Hello, my dear readers! Here's chapter 52! We're close to the end of the second arc (Book 1 will have three narrative arcs) with the confrontation with Petrovich coming real soon.
A few updates: I've re-edited the first eight chapters, if you're interested to reread them. I've fixed many things in those, and I'm pretty happy with the result.
Beside that, I haven't been able to write much this week for IRL reasons, so I won't post more than 1 free chapter. I'll try to do more during the end of the week, but no promises.
I think that's it! So I'll see ya next week with chapter 53!
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'Ben Parker, a former Special Forces' Team Captain, husband of May Parker and uncle of Peter Parker, with three Perks granted to him by an unknown entity, will have to grow his cultivation along his loved ones and teammates while navigating the Earth, a planet full of interesting but dangerous secrets.
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Damovotsk, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V.
As Demian entered his bedroom and was about to open his wardrobe, something suddenly came to him. "Damn it! I don't have any clothes that fit me, do I?" He mumbled under his breath before letting out a helpless sigh. After a brief pondering, he went to his computer and with his approximate new size, ordered a few sets of medium-quality clothes. "Shipping? Is the option 'right this second' possible?" He joked before hitting the 'express shipping' option. Once done, he turned off the computer and stood up, while thinking absentmindedly. 'Now, I've only got to wait.' Lacking any fitting clothes, any physical activity was banned. Since he did not have many options, he decided to go chat with his family and share with them how his perks evolved. At least, those he had already discovered.
Walking calmly toward the living room downstairs, he noticed the lack of any presence around. However, his senses quickly caught the sound of movements coming from the gym room. His body thus started moving automatically in that direction, while realizing that the girls were probably still training. As soon as he arrived he noticed Bryn standing up at the side, guiding the other two in their practice and correcting the mistakes she effortlessly spotted with her enhanced senses. The three swiftly noticed his arrival, stopped what they were doing, and turned in his direction. As their gazes fell on his body, he easily spotted the teasing expression on their faces. Rolling his eyes at their attitude, he commented. "You're so childish. For your information, I've ordered some new clothes already. They should be here in a few hours."
His words elicited some giggles from the two older women present before Seraphine commented impatiently. "Babe, you told me earlier that we'd talk about about your Love Bond Perk!" Scratching his cheek, he replied, embarrassed. "Right! My bad. I got a bit self-conscious for a second." As the words left his lips, he walked to a bench on the side and sat on it. Sitting on the ground was after all not a good idea unless he wanted to flash them. Following his example, the other three sat around him, Adeliya on an adjacent bench and the two sisters on the floor. Noting the three's eager expression, the young man pondered for a brief moment before throwing a quick glance at his oldest cousin and starting his explanation. "Unlike Big Sis, my breakthrough didn't give me new powers. But my three perks should have evolved."
Cocking her brow, his blind lover asked, puzzled. "What do you mean by 'should have evolved'?" A warm smile appeared on his face as he answered. "'Should' because I've only noticed the changes with the Love Bond, but since they all have the same origin, I guessed that they should have evolved as well. From your reaction, the bond should have changed for you too, right?" Nodding her head, she responded. "Your presence is a lot clearer and I can also feel your emotions if I focus on you. What about you?" With a thoughtful look, he retorted. "It's the same for me. So the perk's evolution works for the two of us. That's a relief..." Shaking his head slightly to regain his focus, he asked. "Did you feel any other change?" His question brought a thoughtful expression to Sera's face before she hesitantly responded. "I'm not certain..."
Feeling intrigued, he insisted. "It doesn't matter if you're mistaken. Just tell me." Nodding her head, she claimed. "When I trained earlier, I felt like the training was... Smoother, maybe? Like I was doing much better than previously? It's a pretty vague feeling, so I can't really explain it better than that..." Wearing an apologetic expression, she added. "Sorry, if I'm too vague." Waving her apology away, he declared. "Don't worry about it! Actually, it'd be great if you were right. That'd help you get stronger faster." Silence fell on the room for a moment, before Bryn's voice suddenly broke it. "Now that the both of us reached Chi Gathering, I think we can start thinking about how to get rid of the immediate threat, right?"
Her words made him recall their current precarious situation, prompting him to reply. "Right. That guy should receive those Master Rank fighters tonight if I'm not wrong?" Nodding her head, the giant woman answered. "You're right. And that means all of them will be at his place tonight, helping us take care of them in one go." "Your plan makes sense. There are a few details we've got to hash out, though." He claimed. Nodding her head, Bryn retorted. "Like what we'll do with them once they fall in our hands." Pausing for a second, he retorted hesitantly. "Riiight. My thoughts were more along the lines of 'Where should Aunty and Sera go while we take care of those guys' or like 'How should we approach the place'. But your question is as important, I guess."
Letting out a small grunt of approval, she added. "They're too much of a threat to us, so we must get rid of them permanently." Her stance was not much of a surprise for Demian, although, he did note the lack of any hesitation at the idea of killing in her voice. Not that he was any better. After all, he did shoot three people to death and, despite some slightly upsetting memories, he felt no real regret about what he had done. Was he a psychopath or was it the result of his physical perk acting on his mind? Or maybe something in between? After all, those people tried to kill him and his loved ones, so their deaths did not have as much weight as if they had been innocent. Aware that harping on the past was useless, he shoved that thought to the side and focused back on the current situation. Turning his gaze in Adeliya's and Sera's direction, he asked. "What do the two of you say? Should we kill them?" He knew that he and Bryn would have no trouble acting, but he had to know what the other two were ready to do. Killing was not a joke and they had to live with the consequences once they pulled the metaphorical trigger.
