[AUTHOR'S NOTE:- LATELY I HAVE BEEN RECEIVING A LOT OF MIXED VIEWS. PLEASE SPECIFY WHAT YOU LIKE AND DON'T LIKE IN THE STORY SO FAR. YOUR VIEWS ARE VERY IMPORTANT.]

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As planned, all the Blood Lords and our King, Hui’Mi gathered in the meeting ground. I accompanied father in the meeting ground, just as he ordered me to do. It was a large ground where in times of war or any mission, was used as staging site or a last minute training/skill polishing site. We were surrounded by large trees and our Clan city could be seen to the south, where it was clear of any large trees or bushes.

I saw four out five Blood Lords have already taken their seat around our King, except for father. Everyone was wearing our traditional black with red flames insignia armours along with their weapon of choice. All of them were accompanied by a member of their families. Who were standing behind their respective Blood Lords. I too took my position behind father, as he sat just to the right of our King.

Our King, Hui’Mi dressed in his King’s armour sat on his throne. His armour was different than the rest of ours. He wore a red armour with black flames insignia on it. He was a tall beastman, around 6’4” – 6’ 6” ft. Having a wide and slight muscular shoulder and a narrow waist, his body shape out to be an inverted triangle. He sat on his thrones, looking over everyone with his red eyes, until he looked into mine. I froze... not in fear, but for in awe. He, Our King, the strongest Blood in our clan must have many expectations from him. And he ruled over us with great surety and authority. I have to influence him... how could I do that?

Behind him, his three wives... our Queens sat on their respective thrones. They were Our King’s advisors too. Each of them were an accomplished warrior. While two of them were New generation Bloods, one belonged to Crodon clan. The way they handled themselves were truly fit to be our Rulers. And I am now charged to destroy it. Father... why?

Our first Queen is a member of the Crodon Royal family. She was betrothed to Our Blood King Hui’Mi at a very early age. This was done by our previous Blood King Jui’Mi to strengthen the relationship between the two Royal families of the Clans. They were the only thing that held both clans in check and stopped them from fighting with each other.

Her name is Lithesi... Queen Lithesi. She was about 6’6” ft tall, normal for a member of the Crodon Clan. She has an oval shaped facial structure with protruding dark green eyes. She has an average forehead with high cheekbones. She has a large nose, similar to her Clan trait and her lips were lopsided and were green in colour. She has a brown skin tone, again... a racial trait of their clan. Her ears were long and were decorated with a pair of beautiful earrings studded with precious gems. Her hair is long and was of auburn in colour, reaching up to her ankles. She kept her hair in a way that they covered her right shoulders and along with it her long, slender neck.

Her shoulders were wide along and of the same length as her hips while her waist was significantly narrower than her shoulder as well as her hips. She was gifted with small breasts and she used it to her advantage. I have seen her entice our Blood King during some meetings using every inch of her attributes.

She essentially did not have any interest in administrative matters. She enjoyed her matters in home mostly which was unnerving for many Blood women, who were trained to be efficient fighters. Matters of homely nature were not our first concern, although taking care of our mate is very important.

She sat on the leftmost corner our King. She too is an efficient warrior and is considered one of the best inside the Crodon Royal family.

Our second Queen is the daughter of the House of Var. She is the eldest daughter of a new generation Blood Lord. Her marriage to our King was by her choice. She was the first Blood woman to stake a claim of marriage over our King. She faced no opposition as she was a distinguished Blood Lord herself. She is the unofficial Head Queen of the Blood Zumas.

Her name is Issa... Queen Issa’Var. She was about 5’10”- 5’11” ft tall. Her face is of round shape with close set of ruby eyes. Her cheekbones were prominent and she sported a small nose. She has red full lips with a fair skin tone. She has long red hair, which reached up to her shoulders, a natural trait of us Blood women.

She has wide shoulders supporting a pair of full breasts. Her hips were narrower than her shoulders and had a slight curve to her waist. Her figure resembled an inverted triangle.

