"Thank god they don't seem to have a minimum drinking age here! I could really use some good wine!" Ekosus exclaimed before walking into the rather large tavern.
After walking into the tavern, Ekosus is greeted by a very beautiful looking hostess, who asks him whether he would like to dine on the first or second floor, and after learning that the second floor had access to better wines, he immediately chose the latter.
"Okay, but to dine at the second floor, you're required to pay 1 Spirit Grade crystal extra, is that an issue?" The beautiful hostess asked
"That's no issue!" Ekosus said before she lead him up to the second floor.
The second floor was far less crowded than the first had been, which isn't that surprising considering the cost.
Ekosus followed the hostess to an empty table before sitting down and asking about the taverns best wine and dishes.
"Our best wine is called Drunken Immortality, and a bottle of it costs 10 Spirit Grade crystals. If I could say our best meal, it would have to be our Seared Demon Wolf steak that's served with our own homegrown spirit herbs, which costs 2 Spirit Grade crystals." The hostess replies enchantingly
"I'll have an order of both!" Ekosus replied
"Coming right up!" The hostess replies with a bright smile before departing back down the stairs
"Hey, let me take a look at that spatial ring that old man gave you. I want to see how big it's storage room is!" Kaiser's voice echoed in Ekosus' mind
"Alright!" Ekosus replied before he could feel Kaiser's power reach through his body and touch the ring on his finger.
A few moments later, Kaiser's confused voice resounded in Ekosus' ears
"That old man is definitely no weakling. The spatial laws inside that ring are nearly perfect, and it's storage capacity is decent. It's nothing compared to the Box of Primal Beginnings, but it could easily accommodate an entire mortal plane inside it. Why was he so generous? To God's, anything below Godhood are just ants. Hardly any would be willing to give away so much to a mortal basically for free."
"Well, whatever the reason, I'm not complaining! According to Grandpa Keos, dad's spatial ring can only contain whatever fits in a 100 by 100 meter cube, but mine can hold a whole fucking plane! I'll never be able to fill it! I can carry literally anything in there!" Ekosus exclaimed in excitement
"You might think that now, but mortal planes really aren't that big!" Kaiser said with ridicule.
The hostess from before returns with Ekosus' meal, and he heartily accepted it and took a sip of the wine.
The flavor was something like Ekosus had never tasted before. It was the best wine he'd tasted in his whole lifetime. Very soon, he began chowing down on the food as well as gulping down the wine.
A few moments later, he's finished the wine and food and is feeling the amazing warmth the wine contains pulsing through his body, making him very intoxicated.
"Ohhh damn, forgot my body is only 13" Ekosus mutter while feeling the room spinning a little.
"Well well well, looks like someone finally managed to get out of bed!" A mocking voice reached Ekosus' ear from afar.
Turning to look for the source, he sees a very well-dressed youth looking at him with disdain and mockery in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Ekosus asked, a little irritated.
"HAHA! So it is true! I beat you up so bad that you lost your memories!" The youth laugh arrogantly
"Ohhh I get it now, so you're Jacob?" Ekosus asked coldly, his eyes growing darker at his new revelation.
"The one and only! Say, did getting the shit beat out of you hurt? Oh yeah, you probably don't remember that, do you? If Alice hadn't saved you, you might not even be here to not remember it. It still pisses me off how she always picks you instead of me. You're nothing more than trash. Although you're only a city lord's son, you haven't even been able to cultivate, while I'm almost at the late Meridian Opening stage, and I'm royalty. How are you better than me?" Jacob replied with ridicule
"I'm better than you in a lot of ways Jacob, you just haven't had a chance to see them. Don't worry though, you can have that Alice girl, I don't even know her anymore, but I'd still like to show you just how much better I am than you!" Ekosus replied, feeling his anger rise with every passing second for an unknown reason.
"Oh and how is that?" Jacob asked with mockery.
"By having a rematch and grinding your face into the dirt" Ekosus replied coldly and calmly
"HAHAHAHA! And what makes you think that this time will end up any different than the last?" Jacob replied with disdain
"Because I'm a new man Jacob! New, and a lot scarier than before." Ekosus replied before standing up and looking at Jacob ominously.
For some reason unknown to Jacob, whenever he saw the look in Ekosus' eyes, he actually felt a little bit of fear, but that fear was soon drowned out by anger.
"You want a rematch? Fine! I have no issue beating you into a coma again. Maybe you'll actually die this time! Where are we going to do it?! This time, I want it to be a little more public so everyone can see how pathetic you really are. How about we settle this at the arena?!"
"That's too far. I'd rather just get this over with! Follow me" Ekosus coldly replies before walking down the stairs and out of the tavern into the middle of the street.
Jacob follows, feeling his anger rise because of Ekosus' cocky attitude
"Normally fighting in the city is forbidden, but seeing as you're asking for it, I'll gladly pay the fine!" Jacob said before yelling out loudly, "WHOEVER WANTS TO SEE THE CITY LORD'S SON GET A BEATING, GATHER ROUND!"
