"Ah, my head" Wade groaned as he raised himself from the ground.

When he looked forward and his eyes cleared, the first thing he noticed was Gavin's dead body after which came the proximity of Hal and Lucile.

In fact, their faces were so close together that they looked about to lock lips.

The fact that the one who had been after his life was lying a few meters from them was easily ignored... Their almost connecting faces was the priority.

"Oy, what are you two doing?" he asked in a bid to call their attention but that was not really necessary.

Both already knew he was awake and were just satisfied to ignore him and act completely oblivious to his presence as well as the fact that there were dead bodies around.

The moment was much too precious.

However, now that Wade had ruined it, Hal felt he might as well take a little breather. After all, there would be other moments.

He turned away from Lucile who groaned silently and glared at Wade with her eyes blazing with annoyance.

"Hey Wade, how was your nap?" Hal asked and walked closer to his newest recruit who was still oblivious to that detail.

Wade sighed and finally took a mending pill which was a luxury Gavin had denied him before, to begin to mend his injuries and relieve his aching muscles.

Then he stood straight and glared at Hal.

That was when a voice he recognized as Hal's but commanded more authority spoke loud in his head,

'Before you go yapping your gums and getting me mad, you should take a few moments to process the fact that you now serve me' the voice said.

Wade's eyes widened at Hal who was still smiling jovially and amicably, quite unlike the authoritative and very close to getting pissed off voice the Sheik could hear.

'Serve you? You're kidding right?' He inquired. Finding it very impossible to even comprehend such a scenario.

The voice, Hal, chuckled without humor,

'I assure you that I am absolutely serious. Look at your right palm.' He told him.

With trepidation evident in his actions, Wade raised his palm to eye length and looked into it to see the Devil mark appear as it had been branded on him.

With the appearance of the mark came the realization of a submissive tethering that tied him to the blue-eyed young man in front of him. Also, he received an influx of information regarding the Devil mark and even abilities he was privy to through the mark.

However, it was reiterated to him by Hal that his branding was not to actually make him a part of his force but to ensure that Lucile got the investment she wanted.

From that moment on, Wade was given an edict which was to make use of all of his resources to fund Lucile's business or whatever proposal she might have in mind.

'Who else poses a threat to your rule as Sheik?' Hal asked him and Wade frowned.

'No one comes to mind. In our bid to take away the old Sheik's support system. All those with enough strength to actually threaten us were systematically taken out. Gavin and I are the strongest indigenes of the Black lagoon' He said.

Hal nodded as he understood the implications of those words which was that they had just taken out Wade's biggest competition.

Now all Wade needed to do was recruit men into his force once again, excluding an advisor of course, which was a system the Sheik had completely lost faith in.

At that moment, Lucile finally got tired of the two staring at each other and saying nothing as she addressed them both,

"If you two are just going to stand there, I think I'll just go ahead" she said and that was exactly what she did.

Stepping over Gavin's body, Lucile headed to the Sheik's residence which remained where she had been lodged for the duration of time she had been at Black Lagoon for the auction or more accurately, to solicit for an investment.

At first, Hal wondered if she would simply head over to a teleportation circle after the Sheik's residence since the lockdown array around the whole city was now down upon Gavin's death, and finally leave Black lagoon but he felt it was more likely she would stay around for a short while longer.

Once she was out of sight, Hal walked over to Gavin's body and picked up the mutating scroll that had stopped floating upon his death. He inspected it for a while and could see it was still very well active but since it had not been activated, it seemed more susceptible to damage.

He pointed at it and projected a rune (Burn) to incinerate the scroll to ashes just as Wade looked behind him to the dead bodies of the two hundred mutated guards.

"What the Fuck?!" He could not help but exclaim and made a double-take on Hal and wondered what had happened while he was unconscious and just how Hal could have accomplished this.

Hal of course had no interest in giving him a definite answer. However, he also did not care if he found out.

He created a Dome of Astral energy that enveloped the whole location of dead mutated guards and then opened the portal to the Beast habitat so that about ten beasts made their way out of it to drag the bodies into the portal for a grand feast. Or at least a grand meal.

They gave the ones that had been poisoned by Sassy a wide berth though.

Speaking of Sassy, she did not miss the chance to come out and ask that Hal no longer ignore her which he had no interest in doing as he punctured his skin and fed her drops of his blood.

Sassy stretched contentedly while coiling around his body to put her head close to his face and bump his cheek with a pleased hiss while Hal stroked her head with a sigh.

Then he turned to Wade who had been included in the Dome and whose eyes were widened in mild shock as he wondered who this young man really was.

"Close your mouth will you?" Sassy said suddenly and nailed him with her emerald eyes.

Despite being stronger than the serpent cultivation-wise, the Sheik still found himself intimidated by the large green serpent and her gaze was particularly threatening.

He closed his mouth after she asked him to, and she continued snuggling up with Hal while the beasts cleared up the scene and retreated into the portal.

Once they were gone, Hal projected runes to the bodies Sassy had poisoned and incinerated them all while Sassy uncoiled off his body and slid into the Beast habitat as well.

Then he closed the portal and the Dome of Astral energy faded to mark the completion of the clean-up.

While he had indeed closed his mouth, Wade still stared at the scene with wide-eyed surprise just as Hal turned away and stretched.

"You really should get back to your home now and reestablish that you have quelled the unrest and once again secured your position. Feel free to embellish on how you battled against the odds which was over two hundred men who were against you.

It will probably help with recruiting new guards and even instilling them with a healthy dose of fear that if with all he had, Gavin could not succeed, then it is impossible for them." He said.

Wade gulped,

"But I didn't do it alone though" he said.

Hal shrugged,

"What does that matter? It was still three against two hundred." He pointed out and the Sheik nodded.

With that, Hal left the temple grounds with his hands behind his back and heading towards his hotel for a well-deserved rest. The day had been quite eventful and it was already quite late in the evening already.

However, in front of his room door, he realized someone had taken advantage of his negligence when it comes to locking doors and was waiting for him inside.