" sam said after feeling another presence, "at least this one will be easy." heading back to his friend''s sam tried to get the crick out of his neck,, ''she''s getting closer is her lap dog near!'' back in hearing range he could hear daniel telling about the struggles of a feral kid learning to use technology. he was going to get smacked for talking about that, after the delt with that she bitch,"hey we got trouble!"


    daniel stopped mid-word and asked what kind of trouble," veronica winter from school is here!"


    "FUCK!," Daniel got to his feet he could stand that chick she acted like she was a god-given gift to the world, and despite how she acted most of the time she was incredibly smart plus a little crazy. "really I already dealt with a war god and is that going to keep me up tonight, but now I have to deal with her fuck this shit I am out!" he climbed to his feet and head in a direction until sam called out and said she was that way he did a 180 sam and Garry by his side.


    "so who are we running from?"


    "remember that chick I told you bout the one that people call Samantha the queen," Garry made a face sam had painted a rather detailed picture of the girl and it was far from a pretty one. sam frowned as he left the presence head for them, had she seen them and decided to follow that would have made no sense he had hit her with a roundhouse to face the last time she bothered him too much.


    ''my I have to inform you but the person you currently avoiding with good reason is under the beast influence and as it''s lord you must deal with it.'' several thoughts went through sam''s mind some of them curses others bloody,'' no killing that will have horrid seal the beast control on her body, you have to break the connection with your authority overpowering the beast.''


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    sure let''s overpower the creature older than his planet, sam was confident, not cocky." how the fuck am I going to do this I guess should take a look at her", she let lust flow into his eye changing it. now with a satanic incubus symbol pupil and one eye closed sam look at this grey world only colored could be found on thinking living beings. looking the two who were retreating with him, ''Garry''s blood lust is off the chart and daniel looks like the average teenage boy definitely going to tease him about that''. turning around to run back words he quickly found ''''the queen'''' who saw following in heels." sweet honey iced tea," she was keeping pace with them in heels not small on either, oh and her lust was a mess that was looking back at him.


    looking close he could see a stream of lust heading somewhere off in the distance,'' how long is that?" sam wondered.


    ''proxy twenty miles'' the helper answered sam thanked them and wondered how he was going to disappear to find the source.


    "hey, I need to take care of something." he straight out told them before changing his course. he was surprised that daniel and Garry followed after he tried to convince them to not follow him but the company sam kept was stubborn. "fine you can come but I''m not paying you medical bills!" they didn''t even flinch at the words so with a sigh he speeds up. when they covered the twenty miles daniel was regretting as his lungs burned while his legs ached after raising his hands above his head he looked around the alley they were in, no clue why.


    "so what here, that were obviously not seeing?" Garry asked looking at the wall sam was glaring at with his mistatched eyes. instead of answering the raven walking forwards hand in front of him, *ZAP* they all tense as sam''s hand touched a patch of air. bracing himself sam forced his hand forward filling the alley with purple cracking energy before there eye a portal opened and the raven didn''t hesitate to enter.


    not wanting to be left behind the other teens followed wonder what they were headed for. inside the portal was like a rollercoaster up down left right back and forward before they landed, where they landed was a mystery and looked like a video game level or a psychedelic video. "what I''m looking for is somewhere in here, of all the day not to bring my climbing gear!"


    "you don''t own climbing gear," Daniel said without pause looking around them. sam rolled his eye his friend wasn''t wrong but not completely right, he had things he used when he need to climb massive heights. walking forward the raven pulled out the only weapon he had with him today a meat cleaver the lust energy was coming form a certain direction. the other two followed him wonder why he thought he would need the cleaver for and where he kept that, a few minutes later when vines sprung from the ground under daniel.


    sam stood back watch trying to figure out their intentions, but when he figured it out the vines were slashed that second he caught daniel the next. leaping back he put the other boy down before charging forward to finish the plants with a now burning cleaver. when the plants were ash they continued onward, "watch for more surprise unless you feel like getting your cherry popped."


    they definitely had the other two on edge and good thing as they were attacked by more vines more than once sam dealt with mostly but left a few for his friends he needed to conserve his stamina if he wanted to deal with what even they were headed for. *slash!* "There are so many of these!" daniel complained after sam sliced the lastest vine batch "there has to be a better way to deal with these?"


    "unless you have a weapon or fire of some kind this is how we got to do it," Sam said trying to keep his breath even. he got worried as Garry started breather rapidly but calmed down as he felt heat come from the team. the air warped around him before dark red fire bloomed across his skin, "will this work?"


    "definitely," Sam told him before moving forward with Garry by his side. they picked up the pace making a better time than before, "we''re getting closer be careful it probably knows where here at this point! AH!" it only took sam to moment to figure out what had hurt and immensely started cursing. that hadn''t been an attack it was simply a form of energy so much that it was harming anything unprepared, coating his body in his own mana, and instructing the other two to do the same. they came into a wide area laying in the center of it was one person that made every hair on sam''s body stand on end.


    "if it isn''t the new lord ho-" they did get a chance to continue as sam threw his cleaver at them charging after it. they grabbed punch after avoiding the cleaver, the two entered a battle of strength trying to force the other back. sam noted there appearance and that there was nothing they were faceless, with grey skin this was a little unnerving he couldn''t read them like this. planting his foot in there cheat he pushed the faceless being away into for Garry to join the fight, the landed a series of blows on the featureless face.


    "you didn''t do any damage!" sam informed him as they stood next to each other daniel behind him, "mostly like some incredible regeneration or its just that strong." the second he finished talking sam charged forward again manna flowing through his muscles but this time he did attack. spinning around the faceless he slid across the ground picking up his cleaver then back to his feet he attacked," so it regeneration and power." the nicks he was making were healing under a moment.


    "so this won''t be too hard! fuck!" he remembered that he could only use his lust and mana core safety right now. ducking under a swing he slashed the ankles before backing away he didn''t know how to use his lust core in battle and wasn''t ready to. using it in battle would stress it out and that would affect the speed of the mutations, now while most people would think it was a good thing it, in fact, was the exact opposite the faster one mutated the bigger chance of something going wrong.


    "I''m gonna need a lot of burn cream later," sam said before the air around him shimmered with energy, "now! die! faceless!" with each word he lashed out send the faceless flying knockin up a bunch of dust as he did.


    "holly sh-" *BANG* the faceless his one of the floating platform a moment before another attack from sam divided into four pieces. ''this is what sam can do when he got serious!'' both daniel and Garry thought.


    "thank god" daniel happy


    "How dare her" Garry enraged


    "never get serious with me!" Garry''s anger turned to fire that coated his form before he took off toward the faceless currently weaving through sam relentless assault. when he reached it he grabbed it by the head slamming it into the sone beneath them leaping away so sam''s knees could drive the face into the stone. " you held back against me!" Garry screamed as he concentrated his fire around his hands, "of course I did- mana gathered into his knife holding arm- we would level cities if we went all out!"


    simulate they released their attacks setting of a good-sized explosion Garry closed his eye but sam didn''t and was able to see the faceless charge at daniel. "fool!" was all he said because he was going to wonder the would at some point his parent had made sure that their son could defend himself which meant doing the paperwork for a battle rune a hundred time over.


    the faceless was stopped in their tracks by a ball of water followed by a bolt of lighting Daniel didn''t stop there more than six different attacks hit them before Garry sent the faceless towards sam with a burning fist. as it passed by him the raven removed the head,'' not there,'' chasing after it he sent his weapon through the chest.

 45

    when the fight started sam thought the faceless was an autonomous being, no soul and not really alive a puppet of some kind. so the best way to beat it destroy its power source it wasn''t in the head if it was the head would have grown a new body not the body growing a new head. so he stabbed it in the chest sending a pulse of mana through the blade into the body to do some damage, all he got was a leg to the chest. ''okay so I don''t know what to do now I guess I can hit it until it breaks!''"


    ''technically that is knowing what to do, also my lord your line of thinking was on track this creature is a puppet and has a power source but it is not located in its body. while the helper spoke sam was busy dealing damage alongside his friends, he informed them of the power source issue.


    "so what you''re saying is that we find the source we can win this fight!" Daniel asked before drawing a rune sam sorta recognized someone used that one him. the finished rune turned into a glow around one of his hands, daniel slammed his glowing hand into the ground. pulsing of energy spread across the ground Garry delt with the faceless wile daniel deciphered the results of his rune and sam had flashbacks. he found the power source, daniel stood up ready to tell his friends when he saw a faraway look in sam''s eyes, "dud are you alright?"


    shacking his head sam focused on the present," sorry just relived the first time I got stabbed in the lungs. who stabs a ... how old was I?" pushing that train of thought away for later sam assisted Garry.


    "so I know where the power source is!"


    "where?" Garry asked while sam put his teenth in the faceless''s arm," and why are you bitting it?"


    "it twentyish feet downward and he bit because according to him his teeth are stronger than then a katana!"


    ''wtf does that mean?'' Garry asked himself after he blasted a streaming fire as the ground. seeing this sam tore off the arm before hitting the faceless with it, spitting out the arm he asked what the fuck Garry was doing." burning the ground away!"


    "those flame are not hot enough your sourcing the earth there is a difference!" sam flipped the faceless into the fire." daniel do you remember the Peirce rune, use it to mark the spot on the power source!" he then dived into the fire shocked Garry making it. unsurprisingly sam was unharmed currently trying to put the faceless in a hold but the things\ were triple joined or something so resorted to biting it again in the neck.


    while Daniel did as he was told Garry watched sam wondering what was he planning and why he was bitting again. when the ground was marked sam traded places with Garry." fuck I forgot about the cores! man, I''m gonna need a lot of burn cream." every bit of mana in his flesh condensed into a fingertip only a moment and it was already turning red. he slides to a stop atop the mark daniel made, "pierce everything even the gods" the faceless crumped to dust not a moment later.


    a moment of silence passed before sam started cursing up his storm, his finger was a fourth-degree burn, and man that hurt. taking a forceful steady breath he lowered his sense of touch, when he was feeling less pain sam turned to his friends was were laying on the ground trying to catch their breath." so how was that?" just before the world started shaking, "ËûÂèµÄ!"


    the space they were in was quickly turning to dust? no more like fog. sam quickly opened this third eye to observe the state of the space." okay I have good news and bad news, space is collapsing around us but we won''t die but it will hurt like §¹§Ö§â§ä §Ó§à§Ù§î§Þ§Ú" saying this sam walked over to his friends who were trying to stand aided by a burst of adrenaline. he grabbed an arm each when space collapsed he didn''t want to lose them using his third eye he found the ley lines of the realm and looking deeper to the lines of the earth. he dragged his friends to a spot where the ley lines met avoided a sinkhole and falling rocks, the grouped up over the crossing ley lines.


    "waiting is always the worst part of these situations," Sam said to his friends ignoring the destruction around them and the warm feeling in his chest at the trust they were showing him. he could see there fear from the possibility they could die in this mini world, but they weren''t trying to run even though their eyes said that wanted to.


    "dud are you humming? stopped to tell Garry that it was something to do while they waited. daniel joined sam in the humming but with a different tone more cheery than sam''s horror movie film one. ''These two are nuts, and so am I'' he started humming a rock song he heard on the radio. the three hummed their own tone competing to drown the others out. Garry and daniel''s humming turned to screams after the ground gave way under them, daniel had screamed at sam that his tune wasn''t helping his heart.


    "ugh, ow, where are we?"


    "near a bakery, probably an alley"


    "How can you-?"


    "I can smell pie, let''s get some!" the other two agreed and the peeling themselves off the ground sam didn''t bother to try and clean up his appearance, as the other two did. instead, he followed his nose it took his out the alley and down the road to sweetooth bakery. he pushed open the door to see a man putting together a puzzle next to the cash register.


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    "Welcome to sweetooth were there a sweet for every tooth!" the man didn''t even look up from the puzzle. "what kind of sweet are you looking for?"


    "pie," sam answered curtly something was strange about this shop he jumped when Garry and Daniel arrived.


    "What kind of pie? we sell quite a few!" as he saw that the man pulled out folder a paper folder listing the 41 pies sold in wholes or slices." pick whatever you like vegal lost and -"


    "We never said our names!" now they all were on guard.


    "that right you didn''t tell me yet not that it matters...your pies are ready!" they hadn''t ordered yet but before they could say this they were holding something." banana cream slice for daniel, a slice of chocolate and apple for Garry, and a whole key lime for sam!"


    "who the fuck are you?!" sam said as he lept towards the baker but he never made it before the next thing he knew he was standing in the driveway of his house.


    I''m so sorry to spoke you I just can''t resist meeting my child''s lords they are the most interesting beings in his universe. don''t worry about paying for the pie think of it as a gift for defeat the first of the lust beast servents.


    "what the hell was that!!" sam screamed daniel and Garry stood behind him dumbfounded holding the pies.


    ''my lord I don''t know who or what that was but you will not be able to take, him the source may not be able to!'' the helper honestly sounded afraid and that spooked sam more than the words they had said. *SMACK daniel and Garry jumped at the sound of flesh hitting flesh they looked at the source to see their raven friend''s cheek turning pink.


    "well that was new, life is full of surprises huh!?" with that sam stood up and headed inside leaving the other two dumbfounded. he got over that way to quickly as it took them a bit longer to take control of there limbs when they came inside sam was making some tea." this will do wonder for the aching you should be noticing now!" he was right they could feel there limbs starting to ache daniel more so. sam made another tee for himself one that would help with his mana scorched fingers before grabbing some plates so they could have their pie.


    *couch! cough!* "oh I forgot how to warn you this tea is incredibly bitter add lots of sugar," sam said this before taking a sip of his own tea sense of taste long gone. then they took a bit of the pie they were beyond surprised by the taste it was otherworldly, heavily. it didn''t last long each disappointed when they finished it off, "I still don''t know or what he was but I know this he makes good pies." sipping more of the tea sam tried to remember where the mana burn cream was his healing could take about a mouth unassisted.


    leaving his friend at the table he grabbed the cream from his waist land called a closet, as he applied it to his fingers he return his friends with the medkit under his arms. the vegal medkit was large like two duffle bags large and surprising it was this big before sam it made one wonder what the fuck does Cora do for a living. but sam didn''t mind it was very useful to him and anyone he dragged home usually bleeding, today he used it to patch up his friend who not to injured were experiencing major muscle pains. rubbing some cream onto daniel''s arm to deal with his own mana burns he handed Garry some compresses.


    "-earlier today about thirty people collapsed simultaneously less than an hour ago, as of yet they have not regained conciseness. experts are baffled as all of they are in great health showing no sign of anything that would cause them to faint, the police believe this could be some kind of attack from some kind of terrorist gr-" at that point sam changed the channel.


    "I don''t like being called a terrorist," he mumbled as he wrapped his fingers.


    "please tell me that the fainting isn''t our fault!" daniel asked as he rubbed his bandages.


    "I can''t be certain," daniel just gave him a look before turning to the game show. eye on the show sam asked the helper a question,'' so what exactly was all that with the faceless?''


    ''the beast of lust escape attempts, by having the puppets it created gather enough lust power it can break from free its cage. it works sim-''


    ''how many?'' sam asked.


    ''i detected almost five hundred on this planet alone, there is no number for the amount across the universe


    ''can you find more on the island?''


    ''yes approximately twelve dozen....my lord?''


    ''i will deal with those on my own time, for now, cloud stone is arriving soon is arriving soon and I need to sculpt.'' then he realized something "where the fuck is my bag?" his friend froze noticing the lack of there own bags. "fuck!" Garry summed up the situation pretty well apparently he had about a hundred credits worth of items in his bag.


    "look when can probably find them, I know there''s a good chance that there all still on the island. if we use a circular search pattern I bet we can fin-" sam was cut off by said bags dropping at there feet and laughter in the air. "seriously who the fuck is he?" sam was on edge that kind of power even without malicious intent was unnerving for him he hasn''t been this outmatched since...? "when was the last time I was this outmatched like this?"


    choosing to look through his like book later sam grabbed his bag checking the contents, after he saw satisfied he return to his sculpting plans. neither of his friends commented both of them tried to peak at his drawing with painful results, time passed a bit before he showed them a picture asking if it would make a good flying statue. "when did you do the paperwork for this?" Garry didn''t need the black look from Sam to know that didn''t happen. the raven had a vague idea of how the law worked. "know what I''ll deal with the paperwork and use this will look like a great statue, "don''t you dare S-" he didn''t get a chance to finish as the raven wrapped his arms around him.


    hugs from sam were weird the guy was cooler than most people that made his hugs cool not bad in the middle of summer. but it was just apart of the strange that was sam, huffing Garry relaxed in the hugs enjoying the cool skin until sam released him. briefly wondered if he was imagining it but sam felt warmer than usual closer to the average person. when he was free from the arms he asked questions, specific one about the status that sam had no answers for. apparently, he was planning to wing the entire thing, "you can not wing a flying statue someone could get hurt by it....like a plane flying into it" he added on as an example.


    "why do you need a flying statue?" daniel asked a very good question.


    "I wish to put beautiful art in the world," sam said some incredible bullshit. neither of his friends bought it, "okay I need them to work smarter on a certain thing!"


    "does it have anything to do with the thing we fought?"


    "Everything!" he also mentions that they did want to know more, "plausibly deniability!"


    "you worry me so much you know that right" Garry said before looking back at the tv. sam laughed as he did the same daniel wondering many things. a few minutes passed before sam got a message on his bracelet, it was from the warfare league. his next match had been decided and his cheer attracted the other teen''s attention." I know this guy, I fought him before," apparently Garry was part of the warfare league that seems like something to look forward to.


    "is he a good fight?" that was all sam wanted to know? Garry made a so-so gesture," he can throw a decent punch but he all ways tries for dirty blows."


    "boo! dirty blow doesn''t work on me," both daniel and Garry asked what the fuck that meant, "well between high pain tolerance and high regeneration low blows don''t so much. why is this fight in a few days?" at that Garry told him scheduling based on popularity his opponent was fairly popular and sam probably earned himself some with his brutality mainly.

 46

    the sun-warmed sam as he started at the floating cub of stone before him it was a not completely pure white. he was trying got to figure out where to start carving ar the stone and ignore the piercing gaze of Garry. some part of his felt like the teen was going to attack at any moment,'' deep breath deep breaths remember your sculpting lectures start with the rough form." taking a deep breath he took the image of what he wanted and projected it into the stone. picking up the chisel and hammer he got for this mana was channeled into them before he brought them to the stone *crack* ''to little but good practice"


    Garry watched curiously sam did it differently than most, for one thing, he was using mana. which was supposedly supposed to control the force of the chisel in terms of directions and strength. looking down he was the creature he was trying to imprint into the stone then he looked at the image he found on the internet. the creature looked powerful ''it would be hard for it to kill me,'' he knew that from an image of the thing sleeping. Garry couldn''t wait to see how well sam imprinted that into the cloud stone.


    An hour and a good amount of stone falling off sam stopped and took a break he was having trouble keeping the image of his design. wiping the sweat of his brow and draining his waterbottle samlet his muscle rest despite its name cloud stone was really hard a bit hard then quarts. looking at his chisel he noted that still in good condition another perk of covering it with mana. looking at the chisel he also was his hand, his skin had reached golden tanned and most had stopped changing color except his fingers to his elbows. he could see the change but he could fell it the skin the texture was different from the rest.


    there was the tail which had recently had a growth spurt was now reaching the back of his knees. his hair was changing texture as well the recently felt four bump on his skull when he washed his hair. the mutations were approaching their final stage but there was good news sorta, he had opened the witch information network. his message box was full and he chooses not to deal with that can of worms yet but he was able to find a creature of lust the looked vague like what he was turning into along with why he neven encountered one. An incubus, a demon of sex, they only showed up before those who have reached sexual maturity and were in desperate need of sexual release. sam met neither of those requirements.


    there were differences from what he could tell but it was a starting point.'' a starting pint but I still have more to learn about this new form of mine.'' letting out a breath alongside some emotions sam turned back to the statue in progress a bit more and he would have a general shape then he could start on details. "honestly I thought this would take me a few days at least!" picking up the chisel and hammer he got back to work. when he had the great shape he had started at the head making the open maw of the beast moving toward its short neck.


    slowly but surely he got the shape of the beast, "now for the details" grabbing the drawing he closes his eye searching his memory for every detail. "okay fur first," it was probably going to take the most time seeing as it covered the entire beast which was not small. the fur was coarse but look fuffy like a cat he changed to another too the chisel would do here.'' I''m covered in dust, so soaking later on,'' sam decided as he worked on the underbelly.


    After wiping the dust from his face he grabbed another sculpting tool a drill-like thing to refine the fur. placing the drill thing down sam started adding details to the face eyes ears nose and so on. when the face was done sam commented," this is too good its giving me flashbacks", and he wasn''t jocking mostly. grabbing another tool sam started working on the feet then moving onto the cliff edge the beast stood on. he was starting to get frustrated the was little light, "oh" the sun was setting he had worked the day way." working from him morning to sundown no wonder I''m sore. been awhile been iv been so absorbed in something besides battle and novels."


    stretching out he sam covered the state with a tarp before heading inside his stomach was demanded empty. ''i guess there is a downside of having three meals a day for four years, I miss being able to go five days with food and fell nothing" he has no idea how morbid that is. but it not like he would care if he did as he was no waking a sandwich humming tone when he sandwich was done he took his bracelet off do not disturb. "wow that is a lot of calls for me!" most of them were nothing too important except his boos informing him of the shift schedule and Tyrone saying he needed the summing circles.


    ''i can send those right over,'' he had the foresight to put the summon circles for the rose plant and mimic slimes into digital forms. speaking of the flower it had at some point gained the ability to walk and now spent time away from the garden. they weren''t worried about it, sam''s threats and his mother''s kindness taught it not to randomly attack people. the slimes were actually hiding somewhere in the house mimicking something. sending the files over sam asl sent a message asking how he was doing, then one to Garry because he didn''t know where the fucker went.


    He left to get some dinner, sam bad for calling him a fucker this time. finishing off his sandwich sam took care of business in the bathroom before taking a shower before soaking in the stub into the water cool. after he was dry and dressed he returned downs stair for more food apparently in time for Garry to return."did you lock the door when you left," the look on his face was answering enough, "dude I could have been killed!"


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    "you mean you could have killed someone because you yourself there was no one strong enough on this island to kill you!" sam couldn''t retort to that without straight lying or sounding unsure. two things he disliked a lot but his friend was talking something he did like. " so how much progress on the statue did you make?"


    "a good amount," he answered while pulling something out the fridge he sniffed it before putting it back. he pulled out a take out box it had artificial seafood wasn''t in the mood for that so he put it back. he made a sound of triumph as he pulled out artificial beef hot dogs. Garry watched his friend prepare his food wondering what he considered a good amount,''knowing him it ranges from little done to just ready to paint.'' if sam had heard this he would have laughed because this was true.


    with his hot dogs in hand, sam sat across from Garry who was eating his Italian. they act in silence for a bit before talking about the status again. this allowed Garry to get a better idea of what sam was able to complete today, "why didn''t you touch the wings?"


    A good question, "there the hardest part," he said simply. the feathers of the creature were incredibly small roughly a million on each wing carving they would be incredibly tedious. but he didn''t say this it was something Garry would be interested in well sam thinks that anyway a few days ago he didn''t the angry teen that he liked art. "on the mater of the other states I need to figure out with order I''m going to do them I''m thinking of the snack on next, I should probably get the paints first."


    "I know where to get some good statue paints."


    "no, I need a specific brand of paint that made by and for witches otherwise the spell won''t work quite right. I could make it myself but I only learned half the recipe."


    "why only half?" Garry asked before taking a bit of his food.


    "I couldn''t stand the teacher he was so arrogant, my class last is difficult and only have of you will pass! he said that with pride, it so stupid to me that teacher brag about that! they admitting they can''t teach, a good teacher and you can learn anything!"


    "you seem certain of that" privately he had to agree he remember his combat class no one was getting but then the teacher was replaced and grades were up.


    "do you know how many teachers I''ve had over the years, about two hundred! some were easy to learn from! other I have almost killed in frustration and that only those who intentionally taught me something!" sam took a bit of his hotdog blowing his emotions out of his nose.


    "yet despite that, you can''t teach!"


    "I can teach! I just not a gentle teacher if you learn from me you''re going to learn whether you like it or not!"


    "yeah and what would you teach me?" he actually wanted to know sam know, sam knew a bunch of useful shit.


    "I''m already teaching you!" well Garry was gonna be pissed damage control. "I met someone with a temper like yours once," he ignored how his body was tense in response to the growing threat before him," it ended up killing them entire lower body blown away the rest was burned horribly. this was caused by no outside force it was there own rage that killed them, I granted them a mercy death but not before promising that if i even encountered another with that special kind of anger I would teach them!"


    "Teach them what?" sam relaxed as he felt the danger faded away.


    "to turn them bomb of anger, into a blade. make sure they don''t kill themselves on accident you''ve made great progress."


    "Why didn''t you tell me?" Garry''s anger was rising because looking back he could see the lessons. said lessons were sam knocking him on his ass and mocking him, he was angry because they worked so fucking well


    "two reasons, I don''t know where to even start I don''t know everything, and second you became my friend" the tightly capped rage Garry felt died at that show of vulnerability.


    "that''s unfair you know that!"


    "but it true, at some point you became my friend and not a way to fulfill a promise." *thunk* Garry planted his face against the table grumbling something mad. sam only finished off his food waiting for the other male to speak," so what can the rage do if I control it"


    sam had to think about that, "you could battle gods and walk away the winner." Garry was taken aback what the hell was his ager that it would allow him to take on gods and why the hell was sam so sure of this, what did the one he promised to? "I bet you''re wondering about a few things, but I can''t answer any of your questions I don''t trust your control," he said that last part in a fact like the way and if he as being honest with himself Garry didn''t blame him.


    "fine!" Garry grumbled before angrily finishing his food. sam sighed in relief he didn''t know how Garry would have reacted to being denied information. "I guess now that you know I can tell you the next stepping in your training, feeling the power hidden in your rage" the smile and cackle of his raven friend made Garry regret many choices in his life.


    <hr>


    "so the little lord has taken down one of my puppets, oh well it will do no good!" the beast of lust cackle from withing his prison. the beast was confident that he could take the lord, he may not be able to see the world beyond his cage but his servants and puppets could, he knows they have been watching and studying the young lord, and was the time to attack. "so how shall the lord fall, Kelesh?"


    the female who followed sam on his last day of school bowed before her creature and master." he will fall to the blade of a hundred screaming in pain!" the beast laughed in joy the lord would die and he would be free. the were completely unaware they were being watched by the helper with orders from there lord.


    ''he was correct in expecting retaliation from the beast,'' they decided to stay and watch for a bit longer. as they watched the helper couldn''t help but wonder what their lord had planned, from what they observed sam would at least appear to remain calm and relaxed while instantly putting some kind of plan together. he would act calm and steady while he then put that plan into action they wonder if their lord would even considered help that was quite the problem for him. maybe they could help with them!


    <hr>


    "This is that could be found" the detective looked down at the meager file. he''s seen children''s book with more data, the mark left at the house of the first victims had been recorded at the more than 400 places around the world." really 400 cases and this is all we have, not even what the perpetrator was doing. hell, we don''t even have a timeline!" he partially wanted to find this guy more so after that attacked him. even though he couldn''t see the face he could feel the smirk that was being worn.


    *bang* he slammed his fist into the table. taking a deep breath he took a sip of coffee, well-tried his cup was empty. sighing the 40 something got up from his desk heading for the coffee machines. grabbing the bot he sniffed it, "oh french vanilla!" he filled up his cup with the semi-warm beverage. the cups fell to the ground moments later spilled its contents on the tiled floor the detective nowhere insight.

 47

    he didn''t have the caffeine for this, Blake Carney decided as he looked at the people who just kidnapped him. they were dressed in pure white looking like a bunch of knights." so why the hell did you bring me here? it better be important you made me spill my drink."


    "*huff* to inform you that you''re looking into the history of a monster one we been tracking for a long while. we lost his trail a few years back only for his mark to appear on your island."


    "him?" because that seems like an uncomplicated question with a probably uncomplicated answer.


    "that his preferred pronouns, you should misgender anyone even a monster!" blake''s opinion of these people has gone up but not enough to make up for his coffee.


    "Okay, so why is he a monster?" he didn''t want to ask this question.


    "ever hear of a subtropic island that pitch black surrounded by dead calm red water?" the detective said no, "well you never will and it''s his fault. he erased it from this world along with most of it people." some came into the room with a box, and one look could tell it was not an ordinary box, even without the chain that developed it or the glowing line and rune carved into it. a moment later some came in with a ring of keys," this is something you must see if you wish to confront the beast." the one blake was starting to think was the leader said while the box was being unlocked, the detective Vagle noted that everyone else was getting as far from the box as they could.


    "HOLY SHIT!"


    <hr>


    "what?" his hand was tingled and it distracted him from his sculpting." whatever," sam decided before turning back to the statue currently he was working on the wings and his eyes were starting to hurt. the feathers were stall and he had to squint to do them right and after aiming about 30 of them his eyes were starting to hurt. "I guess I should break for a bit," you said you have something to tell me?" he addressed the helper.


    while sam rested in the light of the sun the helper explain what he learned keeping an eye on the puppet. "well this is a problem," honestly he felt a familiar emotion at the news annoyance. he enjoyed fighting but he hated when people ganged up on him, groups were easier to take for him to take usually but his options were limited right now. "I know a way to survive and win but it will be unpleasant form me!"


    ''i''ll help you in any way possible, my lord!"


    "I need to accelerate the progression of my mutations. I learned the first time to let it happen slowly, fast mutations are painfully incredible so. but now I don''t think I have a choice if I want to keep living most likely, it done by feeding the core or using it intensely generally stressing it. this will accelerate the speed of its power flowing through my body fueling the growth of the mutations. there are many ways that I can get this done raging from picking a fight o-" he suddenly stopped mid-word eyes wide. "oh I''m rambling," he couldn''t remember the last time that happened maybe when he looked 13.


    "yeah, thirteen sounds right," sighing sam did a few meditative breaths to calm down and prepare himself. "I should probably do this at night, ill be harder to track when I lose control of my self...?? ???? I fear the loss of control more then I do the pain." sighing once more sam looked at the statue he definitely wasn''t going to be able to continue working on. recently he covered the stone art and headed back inside he had preparations to make like grabbing the incredibly dangerous magic herb mix in the cabinets.


    several hours passed before sam was ready to stress the lust core, the preparations only took an hour or two and he got a confused look from his parent while he did them. but on the roof in the light of the setting sun, he was ready, one of his preparations was changing his clothes to something disposable. another was to prepare a bottle of water mixed with the two magic herbs, thirdly he prepared some cash because he didn''t want to risk breaking his holobraclet. then there were a dozen minor things he did to calm his paranoia with acting as he had it.


    "Okay, here we go," taking a deep breath he grabbed hold of his lust core releasing it power through him but that wasn''t all he called on the lust of the people within his rage pulling it towards him even with the help of a spell circle. for a moment he did think this was enough, " AH!" then pain erupted throughout his spine. but it wasn''t limited by his spine he hurt all over to the point he fell to his hands and knees. controlling his breathing to lessen the pain or at least see through it.


    he could feel the changes starting to speed up and new one sprouting up. his sense of time disappeared while he tried to keep his breathing even and observe the changes to make sure nothing when wrong like growing a second head. thankfully the pain faded to a dull ache and sam could stand once more, and immediately he leaped into the air he was starving so he must feed. "this island is full of fresh meals," his new wings stretched out catching the air.


    as he flew into the city sam''s reasoning was able to get through the fog in his head. he couldn''t help but wonder what exactly he was going to eat,'' ugh I hope it doesn''t try and bite back I''ve had it with meals like that. as he entered the city he briefly saw his reflection in a window. "Porca puttana!! his hair what happened is his hair gone with its natural messy state and replaced with slicked back in a way most called sexy. but sam didn''t like this style, he tried to mess up his hair but it fixed itself. only after his hand brushed again the horns did sam take note of his other changes.


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    the horns looked simular to lust beast but he had one pair, "I prefer my demon horns." the tail had reached a length a bit longer than his legs it was covered with a mix of black slick fur and violet scales. his shirt was destroyed by the wings coming from the center of his back at first they looked like they were made of see-through scales but they were pixie wings, "now that a pretty sight," he expressly like how they kept shifting colors. "I probably don''t need pants in this form," because from the waist down a mix of thick fur and scales hid everything, his feet had also turned to black hoves "how I''m gonna walk with these." the back of his hands was cover in covered in scales, wrist to elbow hidden in light and soft fur. his nails looked unchanged except for the fact they and changed color.


    "there a secret that?" sam noted looking over his nails he didn''t know what but he felt it in his gut. as he passed by some more window he stopped his flight to get a look at his face. his eyes had taken the lust form while his teeth looked like vampires, but besides those, he looked pretty much the same. admiring his feeling in the window he was reminded why he was here, a hunger the existed in every inch of his body. wiping away the excessive amount of drool flowing from his mouth," he had to eat! foods on the other side of the glass." raising his hand lust surged into the fingers of his hand, the nails grew to a deadly length.


    *growl!* the building security system repelled sam''s attempt to stab through the glass. he tried a few more times before deciding there easier ways to obtain food. looking down he could see more than a few traveling his wings stopped buzzing putting sam into a free fall. As he approached the ground sam''s reasoning told him what he might be eating, life force through sexual acts, or simply lust. whichever it was he was gonna get it from humans, and he had many ways to get them to give it.


    "oh that''s an idea!" sam said as he landed on the sidewalk scaring a few people. he had an idea that probably would get the police involved, they could be annoying even if they were just doing their jobs. taking off into the air once more he a certain love hotel that he never cared to remember the name of." there they are!" dropping from the sky once more he landed in front of his target who looked like a 15 blonde boy, "are you hiding from the police again?"


    "no are you? wait who the fuck are you? and can I have your phone number?" at the last question the blonde licked his lips the baggy pants weren''t hiding much and the face wasn''t made not to mention that fragrance.


    "it''s sam!" he stated with a dry tone he didn''t think his appearance changed much but it could be a power he hadn''t figured out yet.


    "oh boo, so what do you want are we dealing with a sex traffic circle again?" he said as he started to grow. Uncaring of the shifting appearance sam explained his current hunger, he agreed to help but not without saying " so you came to the shape-shifting prostitute, and here you said it would be unlikely that I would convince you to join me in the bed."


    "you didn''t convince me to do merde. I came to you because I knew you would agree." sam said trying to keep himself still. he wasn''t sure what changed when the now 20 looking blonde agreed to help but he was a tic away from lunging and ripping away his clothes. but knowing him he doubts that he would mind.


    grumbling that sam was right he turned around and head for the love hotel, "hey!" sam had grabbed him under the arms and flew they inside.'' how hungry is he, I was this guy not move an atom for seven hours straight'' by the time this thought was done sam had a room key and heading for the stairs. they room ends up being several floors but sam reaches it under ten minutes. the blonde over his shoulder mildly sick," dude slow down!" sam stops to his relief in front of the room door. sam hand him the key and backs away with, and the blonde couldn''t be sure, with regret on his face.


    "sorry, harder to control myself than expected. gonna have to give in soon and you''re sure gonna get it Flow" the now-named flow just smiled in excitement. he always wanted to know what happened when sam let go and this new appearance of his, clearly had some surprises so he quickly unlocked the door and entered the room stripping his clothes as he shifted his form into that of a blond female. the moment the last of her clothes hit the floor hit the ground the door closed and she felt her back hit the soft bed.


    "This may be more fun then I thought?" flow commented as she felt sam hands roaming her body with endless praise spilling past his lips. planting his hand on the bed sam leaned forward droll barely contained as his tongue rolled out, "holy shit" that thing was long. flow shiver as she felt sam''s tongue and lips trace a path down her body until the raven was between her legs.


    "MOTHERFUCKER, ah, I WILL GET, ugh, YOU" almost ten minutes passed before flow remembered that sam loved toying with people. ten minutes full of sam tease her body, flow tried bitting him but he only smirked before nibbling on her ears." YOU''LL pay for this" pressing her head back into the bed she cursed the horned teen.


    "probably not," sam replied putting tongue back in his mouth as he admired flow''s flushed form. though he should probably stop playing around, teasing her was like an appetizer and he wanted. no needed the main course, so he removed his pants letting his thing free.'' take it slow, try and stay in control.


    that thought proved useless as the moment he pressed against her vagina the lust he had been barely holding back over welled him. Flow could see the change in his poster and in his eyes as the whites vanished into black, ''shit'' she thought as she braced herself for anything. the last thing she expected was to feel him gently push inside, "Is this okay?" it took her a moment to realize that was sam talking because that sounded nothing like him. unsure scared, no matter what sam always sounded calm or confident. Flow was sure he faked it some time, probably, hopefully.


    "yeah this okay, keep going." sam nodded before rocking his hips, once more asking if this was okay, it was getting on her nerves, "look if I don''t like something I will inform you. so stop asking," she tried very hard to keep the annoyance out of her voice and kept it even as he had stopped rocking. sam nodded before taking a breach and even if he stopped speaking the question was still in his eyes.'' tonight is going to be very long isn''t it?''


    "This has been the long night of my life!" flow didn''t have the strength to move the sun of light was shining through the window on to her nude form, sam slept right next to her arm over her stomach. he had shifted back to his human form only half an hour before when his hunger was finally satiated, the ache of his flesh prevented flow from joining him in the land of dreams." well at least he''s asleep!" oh poor shapeshifter never tempt the universe.


    "My mouth tastes like," sam smacked his lips trying to identify the taste filling his mouth.it was from something living he knew that much." whatever," crawling out of the bed he crawling to the bathroom grabbing his pants on the way for some reason that alluded him for the moment he muscles ached a lot.  as he washes his hands he remembers the event of last night even though it kind of hazy and purple, "shit flow is probably in a bad mood." leaving the bathroom he found the shapeshifter and was playing dead on the bed.


    ''Should I start a hot bath for her?''

