Ch.37 Wreaths (Patreon)

I stared at Alphonse with a twisted expression, conflicted emotions warping my features.

“I didn’t ask to be your student, Alphonse, nor did I ask to be part of this suitor’s tournament,” I seethed.

Alphonse took a step forward. “You were deemed a high-noble at birth. Fate brought us together, but fate does not dictate your actions.”

I chuckled and panned the audience with a thin smile. My body was shaking, my knuckles were turning white from clenching my fists too hard, and my eyes were sharp.

“King Redfield,” I addressed, turning to his sky box. “All our problems were born in this man’s abusive training. Unless you want to reopen that wound, I suggest you remove him.”

The crowd turned to the king.

“The wound is open,” King Redfield countered. “You can’t do more damage than has already been done.”

“Is that so? Then allow me to remove distractions.” I narrowed my eyes and turned to Alex. “Admit surrender and leave, or I’ll break one of your limbs for every rejection you give me. We are still fighting, after all.”

Alex’s satisfied smirk relaxed into an agape expression, and he looked around in horror as the crowd turned on him. It made his face turn red, and his hands clenched tightly. “There’s no way that I—!”

“You should’ve listened,” I growled, shooting behind him, grabbing his arm at ghostly speed and extending it straight. “Your kingdom tried to massacre my people, you’ve threatened me twice, and you still have the audacity to smirk at a matter between kings. For that, and your refusal to accept my benevolence, you’ll bear the consequences.”

Alex looked at Alphonse desperately. “Master Gurrigs, will you really—”

CRAaaaCK!

I delivered a palm thrust into the back of his elbow, bending his arm back at a 30-degree angle. Alex’s face turned pale as a sheet when he saw it, and the blood started dripping out of the golden armor joint. “W-What?!”

“Removing the bone fragments will take so long that a healer might amputate it and start from scratch,” I warned, grabbing his shoulder and squeezing his collarbone from the back. “So I suggest you surrender and get started, so the grown-ups can speak.”

He screamed in pain and physical shock as I squeezed him. “I SURRENDER! I’M SORRY!”

When he fell to his knees sobbing, I yelled for someone to pick him up before standing in front of Alphonse again.

“Are you done being a child?” Alphonse derided.

“A child….” I looked to the sky with a deep breath, followed by a bitter chuckle. “You know what’s difficult about you, Alphonse? In a world where people thought I was a demon lord, your daily beatings probably saved my life.”

My blood boiled, my breathing became ragged, and my body burned. “You might be doing the same thing now, giving me the opportunity to prove that Thea Lockheart is worth dying over.”

I looked him in the eye with a twisted smile. “That by abusing me, I can prove myself! If you want me to legitimize your behavior—I refuse. Not for Thea’s sake, but for my own.”

“You’re wrong,” Alphonse declared chillingly. “I beat you because you were dangerous and your power was unpredictable. Now, you’ve declared yourself a reincarnation, and you threaten international war for your world’s values. It seems I was justified.”

I chuckled with a twisted smile laced with bloodlust. “So you’re just an abuser, is that right?”

“ANKINA TORN!”

Alphonse swung his staff with two words, generating a violent flurry of wind blades that cut through the ground. I jumped out of the way, and it hit the wall behind me, creating massive gashes despite the distance.

‘Two words?’ I internally scoffed. ‘He’s like Titus!’

“Do you remember why I said it was amusing to think you were a demon lord?” Alphonse asked, slowly approaching.

“Primarily because of my inability to mask my aura,” I answered.

“Correct. And, over the years, you’ve gotten remarkable at it,” he said, stopping thirty feet from me. “If you weren’t bursting at the seams with soul mana, you probably would’ve fooled most people here.”

“What’s your point?” I asked.

“If you’ve accomplished that in thirteen years, imagine how good you could get in a millennia,” Alphonse posed.

A violent wave of pressure crashed through the arena, causing hundreds in the stands to gasp for breath and bringing me to my knees. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. More than Titus Roman?’

“I asked to be your teacher,” Alphonse proclaimed, walking up to my body. “Do you know why?”

I gritted my teeth and looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. “Why?”

“There’s no such thing as a reincarnated demon,” he said, pulling back his foot. “Just demons, transformers like King Veil, and pets of gods who murder millions in pursuit of power.”

A powerful kick landed on my jaw, sending me flying across the stadium. I rolled multiple times before smashing into the wall.

It didn’t hurt.

But it was psychologically damaging.

