Day 22

My daily schedule made a huge turnaround since those two appeared. The day would start with me checking on Sin, his harem and the newly hatched chicks. Breakfast would be ready by my return. After eating, they forced me to have vocal training and magic theory lessons. They hadn’t figured out my ability yet, so I had to learn everything. They even taught me other surviving skills for daily life. F*ck, I hate school.

I would anticipate lunch break, because I would be finally freed from learning. In the afternoon, we would fight. Not the death battle kind, but the P.E. kind. Initially, that would be my time to shine, I fought enough wolves, bears and other wild animals over the years. However, Ace still could get the better hand of me. So f*cking annoying. 

My voice got a lot better and I could finally pronounce the main vocals. I thought it was my chance to cuss at Ace, but when I wanted to call him “Ass” my voice slipped and I called him “Ace” instead.

***

It was a dry day with a few clouds in the sky. 

A lone man stood in the corner of a fashion store and randomly grabbed a few shirts and jeans before exiting the dark building. 

“Ace, Ace, Ace...” He called out with spite; half of the blindly chosen clothes were thrown back into the entrance. 

F*ck, why can’t I call him ass? That trash misunderstood and even praised me.

Earlier they had a usual sparring session and Harem God got mercilessly played by Ace. Of course, he wanted to curse at Ace, but his pronunciation only managed to output ‘Ace’ instead of his intended ‘ass’. No matter how much he practiced, Harem God, who loved to curse and talk dirty, couldn’t even spit out a rather mild insult. 

Of course, he’d never practice in front of Jiushi or Ace. With his clothes being sweaty and dirty from being thrown to the ground several times, Harem God had the perfect opportunity to go out. He couldn’t bother to wash his clothes and simply took new ones from a nearby store. With a handful of change, he walked back to wash himself with a bucket of water he had taken out from a water tank.

It was an arduous task, but Harem God was strictly forbidden from using the rainwater by Jiushi. Even though he had no problems moving in the rain, Harem God himself, except for emergencies, rarely used it after seeing what it did to animal’s sanity. Now after knowing it was elemental rain he would avoid it all the more.

For a chance, he walked back with unhurried steps and had time to contemplate. It had been over three weeks that he met them, and life considerably eased. However, he knew that this was just a temporary thing. His emotional intelligence quotient may be low after years of solitude, but that definitely didn’t decrease his IQ. They would leave eventually once they find the sword. It could be tomorrow, next week, or they could vanish overnight like they did eight years ago.

He took a deep breath. 

When he passed by a bookstore, he looked back and decided to go in to distract his thoughts. His eyes wandered through the shelf and stopped at ‘Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude’. The book was dusty and the title was barely readable. He took it out. It was written by Napoleon Hill and W. Clemens Stones, not that it mattered since he knew neither of them. A random page was opened and his gaze skimmed through the letters.

“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.”

That’s right.

Harem God closed the book again and didn’t continue to read. He learned one or two things from reading all kinds of books in the past, but in the end he only had himself to rely on. 

It wasn’t different back then and it wouldn’t be now, he thought and picked up his pace.

Two hundred meters away from the base a loud growl and frantic crowing was audible. Harem God recognized it immediately—it was Sin and he was attacked by some wild animal.

F*cking shit.

He didn’t think, his body moved on its own and he shoot out with a powerful jump. The distance was closed in less than twenty seconds despite the uneven street and its obstacles, a sheer inhuman speed.  Harem God didn’t drag out the fight and executed the animal on the spot. 

His breath was rugged, and his blood rushed through his veins as his eyes glowed in lustrous gold. He was excited. Excited for a fight and for more. He didn’t even realize that an abnormal blood-thirst overwhelmed him. The dead animal lay motionless on the ground, but Harem God felt no sympathy. His hand only reached out to break more bones and make it bleed, even though it already took its last breath when he snapped its neck. But he wanted to see the blood drip out until the corpse had nothing left. 

Peck!

Sin jumped on in a timely manner and gave him a head peck with his sturdy beak.

F*CK!!! I just saved your sorry ass!

“Sin!!!” He roared.

Sin pecked him again and Harem God stood up from his crouching position. Just has he wanted to pluck a certain rooster, Sin jumped down and pointed to the dead animal with his wing. Harem God snapped out and paled.

He couldn’t decipher what being it was.

Half of the body sizzled into a puddle of black liquid that let out a foul stench of decay. The remaining half was a sorry frame of bones barely clued together by loose muscle tissue, the fur and skin was already decomposed by the black secretion. Soon, even the asphalt around it began to melt. From the corpse was nothing left except a charcoal black liquid on the ground. Harem God felt goosebumps rising on his skin. 

What the f*ck did I kill?

Whatever it was, nothing good could come out of it and he had only been an arm length apart from touching it. If not for Sin’s timely intervention, he might’ve lost his hand or a whole arm by now.

He looked at Sin. Sin looked at him. Then he turned his wattles to Harem God with a provocative “Hng” and walked back to their hideout.

—Told you so, idiot.

Harem God felt his patience challenged, but before he could act and grab the poultry by the legs the other two men appeared.

“Are you alright, Harem?!” Ace’s eyes glinted with murderous intent and wariness. His eyes seemed to glow, same with Jiushi’s.

Harem God raised his eyebrows and looked again at the two, who were ready to fight.

Thankfully, Jiushi regained his composure, “Ace, they were here, but only a small scouting minion.” He pointed to the black spot that dried out already. Both let out a sigh of relief, then looked at Harem God. 

“It’s not safe here anymore,” Ace blurted out, “We should move to another location.”

Harem God had question marks written on his face.

“The thing there,” Jiushi pointed to the corpse shadow with his gaze, “It won’t end with just one. They will swarm this city soon if we remain here.”