 48

    ''this is by far the worse lose of control I''ve had, to show such unsureness.'' for a moment he wondered what that said about him but noped those thoughts and focused more on helping flow recover from the night. she definitely needed fuel and fluids, probably morning after tea when she got out of the hot bath she was soaking in. thankfully the hotel had room service, grabbing the phone from the bedside table which was filled with lube and condoms he probably should have used. calling a smorgasbord of food and drinks plus some after morning tea.


    when Flow left the bathroom wrapped in a robe, that looked really soft and sam kind of wanted, she got the tea immediately. "what''s this?" she asked looking at the mug sam handed her taking a sipe before adding some milk.


    "morning after tea", said sam before inhaling a few donuts and a glass of explosive orange juice.


    "I''m on birth control, a few kinds" she didn''t stop drinking the tea.


    "Just trust me you won''t want my children so it best no to take any risk." it''s why he ordered the strongest tea, mindless he poped a few nuts into his mouth.


    "What''s wrong with your children?... you don''t have any already right?" because with sam you never fucking know.


    "When I was around maybe twelve, I found out that the power of an ability user affected their children. now I didn''t want children but like all children was incredibly curious so a threatened a seer to see what would happen to my hypothetical children. let just say they''ll bring a whole new meaning to demon children." flow opened his mouth to ask before deciding that he didn''t want the details, a very good idea.


    ''When did he change'', poping some sky nuts into his mouth. they ate in silence with their own thoughts sam thinking about his goal he could work after he helped flow recover, Flow was thinking if he would survive charging sam for his services. eventual the shapeshifter decides to chance its body primed to change and run." alright how much?"


    "58 credits," sam handed over the money plus more after counting before returning to his food. "okay that went smoother than I thought! also you tipped me way too much!"


    "you were going to get paid whether you liked it or not, second the tips hush money I was as calm and collected as ever last night." his tone clued him in on the threat. flow kept the money he wouldn''t have said anything anyway, he was a decent enough person not to tell about a moment of vulnerability wouldn''t be the first time with a customer. definitely a first with... was sam a friend?


    ''i never thought on this matter have I?'' flow''s relation with sam wasn''t much they got along because they knew a lot about the world more than an average person for how old they looked, flow found it endlessly funny that sam was unaware of his real age. they worked together pretty well, it was a smooth thing but they didn''t share any personal details and that was required for friends with Flow." are we friend?" he decided to ask straight out.


    "no, but I see no reason why we couldn''t be" sam reponed in kind. Flow was glad he was honest but still changed the topic by turning on the news. apparently, a giant plant was attacking a club, and Sam had something to do with it seeing the way he cursed. when flow asked," I mutated a plant and completely forgot about pollination!" flow had the guts to laugh at him getting bagel to the face.


    <hr>


    "well this is something else" Cora commented as she crossed the police tape. the rose was currently wrapped around a small skyscraper. it would have been set on fire if not for the fact it had hostages and she had called ahead." where the fuck is sam?"


    "speak and I appear" landing beside his mother he looked over the giant rose.'' when was the last time I dealt with a giant-sized something.'' he shook off the train of thought he could reminisce later right now he had to tame a monster plant. "shouldn''t be too hard" especially with his fully matured lust core he had to practice with it anyway. grabbing hold of it he felt the masculine and feminine energy fill him. opening his eye he noted that he had transformed,'' i gotta find the control soon.'' to make this quick sam ignored his mother for the time and took off into the sky stopping in front of the main rosebud.


    it took a second for the rose to notice his presence and half that to start cowering, "well this is surprising but why?" he had started threatening.


    ''in this form, it recognizes you as it lord. I can analyze this form for you and discover its power.'' sam scratched his chin in thought before asking the helper to do so but not tell him the results. ''very well my lord!''


    "now then you ginormous rose, free the humans and shrink down!" the plant obey immediately dropping humans from the duplicate bulbs completely nude. thankfully they were caught before falling more than a couple of stories, after making sure that they were safe sam turned to the shrinking plant. it became small enough to be held by a child when sam grabbed it taking off away from the screen, he needed away from all the eyes on him.


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    and after circling the area making triple sure that no one was following him sam returned to his mother''s side. she was talking to the detective he beat up a bit back, sam wasn''t nervous there wasn''t a mortal method to recognize him out of that suit.'' what''s that smell,'' it was familiar and it was coming from the detective.'' it''s not the cigarette, it came from something fun, something of mine.'' as he tried to remember the source of the sent his mother and the detective talked about where the plant came from.


    "pollination", answered the question he had been asked." we should probably talk to the bee association. don''t more of them popping up."


    "why was this thought about before?" the detective asked a good question.


    "simply because it''s never been a problem before, everywhere I messed with nature before the bee action was working or had already been informed of the risk. I wonder what the nectar will do to there honey?" and sam was no longer paying them attention thinking about the possibilities of what he could evolve with his lust power. a comment from the detective drew sam back in, apparently, you were supposed to register some group if you planned to experiment so things did get to this point. most of the time. ''learn something new every day I guess,'' he had to inform the detective that the rose wasn''t trying to kill anyone.


    "then what was it trying to do?"


    "tentacle porn!" both the adults were taken back and impressed how he said that face unchanging.


    "why?, no I don''t want to know just go register your experiments." with that he handed Cora a card and headed off.


    "you know not wanting to know was probably a good choice!" sam commented as the two of them left the scene. Cora wasn''t sure she agreed but it didn''t make a difference if the man knew or not, I mean what were the chance he would get involved with them again. if sam heard these thought''s he would warn her, you should never tempt the universe it loved to answer. what did that say about it creature the source?


    "so what should we do with this?" sam asked as they got in the car. core turned to him after starting the vehicle to see him holding out the rose that had wrapped its stem around his arm." I guess we put it in the garden, then we fill out this paperwork for out experiment." the moment she mentions paperwork sam wondered if he could get out of this without trying too hard. he could feel it in his gut that it was going to be very different from what he filled out for the warfare league, which he had a fight for soon.


    "what the paperwork looks like?" his mother didn''t answer "what kind of paperwork?!"


    "science-based!" it was only her reflexes that kept sam from jumping out of the car." stop being so dramatic!"


    "never, "Sam replied as he put his seat belt back on." but don''t think I''ll be of any help for that paperwork."


    "I know I''ve seen your sciences grades. on that note you should study more" sam just gave her a look they''ve had that conversation many times but nothing really changes, sam doesn''t care for science and it didn''t care for him.


    "well, I do think you''ll be of help, you may not scientifically understand things but you understand things your way and your father is a good translator. I''m sure we can figure something out!"


    they could not, turns out they had to figure out the since behind lust first. and all sam could say was that it was the desire of the flesh, it was mixed things the desire to reproduced, the desire for pleasure, the desire for another. among more things. the fact he had to explain the fact he fed pure lust into seed was a tough conversation for sam.


    "I don''t even know where to begin in this! I sorta understand what sam is saying but there''s no scientific equal that I know of." Natale said leaning back in his chair. the vegal family currently gathered around the kitchen table eating finishing up dinner as they tried to fill out the paperwork. "maybe I''m looking at this the long way... take a step back and think."


    sam chewed on his fake beef watching his father think,'' it times like these that you see the intelligence he has. he going to go nut when he gets the gems, I hope a see him soon afterward?!"


    "I have it, hormones! signaling molecules in multicellular organisms!" okay sam got half that but the parent understood that very well. the rapid conversation they had made sam wish he could do science, but he lacked the... something. it was probably because of how he lived his life before the couple before him. daniel shared a science class with sam more than once and he said that sam''s expression was one of disbelief during class.


    how could someone not believe in science?


    "well, I think we got it! in a sense," Natale started explained it to sam but it was clear from the look on sam''s face that it was literally going in one ear and out the other. "well you aren''t listing, so can you describe the process how you mutate things?"


    "give the seed power infused with the desire to change," it took three tries before sam gave an explanation that would work for the paperwork. thankfully that was the last thing they needed sam for, so he left heading into the back yard to work on the statue this time with a diminutive amount of demon power in his nails. he was much more used to this so he carved the stone a lot easier. it didn''t take long for him to get a wind done and stop there for the day after covering the statue he heads back inside and prepared for a bath.


    "that slipped my mind," he held his empty bottle of holy water. treating the symptoms of his was difficult but holy water worked on the first three on varying degrees." I wonder how it will affect my lust/incubus form?" but for now he put the empty bottle on the bathroom counter while he soaked in the bath ridding himself of the aches that came from last night activities. *SLASH* ''I can''t believe I did all that!'' he kind of wanted to stay under the water forever, and he could he spent some time living on the seafloor.


    he remembered the time, living entirely on sea plants, playing with baby whales. it was nice.


    "BUAGH ", in his reminisce he totally to go up for air until his lungs screamed at him. leaning against the tube he reheats the water before subbing up. clean he got out and dried off he dressed as he heads back to his room," so how are you two doing?"


    "We''re doing fine master!" spoke two horror movie-worthy twins kids. their true form was the mimic slimes who made crafted their own forms after many nights of analysis. the reason there were horror movie worth was that they were little a cluster fuck of stuff. one leg was plant matter and the other was inside out and that was don''t get sam started on their faces. none of this other him but he knew others" would have a fucking heart attack them in a dark alley or a bright day.


    "Good! do you do what I asked?" the twine nodded reporting their actions to sam." good have you prepared battle modes?"


    "yes, mater we have prepared for battle!" he nodded before informing them that the beast was preparing to attack him." we will fight for you and teach the beast a lesson!" he smiled and offered them some sugar cubes. it was interesting to learn the slimes food was similar to sugar." sam who the fuck are you talking to?!" ops he didn''t close the door and that meant the entire house heard that conversation.


    the sound spread through the house very well due to the enchanted paint they used. it was another thing that made sam feel safer when he first moved in, if someone attacked him everyone would hear as long as the door was open. today it alerted his parent that he was preparing to be attacked. that was why he was sitting in front of his parent explaining the fact he knew he was going to be attacked.


    "right now it just gathering its forces and I plan to do the same!"


    "When were you planning to tell us?" Cora asked even though she could already guess.


    "at the last minute"


    "so we wouldn''t have the time to prepare" for a moment sam pauses then explained that he meant last minute of his operation, not the beast was attacking at this moment last minute. "context clues boy, context clues," was all Cora said before asking what could they help with. for a moment he didn''t say anything, "I need help finding my sword."

 49

    sam was visiting Europe for the first time, he had heard good things about the place and decided why not. most of the things he heard were true even the bad things but that didn''t change the fact he was having good fun. he found some people willing to fight a child, he handed them their asses more than once. things changed when they, in an attempt to get rid of him, took him to a fighting arena. that was the first time he saw someone fight with a sword and typical for his age whatever that had been sam thought it was the coolest thing in the world.


    when he felt troupe he did so with a stick that he pretends was a sword. for years he used it like a blade then it broke during his time on some island located a few miles north of japan. so he found a blacksmith and asked/told him to make a real sword for sam, for sentimental sam had the wood from his stick be used as an ingredient. when the blacksmith touched the wood he informed sam that it wasn''t normal wood, it was the branch of a suck-up tree. these trees sucked up energies and changed accordingly.


    that stick sam used, and comply changed from sucking up his mana, demon, witch, and ghost powers. it makes a weapon with it he would need materials of similar nature and none were cheap, he could remember how the blacksmith fainted seeing sam pulled double that amount from his pockets. anyway, he got his sword and he had it with him until he decided to live with the vegal couple. that day he removed the handle from the blade, the handles came with him while the blade was stabbed into a bolder with a tiny of demon power to make sure it stayed.


    now he wanted the blade back, and he was asking his parent for help finding it. while he was sure the blade was still in the bolder he wasn''t so sure if the rock was still in the same place. he wasn''t too worried even some took the bolder they would be able to wield the blade, the lack of a handle was not the only reason. "finding it shouldn''t be too hard a sword in rock should show up on internet search...what?"


    "the power in the sword is commonly believed to be evil or a bad omen of sorts, so a place of holy worship may have stolen it in an attempt to purify it. and I mean attempt." Cora nodded before pulling up a search engine while she was doing that sam refilled his water,'' it will probably be hours before she finds anyth-"


    "found it!"


    "like hell! sam responded the instant he spun around.


    "yes, hell, mysterious blade trapped in stone remains unmoved after four years. boom!" sam just looked over her shoulder to see the picture accompanying the article. that was his sword alright, he recognized that metal pattern anywhere.


    "that''s it alright, the shard of the night. for the record, I was maybe 10 when I named it" sam said that last part feeling the looks his parts gave him.


    "think it cute," Natale commented before asking a question," so when do we leave to get it?!"


    "were not, it''s coming to use!" sam told them to meet him outside while he grabbed something. the couple shrugged their shoulder before heading to the backyard their son joined them a moment later by climbing out his room window. he jumped to the ground, Cora took not of the thing he was holding in his hand. a single hand sword the bottom of it looked like some were supposed to be tied to it. sam proved the observation by tying the magic ribbon to the handle before raising it into the air.


    the sun has set, the moon has risen. come shard of the night the prince of night curses calls for you. come serve your unholy master shard of the night." sam knew better to look back to his parent he could already hear Cora trying to suppress her laugher.


    billions of miles away the blade trembled, its master called to it. the bolder that lacked as its sheath until now shattered into dust but the sword didn''t fall instead it rose higher into the night sky. continuing to do so until it reached the edge of the planet''s atmosphere, the blade spun until its tip was angle towards its master.


    "you know I forget how dramatic living with which has made me!" as he said that he released he was facing the wrong direction. he tuned around the sam moment the blasted past him stoping an atom away from touching the ground. "but not like I care," lining up the blade and handle sam smiled. testing the swing his smile got even wider he could feel it the sword was just as powerful as it was in the past. he could resist slashing towards the sky dividing a cloud, then again and again and again. when that cloud was gone he choose a new one then another.


    he kept going until someone grabbed his arm, he turned to them ready to give them a taste of the blade only to see his mother." why have you stopped him?!"


    "because you look a little nuts!" she then pointed to the ground looking down he could he the grass surrounding him was not just dead but partial rotten as well.


    "Been a while since I''ve done that." he got so excited that his control of the witching hour lapsed.


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    "What happens if you lose complete control?" that was a good question to ask after sam explained what happened.


    "Nothing is what will be left if I lose control. well, at least this part of the world.*sigh* I don''t want to repeat that day" sanding up carefully wrapped the shard of night in the witch ribbon.'' i wonder if where the others are and should I take the risk of calling them. but is that power worth reviving that monster?"  strapping the blade to his back sam looked to the now cloudless sky. "I remember I have a match coming up soon, poor luck that guy but I promise not to toy with you too much."


    both parents could only feel sorry for the boy sam would be fighting soon. "we should make our own preparations for the beast attack on our son." Natale nodded in agreement before the family went back inside, while the adults talked sam returned to his room to continue conversating with the slimes. they showed interest in the sword but sam didn''t allow them near it saying he had to do something to it.


    "you can watch!" he told them afterward, they nodded rapidly. unwrapping the sword sam held it before him with both hands, taking a deep breath he shifted into his full lust form. he frowned feeling the aches of transforming but then ignored them in favor of letting his power flow into the sword. "it changed the smell?!" that was new the first time causes a small change in the weapon. the more energy was used with the weapon the more it synced and changed. right now it simply changed smell, when it was first used with demon power the sword screamed when swung. witch made it cackle always while ghost just made it a bit transport.


    "and to think that was the beginning, now any three of those forms make it a weapon of mass destruction." rewrapping his sword sam laid the weapon next to his bed. he had the slimes to got to sleep, before climbing into his bed for he could get some rest he needed it. drawing the sleep rune because he wasn''t in the mood for his insomnia as the sparkling dust drifted onto his face sam had a thought,'' i should probably do that spell.''


    the moon had reached its zenith when several forms gather around the vegal house, "so this is where he is?!"


    "yep, the bug we have to kill!"


    "then let get to it!" they jump towards the house as now ready to level the building. too bad, they didn''t look before leaping or they might have noticed the thousands of hidden spells. and in one moment they all activated at once witch was concealed by another spell. a minute passed and the spells calmed down with no sign of the attackers.


    ''i''ll have to alert my lord of this when he wakes up, but I didn''t expect the beast forces to gather so quickly. or maybe they haven''t?'' they had to think about this more in the meantime it would keep an eye out and if came down to it.


    that hadn''t been the last exciting thing to happen that night but nothing that sam would have wanted to know. in the morning sam was eating breakfast when the helper informed him of what happened last night." oh those poor fools, they''ve been sent to the realm of nightmares. I wonder if I should even let them out?" that place would definitely take care of them, on a mother note I should probably do something about the defense spells soon."


    in other words, he had to go shopping for many things witchy things. but for now, he was going to finish his food,'' guess I can check her site and see if she has what I need. which is what exactly?'' then he remembered his last thought from yesterday. he had to update that battle junkie spell of his." I have always wondered what that said about me!"


    out the door a while later sam was on his way to the hidden store. it didn''t take long but he did have to evade a cop on the roofs, wasn''t the least bit sorry about stealing the guy''s belt on the way. but he did wonder why he did it maybe mischief or something else but either way he had the guy''s belt.


    arriving at the witch supplies store giving the owner a short wave before going through the isles with a basket getting what he needed. most of it was to make potions and spells for the beast attack on him, the other was for the paints for his statutes," this place is better stocked than I thought."


    "I have more than a few connections to get rare things," she answered as she scanned his things.


    "some of these things I thought a would have to order offline then wait some time, this speeds up more than a few plans!" he was exciting things were about to get...!" actually he didn''t know how things were going to go but he did know he was in for a lot of work. handing over the credits sam left the store, "wait how do I get this home?" he had no problem carrying it all but he wasn''t sure the free-running was the best travel method. guess he was walking home then, sighing he got on with the long journey with loaded arms.


    on the way back he had passed a tv display that had the warfare league on, they were talking about him and his upcoming fight sam barely glanced at it. ''did I wash that outfit?'' on that, not sam wasn''t sure he even did laundry recently. "downsides of having so many clothes", and it was one more thing to add to list of things to do.


    arriving home sam dropped the things before getting the work, the first thing tackling the mountain of laundry he built up since school out. while the washer was running he prepared his ingredient he was planning to do the paint first," thank...who rules over witchcraft again?" he shrugged his shoulder he was just glad he looked up the recipe in advance. griding down some flowers letting the simple motion absorb his full attention.


    charging his fingers witch power he snapped sparking a witch fire, placing that fire under the caldron sam started mixing. ''this is probably going to take a long while'', he planned to make consecutive potions. it was going to be mental drawing plus taking a lot of witch power, he wondered how far the corruption would be by the time he was done. either may he ignored the passage of time focusing on his caldron and laundry.


    <hr>


    "What happened to them?!"


    "it seems that been transported to another realm!"


    "fools, too undisciplined!"


    "you know you''re so weird about that seeing what we are?" the others kinda agreed with this statement.


    ''''What we are is why I am this way! anyway, we must prepare for the assault against our master''s enemy." waving their hand a rather crude map of the vegal house. ''this building is a fortress in disguise, multiple forms of magic are spread across it if your careless you''ll trigger something dangerous. even more so this room-he pointed to sam room- hold something terrifying!"


    "It can''t be that bad?"


    "I fear whatever it is could harm our master, what''s more, I can feel hundreds of souls crying from it. what even containing it is even scarier."


    "What are the chances we can reschedule this attack in like a hundred years?"


    "none, the master demand we attacked before the human gets any stronger!"


    "yeah let''s not let him get any stronger, so any plans to beat all this" they gestured vaguely to the map.


    "of course or I would have brought this up. now fir-"


    "wait if you didn''t have a plan you would let us march to our deaths!"


    "WHAT, no of course not!" for some reason they were not convincing.


    "you ass hole!" they lunged at the other. only to be avoided and hit another one, soon after the meeting devolved into a bar fight. punches, kicks, slaps, and kisses were being thrown around when enough of this. you do not have time to waste, prepare for battle. every single one of them was on their knee the moment the voice spoke, "as you command master!


    "back to my plan, from my understanding, the target enjoyed fighting if we use that to our advantage we have a great chance of killing him."


    "and will this work?"


    "one on one duel, the desire for combat while be his undoing!"

 50

    sword-wielding


    lower mortal rank


    common


    akill to use a long blade in combat


    upgradeable


    sam knew he wasn''t very skilled with a sword but lower mortal rank, ''what decide the rank, and what about how common the skill is? what kind of retirement must be met? I could definitely run experiments on this! I guess I should star wi-*slap!*" sam hit himself to end that train of thought. he could let the witch power influence too much, he already let it influence his outfit today he looked like a prince of darkness from a magical girl anime.


    "How deep is my closet that I don''t remember buying this?" causes he totally bought this at some point probably recently as it fit perfectly. adjusting the cape sam tried to do the basic kata he was thought," that old couple was right, I never used skill when I wield this sword," just the powers of his ability.'' not that it changed their fates,'' the particular set of memories brought a frown to sam''s face. swinging his sword a little harsher than needed sam adjusted his stance trying to remember the basic rules of the sword wide, parrying, thrust, keep eyes on the opponent,'' there more I know it and the last one is a general rule of fighting!"


    shard of night was stopped mid-swing as sam felt a shiver down his spine. a threat! big threat! "so they''ve come at last" well sam hadn''t gotten to prepare everything he wanted but at least the most useful things were done. dashing back into side sam sent out a message to his parents who were off updating the house insurance and daniel and Tyrone who was very likely to get wrapped up in this. as quickly as he could sam grabbed the things he prepared sling a large bookbag over his back, "there outside!" but they weren''t attacking.


    "so you have a plan, fine I''ll bite." leaving the house he was faced with an army of hundreds, he felt no fear but simple excitement it been too long since he fought an army. bring his sword the ready sam looked over them their appearances varied incredibly so but in general, they were nice looking supermodel level. "foolish mortal who dare think they can control our master we challenged you to single combat matches!"


    "HAHAHA! a war of attrition right! that a bright plan! I would totally go for it! but I have things to do and can''t spend too much time playing! so for now hour of the demon. pure demonic energy burst from sam''s chest enveloping him and the surrounding area in darkness "don''t worry I''ll leave you corpses in the biggest pieces possible! none of the beast force had a chance to think before an attack ripped through the army.


    <hr>


    this just in some kind of monster is tearing up one of the neighborhoods of the island, from what authorities can tell it after a group of humanoid beings. and while they can not offer more details at this time they arouse everyone that they are doing their best to protect the island and its people. the newscaster was then replaced by a blurry picture of a being shrouded in blake flowing clouds.


    "I bet you a 5-star meal that''s sam going wild!"


    "that a suckers bet!" Natale responded to his wife while they drove back to their neighborhood to assist their child in his fight. *boom* but it seems the fight had reached them as a figure smashed into the ground before their car. "and you said the anti-collusion program was a waste of money." his wife told him o shut it as she claimed out of the car.


    popping open the trunk she pulled out a Warhammer and what was basically a giant paintbrush. she tossed the brush to her husband just in time for a figure to climb out the crater. it didn''t get father then that as the Warhammer came down on it ceasing its life, "that''s so weird!" Natale had to agree with his wife watching the things turn to dust that blew away with the wind.


    "that dangerous," she pointed to the gather black clouds. she could feel the energy in the air and it was like nothing she felt before, "I can''t believe we''re heading into that!" Natale commented before they headed out. it wasn''t an easy trip having to fight their way through a hoard of puppets most wasn''t an easy fight but they won if barely.


    " holy shit that''s our kid!" said kid was standing surrounding by piles of puppets some of them. sam turned to them and they were taken back by his expression it was pure savage joy, then he was gone and behind in a moment swing his sword. both parents spun around weapons ready, and all weapon crashed into the puppet dumb enough to sneak upon them." there about a dozen hundred more hiding around waiting for the chance to attack, hahaha!" with that sam disappeared once more sounds of battle popping up soon after.


    "we''ll let''s join him!" Cora then ran off Natale before joining his family. in the sky above a small camera drone watched and recorded it all. they all knew it was there but they let it because it belonged to Tyrone, he was doing this in return for nutrition potions. not that sam planed to give him them at the same time, he was going to make sure Tyrone ate real food.


    slashing through another puppet''s neck sam stopped to check the number, "intruders!" some had entered the area, he appeared onto the roof near them." oH they arrived faster then I thought they would," it was the police and quite a few people from the guild," too bad I can''t have they stay!" *SNAP* the sound from his finger rattled the buildings and ground.


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    "that''s your only warning! leave or face the demon hour." then with a wave of his hand, they were on their knee gasping in pain. by the time they looked to the roof, sam was gone his giggles in the wind. moving across the area sam dealt with even puppet he could find checking on his parent often, as time clicking on the progressively got more violently." how weak!" he crushed the chest of a puppet under his foot," I thought you all would be a danger but it seems your weak!" he was preparing potions, spell, favors, calling in favors but it was all unnecessary. half of the demon hour and he''s decimated there more than half the army on his own," if it didn''t go against my beliefs I would say I wasted my time."


    growing a bit bored sam started toying/torturing them, ranging from giving then crushing the last hope to a feather duster. there were also a few things that could be mention in the company of the young or the squeamish." I should probably wrap this up soon," he was running out of time. ending the puppet he was taking apart in small pieces raven moved to a rooftop, he raised a hand to the clouds. "it been so long," he felt found before being over welled by savage joy " strike down demon lighting" numerous bolts of what looked like black lighting fell from the sky each stick a puppet no matter how they moved.


    "some survived the attack?" now that was a surprise but not a bad one." they survived which meant they were pretty strong. closing his eyes he found the four that survived,'' the closet is here'' spin on his heel he grabbed the leg aimed at his face. spin more he threw the puppet to the next building, leaping after it Sam prepared his sword. he got halfway before it rose to its feet and jumped to meet him. they clashed sword to armored fist," so that how you survived!" the armor wasn''t cutting in the face of his demon sword, which held100 times the demon power of the demon lighting he just used.


    "but it won''t save you from me!" striking out with a kick he ended the clash as he flew back the shard of night was charged with demonic power, about twice what it passive held. the moment his feet touched something solid he jumped back towards the puppet his attack interrupted by another one. this one had a mace going for a hit on the skull blocking it with night sam was annoyed to see it barely chip, "what are these weapons made of?" putting more power into the sword he groaned when realized that all four were surrounding him. he was going to run out of time in his form pretty soon 20-15 left maybe,'' i should have started a countdown on my device."


    dodging in between a mace, a whip, a chainsaw, and armored fists was not two hard but sam still wanted to gain some distance but these puppets were pretty Eagle on their feet,'' if I could fl-i have verflucht wings in this form!" he promised to never let anyone one know of that brain fart as he flung himself into the air stretching out his leathery and furry wings. deemed high enough sam prepared to attack with his 19X charged sword before pausing, "I don''t need to break through there I can just get around it." he knew just how to do that with the power he put into shard, "open gate of demon!"


    "by our master''s horn, what is that!"


    "I don''t know but I''m not staying to find out!" they all tried to one but once the gate sets its eye on you it would chase until it dragged you in, no matter how long it took! sam watched as the hundred of hands lashed out no two looked the same as the chased after the puppets the mace wielder decide to abounded his weapon, ''it was a smart choice'', sam thought,'' even if it only brought him more seconds. choosing to not too cruel sam blasted a wave of destructive force at them, only strong enough to make them stumble. in the same moment, he shut off his hearing the gate made all being scream and he didn''t need more voice in his nightmares.


    after the gate closed and the winged teen cheeked for surviving enemies twice over before deciding to the ground and powering down. "used enough power to keep the horns!" he knew it could be worse he also knew that this was going to be strange for his parent and friends to see. the fading adrenal was the only reason he swung shard at his mother after her arms wrapped around him, not a moment after dodging the weapons Cora hugged sam once again. "it fine, I''m unharmed!" she reassured her hired child. the horns were new but he once came home with a bunch of scared girls freshly assured from a trafficking ring.


    "so did you enjoy the fight?" Natale asked leaning against his weapon he hasn''t fought this much since, before sam, no the fight was against sam. he rubbed his head and pushed the memories away,'' focus on the now Natale!'' his wife was currently checking sam over for injury which the boy allowed despite the fact he was barely dirty." so what next?" he knew sam planned to be off the island while things calmed down. "I''m grabbing Tyrone and daniel along with Garry before heading off to a fun place. oh, those poor children.


    "did they know they''re leaving with you?"


    "vaguely!" sam said without a hint of shame. when he was asked how he got Tyrone to agree the boy just smiled before mumbling something about middle ground before going off to pack his duffle bag. sending out a message for the others to do the same, on the way back to the house sam received many texts from daniel asking questions about what he should pack. he made his questions carefully because sam would totally have him pack for the cold then take them to a dessert, he told his raven friend that who didn''t deny it.


    "I''m pretty far into the demon mindset," demons were aggressive and that was only matched by their possessiveness. right now his entire body was vibrating in excitement that he was going to spend time with his friends and someone he looked after in a place where no one could see or touch them.'' probably should say something like that out loud," slinging his bag over his back walking out of his undamaged house into the wrecked street which he crossed without a problem. Tyrone was packed but trembling a bit sam instantly dropped his bag to wrapped both arms around the younger teen," it''ll be alright I promise that on the forces of !@@$@!"


    Tyrone shivered this time form the energy he felt suddenly flooding the room wrapping around the two of them, it dispersed in the same moment he heard sam curse under his breath.[what was that?] sam hummed into Tyrone''s hair before answering,'' A promise on my demonic name, it not an urgent matter I''m more interested in how your feeling?"


    [it stupid] in response to reading this sam stomped hard shocking, "no emotions are stupid!" he then began to aggressively comfort Tyrone until he was ready to leave. sling both bag and the younger teen on his back sam raced off to pick up Greg, literary he threw him on his back as well before changing course for daniel''s mansion. the skin teen was out front of his house was a car waiting he was currently going over somethings on his device *BANG* "AAHH!" now he was on his ass after his horned friend landing a mere foot away.


    "where did you come from!" he asked getting up. sam just pointed to the sky," that do- no what never mind! so where are we going?"


    "a secret fun place I know about!" these words invoked a reaction within his friends as one,'' i wanna go home!'' they knew sam''s idea of fun, "don''t worry!" he could totally read their expressions, "there on the way I''ll let something of mine get injured!" that was reassuring.


    "wait- something of mine?"


    "it best you point out weird things like that," sam did not explain as he started drawing on the ground.'' this is way to differ from my curses, thankfully I brought a diagram'' he pulled up on his holographic bracelet. "shit I messed up!" erasing the mistake he tried again the three other teens watched curiously they didn''t understand what he was doing but water it was, he was stressed and focuses.


    "there!" the horned raven declared after twenty attempts to get it right." so what is this" Garry asked looking over the incredible intricate thing he drew.


    "a spatial movement spell circle, no it teleoperation it going to take us to the fun place, now get in!" they shared mildly worried looks but grabbed their things and stepped into the circle. sam chanted something under his breath and they were-

 51

    "ugh, I''m gonna hurl!" Garry''s stomach was very unhappy with that space movement spell. he could blam it that black swirling void where you could tell up from down was nauseating." why ugh are none of you effected?" his question was answered with different answers. "use to it" Sam said as he looked over Garry." rollercoasters," from daniel liked that explained everything and Tyrone looked confused from where he was hiding behind sam.


    *splash*" HOLYSHIT!" daniel''s reaction was reasonable as a shark-like creature but from the lake next to them. it was bigger than a house and that was what was above the water. Garry and daniel prepared to fight, Tyrone closed his eye clinging to sam''s shirt while the raven uncapped his blood lust. all living things in the area froze dead, in their DNA a memory had been triggered, a memory of a disaster. they knew it had returned and they heard the message in the bloodlust, attack and die!


    "what the hell dude!" daniel croaked as he tried to keep his leg under him. it wasn''t even directed at him but he saw his life flash before his eyes,'' did I really dress like that as a child?'' it seems he was the only one affected this much, Garry had sweated through his shirt and Tyrone was unaffected." sorry just a little security cation anyway take look around and tell me what you think!"


    ''well this is a circle of hell'', Garry thought looking at the dark water that creature came from a moment before. he was surely more than it was swimming around there. ''don''t want to go near that!'' looked to the mountain range where could see several glowing peaks most likely volcanos. [there no wifi here] at Tyrone showed this message to sam he looked into the distance the land strip between the enormous lake and mountains for some reason it made his skin crawl.


    aster turning on the hover camera daniel asked sam how this training was supposed to go," you going to develops your special energies!" he got a confused cricket response. "to become strong you must attain power different from the masses, their ways to do this one is to develop an energy other than mana in your bodies." sam started walking towards the mouthing Tyrone at his heels," daniel you''ve ignited your breath, Garry your anger, and Tyrone your mind something you''ve been feeding since locking yourself away. each of these can become devastating powers if properly developed, for the record I don''t know that sow ere doing things the sam way!"


    that felt foreboding to all of them but they asked how they were going to develop their powers." well daniel you can to practice storing heat in large amounts, Tyrone has to break the limiter on his mind and well I can''t say what Garry will do in front of a camera!" he kind of look scared hearing that, he knew it was something to do with his anger, was he going to kill someone? anyway, daniel you''re heading up the volcanos, Tyrone you headed into a cave a fair bit away, and Garry you''re taking a swim."


    "in that," he pointed to the lake," with the gainst shark thing!" sam nodded as he petted Tyrone who making a decent effect to become his shadow. "what the hell," he whispered to himself wondering if it was too late to turn back.


    "how closes am I supposed to get to these volcanos?" daniel asked this setting up the other cameras he was relieved to hear that it was up to what he could withstand. he turned away as Tyrone grabbed the horned raven''s attention, after reading the message sam calmly explained how the cave would help him. "it trickery, the cave it makes one feel like there lives in danger even though it''s not. Your task if you choose to take it is to ignore it, not drown it out let it hit you full force, and be unbothered by it."


    [what the hell, how do you do that?]


    "I don''t really know but for now we''re going to set up camp" with that sam picked up the pace the other following despite sam describing the way as a hike it far more like a weak death march. the air was hot and dry, the incline kept changing it was ungiving. not to mention they walked until the sun met the horizon and they got here at its peak, "that reminds me where are we?" Garry asked this face down in the grass path they just arrived in.


    "somewhere in northern Canada, now stay here while I get food," Garry wanted to know how he sounded so refreshed and didn''t want to know what he heard crying minutes later. Too bad sam dragged it towards them when asked what it was sam answered "dinner!" it appeared to be a cow with some kind of bush with fruit growing from its horns.


    "a frenzied?" frenzied, living thing that went through a rather aggressive evolution it gained strange powers in exchange for whatever mind it had before making in frenzied that attacked anything, it was kind of like rabies. a whirlwind opinion of all of earth''s sentient life was that frenzied should be put down before they could do damage. but unless that attacked first most people were willing to let them be, sam like usual did the strange thing and treated them like prey and food.


    his friends watched turning a little green and he gutted and drained the blood, but afterward, he started a fire using a full tree. ''roasted by the fire and grilling on the stones. bones make simple tools, leather will be bedding.''


    ''i finally see it,'' daniel has heard more than few stories about sam''s camping experience, he wanted to pass it on to him Tyrone had a similar experience that was a less bloody version. "you work fast dude!" all the meat was cooking in some way, sam pulled some spices&seasonsings out of this bag, "what are you prepared for?" sam just flavored the meat grinning. after the muscle stopped screaming in agony the other teens gather around the fire watching the raven then something accrued to Garry.


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    "You''re the only one prepared for camping!" this statement shocked the entire camp


    "prepared, I only have the stuff I would carry when I was wondering." was it strange that sam was wondering what someone prepared for camping?


    "you carried around seasonings and spices?" in truth daniel wasn''t surprised neither was Tyrone. "nevermind, most people prepare sleeping bags and tents maybe other things depending on were there camping." sam nodded in understanding pulling plate and utensils from his bag." okay there as no way you went around with that!"


    "was I supposed to eat with my hands?" that''s not to say sam didn''t eat with his hands but he caught multiple things doing that. shacking off the unpleasant memories, instead of giving out potions and preparing to store all the meat after it had been cooked. "this is a lot better than I expected!" this is by far the simplest meal daniel as ever had but not the worst tasting that honor belongs to a certain casserole.


    after the good was eaten or stored the dishes washed sam showed the other how to soften the ground they were going to sleep on. daniel had some vocal complaints and Tyrone had written ones, but Garry knew it was in improvement for the times he slept outside against his will.


    the next morning sam got up before the sun, well in truth he didn''t sleep much. he knew the other didn''t pick it up but every hair of his was standing on end, there was so much danger out here in the open. more to his then sam himself,'' they aren''t mine just friends they belong to themselves''. shacking off the possessive thoughts sam went to prepare some fruit for breakfast then make sure the paths were safe.


    when the rest were up sam quickly got the feed and on the way to their training spots." why am I not surprised ?" daniel asked this as sam tired rope on his as they stood on the edge of an active volcano already feeling the heat. "well let get this over with" taking a seat right there he wasn''t more a step closer and sam was happy with that. leaving daniel some food for lunch he went to take Tyrone to the cave, it was actually part of this volcano near the base hidden by a rather large boulder.


    "I remember putting this here. the cries were getting my nerves." the question Tyrone had was answered when the rock was moved by the raven''s mana enhanced might and horrifying despair filled cried filled the area. in response to the older male turned down his hearing and handed the younger some moss earplug, these measures could only protect them in a physical sense. ''why am I trembling?" Tyrone didn''t get it the air was warm but he could feel ice growing in his heart.


    "it''s okay" there was a hand on his cheat it was warm, he opened his eye, when did he close them? "it okay!" sam repeated this many times until Tyrone''s mental state was calmer." this is the power of the cave! even without entering it effects this much." Tyrone looked up at sam confused, the cave was supposed to make him think his life was in danger so what was that response but he knew the answer in the back of his head. it was the same response he had since that day," hey!" sam cut off any dark thoughts before they could form," do you remember what I said when you were in the hospital?"


    now that was a memory, since sam rescued in Tyrone was into a state of dissociation he wasn''t reacting to anything. it was during the middle of the night when he heard the raven, you are alive, that means you can grow and change. sam didn''t visit after but amazingly Tyrone''s condition improved after that, over the years sam helped him grow just like he was doing now. "now are you ready to start?" he nodded hesitantly then stopped before Harding his resolve and nodding again. he was going to grow and change always as long as he was alive.


    sam smiled fondly before taking his hand away let the cave affect the smaller teen once, he started trembling once more but didn''t lose touch with the world too much. "you''re doing well! now set an alarm for 5 minutes after it goes off leave the cave until you''re feeling well then go back for 5 more. do this until the sun sets at that point I''m coming to get you." he asked if the younger male was okay with this looking him in eye,"y-yes i-i am!"