She is an expert trident wielder and has a soft spot for challenges. She participated in all the annual Blood tournaments and won most of them. She is also a natural administrator and is Our King’s most trusted adviser. She always sported a faint smile whenever she was outside.

She is also the only Blood whom I had to spend a minimum of half an hour to defeat her. No one until her was able to fight me more than 10 minutes. She truly is a worthy opponent and a worthy Queen too.

She sat just behind our King, giving her access to the right ear of our King.

I have seen, whenever I attend a meeting like this one, her eyes are always upon me and her hand upon her trident, placed on her right. Why does she do that, I have no idea about it? She always loses to me anyway.

Our third Queen is the daughter of the House of Xo. She is the third daughter of a new generation Blood Lord. Like our second Queen, she too married abiding the ancient rules of the Blood Zuma. After announcing her intention of marrying the King, she was challenged to a duel by another Blood. She made it out of the battle alive and a winner... just barely. She is an average Blood warrior.

Her name is Nix... Queen Nix’Xo. She is about 6ft tall with a square shaped facial structure and down turned ruby eyes. Along with the natural Blood traits like long red hair and fair skin tone, she has small breasts and her figures resembled to a rectangle as her shoulders and hips is of the same width.

She is a front liner carrying sword and shield. Most of our clan were surprised by her being one of our Queens as she is not even considered within the top 1000 strongest warriors. But King Hui’Mi did marry her and she was the first Queen to birth a child of our King. She conceived very early after marriage and a daughter was born.

She is named Xera’Mi, the first Royal born and third daughter out of five children of our King Hui’Mi. Now, she is an archery prodigy. I know her very well. She is the current Junior Archery champion.

Queen Nix’Xo is also given an administrative role by King Hui’Mi. She is competent in her role and does have a positive impact upon our King and sometimes in a meeting too.

Although her position of Queen was questioned, she presented herself worthy of being a Queen. She sat at the extreme right of King Hui’Mi. She too is quite weary of me. It must be the fact that I have beaten her in record time... 30 seconds.

The five Blood Lords sat in an arc, facing the Blood King. To the extreme right sat, Blood Lord Vasis’Var. He is the head of the House of Var and the father of our second Queen, Issa’Var.

He is about 5’10”-5’11” ft tall. Slim built, but an experienced dual wielder. A proud new generation Blood Zuma along with being the General of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Blood Zuma Infantry Division... the personal bodyguard Unit of our Blood King.

According to father, he is a staunch supporter of our King’s views of mixed lineage.

To his left from my view, sat Blood Lord Cri’Ion. He is the head of the House of Ion and the father of King Hui’Mi next suitor Usa’Ion, whom I have to challenge and kill her. She is also my best friend.

He is one of the shortest Blood in our clan, coming in at 5’8”-5’9”ft. It did not stop him from becoming the best front liner in our Clan. He is also a new generation Blood and the General of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Blood Zuma Infantry Division... our vanguard.

He is also a supporter of King Hui’Mi’s views.

At the extreme most left, sat Blood Lord Than’Xo. He is the head of the House of Xo and the father of our third Queen, Nix’Xo.

He stands at 6 ft and a fearsome archer. A new generation Blood and General of the 1st Archer Division of Blood Zuma and also supports King Hui’Mi.

To his right, sat Blood Lord Zel’Nia. She is the head of the House of Olas. Her husband died in exploratory mission in the north in the hands of a monster or a group of monster to be exact.

She is about 5’10” ft tall with protruding ruby eyes and long red hair. Her shoulders are wide and hips are small compared to her shoulders. She has nicely rounded; a shape hard to inherit. She is another fearsome front liner, given command over the 2nd Battalion of Royal Blood Zuma Infantry Division. She is a Pure Blood Zuma and one of the few in my father’s side.

She has two sons and three daughters, all of them are established Pure Blood Warriors. Her oldest son is also a Blood Lord and is set to inherit the House of Olas.

I had faced her in my first Annual Blood tournament, where I won within 10 minutes. Incidentally, I went on to win the tournament, defeating our second Queen, Issa’Var.

