After regular combat classes, Shalgana and Carl sparred with observation only from Anna in the stands and the facility workers. Impressively, Shalgana’s Ki was at Rank 6, and she utilized it relatively well. She had gone and trained under Marty personally and let his Ki flow through her body daily. Besides the apparent growth and strength she felt, she also enjoyed the level of intimacy and even asked to do it twice a day, though Marty refused.

The combination of her Ki and superior swordsmanship gave Carl some pressure. If he relaxed his guard too much, he could quickly begin to find light wounds over his body. Because Carl was unarmed, his experience with fighting against an opponent with a weapon increased considerably. On Shalgana’s side, she began to have far more flexibility as she had to dodge Carl’s brute force.

After they had sparred for two hours with breaks, they decided to call it for the day.

“Many thanks once again, Carl,” Shalgana said with a slight bow.

“No need for thanks, I enjoyed that.”

“It’s getting close to lunchtime, would you like to come over to eat?”

“Well… I guess.” Carl replied in the stutter as the question caught him off guard.

“Oh, but you have to keep my husband’s identity a secret. Promise?” Shalgana added with a mischievous smile.

Carl suddenly got nervous as he felt he was being used for something. However, before he could politely raise his concern, they had approached Anna.

“Anna, Carl will be joining us for lunch at home.”

Anna made a blank stare at Carl, who himself looked very awkward before she turned back to Shalgana. “Mistress, based on Master’s previous actions, this one does not believe it to be appropriate.”

“But it’s not like he has forbidden it, yes? Besides, Carl has clearance, doesn’t he?”

“He does. Very well, I shall inform Master.”

“Wait, don’t tell him! I want it to be a surprise.”

“Very well. This action is nearing the fringe of what I believe Master would allow. If Master is displeased, I hope Mistress will help to preserve this one.”

“Of course, now let’s go home.”

During the entire conversation, Carl remained mute as various thoughts passed through his mind. [Is she planning something? She isn’t trying to get back at her husband or something, right? Who on Earth is her husband? Why is this maid referring to herself as ‘this one’? I want to go home.] Unfortunately for Carl, he could never find the moment to vocalize his thoughts and ended up obediently following them.

...

“This is a big house,” Carl absentmindedly said as they got out of the car.

“Yes, it is quite big, isn’t it,” Shalgana replied. “It takes some getting used to as I’ve always lived in something similar to that.” She continued as she pointed at the ger.

“Mistress, Master is currently training in the classified area.”

“Then we will go down there. There is no point in giving Carl clearance if he doesn’t know what it’s for or how to access it.” Shalgana replied with a smile.

“Very well,” Anna replied as they entered the house.  

When Shalgana opened the secret door behind the bookcase, Carl couldn’t hide his surprise, which only became more exaggerated when she opened the hidden compartment. However, that soon disappeared into awe as they went down the large elevator. After the clearance had been confirmed, they went through a couple of facilities until they arrived at a relatively large room. The room itself was effectively a much smaller version of The University’s training area he had just come from. It even had a small observation area where he saw one young lady he recognized, Cali, who looked at the field below.

However, the biggest surprise for Carl’s day occurred when he looked down into the field below. There he found Morgan, Shiro, Caelia, and Amanda, who surrounded Marty. All of them were taking deep breaths as they had been training for a while.

“Cali, you didn’t join?” Shalgana asked.

“No. He says it’s scary enough when he is to face me one on one. He is already starting to struggle against the four of them so it wouldn’t be fair.”

Carl broke out in a cold sweat as he had fought against all of the girls before and knew how strong they were. There was no way he would be willing to fight against all of them as it would be a lopsided slaughter.  

At an ungiven signal, Caelia suddenly charged Marty. She tried to pin them down with a flurry of blows with her Ki enforced staff, but Marty impressively blocked it barehanded revealing Rank 10 Ki. After a couple of blows, Shiro very quickly darted to attack Marty’s flank. Marty reached out to intercept her attack, but a chain that was thrown by Amanda had suddenly captured his arm. With one hand bound by Amanda’s chain and the other busy fending off Caelia’s assault, Marty could only kick the under part of Shiro’s punch which sent it up in the air. However, the moment she was sent away, the second chain from Amanda went straight towards Marty’s face while Caelia backed off to allow an open shot for Morgan’s fireballs. Marty, caught off-balance, used Amanda’s chain to dodge the first fireball, but couldn’t avoid the second. Before the second fireball could impact, a layer of red scales completely covered his body, excluding his face, as his Ki visibly turned red, and he extended his hand toward the fireball. His Red Ki briefly extended out from his hand and took the vague shape of a claw as it slashed through the fireball.  

