A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay 26 (Patreon)

A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 26

-VB-

The Endbringer Fight was a wake-up call.

Before that point, I’ve defeated any and all adversaries that came my way. I was strong.

I am strong.

But by no means was I the strongest or even close to it.

I needed to get stronger.

“Easier said than done,” I grumbled to myself while laying down on my back in my recently flooded underground training room. This was the second lowest level.

Leviathan’s floods may not have swept the houses down where I lived, but the waters still did come crashing in, and my many levels of underground floors had been flooded. I’ve spent the last week just pumping the water out.

There was no time to train, and it has only made me fret and worry over my need to train to get stronger, especially since I knew that the Slaughterhouse Nine, Accord’s Ambassadors, and the Teeth would be showing up here soon.

I wasn’t growing stronger yet the threats to me and my family grew closer. At the same time, I couldn’t simply abandon any other duties nor could I pay someone to do them for me because the city was a wreck and everyone, including people who would have pumped out my flooded underground floors for money, were fixing their own properties and situations.

The soft tappings of someone’s feet walking down the stairs got me to glance over, and I saw Amy in only shorts and a tank top. She leaned against the railing to steady herself because her center of gravity was in her taut pregnant belly.

… It’s only been two months. How was it that she was already showing more than she should? Or rather the baby was more developed then it should be?

God, I did not need the baby to be in danger, too.

Oh God, Amy and the baby were going to be here when the Nine came!

I sat up as she reached the bottom of the stair and tapped on the ground.

“Damn, you really got it done, huh?”

“Yup,” I grunted as I rolled my shoulders. “Just one more floor to go.”

She hummed as she walked over … and then dropped herself into my lap. I didn’t even grunt; objectively speaking, she didn’t feel heavy at all to me, which was a side benefit of being a muscle, endurance, and strength based cultivator.

She leaned sideways into my bare and sweaty chest, and I noticed that she was sweaty, too.

“It’s too fucking hot and humid,” she grumbled.

“And sitting on your sweaty and hot husband makes it better?”

“Yes.”

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her.

“Ugh, you’re sweaty,” she grunted half-heartedly. We sat there in comfortable silence, but I knew that I would have to ask some questions. Having been stuck in the house for an entire week, I remained somewhat disconnected from the rest of the city. The rest of the New Wave went out each day, though they returned to our house to clean up and sleep well, but everyone was tired at the end of the day, and though I was comparatively energetic, conversation needed two parties at the very least.

Today was Amy’s first day off. She’s been working in the hospitals constantly to keep people alive.

(I got Vicky to stick by Amy to prevent her from overworking).

“... How is the rest of the city?” I asked cautiously.

She groaned as she turned her face on my chest. “I never had to stay for Endbringer fights before but this is ridiculous…!” she moaned pathetically. “There’s so many people hurt and then there are idiots going around getting hurt so I have to heal them again!”

“Rough. Is it the heroes?”

“I wish it was the heroes,” she growled with a scowl on her face. “At least then I can use my medic privileges to slap some common sense into them and get away with it. No, it’s the fucking vigilantes and newcomers!”

I blinked. “You mean the people who stayed after killing the Empire?”

“No, worse! New Triggers!”

… Oh.

“Should I be out and about? Only the last floor is left, and I can push it to the side for a bit.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I don’t fight, even though I want to.”

I caressed her arm and back.

“Well, at least our baby seems to be getting pretty big.”

“I know. I actually asked the doctors to check, you know?”

“You did?”

“Mhmm. They said she’s healthy.”

I blinked.

“She?”

She looked up at me as I looked down. She had a grin on her face. “Yup. We have a girl on our hands, Alan.”

I gawked.

And then I was up on my feet, lifting Amy off the ground.

And laughing.

Happily.

She laughed with me, and I loved how happy she sounded.

-VB-

Well, I did notice it but my little brush with death … might have been good for me.

0.1 seconds-.

My left fist lashed out thrice.

0.2 seconds-.

I whirled around and snap-kicked with enough force to crack the air, not my clothes.

0.5 seconds-.

Carrying my momentum forward, I spun vertically and came down with an axe kick. The earth beneath me, not concrete at home but earth out in a park not too far from home, cratered.

0.9 seconds-.

And then I brought everything to a halt by using the same leg from the axe kick to snap a chin smashing knee striking at the air.

1.1 seconds passed.

And then I dropped to the ground.

I let out a deep breath of air not of exertion but to calm myself.

I wasn’t that fast or strong before.

I brought myself back to attention. Okay.

“I’m ready for a patrol, Eric,” I said as I turned around.

Eric, Shielder in his costume, gawked at me. Then he snapped back to attention and shook his head as if to remove mental cobwebs. “Wait, wait, wait, what the fuck was that? I thought you were a Mover/Brute 4! That’s not a 4!” he yelled exasperatedly before sighing. “This is that ‘improvement’ thing Amy and Vicky said you did, right?”

I blinked and shrugged. “Yes. Apparently, near-death experiences count as a good reason to get improvements.”

Eric nodded solemnly. “Right. You … nearly died,” he muttered.

“Took a punch directly from Leviathan,” I grimaced. “If it wasn’t for Eidolon, then I would have been dead.”

He grunted. “... You know that would have left Amy a widow, right? Even if you two haven’t legally married yet.”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Vicky asked me to do this.”

My head snapped to the side as a fist slammed into my maskless and helmetless face. But that’s all it did.

“YYOOOOWWW!!!!”

The one who was hurt wasn’t me but Eric.

“Did you forget to encase your hand with your shields or something?” I asked confusedly.

He stared at me incredulously. “My shields don’t work that way!” he whined as he cradled his fist.

“If you say so.” I could be snarky and ask if he, who’s been a cape for far longer than I have, hasn't ever experimented with his power. Nevermind rude, that was outright disrespectful to him. “Where we heading to first?”

“Well, I guess we’ll go around Downtown first and then head up to the Docks…”

It was a quiet night.