And finally, in the middle sat the oldest Blood Lord in our Clan, Blood Lord Ixias’Je... my father and head of the House of Je.

He stands at about 6 ft and is considered a monster Dual Wielder. He rivalled our King in that category along with me. He is a Pure Blood Zuma and wants to stop Our King from mixing our lineage.

He is the General of the 4th Battalion of Royal Blood Zuma Light Infantry. And he wishes to use me, Adi’Je... his first born and future head of the house of Je... a Blood Lord to stop our King and kill his entire line, except the line born from me and our King Hui’Mi... whom I do not even want.

The beastman whom I want is not him, nor is in this Clan or in the Crodon clan. I have not found him yet... I feel like an anomaly, a name the people in our Clan gave me. Why am I different from the rest of them? Why does my father wants to sacrifice his first born? Why?

The meeting started with mundane topics which went along the lines of defence of the Clan, troop’s reorganization and some reshuffle of senior military members. They also talked about the diplomacy with the Crodon Clan. Although, it could have been a bit messy if it was only discussed. The Pure Blood Lords were outnumbered by 3 to 2, without adding our King Hui’Mi and our three Queens.

Father tiptoed around the subject while trying to insinuate a spark here and there which was tactfully handled by our King. Missions to unknown places were also discussed and the progresses of the Units already in such missions were also discussed.

Finally, the time came to initiate my father’s plan.

King Hui’Mi: “Are there any matters left yet to be brought into my knowledge?”

Me: “Yes.”

I replied our King firmly. The King looked at me, fixing his red, fiery eyes over me. His Queens too followed his example, while I saw Queen Issa’Var and Queen Nix’Xo had placed their hands in their respective weapons. All the Blood Lords turned their heads to face I along with my father, who asked me.

Father: “Adi, what matters do you want to discuss with our King... my child?”

He smiled softly which clearly did not belong on his face. He will stay neutral in this matter, just as he informed me before coming here. Our King replied.

King Hui’Mi: “Blood Lord Ad’Je, please come forward and state the matters you wish to discuss.”

His voice was stern and firm as always. I walked forward and stopped just before him. I bowed and stated my matter.

Me: “My King, I only have one matter about which I would like to act.”

King Hui’Mi: “And what would that be, Blood Lord Adi’Je?”

I turn to my left, facing Blood Lord Cri’Ion and more importantly, Usa’Ion. With a loud and clear voice, I stated my matter.

Me: “I, Blood Lord Adi’Je challenge Blood Lord Usa’Ion for her right to marry Our King Hui’Mi.”

Almost all stopped moving. Blood Lord Cri’Ion kept looking at me with a stupefied look. For a minute, nobody even uttered a single word. My father would be somewhat happy by now; the silence meant that everybody was now calculating Usa’Ion’s chances.

As I had predicted, Queen Issa’Var was the one who spoke out first.

Queen Issa’Var: “Impossible! She had staked her claim a long time back. There was no challenge issued at that moment, if you wanted to issue a challenge then you could have done it then.”

Me: “Is there any time limit to issue a challenge for the right to marry, Queen Issa’Var?”

This time, Queen Nix’Xo spoke out.

Queen Nix’Xo: “Why are you suddenly interested in issuing a challenge?”

I look towards her and replied.

Me: “That is a personal matter, I will not discuss.”

Queen Issa’Var: “Blood Lord Adi’Je, this challenge cannot take place.”

Me: “It is for our King to decide, is it not?”

Everyone now looked towards King Hui’Mi who stayed silent.

King Hui’Mi: “Blood Lord Usa’Ion, what is your decision?”

Usa’Ion: “My Lord! I am ready to accept the challenge from Blood Lord Adi’Je.”

He looks back to me then looks towards the Blood Lords sitting behind me.

King Hui’Mi: “Does any one of the Blood Lords sitting have any objections?”

All of them glanced quick look at one another, then each of them replied the same thing.

“No, My King.”

They could not stop this. They have no basis to stop it. I guess father planned this way.