Covered by the explosion, Marty shot toward Amanda as he used her chain to lock onto her position. However, Amanda had already let go of her chain and sidestepped in an attempt to surprise him. However, she could not face him in one-on-one combat. Marty immediately broke her guard and sent a punch to her belly. It was light since he held back, but Amanda’s face was still slightly contorted. Shiro was a split second too late to save Amanda as she attacked Marty. However, even her exceptional strength and fighting experience couldn’t match Marty’s. After a couple of quick blows, Marty landed a soft spank on Shiro, who stopped her assault and took a look of disappointment.  

Then, Marty dodged a couple more of Morgan’s fireballs as he dashed over to Caelia. He only barely managed to avoid Caelia’s hidden thrust before he managed to maneuver his way behind her and also gave her a light spank. Though it wasn’t apparent unless one paid attention, Marty did linger a little longer than with Shiro before he bolted towards Morgan.

“Wait, I give up,” Morgan said and slight panic.

However, Marty didn’t stop and still lightly spanked her.

“You pervert,” Morgan snarled.

“It’s better than getting punched like Amanda though,” Marty said with a chuckle as he released his draconified condition.

After watching the exchange that barely lasted a half of a minute, Carl stared on, dumbfounded. Naturally, the girls who participated showed a fairly decent increase in strength than when he sparred with them for their initial rating. This wasn’t a big surprise as he had noted their improvement during the combat classes, though they appeared to hold back. However, the most exaggerated difference was Marty. Not only did he exhibit his draconified condition, but his Ki also changed color, and it was impressively a Rank 10. Not only was it Rank 10, but after the fight, it remained there inferring that was his natural state. To top that all off, he did the entire fight blindfolded.

Marty took off the blindfold and looked up at the observation deck. “I see we have a guest,” Marty said as he jumped up to the observation deck.

Unlike the one at the University, Marty’s custom sparring field had a sort of protective shield instead of glass as it wasn’t expected for extreme fights.

“Carl? What are you doing here?” Amanda asked with a slight flurry, clearly embarrassed.

“… Well, Shalgana invited me over for lunch.” Carl fumbled out.

“You spoiled girl,” Marty said as he gave her a light karate chop to the forehead to Shalgana, who only smiled.

“You should spend more time with your male friends instead of only hanging around girls,” Shalgana said in her defense.

Marty sighed and looked at Carl. “I’m sure you have questions, fire away.”

“You held back when we sparred?”

“Yeah, you would ask that first, you battle freak. Yes, I did. Please don’t be offended by it. I don’t want my true ability to be found out.”

“I see,” Carl responded with a small nod, clearly struggling with comprehending everything. “Then Shalgana is your wife?”

“Nominally, all of them are my wives except for Amanda and Anna.”

Carl looked over all the girls who reacted with a hint of embarrassment except for Cali. “And here I thought I finally was stronger than you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marty replied with a chuckle as he tapped Carl’s shoulder. “Compared to a normal human, you’re far stronger than what they could never be.”

Carl absentmindedly nodded as he observed Marty’s Ki. “So you hit the Ki Ceiling?”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t know? It refers to people who naturally release the maximum amount of Ki that their bodies will allow.”

“Ah, in that case, I have hit the Ki Ceiling.”

“How long has it been since you obtained Ki?”

“About six or seven months ago.”

“You monster! Time was slightly faster in my world so I had a little over a year and a half of training and they said I was a genius yet I can only reach Ki Rank 9 with my maximum release. You monster.”

“Well, seeing as you saw me Draconify, I suppose that comment is appropriate.”

“Draconify?”

“It’s the term I came up for my mutation which I got after I forcibly absorbed a Dragon after I killed it.”

Carl’s jaw fell open.

“I jumped to Ki Rank 10 because of that, so I’d probably be closer to you right now if that didn’t happen.”