Within moments, people begin to flock around Ekosus and Jacob, creating a circle enclosing them.
"You sure you wanna make a spectacle about me kicking your teeth out?" Ekosus said to Jacob with ridicule in his tone.
"Losing your memories made you so damn cocky that it's hilarious. Truly, the ignorant have no fear!" Jacob replied back, mocking Ekosus.
"I have to thank you Jacob! Without you, I probably wouldn't be who I am right now. So as repayment, I'll show you exactly what the me from before probably felt as you were beating him to the ground." Ekosus said as his eyes grow ice-cold and murderous.
"I can't stand it anymore!! If I don't beat the shit out of you again, my name's not Jacob Pasher!" Jacob said before gritting his teeth and throwing a punch toward Ekosus with all of his strength, seemingly planning on knocking Ekosus out with a single blow.
To the surrounding non-cultivators, Jacob's attack looked strong and swift, but to Ekosus, he looked like he was surprisingly slow and weak.
Ekosus slowly reached out and grasped Jacob's hand, stopping it in it's tracks effortlessly without so much as a flinch, stunning the crowd and Jacob.
Jacob, stunned by the circumstances, tries to pull his hand away but finds that no matter how hard he tries to pull, he can't make Ekosus even budge a little. He then decides to throw another punch with his free arm, trying to land a solid hit on Ekosus, but his attack proves futile as Ekosus catches that fist with ease as well.
"Let me go you bastard!" Jacob yells while trying to pull away from Ekosus' grip, but it's to no avail.
"I told you that I'm a new man Jacob." Ekosus smiles evilly before he uses his arm strength to hoist Jacob over his head, before abruptly slamming his back down on to the bricks that line the ground of the street, making Jacob wheeze for air, before he tries to role over and stand up again
Feeling his power course through his body, Ekosus doesn't feel like going easy on Jacob. For an unknown reason, he feels a sense of extreme rage when looking at Jacob. Possibly it's his bodies reaction to someone who already managed to kill it once, but Ekosus doesn't care. He's got rage to vent, and strength to explore.
Jacob is on all fours and is about to stand before he feels an enormous impact on his stomach, and goes flying into a pillar that supports a building across from the tavern.
"Please! Have mercy!" Jacob starts to beg as he can feel his body aching in pain, probably from the many fractures he's sustained from just those two attacks from Ekosus. He's absolutely terrified at this point. After all, he's still only a 12 year old boy. After realizing that Ekosus is far stronger than he can imagine, he's truly afraid.
Ekosus slowly walks towards Jacob and grabs him by the robe before dragging him back into the center of the crowd.
"You have the shame to beg for mercy? Who was it saying they were going to beat me into a coma again earlier? Who was it that made me lose my memories? If we were in the reverse right now, you would be positively thrilled if I was begging for mercy, just because a girl likes me more. I warned you Jacob. I'm a new man, and this man is fresh out of mercy!" Ekosus mocked venomously before throwing a fist at Jacob's face. The impact from that punch shatters Jacob's nose, and knocks a few teeth out. Jacob wails from the pain, sounding like a dying pig to the onlookers.
"How does it feel? How does it feel to be so powerless? So weak that you can't stop any of this?" Ekosus said with an evil tone before throwing a punch at Jacob's stomach.
"How does it FEEL!?!?" Ekosus yells at Jacob who is crying and gasping for air.
"This is probably how the old me felt before. The difference between you two though, He never begged for mercy, and He went into the fight knowing you were stronger than him. That's how he was better than you, but you snuffed him out, and in his place, I came about. This is karma Jacob, and you still have a lot to reap!" Ekosus said before throwing a couple of punches to Jacob's face.
The crowd is a bit conflicted about this fight. On one hand, Jacob is getting his just desserts, but on the other, he's being brutally beaten without any chance of fighting back.
Ekosus doesn't care about the crowd though. All that's going through his brain right now is rage and alcohol.
"Kaiser, do you know any ways to cripple a cultivators meridians?" Ekosus asked coldly
"I do, but do you really want to use one on him?" Kaiser asked
"I finally have some power. If I can't use it to make things right, then what's the point? Honestly, he's getting off lightly. Isaac died, at least he'll live." Ekosus replied
'You've got a point. I like the ruthlessness though. You'd be eaten alive in the vast universe without it." Kaiser said before telling Ekosus what to do.
"Hey Jacob?" Ekosus says while crouching down in front of his beaten and bloodied face.
The only sounds he can make right now are grunts, but he responds with one.
"I think it's about time we wrapped this up. It's getting a little bit dull, beating you and you not being able to fight back. So as for my final act of repaying some Karma, I'm gonna give you a little gift for when you wake up." Ekosus said before sending another punch to Jacobs jaw, knocking him unconscious.
He then lightly jabbed certain points on Jacob's body, severing his meridians.
Dusting off his robe, Ekosus looks toward the crowd for a moment before walking back into the Peak Rest, and ordering another bottle of Drunken Immortality.