Chapter 291 - A Violent Family Reunion (Part 2)
Of all of the fighters that were taking part in the fight, the one who was the most excited about was, without a doubt, Kennah. While his entire being was centered around the use of poisons, that was only due to his personality and desires. He was also an adventurous, and yet bored individual.
For a very long time he had looked for somebody with whom he could have a good fight, or for events which he had never witnessed before, and that day, was the day in which many of his desires had become reality.
His wish to fight against his siblings was visceral, and after learning that not only was one of his friends looking for one, but that he was an outcast, and that he traveled along with a dragon, he had decided to disregard the rules placed by Iewah, and use his powers to help in the search for Daniel.
Xargy was not his opponent, but he certainly was a sight to see.. His size was immense, and his power could rival that of mid-high level elite members of most factions. Furthermore, his oddly colored flames and his ability to transform in human form, revealed that he was not a common dragon, but a member of the royal family.
His fight against this massive and powerful dragon was but a way to spend time. It was Daniel's arrival that had brightened his day once again.
Unfortunately, for how much he wanted to fight against his younger brother, Daniel's lack of physical power due to his young age had made it impossible for the two of them to compete.
He was extremely confident in the power of his gift, and he did not believe that Daniel's could be more powerful.. So he decided to entertain himself with Xargy instead of Daniel.. As the former could at least hope to put up a fight.
All of that had changed once again when his fighting spirit was lit up more than ever. He had felt the power of another of his brothers the very moment a hand had come out of his companion's sleeve and grabbed his neck.
But that, was not all..
His heart began to rumble like thunder, as the presence of one more of his brothers appeared during each of its beats. First, was the shadowy hands that attacked his companion.. Second, was a man in nobleman's clothes and covered in jewels.. And lastly, was a man clad in heavy armor, a golden cape, and with a crown on his head.
"..Now we are talking.. haha.." muttered Kennah with excitement.
From being an already rare encounter between two of the youngest children of Iewah and their followers, this event had turned into one of the historically most feared events within the territory of the Universal Government.
Such an encounter would usually culminate in wars that would last for years, pulling numerous factions into galactic level conflicts, and be talked about for tens of thousands of years.. An event feared by most factions, and known by the highest spheres of the numerous factions as a "Family Reunion".
If the five children of Iewah were any older, and the family reunion was between the strongest of Iewah's faction, the war that would have ensued would have forced the intervention of numerous factions and the universal government itself just to be stopped.
"What are you doing here?" Asked the Ruler to Kennah with narrowed eyes. The two had never met each other, and yet, from a single look, he was able to recognize him as his own kind, just like Kennah had felt them when they had appeared.
"Just happened to pass by.. But now I am kind of glad that I did.." Said Kennah while looking at the two individuals that were floating in Xargy's green flames, completely unscathed.
The body of the Ruler was covered by what appeared to be a small division of soldiers which formed an impenetrable shell around him with their shields. Their expression assured that they would rather die than allow any attack to reach through, and hit their king.
On the other hand, the body of the Rich Man was covered by the transparent figure of a golden boar whose tusk were long and curved outwards, and fur formed a tapestry of golden and silver colors.
The two really wanted to jump in the fray.. But the encounter with their father had reminded them who was in command, allowing them to focus on their mission and collaborate.
"Poison brother, we were sent here by our father.. How about you sit this one out?" Said the Rich Man while smiling politely, and looking like a wealthy merchant that was trying to make everyone happy, and avoid the situation from going out of control.
"I am afraid I won't be able to do that.. I couldn't care less about what the old man wants. I will kill all of you, and go kill him once I am done here." Responded Kennah while pinching the string of his bow, and forming eight arrows with his poison.
While the Rich Man shook his head in disappointment, the ruler unsheathed a sword from an imaginary sheath placed by his waist, and after pointing it upwards, he said with the voice of a king meeting his opponent in battle "Let's see if your poison can assassinate this king."As soon as these words reached the ears of the people present, an army of heavily armored warriors appeared in the area around him.
These warriors were identical to the Ruler, but their armor appeared to be of a lower level. They were the Ruler's subjects, and royal army.
Just as the three children of Iewah were about to engage in battle, a few dozens of kilometers away, the elite member of the Garden of Death was struggling with the grip that the Shadow had on his neck.
The power of the grip was not the problem, since the level of his cultivation was slightly higher than his opponent, and therefore, he couldn't choke him to death even if he wanted to. The real problem, was the feeling of being pulled into a dimension to which he did not belong to.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried to cover himself with poison, or to use his sheer strength to shatter the Shadow's arm.. His attacks did not appear able to hurt his opponent in the least.
After a few moments of panic, he finally managed to calm down and realize the nature of the attack, so he grabbed the sleeve from which the dark hand was coming from with his other hand, and ripped it off completely.
It was only after he let of of the sleeve and he turned to look at Daniel, that he felt a sharp pain coming from the center of his spine. He looked down in horror, and noticed that there was a dark fuming sword that had pierced through his back, and had come out from his chest. The sword had come out from a small shadow present in the floating sleeve which he had just ripped off of his clothes.
