Chapter 31 All is Fair in Love and War

Everyone stopped for a second and looked at Batista’s direction, he was fuming with anger and a savage aura was slowly building up around him making him look like a beast who was about to devour everyone around him. Opposite him were three people, aside from Jack and Floyd there was an additional person but he was bound with ropes fortified with formations and his mouth was also covered.

“Motherfucker! Release him Floyd!”

Batista wanted to jump out but Floyd pointed his sword at Dave’s neck making a small amount of blood flow.

“Ah, ah, you better not make any unnecessary movements or my hand might get agitated.”

Floyd spoke with a sinister smile while looking at Batista with a provocative face.

“Damn! Floyd, this is too outrageous even for you,” Batista growled and tried his best to maintain his calm.

“Hahahahaha!” Floyd suddenly burst into laughter then looked at Batista with a sinister look.

“Outrageous? Really? Then what do you call what you’ve done all those years ago? Huh?”

“Are you kidding me, Floyd? You still can’t get over it? Damn! How many times do I have to explain it to you? Huh? She never liked...”

“Shut the fuck up! You know damn well how I felt about her but you still laid your hands on her! And worse, you even let her die!”

Before Batista could finish his sentence, Floyd interrupted with fury in his eyes. The people around them felt kinda awkward listening to them because they knew how the enmity started.

.....

A little over forty years ago...

In a remote hunting village located in the southern part of the Carson kingdom, black smoke was rising from burning houses. Cries of women being ravaged could be heard while children were weeping beside their father’s or brother’s corpses. All the men in the village have been murdered by the bandits.

Coincidence or not, Batista was hunting in the mountains alone when the bandits attacked his village. He was fifteen years old but his body was bulked with muscles and he was bigger than the average man, this was due to his cultivation method. Their village did not produce any cultivators, he only got lucky when he entered one of the caves where a cultivator passed away in meditation and left his legacy.

Looking at black smoke rising from where his home was located, he did his best to rush back but it was too late, the village was razed and the bandits were gone. His eyes were red and his body was trembling while slowly walked towards his house where his family was supposed to be waiting for him, his parents, his older sister and their newborn baby brother.

Slowly opening the door, the smell of blood assaulted his nose and tears started to run down his face. He did his best to retain his sanity then went to the bedroom where he saw a nightmare he could never forget.

His mother and sister were bare naked on the bed with blood all over their bodies.

“Nooo!”

Batista issued a low cry and could not contain his grief then kneeled down on the floor while trying his best not to become crazy. From the corner of his eye, he saw another horrifying scence, his baby brother was in the corner of the room lying in a pool of blood with his head mangled. It was obvious he thrown hard on the wall that smashed his head.

“Uwaaaaaaaah! Awoooooo!”

Batista could not take in any longer and howled like a mad beast, his tears slowly turned into blood. It took some time for him to slowly regain clarity, before anything else, with trembling hands, he covered the body of his loved ones and buried them together with his beheaded father where he found him at the center of the village together with the other men. His pain and grief were indescribable, it was a feeling no man could hope to endure but he did.

Despite his agony and torment, he tried to find anyone who was still alive but to no avail. With all his strength, he buried everyone in the village and bid farewell. He endured all the suffering he felt and marched towards the bandit’s hideout, the Blackflag. The hideout was located near a thousand-meter cliff where a river flowed down below. Disregarding his life, he attacked the place killing everyone he saw and used any means he could use – hacking, punching, kicking, stabbing and even biting.

It was a bloody and gory scene, if a normal person would see it, his intestines would turn upside down. Most of the corpses were not intact, Batista was bathed in blood, his and his enemy’s. Looking at his subordinates dying, the boss did not sit any longer and attacked personally.

The fight did not last long, despite all the pent-up rage, will and determination, it could not close the gap in cultivation. Blood was flowing nonstop from Batista’s wounds, he was kneeling at the edge of the cliff with one knee while holding his axe in front of him trying to maintain his balance. He was like a wounded cornered rabid dog. Mustering all his remaining strength, he stood up and looked at the bandit’s boss and imprinted his face to the depths of his soul.

The boss was a thin middle-aged man with thin eye-brows and a sharp pair of eyes. He was wearing a black tight-fitting clothing while holding a bloody saber in his hand.

“You think you can rampage here? Hmph! Go meet your fellow villagers in the yellow springs,”

He spoke with disdain and stabbed Batista’s stomach making him cough out large mouthfuls of blood. Blood loss started to kick in and he started to lose consciousness but maintained his hateful gaze towards the bandit boss.

“This is Blackflag!”

The leader shouted and kicked Batista making him fall down the cliff. Batista could not maintain his consciousness any longer and smiled while looking the the the sky while he was falling, then closed his eyes.

“I’m coming everyone, wait for me.”

.....