“What… What happened to you in that world?” Carl asked.

“… A lot of things.” Marty replied the slightly sad expression.

Shalgana lightly tugged at Carl’s shirt and whispered to him. “Don’t talk about it.”

Carl nodded before he continued. “But seriously, if you reached the Ki Ceiling, that means you’re one of the top Ki users. Against normal Ki users, you’ll be near unbeatable one versus one.”

“How so?” Marty asked.

“Unlike people who reach Rank 10 by increasing their Ki release, those with the Ki Ceiling will never run out of Ki. In a prolonged battle, you will always win. The only factor that might change that is Ki Manifestations. Do you have any?”

“I have a couple,” Marty responded with a nod as he created two scimitars out of Ki. Then, after those disappeared, a typical revolver suddenly appeared in his hand. He cocked and fired it as a red bullet streak could only barely be seen before it impacted the field down below.

Carl, who was very surprised by the dual scimitars, became thoroughly shocked at the appearance of a working revolver. “How on Earth do you have a gun manifestation? So many people have tried and failed to do that.”

“That’s because it’s two manifestations in one. If you don’t separate the gun and the bullets, it won’t work, at least with my experimentation. By creating a separate manifestation of a gun and its bullets, I finally got it to work. I noticed an increase in performance if I used my Red Ki for the bullets. The only problem is it takes an enormous amount of concentration to not only have two manifestations but change the nature of the Ki separately.”

“That sounds nearly impossible! How much Ki do you have to replace in your manifestations every second?”

“10% for single manifestation and around 25% for a double, why?”

Carl collapsed into a seat next to him. “You monster. In the world I went to, you were considered a genius if you only have to replace 50% of your Ki. Even people who reach the Ki Ceiling don’t normally have that much control over their Ki. If that’s all true, you’re undoubtedly S- Rank.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured. Is reaching the Ki Ceiling that big of a deal?”

“There were only about a dozen people in the world I was taken to who had reached the Ki Ceiling, so yes it’s a big deal.”

“Yeah, that’s about as many as I’m aware of too,” Amanda added.

Marty looked at Amanda and turned his head quizzically. “That reminds me, Amanda, how do you have Ki? As far as I’m aware, you’re not an Offworlder or Abductee.”

An awkward expression came across Amanda’s face. “Well… I guess I might as well tell since you shared so many secrets with me. The truth is, Ki has been around on Earth for quite some time. It’s been a well-guarded secret that has only become known publicly recently. Throughout history, only very few individuals have obtained it. Those who have started families or factions that had Ki.”

“So you come from one of these factions?”

“Sort of. My parents stepped away from all of that. There were both a part of opposing factions that came to blows and, as the young geniuses of their respective factions, they often fought against each other and eventually fell in love on the battlefield.”

“How romantic.” Morgan softly said.

“I’m surprised that they allowed that,” Marty added.

“They didn’t really. It caused a lot of tension, but my fraternal grandfather helped create a nonaggression policy for both sides to help my parents.” Amanda replied.

“I see. Then that makes Alexander?” 

“One of the young martial artists from my mother’s faction. After The Convergence began, it was not uncommon for people from different fractions to come to institutions like these to learn Ki and Martial techniques like the instantaneous movement you saw him perform.”

“I see… Then do either of you know if there’s something beyond the Ki Ceiling?”

“I think so,” Carl replied.

“There is,” Amanda added. “I’m fairly certain that guy that interrupted your little bout named Indrajit has passed the Ki Ceiling, and it is rumored that at least one person from both sides of my family has achieved it and is currently living.”

“Any idea how to break through?”

“No idea. My parents, who both reached Rank 10 Ki, were given no real guidance other than ‘do your best.’ There doesn’t seem to be any set requirements, at least none that I’m aware of.”

“Bummer. Well you two, I’d like to formally invite you over for a big lunch if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.”

“I’d be delighted to.”

“Master, the food reserves are running low. Should this one go purchase some more?” Anna asked.  

“No, I’ll do it if you send me a list. I’ll be faster. Why don’t you give Carl a quick tour of the mansion while I do so?”

“Very well master,” Anna replied as the group made their way back up to the mansion.

...