While fighting against the Ruler and the Rich Man, Kennah was also keeping an eye out for the Shadow. He had heard of the nicknames of the three before, and thanks to the information gathered by the individuals who had survived an encounter with them, he able to guess what their power were.
He knew that the powers of the two he was fighting were highly defensive, which were the the extreme opposite of his.. So he had already prepared to use different means of fighting than simply pushing through their defenses thanks to his gift.
"KNEEL TO YOUR KING!" Said the Ruler with a domineering tone, forcing Kennah over an imaginary platform above which he could not help but kneel down to.
At the same time, the upper body of an enormous old man in merchant's clothes had appeared around the Rich Man. This old man kept his hands opened, and with his palms facing upwards..
On one of his palms, was a copy of Kennah's figure.
This ability was different from the scale that he had used against the Shadow during their first encounter. Instead of destroying his enemy with the weight of a better offer, this ability allowed him to increase the price on one hand of the merchant, to a point where the enemy would not be able to match.. Forcing him to give up other things of value..
Kennah was unable to understand this at first, but after one of his arms was ripped off in order to match the offer of precious stones placed by the Rich Man, an idea of how the ability worked made its way into his head.
He was still unable to stand up, and he knew that his companion was having problems against the third of his brothers, so without waiting any longer, he turned towards the Ruler, and said "The nobles are plotting against you.. They will try to overthrow you.. They will kill your family, and destroy your family."
The expression of the Ruler turned from one of dignity, into one of confusion, rage.. And finally, paranoia. He then turned to look at the Rich Man with eyes filled with hatred.
While the state of mind 0f the Ruler changed, Kennah turned to look at the Rich Man, and said with a tone of complicity "Your king is trying to eliminate the nobility.. He will take your money, turn the army against you.. He will frame you, and call you a traitor."
Similarly to the Ruler, the expression on the face of the Rich Man became one of paranoia and anger. He then turned to look at his companion, and said "After all of the support that I have given you! How could you do this to me!!"
The abilities that were keeping Kennah in check, were quickly dispelled, and the two former companions began to fight against each other.
Since he would not be able to break through the defences of the two in a short amount of time, the only Kennah had, was to poison their minds.
The gifts of the Ruler and the Rich Man were powerful, but they also had a clear weakness. Just like a person immune to all poisons would not need to fear Kennah's gift, and someone without karma would not need to fear Daniel, all of the other systems had their own weakness.
To be betrayed was the fear of any king, while the fear of a Rich Man, was for someone more powerful than them to unfairly take away their wealth.
Once free, Kennah pointed his bow at the sleeve from which the sword that had pierced his companion's chest had appeared, and with it, he shot a single arrow as thin as a needle.
This arrow pierced through space like a comet, and after it made contact with the sword, a few small beads of blood began to come out of the shadow within the sleeve, and float in space aimlessly.
Forced to retreat, the Shadow let go of the sword, which was immediately dissipated by the light reflected by the planet's atmosphere.
A big smile formed on Kennah's face, but just as he was about to look for his next opponent, numerous small hands holding small knives came out from every tiny shadows formed by the crevices of his clothes.. And in a matter of instants, pierced his body.
The elite member of the Garden of Death, now free, used his comprehension of healing essence to cure his deadly injury.. He then looked around in search of Daniel, but the moment he saw him in the distance, he noticed a small piece of stone coming at him at an incredibly high speed.
This stone was the size of a fist, and it was thrown by Daniel by using all the power he possessed.
The appearance of three more children of Iewah, and the idea that his failure would mean the destruction of his faction, had already made the elite of the Garden of Death extremely anxious.. and Daniel's ridiculous attack was the straw that broke the camel's back.. So he said in anger "Stop fighting! Do you think I-" However, his words were interrupted by a shocking event.
Just as the fist-sized rock was about to approach him, in an instant, it became big as a planet without losing any of its speed.
The jaw of the elite member of the Garden of Death dropped as he was smashed by it. The four other children of Iewah were barely able to turn around, before they suffered the same fate, leaving them as four bodies laying down on the planet's surface, as the planet traveled through space for hundreds of thousands of kilometers per second.
Unfortunately, that attack was not enough to kill any of the five..
The fastest ones to recover were the Ruler and Kennah, which after recovering from the shock, were easily able to teleport away and reappear where the battle had taken place..
When they arrived, they saw a human sized rift from which a thick reptilian tail came out of, and Daniel and Aeron ready to enter it.
"YOUR KING ORDERS YOU TO STOP!" Said the Ruler with a domineering tone in an attempt to prevent them from leaving.
At the same time, Kennah whispered "If you enter that rift, you will never come out alive.. Your friends will betray you.."
Daniel's expressions began to change, and he were forced to kneel in submission.. But moments later, Aeron put an hand on Daniel's shoulder, and dispelled any form of mental control which the two had put on him.
The two then entered the rift, and disappeared into the void.