An unknown time has passed, Batista slowly opened his eyes, it was blurry at first but then it started to adjust. He was inside a cave, the crackling firewood was the only thing he could hear. Pain wracked his body that made him unable to get up, observing further, his body was full of bandages.

“I’m still alive?” He was confused as he believed he would die from that fall, turns out he did not.

Footsteps echoed out and he tried to turn his head to look who was coming. A pair of cold-looking eyes met his gaze, it was a teenager and he knew him.

“You?”

Batista was surprised, the boy he saw was at the same age as him but he was the loner of the village. His name was Floyd Weather and he did not play with anyone, instead, he wanted to be by himself all day long making the other kids isolate him. The village would not even notice him if he went missing, the only one who interacted with him were his parents who sadly passed away a few years ago. The death of his parents made him isolate his self even more and only went back to the village every few days.

The men in the village wanted to hunt in the woods to prove their manhood but Floyd was different. He loved to go fishing in the nearby river and swim all day long gaining the ability to stay underwater for long period of time. Due to that, he found an underwater cave where he found his own lucky chance.

“Good your up, I don’t want a corpse in my cave,”

Floyd spoke in a cold tone, then put a bowl of soup beside Batista.

“How are you alive?” Batista curiosly asked.

“I was not in the village when it was attacked, when I went back everyone was already buried, was it you?”

Floyd answered without a hint of emotion as if he did not care whether the village survived or not. Batista just nodded in response and despite the pain, he tried to get up making the deep wounds bleed but he did not care then slurped the soup making him cough in pain. Floyd just looked at him without saying anything.

Days passed and Batista’s external wounds healed, he could do basic functions but could not do extreme activities. He went out of the cave that was hidden by the veil of water from the waterfall. Floyd was meditating, releasing a cold aura when Batista went out, he was not surprised by this, he already discovered a few days ago that Floyd could cultivate but did not ask about it. Everyone has their own secret.

“What do you plan to do now? Charge back to the Blackflag?” Floyd asked casually.

“Why? Would you help me?” Batista answered back with a question.

“Nope, I would not sacrifice myself for dead people, besides, their leader is strong, I bet we would not even beat him if we work together.”

“Hmph!”

Batista just snorted back, he was pissed by Floyd’s attitude but he could only accept it, besides he was the one who saved him.

Days and weeks passed, Batista regained his strength and all his wounds healed but his body was riddled with scars. He even made breakthroughs in his cultivation making him one step closer to the Halo stage. After deciding, he planned to go adventuring and gain strength to exact his revenge. All he could do now was bury all his resentment inside and make it explode when the right time comes.

“I’ll go adventuring, wanna come?”

Batista invited Floyd, traveling alone would be lonely. Floyd contemplated for a moment and accepted the invitation. He was not a sociable person but staying in the same place for a long time had also taken a toll on him.

The two of them did not know where to go and randomly traveled to places where they encountered many things, killing beasts and even vile people. They even attacked bandit hideouts, because of this, an unspoken friendship formed between the two of them. They could not admit it openly due to awkwardness but they treated each other as friends.

A little over a year has passed when they arrived at Sin City, they decided to make this their base. They would go adventuring in the wild but come back to the city after. Another year has passed, they were planning to attack one of the nearby bandits but when they got there, a small group of soldiers were already attacking it, it was led by Wilfred Chan and Wilky Lindor.

This event sparked Batista’s interest and wanted to join the army but Floyd did not like the idea. He was still socially awkward after all, introducing himself, Batista expressed his interest to join the army. Wilfred and Wilky welcomed him with open arms and they instantly became friends. Batista convinced Floyd to at least work with him and after a long time of convincing, he agreed. Floyd acted as a scout, locating enemies and gathering intel, this work suited a man like him.

Years passed and they advanced in their cultivation, Batista started to climb ranks while Floyd was working in the shadows. With enough preparation, they planned to finally attack and annihilate the Blackflag, the long-awaited revenge has finally come.

This was a personal grudge so only the four of them attacked the hideout, Batista, Floyd, Wilky and Wilfred. They commenced the attack during the night and caught their enemies unprepared.

Boom! Boom! Ahhhh!

The sound of attacks and screams of despair echoed throughout the place. Fire lit up the dark night while the smell of burning wood, corpses and blood permeated the air. Only four people attacked but each individual held the qualification to become an officer in the army. Nobody could escape the onslaught, the bandit boss was kneeling while bathed in blood, he was coughing blood nonstop.

“So it was you after all, the irony.”

He looked at Batista with a bitter smile, the same thing happened years ago but this time, he was the one kneeling. Batista did not responed and raised his axe hacking the boss in two. The mountain pressing on his shoulders slowly disappeared, tears slowly began to trickle down his face. He walked at the edge of the cliff and raised his head looking at the starry sky.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs, it was a form of release, a freedom from a great burden from the past. He cried nonstop for some time while the three just stood there and watched his back.