    "he spoke!" that got Tyrone to smile but sam had honestly been surprised by that, "well I''ll see you at sundown!" descending the mountain sam thought about how he was going to help Garry it was going to hurt. ''anyway I''m glad my youngest is determined...he now mine!'' good mood a little dampened he arrived at the camp where Garry was still sleeping," he looks cute like this."


    "AAAHHH!" it was a little mean to throw him into the cold lake especially seeing as something followed him whole not moments later." ah, well the works" sam commented watching the lake preparing mana to save Garry if needed. it wasn''t as the surface exploded and Garry landed creating a mini creature." what the hell was that!"


    "to get you mad" sam voice was colder than the lake," you''ve never tapped into the power of your rage and to control it you must recognize it fist-he turned to Garry-so get mad madder than you''ve ever been or you won''t catch your dinner!"


    "I''ll right to catch my...dinner??"


    "that is an incredibly irritating species of fish in this lake, find it eat it that is the first step of your training!" those were the instructions sam gave before trying to push Garry back into the lake but he was onto him this time. after climbing into the lake mostly nacked Garry asked for a description of the fish," I gave you one, it incredibly irritating you recognize it when you try to catch it." knowing he wasn''t gone get more with sam in a mischievous mode Garry took a breath and dived into the lake he.


    "now that he bussy I should deal with you" he looked to the foolish fish that tried to eat his Garry. the teen wasn''t a killer so he knocked it out, to bad he would let it escape sam''s rath." I''m going to make an example out of you!" sam''s leaking blood lust revived it in time for it to shit itself before the horned teen pounced and the koi like creature cries filled the area.


    ''yeap, incredibly irritating'' Garry''s been swimming around this lake for hours catching and releasing fish. he may have been imaging it but they looked scared at shit at the sight of him,'' probably never sen a human before'' he reasoned. at one point he found what looked like freshwater coral but that water was murky and he was deep, from the coral appeared a fish no bigger than a minnow mostly grey but looking like it was smirking at him. unlike the other fish, it didn''t run away but stared directly at him.


    when he tried to grab it moved just enough to avoid his hand still looking at him, he tried several more time before noticing it smile was getting wider. it was fucking mocking him, now annoyed he was determined to catch the fish but he didn''t have gills so he had to surface for air. only for the fish to fucking followed him "I see you found it!" sam didn''t even look up from his book sounding a bit too amused for Garry''s liking.


    "yeah I found it all right" then he tried to catch it only for it to move out of the way again." what''s up with this fish?"


    "it feeds of stress" Garry had to have heard that wrong." how does something feed of stress?!"


    "not sure don''t care but that''s how it is. though it tastes pretty good grilled, catch it and I''ll tell you how to cook the little shit!" sam laughter followed Garry as he dived once more.

 Im sorry what?

    "you all did well for the first day of training!" sam gave a cheer before handing out the fruit juice he made when no one was looking. his were a lot less cheerfully drained from their training, daniel was lightly smocking from spending the day in the volcano, sam had wrapped Tyrone in several blankets was sitting dangerously close to the fire. Garry was mumbling curses under his breath glaring in the direction of the lake" this is hard I know but you all did so well so don''t feel bad, I have cookies!" they weren''t paying him any attention this trip was gone be longer then he planned,'' my fights in a few days right?''


    "I''m gonna have words with sam when he gets back" Natale looked over the paperwork he and his wife were doing about the damage that was done by the puppets, well the damage they were blaming on them." he ran to avoid the paperwork, not the police, back at camp sam suddenly started laughing, "I''ve been found out! kekekekeke!"


    "Frankly we should have seen that coming last week he flipped off a cop who looked at him too long" sighing she rubbed the tension out of her shoulders. "I wonder how the training trip is going?" they both felt for those kids, "any way we should send this stuff to be processed." stretching out she prepared to email the paperwork and they should hear back in five to six business days.


    it was the third day of the training trip and sam had remembered his fight was happening in the next day or so.'' gotta start putting them on my calendar," the fights were for fun so low priority and easily forgotten." is should probably have them do alternative training at the time, he didn''t expect them to finish there training that soon but he been surprised before so. ''i could have them to some image training or have them hunt there own food. the faded demon part of him disagreed with this last one feeling it was risking the health of his. ''so time I don''t get the demon mindset I''m literally watching one of them dangle in a volcano and the hunting upsets it,'' letting out a sigh sam looked at daniel with his third eye.


    through his skin muscles and bones, he could see the energy flowing through his body, he could see the progress he was making. the heat was gathering evenly throughout his body in a few days he might be at the point to condenses it, ''gotta remind him to go in the lake for that.'' changing back to his physical senses sam turned toward that lake where small explosions were accruing, he knew it would be a little longer before Garry completely gave into his rage.


    now to check on Tyrone, descend the mountain he made way to the cave. when he got close sam sealed his hearing, he ignored the cave effects as he entered it. ''farther in than I thought'' whatever caused the life threat was at the end of the cave, the deeper you went the stronger it got. when sam first came here he went about 10 feet in before his legs locked upon him, he found Tyrone at eleven feet.'' in a way I should feel surprised, all these years he still afraid of that bitch'' a smidge of bloodlust leaked from sam alerting Tyrone to his presence.


    [what are you doing ?]


    "checking up on you, so how you feeling?" sam took a seat on the ground


    [cold] sam didn''t say anything seeing the look on his face [do you know what''s causing this?] sam told him the truth. [can you go look?] sam told him the truth before getting up and heading deeper into the cave. it was longer than he first thought probably two football fields but sam could careless seeing the source of the cave power. a child-sized skull, pure black except for a blood-red marking on the forehead a marking sam knew from his childhood.


    "y-you kn-know i-in a wa-way i-i''m no-not su-surprised!" sam stopped speaking to get himself under control but it wasn''t working. the memories of his childhood couldn''t be brushed off, getting his feet back under him he headed back to Tyrone. "the th-thing! at the end of the cave is s-something you must never touch!" the younger male nodded without hesitation, he had never heard sam''s with such venom or stuttered. there was no way in hell he was going near it.


    "good" he was claiming down himself but that didn''t stop himself from sitting down next to Tyrone and reminding himself memories was that and nothing more. he stayed there a good while before opening his third eye and looking into Tyrone''s mental power,'' wow'' it had grown out of his predictions, no not grown unleased would be more accurate. the mind possessed incredible power but to release it was the challenge but Tyrone was doing it.


    ''at this rate he''ll be ready before Garry!'' sam then felt a weak aftershock, "maybe?" they were all morning faster than he thought they would, he was prepared for months. it may not even take a month to get to the point they could return home and he would be worrying about them. '' in terms of power at least skill can be worked on later.'' feeling better and knowing he had to prepare lunch soon sam got up reluctantly and felt the cave.


    outside mana flowed throughout his body and he raced down the mountain, at the bottom, he leaped deeper into the mountain range. his nose was at its safe peek to rank down anything worth eating, hopefully not meat as it the thing they''ve been eating the past few days with a bit of wild fruit. chacing direction sam chased the trail he caught the scent of, it had a hint of sweet and sour fruity, no citrus.


    the source of the smell was a walking tree, an angry one at that seeing as it flung an orange at sam on sight. catching the fruit he procced to taunt the tree catching all the fruit that was thrown at him when he decided he collected enough he lopped a mana loaded rock at the tree. he blames it on the fact he hasn''t encountered a walking tree in years and overestimated, the was intended to distract to knock out the tree not exploded it." that works!" he decided before rushing back to the camp at a calm pace not to drop an of the fruit.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    when he arrived at the camp he changed his arms with mana before launching the oranges in his companion''s directions, his hearing was pumped up to hear if they got it, daniel got hit on the head, Tyrone got lucky and his hit a stalactite, Garry threw his back forcing sam to catch it or let it make a crater. shaking the soreness out of his arm sam realized Garry was getting really pissed off by this one fish, unless" Merida!"


    racing to the lake he dived in effortlessly brushing off the shock waves until he found Garry surrounding by hundreds of those annoying fish. he opened his third eye without hesitation and swore up a mental storm, Garry was approaching a rampage." none of that!" gathering his bloodlust he focused it on one point as he swam closer to the tornado of fish. in range, he let it burst out like shotgun pellets, halt the fish tornado and Garry filling their minds with blood death hallucinations.


    Garry his paralyzed friend sam headed for the surface where h dragged him to the shore. "ow! did you just slap me?" Garry asked holding his stinging cheek. sam nodded before getting out of the water, "do you remember what happened?"


    Garry was silent for a moment before he explained, he had chased the minnow-sized fish back to its nest. since the entrance was too small he decided to break it open, it might as well been a pandora box. hundred thousand of the grey fish burst out surrounding, Garry, they didn''t give him hope of escape and barely gave him time to surface for air. he was thankful that sam got him out of it," but couldn''t you have done it someway else?!" he could clearly remember what he saw in his mind. sam ripping open his chest before eating his heart whole while it still beat, he gagged remembering that it was gonna be in his nightmares.


    "do you remember your rage?"


    "it felt like there was a fire no, a sun in my chest" it was the best way he could put it into words but it felt lacking in hundred ways.


    "good", they had arrived at camp and sam started up the fire to prevent Garry from catching a cold. "that was the power summoned by your anger, don''t ever forget that feeling it will mean much in the next step of your training" when he informed Garry he no longer had to train in the lake, mostly because it was too dangerous to do so. " summon and banish that power as many times as you can during the day."


    "that the next step in training, not learning to control it first"


    " I can''t teach you something I don''t know no to mention what works for me won''t work for you I learn that lesson a long time ago" sam paused to think how long ago that was, ''in china with that teen who was being bullied.'' he smiled fondly at the memories he had a great time teaching him, ''that was the first time I even taught anyone right! thank god he was a patient person or they would have been more headaches for the both of them.


    "after you can summon and dismiss the power with nothing more than a thought, experiment like a baby who learned to grab things!" sam told Garry, who was eating some oranges after he finished reminiscing.


    "like a baby who learned to grab things?" Garry has been around any baby so he was lost. sam quickly explained the endless wonder and curiosity of a baby, they would grab anything just because they could. "this is another reason I decided this would be the place for us to train, no one will care for the damage you do to this place so try everything!"


    Garry looked thought-full for a while before nodding in understanding, but he wasn''t sure he could do not after what he been told his entire life. sam could see it on his face the inner battle, he didn''t know who to help but he would help where he could for now, "come on spare with me!" Garry didn''t get a chance to say no having to avoid a fist to solar plex, sam was relentless in his attack not giving Garry a chance to stand. rolling he grabbed a handful of dirt and throwing hoping to bloke sam''s field of vision, it stopped his eyes but sam relied on his hearing to continue his assault getting a solid blow to Garry''s shoulder as he let his guard down.


    before his sparring partner could recover from the blow the raven gather some mana in his legs for a short boost of power, a dust cloud appeared the same moment incredible pain blossomed in Garry''s chest," first!" mid-air a second hit to the ribs, "second!" higher up lower ribber. hitting higher and higher sam called out as he attacked rip after rib until "twenty-four!" sticking the last rib with a downward heel sam sent Garry rocking towards the earth. "secret strike" empowering his legs sam used air resistance to beat Garry to the ground and launch a high kick.


    "you were still conscious?" he asked the one who just caught this foot. "yeah you ass" Garry''s ribs were killing him a bit more force and they would be broken. when sam brought the leg down Garry push off landing on his feet this time, he flooded his limbs with mana just in time to block sam''s leg. grabbing the limb he pulled the raven close for s punch, but bending back he planted his hand lashed out with his other leg. unhanding the leg to avoid the other Garry attempted to sweep out sam arms but he flipped away, "god damn" it was like every time they fought he could see the difference in combat experience.


    charing Garry unleashed a relentless stream of attacks, sam weaved through them smiling in enjoy.'' he probably hasn''t noticed yet,'' after accessing his power for the first time the angry energy was leaking as he got annoyed. it was weakly coating his body,'' it won''t do any damage at this point'' digging in his heel sam grabbed one of the punches and flipped Garry onto his back knocking the air out of him.


    gaining some distance a mix of bloodlust and mana leaked from sam''s body "now if I remember correctly!" the mix thing gather around sam''s right just as Garry got to his feet. he didn''t know what sam was preparing but he knew it would be bad for him. to bad by the time he got to sticking range it was complete, "battle illusion direct transmission. the moment sam''s tight fingers touched Garry''s head he was no longer in the mountain range.


    "well fuck", his eyes were wide with horror feeling the thick blood around his feet. it clung to him as he moved, no it was climbing him like thousand of insets. HAHAHAHAHAHA, where was that laughter coming from he matter how he turn it felt like it came right next to his ear. he needs to leave but the moment he tried to run something grabbed his ankle, both of them. falling face-first into the crimson liquid copper filled his mouth, he barely got to try and spit the taste out but more hands burst from the blood as the laughter increased.


    "there small!" that hand the voice they were that of children hundreds of human children. his reflection in the blood changed to a decomposing face, it was a little girl. the cause of her death was clearly some kind of blunt head trauma, the innocent smile was horrible she was missing part of her mouth. when the face rose from the blood Garry tried to pull back but the hands only pulled him closer. can I kiss you?


    "FUCKER!" Garry screamed at the top of his lungs before fainting.


    "that may have been too much?"


    ''if you think so my lord'' sam would deni the minor flinch at the return of the voice in his head. but the helper''s return meant they were done with the job sam gave them.


    "How did it go?" he asked as he moved Garry''s body to a more comfortable spot.


    ''very well, I analyzed the production of the beast''s puppets! replication is now possible!"


    "good now use the mimic slimes to make your own body!" sam instructed.


    ''I''m sorry what?!''

 53

    "hahaha!" Sam loved the reaction of the helper completely taken back by his order. so much so that he was laughing hours later as I crossed his mind. it kind of spooked his camping companion but they knew sam long enough to not ask questions, sam found humor in some dark and bloody things.


    ''My lord, I don''t understand the use of a body for me?'' were they so unusual to their lord.


    ''You''re going to be my representative in this world. or to be more precise the lord lust representative'' he then explained how hiding his presence as a cosmic lord would be though and frankly a hugs pain that could easily be avoided. ''you will inform the needed parts about my presence on this world, this will allow us to control how we are view.'' the beast all showed he didn''t care if the world knew and sam wasn''t even going to give it a chance to turn earth against him it would be an incurable annoyance.


    ''understand my lord I will get to work crafting a body!" they knew their lord was leaving a heavy task to them partly because sam held a great dislike for politics and tedious bureaucracy.'' do you have an opinion on the form of my body?''


    ''it''s your body why are yous making we what it should look like, "never let anyone tell you what you should look like!" a rather lazy trans fox told me.'' said fox like to die her fur different patterns every couple of months she pulled it off too. well, that''s what people said anyway.


    ''of course my lord I will get right on designing it, do you require helping training your friends?''


    ''No, but I will take it. I haven''t planed anything beyond the first two steps," gain power and experiment with it. if they came to him asking for help sam would probably tell them to pick an unwinnable fight or to go back to the basics.


    ''i will consult the numerous teachers throughout the universe'' the helper suppressed a comment on his lord''s random planning ability, they knew he would probably laugh and agree with them but it felt disrespectful.


    "so in the next few days, you all will probably complete the first stage of training. in the same time period, my war league fight will happen. this is a problem!"


    "your fight the days after tomorrow" daniel informed sam, who thanked him for the information.


    "During that time you two-he pointed to daniel and Tyrone- will have to unleash your power. there are certain steps you need to take!"


    "Are you gonna give us straight answers" Tyrone gave daniel a ''what do you think'' look? with a bright smile, sam said hell no!


    "you will need to make a star!" he pointed to Tyrone "and you will need to discard your flesh!"


    "and?"


    "no that''s it" sam then picked up an orange to eat. he plainly ignored how much daniel wanted to strangle him at that moment.


    "I hope you lose that fight," Daniel told him sam cared not for winning as long as he had fun, lightbulb! "I hope your fight is dull and boring, ah!" he threw the orange peel at him. then a bunch of pebbles that kinda hurt even as he defends with his arms, Tyrone was ignoring all this trying to think what he meant by leaving his flesh behind.


    ''the first question is what did sam mean by the flesh,'' he tried to think about how one would define flesh and a memory rose. a few days before the puppets attacked.'' flesh is a container'' sam said this very off handly, well Tyrone thought he did. he already gave me the answer probably sam said a lot of things and Tyrone didn''t always remember it all.'' figure it out tomorrow sleep now''*yawn!* crawling to the spot he''s been sleeping the past few days Tyrone closed his eyes.


    <hr>


    "okay making a sun...what the fuck Samuel!" daniel was currently suspend above burning lava. it wasn''t too dangerous cause the rope was actually enchanted with potion-making cool even in his heat, not that it kept him from sweating that he had to prevent by absorbing heat faster than he could be affected. it was a harsh training method but it worked he kept himself mostly cool most of the time but managing his temperature gave him a hell of a migraine if done too long so he took frequent breaks.


    ''do what you usually do with sam''s double talk. take a step back and pick it apart,'' sun was a ball of fire, so ball of heat. the heat had to become a ball, he was probably missing a few steps because by the love of the gods there was no way it was that easy.'' okay try compressing the heat'' that made him lose control of the skill so he stopped. ''better idea how does a sun work?'' that was science class he couldn''t remember he wasn''t even sure ho long ago that class was. "thank god I got wifi here" making sure that his temperature would stay stable he pulled up a web search, looking up how the sun was made.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    when space dust and a nebula collide from gravity pulling them together, ''so I have to make something like a nebula and space dust and have them collide.'' a wordless scream left daniel''s lips this was a crazy task sam had given him, on one hand, it said something that sam thought daniel could do this. but the teen wasn''t thinking about that, he was screaming while trying to figure out how one would make a nebula.


    "It''s basically this ain''t gas cloud! does that mean I have collect gasses." sighing he breathed a few puffs of smoke to distract himself he wasn''t sure why he was trying to give them shape but it was fun trying. much calmer he was struck by inspiration, in the past, sam had needed a certain gasses and asked daniel''s help getting it. they had found a certain company that made all kinds of gasses, he still didn''t know what sam gave them that got the 50% off for their entire lives but daniel made sure to get that in writing.


    "you seem to be thinking hard," Sam said as he rode in on shard of night''s ghost form, this form was the hardest to describe and the closet was fog in the vague shape of a sword. his white hair fluttered in the updraft from the lava, "trying to figure out how to make a sun?" daniel could taste the smug from him.


    "are you checking up or looking to offer some help?" it was probably the former.


    "yes?" hey did it have to sound like a question, daniel thinks it meant he hadn''t decided just yet.


    "is it a literal sun or metaphorical speaking?" sam hummed in thought a bit before answering in a way that gave his friend a headache," that depends on what works for you doesn''t make a difference as far as I know!" and with that sam rode out of the volcano laughing as daniel was just done with him. riding down the mountain sam looked to where Garry was training at the edge of the lake and he already checked on Tyrone and he didn''t need to go looking for food,'' i guess it''s time for my own training!'' on the mountain over sam stood in front of a good-sized boulder with many dents and cracks sam put there plus a bit of blood.


    striking the boulder with a straight jab sam bit back a wince, but he hit it again and again working the damage. he stopped when he noticed new blood, taking a step back sam waited for his wounds to heal ''pathetic can''t he split a boulder anymore can i. a weak norm-" *slap!* okay he probably hit himself too hard but it stopped that train of thought when was the last time he had such negative thoughts maybe two years ago, "yeah that sounds right" when he first notices that his power was going down a bit. "welp time to not think!" pushing all thoughts out of his head sam attacked the rock once more, this was probably far from healthy but he didn''t no batter and it was probably time he did something.


    ''i can help if you wish my lord'' sam paused at the helper''s words,'' one of the biggest ways the companion thought for me to help my lord was to make sure I could help with their mental state. whether it meant calming them from rage, talking them out of suicide or murder. I even know treatments for depression and PTSD the latter I believe you have!"


    "one you sound incredibly excited and what PTSD?"


    "post-traumatic stress disorder and I have a great chance to help you, my lord. I believe you have because from what I observed you show incredible aggression to alcohol and avoidance of any form of dancing. not to mention your nightmares and insomnia." sam was a bit taken back, he knew those weren''t goods things but didn''t think they were part of something bigger or something.


    "you know what this is a bit much for me let pick this up tomorrow!" sam then unleash his emerging emotions, he felt confused and dread vulnerably seen through then he has in a long time. he needed to prepare himself prosses. the helper didn''t push that could make his lord defensive and he may shut down on him, that was something else he should probably talk about with him.


    the lord of lust kept attacking the boulder until the sun touched the horizon then after his wounds closed sam went about collecting his friends leading them all back to camp." we already know that way so why are you leading up?" Garry asked after they pulled daniel out of the volcano.


    "look done there" sam pointed to the lava, and the other three look in time to see something poke its head out of the molten stone." there all kind of annoying animal living in the area they don''t mess with you in fear of me but even that can fade!" it was at that moment daniel and Garry noticed the bloodlust leaking from sam, it wasn''t the offensive kind they were used to with sam, it was more passive like the bright colors of a pointless frog.


    [thank you!] sam blinked once before giving a warm welcome,'' as usual sam is doing more than one thinks'' Tyrone yawned as he followed after the raven downhill. he stopped when something accrued to him something that was probably a big problem,[what gonna happen when you get called for your flight tomorrow?] everyone stopped after Garry read the question out loud." what is gonna happen?" Garry asked turning to look at sam who was glaring at something flying high above them.


    "training, combat training!"


    "you gonna have us fight the things that wanna kill us aren''t you"


    "ill try and wrap up the league fight as fast as I can!" then he continued his way down the mountain. they reached camp with plenty of sunlight left and sam got started on their diner which was some kind of bird sam caught this morning when no one was looking along with eggs the size of an infant''s head. "did you like, attack a nest?" daniel asked as sam stuffed the bird with some wild vegetables he found recently.


    "yes, it fought well!" he ignored what daniel said next to busy making sure the bird was cooked right.


    "it times like this I remember how strange sam can be!" this didn''t stop him from eating the food or using the pillow sam made from the birds'' feathers and leather from other animals." and time like this remind how handy he is, also how many feathers were on this bird!" the pillow was large enough for there of them to share if they cuddled and it was super fluffy too.


    "it kept sporting feather until I killed it!"


    "so you plucked it while it was still alive! isn''t kind of torture!?" sam was busy bury the bones and storing the leftovers and di''-"don''t ignore me you anomaly!" sam turned to him and asked "do you really think I''m the kind of person who creates unnecessary pain?" gave him a flat look then proceed to remind sam of the time he fought Garry with twig the entire time he only aimed for Garry rear end laughing like a horror movie slasher. "for the single purpose of causing pain, I mean! I didn''t know the bird grew feathers that fast I just didn''t want any blood on them."


    "Fine I''ll give you that, but why was it still alive when you were plucking it?"


    "had to make sure it was fresh for dinner" with that said he crawled over to his patch of dirt and prepared to draw the sleep rune.


    ''my lord I recommend you stop using that rune to sleep, it contributes to your insomnia sam stop short of letting the dust drift onto his face.


    ''what?''


    ''the rest you get from that rune confuses your body making it hard to sleep the next night." sam just blinked that was news to him, news that made a shit ton of sense looking back on his life. that left the question of what did he do now,'' my lord I have drafted several options to help you sleep!'' they were getting better at this helping thing, weren''t they.


    ''all go through them all and we''ll see what works'' the helper agreed and started with a lullaby they devised, "wow that''s a grea-ZZZZZ"


    ''i didn''t think it would work so well!'' the helper continued to sing as their lord started to wake. the lullaby only works when it was long if it stops there lord would start to wake, simple fix create a recording, and play on loop.'' good time to get to work on my lord order, creating my own body.'' contacting the mimic slimes the helper filled them in on their lord''s orders.


    "how many legs do you need?"


    "how many eyes do you need?"


    ''our lord wishes for me to interact with the people of this planet so I must appear similar to one race of this planet'' the slimes nodded in understanding before demonstrating the forms of the intelligent life they''ve analyzed the helper studying closely.

 54

    "Okay, are you triple sure that''s everything," Daniel asked under the early morning sun.


    "yes, that should be everything to allow you to survive my absence" standing up he studies the spell circle he crafted. it was a modest witch-style barrier. it would keep out all hostile beings and even bad weather, it would last about two hours under attack, a day and a half if left alone. now it was missing a spark of mana to come alive, ''okay so I''ve changed to the league fight outfight, made lunch for them, prepared precautionary measures in case something tried to attack them. today there going to take a break from training, staying with two minutes running range of the barrier until I get back. is there anything that needs doing?''


    "can I ask why we didn''t just go home?" it accrued to him right before he went to sleep last night.


    "I have taken the time to touch up the magic circle completely" like that was the obvious answer. Garry made it clear they need some context, it kinda had to do with how sam designs the circle. for most witch-style teleportation, it was simply opening a gate between two marked spots. but that was like between to town or places witch visited often sam moved around a lot early did he stay long in a spot so he modified the teleportation markers. even unmaintained for a good while they could take single coming teleportation but leave through it wasn''t possible without risking leaving body parts behind.


    "I planed to fix it before we leave but I completely forgot you''re all kinda weak." his friends weren''t sure if they should feel offended weak with sam meant many things," and it takes about twelve hours to repair the circle so I can''t do that when I fight in ten"


    the camp was silent for the ten minutes, a tense silence. just as he was about to be teleported out of the mountain range he turned to his friend, "I''ll be back!" then he flicked a bit of mana over his shoulder. it landed on the spell circle igniting it, the semi flames climbed until they formed a perfect dome around the camp.[okay that was pretty cool!] Garry and daniel agreed with the statement''


    "so your my pre-i mean opponent! let''s have a good bea-battle!" psychological warfare, "let''s have a bloo-fea-bone breaki-i''m just gonna stop talking!" from the way his opponent who may have been 16 was nervously shifting his tactics were working."don''t you won''t cry to muc-"


    "Stop right now!" the referee intervened, a lady who looked like she was in her mid-twenties appeared."if thing go too far I am authorized to shoot him so relax"


    "tch!" his mental attacks were just made useless.


    "now if you''re both ready begin" the word left her lips a slipt second before the 16 years old stuck.


    "you fast! sam gleefully comment blocking the knee aimed at his face, he reached out to grab him but he twisted out the way attempting to counter but sam blocked one more.'' fast, agile, instinct'' he noted parts of this kids fighting style as the continually exchanged blows neither landing a hit yet.


    ''shit, he hasn''t even moved his feet" kyle was in deep hist he knew this after watching his opponent''s last fight, but he knew he was in deeper shit seeing how out-matched he was, "like hell, I''m giving up! charging forward he stopped before him and kicked up dirt towards his yes. a normal person would have closed their eyes or tried to shield them, sam didn''t blink as he lashed out with a backhand that clipped kyle''s nose breaking it.


    grunting the younger teen did a split aimed for sam''s groin. again he was stopped but this time the raven got a good hold on a limb, "shi-AAH! he couldn''t recover from the knee to his already broken nose before sam threw a leg over his shoulder and pinned him in a way that not only hurt his arm but was choking him with his thighs. the more he struggled for freedom the tighter the hold became, he had no intention of letting him go.


    ''i''m gonna blackout at this rate'' he could overpower this guy with physical strength in the position. summoning his mana kyle drew out the blade battle rune, create a dagger of solid energy he drove it into sam foot.'' you got be joking he didn''t flinch, did he not feel it?!''


    ''that hurt, it hurt very much!'' to return the favor sam twist and pulled the arm until it was jerk away from being dislocated. using the heat stored in his cheat increased the temperature of his legs to the point of burning. from the chocked yell he could tell kyle was feeling it. he held on until he felt the tense disappear from kyle''s form, letting for he made sure his heart was still beating before moving out of the way so the referee could review him.


    ''no hesitation in any of his actions but he displayed more control than last time'', she took a peek at sam who was making sure his foot heal correctly and trying to rub the blood out of his shoe.


    ''fighting in a grass plane has the disadvantage of making clean up hard'' his dad was gone spend quite a bit of time doing repairs. ''on another note that that kid''s strong'' the blade pierced right through reinforced material. a thrum of excitement went through sam, "I wish we could play more. but I''m on a timer" he waited like a predator for the second round to be called.


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    "start!" this time kyle didn''t try a frontal assault, he retreated while drawing up a rune for cover fire. sam drew shard of night as he chased after him, the first rune was blade flying crescent style. he probably expected sam to dodge or block. causes he looked really surprised when sam cut through the mana construct. then the next one and the one after that, '' he really good.'' only stopped using the blade rune interest tried the blast rune, then the fire battle rune, followed by the ice battle rune. sam cut or avoided getting closer.


    "What is that sword made of?" it was cutting through anything sam didn''t dodge. "it cut through a flashbang!"


    "if you think that unfair then you''ve ain''t gonna like this!" the lust core woke up its power directed to sam''s eyes. the moment kyle saw the incubus symbol in his eyes,'' why am I running from such a beautiful woman? ..wait women? before the confusion could be cleared there was a sword in his shoulder! it was ripped out a moment later staining some grass red before a foot met kyle''s gut knocking him down. "I should mention that the paralysis is because of the sword," it was actually because of the witch power he swapped out with lust.


    "and didn''t think you ain''t bodies are gone be of any help the potion leaking from the blade freezes most body signals, like the one telling you about the injury in your shoulder!" fling his sword around to get the rest of the blood of sam waited fro the refugee to appear,'' why aren''t they showing- he saw one of kyle''s fingers twitch and suddenly he was a few miles back in a ready stance-merde! merde! merde! merde! merde! merde! merde! merde!'' he was fighting off the potion that said he had a monstrous immune system, or he was an ability user. either way, it was really bad for sam, it was exciting him." I should calm down, there not safe out there!" that allowed him to center himself a bit as kyle progressively wake his body.


    the moment he was standing on his feet sam lunged sword at the front, this time kyle got close hoping to make the sword useless,'' I can''t predict what he will do so I have to take charge!'' in range he focused on the targets he could see." ah!" the sword was changing length before kyle eyes, now at the length of a dagger, it was perfect to counters kyle plan. spinning to the side he avoided the blade cutting flesh, his shirt not as lucky.


    ''Should I be worried about the fog?'' the fog that was previously a sword was starting to circle them. he knew there was a danger from it but how much? ''can it turn back into a blade anywhere?'' he was terrified but someone how excited people usefully when don''t quickly after he started attacking their weak points, this guy brushed it off. drawing the blade rune twice kyle grabbed hold of the newly created dagger, they should give him more options to fight with. it seemed their creation was single for sam to attack and kyle knew he was folding back, the dagger length sword wasn''t cutting through the daggers.


    not that he complained now that he could use them to block the sword, he tried disarming but sam had an iron grip then he tried to cut his wrist and making the sword unwieldy. that idea went down the drain when he saw a cut heal before his eyes, "you! fucker!" he grunts in exertion as he tried to break the clash he started."AH!" sam hooked his foot around his ankle to pull it out from under him, kyle barely suppress the instinct to catch him and block the growing sword instead. his head rung but he wasn''t bleeding and worse sam was putting his weight behind the blade.


    with a yell, he pushed the sword to the side and lashed out with a mule kick. it took sam off the ground enough for kyle was able to get to his feet, drawing an explosive rune he aimed it at sam might land. three things happened as the rune exploded, sam sung his screaming sword at the explosion intent to cut it, kyle charged at sam hoping to injure him while he was occupied, the witch ripping unfurled.


    "AH!" the weight behind the ribbon was strange kyle thought as it jarred his skull, face skidding to a stop in the earth. he was dazed enough for sam to land and to tie the ribbon shard of night''s handle.,"fuuck!!" kyle cursed as he stood up both from the pain in his head and the now increased range of sam''s weapon. he cursed again when he had to start doughing the sword whip thing which was by no mean easily he could track its flight plan when came was changing it with every move of his hands.


    kyle thanked the gods when sam paused in his attackers," I got absorbed in a fight!" the laughter completely disarmed kyle, and that was the last thing he remembered before a sharp pain in his chest. removing his blade he set kyle on the ground the same moment the referee appeared with medical supplies," I avoided all organs so he''ll be fine if he doesn''t bleed out!" stepping back to let her work sam cleaned his blade before wrapping it up.


    it took a while before he was let out of the space, they made terrible sure kyle wasn''t gonna die before starting the reward ceremony. it turns out they didn''t know when his next fight would be because of how injured his opponents got."I make no promises besides not permanently injuring them," he told the refugee who just sighed. it was worse cause he was telling the truth kyle had already woke up and probably walk away with a scar at worst, "where do learn that kind of shit?"


    "South African tour school, lessons from all over the world!" he was proud of how well he did at that school before he ended up burning it to the ground.


    "whatever! go you fucker!" she then kicked him out of the battlefield and returning to his mountain camp which was surrounded by beasts. it took a burst of bloodlust to scare them off not that it stopped sam from chasing down a fox-looking creature with vines growing off. he returned to camp with two over his shoulder, "I got dinner and breakfast," plus it would totally settle the bloodlust that came with his battle lust. thankfully the latter was already settled as he let the blood drain out the fox sam checked his friend with his third eye.


    "oh shit!" besides being a little frazzled from being surrounded for the entire fight they were fine, except for Tyrone who mental power had grown by quite a bit. ''different kind of stress!'' he figured the beast presented a different threat from what was in the cave,'' should inform him of that.'' he was brought out of his head by Garry asking something.


    "enjoy your fight? he repeated smugly." you sure looked like it!" that''s right daniel had wifi out here.


    "he was a fighter personally but he lacked experience could find the hole in my defense and skills. let them be so plain too!" daniel scuffed at that and Garry laughed," I forgot he does that!"


    [does what?]


    "leave purposeful holes in his defense part bait part to raise the difficulty, a battle junkie at his finest!" was he really being made fun of after saving them. "oh don''t look like that you know its true, I bet one time you fought with your arms behind your back."


    "I need to get some water," he charged to the lake.


    "you don''t think?" daniel asked Tyrone who thought about it before nodding sam probably fought arms tied, the real question was if it was done willingly or not. when sam returned with water they didn''t ask about instead asked what he was cooking, "fox soup and roasted fox!" as he said this he pulled out a pot and many spices and herbs.


    "seriously you packed spices and cooking utensils but no soap," none of them have bathed since arriving and they were smelling a bit ripe but not sam he was smelling like sweeter as days went on. he wasn''t sure but he thinks it may be the permanent change of his lust core, the same thing from his ghost core left his cooler than others.


    skinning the foxes he removed the vines and inspected them to see if they had any use. he wasn''t seeing anythin-'' been so long since I''ve seen this species.'' mirage vines, a chameleon plant that preferred other living things,'' helper I have something for you!''

 55

    it was a day and a half at the league battle sam was using his sword to chop up some firewood when he felt a tremor of power. his third eye was open, the same moment he moved.'' that cave!'' his legs were flooded with mana cracking the ground beneath his steps. the moment he reached the mouth of the cave he had to shut off his third eye for the energy coming out was blinding. as he walked in his sword hummed as power flowed in ready to change its form at a moment''s notice.


    "oh...OH!" the source of the power was Tyrone, he figured out how to discard his flesh. walking to the crackling humanoid form sam smiled."you did it the power of your mind is unleashed, fair warning though you should spend too much time away from your body or you risk a coma." the crackling form''s head jerked before driving back into his flesh, which was ass up on the ground. ''everything''s woozy!''


    "I would suspect so!" sam responded watching Tyrone''s confused expression for a moment," with your mind open you can connect to another. this allows for information transmission, other words telepathy there are more tricks but your probably starving" when he mentioned it the cave shock from the force of Tyrone''s stomach growling sipping the dust of his shoulder he headed out the cave to prepare some food for the awaken physic.


    ''what should I instruct him on first?'' sam has fought more than a dozen psychics and he understood the rules behind their power and more importantly how to break them.'' telepathy control! maybe empathy! oh, maybe telekinesis no that is probably a bad idea he''s already lazy. maybe mind control! Nah he''s not a fan of that in fiction.'' sam didn''t know much about psychics outside of offensive battle, Tyrone was more of the defensive side.


    "psychic shields!" that he could teach. now, how did they work again, as he started cooking sam tried to receive several memories. tyrone''s rumbling stomach repeatedly drew his attention,'' how much energy did his brain use?'' if it keeps getting louder it would attract something big,'' i could probably feed it to him!'' smiling at his own joke sam the food by the fire to cook before tossing Tyrone some wild fruit as a snack.


    "for the record, this is going to be something of a routine!"


    ''What?'' the mental question rang out as Tyrone stuffed his face. sam informed of the diet of a psychic, Tyron''s face dropped here what he had to eat for his powers and how much.'' what about you I''ve never seen you eat specific things for your power!''


    "that because of this-sam lifted his shirt to show the black heart that was now covering more than half his chest-it absorbs and Covertst nutrition so that I all way have exactly what I need. it pairs well with my regeneration!" it kept him from dying because of that ability. Tyrone asked if he could learn that "NO!" Tyrone shrunk in on himself. lowering his volume sam apologized and explained " sorry but to learn this skill requires a trial refuse to let anyone I care for go through!"


    ''did it hurt?''


    "pain isn''t the right word," pocking the fire sam did wish he could teach it to his friends it would prevent them from starving in a worst-case scenario.


    ''i can help my lord!'' the helper''s excited voice appeared in sam''s head,'' when your skills are analyzed. the creation of them is also taken into consideration. not to mention your gluten heart''s skill is something similar to something the lord of gluttony learned, she spread with the help of the lord of greed.


    but in exchange for her help you must give her a gift, it the way the relation of the lords works.'' sam thought about this, he never really thought about the other lord busy with his own problems but reminded of them he couldn''t help but wonder what kind of person there were and if they were good fighters.


