Greed:
As I stood between Alice behind me and Drakthor's large fist, which I had stopped with my left arm merely raised and holding it there, I could hear and even feel Alice's cries of relief as she wailed at my appearance before her now. The large fist in front of me was shaking, while I stood ever so still.
"Greed!!" Alice cried as her hands fell to the floor to catch her from her fall forward.
"Sorry, I'm late. You did great. I am so proud of you," I said to her as she continued to bawl out her eyes.
"N-No! I wasn't great at all! B-B-Because of me the house is wrecked a-a-and Kiki, Milo, and Ulrich… They're hurt! All because of me! All because I'm so weak—"
"No!" I said, cutting her off with a voice so stern as if I was reprimanding her, "Do not put yourself down, you damn pipsqueak! You did fucking great, goddamn it! Give yourself some credit for once." I shouted at her, and she was caught off guard by my reaction.
The sound of my voice gave her goosebumps as if all the self-doubt she had just a second ago left her all at once by command. I glanced slightly back and her baby blue eyes sparkled at the sight of me and the sound of my words—it was like the weight on her shoulders had been lifted, or rather, torn off from her completely. Like she was not allowed to feel that self-doubt ever again.
"I don't care how the place ended up. I don't care if you finished the job. Never… Never put yourself down. Not when you've made so much progress. I never wanna hear those self-depreciating words come out of your mouth ever again. You hear me?"
Alice welled up a sob. At any moment she could lose it. And it was these last few words that pushed her over the edge. "You and those foolish maids… you all did great. Thank you for all for protecting our home."
Her tears were uncontrollable as she shook her head in a poor attempt to hold them back. Her cheeks puffed and became rose red, and when the waterworks finally unleashed, she cried for a good minute. The moment was hers to take in.
I could feel her relief as she sobbed. Still on her knees, bent over with her head almost touching the floor of the landing, tears dripping and hands clenched to her chest—aching, tight with emotion. That's all the reassurance that she needed in this moment, and her hope blossomed like the beautiful flower she was.
Now, focusing back to this uninvited guest—Drakthor, I finally paid attention to him as I heard his ugly voice. His large fist remained in my immovable path. "What is this?" he said to me, undeserving of his condescension, "Another useless mage here to try their luck with me?"
When my eyes met his, he winced. It was only for a second, but I saw the flash of fear in his eyes at the sight of me.
"Heh… This has to be some kind of joke… I sense no mana from you at all! Even an infant would have more mana than you! What can you possibly do here that she and those other pathetic maids didn't already try? Don't make me laugh!" He mocked, again with so much undeserved arrogance.
"Tough talk for someone who can't even finish his attack," I replied with a bored look on my face, still holding his large fist with my left arm to my side, effortlessly. Drakthor twitched an eyebrow. "What's wrong? I was trying to make you laugh. That wasn't funny?" Strong, glaring eyes met him, and he shivered.
Drakthor struggled to push his fist through as I remained standing there in his way. A tiny being in comparison to him who stood so tall like an ordained statue; nearly bending to measly old me.
"Come on!" I shouted, "If you can't even punch through a measly mage with 'no mana,' what does that make you? Is your size just a front for how incredibly weak you are? It's no wonder you like preying on young girls." The sound of my voice intimidated and baited him all the same. If not already for my presence, those words alone would have done the trick. But I continued to poke the bear, "You're the pathetic one."
With veins showing on his pale face, Drakthor exploded with vehement rage, angered at my mockery of him. He withdrew his right fist from me and then threw his left fist down in an attempt to juke. I let his punch connect, testing his strength, then he sent back his right fist again and launched a barrage of strikes at me, "How dare you mock me, you fucking worm! Die!"
Fist after fist, rained down. By the way it looked. Something like this should have been a devastating attack, but it was not as strong as I was expecting.
I yawned. I probably didn't even need to block that first punch when I entered.
Alice had stopped herself for a moment, watching in awe, tears drying on her face, completely astounded by the sight as I continued to take his heavy blows without even batting an eye. The scene reminded her of that night when I fought those Six Arms. And even if she'd seen it before, she was still amazed that his attacks were doing nothing to me.
As Drakthor sent his last fist flying, I swatted it away with the back my right hand like some fly and continued to glower with that same dissatisfied look on my face.
"Truly pathetic," I said again, no hint of remorse found in my tone.
"How!? How are you unscathed? It's impossible… No… Are you using?—" he got out before I dashed at him so fast, he could barely process it. Right there, in the air before him, down to his chest—I was there with a single punch—a direct hit.
The bang sounded like a gun as I shattered his proud black armor, exposing his pale chest. He flew out and out onto the middle of our large clearing over a group of Nightbanes.