‘I’m still so weak!’ I internally yelled, looking up and seeing King Redfield shielding his daughter in confusion while preventing Thea from jumping out of the box while urging calm in genuine panic. This wasn’t preordained.

“A thousand of your kind have come to Solstice over the last millennia,” Alphonse asserted. “They speak different languages, have extraordinary powers that quickly become unrivaled. And, quickly after obtaining such power, they plunder this world and its people.”

‘Well, that answers that question,’ I chuckled sardonically, gasping for air and standing up.

“That’s why the wreaths kill them,” he declared, running up to kick me. I fainted and rolled out of the way. Unfortunately, I was too weakened from the last blow to escape, so he pivoted and kicked me across the stadium again.

The impact cracked my ribs, making me gasp for air. I looked up and saw wizards entering all the leaders’ skyboxes, each releasing suffocating power I could feel from below.

Ironically, only Thea and Zenith’s boxes were safe, as King Veil and King Redfield protected them. However, my parents were isolated, making me grit my teeth in fury.

“I thought you were different because you saved us from the plague,” Alphonse said, approaching me. “But at the end of the day, whether it’s for love, power, or greed, you all end up the same.”

I chuckled and reached into my spatial bag under Alphonse’s interested glare. When my hand returned, his expression turned from mockery to bewilderment.

“I didn’t plan to do this in a fight, but….” I chuckled, looking at a bar of red soap engraved with a dove perched upon a myrtle shrub, symbolizing love and fertility. “Aphrodite, I made you heartbeat hibiscus soap scented with myrtle berries. I haven’t given it to you because you gave me a job that works me harder than my last one, somehow. Witch.”

“Who are you talking to?” Alphonse asked, observing the soap. He could tell it was soap, so his curiosity froze him in his tracks.

“My goddess,” I laughed, taking a sharp breath. “I’ve owed her this soap for eight years and never thanked her. I planned to do this before all the kings and leaders because I’m shameless; now, I’m doing it mid-battle because I’m absolutely shameless.”

Alphonse looked around to see if I was bidding for time. However, there was no sign of anything happening. “Are you saying a goddess will come down here and take this soap right now?”

I cackled, and my laughter became controllable, wheezing from the pain of my broken limbs. “Of course,” I laughed. “That’s because she’s more shameless than I am.”

I planned to invalidate the marriage by announcing I was a reincarnator, thus calling the marriage into question. With any luck, I could finally give Aphrodite the soap she requested when I was ten, and she’d show herself, finally legitimizing me under world governments.

I didn’t need her help to twist it, but I had a feeling that someone with a raging case of histrionic personality disorder wouldn’t do something strange in front of an audience.

Now, I was hoping she’d help me out.

“Aphrodite, as my goddess, I give this tribute to you. Instead of a spicy gift, please protect Thea, my parents, Lyssa, and Zenith, so I can fight without reservation.”

Alphonse’s eyes widened, and he quickly shot forward and hit me, sending me into the wall. It was the fastest way to hurt me without chanting. However, it was already too late.

My body radiated with golden light, and my laughter intensified after I hit the ground, rubble crashing onto me.

Aphrodite abruptly entered my body, fusing with my spirit, making me uncomfortable.

‘Is this really necessary?’ I growled.

‘Shhhhhhhh….’ Aphrodite hushed me softly, wrapping her hands around my soul core. ‘I can’t help you; I can only offer you what all followers of gods can receive through prayer.’

My eyes widened when a healing feeling enveloped my soul core. It felt like a jumbled wall of compacted junkyard metal crunched around it, and it all melted together, creating something pure like purified steel. ‘This….’

‘Is a purified soul core,’ Aphrodite explained, syncing with my body. ‘And this is what it feels like to use it.’

Energy spread through me, smooth and even instead of in a torrent. It felt liberating and natural.

‘Remember this feeling,’ she whispered seductively. ‘And don’t forget, you owe me something spicy next time. Soap won’t be enough. It's no fun being clean.'   

With that, she exited my body, a toga materializing as she left and appeared before the crowd, making them gasp. Everyone watched her walk up to the soap in awe. As her semi-transparent hand grabbed it, it created a golden duplicate of it, making her smile. “It seems it’s been worth the wait.”

“What are you doing here, heretic?” Alphonse seethed. “Don’t you gods have rules?”

Aphrodite smiled, walking up to him and whispering into his ear. “I was chosen for this last attempt because I was the only god of worth that hasn’t broken the rules and showed myself,” she smirked. “Fair is fair.”