King Hui’Mi: “Very well.”

Both of his Queens spoke out in protest.

“But, My Lord!!”

He gave them a stern look which made them back a little bit. The first Queen was not interested in this matter. I could deduce it by the look on her face. He looked towards me and gave out his order.

King Hui’Mi: “Blood Lord Adi’Je, your challenge towards Blood Lord Usa’Ion for the stake of marriage to me, has been granted.

Blood Lord Usa’Ion, please step forward so that we may start the challenge.

Blood Lord Adi’Je, state your weapons to be used in the fight.”

Me: “Hand to hand combat, My King.”

King Hui’Mi: “Very Well. Whenever you are ready, you can begin.”

Usa’Ion stepped forward and faced me. The place between the seated Blood Lords and the King’s throne was quite large, large enough to fight.

Both of us unequipped our weapons and armour. None of this is allowed in a hand to hand combat challenge within our Clan members.

I faced her while placing both of my hands in front of my face, guarding it with a clenched fist. My legs were also in a position that gave me the optimum balance as while my dominant leg, which is my right leg facing her, my left leg was at an angle away from her. She too took the same stance. It was a standard Thunderbolt stance.

Usa’Ion: “Why the sudden challenge, Adi?”

I give her no reply, but lunged forward to attack her.

Anticipating my move, she applied a roundhouse kick towards me. Her choice was excellent; it is one of the most effective ways to counter a charging opponent, giving the opponent no time to react.

I stopped just inches away from her kick’s attack radius and saw her right feet fly by. After that, I closed the gap and as expected, but she strung together a series of roundhouse kicks to give me less time and space to launch any kind of attacks.

After staying away from her attack radius of one such kick, I moved closer and within seconds shortening the distance between us. It enabled me to catch her incoming leg in motion, and using that as leverage I slammed her down on the ground after flying over my head. It was a simple take down, using her own force.

I still had a hold on her right leg. She was on the ground, dazed. I stomped on her stomach to inflict more pain and bend down to grab her other leg. While holding both legs, I stomped again onto her stomach. A thought crept into me and I let her legs free. It would have been easy to break her legs at that point. To break them, a single point stomp was needed, but I did not want that. After freeing her legs, I tracked back some feet and signaled her to get up.

She got up with a perplexed look. Surely thinking, why I let her go free.

Me: "Fight!!! To survive Usa."

I charged forward, launching punches in combination of different sets. Aiming for her chin, I punched with my left. She blocked it by putting her guard up at the right time. Quickly, I followed it with a punch with my right to which she swayed a little to her left... She used absolute minimum movement required to dodge the attack. She did not waste movement and that allowed her to sway back in the fight.

I aimed an uppercut with my left aiming below her chin. She used her right leg to kick me on the chest. I backed down a little bit, but the uppercut was just a decoy.I pulled her closer with an immense force with my tail which had wrapped around her waist. She was unaware of it and could use little force to save her. As she approached closer, I connected an uppercut on her chin which made her flew back a couple of feet. I loosened my tail around her waist at the time, my attack connected to allow her fly backwards upon getting hit by my uppercut.

Though disoriented, she quickly got up on her feet and held her guard up. I closed the distance between us in a blink of an eye and started my second set of combinations.

With a flurry of combinations of left and right punches, I rained on her hands, which she used as her guard. She used a shell guard and with each punch, I kept on increasing the power behind them. I specifically targeted the middle of her guard.

She used her footwork and tried to shorten the length between us to soften the blows, but I too kept at an optimum distance. Now, my power output was about 30% and her guard broke for a split second. I sneaked in a combination of right hoot and then a jab.

She lost her balance and I kicked her on her right thigh. She went down on one knee and I used my right knee to hit her on the nose, breaking it. A bone crushing sound could be heard in the nearby vicinity. I knee her two more times and grabbed her head.

Right then, I was hurtled back. I fell to my back on the ground. She used her tail too. I got up quickly and saw her charging towards me. Her nose had seen better days and she increased her bloodlust to the full extent she could use.I obliged her and released my bloodlust too. As soon as I realized it, she hesitated for a mere second and it was all that I needed.