The motion was so fierce and sudden, his underlings had not even registered he was flying over them as he crash-landed one-fourth a mile out of the Wolves Den entrance.
Alice's mouth gaped when she bore witness to someone, whom she had struggled so hard to defeat just a moment ago, being tossed across their court as if he were a mere ragdoll.
Landing gracefully on the rummaged entrance hall, hands in my pants pockets, I began strolling to the front. I said one last thing to Alice, before heading outside, who still sat on the staircase landing behind me, "You stay put, squirt. You can leave the rest to me… okay?" I took one of my hands out of my pockets and gave her a corny thumbs-up. I wanted her to etch this in her mind. She could put her faith in me.
Alice sniffed as she felt a surge of admiration in her bones from the reassuring words.
I was probably the last person the Nightbanes expected to see coming out of the Den after their leader was sent flying out onto them. The light adjusted my vision, and the sky couldn't have been any clearer. It was a beautiful day once again in the Valley. We just had to take out the trash first…
As I exited the blown-out wall where our large front double doors had once been, to my right was a male in a Black Wolves jacket casually smoking a cigarette, minding his own business. On my left, another male, in his morning gym attire—compression shirt and joggers—sat atop three Nightbanes who were all completely knocked out. He sat with his legs wide apart and cracked his knuckles as I walked onto the court clearing along with them. And all around at their feet were multiple Nightbanes who were unconscious, eating the dirt.
"Hey—" was all I said with a low, serious tone as the male who was smoking interjected, already knowing what I was gonna say.
"I know. I'm sorry. This one is on me. I have no excuses. I will take the blame for this one," he said. Not an ounce of insincerity was found in his tone. He was one I trusted fully with his word.
"Good. I'm glad you know, Code."
The male to my left spoke out at this time, followed by a bark from a large wolfdog who was by his side, "Yeah, yeah, we get it, Cap. Our bad… so why don't you order us to take care of this mess now that we're here?"
"Not a bad suggestion, Havoc," I said as our wolfdog howled in excitement at me, "Tell Yuna to go inside first."
"Go on, girl, you heard the man."
Yuna barked and headed inside with Alice.
Lastly, I slowly made my way to a large crater in front of us where the three Arabella maids had lain unconscious. I kept walking until I got to where they were. The other Nightbanes that were ahead had backed up as I got closer—even though I was so far from them… all of them being extremely cautious with me and Code and Havoc there as well. I paid them no mind.
As I arrived where the maids were, I knelt to Kiki, who was in the middle. "Thank you for protecting the Den… and most importantly, Alice… I'm extremely happy and grateful for your services." I said gently.
Kiki, who had seemed to be passed out for a bit, had somehow awakened barely at the sound of my voice. When she saw me kneeling beside her, her pink eyes glinted in the blurred light of the sun. "My… Love… You came…" she said weakly as she tried to reach for my face.
But before she could even touch my cheek, I signaled to Code with a mere finger pointing down to them, and in an instant, they disappeared, replaced by the rubble from inside the Den.
I stood up slowly, shifting my hands back into my pockets, and began surveying the massive horde of Nightbanes ahead of us that still solicited our courts.
When I finally paid attention to them, much like Drakthor at close range, my presence and glare sent an invisible shockwave throughout the place, hitting each and every one of them, sending shivers down their spines.
They were petrified as they feasted their eyes onto me; unable to grasp the thought that the one who had sent their leader flying was but only a single male who didn't look like anything special.
Not only that, but the two beside me now, Code and Havoc, had their own presence and aura about them as well. Code with a stern and condescending look, even with the glare that reflected off his thin, round glasses, still smoking his cigarette, and Havoc with a wild, psychotic presence about him as he stood up from his throne of Nightbanes. The single action alone made some of them take even more steps back.
Drakthor finally got up from where I had sent him, staggering as he did. Lying atop a few of his underlings, he didn't even care as he picked up one of them and threw them to the side like they were just trash in his way. He stood up, the tallest among them, as they all flaunted the same black armor—it seemed as if it was his magic as well…
"You lowly piece of shit! I will fucking annihilate you from the face of fucking existence!" he shouted violently from where he was. When I spotted him, I homed in on his direction. He and he only—he was my target. The rest were fodder.
As I stood there side by side with Code and Havoc, we faced an army of Nightbanes that came uninvited to our humble Den castle. They stood before us, with numbers and physical sizes well larger than our own. Though there were only the three of us and hundreds of them, there was one thing that differentiated us from the masses.
They looked like they feared us… and we looked like we could take them all. And it wasn't an overstatement. It was the sincerest truth.
"An army versus three men and yet… you're the ones backing away from us. If you're planning to run," I said with a stone-cold glare that rippled through them. My gaze was only to Drakthor, but to those who caught it… the feeling was mutual.
"It's too late for that."