Proving Ground 3 (Patreon)

Proving Ground
Chapter 3

-VB-

Corruption.

It was such a nasty word. Admittedly, corruption existed everywhere, even within my kingdom. It made bureaucracies slower (or faster and nonexistent for the wrong person), magicked funds away, and reduced the quality of everything everywhere.

I remembered still how China was infamous for this; construction companies would bribe the local government for the construction job, have no funds for actual construction materials, and use bamboo and broken glass bottles where cement was supposed to be filled in. Or the opium leaves in chili sauces. Or month-old and already well-used vinegar, turned gray by the usage and accumulation of dirt, dust, and grim, for pickled foods.

Corruption was almost universally bad.

So did that say something about me when I was willing to use national resources to find my wayward student’s own child? Was it corruption?

Maybe.

But then again, the child’s existence was a breach of national security and existence. His mother should not have fed him and his sister from the Source. Allowing them to step a foot outside the capital city was already a failing on my behalf for not noticing a few drops of the Source missing.

So maybe it was corruption, but I sure as hell didn’t give a shit.

As elderly, exhausted, and encumbered as I was in my old age, I was still the fucking KING of the last absolute monarchy of Europe.

I got what I fucking wanted!

…God, Roxelana really made me angry. It’s been a while since I went on an internal cussing rant.

“You’re getting your beating later,” I snapped at her as my bodyguards, called to my location by the burst sequence of my chakra, dropped down and kneeled around me. Turning to the bodyguards, I grunted. “Roxelana here fed her children some drops from the Source.”

There was a flinch.

The Source, from which Roxelana had stolen her drops existed both as the reason for this kingdom’s existence and reward for those within my inner circle, like my bodyguards.

For a single drop was worth a nation. To consume a single drop would elevate those capable of withstanding its power to new heights.

For it was the blood of the gods themselves.

Well, a single goddess, but the story told to these men and women was that of plural deities.

“Do not be too furious with her,” I chuckled sardonically. “She only used the stolen drops on her weak and dying babies.”

That eased some tension but not completely.

To have a single drop, those admitted to my circles would have to swear oaths and present their bodies to mental seals. After that, they would have to prove their worthiness either with time or accomplishments.

And in my long tenure as the founder and guardian, I have given out ten drops total.

One of those drops now ran diluted among the Tibetan tyrants.

“Your job, ladies and gentlemen,” I hummed. “Is to find her boy. She will provide the information. You are not to use harsh means in the capture, though you may rough up the boy if he tries to escape. However,” I turned and looked at Roxelana in the eyes. “If the situation escalates to the point where his escape may be possible while being aided by foreign powers, then you may kill and burn him to ash.”

Roxelana bit her lips and they bled from the force of the bite, but she kept her lips shut because she knew better than to demand more.

After all, I wasn’t having her, her daughter, and her son summarily executed.

People have been executed for far less.

“... All of you are like my children. I do not like that my children may have to become kinslayers. Do avoid it as much as possible,” I added. “The sins of the parents are not the sins of the children. Otherwise, I would have killed half of you here. Go and find this ‘Deniz,’ now.”

“Da, gospodine!”

Then they took off.

Still staring at her, I narrowed my eyes.

“Roxelana, let’s go see your family.”

-VB-

Deniz gasped as he came down from the trees.

He’s been running nonstop since he left the walls of Cer. Well, he’s been running nonstop since he left his home.

It was… it was just too much.

To have to constantly hide and lie to everyone.

He didn’t want to live like that.

What was he going to do when he’s about to get married? Just take off the illusion that his wife-to-be expected and then show his horn and all and say “yeah, sorry, but there’s something I have to tell you?”

Hell no!

No, he was going to live as he pleased. He wasn’t going to-.

“... You must be Deniz.”

Deniz froze and slowly turned around.

Standing no more than ten meters from him was a man dressed in a completely black special ops outfit that covered everything from head to toe, leaving only a pair of wide-eyed googles for vision; he’s seen mother’s special ops outfit before.

His heart pounded in his chest.

“His majesty would like to meet you,” the special ops drawled almost lazily as a burst of chakra rung out harmlessly.

Deniz’s eyes widened. That was a signal burst. Soon, everyone who knew the signal would come here.

“No,” he growled. “No, no, NO NO!” he shouted. “I am not going to be a prisoner in the city!”

He pulled at his immense chakra reservoir and pulled down a technique he rarely used because of how destructive it was.

[Wind Release: Hand of Buddha]!

The sky above warped as pressure skyrocketed in an instant and slammed down onto the forest around them in the shape of a hand. Trees snapped and cracked with deafening roars along with the muffling and screaming air.

When he pulled the technique back as he realized what he had just done, he saw nothing but flattened wooden trunks and leaves in a large clearing around him.

And the same man standing exactly where he was before.

“Oh boy, that’s strong,” he grunted. “But your technique’s a little unrefined.”

His cheek twitched. His technique? Unrefined?

“Still, you must have had a lot of time to be able to pull out a technique like that on the fly,” the man said as he rolled his shoulders.

And then Deniz paled and his stomach dropped as he felt a killing intent magnitudes greater than what he ever felt from mom.

“Roxelana definitely raised a decent kid. You couldn’t be more than sixteen,” the man chuckled. “Still, His Majesty’s orders are absolute.”

The King of Cer was absolute. It was something drilled into everyone in school.

He was absolute because he raised the walls. He was absolute because he protected them. He was absolute because he was the strongest man on Earth.

Deniz gritted his teeth.

“I will not be bound…!”

“Jesus, you sound like a comic book villain,” the special ops joked. “Alright, then come and break your chains,” he taunted as he slid into the Ambushing Bear stance. “Better that you get your ass kicked by me while your mum’s getting her ass kicked by the king.”

Deniz roared and fired off another Hand of Buddha.

He watched in shock this time, with no obstruction between them, as the man stole control over the air with minimal chakra in the volume around him and dispelled the technique.

“Unrefined. If you want to do something like that, try this.”

He punched from ten yards away, but a fist of wind slammed into his stomach like one of his mother’s unrestrained training punches.

By the time the pain registered in his brain, the special ops had fired off half a dozen more.

Deniz collapsed as five of those connected and left him wracked in pain.

“Oi, oi, oi! What are you doing, Sergei?!”

He barely had the energy to watch while on his knees as more of them popped out from the trees. “The king said to be gentle!”

“The king said to rough him a little if the little shit’s not complying. So I did.”

“Just because he’s a Blessed like you-!”

“Relax. I held back. Right, kid? Normally, people have holes in their bodies from that.”

Deniz didn’t have the strength to speak and just collapsed forward. As darkness took his mind away for a nap, he heard muffled yelling slowly surrounding him.

‘Damn it,’ he muttered as he lost himself to the darkness.