I landed an uppercut with my right, followed by a hook with my left, then a short cross in with my right, then a left hook to the liver, right jab to the rib cage, an uppercut on the chin and the combination ended with a right knee to chest, close to the heart.

She gingerly stepped back, bleeding from her lips and nose. She had a beautiful full lips and I knew for a fact that King Hui’Mi loved to suck on Usa’s lips. Now, it was nothing, but a piece of flesh hanging on her beautiful face just like her nose. If she wins here, those would be fixed within a couple of months, but a scar would still remain. If she wins that is...

I advanced, but my leg was caught by her tail and I was knocked out of my feet and landed on the ground on my back. Immediately, I found Usa over me. She had jumped on me and now was in the action of unloading her combinations.

I quickly got by shell guard up and endured. A left hook, then a straight jab, a straight jab and a right hook, then a cross in from the left followed by a right hook.

All was punches were probing any chunk in my guard. There was no real power in them. She had kept it in reserve for the actual punches. As she was on me, her blood dripped onto me and I saw the damage I did to her face was far more serious. Her left eye was about to close and there was a cut above her right eye.

Suddenly, I felt a strong jab in my stomach. It quickly knocked the wind out of me and my guard opened up. As soon as that happened, I was met by a right hook, a left jab, a right jab then a left hook. Those punches had power in them. She is a Blood Lord and she was showing why. And in the midst of giving me an overpowered right jab which was meant to knock me out, she received a right uppercut herself on her face and was thrown off of me by my tail. She landed on the ground and rolled a bit and then came to a stop. She was facing the ground, trying to get up.

I immediately propelled myself up on my feet. I dashed forward and quickly grabbed her right feet. After a well placed powerful stomp on the right thing, I was successful in breaking her right leg. A loud cracking sound spread throughout the ground and Usa screamed in pain.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....”

I stood back and waited... waited for Usa to get up again. She was in pain, but she was also a Blood women. Victory comes to those who defeat pain. She turned and started to hobble towards me.

Within seconds, I was close to her and my hand was in motion to give my most powerful jab to the heart, which would end her life. We both liked each other into our respective eyes in that moment. It was as if time had frozen for us.

She is my best friend and I was so happy for her. Why do I have to kill her father? Why?... She-She is my best friend. How can I live with myself? All these questions flooded my mind. As a result, I was about to pull my jab when I hear Usa.

Usa’Ion: “Do it, Adi! Do not be afraid!

I understand everything and I hope you see the light one day.

I really hope for you to find that someone special one day.

Goodbye, Adi... my best frie-”

The jab connected on her chest, over her heart... instantly killing her.

She fell on the ground, lifeless as I turned towards my father. He looked amused and happy.

Look father... what I did... I killed my best friend for you father, like you asked. I killed my best friend...

I am now standing inside Our King’s private chamber facing him.

He spoke.

King Hui’Mi: “Congratulations on the victory, Blood Lord Adi’Je!”

I looked at him, but did not reply to his words. He continued after seeing me.

King Hui’Mi: “Are you not happy?”

I answered truthfully.

Me: “No.”

King Hui’Mi: “I had hoped you would be happy or at least try to act happy because of the insistence of your father.”

Me: “You knew?”

I saw him lean forward and attempted to kiss me. I immediately stepped back.

Me: “What are you doing My King?”

King Hui’Mi: “Checking something. You do not even like me or have any interest in this marriage. Then... why? Why did you kill Usa’Ion.”

Me: “Father...”

I immediately realized something.

King Hui’Mi: “You are one of the greatest fighters our Clan has ever seen. Break free from the shackles of the old. You yourself witnessed the ferocity within our Pure Blood have.

We need to move on from our old rules, our old self and build a new world for us where we are a better beast Clan... a better Blood Zuma Clan.

And you need to break free from the shackles named your father.

Will you break free and share my dream Adi’Je?”

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Me: “Yes.”