Alphonse circled the crowd, seeing world leaders staring at him with bated breath. “Your efforts are in vain,” he frowned. “Even if you’ve melded his soul core, I’m about to kill him. Unless you plan to intervene?”

“Intervene? Why would I?” Aphrodite asked.

“Edikus!” A mage yelled from the skybox with Queen Elara.

Alphonse turned and saw me finishing a healing elixir—which I used to wash down a meaty chunk of Rorsaka. “Treatus Zeen—”

“Incendere,” I snapped.

The 20-foot radius of surrounding oxygen I had sucked into the area under his feet ignited, exploding into an inferno.

Alphonse immediately jumped back, only to find I had already moved toward him. “Invict—”

My hand got within an inch of the man’s throat, threatening to separate the water in his body, when a force suddenly slammed into my side, sending me flying across the arena.

I immediately dug into the ground and looked up, only to find an Asian man with shaggy black hair and a tired expression standing between us.

“Come on, Edikus,” King Elio of Sunset Shore groaned, rubbing his head. “I get that you feel betrayed by the kid, but can’t you murder him on your own time? You know, when world leaders won’t die, thus triggering the world-destroying shit that you’re claiming the kid’s threatening?”

Alphonse—Edikus—turned and saw the world leaders taken hostage by his people. “I placed people there to protect them from killing one another.”

“You’re treating those people like they’re weak,” King Elio frowned. “You got King Redfield’s match, but do you think that your other goon can handle both the princesses’? They’re feisty.”

“Of course, they can.” Alphonse snapped his fingers. “Capture Lockheart and Everwood’s family. We’ll move this elsewhere.”

The doors to Thea’s sky box exploded, and two men in robes walked into the room, strangling the guards with their presence.

I immediately ran forward, but King Elio shot in front of me at ghostly speed. “Calm down, guy,” he said. “My people are just movin’ this elsewhere; we won’t hurt—”

My body and mind didn’t even consider his words, immediately reciting the trump card I had practiced countless times over the years. ‘Omnipotent tool; Barrett M107, extended mag, semi-automatic, 50 caliber anti-material rifle with full metal jackets.’

A charcoal gray sniper rifle appeared in my hand within a split second. It was a massive gun that could fracture a professional sniper’s shoulder while using a tripod.

However, I wielded it while standing, zeroing in on the man struggling with Thea, biting his arm with surreal force. Once I got him in the crosshairs, I placed my finger on the trigger. “Die.”

BANG!

The 50-caliber full metal jacket left the barrel at nearly a kilometer a second.

Sensing the danger, the archwizard put his hand in front of his face. However, the bullet hit his hand and blew straight through it, hitting him in the eye and making his head explode.

Without celebration, I turned to my parents' box and shot the man in the room in the chest, sending him crashing into a wall. Seeing the shot didn’t kill him, I unloaded the clip.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I riddled him with bullets until a crushing force crashed into my jaw, sending me into the nearest wall with enough force to blow right through it. The crowd shrieked as the building gave way, collapsing part of it as rubble fell.

“Not yet!” I yelled, rolling out of the way in a haze, crashing into unknown objects to avoid the falling rubble.

“Thea… My family… Lyssa….” I got up in a haze. “I can’t stop yet. Where’s my….”

Bag.

My spatial bag with the health elixirs and Rosaka meat—it wasn’t on my side.

“Damn it!” I snapped, hitting the wall to the side. “DAMN IT!”

After achieving basic clarity, I ran up the rubble, dissolving the ceiling and obstacles as I made it to the collapsed stands, causing panic all around me.

“He’s right there!” Alphonse screamed. “Don’t attack! He’s using the nobles as shields!”

‘Damn right, I am,’ I internally growled, waving through the panicking people. A wizard intercepted me. ‘Omnipotent tool, Smith & Wesson Model 500 with an eight-round chamber of full metal jackets!’

A massive silver revolver materialized in my hand, making the man’s eyes widen in shock and jump out of the way.

Smart man. This hand cannon is used for killing bears and large game and is largely considered the most powerful pistol in the world.

I had eight bullets that were strangely—or rather expectedly—effective at piercing through archwizards. It’s something I wouldn’t have trusted my or my father’s life to while fighting Titus Roman, but it was my only hope now, and it seemed to be working.

And I couldn’t waste ammo, so I avoided him and kept running.

Once reaching a hall to the skyboxes, I found a massive barrier blocking me—a barrier far too powerful to crack.