    ''what kind of gift does she like?'' he hoped it was something he could make.


    ''food, she the lord of gluttony for a reason.'' that was a point, he could cook a few things but would it be something she liked.


    ''where does she live anyway?'' he had to take into account shipping time.


    ''four-star systems away'', okay let''s go come back to this when sam knew just how long it takes to transverse such a distance. in the meantime he was going back to feed the psychic, he ate an entire four pounds of meat.


    "I should get hunting, during that time try to get a feel for your new power" when he got confirmation it was okay for him to leave sam took off. he was headed for the lake this time, he passed by Garry who was trying to control his power. he was making progress at least. underwater sam put his hearing the level of sonar and began his hunt.


    simply because it would be easier to cook sam didn''t go after the larger fish, by large he meant the one that would swallow him whole if they had the guts. but he''d tear them out for doing so. he went deep gathering the need twenty or so fish, since it wasn''t hard he took the time to enjoy the scenery it was nice calm. ''what the environment like on her planet?''


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    ''the lord of greed''s planet is mostly grasslands and valley-like conditions.''


    ''do they have fish there?''


    ''they have few aquatic animals but no fish! would you like to send some as a gift?'' sam nodded catching a salmon-sized one.'' in that case, I suggest catching the largest!''


    ''okay how will this deliver work?'' the helper explained the simple process needed for him to prepare the item and wait for it to be picked up.'' well won''t be too hard to prepare Hafgufa!'' counting the fish he decided to return to the surface, there he put a sliver of demonic power into his fingernails turning them into claws. he used them to prep the fish, which he couldn''t use as food was tossed into the lake. with arms full of fish meat he returned to camp where he started smoking it for fish jerky.


    "that smells pretty good," Daniel said as he joined them by the fire. the first thing sam said to him was, "You''re in last place for acquiring new power." daniel paused sitting down


    "What?!" when did that happen better yet they were competing


    "yep, Tyrone is now a psychic, and Garry has already been with his power. would you like another hint?" sam knew how competitive daniel could be, but his pride could also be fragile." well your starting the farthest back anyway." handing him some fish jerky as it was stated.


    "farthest back?" he took the jerky and bit into it, the seasoning kicked him in the throat.


    "Garry''s power has been apart of him since birth, Tyrone''s been building up mental power for years. you''ve been doing the heat thing for what a few months?" frankly if he did form a sun sam was gonna have to rethink his self promise to not fight daniel. taking a bit of jerky for himself he waited for daniel to answer the question.


    "no, no more hint!....but any warning signs for when I''ve formed the sun!" not if when.


    "with a sun in your heart, you leave ash in the wake of your steps, your skin glow, and hair ignites....there more but I don''t recall them" there were several things he wanted to say about the text but inside daniel chewed on his jerky before asking for one of the water pills.


    water pill a literal pill of water. don''t be fooled by the small size they contain enough water to get an adult level through the Sahara desert, just a bit parched. due to him hanging (ha) in a volcano all day daniel''s been going through them pretty quickly, on the other hand, sam took them once a month when he was a nomad.


    tossing him the bag sam started seasoning another piece of fish meat, five more jerkies made before Garry appeared looking both miffed and accomplished."progress made!"


    "progress made?" Garry responded before grabbing some fish jerky." what happens when we go back?"


    "what else happens, you adjust the best way you can." on another hand sam had to check if his parent had taken care of things he should probably ask if his dad was interested in going fishing.


    "AH-CH!" Natale rubbed his nose before doing the same with his shoulders, for some reason he felt a chill in his heart. ''i need a jacket, I do not want a summer cold.''


    ''Why are you smiling like a fox?'' Tyrone asked. Garry and daniel were startled by the mental voice, sam gestured them to calm.


    "Just thinking of a fun bonding idea with my dad!" a megawatt grin (for sam) spread across his face.


    "don''t get me involved," Daniel had been one of those bonding times, they went spelunking on an island sam knew about. it was in truth a giant fucking turtle. the thing dived when they were inside its shell, they spent a week there before it resurfaced. daniel had a bad time, Natale smiled the entire time even if he did complain about lack of supplies and lecture sam.


    "it just some fishing!" the flat look he got became even flatter." stop looking at me like that you''re not coming anyway." daniel looked away, instead placed a piece of jerky between his teeth before warming it a low burn fire.'' i didn''t realize his control had gotten this good.'' sam used the heart fire to control his body temperature above all else so when he reached a certain level of control he stopped trying to raise it. the level of daniel''s control meant he could probably pull off the trick that ignited his interest in the skill in the first place.


    "you know there a trick with the heart fire I didn''t tell you about!"


    "What kind of trick?" he cracked a smile at the curious voice. a trick that almost killed me!" everyone leaned in.


    "I never lead its real name but I called it the sun blade, more than a hundred blades made complete from compressed fire. they shone like the sun as they descended upon me. they cut as they burned, I remember so clearly the smell hit him first before the heat did, then the pain." he licked his lips and squeezed his hands steady," the chick fought smart went after my joints first but she underestimated my spite." his palms were bleeding so he forced them open the wounds healing, "sounds cool right!"


    "oh definitely cool!...this isn''t a trick give me a hint?" because he wouldn''t put that beyond him.


    "no, I just remembered a cool trick and told you about it, if you get a hint from that! we are gonna spare!" daniel scooted back "we can spare in a gym." for a nanosecond he was confused before a battle thirty smile appeared.


    instead of saying anything or looking at the raven''s face daniel reached into his heart fire. it took a few fiery breaths to get a decent amount of fire in his palms. the amount of force need to keep it there made his pits moist, but he need even more forces to compress it until it looked no bigger than a grain of rice.''n-not ...e-enough'' he breathed out more fire and more until the fireball was around the size of a baseball. there was no more fire in his heart but he didn''t need more he needs to figure out the correct way to sustain this when his focus went else were.


    it showed clearly how much sam rubbed off on him when he decided to swallow the compressed fireball, it burned as it went down to his lungs. but beyond that, the fire stayed compressed, after making sure that nothing might go wrong daniel relaxed opening his eyes." Um ...what are you doing? a pitch-black clawed hand resting against his cheat.


    "ready to protect you should anything goes wrong" sam pulled his hand away letting it fade back to its human form." congrats to take a step closer to being a pyromancer!" sam was the only one who clapped, "any I should probably start working on the magic circle in the morning." he looked over to the sun which had started to touch the horizon.


    "so will be leaving soon, that means I should start sorting through the footage I got," honestly the camera had kinda been forgotten about. that almost a week''s worth of footage, well they weren''t seeing daniel for a while were they? but none of them evened him at all.


    "well, I look forward to seeing the finished product!" Garry said before heading off to wash up by the lake, sam made sure to keep an ear out on the chance he got attacked by something. thankfully he returns 15 minutes later smelling and look cleaner than before, his safe return signals daniel to go wash up, and when he returns 5 minutes later shivering. "how are you shivering?" sam asked bewildered the guys had a fireball in his lungs.


    "I don''t know why! the water felt so much colder than before!"


    "Ah!" daniel asked what he figures out, "you''ve become used to higher temperatures so that makes you more vulnerable to the cold. like video game mechanics!"


    "well fuck!" the was gonna be a pain he could already see it." winter gonna be hell for me isn''t it?"


    "not unless you overcome this weakness," sam stated as Tyrone went to wash up. daniel asked sam to tell him ways to overcome the cold, he wanted to focus on creating his star and a few other things. sam respected his wishes and instead started covering up the jerky he made to prevent it from being stolen. while that was being done the helper reported in, that its body was being manufactured.'' it should be done within a week and at that time I will gladly follow out your orders!''


    ''thank you very much!'' sam pocked the fire.'' so how are you going to put me to sleep tonight?''


    ''a story, a very old story!''

 56

    "yep that it!" stepping away from the repaired spatial movement circle sam looked to the noon sun. stretching his back he groaned in relief, ''the consequences for bending over for the past four hours!'' but it was the second to last step for preparing the magic circle. which happened in three steps. the first step recarves the worn parts, then refuel the repaired circle which took a mix of pure mana and witch power. thankfully it wasn''t enough for there to be too big of enough effect on the raven mind. now the last step was to wait until the circle was linked back to the network.


    ''hopefully, his sun will be ready before the connection is complete'', which was a deadline of 8 to 16 hours." probably anyway" yawning he reached into his lust core he let its power pulse through him for a few moments. when the power retreated the only changes were a bit of his eye color and the fact his pants were tighter, he was building resistance to the power.


    "but man is this slow" pulling off shard of night he started practicing his swings. strong one fast one tricky one he practices until the sun touched the horizon letting his instincts guild him against imaginary opponents. with spin he rewrapped the blade letting the imaginary bodies and blood fade away, he could help but think that they resembled the people he''s killed. ''and I was in a good mood!" the burn from his muscle was feeling so good too!"


    "oh well, I should check on daniel" with a short bust of mana he jumped several stories into the sky. midflight he opened his third eye and looked into the energy of his companions, they were all growing well! as he fell back to the earth sam could help but he curious how much would they grow. would they grow as he did never stopping unless he wished to or would they reach a peak, would that peak be near or far.'' my lord your blood lust is leaking!'' the raven jerked, "thank you." shacking the numb out of his legs sam started to head back to the camp.


    slouching near the fire pit he ejected his spirit from his body after making some minor preparations, he floated up higher and higher until he reached the barrier. "I told you to stop coming here!"


    "and I told you you to piss off! Zeus!" he turned to face the god who looked as annoyed as sam felt, "You are more scared of what on the other side than you are of me! that is a mistake!" snapping forward he grabbed the god by the neck, in the same moment, the sky god aimed his light bolt at sam''s solar plex." do not forget what I am capable of!" letting go of the muscular neck sam''s spirit started to drift back to earth but not with a final warning.


    ''what are you doing?" daniel was holding an air pen several centimeters away from his raven friend." nothing he dismissed the pen and fled to the other side of the camp. Sam let him go instead grabbed some of the remaining jerkies for himself just in time for his helper to inform him how dangerous it was to let his spirit wonder with just little preparations.'' hey I prevent anything from even noticing my body lacked a soul I was back before my vital sign started declining and I didn''t spend too much of my soul''s energy threatening that wuss of a god!'' what other preparations could he make.


    turns out the helper had a very long list and they used it to put sam to sleep that night, and it was what he woke up to in the morning.'' I''m proud they''re learning how to deal with me but my goodness this is annoying'' the helper was still going as sam washed his face. after using a bit of heat to dry he went to check on the magic circle it was connected to yet." just a matter of time calling shard sam tied the ribbon to his wrist and began practicing swing the sword by the ribbon. at one point Garry came around," nope!" he turned right back around towards camp.


    sending shard directly into the sky sam stretched a bit before yanking on the ribbon and increasing his pace. he zoned out unaware that his practice was starting to look like a dance.'' atomic rot!'' all his joints locked up at that moment.'' he danced! D-ance! like that! dan-ce! d-ance! danc-e!'' the smell was taking him back years.''MY LORD! BREATH'' he didn''t realize that he had stopped.


    ''might be better I stop breathing altogeth-no do not go down that lane of thought'' sam forced himself to breathe. ''my lord do you know of the starfish, they live on an all-water planet far here. their scales are see-through along with most of the innards. their hearts can be seen, but for some reason there shine like little stars! on the darkest night if you''re still you can see them swimming together like shooting stars...'' the helper talked until the panic attacked completely faded telling sam about the wonders of the universe.


    ''Are you feeling better?'' they asked after sam had stretched and had some water. the raven nodded as he rubbed his chest.


    "thank you for that," he never recovered from so fast."do you know what that was?"


    ''my lord-they weren''t addressing sam-,that was a panic attack a sudden onset of intense fear with sweating, shaking, shortness of breath & palpitations.'' they were highly concerned, it was clear that their lord required education.


    "so that what there called? that does not describe how bad they feel." he wanted to move out of the sun but felt too tired to move, the helper advised that he should take a short nap,'' i will wake you if something happens.'' why not a nap sounded good, the felt nice and he couldn''t get a tan anyway. drifting off in the light of the morning sun was a nice feeling.


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    he woke an hour later to the feeling of eyes on him, air the hair on his body stood on end as he shot to his feet and almost decapitated Tyrone. but he was far enough away that the word just missed him sam apologized the moment he was more awake." so why are watching me sleep for? the last time that got you slapped." he still reacted badly to being watched in his sleep.


    ''something''s wrong with daniel.'' sam opened his third eye focusing his gaze on daniel''s life force, it was burning strong along with the miniature sun in his chest. a sun daniel couldn''t control its fire was pouring out of his pores, he looked like a certain comic superhero. "I hope he got his clothes off in time?" daniel wore some pretty expensive stuff.


    "it like holding your breath," sam told him which was just kind of bull. "the fire is flowing out, just hold it in and let it out as you wish. like holding your breath."


    "no, it not!" daniel cried waving his flaming limbs around. everyone made sure to stand a safe distance back. it took a few suggestions and daniel cursing them out but he was able to put himself out. "hey!" sam stopped looking daniel over.


    "being on fire will be great in combat, prevents anyone from getting too close. by the way, you still look like a twig!" daniel flipped him off as he continued to get dressed.


    "being a human fire will do jack shit unless you know a way to keep my clothes from catching fire!" he was never gonna be fine fighting nacked. somehow he felt that sam didn''t have this same problem.


    "okay so go to the Mexican desert you''ll find this lizard with fur, the fire fireproof and surprisingly soft." why were they surprised he knew how to make fireproof clothing. daniel made a frustrated noise with a bit of smoke coming off his shoulder before heading off to the lake. sam shrugged his shoulders before checking on their food supplies. "yeah need to hunting."


    "really is going to be that long before we can leave?" Garry asked. it completely slipped sam mind that they could leave and returned to their convenes filled island city." nope start packing." sam kept his stuff packed up in case of an emergency where they had to run, Tyrone''s stuff remained near his bag and the pillow same made. Garry has straight-up made himself at home, daniel just didn''t have enough fucks left to give.


    "oh thank god!" daniel cried when he learned they were leaving before rushing to stuff all these things in his bag, Tyrone was impressed it closed. he was a lot more careful with his camera when they arrived at the magic circle.


    "you all have your things because you likely won''t be able to come back for it!" before daniel or Garry could ask what that meant the circle activated and space started deforming around them. when it settled down they were back in civilization and three of them were feeling queasy.


    "well I''m gonna go shower," Daniel said after he recovered,'' after that some gallons of coffee while I look over the footage.''


    "I''m gonna go deal with some shit!" Garry said, ''frankly I would rather stay out in the wild for another few months.''


    ''i don''t have any plans, maybe I should check on the summoning site?''


    "That sounds good, but don''t forget to shower and you still have some notion potion cookies?" Tyrone didn''t answer him, "Tyrone!"


    ''yes I still have some cookies, but I want to brush my teeth more than a shower." Tyrone ran his tongue over him disturbed by how dirty they felt. sam shrugged his shoulder telling him that it was fine, just make sure to clean yourself up.


    on the way back to their street Tyrone asked about the psychic''s sam had fought, it was a shortlist but a very detailed one from the way each fight stuck with him so greatly," each one of them came so close to killing me, now of them almost ripped my heart out. of course, I returned the favor twofold.''


    ''you ripped their heart out twice?''


    "no I ripped out their lungs than their heart, it was bloody as d¨¬ y¨´! so I wouldn''t recommend it" the younger nodded in understanding before asking what would he recommended, "snapping there neck, simplest cleanup!" a coyote passing by started speed walking away from the incredible suspicious sounding conversation." but if that doesn''t work use your psychic powers to crush an important organ like the brain."


    ''noted,'' it sounds really Gorey but it would definitely be useful in a battle to the death.'' any none lethal ideas?''


    "crush there done, tear there muscles!'' okay Tyrone noted that as well and asked about some none fighting use for his powers, he made up serval of them. Tyrone thought over several of them, the one that really caught his attention was empathy. that power could help conquer his fear of leaving his house. it was at that moment he released he was outside the safety of his home." Ah! he realized!" but either way he was already moving as Tyrone''s breathing started to pick up.


    with the smaller male over his shoulder sam jogged the rest of the way to his home, almost kicking down the door before pulling out the key from Tyrone''s pocket to open the door. kicking it closed he bouned to the second floor and straight into Tyrone''s room where he dropped the teen into his bed. there he was wrapped into a burrito,'' good I managed not to damage the walls or floor!" he thought as he comforted Tyrone.


    it was a while before his breathing even out, "that was a panic attack!" that meant he helped Tyrone through several of these in the past. grabbing water from Tyrone''s mini-fridge handing it to the teen. "how are you feeling?" he asked after Tyrone had taken a few sips, he got smacked with the bottle. it didn''t hurt and sam laughed taking that for an answer.


    he stayed by Tyrone''s side until he finished off the water bottle and climbed out of the blanket burrito, crossing the street sam prepared himself for the worst news. that was unnecessary as his parent weren''t home, instead, sam dropped his bag in his room before going to soak in the tub for a good while. "this lavender bath bomb smells nice!" unless something happened he planned to take this day and the next two to relax.


    "so here to hoping!" some shit was definitely gonna go down.


    he may have fallen asleep or zoned out because the next thing he knew he heard the door open, stretching out he climbed out of his cool bathwater. after getting dressed to went downstairs to find his parent putting away some grocery," so how did things go?"


    "there all dangerous now!" sam replied gleefully, a battle lust smile gracing his lips. grabbing a bag he started helping put away the groceries.


    "that good" Natale commented putting away a gallon of milk.


    "well good news on our end is that there''s no risk of you getting arrested but instead of more famous!"


    "That last part is not good news." more people were going to be looking at him aren''t they." how did you make that happen?"


    "we told the truth, the puppets came to the island to attack you, you defeated them will keeping property damage and casualties to a nonexistent minimal!" Cora put away a box of cereal finishing her sentence.


    "okay I can work with that," he set aside a box of random flavor cookies for when he hogged the tv in about ten minutes.


    "so what plans do you have for this school year?" sam paused he kept forgetting that school was starting up soon," it starts in a month or two right?" Natale sighed before confirming school started in a month or two, "that means I should start selecting my classes after my break days!" with the last of the groceries up sam made a quick trip to grab his ugly but comfortable quilt before grabbing the packet of cookies and flopping onto the couch.


    "he''s shutting down right?"


    "definitely!"

 57

    "you know this isn''t what I had in mind when you said you wanted to go fishing with me!" Natale panted face down on the boat he and his son rented. "but will be damned if I say I''m not having fun!" Sam laughed, trying to dislodge a piranha from his legs. he gave it a taste of his bloodlust and its leg, allowing him to throw it back into the ocean. The wounds healed quickly, and he wiped the blood. "so what''s next?"


    "Well," Sam paused to think, " we caught a lot of non-intelligent fish, but not the main prize we came here for." Wringing some water out of his shirt, he moved up to the helm, his father right behind him. "I didn''t think it would be that hard to find a giant fish; I guess it learned to avoid me." they wouldn''t be the first creature to do so.


    "do you think it is possible it passed away?" Natale asked, blowdrying his air. Sam shook his head before explaining this creature was a myth born, "yeah, I don''t think that''s a term other people use." Sam had seen things many things, things other humans and animals hadn''t seen, so he made his own terms for them.


    Myth born was one of these terms; it was how he referred to creatures born from myth stories. Collective mental power mixed with mana allows this kind of beings to form, such as the tiktik or the griffin. Both creatures didn''t exist outside of stories before mana flooded the world; they were born from stories and would continue to be unless their stories were erased. Which wasn''t gonna happen; humans kept their stories.


    Christians tried to cover up, erase, or steal stories from all kinds of cultures, but they failed. These stories still exist. In one form or another, it helped that the internet was such a vast and weird place. If you looked in the right place, you could find people who would fuck a rose plants monster. According to the summon count, it was pretty popular, or a few people really liked what that plant was doing to them. Sam was unconcerned. He made it clear what lines the plants couldn''t cross and got a lot of lust energy.


    ''what should I use all this energy for?'' he wonders, steering the boat into the dock. He helped his father unload the catch before dismissing the boat back to hell; part of the haul was gonna be sent home while the rest they were gonna sell for unneeded money. which might become part of Sam''s college fun or go to charity, he was gonna flip a coin on it.


    "I think it''s kind of amazing that people will buy live animals in this day and age."


    "Well, these animals won''t talk; that''s the biggest reason people eat fake meat or go vegan. Because even for me, it is a little weird to eat something that talks."


    "A little weird?" Natale murmured to himself before shaking himself. Who knew what Sam''s weirdness tolerance was like? It took them maybe twenty minutes before they sold everything and thirty minutes more before they sent their package off. Then they returned to the hotel that Sam''s apparently partly owned, like theoretically he knew Sam owned property around the world and received an income from them but a whole ass five-star hotel!


    Sam ignored the disbelieving stars he got from the staff as they walked into the elevator that led up to his suit. They had been looking at him that way since he came to claim the room, like they couldn''t believe it belonged to him. "I still can''t believe Sophie retired so soon," that girl had such passion and fire when she was building this place he couldn''t resist giving her the money nectary. Imagine his surprise when he got mail, which found him somehow, a few weeks ago? Later, he said that he was a partial owner of the then-small inn.


    Thanks to her own business skills, a large amount of money, and random things Sam sent her way, Sophie turned it from an inn to a five-star hotel. Sam was happy for her, ''she must be so proud of her work.''


    The penthouse that belonged to Sam was kind of cluttered, partly because he used it as a staging place. There was nothing to import, just trophies from fights and people he beat up; he and Natale had been going through it. Sam found himself reminiscing about the fights, ''ah so many bounty hunters foolish and greedy.'' how young he was during those times led to him being underestimated. That never lasted long when they made contact with him.


    Since he wasn''t overly attached to anything he''s found so far, he was planning on getting rid of it, selling and then sending the money off. ''he should be starting school about now, right?'' he didn''t know the education laws in that part of the world. But he was still gonna send him most of the money he made and put the rest in savings or charity.


    "Why did you keep this!" Natale exclaimed, holding the bone chakram he almost tripped on. The other one was here somewhere.


    "It was an interesting weapon, even if I have no interest in using it." It''s like how some children kept interesting rocks. Natale sighed before putting it off to the side and moving to the ebony silk couch. Sam laughed a bit as he moved to the kitchen. Thanks to those bitty fish, he lost a bit of store health, so he was gonna get some back.


    They had stocked up the fridge during their first few days here after organizing the place enough that Natale could walk around for the most part. As he downed an entire watermelon variant, Natale recovered from their day at sea.


    "What are your plans for the school year," Sam paused at the questions before looking at his dad. "I don''t know the course my life is taking. I''m not sure what course the school could teach me anything of interest or need." Natale hummed in response; he couldn''t really say anything. It looked like Sam was going to return to his life of travel and combat, "well, you should at least take a look, if nothing else."


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    After regaining the energy necessary, they did a bit more cleaning, finding more interesting and disturbing things. Natale gagged, finding a jar of preserved eyes, "So that''s where my spare went!" Sam was very happy to have that back. "mere than once, my eyes have been too damaged for continued use, so I started .... getting spares." Natale didn''t want to know more.


    "Can''t you regenerate?!"


    "yes, but it can take months for an eye to regenerate properly." this was some time back when he was maybe 11. he wasn''t sure, but his healing was shit back then. He set the jar down," I''ll dispose of that later." those eyes were no longer the right size for him anyway.


    ''my lord, it''s time.''


    "Oh, the meeting is starting! What channel?'' he already moved over to the TV, switching it on. When he learned the channel, he turned it right away. It looked like a normal assembly of Earth nations; now never watched his kind of thing. He didn''t care about nations. For the most part, the earth was the earth to him, was one whole with no part. Traveling showed him that, no matter what people called them or where they lived, people shared some incredible similarities, like being very greedy and horny. Kind and carrying!


    Fun fact since developing his lust energy core, Sam has been able to few how horny a person is; he''s forceful and ignores the feeling that he''s gotten from his friend and family. He didn''t need to know that at all.


    It wasn''t long before something disrupted the talks, the roof blowing up as the mimic slimes dropped into the room. Their current forms were Indonesian twins half dressed, "nobody moves!" they spoke as one. He noticed the distortion in the screen, which meant high levels of energy gathered, probably enough energy to blow something big up.


    A third figure descended from the ceiling. This one was a gender-neutral eldritch beauty. ''So that is the form you choose to take?''


    ''Of course, my lord!'' they replied as their feet softly touched the ground. On-screen, they spoke out loud, "You wish to know who I am? I can tell, but I will only tell you this: I am but an assistant to my master, a cosmic lord. who holds back the cosmic beast of lust and currently lives on this planet!" at that moment someone took a shot with a mana boosted assault riffle.


    The shell didn''t travel more than a few inches before one of the slimes twitched their finger, a small burst of dense energy deflected the bullet back into the shooter''s shoulder. Sam smiled, seeing they listened to him about the mercy thing; people who showed mercy despite their immense power earned a better reputation.


    "My lord''s presence in your world can''t be hidden for much longer. He expects news about him to start appearing soon; when it doesn''t, you''ll learn of his power. Don''t think of attacking him because I assure you he will retaliate. But leave him be, and he will do the same!" that being all they had to say, the helper and slimes left the same way they entered.


    "Okay, what the fuck!" one shouted before the feed was cut.


    ''yeah, that definitely made an impression,'' Sam laughed to himself. He could wait for the rumor about him to start up. People always came up with the most interesting ideas. People would probably be talking about him for the next week, and that thought had Sam blanching. At least they don''t know what he looks like so that attention isn''t directly pointed at him.


    "Okay, what was that about?" it was at that moment that Sam remembered his father was in the room and knew about the cosmic lord thing.


    "my making the world know, something I going to do is going to change the world, and people tend to like a bit of warning."


    "It''s nice you are thinking of others," cause what else could he say? "But was all that necessary?"


    "Not likely, but they definitely will take it up seriously and remember," Natale sighed before going back to organizing the mess; Sam skipped behind him.


    "oh gods, it moved!" Sam laughed as he heard his dad''s cry. It probably wasn''t something to be too concerned about, "what with all these teeth!" Sam wasn''t worried until he heard the screech, a mildly familiar screech.


    ''oh, that''s where it moved to,'' he went to help his dad. As his arm filled with demonic energy, the screeching quickly died out. A bit more cleaning was done before they headed out for dinner. There was food in the fridge, but it would be a crime to come here and not sample the local cuisine.


    "This is good," but Sam still couldn''t figure out what happened to some of the hole-in-wall places he''d been before. One place turned into a sex bar, which he probably should come back to later at some point. The lust in the air is so dense a normal person might choke.


    The next thing, as Sam predicted, everyone was talking about the lord of lust. Some of the speculations that people were having were hilarious. Natale didn''t seem to agree to know that, on a certain level, some of the things people said weren''t far-reaching for his son. they went back out to sea and continued to look for their prey, "how hard can it be just for a giant fish?" Sam said as he turned the boat around a coral reef.


    "Where are you, Hafgufa," this Icelandic creature was the size of an island. How could they not find it after four days of searching, "could someone have already killed them." it would be a pain to wait before the next ones are born." in its myth, the Hafgufa are believed to be infertile, which is why there are only two to be seen at a time.


    But Sam found that was incorrect; the Hafgufa are young for their kind. They rise to the surface to feed and grow, and then when they are larger, they dive back into the deep where no completely sane human dares travel. Sam didn''t count him in that category." Those creatures were so big they could have swallowed the Hawaiian islands at their original size. He can honestly say it''s one of the few times he has been sacred for his life, but also, honestly, it was more disgusting that he spent so long inside it before he found his way out through the nose.


    It wasn''t until midday that Sam got an idea on how to make sure" there should be enough cloud cover," ghost energy infused his ears, and he listened to the dead of the area. Most of it was fish, a few old sailors'' souls. He helped a few as they told him about the last Hafgufa they''d seen. It was hard because after existing for a certain amount of time, it became hard for them to keep track of time.


    "Man, I can''t spend too long doing this. I have a shift tonight," he sighed, and he continued steering the ship in the direction the souls gave him. slowly above the horizon, an island appeared, "planning to stop for lunch. "no, we found our prey!" Sam could sense all the lives coming to an end.


    Natale looked closer at the island and noticed that it was bobbing in the water, not to mention that smell. A horrible smell. It was like vomit and rot, overwhelming the smell of fresh ocean air. "okay then," he moved to the back where their weapons were stored. He grabbed the sword and giant brush.


    "what''s the plan?" he asked as his hand shard of night over.


    "The Hafgufa''s biggest advantage is that size matches its life force. Even if we cut out its heart, it won''t go down easy, but they are weak mentally, being so young and so unchallenged." they had weak minds and no fighting skills; this upcoming fight didn''t really wet his battle lust.


    When they reached several hundred yards, Sam killed the engine. The boat had supernatural durability and a few tricks, but it wasn''t built for battle. His hell car, on the other hand, did. But it would get swallowed like nothing, which would be annoying to retrieve, so he would keep that back. The best way to kill something this large was to go for its vital organs; no matter what size it was, they were very important.


    "Should I use my ability or not?" It might make this an actual challenge. But he wasn''t here for a challenge. He was here to get a gift for the lord of gluttony, "I''ve got to get home and consider if I wish to continue going to school." his demon core was pushed forward.

 58

    Dark wings lifted Sam into the sky, high above the Hafgufa. "now, which side is supposed to be your head," he let the demonic energy flow into his sword, changing its shape and color. "either way, you will scream!" he dove out of the sky blade forward.


    From the boat, Natale watched the black speck that was his sun getting closer and closer to the massive creature. It was quite like the world was holding its breath; even the waves were still. then the speck hit the Hafgufa.


    "AH!" Natale felt like he was going to explode; the Hafgufa''s cry was beyond loud. The sperm whale in the past could kill people with its clicks, reaching 180 -200 decibels. The current sound was much worse, reaching 4,000 decibels. If Sam and Natale hadn''t protected themselves with mana and runes, this fight would be over.


    "Nice try! But I''ve fought louder!" Sam ripped his sword out of the moss and something that protected the Hafgufa back. It was thick enough to protect it from his initial attack mostly. "HA!" he stepped into the same spot, sending dangerous energy past the fax armor. His body vibrates from the bone-shattering cry, but he ignores it and stabs the Hafgufa again in a different spot at a different angle.


    Sam sent out several dozen probing attackers before the Hafgufa raised its tail. "so I''ve been attacking your butt!" he laughed before racing to the head. He wasn''t worried about the fact.


    "There we go!" Natale said, setting down his brush and checking over the rune he painted to the air. They were looking good as always, " now freeze!" he slammed the butt of his weapon onto the boat, activating the runes. They shot towards the water surrounding the Hafgufa. They hit, draining all the energy from the water molecules; it reached absolute zero, becoming ice colder than anything on Earth.


    The ice spread for miles, trapping the Hafgufa; impressive it was, but Natale couldn''t hold it for long., not that he needed to.


    "sweet gods, this thing is big," Sam had spent several minutes in a mana-enhanced sprint to the creature''s head. But he did arrive with the shard of night overflowing with demonic energy when he reached a good spot behind the thing''s necks. His legs'' muscles burned with the mana he pumped into them; he pushed off the moss, sending several miles into the arm.


    With a show of core strength, he spun, unleashing a horizontal demonic slash. It took less than two minutes before the beast was decapitated, "that must have hurt." he pitted the dying creature. His wings flapped weakly to keep him hovering. ''okay, time to prepare it for transport,'' he wrapped the ribbon around the sword to shied it on his back before stretching out.


    ''Remember, my lord, to prepare it for transport, you have to mark it,''


    "with the paint on the boat, then I have to apply the preserving device so that it doesn''t go bad before they come to get it." it took him twenty minutes to do that, ''took more time than to kill it.'' he found it kind of funny, maybe it was a form of revenge for killing it. Returning to the boat, he checked on his father, making sure the man was okay.


    It took a half-hour for the delivery service to come to pick up the massive creature. The entire time, Sam let his bloodlust leak out, so nothing got the bright idea to try and nibble at the floating corpse. "oh man, what is that!" Natale mumbled, looking at the massive ship that faded into view before dropping cables to the floating corpse. He was more amazed at how easily they lifted it out of the water; he wasn''t even sure how much it could possibly weigh. Or how much effort would be needed to lift it. "oh man, what is this?!" his view was smaller than he thought; how interesting.


    ''they''ve completed storing to your instructions,'' Sam smiled. It wouldn''t do if the Hafgufa blew up mid-transport. Even worse, if it killed someone, ''it should reach the lord of gluttony in a few earth days.''


    "well, that one thing finished," he turned to his father, who had worked on restoring the temperature of the water to prevent any lasting effects on the waters. "should we go a bit more fishing, or do you wanna head back to the hotel?" sam has accomplished his gaol so he was fine with anything for the time being even though he wasn''t too thrilled about the idea of school starting up again.


    "let''s head back; I''ve used more mana than I was expecting." Sam nodded before grabbing the wheel of the boat and turning back towards the land; it was a nice drive. ''so why is my gut upset?'' he trusted his gut highly; his instincts were built from many life-and-death situations. If something was triggering them, then he was sure something was coming, and he would face it.


    Too bad he didn''t know the magnitude of what he was about to face; when they arrived at the port, an employee from the hotel was waiting for them." Mr. vegal! Sophie has arrived and would like to meet you," Sam linked for a moment before his face slipped into a massive grin before he jumped off the boat and raced toward the hotel, his father rushing after him.


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    Sliding to a stop at the main entrance, Sam opened his senses, trying to pick out," Ha, you still don''t wear shoes, do you!" Sam paused. That voice was familiar but strange; his stomach wasn''t happy, but he turned around to face her. "you''ve aged well," Sophie still had her beauty even with gray hair, and sitting in a wheelchair, her skin taught around her bones.


    " I should say that about you," Sam smiled, leaning down to hug her. he could smell death on her, a year at most. Maybe longer with the right treatment.'' in the back of his mind, he realized he was lucky as Sophia led the way to the hotel restaurant, where she prepared a feast for their reunion. Sam forced himself to be all here, not letting him think about anything else. The helper said nothing as they prepared for after the dinner, ''should I request the help of Natale?''


    The man didn''t seem to fully realize the weight he had with Sam,'' though observing the man and Sophia, they weren''t sure if they needed to say anything.


    ''so I guess it''s true then, they have always been faults in Sam''s stories.'' they hadn''t been sure if they were the boy didn''t know or was ignoring them. ''it''s probably a mix of both,'' he stealthy sent a message to his wife while Sophia said so stories of her life to sam, who listened to them happily¡ªlearning what he missed about his friend. The food was good and came attached with many memories to Sam; his stomach and his heart were getting filled, but that didn''t change the truth.


    When dinner came to an end, they headed up to their hotel with a promise to meet Sophia for breakfast, "How old am I?" no, that wasn''t the question; age was relative in this kind of day and age," how long have I been alive?" when did he become like this, "how many people have grown old without me knowing? how many have died?" has he grown old and died.


    "I don''t wanna know what you are going to do with that," Natale''s voice broke Sam out of his trace; he was surprised to find the man holding his black wrist. His hand was in demonic mode. Nails aimed at his skull. "huh?!" he was confused; what was he about to do? Why did it feel familiar?


    ''my lord, when I scanned your memories, I found several holes and blanks. Based on your unconscious action right now, I believe you''ve erased them.'' it didn''t improve how the lord was feeling, but it forced him to think and lower his hand, forcing his demonic core to draw back its energy before he used his mana to temporary seal it. ''i don''t want to forget her! Sophia is my friend.''


    Stepping out of the elevator, Natale didn''t let go of Sam''s hand; the teen didn''t fight it, though he might not have noticed as he was led back to the room. The closing of the door seemed to shock Sam, and he blinked slowly before taking back his hand and stepping out onto the balcony. Natale wasn''t worried about him jumping. The height wouldn''t kill Sam. "I''m going to get some tea going! What do you want?"


    "I don''t really care, but prepare your ears. I''m going to scream," Natal nodded and headed into the kitchen before he realized what Sam had fully said. "shit!" not a second after he covered his ears, primal screams shocked the upper floors of the hotel. It was Sam screaming, screaming full of rage and tears. They lasted for more than several minutes, growing in power until his throat couldn''t take it anymore.


    Only after a bit longer did Natale uncover his ringing ears, "I''m gonna need a big batch of tea." he started several things of water before peaking out onto the balcony to find Sam just sitting there looking towards the sky with tears running down his pale cheeks. His eyes should have been red from his tears, but the ghostly power flowed through him in response to his emotions.


    His ability did react to his emotions; out of all of them, Sam felt that the ghost would do the less damage. Though he couldn''t control it too well at the moment, he couldn''t find the energy to care as it altered his aura. His white hair danced in the chilling winds, and deep and soul-harming sorrow spread out from around him, reaching into the hearts of those who didn''t know how to shield themselves.


    Natale left Sam crying only long enough to put the teabags in hot water and grab the covers; being both outside, he wrapped a blanket around Sam. The white-haired teen didn''t say anything for a long time. Even as the tea turned cold and the stars shone, he didn''t move much besides blinking tears out of his eyes. Natale was fully prepared to wait out the entire night with him.


    "I''ve met many people," you could feel the weight of the sorrow on his tongue," so many people who became friends. Who I''ve helped and helped me! But now I''m not even sure if they are still alive, if they''ve grown old or died young. If they''ve had families. worst of all, I don''t know what''s become of him!" Natale pulled his son closer to him, who pushed his head into the man''s neck, taking in the warmth of life and the pulse of his heart.


    "Sam, I think you''re forgetting who you are! I''m sure if you put your mind and power to it, I''m sure that you can find out what happened." Sam blinked some tears out of his eyes; his dad was right. He could find out who he knew was dead or not. Standing up, he kept the blanket close to him before drawing on more ghosty power. Not enough to go full ghost but enough that parts of him were less solid.