His question jolted the two women slightly, however, their respective reactions were radically different. Completely opposite to her sweet appearance, the petite redhead had a cold look on her face as she replied curtly. "Kill them." Her answer stunned him for a second before he remembered what she had gone through in the past. 'We've been surrounded with injuries and death, especially in the last few years. Is it really surprising that she, or we for that matter, became somewhat indifferent toward unknown people's lives?' Sighing inwardly, he moved his focus toward his Aunt who seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. Letting out a helpless sigh, the mature woman's face slowly hardened as she declared. "They went too far, so they have to pay the price for it." Pausing for a second, she added as her eyes met his and Bryn's. "But I'll be the one to end Petrovich. You two can take care of the others."
Feeling some misgivings about her claim, he asked her. "Are you sure, Aunty? I'm sure Big Sis and I can take care of the... 'bloody side'. There's no need for you to act directly." Shaking her head at his words, she replied firmly. "I won't let the two of you bear everything. I refuse to be a burden!" Shaking his head gently, he replied with a warm smile. "You've never been and never will be a burden, Aunty." Bryn then added while Seraphine nodded in assent. "Without you, we'd never be here after all." Their words had an immediate effect on the middle-aged woman as the tension in her body seemed to disappear while some mist surfaced in her light brown-colored eyes.
"You guys... I..." She fumbled a bit with her words before Demian cut her off gently. "It's fine, Aunty. We'll just knock out the guy. That way, we can decide later what to do with him." Her gaze turned thankful as she replied. "Sure. Let's do that." Feeling satisfied, he switched the topic. "Now, that's decided. We need to choose a location for the two of you to wait for us to deal with the situation. Do you have any ideas?" Adeliya and Seraphine's reluctance was obvious, however, they chose to keep it to themselves. After all, the two were smart enough to understand that participating in the operation was not only too risky for them but also unneeded. Body Strengthening cultivators were strong in hand-to-hand combat. However, against firearms, they would be as useful as untrained humans. Even with his Chi Gathering Rank, he would do his best to avoid facing those weapons until he was certain that his body could resist bullets, something he was not sure of yet.
His petite lover's suggestion suddenly pulled him from his inward musings. "I think we should take Big Sis' car and drive around until the two of you are done. We could also stay in one place, but in case some of those guys escape from you, they'll likely find us and then it's game over." Both Demian and Bryn felt like that plan was the safest for the two weakest members of the group and thus expressed their approval. The youngest redhead was clearly not finished as she added. "Also, the two of you should take Mom's car. That way, you'll be less obvious than with the muscle car." To which Bryn replied. "We'll do that. We only have to park the SUV a bit away from the place and we'll walk the rest of the way." Nodding his head, Demian claimed. "I agree. We'll still have to wait until night, though."
"Mmmhh. That'll increase our chances of staying unseen." With a wry smile, the young man shook his head. "I don't think being unseen is possible. Although, it might take slightly longer to spot us." Tilting her head, Bryn asked, puzzled. "What do you mean? With some dark clothes on, I'm sure we won't be too obvious, right?" Her words rendered him speechless for a second before he retorted. "Look, Big Sis. We both obviously stand out from the average crowd. Especially you. Not that I mind your new looks. On the contrary, I think you look amazing. But I think we can all agree that a 2m50 female redhead with both golden skin and muscles that would make even Hercules green from jealousy is not what I'd call inconspicuous. Even I, with my 2m10 and Greek God body, stand out too much."
His explanation brought a light blush on her face as she avoided his gaze while claiming. "I... forgot." Obviously aware that her reason was slightly lacking, she added. "It's not that I forgot exactly. But since none of you really paid attention to my physical changes and it's pretty new, so..." Chuckling at her adorable reaction, Demian retorted. "It's fine. I get it. In any case, we need to be aware of our physical... 'peculiarities' shall we say. That way we won't be taken by surprise." Nodding her head, the tall woman recovered her calm before proposing. "Since we've got until tonight, we should get you used to your new strength. Even I could use a sparring partner." Her words reminded him of his current predicament as he replied. "We'll have to wait til I get my new clothes, though. But in the meantime, I'll train my Divine Sense. It'll definitely come in handy during the operation."
Having made their decision, Demian went to his own training, while Bryn started cultivating cross-legged on the floor, and the other two practiced the Basic Technique on the other side. The wait lasted around two hours until the sizable package arrived and Bryn went to receive it downstairs before climbing back up to the penthouse and giving it to him. Once he had the box in hand, he commented. "I'll go get changed and then we can go outside to practice. I... I don't want to break a wall in our home or something." Bryn then retorted. "I know a vacant place where we can stretch our legs without problem. But don't forget to bring a second set of clothes in case you damage them during our training." Nodding his head, the young man then walked quickly to his bedroom, putting on a comfortable pair of black shorts, a black T-shirt, and a dark pair of socks from the package.
He then grabbed something more... 'concealed', which was a pair of dark-colored pants, a similar T-shirt, and a black hoody. He also did not forget to pick up one of the new pair of shoes he ordered, the former being some non-descript dark-colored sneakers. Done with his preparation, he briefly thought. 'I really wonder how those strong cultivators deal with the clothes and shoes problem?' Shaking his head, he moved all the items in his backpack leaning on his wardrobe's side. After setting the right strap over his right shoulder, he walked back to the penthouse's first floor, where everyone quickly joined him, having made their own preparation. Noticing his gaze examining their respective bags, Adeliya declared. "We'll go with both cars. That way, we can wait there until tonight and we'll separate at that point."
Nodding his head, he replied. "Makes sense. There's no real need to come back here in the meantime." As everyone seemed ready, Demian walked through the entrance, while thinking. 'Petrovich... You better enjoy your last remaining day on Earth, you bastard!'