‘Calcium carbonate, iron oxide, feldspar, quartz, silica dioxide, clay, separate!’ I touched my hand on the floor, and it mostly dissolved. After landing on the floor below, I repeated the incantation and jumped, dissolving the ceiling and reaching the other side of the barrier through the floor.

“How did you—”

Bang! Bang!

A powerful wizard in dark purple robes appeared and hit the ground almost simultaneously. The first shot hit his shoulder, cracking it but not killing him; the second slammed into his skull but didn’t pierce it.

‘Eye shots only for pistols,’ I quickly noted. ‘But it did knock him out.’

I instantly ran up and lifted my foot high, stomping his skull with full force.

CRACK!

Blood spurted out of his eyes and ears as I continued running without pause.

“ENOUGH!”

I froze when I turned the corner and saw King Elio holding Thea by the scruff of her neck and my parents at the side.

King Elio threw her at me. “Leave.”

With those words, his people, clad in orange armor, walked away. One of them, a kid around my age with sandy blonde hair, spat on a wizard groaning on the ground, and soccer punted his face. “Fucking idiot.”

I watched in a haze as King Elio stopped before King Redfield, holding his daughter tensely. “Was it worth it?” he asked. “Provoking the immature wildcard?”

“This is life,” King Redfield replied. “If he’s actually one of us, he needs to act like it.”

King Elio turned to me, pulled out a flask, and took a swig. “Yeah, that’s what people said about me, too. How’d that turn out?”

King Redfield turned as the man walked away. “Lucky. That’s how it turned out. However, King Everwood isn’t like you; everything he does affects the entire world.”

King Elio turned to face me again, holding Thea and my parents with my gun still pointed at them. Then he looked at my pistol, the body down the hall, and then back at King Redfield. “I’m pretty sure that’s the point. They finally found someone that could do something we could not.”

With those words, he left with his people. Outside the exploded skybox, I saw wyverns taking to the air, following groups of strange multi-colored creatures I had never seen before. It didn’t look like they were attacking, just ensuring they left.

Once King Redfield’s people confirmed they were gone, he turned to me with a deep breath, suppressing rage, humiliation, and general exasperation, like a father scolding his child. “Are you on our side?” he asked bluntly.

“I am,” I replied, sincerity in my eyes.

“Then take my daughter to Sundell to work on our alliance as a liaison and proxy,” King Redfield ordered. Then he stopped. “Don’t you dare touch her unless you plan to marry her. I’ll immediately declare war, no matter the cost.”

I avoided everyone’s reaction with a complex expression. “Understood.”

“Good,” King Redfield said icily. “Go protect your capital; we’ll send troops to aid Silverbrook. We’ll send a force to aid you in Sundell in a week along with Princess Redfield. For now, I must clean up this god-forsaken mess.”

I fell silent and swallowed hard, taking a sharp breath and standing, checking my environment cautiously as he left.

King Redfield stopped again down the hall and turned one last time. “King Everwood.”

I turned to him. “What?”

“I saw your goddess,” he said, turning and walking away.

“That’s the closest thing to an apology I’ll ever get from an overt narcissist,” I smiled, my eyes devoid of happiness. Overwhelming emotions through me as I took turns holding my loved ones, swallowing as I fought back against my racing heart.

I released them when Zenith and King Veil ran down the hall with Lyssa and various leaders.

A chaotic flurry of questions crashed into me. Everyone wanted to know about the goddess, the authenticity of my claims, my weapons, King Redfield’s response, and trying to unmask the group that attacked me.

“I’ll answer these questions later; right now, we have to leave,” I announced. “The danger isn’t over until we protect our kingdom. Let’s organize something for two weeks’ time.”

Without further discussion, I quickly grabbed Thea and my mom’s hands, dragging them through the hall with Zenith. As we walked, I turned to Zenith. “I’m counting on you to get us there fast.”

“I’m confident that I can,” Zenith avowed. “Rorsaka’s meat was beyond words. That’s why it’s critical we get to it first.”

I nodded with icy sweat dripping down my back. “That’s exactly why we need to leave now. I’m glad you understand.”

Everyone gulped, and we reached the arena’s floor, where Zenith openly transformed, allowing everyone to get on and rocket to Sundell with intense speed.

***

It was a tense trip without a break. Everyone wanted to be happy we survived, but we were all worried. For the first time, we realized we had hidden enemies with real strength lurking, and they were poised to strike.