    Natal sipped his tea, watching; he didn''t know what Sam was about to do, but it was still out of left field that he started singing. It wasn''t his usual singing voice, and this one sounded like it belonged to the dead. Hundreds of dead putting together an inviting chorus or one of calling. Natale watched, trying to be ready for anything, but still, his breath was stolen from him by the numerous lights falling from the sky and rising from the earth to surround them.


    "wow, so many of you answered me." Sam was crying full force again at the number of souls that came. He looked through them, brief flashes of memories about their faces. Some memories glitched. Some he put towards his own actions. But he found some joy at this moment, seeing so many old friends, some hope that a few were still alive. Not to mention, his soul wasn''t here. He was still alive. he would figure it out later. He would figure a lot out so much later. But for right now, at the moment, he was going to listen to all the stories of souls.


    The night passed quickly, and Sam didn''t pay it any mind; he barely reacted when Natale carried him back inside and into the living room, where he continued to converse with the souls. So many of them had such filling lives, but they kept trying to tell him what impact he had on their lives, but he didn''t care. He wanted to hear about who they grew into. That was much more fun for him. They were having fun at the same time.


    The sun was starting to rise, and he knew soon he was going to have to say goodbye to them; it wasn''t a problem. Death came for all of them. It wasn''t unexpected to have to say goodbye. ''my lord, you may not have to say goodbye, at least not permanently.'' Sam perked up and listened to the helper as they explained the ability of a cosmic lord. It sounded great to him, but there was one thing he had to make sure of first.


    ''how many of you would like to work for me? I have to mark your soul and give you a semi-corporal form." The first part was something he could already do, and the second was something of a cosmic lord''s ability. Sam expected one or two of them to say yes. Not all of the two hundred-something souls he summoned. "why?" he didn''t get it. They were dead, and even hell was a rest from life.


    They answered all at once, talking over each other, but in the end, it boiled down to one matter: they helped them. The impact he had on them lasted their entire lives. One voice stood out to Sam so much, "As you said, I never let them win and lived so long because of it. I saw so many things I would have missed if it wasn''t for you." Sam was amazed. He still had tears in him.

 59

    "so let me get this straight, you long-lived, at least possibly immortal!" Sam nodded, eyeing another glowing jar to make sure that it wasn''t cracked or anything. "so many of your stories are now a lot more credible, you know that, right! all the things you said don''t sound possible for a 14-year-old, but someone you''ve lived longer than that it makes more sense."


    Sam nodded again putting another glowing jar in the box that was going to take them all back to the stars islands. They would arrive without a crack, or Sam was going to rage. These were very important to him.


    "What did you think of my stories before then?" he asked, started casting protection spells on the box.


    "Well, a part of me doubted them, but at the same time, you were so capable that they seemed possible. Definitely thought you were doing drugs int some of them." sam wasn''t sure if he should laugh or not. "you know what I''ll give you that, but i don''t do drugs. Most of the time." the only kind he took were medical or of his own creation.


    He didn''t trust someone to try and cheat him, cutting the drugs with something else. which would result in someone getting cut. " so what is exactly your plan for these souls? You''re not going to bring anyone back to life?"


    "Natale, that''s funny; you don''t bring people back to life. Not easily nor for this many," Sam knew death wouldn''t like that. he didn''t want to fight any manifestation of death more than once. There were all scary mother fuckers who you couldn''t actually kill or seriously harm. "no, it more simple than that; first, I''m just going to make a shrine. So I can speak with them more in the future."


    "Second, while I can''t bring anyone back to life, I can grant them new bodies to help me fulfill some promises." and just to spend some time with them. Hug them without dipping too far into his ghostly power.


    Natale sighed but promised to receive them and make sure they were in good shape before they needed the call. Sam headed straight for the post office; he might have threatened the guy. He also heavily bribed them. Excessive definitely, but Sam wasn''t going to take the chance.


    "Ah, I guess that''s the last thing," walking through the street, he noticed many things. That he was probably subconsciously ignoring. Changes that couldn''t have happened in only a few years, wear and tear in certain palaces. Especially a heavy weather stature. Sam remembered being brand new when he first visited.


    "so much time," once again, it was swept away by emotion, grief, and guilt, to name a few. But better prepared for it this time, he held a breath and then let it out. he couldn''t drown, not after learning how reckless he apparently was. ''I need to do some much now,'' he thought. Being a lord would keep him busy for the foreseeable future.


    But now he had a whole lot of personal things to take care of. Promises he could still keep. Revenge he might have to take. He wasn''t entirely sure what was going to happen; would he lose more people? Would he make new friends? He didn''t know, and it kind of excited him.


    The reason Sam had spent so much time traveling, apparently several hundred years, was because he loved adventure. Seeing new places and meeting new people was always interesting, especially in comparison to his birthplace.


    "I''m going to miss the calm of the past few years," but he would treasure every memory. While making use of everything he learned," I know I have the funds for it," looking at all the accounts he could remember, he told him that. They also told him how long it''s been since he lasted touched them, some had markings of more then twenty years. "another marker of the passed time. No wonder I haven''t touched them in so long."


    "he spent an hour sitting before the stature before getting up and walking around the town to think to see the sights. Eventually, he returned to the hotel and returned to his dad, who was sitting silently. Reading something, he didn''t catch the title, and he didn''t care too much about it.


    Instantly, his dad turned around; the raven knew what was going to be asked before his lips parted. Sam didn''t answer with his choice; he just jumped onto the couch and pulled the younger male into a hug. ''okay, that''s a weird thought.''


    "so, how bad is it?" Natale asked," I''m more than four hundred years old."


    and you''re still living at home with your parents... don''t pinch me." Sam didn''t relax, his fingers pinching harder as his dad continued to make jokes about Sam''s real age and continued to get pinched until it escalated into a wrestling match where Sam quickly pinned him. "right, alright!" natals'' hands went up in surrender," I''ve run out of jokes anyway." sam rolled his eyes before realized the taller male.


    "Look, you may be ten times my age, but you''re still the feral ass kid I found in the forest, whose first reaction to seeing me was trying to fight and gnawed on raw meat once." Sam rolled his eyes; his body was strong enough to survive more than his weight in a fresh kill. though he didn''t do it when other food was available." All right, I believe you."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Oh, I''m not done," he went on a tangent, bringing up all kinds of memorable situations and moments they bounded. If Sam hadn''t found it so heartwarming despite how it annoyed him, he would have left to do just about anything else," but he stayed and listened. Trying to memorize the voice and face. ''who knows how long I''ll be able to see it? Of course, I could preserve his soul if Natale was okay with it.''


    ''my lord, your domain is lust, not greed,'' the helper spoke up, and Sam cracked a smile. He knew the helper wasn''t joking, but it was funny. ''so what, I lusting for the company?'' the helper didn''t respond quickly before saying that it was a distinct possibility. ''All right, never mind.''


    "how do we break this to mom?" Sam asked after a few moments of listening to his dad''s voice. Natale paused for a moment, then answered with complete calm, "With cake and ice cream." his first thought was actually wine, but he remembered just how much Sam disliked any form of alcohol. So, bringing out wine would open a different kind of problem.


    ''might distract her from Sam''s age,'' he thought with a bit of amusement. But he definitely added to the list of local sweets he was bringing back with them. At the same time, he remembered that he had yet to buy their plane tickets.


    ''Yeah, let''s get that done,'' he activated his holo device and started looking. It took only a few tries to find a flight where he and Sam would be neighbors and one at a reasonable time; the former was for Sam, while the latter was for him.


    It was for the day after tomorrow, which gave them plenty of time to do more mundane vacation activities. Like going to the breath, buying overpriced souvenirs, and "Sam, stop fighting the local gangs!" mostly mundane things.


    After a day of having fun, they finished packing and turned in for the night before the next day came, and they headed to the airport; on the way out, Sam chatted with his old friend. Giving her his current contact information. "this time i hope to stay in better contact," he told her.


    They hadn''t even made it to the airport when she started sending him her collection of pictures that had aero of them, followed by pictures of her family. It wasn''t a big one despite the fiances at her fingertips, but they were clearly content and happy.


    "you know you don''t look the feral in these," Natale commented. "Well, I had been living in the city for a while, more than eight months, I think," the memories were fuzzy and chunks straight out missing. "compared to how long I had been in the forest at that time." those memories were much worse despite being more recent, which left him with questions about what he was doing in the forest.


    He vaguely remembered eating something but couldn''t remember its taste or texture. But he ate a lot of it, maybe enough to make himself sick at least once.


    He decided those missing memories weren''t too important and pushed the thought aside. Focusing on the know as they settled on the plan, Sam scrolled through the pictures. Seeing the time he missed with his friend was bitter how much he missed. How many events could he have been at? At least he thinks he could be there; his memory was patchwork.


    Forcing himself calm, he decided to focus on something else, like the long list of other shit he had to check up on. Not just building but times, things he hid, and promises he might still be able to kill. ''I''m largely sure I have to kill a few things again, don''t I,'' unless they were already dead, it has been a while.''


    He tried to look things up, but not everything made it onto the internet. Even the things that did weren''t too helpful, ''no, I don''t need a history lesson. I might have been there...is that a reference to me?'' focusing, he looked closer and at the article. "okay, very good chance that''s me," unless there was another half-dressed kid who bit a monster. He remembers biting them, not why he was half-dressed.


    He might have been hot or lost the pants fitting something. This battle had been in the middle of the desert, and he lost clothing in a fight before; when people threw around powerful stone-shattering attacks, clothing tended not to make it.


    The flight was a long one, with several stops to refuel or restore the magic in its protection or offensive spells. They had run into a pack of very angry pterodactyl-like birds. Sam watched as they were pushed back by the shields on the plane. They weren''t the only ones that tried to hunt the plane, but they got the farthest.


    The other interesting thing to happen was that the monkey children were corrupted by Sam teaching them poker and betting on candy. Sam was reasonable and didn''t clean them out. Their mother gave him a death glare as the children disused betting their chores.


    "you assumed, aren''t you."


    "I mean, I didn''t do anything," Sam replied, knowing just what kind of chaos he led to the creation of. He expected she was going to be dealing with a very chaotic chore list from now on. Especially getting their children to stop betting their chores. ''I mean, it''s only a matter of time before she snaps and forbids them from doing it.''


    Getting off their plane, they grabbed their luggage and headed outside. To the parking garage where the car was parked, Sam took in the city air. ''yeah, that''s a part I don''t miss.'' the city air was full. He guessed, filled with noises, scents, energy, and traces of presence. Sam has gotten used to it over the years. But that didn''t match the number of years he spent in the wild.


    Where the air had less in it, he spent the ride home reorienting himself to the atmosphere. And picking up a lot of residual lust than he did before. ''yeah, that''s not good; the beast has definitely been up to something.''


    ''it would seem that way, my lord. I believe they are trying to expand their reach for your return.'' Sam nodded before wakening his lust core. Reaching for the power that was clinging in the air, sensing it to the best of his ability.


    ''beyond just how much there is floating around, it doesn''t feel any different," which was a different kind of concern. What did this kind of energy hovering around would affect? Even if the beast didn''t actively use it any time soon, he didn''t like the idea of it just hovering around. ''It''s probably best I absorb it, though I doubt this much would be good for me.''


    ''I need some pebbles,'' he decides after a moment. The rocks would be a decent focus for him to hold the energy for a period of time; how much time, he didn''t know. He would find out soon, though; he put the matter out of his mind for the rest of the drive home.


    "Hey, have a nice trip," Cora asked like she hadn''t talked to them nearly daily while they had been gone. Sam rolled his eyes before hugging her, minorly checking to make sure she was okay. Knowing the beast was making a move had made him a bit paranoid; he was definitely checking on Lost later.


    After throwing his luggage into his room, Sam jumped into the backyard to grab a rock and commanded the lust in the air into the rock. ''so this works decently.'' the rock gained a nonviable shine to it. Sam smiled before cooking the rock and working to remove more lust from the air. ''Well, this isn''t doing much,'' he felt like and probably was taking drops from a pond.


    ''I''ll have to figure out a better absorption and storage method,'' taking a dozen filled stones inside, he set them in his room in a circle before lighting a candle in the middle of them. "oh," This was an old witch trick he learned, a simple one with many uses.


    Right now, it told Sam these rocks had been used in witch magic, and he couldn''t help but smile. "oh, there''s potential here." which probably meant he didn''t have to pocket a bunch of rocks. But he could draw the attention of witches. And if Sam knew anything after spending... his smile damped when he realized the gaps in his memory.


    "How could I forget that time? It''s when the witch core... what did the witch core do at this time?"


    ''Breathe, my lord,'' the helper instructed. Working hard to pierce through sam panic and get him to breathe before his nails fully changed color. ''my lord, why do you believe the witch can help?'' they asked, presenting a distraction to their lord.''


    "Which can only create new brews if they''re willing to play with new things."

 60

    Putting the stones up for sale wasn''t even that hard; it helped that Sam charged pennies for them. Literally, he did not need more money. he had enough market awareness, and he thinks someone taught him about this. "Man, I want my fucking memories back."


    He knew the price would draw attention, good and bad; at least a few curious people would be drawn to try it, and then someone would find a use for the rocks. The minimal time frame of this was 6 months to a year.


    As for the longer time period, apparently, Sam was 400 years old, so he could apparently wait for someone to figure something out or himself to figure something out. he wasn''t that much of a research type witch. ''if worse comes to worst I can call my teacher... whose probably still alive.


    ''if not for her incredible magical and herb knowledge, then the fact she would fist fight them if given a choice.''


    The harder task that followed was going back to school and feeling with people. Worse, the witch queen, ''Ugh, I''ve been on TV several times. I wonder how many of them are going to try to be my friend for a bit of fame. He didn''t need more friends; he was content with Daniel. Plus, knowing his real age kind of hit Sam; he was probably going to outlive a lot of people on this island.


    This thought might have plagued him a bit, but the helper was forcing some coping methods on him. Also, Sam reminded d himself that while his friend''s body might wither, souls were much more durable.


    Still, he was going to spend time with his slightly directly challenged friend; right now, they were walking through the city, letting Daniel''s cursed sense of direction lead them through the town. Not only did they find it fun, but it brought them to a place they would never normally find.


    Like a place where the ground gave into the sewer, where the slightly glowing fungus was shining out of the hole in many changing bright colors. which was being used for a club of small sewer creatures." Man, those rats can dance?" Sam commented before one rat noticed them and started speaking very fast.


    "Slow down, my rat. Isn''t that good," Sam replied, and the rat did slow down. Sam nodded before pulling his head out of the light that was coming down the hole." I was in their light," Sam stated.


    "I''m not surprised that you can speak, rat, but why do you?" Sam paused for a moment, trying to see if he remembered that part... he did, "Rats live just about everywhere, and their language is usually the same despite local dialects. so it was a good language to learn when I was traveling. They are also easily bribed."


    In response to his statement, a rat then a small cup at him; Sam let it hit him before squeaking way beyond what the average human should be capable of. Whatever he said to the rats, many of them took offense to that and started trying to climb out of the hole. Pausing when Sam growled. Daniel wasn''t sure what it was, but it was very deep and made every hair on Daniel''s body stand on end.


    "You didn''t have to move," Sam looked up to his friend, who had moved to the alley wall. A thought away from scrambling up it, "I''m sorry, what was that sound?"


    "a predator, the predator!" he said like it answered everything, and to Sam, with his weird ass life, probably did. "right, you don''t know what that is... frankly, I don''t know what it is either, but nothing has ever hunted me as well as it did." daniel nodded and wondered how dangerous this thing was.


    "I think I would win now," Sam said, but he didn''t sound so sure, excited maybe. "I think there''s is a good chance it''s alive, or its descendants are, but I think my chances are a lot better than before. I could make a nice dagger out of its teeth."


    "is that necessary?" Daniel asked, and Sam admitted probably not unless it attacked him again. "so what should we do now?"


    "wanna hear more about the weird shit I''ve done?"


    "no, I want lunch." they went and got lunch. It was tacos, frost tacos. The sauce was made with a special kind of herb that was so cold it burned. Daniel liked them more than some did,'' Remind me of the time I had to walk through the Arctic?''


    "what the fuck was I doing in the artic?" he tried to recall more, but nothing came up. He just remembered trudging through snow despite his bits freezing. "well, that explains a few things about me and the cold. I thought it was because of all the ghosts."


    "speaking of ghosts, what did you do with the souls you mailed home? by the gods? What kind of sentence is that?"


    "a strange one, but currently, I''ve started setting up things, but there are still a lot of materials that I need to wait to come in. Hopefully, customs don''t stop them."


    "If I ask more, am I going to be an answer," Sam assured him that jail wouldn''t be that bad if they got caught. Not that the items Sam was getting were prison-worthy; at least he remembered them not being that way. The law wasn''t his best area of expertise, "scratch that we might need lawyers."


    "I have a lawyer, do you not?" Sam paused, trying to think; he thought he had hired someone to be his lawyer. But that had been when he was really physically young, just starting to travel. It''s how he got his passport. But that guy was very probably bone now. "Okay, that''s a problem," Daniel said after Sam explained this.


    "I think you need to talk to my lawyer." Sam laughed before admitting that was a good way to go about it. Away from the serious topics, they continued walking with no real destination. Eventually, decided to get on the train and ride it to the beach.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Neither of them has spent too much time at the beach; Daniel put his shoes in a locker while Sam, who wasn''t wearing shoes, just walked out onto the sand. He started a conversation with some crabs. "Oh, what is that about?" he wondered as he watched Sam kick a crab into the ocean. Before, a bunch of crabs worked together and controlled the sand beneath his feet.


    "come on, can you do better than that?" Sam shouted, dancing around the attack, literally dancing, swaying his hips to some unheard toon. "I said I''d help you train, but this isn''t even warm up." the sand slit into numerous small forms, and Sam still danced.


    "Ugh," Daniel groaned, rubbing his neck as he saw how Sam moved his own to avoid a spear of sand to the face. He could have sworn he heard something break, but Sam''s head went back in place. Finding a place to work as Sam kept playing with the crabs.


    Slowly, Daniel dug out a trench in the sand, using the displaced sand to create the base of a rather large sandcastle. He had finished the first flow when Sam got down with the crabs, all of them having been kicked into the ocean.


    Working together with a few runes, they built a scale model scale that was almost as tall as Daniel was. This was the point where Danel wanted to stop the castle," are you carving out houses?" Daniel asked as he watched Sam shape a roof in the sand before their castle." yes, the castle looks lonely." he started as a simple fact." Daniel laughed a bit before joining him.


    ''He making all kinds,'' Daniel thought, watching his friend work. There were all kinds of housing from different countries, and he wasn''t sure if they were from the same ear. Some looked like the kind you would find in a museum. The light of the sun danced gracefully on Sam''s face as he worked, focused yet a distant look in his eyes. Fingers working delicately to change the sheep of the sand.


    A rather spikey-looking house was being made, and Daniel paused in his own work to watch as Sam carved something new. "huh, what kind of house is that?" the question broke the peaceful look on Sam''s face, turning to confusion as he turned down to the house. His face was quickly confronted with horror that was reduced to ash under the flames of rage.


    Daniel didn''t see Sam move, but he knew the house was gone and a fist-sized cart was sitting in the sand; as the sand settled back into the earth, Daniel moved closer to his panting friend. "bad memories?" he asked; Sam blinked focusing back on this time and not the memories that rushed up. Much too clear.


    "one I wasn''t aware I damaged-" Sitting down, he tried to regulate his heart, but it was still beating too fast that he felt lightheaded. His entire body was tense and ready for a danger that should no longer exist. "I''m guessing worse than that Antarctica thing." Sam nodded, " it can''t even compare."


    "Mmm, Daniel didn''t speak anymore, offering silent comfort to his friend until Sam no longer felt slight-headed. He wouldn''t faint if he stood up. "I can''t believe I designed a house like that?"


    "is a house such a horrible thing?" Daniel gently asked, watching as Sam twitched several times in response to the question. What the hell was the only thing he could think about that. "it''s not the house itself; it''s what it''s a part of and what the house itself means." Daniel asked if he wanted to talk about it.


    "that knowledge dies with me!"


    "Alright, want to get ice cream or milkshakes?" Sam paused before looking at the work they''ve done so far," Let''s work on this a bit more. Then we''ll really have worked up an appetite." Daniel nodded and agreed as they worked to make more houses. Sam sticking to desert-type homes. None of those existed on that little hell on earth. ''no, that''s an insult to hell.''


    Daniel noticed that Sam viable calmed over the next hour, his shoulder loosening. While he was incredibly curious, he wasn''t going to push; nothing small spooked Sam. especially nothing like a house; he cared too much to push right now, nor was there a need.


    After leaving a castle and a small village, several animals were observing and commenting on two collected their things and looked for a place to get treats in the light of the setting sun. They found one near the train station that served decently good food. Their selling point was their frozen desserts.


    After that, they headed home; Sam spent an hour pushing the lust in the air into some rocks that he had put in a box he had prepared. He made two dozen stones before quitting for the night, ''The power of the lust core is leaking pretty bad right now.'' he rubbed the spoke the core and sat, seeing how his power had already affected his skin and everything else."


    It diminished over the night, and he was able to do another set out rock that morning. "at this rate, I''ll put a few dents in the gathered energy. But I''d rather not go beyond the stones at this point." he vividly remembered how the plants turned out." What about the mimic slimes." he knew they had been busy with the work he''d given them.


    "Nah, let''s let them keep doing that. Instead, let''s play with rocks," he recalled a few things he could do with stone filled with energy. "or I could turn back to the statue." it was more or less done, and he just needed to prime the magic and energy for its purpose.


    "at least I already know how well rocks hold lust energy." he thought as he formed runes of pure energy inside the start, focusing a good deal of lust energy into the start of its collection and fueling future absorption.


    This action took almost an hour because Sam wanted to do it right. ''after I check in the morning, I''ll know if it worked.'' For now, he went inside for dinner with what tasted like chicken. Grilled and part of a large green and red salad.


    "All right, it looks good," Sam said in the light of the rising sun. Looking at the runes and energy within the state, he could see they had settled nicely, but when he stepped back, looking at the maturity of the status, he noticed something had changed.


    Something in the make-up of the sculpture and how it looked slightly. honestly, Sam wasn''t that proud of it despite the days he put into it. Cause he put months, possibly years, into other artworks; just looking at it now, he could see several points he could have done better, made lines sharper or smoother. Added a bit more details.


    "I''ll do them," he decided, walking up to the sculpture with a bit of destructive demonic energy in his hands, using to fix the problems he saw. As he worked, he noticed an interesting thing about the lust energy trying to guide him; well, it wasn''t as plain as that. It was more like the energy knew an image it wanted to present in a sense. It was like a cloud or fog instinct.


    Sam didn''t know how he was supposed to explain this; it was just a thing that was happening due to the nature of the energy and how it was interesting with the sculpture. In the end, not only did it look better from the creature''s standpoint, but it also possessed an additional charm that Sam couldn''t quite determine now.


    He knew it had to do with the energy, what exactly he would have to figure out later. Some kind of lust, he wasn''t sure which kind. But he would narrow it down. ''fact, I''ll do it with the next sculpture.'' he would have to organize for the next chunk of material to his doorstep. he was thinking of a different collar, maybe a few gems or quarts from some business. ''i think I have a business card for that.''


    Going to look through all his stuff, he found half a business card that had been bitten in half. There were way too many fights that came to mind where he could have been bitten.

 61

    The school year technically began without too many problems; a lot of people looked at Sam as he entered his classes, but none of them approached. ''I could have done it without the gym teacher scolding me about holding back,'' which made no reason for the teenage-looking male. Why on earth in mana would you go full out on the people you''re training with?


    "full out was when you want to kill or maim someone," Sam said in response to the scolding. This made the gym teacher pause before pinching their noise with competence about the school guidance counselor.


    Said worker Sam had to see at the end of the day, which he didn''t get. What did he say, ''Well, it will be nice to see how their vacation went.'' Sam thought as he left the gym; this wouldn''t be the first time he spoke to the consular. At first, it was because Sam sometimes didn''t wear shoes and said the most out-of-pocket shit to people.


    Then, he never stopped doing either of these because he never saw a problem with what he was doing or saying.


    He focused on his other classes until then and tried to ignore the biggest problem at the moment. There was a haze of lust within the school. It was thick like cotton; if he looked with the right eyes, he couldn''t see through it. ''how much of this is just lust that is hanging around?"


    ''either way, I have to deal with this?'' not only was it annoying, but worse, it was a threat. The beast would not be allowed to make a trap, ''though I wonder what kind of trap they would set?" his battle lust and curiosity pulsed at the ideas. But he pushed them down; while he was reasonably sure he could serve, the same couldn''t be said for his schoolmates.


    He picked a few rocks off the ground during a break between classes so he could start removing some of the lust from the air. Not that it made a dent; the next school day, he came with a bag pulled of rocks that he filled.


    "Yeah, that didn''t do much," Sam groaned, feeling his lust power thrumming under his skin from overuse. ''I''ll have to do something about this soon.'' he groaned as he kept himself from jumping someone. Either to punch them or kiss them. Maybe both.


    after school he raced on to deal with it, getting in a street fight which took the edge off. the rest of it was dealt with a night at a hotel. the partners he hired were very, very nice, and he left them a good-sized tip before he left, stretching as he walked out of the hotel. "All alright that takes care of that for now. but I''m going to have the same problem as I continue to work on the lust in the air.


    He would very much like a more efficient method for this, " the best answer might be some straight-up magic." he could modify some spells to an extent, but he didn''t know what consequences or attention or, worst of all, the paperwork he would have to do. "at long as no one dies I guess it could be worth it," when he got home he started a small test in spell modification.


    "Well, nothing has blown up so far," he said, expecting at least some smoke from this. But it was going better than he thought. nothing he could use for his current problems." But maybe I will find a use for these reactions in the future." Kicking his feet, Sam tried something else.


    a few lines and he got an interesting line that he knew he couldn''t use for his purposes. nor did it mesh with his style of doing things, so the paper was ash after a moment, and Sam continued to play around. Doing so for hours before stopping.


    The next day, he filled more stones before the school day was over; this time, he brought not only larger stones but also different minerals to see if that made a difference. There was a small one.


    ''I''ll have to investigate that later,'' he tossed and caught a stone, waiting for Daniel to finish up his conversation with one of the teachers. Sam didn''t know if this was about class or career. But it didn''t take more than a half hour, and Sam followed his friend out of the school.


    They grabbed a snack before anything else," You know I''ve never had more attention as your friend than I have this week at school. Everyone wants to introduce me to the guy who won serval fights on worldwide television. several of them asked if I knew you had this power."


    "What did you tell them?"


    "knew you had power, but not that much. Causes seriously, dude, you''re doing some wacky shit. Like catching throwing knives with your teeth?!" he knew Sam enough to know that he was just showing off. The smirk on the raven''s face plainly confirmed that as he walked down the street. "she was doing her best to put on a show; why shouldn''t I match that energy?"


    "I think by not caching metal weapons with your teeth, seriously, you could have caught them another way." Sam shrugged. He didn''t have a real reason. It just came to him as the blade flew at him.


    Daniel sighed, "Worse is people asking for your autograph, and I don''t know if you''ll sign those. Even then, I don''t want to bother you with it." Sam smiled, leaning on his best friend," Thanks; I''m not really sure how I feel about autographs. I spent way too much time actively avoiding attention and leaving as little trace as I could."


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Daniel pushed Sam back, who only leaned more of his weight and not. "plus, fans can be really fucking annoying; I could tell you about the time I spent with this celebrity... I can''t remember his name or his face; I think we were close." Sam stopped walking, standing straight as he looked towards the sky.


    Despite having no clear memory of this celebrity, he felt a lot of emotions. The strongest was grief, but it was under the love of family. Sam couldn''t help but wonder what this person was to him that he whipped his own memory so deeply.


    Daniel quickly tried to distract his friend with words, and it only partly worked. the moment the chance appeared, Sam''s thoughts returned to the celebrity. that was really the only solid thing he could remember about them, not there pronouns. not there hair, skin voice. it was all gone, his heart ached to remember.


    "let''s watch some old movies!"


    "what?" sam looked up from his thoughts. "lets watch some movies, maybe you can find this celbrety of yours!" sam blinked before smiling," That sounds like a good weekend plan, but your not picking them."sam flate out stated. danile had weird movie taste.


    "then you can''t pick them out either, your taste are just as weird. don''t make any comments during the action scenes." sam smiled guilty, he knew he had a bad habit that wasn''t exactly bragging but he did comment that he could and has done a few stunts. not to mention grading the acting, "Is that because of them?"


    before the weekend came around the two gathered supplies. mostly snacks and drinks, but also gathering movies and series that were made over the last 400 hundred years. "so what an average of three hundred movies a year."


    "Yeah, pretty much," Sam replied, scrolling through the movies they found. "You know when, with your weirdness, you can''t read that many movies." Sam laughed cause Daniel was right," unless we fuck with time." but they both deiced that this wasn''t important enough for some time dilation.


    Following that train of thought, Sam continued looking through the options while turning on random play, getting the two some kind of romantic comedy to watch. It was short for a movie. Sam kept his comments about the acting to himself. Cause the actor were playing into their roles too much, which played into the comedy very well.


    The writing could use some work, though; the same joke four times in under an hour. Seven movies and a lot of snacks and drinks later, Sam jumped as he saw a side character come onto the screen of a 178-year-old movie.


    Focusing on them, he realized he recognized something about them, ''they look male, so why am I referring to them as them.'' thinking, he quickly searched for the actor and followed from there. After finding four other movies they had been in, Sam realized," They''re a shapeshifter!"


    "What?" Daniel looked away from the movie." the celebrity I knew they were a shapeshifter, and gender non-binary or fluid...I''ll remember the right term. but I remember they didn''t care too much about it." Sam smiled. He didn''t even remember much, but this little bit of retrieved information lit some hope in his heart.


    He hadn''t lost the information forever; he could remember them and what they meant to him. With an actor to follow, they changed the movies they watched," What a range?" Daniel said that after watching the actors play all kinds of roles in all kinds of genres,


    "wait?" he called 13 movies with the actor in; he quickly paused the screen before focusing on something." is that you?"


    "What?" Sam looked up. He had no memory of being in any fucking movies!" looking closer, he realized it was him: his face was a bit different. his hair was vastly different. but his eyes were the same, the same emerald Daniel had known for years. "your blonde?!"


    "Oh, no." Sam blinked, running a hand through his hair. "that''s when I got it bleached it. Honestly, I hadn''t even cared about my hair before they took me to a dresser. The way that man swore as he combed and washed out: blood, dirty, sticks, bones, a nest of bugs."


    "gross, just gross."


    "yeah, I admit it was. But before then, I didn''t like my hair; it had stronger bad memories than good ones." closing his eyes, he could see glips of the good memories his hair had at that point. The people who did something, the strangers who gave him haircuts or braided or wrapped it. "a woman gave me dreads once, showing her children how to do it."


    "so, did you not bath?"


    "no, I cared for hygiene, I was clean enough that I wouldn''t get sick or anything that would hinder my adventures. It was just I hadn''t come down from an adventure in the forest, and I was a mess. I didn''t care to clean up at that point."


    "which was really dumb," Sam shuddered remembering the feeling of the bugs nesting in his hair. Not to mention the pair of getting them out. To be frank, the hairdresser should have shaved him bald. ''though I did like the cut he gave me, not so much the cleaning of his hair afterward.''


    "Afterward, I got taken in by a celebrity; I can''t remember the reason they gave me or what they fed me the night. The memory is warm, I don''t remember how much i relaxed before that point. I was by them for so long, relaxed, and comfortable."


    Sam was silent for a long moment, and Daniel almost thought he was done talking." The only time I''ve been so relaxed since is when the Vegals pick me up."


    Daniel didn''t say anything; what could he say? The horror at the sack that Sam spent several hundred years in a life he couldn''t relax, mostly on the move around the world. As much fun as Sam said he had, Daniel wondered how much of that fun was to hide away from the danger around him.


    "that''s nice," Daniel magned after several minutes of the movie playing. "so what do you think we should watch next?"


    "none of the movies I was in," Sam replied," you were in more?" danile asked only to get smacked with a pillow to silence him," you will not watch anymore while I''m here!"


    "What? Don''t want to see your past works."


    "no, I haven''t acted in years. Besides, I wasn''t very good at it." Daniel rolled his eyes but abided, and they watched a few more movies of the celebrity; Daniel already knew their name from the credits. But he refused to look; he wanted to remember it.


    It was hard as he didn''t pay too much attention to the movies, each one bringing up bits of memory that he found himself getting lost in. shopping, dinner, going to movies and parks, sharing a bed with them, cause Sam didn''t want to be alone nor did they.


    Each memory brought up the warmth in his heart that he forgot was there; Sam was quickly realizing he didn''t just spend a short time with them. He might have lived with them longer than he lived with the vegals. ''I want them to meet,'' he realized as the sun rose up the island. They were family to him, and he wanted them to meet, as did his other family.


    "how many people do I call family?" the question sparked a realization that he had no idea. With the massive holes in his memory, he had no idea how many people he''d met nor how many he could call friends." cause unless I''ve changed a lot, I was probably cautious of people and tended to stay away unless he felt he could trust them.


    If they could, he had years of combat experience. Sam continued watching until Daniel woke up. Did you stay up all night," the younger male groaned and turned over. Dude," he groaned, pressing his face into the pillow away from the light of the TV and the sun.


    "Sorry," he turned off the TV and closed the blinds." how was your night?" Daniel groaned," Not long enough." Sam snickered and sat up, leaving his friend to walk as he went out to stretch, getting his blood flowing.


    Stretching, he thought about the patchwork of memories, small things, big things. Things he was more than happy to remember and a few things that he would glade to not remember if nothing more than being embarrassed.


    "I''m glad to remember you, Tatum!" smiling, he looked at the rising sun, the many faces of Tatum racing through his mind, "so glad, Tatum! I will miss you." a single tear was released at the person he could call an older sibling.

 62

    "what do you mean he''s still alive!" this was not what Sam was expecting to hear after he returned from another match; this was after someone who made use of sound magic and illusions. They were very good illusions. If Sam let his guard drop, he would have gotten trapped.


    Anyway Sam won, while they were great with their issuions. not so great at defending against it, he would have lost to them and there small knife. he was kind of insulted they thought that was a weapon capable of defeating him. until he learned it was enchanted.


    after that and a few hours of rest and healing, Sam returned to Daniel sighed who had a collection of information for Sam about his older sibling. at first, he was just reading through their accomplishments, the awards they won the good and bad they done. Like getting drunk and walking through a street but nacked.


    but then he read that Tatum was still alive and currently still acting. which shouldn''t have surprised Sam too much, with enough money or skill living more than a hundred years wasn''t impossible. but tatum was like thirty when he meet Sam, so he definitely did something to live this long and still be a working age.


    "why didn''t he contact me?" then another memory came to Sam, one that made his gut sink." I told him not to," Sam could remember that his enemies or someone attacked them. Trying to hold Tatum hostage, only to get trapped and kicked where the sun doesn''t shine. Even though they both came out of it without any injury, Sam panicked.


    He didn''t realize it then, but now he has more experience. Sam was able to tell that he had a panic attack and made some panicked decisions, like leaving and telling Tatum not to contact him, with some very mean words.


    "I have to talk to him," Sam knew this was the most reasonable course of action if he wanted to repair the reaction ship. ''really, I should be racing out to anyone who might still be alive; let''s focus on them right now.''


    This wasn''t going to be easy, as Tatum was famous. Sam had a number for them, but it was over a hundred years old, so it might not be his anymore. Not to mention, who knew if the shapeshifter would answer? If he did answer, would he speak to Sam?


    ''huh, my stomach is in knots over this,'' It''s been a while since he''s been so nervous that he didn''t want to eat. but he knew how to force a bit of food inside of him. even if he wasn''t at risk of starving anytime soon. but food was something to focus on.


    Half a day later, after watching some more movies, Sam realized that the way he wanted to deal with this would be face-to-face. It wouldn''t be hard to find the home of Tatum and talk to him. Since he was in school, he was going to have to take more direct travel methods like using the destructive power of a devil to cut a hole in space.


    Was it unstable and like an extreme rollercoaster? Yes, but Sam landed inside the city he was aiming for. The sun was rising here while it was night in his current home city. he remembers this city vaguely," I wonder if that tea shop is still open?"


    putting that away for later, he started heading for the shapeshifter''s home. when he got in a block he sensed some security, from a distance he gauged they were pretty strong, esspcaily the one with the shotgun, he was pretty that thing had some kind of divine enhancement. ''mm, it feels Greek. i wonder which god. maybe it was the god of cheese.'' he snickered at the idea.


    Then, he stopped before remembering when he put a chick in the hospital with a roll of cheese. It was several dozen pounds. But it was still cheese. ''alright let''s hope i don''t have to fight them.''


    moving slowly he approached the house, his path clear to those watching causing the guards to tense ready to fight if he posed a threat. he stooped a dozen feet from the house, then he took a deep breath in. A rune on his tongue, "Come out tatum! it''s time to speak with the child who weilds the power of demons ghost and witchs!"


    The rune on his tongue just amplified and controlled his voice. The sound wouldn''t go anywhere while making it strong enough that it would break through most simple and common defenses and blocks. It was a pretty simple technique that left him able to dodge the first shot from the guards.


    "oh can''t let that hit me," Sam commented as he looked at the burning hole in the ground. it was deifntly some kind of fire, but there were several fire related mthes for the greeks.'' stepping forward he avoided a basterd sword and pun and to kick, his food struck the flat side of the blade and pushed them back.


    Moving several steps back, he avoided several more shots from the gunman; they were fast and very hot. ''okay, even with my regeneration, that''s going to leave decent damage. Acting fast he brought his hands down quickly drawing a trio of rune he slamed into the ground.


    The power pulsed through the ground; the heat began to seep out of the ground and the sir. Leaving behind a thick chill. One that weakened the following shot as he focused on the other guards. Sword, nunchuck, a fucking electrified chainsaw!


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "oh, that''s kind of cool!" he ducked and dodged the wide swings of the rotating blade." i''d love to fight," leaning right, he lashed out at their wrist, knocking the chainsaw away." but your boss is here, and I''m here to talk to them."