“Everyone, I have already avenged you, you can now all rest in peace.” He mumbled to himself while smiling with satisfaction.

“Let’s go,”

He was in good spirits and did not want stay in this place any longer, they did not even think about looting the place.

“Wait, there is a slave, what do we do?”

Floyd interrupted and went inside the prison area and came back with a young lady. She was in her early twenties, she had blue long hair paired with sky-blue eyes that was reflected by the fire making it more attractive. A dirty blue clothing wrapped around her, she may not be the most beautiful girl in the kingdom but she had a unique aura around her, the aura of gentleness and gracefulness.

Her name was Bluegrass, just like Batista and Floyd, she was from one of the many villages that lived in the area. Her village was attacked that day and she was held captive and was supposed to be offered to the boss. To their surprise, she actually cultivated but she was only at the beginning stages.

They had no choice but to take her with them, she had no home to go back to and was arranged to stay in Sin city with Batista and Floyd. Unknown to the three, Floyd felt something unfamiliar when he first saw the girl but could not pinpoint what it was. All he knew was he liked looking at the girl and wanted to befriend her.

Because of that, he tried his best to improve his social skills to get closer to her. Alas, she showed no signs of interest and only treated him as a friend, the biggest hindrance was she did not like how Floyd do things. She did not like how he did things in the shadows, she wanted a man who did things openly, just like Batista.

With Batista’s intuition and observation, he could see that Floyd liked Bluegrass but he could not also deny the fact that he was interested with her.

All is fair in love and war.

Alas, time slowly erroded Batista’s reservations and declared his love for Bluegrass. It was a tough decision for him, besides even if he did not proclaim his love, it was unlikely that Bluegrass would fall for Floyd.

Floyd did not say anything but slowly distanced himslef away from everyone. Batista could only sigh about this and when he married Bluegrass, Floyd expressed his congratulations and disappeared from the kingdom. They only heard vague news on his whereabouts and what he was doing.

Seconds turned into years, Batista and Bluegrass had their firstborn son, Dave. Just like his father, he joined the military at a young age and had his own accomplishments. His birth was not easy and Bluegrass nearly died in childbirth, the doctors warned them not to have a second child but Bluegrass was persistent and wanted a baby girl.

After years of pleading, Batista gave in to his wife’s wish and she became pregnant. He hired the best doctor he could afford that monitored Bluegrass’ pregnancy.

Everything was smoothsailing, but when the labor pains came, she became unstable and had to choose between her or the baby. She was stubborn and insisted on delivering the baby, using all her energy, she transferred it to her unborn child to secure a safe passage.

Heavens heard her prayers and she gave birth to a healthy baby girl that was like a mirror image of her. Batista named her Blue, she grew into a beautiful child that brought happiness to Batista, she was everything to him.

A year after the death of Bluegrass, Floyd contacted him out of nowhere and wanted to meet him at the border. Batista was a bit skeptical so he brought a handful of his elite subordinates. Floyd did not specify the reason but Batista was also curious and set out to meet him.

They met in the middle of a vast prairie blanketed with green grass and flowers of different colors but the weather was a bit gloomy and storm clouds started to gather covering the sun and the blue sky.

Floyd was already waiting for them, Batista and his men marched and met him in the middle.

“Batista, my old friend, why the back-up?” Floyd greeted him with great enthusiasm and slowly walked towards Batista with open arms.

Batista was surprised and actually lowered his guard when he saw Floyd’s attitude, he did not even detect anyone other than them. He grinned and opened his arms wide and they hugged like two brothers who missed each other.

“How...”

Psssskk!

­He was about to ask something when a cold blade pierced his stomach reaching his dantian making it crack. Batista’s eyes were wide open due to extreme shock.

“Wh-why?” He asked with a trembliing voice then he erupted with fury but Floyd let go and flipped backward creating a distance between them.

“Hmph! WHY? You brainless brawn, it was my biggest mistake to leave her in your care,” Floyd retorted back in anger and his face was full of fury.

To intensify the drama, rain started to pour down soaking everyone. Batista’s subordinates dashed and surrounded him to protect him. A formation lit up nearby and dozens of cultivators appeared, turns out, they were using a concealing formation.

“Begin,”

Floyd spoke in a cold tone and watched as his subordinates attack. Batista was half-kneeling trying to stop the leakage of his energy, he could feel his cultivation slowly decreasing in level. The battle started but they were outnumbered, his subordinates started to fall. Disregarding everything, he used his body as a shield and ordered his men to retreat worsening his wounds.

Floyd watched as the wounded Batista retreated and did not pursue, deep inside he could not deliver the final blow. After all, he was once his friend and they have been through tough times together.

“This is the last time, consider this as a respect for Bluegrass.”

He mumbled to himself and looked up while the rain continued to drench him. From then on, he joined the Kalbo kingdom and even had clashes with Wilfred and Wilky.