If we got to Roraska’s meat, my allies with S-class soul cultivation techniques could raise their power toward the archwizard, which would at least make them rival the mages we fought.

There was enough ancient meat to feed an army to protect us, as there were thousands of pounds.

However, if Alphonse, Edikus, or whatever the fuck that bastard’s name was found and managed to break through the anti-blast shelters we built….

My heart raced, and I gripped the scales until thick veins pulsed in my arms, and my eyes turned bloodshot.

“Ryker….”

I turned when I felt Thea wrapped around my stomach, putting her ear against my back to listen to my heartbeat. “What is it, Thea?”

Thea took a deep breath and spoke calmly. “They’ll rue the day.”

My eyes widened when she replayed my words about Elderthorn.

“Those people will rue the day they didn’t kill you,” she whispered. “Even if they blew up Sundell, even if they stole Rorsaka’s meat, even if they sowed discord between you and the other groups—you’ll still win like you always do.”

I took a deep breath, a sense of calm washing over me. She didn’t sound like she was hyping me up—her voice held real confidence.

“Of course, we will,” I replied. “I just… I can’t be everywhere at once. I want everyone to have the maximum amount of Rorsaka’s meat as they can handle. We would've been in trouble if I didn’t force you to eat the meat with Zenith and Leon.”

Leon took a sharp breath from behind us, Scarlet wrapped around him. “Isn’t that the truth?” he acknowledged with a wry chuckle.

“But you have allies now,” Thea said, squeezing me. “Even King Redfield is your ally. Perhaps we can get an S-class technique for everyone.”

I took a sharp breath. “I hope so.”

***

After we finished our trip, we crested Sundell’s walls only to be met with a horrifying sight.

Homes had been burned, our main pipe had broken, our water tower was ripped apart, and large chunks of the ground had been dug up.

My heart hammered in my chest.

‘The chance that some of them are still here is 80% or more,’ I silently judged. ‘That means that it’s best to get what they want before they start killing people for negotiations….’

I swallowed and took a deep breath.

“To the south!” I commanded, shifting Zenith’s direction and b-lining to the shelter where my brother and sister were and the general area where the soul mana meat was stored.

Seeing that neither looked disturbed, I took a sharp breath.

“You go to Samson and Eris, I’ll check the soul mana meat,” I ordered. “That way, people will chase after me, or I can at least obtain what they’re looking for if they take you hostage. I won’t choose power over your lives.”

They nodded, and Zenith landed, allowing them to get off and for Thea and me to run toward the soul mana meat as Zenith took to the air to scan for others.

Once we crested a massive reddish rock face, our hearts nearly stopped.

“Your family is fine; we don’t harm this world’s people unless they attack us,” Edikus claimed, sitting on a boulder above a crater. He looked down at my concrete anti-blast shelter that had taken so many blasts and earth magic attacks that it was mangled and crushed.

I swallowed hard, my pulse racing while looking at Thea and my surroundings, trying to determine how many people were near me and how I could get to my parents.

“I’ll hand it to you,” he chuckled, wearing the face of my old master as he spoke. “It was shocking to blast this thing for three hours, only to find that thousands of pounds of an ancient’s meat were already burned to a crisp.”

Edikus looked me in the eye. “I don’t know what’s more impressive, that you created something that could do that or that you’d burn all the soul mana meat that you hid behind such structures.”

I looked away in disdain. “If anyone could hit this shelter hard enough to make it explode, it meant they could get in.”

Nitroglycerin will explode just through violent motion, but for a buried anti-blast structure, they’d have to hit it with a genuine missile to rattle it enough to make it explode.

“Wheeeeeeeeeew!” Alphonse whistled. “You’re something else, Ryker. I’ll give you that.”

“Now what?” I asked, ignoring his praise. “If you’re going to kill me, please accept your victory and leave Thea and my family—”

“NO!” Thea screamed, jumping in front of me. “I’d rather die than let you give in!”

“I’m obviously lying about giving in,” I seethed, nearly inaudibly. “But I am serious about you and my family. So—”

A murder of crowls crashed through the sky, weaving in and out of magical attacks from wizards in the forest. Thea had watched all of them, analyzed them, and now took a B-line for Edikus, who waved his hand. “Ankina Torn.”

Wind blades shot into the air, shedding the Nightshade Forest avians like bubbles popping in the breeze.

“Let’s stop with the games,” Edikus commanded, turning back only to freeze, staring down a Smith and Wesson Model 500 I had pointed at his eye.