    He jumped back several feet as the door opened, and Tatum stepped out with a mini machine gun. Which he used to draw the rest of the attention, his gaze quickly zeroing in on Sam." is that really you? Shadow?!" the tone was abit accuser.


    Which fare, but Sam still twitched at the name, remembering why he wanted to be called that. It''s partly because the name sounded cool, but it still kind of is. But the rest of the reasons were definitely telling about his mental health at that time.


    "yes, it''s me. I don''t know if you want to talk to me. But I decided that I should at least reach out to you. It might have been a hundred years, but we were close." he did his best to stay late, but his emotion leaked in his speech, his worry and hope. The actor did a better job of keeping his face flat.


    For several moments, he said nothing, just looking at Sam, who did his best not to fight under their gaze. At the same time, his guards moved, spreading out to get good sticking points. Sam was unconcerned about them; oh, they could definitely hurt him. But not kill him.


    "going to run off again when the conversation is over?" Tatum fainly asked and Sam nodded," i have school in the pouring but I''ll stay as long as i can." tatum nodded and turned around having Sam inside the house.


    "nice place," Sam commented as they walked through the hall. tatum had left his slippers at the door way and Sam had forgotten to put on shoes when he came. followingdown they hall they arrived in the living room. it was large and very cozy looking, one wall covered in achievements and pictures.


    Sam winced when he realized that he was in a number of pictures but ignored the guilt for a moment. He was either going to make or break his relactionship with the shapeshifter. Tatum took a seat on their couch, picking up a bowl of popcorn candy and pretzels. all drizel in carmel.


    "your sweet tooth hasn''t changed." Sam stated taking his own seat in the hovering loveseat. tatum didn''t commented popping a it of popcorn into there mouth. "so you wanted to talk?"


    Taking a deep breath, "I''m not going to apologize for trying to protect you. I''ll admit that with a calmer mind, I probably would have come up with a better solution. I''ll apologize as many times as necessary for leaving, but not for trying to keep you safe!"


    "What makes you think I need help keeping safe?"


    "the fact you still have guards," one Sam fought not more than a few minutes ago." right Tatum sighed," I don''t know that would be a good argument." groaned they dramaticily stretched out against the cough," So tell me little shade? why now, why not in the past hundred years."


    "I had a bad coping method of erasing parts of my own memory until recently; I didn''t remember you. I miss a lot of my time traveling the world; I don''t know how many people I deem too painful to remember."


    "do you need a therapist?" tatum asked without hesitation." already have one." Sam replied.


    ''I''m more than happy to be of assistance, my lord. Speaking, my lord, the one known as Tatum is letting off an interesting reading.'' Sam nodded to them before turning back to Tatum." I hope they''re good." Sam assured them they were.


    "Honestly, as much as it annoyed me that you left, I could understand the minimal amount of logic it made. Why you didn''t contact me afterward was a different problem. I thought you were dead. I had a grave made; I made an offering on the day of the dead. But not you just whipped your own memory."


    Sam wasn''t sure how to feel about this, touched they had done this for him, or guilty they had thought he was dead for so long." but enough of the sad things, we can come back to that later." they popped more mix in their mouth. "tell me are you dating anyone?" Sam scuffed, rolling his eyes.


    "you bloody romantic," taking a seat, he looked at Tatum," I''ve tried, but they never went anywhere seriously, even worse, remembering that I''m several hundred years old. Physically, at least," Mentally, he was a lot younger due to all the missing memory.


    "ah, have you tried a dating app?"


    "abistly not," sam immeadlty said when tatum asked why not. sam slowly expeined how he onced used a dating app to track down a guy he had beef with. you''d be amazed how many people you found like this," I learned it form this russiunn dude...though that time that guy might have been a hook-up app. he brought lube but no flowers."


    "Did he touch you?" Tatum asked, looking towards his gun. Sam rolled his eyes," he didn''t try. Immediately trying to run when he saw me." the nonbinary person relaxed and asked more about what life Sam was currently living, learning that he was currently going by Sam Vegal. Tatum was free to call him Shadow if he wished. "If nothing changes, I plan to stick to that name."


    "that''s nice, but I want to hear more about the people you''re calling your parents." their voices gained a protective edge again. he didn''t know if Sam remembered it or not, but the boy did. could he call him that with the raven''s true age? they decide yes because, for all intent and purpose, he looked and acted young.


    When Shadow first started staying with him, Tatum gently pocked about what Shadow would call him. The suggestion of the parent got a fit, a tantrum in which the boy threw a couch, the TV, and a sink. He didn''t even get near a sink or use telekinesis of mana, but he threw it.


    So they settled on a sibling, which was great cause Tatum was not ready to be a parent at that edge. But he knew something had put the wild child in such distaste for his parents. It obviously improved, but Shadow never even hinted at why. Tatum didn''t push.


    He was going to meet their people; if they proved to be any danger to their little brother, they were going to face Tatum''s wrath.


    The two talked for an hour, to the point that even with teleportation Sam was late for class. not that he cared, riding don''t he high of seeing his older sibling again, and a bit guilt at the other relationship he was ignoring." I''ll talk to him someday. I will, I must."


    Walking into class, he took a seat and did his best to pay attention to everything that followed. but he definitely drifted off, watching his holo-device, watching in case Tatum sent him a message. The two of them traded contacts so they could talk. Sam wasn''t sure how often they would talk.


    Sam didn''t use his holo-device much for communication, more often than not being able to speak face-to-face with the people he spoke with. Most of them lived on this island, plus he could fly and teleport and own several vehicles. Distance wasn''t his biggest concern now.


    Now it was the test in the fourth period, ''why do we have to do this stupid infernal test!''  he mentally swore as he filled in the bubbles. Bubble after bubble, soul-draining bubbles that might never end.


    ''Okay, maybe I''m being a bit dramatic, but I''m bored.'' he finished the next, then focused on collecting some of the lust in the air. Focused it on the stones in his pocket, wiggling his feet against the ground until the class let out for the day.


    School came to an end a few hours later," Daniel had a family thing, so he headed home and gathered all the rocks he had filled in the past week, then took them to the witch shop to drop them off before heading back home with some witch''s clay.


    ''you know I never did much with this kind of craft.'' most people made familiars from it. As he considered the form he was going to put the clay in. he passed a shop, "Ah, doesn''t Tyrone like that show?" thinking about it, he quickly dipped in and got one of the posters the shop was selling.


    "This is going in his birthday gift, "Sam smiled, thinking about the collection of stuff his loved ones were getting for the celebration. "AH! Tatum!" his smile almost broke his face as he turned around. Heading for the stores.

 63

    "you know I''m rich, right?" Sam only smiled wider, looking unashamed at all the gifts he had lying on the floor before Tatum. They sighed before opening his arms to give their brother a hug. "you know your going to get gift inreturn right," sam nodded into other shoulder." i doubly you''ll do better then i did."


    "oh, you on," Tatum replied," but first, who this?" he turned to look at Tyrone, who was clinging to Sam''s leg. the weight did not even impede the raven''s movements. "oh, this is Tyrone. I thought it would be best if you two met."


    "Hello," Tatum bent down to greet the boy who only pressed his face deepening into Sam''s pants leg." so you don''t feel like talking, that''s fine." they stood back up, noting that Tyrone relaxed a bit. "he''s shyer and more scared then you were."


    "Okay, the scared part, I can believe it," Sam responded after a moment," but there was no way I was shy." Tatum only laughed a fond look on their face." oh, you were plainly so. Despite the strong face you were putting on, it was clear you got nervous when trying to interact with new people."


    "you''re making this up," Sam tried to deny it, only for Tatum to whip out a whole ass story about the time Sam just stared at people until they stopped trying to speak to him. No matter who tried, it took four different occasions before he even said anything. even when he was running off into the wilderness.


    "snort." they both snapped toward Tyrone, who avoided eye contact." hey! I got you to laugh. it took me months to get Sam there!"


    ''oh, he''s trying to get Tyrone to open up without pressing him.'' if he focused enough, he could remember that static being used on him. tatum pretned to talk to himself while doing stuff around the house. ''i think i used that trick on tyrone!''


    it was both shocking and relieving; it showed on some level that Sam had remembered his sibling. a feeling of relief kind of touched him. it meant he hadn''t completely erased the people he cared about. maybe he was incapable of doing so. either way, he continued walking with him, trying to get some stories that would jog his memory. Tatum didn''t hesitate to share the more embarrassing ones.


    "I''ve one an incredible amount of shit, but no way I refused to get dressed before battle; they leave my bits opening to getting snagged on something."


    "that''s your complaint!" Tyrone shouted.


    "so what do you think of him," Sam asked as they walked home. "they''re interesting," Tyrone replied from where he was now resting on Sam''s back," you were very different when you were younger."


    "What did you think I didn''t change? It is natural to change. You must change to survive!" Tyrone nodded, thoughtful. Meeting and hearing the stories meant more to Tyrone''s growth than he knew at that moment.


    Despite all the stories he told, the way Sam told them, either intricate or not, always made it seem there was never a moment Sam was in any way weak. Mental his was feeble; he had numerous strengths and skills. What weakness he had seemed irrelevant. unstoppable in a way.


    But Tatum, his stories that showed Sam had to work up to all that. the stories of him teaching Sam to cook, the things he burned, or when he cut a cutting board. how Sam was even unassured and nervous at the time. Pointing out that he was as he introduced them.


    Tyrone now knew that Sam had grown into the person he was, and maybe there was hope that he could grow into something grand." he didn''t share this revelation with same, still unsure about it. Maybe with time, this bud of change might grow.


    Arriving back on their island and walking down the street, Sam was keeping his ears open, ''Something is happening with the lust.'' was the beast making a move? Or something else? Either way, he picked up the pace to get Tyrone in his house.''


    "ta ma dE!" Tyrone suddenly felt his lunch rise as Sam spun fast, kicking out at several people. Some of them are human, along with several other males and females. Plus, a turtle. Its shell didn''t stop it from flying off. "ta ma de gaun!" Sam roared in Chinese as he jumped onto a rooftop," mostly to deal with bats and birds coming at them.


    ''my lord!'' the helper shouted as Sam kneed a bat, using it as an anchor to spin kick a Seagul.'' the lust in the air has confounded my senses. I was unable to see the beast taking control of these people. I apologize for my failure!''


    Sam gets the vague feeling that the helper is bowing to him, waiting to be punished. " I foregive you, this just gives us an example of the beast mind. it planned this out very well; now we''re going to counter it.''


    With a thought, he woke his lust core, drawing on the power stored within it. Not enough that he starts transforming beyond the change in his eyes. Enough to affect the lust that was controlling these people. Evident when Sam kicked one cross the head, and they paused for a moment.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ''need to raise it but this will work, increasing the flow of energy caused the change to spread from his eyes a bit. He put more physical power behind the next blow, sending a seagull flying and knocking more of the lust out of them. It mixed with the lust in the air.


    ''yeah, that''s going to be something I''ll deal with later.'' sighing, he adjusted the passenger on his back as he whipped around. Attacking the cats who thought they could ambush them. Then, backpeddling as the big cat approached, giving ground until he dropped off the building.


    His toes touched the window seal just as the big cat looked over. "hello!" leaping back up, he drove his knee into their jaw. Something cracked, but Sam didn''t stay to be concerned. Jumping to the next roof.


    Tyrone had very rarely seen Sam fight, but he knew the guy was skilled. Watching him single-handedly win a 10-on-one fight was a different thing. Hell, the thing that he was struggling with the most was keeping Tyrone safe, Not damaging the property.


    Watching him chock slam someone with his right leg, Tyrone felt a whole new level of admiration for the older male blossom.


    "Alright, I think that''s all of them," Sam landed on the street, setting Tyrone down for a moment. ''my lord, I''ve adjusted my scanners, the theory, you have all of them. Unless the beast is controlling people using a different method.''


    ''we''ll see about that, won''t we? But for the moment, I''m going to call an ambulance.'' the call was quick, then Sam grabbed Tyrone and rushed off; he quickly dropped Tyrone off and had him bring up the house defenses before heading into his own home.


    "alright the house defense are parlty up, if something happen I''ll know." taking a seat on his bed he mediated to deal with the energy lingering through his body. it took a bit to get it under control. longer than it would have taken with any of his other cores.


    But once he got it undercontrol he looked around and deteirmed nothing was attacking at the moment," then where the bloody clay i brought." he had made a test with it and it helped decently enough.


    he worked for the next few hours, making small beed that he carved runes into and fueled them with his lust power. already, they started passively absorbing the fog of lust over the city. not that it was enough," thankfully, beads are simple enough to replace. in the morning, I''m going to need a lot more clay."


    Which he ordered online now for pickup tomorrow."  ah, beast of lust, you have surprised me. Now it''s my turn to surprise you.'' the helper spoke up, asking how they could be of help. "mmm, run some number first, how many of these marbles aim am I going to need and do you have any suggestion for making them faster?''


    ''Primarily estimate is over 50,000 marbles.'' Sam choked,'' As for suggesting there are many places on and off planets that you could commission to make the clay marbles for you.''


    "let''s do that!"  while Sam knew hard work making that many marbles by hand was a form of torture. It''s not like he was scarped for cash either; in fact, he decided triple that number would be a good starting point. Cause he had an entire island to clear up at the same time, he didn''t think it would hurt to have some extra.


    It took some time to place the order wouldn''t but available for a few weeks, despite his decision to split up the number between several shops. ''well, some aren''t don''t the island, but they''re all small businesses, so fuck capitalism."


    Laughing a bit, he went to bed, passing out in the way that would allow him to snap awake at the slightest sound, which made for a very fitful night of sleep in the city. Cause someone was riding around on an unnecessarily loud motorcycle.


    Still, he managed to get enough rest in time to pick up the clay. taking it to school with him, of course he carried it through his class, even making a few marbles now and then. heating them with runes," I know there are no rules against what you''re doing." Sam looked up from where he was cooing the clay." but please pay more attention to class."


    "you''re explaining how rhyme effect spells," Sam answered before looking back down." This is a method that has more effect on the caster than it does the spell due to rhymes being easier to remember but at times harder to cast."


    "correct," the teacher replied, and then they turned back to the lecture, calling on Sam a few more times along with another student who might not have been paying attention. some were, some were not.


    Heading to the next class, Sam put the completed marble in his locker with the rest of them. That would have spilled out if not for the simple barrier he put up. But as he opened, he felt someone cast a rune in his direction; he moved before he realized it. Then, he realized he wasn''t the target.


    The simple barrier cracked only held together because of how much mana Sam had put into it. So they tried to fire a second rune.'' oh no, I''m not picking all though marbles up,'' coating his hand in a light layer of mana. Sam batted the rune out of the air. Closing his locker with his other hand.


    "you know there is no greater fool than one who tries and fails to fight out of their league!" Bratt only snorted, asking who said he was out of his league, reeking of confidence. " the boot that about to be up your §à§ã§×§Ý!"


    Sam then moved; since he was in school, breaking the guy''s face was a bit of a problem, so instead, he swung his hand down, snagging the jock pants, ripping them and his undergarments down, exposing him to all the students in the hall. "fu-AHHH!" his swear was cut off by the vice grip on his nuts.


    "Look, I don''t really care for the fragile ego you possess. But I''m not someone to be picked on. I don''t understand how you don''t get that even after these past four years." Realizing his goal, he walked away as Brett curled on the ground, a few tears rolling out.


    "So I heard some interesting rumor." Daniel slid next to where Sam was sitting." Man, gossip was a powerful force, but yeah, I did grab another guy by the nuts."


    "For some reason, I don''t know why I''m surprised by this," Daniel replied, unrolling a piece of candy," I know you''ll fight dirty if you want to." Daniel looked at Sam, who only smiled with hidden battle lust. ''he wants to fight Bratt. but he''s holding back.'' Personally, Daniel didn''t think that fighting would dent his friend''s battle lust.


    If anything, it might make him irritated. From what he knew, Sam was scheduled for another fight with the network soon, very soon, hopefully. The rest of the day went without much problem. Sam caused no problems cause he got lectures from some teacher but just didn''t give a fuck.


    Brett was glaring at him as well, but he barely reacted to the bloodlust the younger male was putting off. he was more concerned about getting all the marble put away for transport without a problem. On the way home, he activated them, only using enough energy, so his left eye changed in response.


    "ugh, at this rate, I might start hitting people with them." that would be amusing if nothing else." but seriously, I need to find uses for this; I bet my teacher would have figured something out. but after all these years she''d be pissed if I only came because I had worked for her."


    "...shit!" how long has it been!" he thought it was less than 5 to 10 years, but now it might be over a hundred. he didn''t think she would like that." ah ha, I''m in danger. So much danger." he was probably being dramatic, but she was dangerous when he was younger. He didn''t think she got any less unless her methods of dealing with her aging body were wearing off.


    "assuming she''s still alive...who am I kidding? That woman is still breathing without a doubt," grumbling he considered how much money he was going to spend on an apology gift. cause he was going to need a hell of one to stay off her bad side. "you know I''m going to deal with that later.


    For the moment, he maintained the creation and activation of the marbles. Eventually, he ran out of clay to use, so he was stuck changing projects for the time being." after making himself a snack, he mediated and worked on controlling the lust energy.


    Due to its nature, he was kind of wary about it, not because he thought the power was bad. but not wanting to voilet people, he wasn''t not a pathic pieace of trash that needed to have power over people. Like so many pathic people around the planet.

 64

    "Well, she''s still alive." Sam leaned back in his chair, looking at the screen before him. It was the sight for the witch community; it was part of dating, covens, and projects. Sam was using it to check in with his enter. Who was very much alive.


    "Yeah, that is going to be a very big problem," he definitely had to send a message to her or something. But by the gods, was he nervous about her reaction? "I''ll send a message and cake." She likes cake, so that would probably buy him some brownie points. "Some brownies would be good as well." It wasn''t hard to put in an order at a witch bakery.


    It was witch cause they would infuse a potion or spell with the goods without making a mess. Mixing potions into food was harder than one thought. Cause the potion still had a chemical makeup. They could be very bitter.


    After a few minutes of thinking about what kind of spell to add, then a certain memory. The first spell Sam actually learned." All alright, let''s hope she doesn''t get too mad." sighing, he turned around in the chair so he could face the floating formation of marbles. "how much of a problem is this?"


    It was moving constantly, drawing in lust and changing it. Sam observed so far that it was condensing into something else. Sam didn''t know for sure what, but he guessed that it was probably a different state of energy.


    Turning away after placing a bucket under it, he started stretching to go on a run. He had a shift at the bar soon, anyway.


    ******


    "who sent me a cake?" she opened the first package and saw it was a cake, then the writing on it. "hey, I''m not dead, Prince of Night curses. Going by Sam nomad vegal!" she wasn''t entirely sure how she felt at that moment; it really was a surprise to hear from him. he hadn''t heard a thing in two hundred years.


    For a moment, she was relieved more than anything, though she promised. She was definitely making some calls, not just to this brat but Sam''s other allies, whom she knew were still alive. "the demon is going to be very happy when they hear about this."


    Sighing, she sat down to have a slice of the cake she had received. She quickly detected the spell baked into it." Ahahha!" She couldn''t help but laugh. The tickling spell was very well done." oh, it''s that brat, all right."


    The spell only lasted a few moments before she caught her breath, allowing her to think. The boy she knew wouldn''t have done that. Hell, he barely wanted to learn what it meant to be a witch when they first met. Why she never knew" Maybe I''ll learn this time around!"


    ********


    "look, we don''t serve that kind of alcohol, it''s cursed, and price gouging is a bitch." Sam tried to explain to the drunkard before him. She only hiccuped and demanded that he get her the drink she demanded. Still, Sam once again told her no. "look, I think you''re too drunk, so how about some foo-" She splashed a drink in his face, and as usual, Sam had a very violent reaction to alcohol.


    "Wow!" a customer shouted as the lady flew into their table, knocking everything over. Sam was over by their side in a moment," I''ll clean that up right in a moment." then, he grabbed the lady by the leg and dragged her off to a sobering room.


    Which was basically a locked room where she would be forced to sober up, then Sam rushed to change clothes before the alcohol made him do anything else." why the hell do I work in a bar!" he grumbled to himself, already knowing the answers. One such answer is that he could work from anywhere in this bar. No matter where he traveled, he wouldn''t be out of range for a shift, which became even more important after learning his true age.


    Someday, hopefully not anytime soon, every person he cared for on this island would die, and Sam would probably move on in his grief. Then Sam wants a place to work; if the bar is still open, he will gladly work here. "plus, it might help me build up a tolerance to this."


    "can''t keep throwing people across the room," he stepped out of the back with a new shirt and smelled of roses before he got back to work; the rest of the night went without incident, and Sam was able to head home.


    Where he found the marbles still going at it, the bucket under it filled with some kind of liquid. Grabbing a spoon, he stuck it in. cause even though he was sure it couldn''t permanently hurt him. But he wanted to go to bed soon, which meant not dealing with an energy so dense it warped a spoon.


    "Alright then, in the hours this has been going, only half the bucket has been filled, so if I trade it out for something large, it should be fine until morning." then he went to bed and woke up with the bucket just about full." mm," I should move this over a tub or something, but better question am I going to do with it. I don''t know any kind of use for it; Earth doesn''t have this kind of energy destiny."


    The closest he could think of was small puddles of mana so dense it melted all metal or, on a lesser scale, the blood of gods. But that was like comparing a hand crank to a nuclear plant.


    ''my lord, if you can''t find a use on earth, how about a use of planet?'' Sam blinked before knocking himself on the head slightly,'' that is an excellent idea, let''s buy some containers for it first.'' it would be cheaper to order from space.


    After making the preparation for that, Sam got the largest bucket he could and set it below the marbles to continue to collect the energy while he got ready for the day and worked out what size container they wanted.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Since Sam really had no use for energy at the time, he decided to sell it all to the lord of greed. She owns an auction house and more, which would mean she would not only be able to get it sold at a great price, but she also had the connections to make sure it was studied and used right. ''only the truly stupid or arrogant would try and cross her.''


    "yeah, remind me, did I ask if she is a capitalist."


    ''no such practices are outlawed almost universally and hatted even wider; besides, she is a decent person, and that''s all I can tell you."


    "no, it''s fine, as long as she isn''t a capitalist, I''m not going to complain about doing work with her," he remember the last time he worked with someone who cared more about profit than lives. Man, was it satisfying to drop them out that stupidly over the top office of theirs.


    "wait, I''ve helped them deal with several capitalists; why did that happen? He usually didn''t make a mistake several times like that." acutely, why didn''t he remember working with these people," great more memory erasing that came to bite me in the ass." sighing, he resolved to let the memories return in their own times.


    More bits and pieces came to him over the course of the next few days while he was doing other things. Almost nipped his finger while he was dicing some fruit." I don''t still have those stocked, right? It has been what thirty years since then. I was in Japan heading to China, yeh thirty years. Is the company still running." as he fished with the fruit he did a quick search online to find the company was still running have grown to a medium-sized company.


    "Well, it doesn''t look like it treating people too badly. Isn''t that the guy I left in charge of my stock should call him." they had gotten along. It would be rude not to call him, and this was the reason he was going to call. Not the shit Sam left in Japan like this full-on samurai set he had; why or how he got it was kind of fuzzy at the moment, but he still had it.


    "how much stuff have I got lying around after 400 years?" why did that just send a shiver down his spine? It wouldn''t be that much, right? Then he thought about all the stuff he had kept in his four hundred years and the things he had brought to the island with him.


    "Okay, I''m a hoarder, man. I hope nothing is broken." he could probably fix it either with his hands on magic. But it was a pain either way," grumbling more, he tried to remember what else he had around the world and how he was going to gather it all. Honesty, he could probably hire someone, spending the money he has unintentionally been hoarding.


    ''but first, I have to remember what I''ve stored, cause I''m sure some of it is dangerous,'' like that thing he still had wrapped in leaves," should buy a chest for that." in fact, he opened his holo screen again and brought a chest it would fit in. following by checking his order for marble.


    "All alright. Most of them are almost done and will be delivered." they worked fast, and Sam knew he was tipping well. After finishing meal prep for Tyrone, Sam grabbed a map and started trying to figure out the route he had taken in his years. "okay, so we washed on shore somewhere around the South African coastline. I remember the name of the first village we ran into. The first time, I got chased with a broom by that woman. The fact I was covered in dried blood didn''t help me."


    Traveled north for a while, taking what was needed to survive while trying to put as much distance as possible. Went so far we arrived at the northern part, don''t know how long that took then, tried to sneak by the border guard but failed." he remembers being detained for a bit, they tried to put him in a foster home, he was too violent and almost went to prison if not for the witching hour.


    After that he searched time for the person most important to him. At that point, he was in a foster home; it looked like a good place that Sam hesitated to take him back. So he stuck around in the town for some time. Living on the streets.


    "but I felt so out of place watching him with such loving people, I left." he sighed, dark emotions flowing around his heart. He took a break to let his emotions settle and fade before thinking back," The next time at the border, I broke through and traveled up the continent into Europe. Where I started running into witches."


    Due to the witching hour, he stuck around because their powers had shown similarities. Sam learned he was weird due to the other aspects. "then I got scared because of that and broke away," he sighed, thinking back to the witch who came after him. Trying to calm him and help him, eventually just capturing him,'' I can''t believe I bit her.'' of course, she backhanded him.


    He broke free some time later and started running back and forth along the land, but in doing so, he saw many things that gave birth to his wonder lust and the desire to see the world. When he stopped running away and running towards it.


    "After that, I was just going where my interest wanted me to do, getting lost at sea several times." he sighed before saving the map and looking over it. What he did in what didn''t look like too much, but seeing as he traveled it on foot for the most part. It just meant he put a lot of time behind it. "Well, well, it helped me build up my ability to survive in the wild."


    Sighing, he leaned back, trying to think about what he had done at that time and if he had picked up anything of interest." Lots of rock and bone" was the first thing he thought of. The rocks cause he just thought they were cool; the bones were from everything that he killed. But none of that stayed around.


    "hey, Sam, what are you doing?" his dad asked as he walked into the room. Non-pulsed Sam, lying on the ground staring at the ceiling," trying to remember all the stuff I kept over the years where I put it." there was some cave between Russia and China where he left a lot of bones.


    "how much stuff do you think that is?" Sam shrugged his shoulders, thoughts moving to China, where he got into a lot more fights. They had a bunch of ghosts and demons warding in that area; he found it incredibly irritating and painful. Lashing out into the space around him.


    He got the shit knocked out of him by this chick who wore a fucking boulder hammer. She then brought him to a doctor who treated the four energies traveling and clashing through his body. They tried to teach him some kind of control, sealing off the ghost, demon, & witch''s power.


    Sam didn''t want them, and when the night came, he showed them his true power, broke out and then with a goal of trying to understand." they had given me a curiosity to my power that I hadn''t known." since then he spent..." how long did I go at this he sat up and tried to think, pulling up the may and marking libraries he visited.


    Read raided and sometimes got his ass kicked.


    "Okay, that''s about a dozen libraries along the content, on foot or even flying, for at least a couple months. Probably could find some article about those attacks." as he started looking for them, he tried to recall more than flashes of these, even other than the vague impression of, ''I did this!''


    "¦Ò¦Ê¦Á¦Ó?," he swore in Greek as several articles popped up. "oh, that is bad," his dad commented, reading over his shoulder with a plate of cookies. " the lawyer is not going to like that, racing the headline of the articles.

 65

    Sam rolled his eyes, staring at the layer before him. Who quite Franky looked like they wanted a drink than sitting before him." it''s not that bad." the layer looked at him before face planting into the table." not only are you actually four hundred years old, which is a problem with all your paperwork.


    "which is easily fixed, and I can''t be charged with it because that is how old I believed I was. which is what I put on paper; I guessed my age. So at most of an annoyance."


    "yeah, nothing compares to the hundreds of books you stole and don''t remember what you did with them!" they groaned, banging their head against the table." they are still planning to charge you unless you can get them back." Sam shrugged. He could deal with prison, a worst-case scenario.


    "giving some time, I could probably drag up some memory of what cave or hole that I stashed them in," he didn''t believe that he destroyed them. he just didn''t think that way, and he didn''t think that he''d changed too much. Hopefully, he hadn''t changed too much.


    "assuming the books are still in some kind of usable state. There is still the fact you still stole them." Sam shrugged, "while assaulting people!" again, Sam shrugged," You do not pay me enough."


    The man groaned when Sam offered to increase his paycheck, "You not taking this seriously enough."


    "I am, I''m threatened with prison time. I''ve been in several prisons, either because I have been captured or because I broke in." the lawyer choked," and it''s not as bad to me. To me, the worst part of prison is how mind-numbing bored I''ll be. I''ll probably mediate my sentence away."


    "and if it is years long?"


    "I''m four hundred and something; I can kill a bit of time." the layer sighed. He really wasn''t going to get Sam to take this any more seriously. " he rubbed his face and considered what drinks he had at home.


    ''my lord, I understand your thought process; paying for the crimes you did commit isn''t a bad thing, but if you do go to jail, you have to figure out how to deal with the beast''s attempt to kill you & break out.'' Sam immediately thought back to his time in prison and how frustrated some people were.


    He is probably full of lust, so he probably is dealing with some of the beast''s shit if he went to prison. Then dealing with the shit outside of the prison.'' well, the statutes could help a bit; I could definitely hire some people for a stopgap measure.'' but it would be best for him to deal with it himself.


    In theory, this was possible without adding more time to his sentence, but Sam was aware this was something he had to argue in court. Which would not be fun! Grumbling, he continued his meeting with the layer before leaving immediately, grabbing something sweet to calm his nerves a bit.


    ''can beat my way out of this problem,'' his fallback method in his feral years. ''I can only rely on the wits I''ve been granted. The next course of action was to look for a trip to the continent. Honestly, he could probably tear a hole in space or something.


    But it would be better in serval ways, mostly dealing with people and law, if he took a plane or something. "still, he tried to figure out where he left the books; he had a vague idea on a map where that might be. But the actual location was a different matter.


    "oh, I don''t think I did anything beyond this area. I was like, what, 15, 20, maybe? I''ve got to get my age in order." but still, he hadn''t physical age, so they were a limit to his physical ability at the time. Which meant Sam couldn''t travel too far with the books.


    "at the time, I wasn''t too big a fan of people, so the heavily populated areas are out, but I wasn''t so self-sufficient. so isolated but close enough he could get resources. he tried to think about the state of his body.


    The memories were too fleeting to be of real help; he didn''t feel partly hungry or thirsty. But that kind of didn''t mean anything, "curse you, my past self, damage my memory so much that I can''t follow them.'' as much as he was gripping about it, he still didn''t want the memories back all that much.


    One thing he could clearly sense was the incredibly deep loneliness, the bottomless pit of despair. ''why did I live at that time? There was nothing for me?'' his nails grew black and shaper, "things have changed. Things have changed!" he repeated to himself as he squatted on the ground, trying to calm himself away from the panic attack.


    It took ten minutes before he calmed down. A bit drained, he tried to think of more cheerful things, like the life he had now. ''sure, there are a few problems, but nothing I can''t fix; after all, I fought a god. Few things are harder than that, but of course, there were things that were more complicated.


    Like dealing with the law and the first of what was probably a lot of crimes, ''I don''t think they''re going to accept I was raised in a place with a very different concept of law,'' honestly it was shameful how long it took for him to understand that. ''worse is how little I cared?" the funny thing is that it hadn''t changed he didn''t care for the law but kept it in mind more.


    While it was simple to break the law, what came after was rather painful, especially if he got caught." That is why he made a great effort to make sure no one knew he was breaking into a house and attacking people to absorb their flowing lust.


    Sam grumbled as he thought back to that time again, this time not thinking too much about his emotions, at least until he got home, where he could have a breakdown and panic attack in peace before wrapping himself in a comfy spot.


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    "Are you doing fine?" His mother asked, seeing him curled up on the couch, the TV playing." I have a lot of bad memories coming back to me," the woman nodded before patting Sam''s head. She left to change out of her work clothes, and then she returned downstairs to read a book on the couch.


    Sam was more than capable of asking for comfort, but she would be close by if he decided to ask for it. Sam spent a long while, making sure he wasn''t going to do anything reckless, like whipping his own memory or whipping someone else''s. Some memories were going around pretty hard, but he didn''t let them overwhelm him too much.


    He just had to last second after second and then minute after minute. Until it changed, ''take it breath by breath until the battle is over.'' He reminded himself of one of his oldest beliefs. ''Where did I hear that?'' he might actually remember it one day. For the moment, he asked his mother about her day, then the book she was reading, cause he didn''t know that one.


    "oh, you''re definitely stalling, but it''s an action novel." she went into explaining the story, and Sam''s interest pinged a bit. Even though from what she explained, the action scenes could use a bit of work." A stab wound doesn''t hurt like that! Not with that kind of blade."


    "how many times have you been stabbed?"


    "no comment." his mother gave him a flat look before asking if he even knew," no comment." he got a very late look before she pulled up a notepad from her device and made a not for.." doctor appointment?"


    "well yeah a lot of your information is probably needs change," Sam opening his mouth before closing it and thinking, he knew vaugle that living over a certain amount of time changed the body. It explained several types of longevity and regeneration.


    His regeneration/self-healing technique was recorded, but it wouldn''t have anything to do with his lack of aging. Honestly, he wasn''t too sure about it himself. from the returning memories, he''s had it for a long time, probably even when he washed up in Africa.


    ''but where could it have come from? Not much happened in the water, and before that-'' he cut that train of thought off right there. He was not ready to think about that. Nor did he want to,'' grumbling Sam thought about what kind of test they might run.


    ''Yeah, I know nothing about that kind of medicine,'' but in general, his medical knowledge was patchy. Most of it was witch herbalism. The rest were bits and pieces he had gained over the years. "So, what date should I head over? I still have to work with the lawyer."


    "I feel like I should doubt you robbed a library hundreds of years ago, but that really fit your wild stories," Sam commented. They weren''t wild, only for her to directly quote some of the batshit stuff he said. She didn''t even touch on fighting a god.


    "All right, I have wild stories," Sam started, not really sure why he tried to argue. Maybe it was pride or denial about how strange he was. Though he accepted this, he wouldn''t have lived this long if he hadn''t.


    "as for the doctor, they need some time to prepare some special equipment, so there is no rush for that. "What did the lawyer say?" she changed the topic. Sam gave a brief overview of the meeting where not a lot really happened. "oh, we definitely should pay the man more," she agreed with this thought.


    Not only because of the hundreds of years old case, but what other questionable shit that Sam didn''t remember doing. Who knew how much crime the boy committed? Not that she cared; Sam was taking care of himself, and he particularly didn''t like killing. Even from the story of the library fights, she could tell he went out of his way to not hurt anyone.


    She wasn''t sure where this characteristic came from, definitely not the demon or any of the questionable shit he went through in his youth. ''maybe it was because of the ghost; she remembered the stories about the dead he''s met, the regret and the Pain they carried.


    "yeah, he thinks the court cases are going to be a problem; I''m not really scared of going to prison. It would still be a pain, but running from the law again would be a bigger pain.'' unless he was willing to use a lot of power to scare them off. But that would make him feared; Sam didn''t like being feared. He had a taste of that vial feeling.


    "Well, I guess we can try to get something different than prison time, like community service. You could do that," Sam hummed, not really sure how he felt doing that. He''s doing things like community service, but it was only when the feeling hit him that he saw the opportunity. He wasn''t too sure how he would react to being forced to do it. He didn''t like being forced to do things that much, ''of course, might have more to do with the arrogance of others.


    they continued talking about possible law options they could take until his father came home and then they made dinner before talking more about the law before changing the topic to Sam picking up the stuff he left around the world. "how much stuff did you have?" Sam honestly didn''t have an answer for his mother." I know I can just pick up a few things."


    He started listing a few things he had in the house, then things he remembered leaving certain places," there was a box of bullets and something very bad in the house, and you didn''t say anything?"


    "ah," Only then did it occur to Sam that he could get in trouble for that. he pulled at the ribbon wrapped around his forearm. "it''s not that bad; I just need some kind of divine fire. Might knock out one of the great gods to get it," as he said that thunder rang through the clear night sky.


    "you don''t scare me, Zeus!" the lighting rang again, a bolt striking the front yard. Sam sensed the change in mana and whipped his arm out, hair growing a bit as he lashed out with his witch magic to blast the curse before it could take root.


    Flipping the sky off again, Sam turned back to his parent," Please don''t beef with the gods. We don''t have insurance for that." When Sam asks why not, they show him the general equalization for any kind of good insurance. Sam blinked," Okay, that is a lot of money. Which makes sense as they are on a completely different scale."


    "I can buy our insurance," the adult immediately cut that idea off. "you''re not picking a fight with a god." Sam tried to argue it wouldn''t be a problem. He got shut down on multiple points. Clearly, he was going to court; he didn''t need to be charged with more things.


    ''I doubt it will make a difference at this point,'' Sam thought to himself as he dug through his closet. Pulling out the bucket filled with dense lust energy, he carried it outside, handing it off to the invaluable machine that belonged to the lord of greed." tell her to have fun," he snickered before turning around back inside.


    Inside, he sorted out the marbles he ordered. They were all in good shape, giving them a spark of energy so they could be active at any time. "Alright, that''s been taken care of for the moment," sitting down, he did some meditation, looking into the prison of the beast. It didn''t look active until it felt his presence.


    "Come to visit before heading off to a prison of your own?" the beast mocked, and Sam promptly flipped it off. A deep growl filled the air, and Sam responded in kind before leaving. Then, leaving his room through the window.


    Into the city, he equipped his enhanced suit and started going about attacking those with high lust. Doing so in a high number he knew would attract the police''s attention, but he knew it had to be done; if he went to prison, he needed to buy himself some time.

 66

    Sam looked at the landscape, "Yeah, it hasn''t changed much in the last few hundred years." he thought he had fuzzy memories about being in this area. It seemed even better than he remembered." so, do you really think we can find it?"


    "yeah, pretty. This place isn''t too big." Sam turned to face his mother; she had quite frankly decided to come with him. he had informed her that he hadn''t needed any help doing this, cleaning up his actions." I''m still coming with you; you traveled with your dad. It''s my turn."