After he had taken a tour of the mansion, Carl sat down in the living room to collect his senses. Everything about the house boggled his mind, much less the underground shelter. As he pondered, there was a knock at the door. Since Carl was very close by, he could hear everything.

“I’ll get it,” Morgan said as she approached the monitor. “Who is it?” She asked in her best English.

*Bang*

Suddenly, the door was busted with a large amount of force and only barely remained on its hinges. With a scream, Morgan fell on the floor.

Carl immediately got up and rounded the corner to see Morgan on the floor. She didn’t look injured, but her whole body shook, and her breath was rigid as she stared at the figure in the doorway.

“Fancy meeting you here, Princess.” The blond-haired man said with a smile. “I heard that Marty came back, so I thought I’d drop in to say hello.”

Carl had never seen him before, but his actions and Morgan’s reaction was all he needed to know. He very quickly moved in between them.

“Who the hell are you?” Freed asked him, annoyed.

“That’s what I should ask you. Do you ever make a habit of breaking into people’s homes?”

“But I heard a rumor. I just had to see if it was true.” Freed replied with a laugh as he looked at Morgan on the floor.

“I suggest you leave now.”

“An ant was to stop me?” Freed asked with a cruel expression as he moved his left hand forward. Suddenly, a stream of white flame jetted out which assaulted Carl.  

Carl, who had been on full alert, managed to raise his Ki in time and focus it purely on defense. However, fire was one of the weaknesses of Ki. As the temperature quickly rose, Carl began to burn, badly.

Freed stopped the flames to reveal a crispy Carl, who was in so much pain he could barely move. However, the glare he gave pissed Freed off. Freed drew the sword at his waist and slashed at Carl. Before the blade could make contact, another sword appeared. Freed noticed the sword, but the amount of Ki he felt was insignificant in his eyes, so he continued his slash to push through. Much to his astonishment, the blade was much stronger than he thought which caught him off guard and it allowed Shalgana to alter its course and miss Carl.

Upon seeing the unfamiliar women, Freed sneered. “You B-” *clang*

Freed nearly bit his tongue as Shalgana unleashed a flurry of blows which made him go on the defensive. Even though Shalgana was weak enough for Freed to not even put in his eye, her superior swordsmanship and constant training against those who were stronger than her allowed her to fight quite effectively. Suddenly being pushed back by Shalgana only infuriated Freed more. Once he finally managed to push her back, he was about to charge forward until he felt a prickling sensation on his back.  

As he had briefly participated in mass warfare, he immediately recognized the sensation of Fighting Spirit with a hint of Killing Intent. In a panic, he quickly turned around but guarded to high as Shiro darted in to attack. He barely managed to sidestep as her punch, which grazed his stomach and caused some damage.

Before he could counter, Shiro quickly darted to the others. Freed turned back around only to find the butt end of the staff as it smashed into his forehead and caused him to reel back. Caelia quickly withdrew her staff as Amanda checked over Carl with apparent worry.

As soon as the explosion occurred and Morgan screamed, Shalgana, who had her weapons nearby, grabbed them and headed down. Caelia took a couple of seconds longer to arrive because she had to retrieve her staff as she told Shiro to go outside and flank whoever had attacked to surprise them. The surprise attack probably would’ve worked with Shiro’s ability, but she immediately recognized who Freed was, and she couldn’t help but release Killing Intent.

“You killed Freyja,” Shiro said coldly.

Freed was extremely ticked off. In a one-on-one fight, he was confident he could take any of them, but he had no such confidence to fight them together. However, the pain from his injuries clouded his judgment, and he raised his hand again. “All of you burn!” He screamed as a white flame erupted from his hand.

Because Marty and Cali had gone shopping for food, the two main counters against Freed’s flame were not present.

*pshhh* 

Before his flames could reach their mark, the sound of a fire extinguisher was heard. The chemicals snuffed out the flame and covered Freed. With his red eyes from the chemicals, Freed frantically wiped his face and looked over towards Anna, who held the fire extinguisher.

