The Thunder Lord's aura was oppressive.
He crackled with lightning, his white beard seemingly coming alive with static electricity as he stared daggers at Edgar.
"Scoff. You're good! You barely arrived, yet Lords are already eating in the palm of your hand. Let's see what you're made of, SHALL WE!!!"
He instantly went on the offensive!
Jack's hair stood on end as he sensed the killing intent, the man already upon them!
Without a warning, he started punching toward them, every attack crazily terrifying.
Magical lighting was even wrapped around his fists, seemingly strong enough to annihilate them whole!
— Punch! —
— Crackle! Crackle! —
In response, Edgar expertly moved his body away as if a boxer. All his movements down to the millimeter were so precise.
It was unbelievable to many, but Edgar somehow managed to keep up with the Thunder Lord?! He was even greater than anyone had ever thought possible.
The two enemies kept clashing as if both had turned frenzied.
— Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! —
Cheers erupted every time Edgar blocked a fist that would have otherwise reduced him to mush. Currently, he was the perfect underdog for the populace!
The cheers especially became the loudest every time he'd throw Jack in the air to save him from the recoil of their fights. To many, he appeared like the most badass DILF!
Except, even he was reaching his limit. Jack had a front view of the action and his father was definitely growing slower. Every block required him to put his life on the line!
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he faltered!
That's when the fight suddenly intensified. The Thunder Lord happily cackled as he began glowing with light even purer than before. This time, it wasn't just magical gauntlets…
"Hehe, let's see you deal with this!"
With a shout, the Thunder Lord raised his hand up high, the sky seemingly rumbling to answer his call, Dark clouds gathering.
— ZAAPPPPP! CRACKLE! —
Lightning fell from the sky, quickly morphing into a gigantic Hammer of Thunder! The Thunder Lord grabbed it, looking like an Immortal Emperor!
Then he swung the whole thing right at them!
"Hahaha! Try and block this one!….BREAK!"
A Lightning Explosion ensued!
— BAM! CRASH! —
That's when the world disappeared.
All that remained was the crackling of lightning and its deadliness.
Before Jack could even make sense of his surroundings, he felt a gentle hand on his body. "Son, wait by the side, alright? It seems I have to finish this…."
His father's smiling face was the last thing he saw before he was thrown away from the battlefield. It was as if he was guided by an invisible hand protecting him.
He landed softly on the ground, but he didn't care about any of that.
"D-dad! Quick, get out! Run to the other Lords and—"
But Edgar was already diving back into the light!
A second later…. SPLATTER!
Blood, organs, and brain bits exploded all over, drenching the crowd in the process.
Someone had died already?!… But who?! Everyone focused their eyes, trying to guess the winner. Just as the suspense was becoming unbearable, he came out!
Just not the right "He."
The bloodstained Thunder Lord reappeared, a grin plastered on his face. Then… the body bits flying earlier had been….?! Jack suddenly felt sick.
W-why?! Just why?! Bloody freaking, WHY?!
But just as he was despairing, the lightning cleared up. What appeared then was unbelievable. The gory mess…had belonged to Flying Ferrets!! Wait, what?! His father was alive?!
Pushed by adrenaline, Jack crawled his way to his father! As he hugged the man's legs, he felt so relieved. He really couldn't take his eyes off his father at this instant.
"N-never scare me like that again!" Jack begged.
Edgar simply nodded, winking at his son as he explained what had happened. He had managed to grab the creatures from a nearby carriage to use as meat shields.
They had been enough to save him from the lightning!
By now, the Thunder Lord was coming back, chuckling.
"You fought like a true warrior, great!" He actually seemed in a good mood. Through adversity, the two had somehow made peace. How ludicrous!
"Anyway, how about you join the Lightning Palace? In your current state…. There is still hope if we act quickly." He meaningfully added.
Edgar's entire body imperceptibly trembled.
Jack was close enough to feel it: this was phantom pain, right?!
Of course, his father hadn't come out unscathed of the Holy Theocracy! But seeing how serious the two men were….it had to be even more severe than Jack had thought.
'Psst— Dad, what are you waiting for? Accept!' He wanted to shout out, but a baby talking in front of the Lords would have just made things worse. 'Just do it!'
But the other Lords shared the opposite sentiment.
"Hey, wait your turn! We were here before!" "Tch— trying to sway him with a showy entrance? That's cheating!" "Mister, you should really join us instead, the—"
It became an utter cacophony.
There were so many offers! They were even more determined now that they knew the mighty Thunder Lord was interested too!
This was the moment of truth. This would determine Jack's Starting Faction! (Ignoring the Holy Goddess). He couldn't help but shake with excitement at the thought:
- Resources!
- Knowledge!
- Powerful Allies!
- Matching Attires!
- …. And a lot of trouble!
Jack gave the still-hesitating Edgar an encouraging look. 'Don't worry. Give me a bit of time to grow and I'll take care of it all. For now, your health is the most important!'
Edgar seemingly understood the message, turning to the Thunder Lord. As Edgar opened his mouth, the other Lords felt their defeat:
"I acce—"
"WAIT a minute!!"
This shout was so wild!
It came from the back, the disheveled Foxy Lady rushing at Mach 10 speed! (Or almost!) "I still haven't made my offer! Hear me out, at least!" She sounded so desperate.
Many gasped, seeing her in such a state was a first! All except the Thunder Lord, who not only didn't flinch but even chuckled. "You're in way over your head, just give up."
She completely ignored him, not that he cared that much. The Thunder Lord knew that he was the father's only chance. He was just waiting for her to get turned down…again.
She stopped right in front of Edgar, racking her brain endlessly on what to offer. Never had she found herself in such a situation! But then she suddenly jerked up, having a EUREKA moment.
She gazed at Edgar with confidence.
"If you join my Flame Mansion…I'll give your son the only thing no other Lord can provide: A mother's love! I swear! From now on, he'll be my son and the future Flame Lord!"
W-What kind of development was this?! Was she ready to go that far?! This went way further than just providing resources! It concerned honor and bloodline!
Edgar heard the sincerity and determination in her voice. She really would take care of Jack as if her own! That was all he needed to do to make a decision.
As he had always done, Edgar prioritized his son over himself.
That day, Jack became the Flame Mansion's Prince.
That day, he also got himself a new mother.
As for Dawn City, it'd soon become VERY chaotic...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jack Bright (Classless)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
BODY 0 (STR 0 / AGI 0 / RES 0)
SOUL 39 ( MAGIC 5 / SENSE 16 / WILL 18)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
(NEW!)
- Crawl! (F) 🆕
- Dawn Noble! 🆕
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━