    So when the weekend came, they got on a plan; Sam had made sure his teacher would send him any work he needed." while school wasn''t that important, he didn''t feel like falling behind much." arriving, Sam had been hit by bits of memory, feeling like he''s walked these streets before.


    ''of course, I probably have,'' he started, letting his feet carry him down the street and into the valley. Where a village, from what he could tell, was pretty young, in the way villages could be. Probably younger than him, walking through the street he just walked. Trying to pin down any memories.


    "Nothing coming up," were they in the wrong place? But this felt right; maybe the new buildings were messing with him; they kept talking around, waking in a few tourist spots, getting some gelato. It was excellent, and they were having a bit of fun if his mother wasn''t recounting the story of how she and Natal met.


    If you boiled the story down to its barest bones, it went like this, they had both been in a kind of tournament to earn some cash. They got matched up and beat each other. They kept running into each other over the course of said torment, talking, being friends, and accidentally going out on a date.


    They officially started dating a few weeks after the torment. Mainly because they were both injured in said torment, but once they recovered, they started dating, and things took off from there. It would be years before Sam''s feral ass came into the picture.


    Another story she liked to repeat. She was trying to tell it now, but the same was determined to stop her. "seriously, it''s embarrassing to hear that story?" she put on a knowing smirk. "but it''s so cute; how easy you got bribed like some stray cats."


    "hey!" an acutely stray cat protested, leading their kittens down the street. "I doubt that kid is any near that feral."


    "I say that because he did hiss and claw at us."


    "in my defense, I had been in the forest for a while." Sam cut in," It had been...great, I doubt the timeline." he just knew he had seen more than one full moon. Either that meant months or more than a year, he wasn''t sure. "I know I like that weird blue and green fruit."


    "which was poisonous," his mother pointed out." Sam rolled his eyes. It was just a little poison. "anyway, we have to continue our search." the mother cat asked what they were looking for while stopping one of her kittens from walking away.


    "I was here a few hundred years ago and tried to find some books I stole." but it looks so different that it''s messing with my mind a bit. Do you know any good natural landmarks?"


    "There, the sword pinning the arm of the thing," she gave them directions and, after thanking her. they went to see the arm. An exciting thing that tickled the back of the young lord''s mind,'' So what are you betting?'' he asked the helper.


    ''I do not make bets, but if I had to guess. It is possible you fought the thing or were it,'' the helper said after running a quick search with other access to the world wide web. Finding references to the sword. From the carbon dating, they believed it was from around the same period their lord was in the area.


    Walking into the area where the sword sat, Sam noticed the damage. Not new but old. He first wondered why no one had cleaned it up. but then his senses picked on the energy lingering in the wounds. It was demonic, destructive energy.


    More so, it was his, "I can''t remember the last time I used this trick." it also made him very nervous; that trick was potent. Damage that could not be healed, be hidden. Following the destruction, they made their way to the other side, where a large rock stood. On it a single edge clever; it is a beautiful and brutal work of art, and without leaking off it, it makes your hair stand on end.


    this blade was untouched by the weather, the only damage seemed to be from the arm it was pinning to the wall. The arm was pitch black, five fingers with unnatural long mails, and there was a hole in the wall. from a missed stab, Sam remembered.


    ''well, shit, this really is the area,'' huffing, Sam looked away from the arm. before memories and tears could really swell up. But his memory of the location was a bit clearer.'' If that was the same rock there, then my little cave should be.." he broke out into a run. topping at about thirty miles before they stopped before a small opening to fit a squirrel.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings."what trick got you in here?" she asked. Sam smiled a bit, remembering the use of the ghost hour. which at higher levels let him phase." but we won''t be doing that," he carved out a rune, powering it up to widen the opening enough they could go down the fifteen-foot hole to a much larger opening.


    "oh, you carved out quite a little space for yourself," she tried not to think too much about the bones. "why are there no bugs down here." Sam pointed to a cut into the ground that radiated demon energy enough to scare away any form of life. Even the microorganisms. This is one of the reasons bones weren''t as rotten as they should be.


    "Man, these are all fossils. I do not like that." crawling around them, Sam headed deeper into the cave." why? Makes you feel old?"


    "uncomfortable so," Sam crawled forward, pushing through the bones to the actual point where he lived. It was a bit wider, with a better number of dry leaves sitting on the ground. Sitting next to it was a pile of books, a huge pile of books more than Sam thought he stole." Man, I read a lot," they stopped to make sure the books were fine. Not having rotten too much thanks to nothing living existing in this space.


    Sam thought that would be the end of it, besides a few other things, like the beating black heart SamSam had speared on a rock. That didn''t impede its beating. or the just sense of wrong that came out of it." Sam looked at it for a moment before turning to his mother." could you take everything I have to break this." as he spoke, his nails were already turning black, power flowing up his arms.


    "Okay!" she didn''t question his judgment, a rune lighting up under her feet, giving her the speed to leave the cave in a few moments. Not a moment later, the ground shook, and she could hear some very violent cursing before more tremors started going through the earth." ah, that bad." she pulled out her phone, making a call right before Sam was blasting out of the ground.


    "I hate this so much." he grumbled, rolling up his ribbon a bit," For the record, I took this thing from what might have been a murder or suicide cult." he turned towards the hole as this thing crawled out, it was humanoid in the way he had two leg and two arms. Minimally, at times, new limbs grew and fell off as the abomination moved towards them.


    "Oh, absolutely not," the earth cracked as she moved dropped, kicking the thing back into the hole; she landed in a twirl and pulled out explosives, which were quickly dropped down the hole. "that going to buy us a moment," Sam said raising his hand to the sky as the explosives went off.


    The earth shook, sinking as the detonation caved in the small cave; Sam sighed, feeling a bit upset about that. "I could fix it. Are the mana burns worth it?" he decided yes, they were as the shard of night fell from the sky. "I lived there for a very long time; I don''t want to let it go."


    it took some time for the abomination to climb to the surface, "let me handle this," Sam told his mother. "are you sure?" he nodded, and immediately seven arms blocked a downward slash. pulling his blade back. He lashed out, his leg snaking around the arms, "Gross!" the head split in two, Sam''s attack missed, and all he got for it was a foul goop on his shoes.


    ''I know the only vital this thing has is the abomination of a heart-shaped artifact. But it''s moving,'' he tried to narrow down its location, but he could sense it moving around in the semi-liquid body. even as he slashed and kicked. "this isn''t working!" Sam grumbled to himself, pumping out more destructive power.


    the air itself howled as he slashed upward, serving serval arms. Only for the abomination to grow more arms in their place, growing under his breath. Sam tried to keep himself under control. his temper and the demon thoughts, ''I can burn through the energy it using for its regeneration, but-"


    the creature stopped its passive defense and went on offense. Its attack was so easily telegraphed that Sam simply blocked it to test its strength. It knocked him backways, twin trenches in the ground from where he dug his feet in. "okay, physical force is matched by the force that threw him to the surface," the explosion of energy had been impressive.


    "but it didn''t leave a mark," toes digging into the ground. He rushed at the abomination. It gave a soundless roar, pulling back its left arm and swinging forward. sam felt the draft as he leaped over the strike and abomination entirely.


    Passing over its head, he spun, swinging his weapon through its head; landing, he jumped back. Avoided a backhanded swing from 12 arms, stepping forward, he swung at the joints, cutting through several arms before the strike grew too weak. "this thing is a pain," it had been too long since he had such a fight.


    The next ten minutes Sam spent dancing around its clumsy and straightforward attacks, slashing and cutting through its body. Watching as it retreated again and again. "you''re learning," the raven commented, avoiding a sloppy combo. "I''d almost be impressed by the speed."


    Snapping his finger, he caused all the cuts and stabs to light up," If I wasn''t so disgusted by your presence." sensing that life was in danger, it rushed at him. sam only widens his stance, throwing his sword into the air. ribbon trailing in the slight breeze, it drew the abomination''s attention.


    "aH!" A shiver went up Sam''s spine as he drove his face into the abominations." knocking the head back, he planted his foot in its chest and pushed with all he had. ''it will take a bit more," The glowing sword marks were growing, swallowing.


    sam understood the limits of regeneration. The biggest thing was that it couldn''t work if there was nothing left. "demon hour, devouring." he ran his black nails over his blade. "it takes too long to really die, though." enraged, the abomination charged at him, going closer same slashed at the legs.


    The abomination fell over, and Sam stomped on its back, pinning it for a moment it took to lash over serval cuts across its back. They begin glowing soon after he jumps away, the abomination turning its whole head around to try and bite him.


    landing a few meters away, Sam considered his next move,'' I''m pretty sure the devouring will end it. as long as it doesn''t pull something out of its ass or someone comes to save it...shiT!'' Sam realized he had no idea what the state of the cult he stole the heart-shaped artifact from; he didn''t know if they still existed or had been whipped out. the second thought was arrogant and greedy people who would just see a powerful magic weapon and nothing else.


    stretching out his Senses, Sam felt some powerful presence coming toward the battlefield," Oh great. this day getting even more interesting." looking at the abomination, he considered his next move, as he caught a fist and threw it over his shoulder. Sending it more than 4 meters.


    "we''ve got company!" drawing two runes with both hands, one battle rune to send a wave of crescent blades at the abomination. While the other was another battle rune, but more suited for long-range attacks. "alright, let''s see who you fuckers are!" with a motion, a beam no wider than two fingers was fired off.


    Sam watched as his attack was detected, not that he made any attempt to hide it. And watch the group part to let it pass by. "Mmm, they''re not slow," tilting his hand down, he commanded the blades to dig into the feet of the abomination, pinning it for another blade to come up and cut into its torso.


    "wait," his mother said, rushing into the battlefield," I think there the reinforcement meant I called." Sam blinked before turning toward her, arms still raised to move." you called reinforcement?"


    "yeah, we found something strange, and you seemed genuinely worried about it. I think that call for reinforcement." Sam opened his mouth and then closed it; friendly reinforcement wasn''t a bad idea. ''fell back into an old habit,'' Sam realized." thank you, I think they''ll be of great help." his first thought was having the secure the perimeter. but then he saw the submachine gun one of them had.


    "Hey, can you keep this thing busy?" Sam shouted out, a rune behind his back just in case. the machine gun user looked at Sam and then the abomination before running their hands through her hair." am I getting paid enough for this?" she commented, watching the abomination tear off its own feet to try and attack. Sam didn''t move until it was right next to him.


    Flipping forward, he shot his heel into its chin right in time to hear a trigger click!

 67

    Sam had mixed experience with machine guns, most of it aimed at him. They were dangerous as they had the possibility of overwhelming his regenerative ability, but that happened only if they could keep him under fire. Mundane or enchanted bullets didn''t matter.


    ''or so I thought,'' Sam thought, watching the storm of enchanted bullets struck with the force of a car-sized bullet. While having a much higher velocity of something half their actual size. Landing on the ground, he watched the bullets not only push the abomination back but tear off body parts as quickly as they grew. But also tearing craters in the ground, Sam was impressed.


    ''alright, how should I do this?" he needed to kill this thing; one option was unleashing his full demonic power and erasing it along with a good chunk of the ground below it and leaving him with demonic behavior for a while.


    The other idea was mixing his powers, and this was what he was going with. If it didn''t work, pure widespread destruction. ''the question is a demonic witch or demonic ghost,'' both would do it. Just there was a wide range of side effects, and witch lasted months after releasing it.


    ''well, since I don''t want a worse relationship than I already have with the town, I guess. It''s time to go, ghost.'' He flexed his black nails, which grew a bit longer as he drew on more power; his hair also turned ghostly white, fluttering in an unseen breeze.


    He could feel the power flowering others inside of him; Sam couldn''t really describe how they felt all too well. Like a demon, like a ghost. How do you describe the feeling of something born from conflict, destruction, and sin? How do you describe creatures born from regret, lingering attachments, and desire that transcend death?


    How do you describe them either together, mixing even a bit?


    You couldn''t deny the power that was unleashed. It tore through the air like a clap of thunder! Wrapping around the abomination. The gunner didn''t lift her finger from the trigger, probably because the abomination had still been advancing on them until it was wrapped in the telekinesis. Even now, it tried to walk.


    Raising his hand, Sam lifted the abomination off the ground, preventing it from making any more progress and focusing his attention on his ghostly sense. Not only was he able to feel about the foul feeling core, but the creature''s entire existence, the many that were trapped by this abomination. The souls of many people made Sam sick and angry.


    ''don''t worry,'' he assured the quivering and shaking souls. ''I''ll free you,'' he sent towards them. Calming some of them and working up others. Sam focused on reaching toward the souls, wrapping his own power around them with much more gentleness than he could have possibly done all those years ago.


    ''yeah, I remember it now; I couldn''t free them. My weak control was more likely to break them,'' he rushed to do that. Touching another soul was touching a person''s life in one of the deepest ways possible; Sam didn''t have it in him to break them. So instead, he sealed the thing with a very brutal forced seal he was amazed didn''t break over the years.


    Once his ghostly power had wrapped around the souls like protective blankets, his demonic power lashed out, severing everything around the souls without touching any of them. The abomination howled and thrashed; Sam didn''t give a fuck!


    Its jaw cracked as Sam forced it open, pulling out each and every soul. "there not your fuel any longer," one by one, the gentle light was lifted out and into the air around Sam. ''just a bit longer and death you take you to rest.''


    There was a trace of a gentle on his face as he turned back to the abomination. He didn''t speak, just condensing his power. Throughout his entire body, he made small changes he paid no mind to. Nor the lightly mixed aura he was letting off.


    Then Sam opened his mouth, a dark void. Guarded by demonic sharp and ghostly pale teeth. It looked back; it reached out with numerous pale and clawed hands. All things that lived understood this was very dangerous; if they listened closely, they could hear it. Voices of all kinds, of grudges of hate, laughter madness, craving for destruction or release.


    The abomination made no notice of these voices, still struggling pointlessly, fighting even as its power was long gone. Even as it slowly began to fade, body parts no longer grew and fell sporadically.


    But Sam would take no chance with this thing; he would not allow the thing to remain on the plane. At least with this trick, he would make sure it didn''t have anything left. The pale hands grabbed onto the abomination, ripping out chunks of it, reaching for the parts that it left over the ground.


    Slowly and surely, the abomination was pulled into the void, and the human could only watch and listen. The wet sounds of treating flesh and the whispers from the void grew louder and older as it was fed, the hand being more solid, details forming.


    Then, it ended with a click of teeth. If you listened, you could hear nails scarping against these teeth. Trying to break out and devour more, Sam said nothing, sitting down and beginning some meditation. ''I almost forgot how risky this technique is.''


    There are many planes the dead can go, reincarnation, some form of hell or underworld. Heavens, then there was the void; Sam had only been there once. He did not want to go back," the best place to describe it is a realm of leftovers. Parts of souls and spirits that wanted to become whole, an endless hunger that can never be filled. So they tear about just about everything that enters it."


    "so you knew it would end that thing," Cora asked, setting down her drink; they had returned to the town an hour ago and were currently getting refreshments. "but it seems dangerous. More dangerous than your usual stuff."


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "it is, I''m opening a portal, and something could come out." Sam was actually worried about the things that could come out. They were the kind of thing you couldn''t just simply kill with demonic power. The only real practical option was a ritual he needed his witch powers to perform. It wasn''t a simple thing either. "but if it did, I would take care of it," after a small fight to satisfy his battle lust.


    ''aw, maybe I should schedule a match. Or call a hook-up line.'' that fight against the abomination was something he would never allow himself to enjoy, not against that thing. "ah, next thing I have to deal with are these souls," he looked at the small orbs of light huddling against his form. Sam had a small flow of ghost energy to calm them down; more importantly, it prevented them from drifting off to the afterlife.


    It was not that Sam was going to prevent them from going, but after years in that abomination, Not only did they need a little cleansing. But they also could use the chance to enjoy the world a bit before moving on to whatever afterlife awaited.


    "so what do you need for that?" move asked, going with the changing in topics. "nothing much, just some time," his ghosty tears would do fine. How many of them he needed was another question. ''ah, I''m going to be very ghostly for a while, aren''t I?'' this was going to make dealing with the law a slight pain.


    He would be holding grudges more, or just be more emotionally volatile. ''well, at worst, I go to prison, I will not look good in one of those outfits." sipping on his drink, Sam enjoyed the moment, the slight breeze, the laughter of some teens. approaching hostiles. "mm," looking toward the direction of the bloodlust he nibbled on his straw. "oh librarians or cultists let''s find out."


    Turning, Nova could clearly see they were libraries.'' so he''s expecting some cults to show up;'' from what Nova understands, Sam clashed with the cult several hundred years ago. "Are they still around?'' she wouldn''t deny that it was a possibility; she was not looking forward to whatever came of that?'' at worst, there was going to be blood spilled.


    "so you have the books from my family library," a rather pompous-looking guy stated, hands folded behind his back. "important books that have been missing until now." Sam gestured to the books sitting on the table." pick what is yours," the man glared before the pilot moved around the table to check the books.


    "They''re in surprisingly good condition," he commented, brushing off some dust. "so we will have no further business with each other." then he walked off, the group following behind him. "well, that went with less drama than I expected."


    The drama came with the next group of librarians, " you book lovers, move fast." he commented right before the lady tried to slap him; he blocked it and backhanded her." introduce yourself first."


    "you mother fucker, you don''t remember me?!" she sounded very insulted. " I''ve got about four hundred years of memory; whatever I did was just a day to me." that only seemed to make her madder; smoke came from her mouth. Sam was mostly unphased, even when he realized that white fire in her mouth.'' Man, I really hope she doesn''t have holy magic.'' it was an effective counter against him.


    "you attacked my mother!" she accused.


    "I''ve attacked a lot of mothers," Sam immediately replied. Which upset her more. "She was the guardian of the library from which you stole those books. Okay, that rang a bit more bells; pausing to think about it, Sam could remember someone getting in his way. It might have been a woman, but he didn''t care enough. Sam throwing a wasteful amount of power at them. It worked, but looking back, Sam couldn''t help but cringe at his complete lack of technique and control.


    "I knocked her out with one strike, but I don''t remember much beyond that. The encounter was too brief." the woman growled, and Sam only rolled his eyes, "well I''ll have you know she sends you a formal rematch chal-"


    "yes!" he immediately stated, blood reaching at the thought of a good fight. If the woman was still alive and in any form of fighting shape, she would be strong, and he wanted to see that strength for himself. "well, I''ll contact her after I have returned the stone toomes."


    "Sure, do as you like," Sam told her, not really paying attention to her. More specifically, using his holo device to see if he could find anything about her mot-" What''s your mother''s name?"


    "Are you serious?"


    "It''s not like she introduced herself when we fought," not that Sam would call that a fight. A fight was an exchange of skills. A showing of strength and skill, that encounter had not been a fight. the girl grided her teeth before answering him. "make sure you remember it, for my mother''s name is Lorie Messier!" Sam nodded before entering that into the reach bar.


    "Oh!" he was excited by the heat he found, his battle lust physically leaking from his body. Not helped by the side effects of his power, "ah." clenching his fist, he cracked his knuckle before pulling back his battle lust, though it already spooked the people around him.


    "ignore that."


    "like hell, I will!" she shouted back, and Sam just gave her an annoyed look before scuffing. He had a future fight to obsess over. he spent hours just watching her previous fights, well, fights there was footage of. Thinking about how it would feel to break her armor, to shatter her blade. ''too many obsess and destructive thoughts.'' he pushed them aside as best he could and tried to think with a more clear mind.


    "either way, I want to cross sword with her," the power behind her swings. Could he block it? Would he break" self-destructive thoughts." very bad thoughts he didn''t want, ''My lord, I think you should step away from the thoughts of combat. I believe your battle lust is complicating things.'' Sam paused and thought about it before pouting cause they appeared to be right.


    grumbling, he stretched out a form where he was sunbathing," for no other reason than he could. "great, what should I do in this little village?" sitting up with an idea, he jumped off the roof, landing in a crouch before a dog. " hey watch it." Sam waved in apology before walking off toward the plaza where the sword stood.


    Coming within five feet, he sat down. "Man, you got me good then, didn''t you. Took off my arm, in my demon mode nonetheless." It was truly an impressive feat; most things broke before they touched him in that form. "You were so strong, truly the first human I ever felt respect for in battle. Yet you didn''t live after the fight, I can''t find your spirit either."


    "do you not want to talk? Did something happen?"


    "Man, this sucks, I think we could have been friends. We probably still could be friends."


    "Can you hear me? If not, how is the sword still pinning my arm?" he rubbed the limb; he hadn''t realized it much to use to it, or maybe it was just a phantom pain. But he could feel the cut, along with the sword painting the limb. "here, hoping it was just phantom pains."


    While he wouldn''t mind meeting the warrior again, not just because of his battle lust singing at the half-remembered battle. The first person Sam met that could swing faster than sound. The sonic booms every time he swings the sword, "I was stuck using my ghosty intangibility during most of the fight. But now I think I could do so much better!"


    his smile was downright feral and bloodthirsty before he forced himself to calm down." no, no, no, I should get worked up on a fight I might never get." Focus Sam, there were other things to worry about, like the match against Lorie." I should do some work, katas." he tried some image training with what he saw in the videos. In effect, it made him even more excited for the upcoming fight.

 068

    It was amazing how quickly a reporter could get wind of shit, less than three days, as some details of the fight were agreed upon. It was in the news, and Sam Sam, with his mixed opinions about him being known, wasn''t happy about this.


    he as kind


    ''largely because they called me a monster," in the slur way he knew . Sam couldn''t help the freaky shit he sometimes did. That was not right for them to call him a monster. exactly because he now knew their names and could ler-" lets cuts that thought there. Still, this is getting a lot of attention."


    Was she really that popular, or was that his popularity from his fights. "whatever," thinking it over, Sam was more concerned about how this fight would go. The location would take place on a floating area to try and migrate the damage the two powerful contestants would unleash.


    Like when Sam had shown the power to burn down a forest with ghostly fire. The fire that burned spiritually was great for when someone had a mighty body but didn''t strengthen their spirit.


    ''when was the last time I fought on a floating platform,'' he couldn''t remember. Were the memories fuzzy, lost? It wasn''t like it could be a new experience for him.


    "Right, I mean, I could probably find footage." almost all floating areas were spectator areas; they usually publicly streamed their activity or at least recorded it. So there was footage he might be able to find, except the areas where they did some criminal things. From what he found, it would have probably crashed to the ground, which he could possibly find.


    But after researching from sunrise to sunset, he didn''t find zilch about something that hinted at his involvement, which was strange. ''have I really not been in a flying arena'' Sam could almost laugh, but the nervousness and excitement stopped him.


    ''I knew there were still some things I hadn''t experienced, but a flying area?!'' It was absurd; he had fought a god and flown across oceans. Yet he''d never been in a flying area. "How mundane," but somehow, it felt nice. It was such a normal thing for him to experience.


    A great desire, no a great lust, appeared within him to go right now and experience it. ''it''d be such a simple task, just tea-. take a deep breath.'' Sam pulled in his battle lust along with a bit of killing intent.


    "I scared off the birds," which explains the swearing he could currently hear and see. Bird sign language is used by birds who hadn''t evolved to have some kind of expanded vocal cord, like the pigeon who was cursing Sam out with a long series of fast-paced swears.


    "yeah, yeah, I get it," he hissed to the bird, who cooed before flying off. "let''s try to get it together, Sam. "It was just a bit longer until the fight where he could break he- duel her. "ah, demon blood lust and ghost obsession are such a bad combination.


    it was a bit longer before the mother and son set off for the arena, catching and boat/plane. that took them to the arena. It was huge, at least twice the size of a football field, square in the form of corner crystal totems with dozens of runes carved around their sides. "There are pretty powerful protection spells."


    there was probably something else to them, but Sam didn''t look beyond that. Partly because he wanted to be surprised. "pretty big crowd," Natale commented, looking at the people already gathered to the stands were large, matching the floating area, crystals placed evenly apart. More protections for the crowd.


    "nervous," she and Sam only rolled their eyes. different than matches he had done, which were live-streamed around the world, he would directly feel the gazes on him. Still, he wasn''t going to hesitate over something like this, "Excited. I can''t wait to fight- shit, I forgot her name again." really, he hoped she made a strong impression. Sam would unfortunately forget her like he''s done many faces.


    "Her name is Lorie Messier; for the record, I hope you can remember it for the rest of the match." Sam hoped he would as well. It was rude and insulting that he was forgetting Lorie''s name so easily. Still, there wasn''t much he could do about what little impression she made when he broke into the library.


    "I mean, really, she didn''t even manage to try and attack, "Sam walked around until he made it to the waiting room where he was supposed to sit until the match started. He did not sit, in fact, doing a few warm-ups with the shard of the night. his personal sword sharp as ever.


    Pulling on the ribbon, he pulled the sword out of the air before throwing it out again. The blade circled the edge of the room before Sam used his legs to pull on the ribbon, causing it to fly back at him.


    "All right, warmed up." he made the ribbon shrink before letting the handle of his personal sword rest in hand. feeling the worn wood against his hands, "You know, since I forgot so much, I forgot how long you''ve been by my side." he looked at his reflection in the metal." more than a hundred years, right? is the blacksmith who made you still alive?"


    Sighing, he held the blade close. "I doubt I could make up the time I abandoned you." Sam sat down and spent some time maintaining the blade. Which really had no purpose other than showing that he cared for the magical blade; the craftsmen who made it had enchanted it beautifully. even years in the open, and it showed very little wear.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Not to mention the power he pumped through it over the years, the blood he spilled over its edge.


    "...and from the right corner is something of a myth, not much to concrete about his history. But the power he wields is extraordinary! he goes by Sam Vegal!" standing up. Sam left the room and walked out into the light. a path of enchanted bricks forming as he walked toward the arena.


    "Oh!" seeing her in pictures and videos was different from seeing her in person. He couldn''t feel the power that was currently ragging off her, or maybe that was just her rage. She seemed pretty pissed, ''would do her any good anyway.'' Sam didn''t speak, only taking a sword stance.


    The point of the blade was directly pointed at her face; her sword was pointed at him. A wide blade with some northern and western styled runes carved into it, the blade had a power of its own. Some are very powerful, and he''d rather not get hit with them.


    ''it might be some evil repealing or combat runes,'' either way, he shouldn''t get hit by them. Stretching his neck, he heard the match start and threw himself back. a sonic boom rang out, as she threw herself at him. another when the sword crashed. Sam was pushed back by force. ''she strong, very strong.''


    The lid he kept on his battle and blood lust cracked just a bit; he bared his teeth before balancing his feet. Turning the deflected the blow before knowing his knees at her face, Lorie made the mistake of pulling back to avoid the hit. She had to raise her arm to block the foot that snapped out at her head.


    The force pushed her back a few steps, "are you not going to use your power" Sam smiled and only answered with his sword. Spinning, he swung horizontally at her head. Blocking with her blade, he continued to spin. She responds with her own swing. To bisect him head to groin.


    Stepping to the side, he pulled back his leg; when the blade came low enough, he kicked out, knocking the blade aside and raising his hold on his own. "shit!" she swore. Sam stepped into her guard, throwing punches at her face and throat.


    Drooping her own blade, which floated in the air instead of falling, she quickly worked to black the first few hits before throwing her own into the mix. both combat refused the back down, throwing punch after punch. blocking douching the around that came their way.


    Neither of them managed to land a clean hit for several long minutes before something passed between them, and one of them jumped away. Sam pulled on his ribbon to pull his sword along. "done warming up?" Lorie asked.


    "I warmed up in the locker, I wanted to taste your power for myself." the crack on the lid grew wider. Sam charged at her, widely swinging with force and mana. "ah!" Lorie blocked but was still pushed back, and further bacSams Sam kept up his assault, aiming for his ribs and shoulder.


    ''I wanted to break the bones, but her defense is good.'' what hits he did manage to slip past her blocks and deflections. He could feel how tough her armor was and how tough the body was under it.


    "get back!" she shouted, turning with the force of a punch to swing a kick into Sam''s side. "ow!" he just panted his feet and endured before stepping forward, jabbing his elbow into her gut.


    "This is an amazing battle!" the announcer shouted 30 minutes into the battle, the two not even beginning to slow down; at this point, they were still going at it with hand-to-hand combat. "They are showing great power and skills with each other. Let''s hear a word from our combat analysis."


    "what fucking style did this fucker learn?!" the analyst wanted to rip their hair out." I have never seen such a jigsaw of principles! There is karate, drunken fist, judo, and wuxin, cat, bird! he just bit her!"


    "let go," she turned, throwing him off. Negating his momentum with a few flips, Sam turned around into a mule kick, meeting Lorie''s fist with a bang. spinning on his hand, he dropped lower, aswing his feet at her legs; Lorie jumped into the air. ''it''s time I stop playing by his rules."


    "oh damn," Sam felt the energy condensing in the gantlets. He was sure it was some kind of rune engrevment or engraved spells. enchantment, ''Either way, I shouldn''t let that hit me!'' shaping his hands around, he wrote out a rune and kicked it. the minor explosion rune burst and threw him out of the way.


    her first the ground, cratering it. "we both know that''s enchanted marble." Sam mumbled to himself; that stone could have withstood a missle round. unenchanted! "well, I guess get ramping it up,'' holding his hand up, he pushed out mana, forming into runes without writing them out.


    The completed runes started circling him, ''I should get enchanted gear.'' he thought as the rune settled over his clothing, then he rushed forward, sword trailing behind him before he yanked it forward.


    Lorie was quickly on the defense, avoiding the supernatural sharp blade that was being treated like a meteor hammer or whip. From the deep gouges, it is left in the ground. '' I don''t want to test my defense against that,'' she saw Sam wrapping the ribbon around his leg, pulling it back as he spun.


    Seeing the opening, she jumped at it, hands raised into the air." come!" she called her sword, which flew directly into her hands. slashing dowSam''sSam''s skull. The raven shifted his stand using his ribbon-covered arm to block and redirect the hit. ''AH merde! That was heavy,'' he could feel his bones snapping back in place.


    Lorie turned her bladSam''ssam''s foot caught the late side of it, the edging dining into the ground enough that she was able to push off and avoid the shard of night coming around to take an arm.


    Pulling the sword back, Sam caught it in both hands before bringing it over his shoulder. feet wide, energy collecting over the lade as it turned purple. "cursed sword. Nightfall nightmare!" he burst forward, swinging the sword downward as dark night-like energy expelled from the blade.


    the blade was metal by lories, ''shit!'' she swor when their blades met. It wasn''t the weight behind the strike that drove her feet into the ground; it was the night-like energy spreading over his blade. "a curse!" she swore, pulling the blade back, but it was too late. She could see the energy spread through the weapon.


    ''are those hands,'' from the energy, hands started to spread. immediately she threw the weapon aside. Mana reached for the dispelling rune in her armor. She would have if Sam had allowed her to breathe. " curse sword! Lunar chaos!" The night-like energy turned the moon white, and Same started throwing out the most chaotic combination of swings he could.


    It was truly chaotic as he kept bending his body in the way humans naturally didn''t. Lorie was sure she heard something snap and reset several times. doughing the crescent and circle-shaped attacks, Lorie was starting to panic; the hands were turning into bodies. with faces that she could vaguely recall from her nightmares. People she killed." cursed sword is right," activating runes in her gauntlet, she formed two shields, testing one against the blade.


    Sam didn''t even hesitate to swing into the shield and through it. If Lorie had been any slower, she might have lost her hand, ''did the sword phare through my shield? No,'' looking closer, Lorie could see that her shield had been altered. Feel some foreign power in the runes; instead of the solid shield she had relied on, it was some kind of moonlight mirage.


    "that is such a bullshit curse, you know that!" Sam smiled," it''s why it''s one of my favorites." Sam replied, flipping his now shoulder-length hair. "give it a chance, and it will crave out your neck!"


    "AH!" not a few moments later, Lorie snacked her fist through an opening into his gut. Several bleeding cuts did not stop her from wrapping her other hand around his throat and pulling him forward. She struck him across the face several times before he tried to bite her hand and got a tooth knocked out.


    "hey!" grabbing the wrist, he threw his weight back and his feet up. a doubt kick gaming her face, Lorie threw her head back in an impressive display of flexibility. Only to realize a mistake when Sam spreads his legs and wraps them around her neck. "Let''s play chicken!" he declared as he began squeezing, Lorie doing the same with both hands.


    ''how fun, how fun!

 69

    "ow," Sam mumbled, picking himself off the ground and stepping over the trench in the ground. It was a wreck, torn cracks littering it. "well, can''t slow down!" with a shout, he kicked a cat-sized rock at his opponent. She simply cut it down before jumping over the diagonal slash for his sword.


    They quickly moved into a batter of attack, defend, parry, divert. Sam''s blade aims for the gaps in her armor. While Lorie tried to cut Sam into pieces. Casting with his free hand, regardless of the burns, started to stretch across his skin. He threw the runes into the ground, freezing it and coating the ground in ice.


    "I won''t slow down for a little ice!" she cried, horizontal slash booth crashing through the ice." dropping into a split, Sam slammed both hands into the ice, his witch power causing it to change. The chill grew up Lorie''s legs as Sam spun, throwing out a mule kick; she blocked with her blade and had her head to keep blocking as he kept kicking.


    The moonlight ice grew quickly, eating into the runs she had carved into her armor. "how many fucking curses do you know." she pushed back, throwing Sam into the air. Which he flipped into a superhero landing. Using the space she brought, Loire blasted the ice with rune-conjured fire.


    ''great, it''s not melting!'' not that it surprised her; the curses this boy was putting out were no joke. Several curses were still active on her body. Still, Lorie resisted and pushed through their effects. "if it doesn''t melt, it''ll break!" he brought down her sword hard several times as Sam rushed at her.


    At the same moment, the male started to swing his weapon, and the female threw herself back in an act of flexibility. Hands smacking against the ground. The blade flashed over her, and for a moment, she saw her reflection.


    Sam plated his foot, turning with his momentum. As he spun back on her, Lorie used her core strength to pull himself to her feet and avoid being bisected. Standing straight once more, she stuck the ice again, cracking it enough to rip out one foot.


    That same foot was used to divert Sam''s sword several times while she chipped away at the ice to pull out her other foot. Diverted the blade down with one foot, the other came up in a round kick. "Bah!" Sam squawked as his head snapped to the side, his spin making an unpleasant noise before he forced his head back in place.


    ''I need to overcome this regeneration!''


    ''she''s really putting a dent in my food store.'' somehow, his "sword" was still covered despite the massive damage his clothing had taken; if it was mundane, he''d be worried about getting them back, but after the fight, he''s magic them better. In the middle of the fight, it wasn''t; Lorie would probably be more bothered if he ended up fighting nacked.


    ''I guess I should think about ending this fight.'' even though he was having so much fun, his blood was pumping! his soul was on fire! Lorie has bled! Screamed! Sam witched before he pushed the darker thoughts aside and rushed at her. The two clashed with pure swordsmanship for a few moments, catching their breaths and not letting the other use space to do something big.


    Not that space was a requirement for either; this was shown in several big energy clashes between them that shook the air. damaged the ground more, "screw this!" Sam shouted the next time he opened his mouth. he actiede the rune he drew with his tounge.


    Fire blust out, "AH!" Lorie jumped back, the flames licked at her helmet as she retreated several feet to expose them. "drawing a rune with his tongue. How much shit is he going to pull out!" she had never heard someone doing that; who thought that like. The fact that it worked was "not complete," and she could see the slight burns on Sam''s mouth.


    "Alright, I''m starting to get hungry." Seriously, when has his stores been dropped down this low? How many years? who had he fought? Sam couldn''t remember, but he didn''t care at that moment. "You are strong, incredible so! My blood and battle lust are singing. But I can''t indulge; I might kill you!"


    "I won''t go down so easily!" Lorie rushed forward, sword high over her head," when she swung, Sam sidestepped, thrusting his own weapon at her head." that makes it worse!" Lorie pulled back her head, rowing her body at the same time. Lowering his sword, Sam blocked the chop. Rolling over the sword, he swung his leg at her head.


    Before he could fully center his legs, Lorie met his attack with her arm and rolled her shoulder, diverting the blow. Serval blows were quickly exchanged, some landing dead, others before they broke apart. Spit out a tooth, Sam held his sword high above his head. "When was the last time I did this?" he didn''t know, nor did he care.


    Releasing more ribbon, Sam rushed at her. Lorie raised her sword for another clash of blades, only for Sam to throw his sword to the side. Reaching her, Sam spun on his heel, slamming his other foot into her side. enduring and gritting her teeth, Lorie swung.


    But as it started to move, so did Sam; looking her dead in the eyes, he let her cut off his ribbon-covered arm. The other drove itself into her stomach before she could recover from the shock. "Sacrifice-ah!" he hit her again and again. Forcing her back and keeping her attention on him.


    ''The wound has already stopped bleeding, and I''ve seen his regeneration. but still to be unphased by the loss of limb!'' it was either steel will or pure insanity! Grabbing his fist, she pushed him away just for a moment to catch her breath.


    Going on the offense, she made complete use of her sword range to keep him back. without his sword or runes, he was at a disadvantage. That''s probably why he started spamming the runes; dozens of crest blades were dancing on the field. Lorie danced between them, her sword never resting to deflect them.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Even if she was at her best, she knew this wasn''t completely to completely avoid. so if she was going to take a hit. It would be to her armor only, sense stretched to her limit, even as sweet dripped into her eyes. Couldn''t stop moving, or she would lose this fight. She no longer had the space to think about past failures or try to redeem herself.


    no, what mattered was the warrior before her, waving his fingers while one directed an opera. Even with only one arm, he was still incredibly dangerous and powerful. strange and unpredictable, but not without flaws.


    the slight motion of his eyes, looking over her shoulders. Shaping her head around, Lorie was stunned as her body moved to block the shard of eight, wielding by the saved limb. "the fuck!"


    "you cut my body, not my soul!" Sam said with a slight echo in his voice that exposed the amount of ghost power he was using. The only thing said before the blades resumed their motion. the severed arm that was still bleeding as it was swung around the blade, or maybe it was swung around by the blade.