Anna was instantly aware of Freed’s intrusion and immediately sent Marty a message after she had confirmed it was Freed from the camera at the door. Marty’s response? <“He uses high-temperature fire, so counter that. The priority is to protect everyone. The second priority, neutralize the bastard.”>

Anna expressionlessly looked at the enraged Freed. “Limit off.” With a crack, the floor under her feet slightly gave as she darted forward towards Freed, who was caught off guard. “Batter up.” The fire extinguisher in her hands became a devastating brunt force weapon as it came at Freed’s face so fast it only appeared as a red blur. With a loud bang, Freed was sent flying out of the house through the door.

Freed, who had survived the blow by focusing as much Ki as he could, still ended up with a broken nose, a fractured jaw, and a few front teeth missing. He was in so much pain that he didn’t realize a car in the driveway that had appeared seconds earlier. Enraged, Freed was about to shout even with his broken jaw before he felt something that nearly made his blood freeze. Killing Intent so heavy that it felt like an ocean had suddenly dropped down on him. It made Freed the most afraid he had ever been his entire life. At that moment, Freed did everything possible to flee.  

Marty, who was hidden nearby and released the Killing Intent, did not chase. THe did not want to reveal his strength as his being capable of dealing with Freed would raise too many suspicions, Carl was in critical condition, and he decided to leave it to the proper authorities which he had just contacted. 

Because Freed was no longer a threat and fleeing of the property, there were potential legal complications, so he had opted to inform SUEMA who was more than capable of apprehending Freed.

Marty had been on his way home when he got the message. As quick as he could, he found a place as inconspicuous as possible, and Dimension Doored the entire car.

Once he got into the house, he found Cali, Caelia, and even Shiro doing everything they could to heal Carl’s wounds while Amanda hugged Morgan, who still had yet to recover.

He made his way toward Carl, who had fainted from pain, but Cali interrupted him. “I can heal this. Look after Morgan.”

Mentally noting the slightly flustered Cali spoke a little more than usual, Marty gave her a nod before he replaced Amanda as he held Morgan.

After about 30 seconds, Carl awoke to find that his burns were gone, and even his hair that he had lost had grown back. Thankfully, Freed targeted his upper body, so he had only lost his shirt.

Morgan had yet to recover as Marty’s continued to try to calm her down. Slightly frustrated, Marty decided to do what worked last time. He leaned down and kissed her, hard. Amanda and Caelia looked embarrassed while Carl was dumbfounded. Cali appeared emotionless as ever, and Shiro had a look of curiosity in her eye.

After a couple of seconds, Marty released her lips. She slightly trembled in his arms, but for a different reason.

“You-you-you pervert!” She exclaimed quite loudly but made no effort to free herself from his embrace. She even got a little closer as she calmed herself.

“Carl, thank you for protecting them,” Marty said with a bow, slightly awkward given his current position.

“Ah, no. I didn’t do that much.”

“You bought time. That was more than you were required to do.”

“Who was that bastard?”

“Freed, the other man summoned to the same world as me. He’s a murderer.”

Carl nodded but remained silent.

“Still, I wish I was here to see him get beaten up,” Marty said with a sigh. “No wait a minute, there’s a camera for the door,” Marty said as he picked up Morgan, who made no hint of refusal, in a princess carry. He went to the living room and was followed by the rest as he sat on the couch and looked at the televisions where the security feed automatically played. Marty watched from the beginning with a solemn expression, but that changed as he continued to watch. After Anna’s attack had landed, he was holding back laughter as he turned towards her.

“I apologize, Master, this one broke the fire extinguisher,” Anna said as she procured the fire extinguisher which had a clear imprint of a smashed face.

It was then that Marty lost it. He started laughing uncontrollably and was soon followed by several others.

“Anna, why do you have a program for one-liners?” Marty asked between his laughs. “We’re going to get the extinguisher mounted and hang it up in the doorway as a warning.”

The laughter lasted for over a minute, and even Morgan had eventually joined in. After they had calmed down, Marty turned to look at the rest. “All right, now I’m going to make one mean lunch so prepare yourselves.”

...

After lunch, Marty informed Thomas of the repairs that were needed and what had occurred. With the footage, Freed’s tendencies, which had already been submitted by Marty, was fully proven. Given that he was a SUPER who displayed violent tendencies, he ended up being sent to a particular prison which was explicitly built for supers.

Six days after Freed’s attack, Marty was looking over the paperwork regarding Freed. “It seems… It seems I should call in a favor.”

End of Day -109