    Sam watched as Lorie slowly built up injuries, but she was still fighting. standing on her feet, one step at a time, coming closer to Sam. "AHAAH!" the raven laughed even as his lengthened hair started turning white," incredible. just incredible!" Sam could feel his self-control seriously slipping. "what strength, what will! I''d almost fear for my life. but it''s clear you don''t have that kind of power!"


    "What are you talking about!" with a strong swing, she shattered the crescent blades, creating a gust. She did this several more times, steps coming faster as she approached him. "you can''t harm a metaphysical thing. without that power, you can''t kill me. You could swing that sword for as long as you like, even after my regeneration slows down to normal healing. there will never be a fatal blow!"


    "it'' will still fucking hurt!" she swung at his head, planning to bisect him head to groin." that''s true!" saw shouted as a shard of night blocked the blade, deflecting it to the side as he kicked. Leaning her body out of the way, Lorie went with the motion. Bringing her blade back around.


    Ducking under it while it swerved around and slashed at her arms. Too committed to the strike, Lorie was forced to reforced her arms with the runes in the armor. The black edge blade still cut deeply before she could pull her arms back and into a guard to lower the damage of Sam''s double heel kick.


    Stumbling back, she switched the flow of the mana to the healing runes in the armor. there was little more than first aid, but she''d be able to swing her sword. She could already feel her grip tweaking, blood running down her fingers and blade.'' come on, just one more swing!"


    "Lorie is on the back foot!" the announcer announced. "with her arms so injured she can''t swing her sword, and Sam''s seems to be playing with her."


    "I am just a little." the partly transformed raven admitted." I really want to see what you pull off." he knew it was a bad habit; he knew he was induing in a bad desire. but he wanted it! wanted it even if she screamed and begged.


    ''my lord, you''re drawing in your own lust. I suggest ending the battle now before the beast takes action.'' Sam blinked before pouting. the thought of the beast was an excellent mood killer. If it took action and tried to control him, it would be a disaster he refused to have on his hands.


    "I have to end my fun. I wish I didn''t! I wish we could keep playing until our bodies and souls give out! But now the thr- no, the four- no, the five! powers merge into one!" he called on his mana! His demonic power! his ghosty power! his witches powers! his lust power! All five were power touring out and condescending at the tip of his finger.


    The finger was used for dramatic effect as the five colors swirled and mixed. Giving birth to something dangerous, ''I can''t let him shoot that off.,'' even part of her being understood. This drew on a strength she didn''t know she had left. with speed she''s never used, swinging her blade with grace and power unreached until this point.


    Everything coming together in the form of enlightenment, she moved, smashing through the crescent blades. Parring the shard of night. rushed at Sam, who didn''t look up from the power he was preparing; Lorie moved and reached him at the same moment Sam unleashed the blast.


    "midnight hour blast!"


    "Stone-splitting sword!" the technique was basic, but it was strong. spitting the air as she swung. The multi-colored beam was faster, ''it doesn''t hurt.'' she thought, a strange numbness spreading where the beam struck her chest. ''that''s a very bad thing!'' she realized just before the pain and damage spread through every inch of her body.


    Lorie was backing out, and from that single strike, her mind and soul shut down the body to protect itself. The body and the decades of sword training were still strong and alive. carrying through the strike until it struck the ground, Sam''s blood over the metal.


    "Well, I''ll be." Sam commented as his decapitated head spun in the air. "god and ancients. Why couldn''t we have truly enjoyed this battle? It would have been glorious. But I know such insurance isn''t worth the cost."


    his served arm grabbed his head and brought it back to his neck before the wound started to quickly heal over. That would be a pain; he was not doing a headless horseman thing. Then he worked to put his arm back in place. By the time both wounds were seriously healing, the medics had reached Lorie.


    "any side effects of that beam, we should know!" it wasn''t a question. It was a simple demand, and Sam tilted his head. "nothing for sure; no one''s ever survived that trick. even before it evolved into this state. so frankly, I can only guess; you can probably deal with the physical damage, but it also attacks her spirit and soul." Sam thought of a few other problems his technique might cause.


    But it was only theory, and having an expert examine her was much better; as for his own medical state, Sam walked off the edge of the area diving directly into the ocean. "okay, what the fuck was that? Send the scuba team!" a healer shouted.


    Since the area was floating above the ocean, it wasn''t too strange for someone to fall off and hit the ocean. most of the time, they weren''t too badly injured, simply because of how strong their usual fighters were.


    "Target located," the diving team said more than a dozen minutes later. "it seems he is still in good health to be moving around." in fact, he was moving around quickly. As they got closer and shined as light, they were met with the sight of bones and half-eaten kelp. "he''s eating a lot... I don''t like the way he''s looking at us."


    Glaring at the divers, Sam turned around to find more kelp or some shellfish monster. One found and tried to eat him, but Sam ate it from the inside-out shell. "Ugh," coughing a bit, he spits out the thing that was lodged in his throat. a musk pear, Sam tossed it towards the diver who was following and continued his feasting until his tattoo was big enough to spread 2/3s his chest.


    Only then did he swim for the surface, "Mmm. I need to dry land; better start swimming." he turned in the direction of what he believed to be the nearest land mass. He''d reach land at some point," you can''t seriously be considered just swimming hundreds if not thousands of miles towards land!?"


    "ugh, yes." he''d done it before, but the looks he was being given actually kind of hurt a little, so he kept quiet as they boarded a boat copter and took him back to the floating area. Where he meets his mother in the food court. "I didn''t know this place had a food court."


    "Would you have jumped into the ocean if you had known?" Sam paused before shaking his head. "the red kelp was cheaper."

 70

    Sam could confidently say he didn''t remember his last stomach ache; he wasn''t sure if they were as uncomfortable as the one he got from eating mildly poisonous kelp, thankfully, between his regeneration and poison resistance. He recovered without a problem and got on the plane to go home.


    "so the books have arrived at these libraries and are being checked over. Surprisingly, most of them can go back on the shelf while all are being copped down... according to this, some of them were worth millions." Cora gave Sam a look, who gave a look back. "first, I didn''t know what they were worth. Second, I didn''t have a good concept of money then."


    "So when did you get a concept of money?" Sam paused at his mother''s question. "it think after I talked a man out of suicide... his wife was a bitch, who robs a guy kidnaps his children to blackmail him into robbing a bank."


    "so what did you do then?" pausing to let the memory flow a bit more. "well, after seeing how she was treating the kids and having some rather violet flashbacks, I...


    ["We can not write that down! It''s way too gruesome. Which I think is saying something as this is the book about a lord of lust!"]


    "why the ever-looking fuck?!" aero really didn''t have a defense other than he lost control. Even when he gained control, he knew he had gone too far. How many parts the women had been in and still screaming? The absolute looks of horror on the kid''s faces. One threw up, and the other soaked his shorts.


    The father grabbed a pip and was ready to defend his kids. Thankfully, they were all able to calm down, though none of them came within an arm''s length of Sam that night or the vague amount of time he stayed. Well, not with them; it''s more like watching them from afar.


    "you so you learned about money from stalking that guy."


    "yep, I know what that entrails and says about me. But I don''t mind. While I went about it strangely, it increased my interest in people." Sam leaned back in the chair, spinning at the smooth," watching the kids for 4 birthdays. That meant I spent around two years there." he blinked. It had seemed like such a short time. Probably due to how long he''s lived.


    "Interest in people?" they talked the entire plane ride, a private plane cause the law enforcement wanted Sam somewhere else. He wasn''t listening; he focused more on completing his online assignments.


    He didn''t want to get behind in school, and that meant more than whatever government organizations wanted. They were heading north, he believed; he was guessing from the flight of some birds outside the plane window. Along with the beast trying to eat the plane.


    Scrolling through the internet, Sam wasn''t that surprised to find a post about his fight from a few days ago. He liked one that placed a very nice song with a scene of the combatants trading sword blows. A high-paced melody that matched the strikes of the swords." Man, these are some great camera angles."


    "...why is this one so focused on my abs? They''re nice abs, but I''m picking a sword dance I saw in Africa...I''ve been to Africa!" Sam jumped, grabbed his laptop, and searched for news articles in Africa that might pertain to him.


    "wrestling an elephant, wrestling a lion, feral kid fights an African vampire. The feral kid takes over the vampire coven. okay, I think this is a video of me, but if it is, why am I hissing at the shaman." Sam lurched back when the shaman swung his staff, knocking the boy upside the head. a blow Sam could almost feel. The half impression told him it was him in this video of a shaman trying to chase him out.


    It turned when he caught the staff in his teeth and turned it on the man, only for him to start calling down lighting. "oh, that witch curse I''m firing back, so about 200-250 years back?" he still wasn''t sure when he had been snatching up by the witches.


    "Did you do anything in Africa besides getting into fights?" Nova asked, which was a fair question, all things considered. The thing was, Sam didn''t know. He knew he spent much time looking around, especially looking for fights or something interesting.


    "Probably just traveling and fighting, unless something specifically drew me to Africa." looking through the video and using their location data, he found a probable path he took through the land.


    Much of Africa was wild lands, and the already dangerous animals have become more so. Liked Lions gained the ability to command elements. "holy shit, I wanna try that again!" it also explained a vague dream.


    The plane contained for another day before they landed on the star-shaped island and climbed out. "four," Sam muttered, feeling the people silently watching. reasonable strong enough to take him on, but they didn''t make a move as they collected their bags. Which meant they were only here to watch.


    Sam decided to let them watch; he could probably mess with them a lot! rolling his neck, he glared at the amount of lust handing in the air." so he trying shit again." grumbling Sam started absorbing it, annoyed that his precautions had been overwhelmed." guess I''ll have to try something bigger." getting in the car Sam pulled out some marbles and using them to draw in the lust in the air.


    At the same time, he observed the people; they were doing good. in the way no one was jumping another in the street, "I think I should consider destruction." Sam didn''t mess with emotions often; well, directly, he used plenty of scare tactics and insults. but directly affection emotion he just no. worse was the destruction of an emotion.


    He knew what destruction of emotion could cause; he had witnessed death and destruction more than once. The hollow, lifeless look in a person''s eyes was something that scared him. but at the rate, the beast was flooding the air around the island, he might not have a choice.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ''I could probably do big feet if I full call on my lust core, but it would drive me into a frenzy afterward.'' but a frenzy he could work with, large-scale destruction with unknown effects on people. Bitting his fingernail, he seriously considered what feat he could perform; absorption would only worsen the frenzy.


    ''so I got back to storage, or dispersal; what in the air is a lot for the island, but spreading it across the country would probably be enough. The beast probably still has some left of influence, so that might be a bad idea overall. But cleansing is going to be a necessary step either way. I remember cleansing, right?"


    The rune was acutely advanced by the government''s standards, as it took focus to control what was being cleansed. Saltwater, for example, where you cleanse the salt out of the water. "I wonder if those fish are still mad?"


    rubbing the half memory away, Sam focused on the task. pulling up his lust core enough that his pupils changed. with gave him an even clearer picture of the lust in the air. Allowing him to see something he missed last time, ''it feeding on the ambient lust people are putting off.,'' so the beast wasn''t just pumping out their own power.


    "well, that''s a bigger pain; unless he figures out how to comply and stop that phenomenon, he''d be doing this for months or something," he grumbled. Sam held out both hands and started commanding the lust in the air.


    It resisted him, "I''m the lord here!" doubling the force, he started drawing in the energy, forming a small orb between his hands when it reached the size of a tooth. He pulled a hand away to write out the purification rune three times, and then the runes that went around the growing orb into a ring of power and effect.


    The ring grew with the orb, slowly removing the beast''s influence. "Man, this is a lot of power," he thought, watching the orb quickly grow bigger than his head and eventually himself. at the same time, he paid attention to the effects of the lust core spreading through his body.


    "Mmm," he bit his lip to keep quiet. Maybe it was the extra lust he was pulling out of the air, but his body tingled pleasantly. Licking his lips, Sam turned, watching the orb grow a few inches taller than him, and decided that was enough. cutting off the flow.


    "Great, what do I do with this? Try crystallization?" he almost gagged at the idea; it was a witch technique to turn none solid thing into a crystal-like state. It was a long and tedious process, and Sam wasn''t sure he fully remembered it.


    "it''d be simpler to bottle it," some potions called for bottling emotions or feelings. easy to get your hands on if you were willing to fork over the money. But if the bottle wasn''t strong enough or the emotion/feelings were too strong or volatile.


    You''ve basically made a bomb, one that would infect others with emotions. Depending on what was released, you''d get charged for it, but Sam wouldn''t deal with that.


    "I don''t think I have any jars strong enough for this." walking in a circle to get his blood flowing, Sam thought about what his options were. "any of them need to compress this thing first." spreading his hand wide, he focused and slowly brought them closer. The person-sized orb is slowly compressing.


    "mmm," Sam groaned as he focused on doing this right. Even as the purification of it went on, it was slow going, taking ten minutes before it was no bigger than an eyeball." well, that huff, one thing is done...should I store this or put it into something."


    "Something of that caliber should be stored and studied," Sam froze at that voice; there was absolutely no. ''oh, who am I kidding? She would show up like this.'' turning around, he faced her, standing on the roof''s edge. Flower petals flowed down from somewhere as the light danced off her.


    "hello teacher, what brought you here?" she walked off the room, petals forming temporary steps for her. "teacher? Now I remember I told you you could call me by name. As for why? Why wouldn''t I look into my disciple after he appeared on TV fighting "Sigh," a warrior? My contact also tells me you''ve been arrested and returned some stolen goods."


    "I''m worried," she admitted after a moment. Sam smiled before looking at the ground. "you probably should be; I can''t remember your name." he winched, waiting for her reaction, looking up he was dumbstruck to see the dumbstruck expression on her face." oh my spirits, you serious."


    "HOW THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN!" the space around them shocked with the force of her voice." who on the plane of existence could injure you that badly? Did you challenge another god!"


    "nope, I developed a bad coping mechanism." she paused in thought, the possible vices running through her head. It couldn''t be alcohol; it couldn''t be described as hate. drugs, they would have limited effect on Sam. The magical one would have a bigger one, and he did have demon friends. on the other hand, Sam was a battle junkie...


    "I''ve erased chunks of my own memory," Sam said gently, but with the look on her face, he might have well as punched her. She opened her mouth, closed it, and repeated that several times, taking deep breaths to gather her thoughts and words. For almost ten minutes she didn''t say anything... "I''m disappointed."


    "Please be mad instead." he could deal with it. Mad meant a possible fight; Sam could fight. Disappoint meant she was giving this look, a look he''d seen on a few other faces and could never take well when the people who wore it were the people he cared about.


    "ugh, I wonder if I could have prevented such a choice," she mumbled, walking closer; with the grace of the full moon, she walked over, placing both hands on the sides of his head. He felt her power flare; he let down his defensins, feeling no hostility from her. Plus, if she wanted to hurt him, he couldn''t stop that easily.


    a burning city flashed through his mind, "did we burn down a city?" she quickly answered no, you''ve used your demon power to destroy the connections. preventing you from remembering but not erasing the memory for the most part."


    "that''s good."


    "by the moon like and demons it is not! you''ve been fucking with your memory for a long time. You''ve started remembering anything because of your innate minor registration and the boost from the spell. A normal person would take hundreds of years."


    "a normal person wouldn''t live long enough," that wasn''t enough to stop her from lecturing him. During the lecture that went on for the next two days, she took the time to make a PowerPoint presentation and bring out the bloody puppets. Sam had the understanding that she was very old, which screwed with her perception of time a little.


    lecturing him for two days about how bad it was to erase his own memory and how there were better-coping methods he could have used. "... giving into your battle lust and becoming a full-on beast of battle is somehow a better option!"


    "for me, probably, but what about all the people who would cross my path." the half-dressed teen stated, watching the beachgoers, I was watching all right. The light dancing danced their skin, watching water dripping down their forms.


    the women in bikinis one and two pieces, the men in trunks and speedos, and One guy using runes to create a pixelation over his privates. he was hungry even with the ice cream in his hand. "it''d be worse than a war."


    "Now you just sound cocky; they probably would have nuked you after 400 people or something." she paused in her lecture, which Sam was thankfully for what he really feared about her was how she could truly nag on for months.


    [that is horrifying!]

 71

    "Now, price of midnight curses, it''s time to just what you remember of your witch education?"


    "I can''t believe I''m back on this continent," Sam mumbled to himself, looking at the witch who dragged him here. He could definitely make some kind of break for it, but what then. Keep running from here. ''yeah, that''s a great way to spend the next 50 to 100 years,'' sighing, he looked at his teacher and around the herb forest garden.


    He had memories of working around this, harvesting and nurturing plants. avoiding getting eaten by plants. Such a mix of good and dull memories. a few of them were going to be helpful real quick, will start with simple astronomy."


    "simple, indeed." as someone whose most potent spells are tied to the night and the moons and stares. He knew a lot, helped by the years he spent wondering where he spent nights staring into the vast sky.


    Of course, she was nothing if not thorough and grilling, pulling out the obscure facts. If Sam got something wrong, she spent an hour correcting him and ensuring he got it right. The thoroughness of someone so long-lived was enough to drive a normal person up the wall.


    thankful Sam had experience with her, enough to stop her from going on more than an hour any topic. His patience for getting lectured wasn''t that long. Plus, he had school, and he wanted a diploma.


    "Why do you want a diploma?" she asked as she served her specialty soup. Sam looks at the bubbling titanium bowl, picks up a titanium spoon, and stirs it. " Well, I joined the school to get a diploma and want to finish. I''ve already left some things unfished and broken promises."


    "that something you shouldn''t get used to." the witch stated." as someone who lived for almost a thousand years. You must be careful about how you feel about certain things. never think that it doesn''t matter, that you have time to do whatever."


    "you make it sound like I don''t." aero stated, and he had an idea of how she thought why. A half-remembered thing, seeing her cry a few times. "you have time, but everyone around you. The people, places, and culture. Food and events pass by so quickly or linger for so long." Her laugh was humorless." Stop dumping out the soup."


    "hell no!" knowing he was caught, he threw the bowl to the side, its contents melting through the ground. pretty far, "I''ve eaten dozens of poisons and different dangerous materials. But I wouldn''t eat that."


    "my cooking isn''t that bad? my food tastes good."


    "taste is not the problem; you add too many supernatural herbs." they quickly turned to argue about her food. Sam fully believed it was a weapon, pointing out all the people it knocked out. the beast human, vampires, undead, spirits, Hermes that one time, demons!


    "It wasn''t that bad!"


    "You''re in denial!" Sam stated from where they had moved into the kitchen, and he was making sandwiches. That wouldn''t burn a hole in his instance thanks to an overuse of magical herbs. "so what if I am!" she shot right back," I like it, and so did my husband and kids."


    Sam opened his mouth, then decided against what he was about to say as it had a significant chance of making her cry. "so what''s the next part of the test." his teacher realizing she had said more than she had wanted." geology, mostly the crystals like you know."


    "I''m not chipping my teeth again." he knew part of the test would be identifying the minerals by taste. The first time he did this, he stupidly tried to bite a crystal and went to the dentist the next day. learned he didn''t like people pocking around his mouth. or getting his rotten teeth pulled.


    The dentist learned he needed stronger restraints.


    "oh, I''ve got a potion for that. I''m not paying another insurance payout." The witch glared at him, but Sam remained unbothered. "All right, what''s the first question," she answered by setting out a black and white marbled rock; it had a sharp scent and quickly sharp taste. The marbling was reminiscent of lightning strikes.


    "Lighting marble is typically found near mountain tops or places with frequent thunderstorms. contains both lighting and earth energy. which makes it a good bind agent for spells that use them. Like the sand thunderstorm spell. A mid-class weather manipulation spell that''s mid-class because its range cannot increase over that of a medium-sized city."


    "Good." with a flash of her hand, she changed it to an emerald-like mineral; its taste told him it wasn''t emerald. too light, and not bitter enough. "mmm, this is rare. relative to emerald. Possible zephyr emerald but not light enough... unless it''s not pure or high quietly zephyr emerald."


    "correct," her smile was wide and proud." yes, now let''s see if you can get this one." a new mineral appeared, a strain of quart. It took Sam some time to identify this one, but he got it along with the following. Each mineral brings up memories he had somewhere.


    "your memory is good," the witch smiled as she moved around some things. Next, I think of gasses and liquids, and then we''ll move on to combine these things." Of course, each of these tests took days as witch magic used many kinds of ingredients. If you could put it into a pot, it was an ingredient.


    after four days, aero remembered something." oh right, I''ve gotten into some new trouble."


    "that''s not surprising." she looks away from the lighting in the bottle he was being tested over. " so what is it?" Sam gave her the cliff notes about the beast and his methods of dealing with it. "well shit, I thought I''d seen a lot of things. Not only are aliens real, but so is a universe-creating God. Sweet creation and herbs. I''m not going to super hell or something." she shook her head, grabbed a little bottle from her clothing, and poured it out.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Sam covered his nose as the potion melted through space, opening a portal back to his current residents. "improved the recipe?" he asked, stepping through the portal, which Vaulgy felt like getting hit in the gut. which was an improvement when it felt like getting hit by a truck." yes, I modified the liquid space before I mixed it into the main concoction. even cut down the amount of time this needs to marinate by 12 months."


    "oh, that''s good." turning, he greeted his dad, who had definitely spent the last night creating. The bags under his eyes, the five o''clock shadow, the slight mugs of color on his fingers. Definitely the sight of him creating." ah, your back, oh, thank gods."


    "yeah, just got back. Mostly to show the witch something." Sam was original, just going to show her the lust thing. like the small statues he was making. but as they walked up the stairs, Sam remembered a few things, like the thing he had wrapped in leaves. If she couldn''t help him get rid of the bad shit he collected, she at least had better places to hold it.


    "What in the rings of Christian hell?!" she was right, shocked and disgusted with it. "why not just throw it into a volcano." Sam scuffed at that, closing the leaves." you think I didn''t test that? It corrupted the magma, killed the sea, and drove people mad. so I carried it for years. I''m not sure about the exact number."


    "Well, I have a safe it will fit nicely into while I call a coven meeting." A coven meeting involves many things with witches; it depends on who called it and for what. Most of the time, it was gossip hours, a reason for everyone to gather and talk. Catch up, but it was also like calling a war meeting or disaster prevention.


    His teacher, calling one, was definitely going to cause a ruckus when they saw this thing and the other cursed and harmful objects Sam was sending over. "Mmm, are they still making those tangly fruit biscuits?"


    "oh, yes. He''s made a new version. so is this everything you want me to show them."


    "Everything I currently know the location of. I know there more shit out there. I got drawn to it, or it found me." he knew this was probably an effect of the witching hour. That or he had some serious luck,'' I can never decide it is good or bad.''


    After collecting all the stuff he needed out of the house, he showed her the marbles Sam used to storing lust, the liquid lust he had in jars. Notes he''s hardly made, her face was nothing but disappointment. "I know I taught you better about working with hazardous material. None of their jars and marbles are reinforced.


    "ah well," he couldn''t just tell her that was reckless and cockiness. "my room is quite reinforced and sealed; if something happened, it wouldn''t spread too far." that was mainly attributed to a setup in the middle of his room, in case someone tried to blow him up.


    "oh yeah, what have you so confident. she asked as she tried reinforcing the jars with runes. " he tapped his foot around the center of his room a few times. Until a circle of runes appeared, the witch looked them over and understood what it did? "oh, interesting, when did you figure that out?"


    "I stole it from some drug lab."


    "what drug lab had something that could disperse the force of an atomic bomb?" Sam replied he never said it was a straightforward drug lab, "it was also about the size of four football fields?" when she asked what kind of drug they had been making, Sam couldn''t remember much except that it smelt like brimstone and river stones, plus the ghost hour was not pleased by this.


    "Okay, let''s come back to that concerning information later. What exact idea are you looking for with its energy?" Sam licked his lips, "just some kind of use for it. I see myself collecting a lot of it over the coming future. Also, I''m hesitant to straight out destroy it."


    she nodded," Okay, coming up with a use for the collected energy itself should take too long, at least a hundred years. I know a few witches looking for new topics." that was good, and if he spread out the collected energy, it wouldn''t seem like too much in a hundred years. "yeah, I think that''s going to work."


    Tapping her earring-shaped holo device, she started making calls." hey, it''s -" Sam walked downstairs to get them some snacks and catch up with his father. ''I totally could have caught her name just now.'' he bluntly realized.


    "so, another person from your four hundred years of wondering." Sam nodded, reaching into the fridge and grabbing some cloud orange juice, "Yeah. I feel terrible about not remembering her name. though she was very forceful about it. She taught me what it meant to be a witch. How to control that part of my powers."


    "Do you resent that she was forceful?" he asked, looking upstairs and wondering if he would have to fight in the name of his child. Sam paused to drink before shaking his head; walking over, he leaned against his father." I didn''t think well of myself there first few decades." his face pinched at the memories, "her forcefulness got it through my head. it''s okay to be weird; being weird didn''t make me bad."


    "Oh, definitely, he raised his mug of coffee." Sam clinked his juice against it. they returned to their drinks for a moment. Enjoying nothing more than each other''s company." so how many embarrassing stories does she have."


    "less than the walls I could put you through." Natale nodded, setting his mug down. Before making a break for the stars, he didn''t make it up the first one before Sam''s weight hit him. Crackling, he turned and threw his fingers into Sam''s side. Causing him to howl with laughter and attempting to counterattack.


    This was the sense the witch came upon when she descended the stairs. For a moment, she just watched the father and son play and wrestle. She had a small, almost wistful smile on her face before she turned and joined the wrestling." ah, no fair!" Sam cried, only to be shot back with." you''ve won a twenty-vs-one fight!"


    Sam would have pointed out that the fight was hard as hell; he had to drag it out over two days, making use of hit-and-run tactics, traps, and the natural flora and fauna to win that fight. In the end, he still had to regrate an arm and several bullet holes.


    Of course, that argument didn''t work cause he won, and he wasn''t losing this wrestling tickling match. "tap out, tap out." Natal patted against the leg around his neck as Sam focused his fingers against the sole of his teacher''s foot, even with another leg wrapped around his neck.


    Sam didn''t move; he knew this wasn''t enough force to actually hurt the man he called dad. In the same way, that man wasn''t actually using force or technique, he needed to break free of the hold.


    Sam realized he was being lured into a false sense of security when the man started ticking his foot. With a screech, Sam released him, flipping around to improve his hold on his teacher, who was mostly just sitting them and letting it happen.


    At the moment, most of his attention was on Natal. She stepped on Sam''s arm, causing a feeling to spread out through him. "you highjacked my nerves." he howled with laughter, configuring his mana to take back control of his sensory nerves. it was such a delicate operation as he could quickly turn good to bad, making his nerves overly sensitive or too dull.


    "... and that was how I learned he disliked alcohol." the two physical adults were sharing stories." same, having a drink for myself. he gets a whiff and kinds of flips out. Thankfully, I drowned the rest of it, and he calmed pretty quickly." the female scoffed she had not had such an easy of a time.


    they thought at least part of it was the several hundred years between the two events. But they also knew it was probably several events and interactions. Either way, Sam had mellowed out over the years.


    "ah!" they both cried when Sam tackled them, having recovered from the witch''s spell.

 72

    "so, are you coming to the meeting?" Sam''s still unnamed witch teachers asked. Sam blinked before looking at her, "Meeting of your-"


    "our!" she corrected.


    "I haven''t seen anyone in more than a hundred years, not to mention I know none of their names." Sam gestured, almost knocking over the flower he was careful pruning." steadying the bot, he continued plucking its petals. " besides, you''re only going to share that lust I''ve collected. We both know it is going to be a big study session that could go on for months."


    "And you are currently living with some mortals you don''t want to leave behind." Sam nodded even though she wasn''t facing him. Drying out harvested petals and herbs with a simple rune. "I don''t blame you unless something manages to kill you. You can always come to the next one."


    "how about if something kills you." Sam replied, moving from the flower, pushing some bone meal into its swampy soil. "oh, that is true, but I don''t go looking for trouble." she had him there instead of responding to it, he walked over to where Daniel was trying to save himself from a carnivorous super plant.


    "Finally!" the rich and cursed teen shouted." you let that go on way too long." Sam shrugged, moving over to grab the bones of something and throw them to plant. With that, it quickly lost interest in them, and Daniel stuck close to Sam.


    "why did I agree to come here." his curse would be so much worse in an unfamiliar place and without the people his family hired to keep him from wandering away. "cause she is a powerful witch who might look at your family cures and give you some advice."


    "Right, but almost getting eaten has me rethinking it. which is strange as I''ve almost been eaten before because of this curse." Sam paused to think if he''d heard that story, then thought if he was told a story about him almost getting eaten or getting eaten, then getting out.


    "well, it''s fresher trauma; getting eaten will never be a planet adventure." Dnie responded, "You said that way more certainty than I want to hear. " Sam shrugged, "The regeneration had come in handy during tough times." the hairs on his neck stood up. So he moved, danile following, knowing he didn''t want to get caught in it.


    They both landed and turned to see the tree roots thicker than them. "I don''t think that''s going to let us prune it." they both looked at the flower bush wither and snapp its petal teeth at him, "You''ve been practicing the skills I helped you learn."


    "of course," Daniel said. He was mostly ready when he rushed to the overgrown plant. While he had been practicing, it wasn''t on battling, mostly using the new power in a casual way. Using it on the plant was a different challenge, and it left the physic with a mild headache by the time they pinned it, pruned it, and sent it back to its enclosure.


    "Oh, you, too, did so well against that little one. You''re really feisty despite living with me for the past decade. But then again," she looked at Sam. Shrugging, she turned to Daniel; "now there was a curse you wanted me to look at?"


    "My family curse, we''ve seen a lot of people look it over the generations. But not made much progress, Sam vette, for you, so I decided to come out on a limb."


    "Well, I''m glad he gave me such a glowing review." leading the way out of the greenhouse, she brought them to their lab/ examination room. Over the next twelve hours, he was subjected to a number of tests; it started out like a typical medical exam. Like the kind you got before school.


    Then it slowly got weird, pulling out more strange and obscure tools. Doing weird things if it wasn''t for the growing frown on Sam''s face. He''d think he was being messed up. After several uncomfortable hours, she stopped.


    Taking a seat, she sighed, rubbing a hand through her hair for a long moment." what the, I don''t have the words. This is such an intense and complex curse. It geniuses, its madness, it should be exploding or working perfectly."


    "Can you do anything about it?" Daniel nervously asked his brief hope that he would be free from it dying." oh yes, but it''s not going to be simple. Someone might die, something possible worse might happen."


    Daniel swallowed nervously before nodding, "So what''s first?" the witch spun out of her chair, strutting over to a whiteboard, snapping her finger and causing the marker to raise and sketching out a diagram of the human form. "look, the first thing the thing afflicting your family is technically not a curse on your sense of direction."


    "what people call their sense of direction doesn''t begin to account for what is being affected." with a snap of her fingers, it spreads into three parts. " it affects your mind on several different parts, memory, navigation, even emotion. It also affects your body''s sense of balance and distance. Worst of all, the effect on your soul." the marker wrote down next to each diagram.


    "my soul?"


    "your soul, your metaphysical senses. Even if you lose all your physical senses. This sense would remain, and on some level, everyone uses these in navigation." she turned to Sam," like any time you look in a certain direction and just know something bad is going to happen if you go that way."


    "which is how I know this new location is going to be fun." the other two occupants of the room only decided that made sense to him." so the reason the curse hasn''t been broken is because of all the layers it affects my family on?"


    "which is, in fact, another problem. If you managed to break the curse''s effects on you. The curse on your parents would restore it. The same works for every member of your family." Daniel proceeded to curse, using every curse he knew in every language he knew. "I didn''t know he spoke whale."


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "I''m guessing your family is very big?"


    "We don''t know because of our wondering and some rather loose members. My family is quite literally spread across the globe." both of them winced, "Okay. I'' ''m wondering if the gods are mocking me. but this is still doable." she hesitated for a moment before looking at him," This curse can be broken, but it might not be while you live. It might go on for a few more generations."


    Daniel took a long moment to just breathe, not focused on the pumping of his heart, the growing pit in his stomach. "okay, okay. I can work with that. Maybe you can''t help me, but one day, I would like to have children. Knowing that they or my grandchildren might not suffer is good news." he continued to try and focus on his breathing.


    The arm he found aligning itself over this shoulder was an even better distraction. Sam pulled him until their bodies were flushed together. For a moment, Sam just offered him silent and physical comfort. "You know she''s only thinking about if you live the hundred years. Something might be figured out in a hundred and fifty years."


    "how could I live that long?" but he found himself smiling at the small hope. He said nothing for long moments, adjusting to the really that he now knew. " Sam, this is probably a little greedy, but would you look after my descendants?"


    "I don''t babysit for free," Sam said, partly joking," but I will watch them. They will come under no true harm I can prevent with my knowledge and ability." his tone was sincere, and it calmed Daniel down a great amount. "your a better friend then I''ve ever thought to ask. I can never thank you enough for what you''ve done for me and what you would do for me."


    Feeling a bit braver, he asked the teacher more about her observations, made notes to share with his family, and added them to their archives. It might not solve the situation at the moment, but information about their curse was information. Someday, it may come in handy. After that, they headed into the kitchen, where she made smoothies, "something cool and sweet to help calm your nerves." Daniel wasn''t entirely sure what she put in there, but it was delicious. Sweet, a bit spicy, "I''m starting to understand where some of Sam''s eating habits come from."


    "I''m taking that as a compliment," she said, sipping her own more berry-flavored smoothie." His taste can be strange, but never anything bad. more willing to try something than I am." Sam cut in as they started talking about the strange thing they had eaten. "I''d like to remind you both I lived on the road for a long time; I''ve had to eat a wide variation."


    "I don''t think that should include trees." Sam went on to defend his decision to eat trees, as it wasn''t even the strangest thing he ate, even going into detail about taste and texture. His half attempts at cooking the wood and leaves. "why did you try and eat more than the fruit that bloomed."


    "there is such a thing as too much fruit." Sam defended; finishing their smoothies, they headed back out to the garden for the gate circle that was carved into the ground and surrounded by innocent-looking roses. With teeth, if you looked close enough, in usual witch extraness, the gate could only be opened with a dance key.


    The dance was something that went to the tune of classic rock; Sam forgot its name. But he could remember how to move his hips when the drums started going so hard, how his feet moved to the strums of the guitar even after decades, and how his muscle memory was going strong. when the portal opened, he let Daniel step through it first, "So, are you going to watch the fight?" Sam asked.


    "oh, I plan to record it." she assured," I hear that guy has a bad bite?" Sam only smiled, flashing his teeth at her. "oh boy," she sighed as Sam stepped through the portal. "the moment the portal closed, her face turned grim, rage in her eyes." what on earth was she trying to give birth to with that curse!!" turning around she stormed back toward her lab, staying there until he alarm reminded her about Sam''s battle and the witches coven meeting coming up.


    "let''s calm down and watch your pupil kick some ass." she dropped herself on the couch and tried to block out the thoughts of what she knew, focusing on the screen as the opponents appeared on the battlefield.


    "acho! fuck!" Sam swore at the temperature. Knee deep in the snow, "didn''t have time to grab a jacket," tapping his heel for a moment, he tried to think. Are there any temperature regulation spells in this outfit? Searching with his power for a moment, he didn''t find anything. "great, something to fix later."


    Letting a sigh, he watched his breath frost over," how cold are you?" he asked, not looking up from the snow in front of him. His opponent didn''t reveal themself. Squinting, Sam focused on the four presences he felt. he was sure one of them was the fighter, summons copies? he wasn''t sure yet.


    "All right then," reaching out, he grabbed the dice and threw them out. Forced to jump a moment later as a scythe cut through the frigid air. Rolling forward, he avoided another and third scythe. Pushing off the third scythe, he avoided the fourth, "Tch!"


    Looking down, he saw one of the dice had landed on the sword. With the edge of the blade, the raven was able to slash through the magic bullets. ''one of those was cursed.'' he thought, mentally losing some of the ribbons wrapped around his arm. Sending the sword flying into the snow, he used it to pull himself out of the air before more shots could be fired.


    Sliding, he pulled his sword out, swiping it out to knock up snow into the face of one of the clones. He knew it was a clone, a lack of depth. No, he didn''t know how to explain it more than that. Two shots ripped through the cloud of snow; ducking the upper, he blocked the other. Observing the shot break against the metal of the blade.


    "that''s not just mana, is it?" still, they didn''t answer the clones rushing him; one stayed back, what Sam suspected of being the original, to take a shot at him while he danced between the sythes.


    Blocking the shaft of a scythe, he stepped down and rose up an uppercut directly into the clone''s stomach. ''solid work,'' he could feel organs and blood, even bone, breaking under his fist. stepping as another clone came over the other''s back, slashing at his arm.


    Its foot crunched against the snow as he stepped forward, blade moving quickly and continuously at him. Dancing and hopping back, kicking up some snow. The clones flinched, closing their eyes for one instant.


    Sam rushed around the small cloud; the snow crunched hard as he rushed one of the clones. Going on the offensive. "AH!" it cried out, blocking with the staff of its Scyth, sliding its blade down it. Sam forced him to pull back his hand or risk getting it slashed.


    "shit, the clone cursed before Sam twisted his sword around the scythe, twisting the weapon out of the clone''s grip. His eyes followed it before Sam twisted his body and kicked it in the chest, followed by his swinging around and cutting the clone from the shoulder to the groin.


    "Seriously, that level of real." he thought looking at the blooding mess staining the snow. Was it necessary to make your clones fo lifelike." he bit back some barf as he turned to face the rest of them, all of them on more guard." you could have killed me." the first thing they said with their surprisingly feminine voice.


    Sam shook his head, "No, I couldn''t have; I knew that one was a clone. Your cloning technique is good. But they lack the depth of existence."


    "what the fuck does that mean." he growled, leveling his rise riffle scythe. " figure it out!" Sam said, losing his grip for the blad slid down, leaving ribbon in his hand. Spinning it like a frail, he rushed at them.


    "my cloning technique is better than you believe!" just a bullet tore through Sam''s abdomen." I guess you''re right!"