chapter 29

"when and where" jack

"in the center of the village, tomorrow at noon" Rostwood

"fine" jack

"idiot! what do you think you're doing, challenging someone much stronger than you to a duel." old man

"you can't interfere zain, jack has already accepted the conditions. the only way to stop it is if both parties agree" ???

i look at the dark elf that came up from behind the old man. she has dark skin, white hair, and black fingernails, marionette syndrome i think. this dark elf is none other than zain hibachi's wife mary hibachi.

"good to see you again mary" jack

"i see war got that pill to you alright, where is he anyway?" mary

"he got caught dodging out of work and got forcefully dragged back" uncle

"i see you're doing well, brother." mary

"i am" uncle

"Rostwood, you might want to go train a little, this isn't some friendly spar you challenged jack to." johanna

"alright, see you tomorrow, jack." rostwood

"can we go inside, we've been running all day and i'm tired" joe

"it's not like you did anything, johanna did all the work" selena

"true..." johanna

the old man just looks at johanna with curiosity before taking us into the village and up to the biggest house in it. we received several welcome backs as well as some sparring requests, all of which i politely declined. the 6 humans get taunts from various people.

"welcome to my home, please come inside" old man

i then gave them the grand tour, which wasn't much. a couple bedrooms, two bathrooms,a 'private' one person bath and a 'public' bath, the kitchen, and the living room. we end in the living room where everyone sits on a large 25 seater couch.

"so, tell this old man about some of your adventures. how about you, a damned soul like you must have some good stories to tell" old man

"a few" Lucy

"what about when you stalled the rise of the church? i remember you saying something like that." mr smith

"well, in that was the last incarnation where i was a half-lich, i 'lived' to be about 450 and reached the rank of arc-half-lich. i was almost powerful enough to be a god. and my name was joshua thatcher." lucy

as soon as he heard this asmodeus's jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide with admiration. i could have sworn that they started to sparkle.

"seriously!? you're my idol, everything i wanted to be in my life. i grew up listening to your story! although, unfortunately the concrete information about you was rather limited, just that you mastered every form of magic and was killed by the church during there come to power." mr smith

"while it is true that at one point i had mastered every form of magic, that was a really long time ago and i have gotten rusty and forgotten much of what i used to know.

"in that incarnation i was brought to life by a necromancer that wanted to save his brother, who had just died. his brother's soul didn't return to his body, so, instead i took over the body. i had a good master during that incarnation, i was rather fond of him. we would train in magic together for years, and when he had an accident i turned him into a half-lich before he died.

"we countined to practice magic, eventually reaching the rank of arc-half-lich, and build a standing in the world, eventually becoming a powerful lord in a contental country, unfortunently that country no longer exsists.

"400 years past with us ammasing our power and influence in that country, we even managed to take over most of that content, unfortunently before we could my master was asassinated by a member of the church, wich was just begining to gain power, for openly opposing the church.at the time he was the right hand man to the king, and had been for many generations. he was loved by all the citizens in the country, even the humans.

"unfortunately the church had gained a huge following, and an even greater number of slaves, all of which were highly trained in either swordsmanship or magic, sometimes both. they organized a coop immediately after my masters assassination killing all the lords and replacing them with their own lords. immediately after, every creature that wasn't human was either enslaved or driven out of the country.

"i, who was also very well liked by the people, got all the civilians to safety before getting together all of the mages to do mass summonings of undead. after three years of this i gathered up the soldiers and all of the undead we managed to create and started a march on the country, capturing city after city with very minimal loss.

"then we reached the capital. we lost half the undead and 1 third of the soldiers in the first day, the second day we fared much better, taking the outer ring of the city. after that they couldn't kill my undead faster than i could create them, and they had several battalions of damned soul'd humans that were tied to a dungeon beneath the castle, neither side could do any significant damage to the other.after several months of this stalemate they got restless and cast a spell that blew up half the city, along with a large chunk of my soldiers, both undead and not.

"at that point my rage had been boiling for years, over the death of my master and friend and over being driven from my home. i told all of men to go home and sacrificed all the remaining undead, turning them all into mana. i then started to burn the stone city, my pure unadulterated rage strengthening my fire magic. i killed almost every human within the wall of the city, in addition to the walls, streets, and buildings, almost every human. unfortunately the pope nick johnson(yes you human supremacist, necromancer hating bastard i named the pope after you) and the rest of the top brass escaped while i ended up burning myself up with the city. the only ones that remained in that city were the damned soul'd humans." lucy

"the ashen city" jack

"correct, the humans have since turned into something much more feral, although they are still there" asmodeus

"that was a very interesting story. now, i have a duel to prepare for" jack

"do you really need preparation for that duel, i mean he definitely isn't as strong as you." johanna

"true, it's mostly a force of habit to get every detail possible before a fight" jack

i get up and move over to a window to watch over the training grounds where rostwood is punching a training dummy.

'a cloth specialist huh, it's been awhile sense i've fought one' jack

let me clarify. a cloth specialist is someones that uses their hands to fight. that doesn't mean that they don't use weapons, as the cloth they wrap around their hands is a very real weapon. the way the cloth is made and the materials used allow it to become stronger with use, basicly a progressive enchantment. the downside to this is that you can't use anyone else's cloth and if you lose yours you have to build up another one. the type of properties it obtains varies based on the personality and needs of the wielder.

i continue to observe his every movement, to completely map his fighting style, for about ten minutes before he starts sparring with some others. nothing too different from how he strikes the dummy. after observing him for a couple more minutes i begin to notice something, he gets nervous when he feints, his heart skips a beat. of course the only reason i noticed it was my extremely powerful eyesight.

satisfied i head off to the bar, i haven't had a drink in weeks. it's like i can get drunk unless i drink enough to kill a horse, but i like the taste of the local beverages, which is something similar to wine made from a type of fruit that only grows in areas of large magical activity. a village that is frequented by gods definitely fits the bill. i jump out of third story window and start to walk over to the bar, making note of the surprised gasps.

"does he do that a lot?" joe

"afraid so, it really gets on my nerves" mary

"let kids be kids" zain

"um, can you release the curse you put on me, mary?" johanna

i didn't hear anything more as i was entering the bar. i quickly went up to the stool, my favorite seat.

"oi, godslayer, it's been forever since i've seen you in my bar" bar man

"i haven't heard that nickname in a long time" jack

"HA HA HA! you've been living as a 'normal person' for the past two years, of course you haven't. so how was it?" bar man

i got that nickname due to my skill in defeating gods, which is child's play once you figure out their weakness. it's quite simple really, if you can counter what they represent they are powerless towards you. for example, if you pacify a god of war he is powerless, if you enrage a god of peace he is powerless. i'm just surprised no one else has figured that out.

"it was rather boring, this place is much more interesting. the usual please" jack

"HA HA HA. of course it is. here you go" bar man

i spend an hour drinking and talking to the other patrons before going to a familiar house, only slightly tipsy. when i get to the house, which is a small one on the edge of the village. i knock on the door and wait a couple minutes before a familiar face greets me at the door.

"yo, lilith" jack

"about damn time you come visit me, johanna was here an hour ago" lilith

that's when i notice johanna standing behind lilith in just her lingerie.

"you've got to stop seducing johanna the moment you see her. she might be immune to your magical charm, but she is weak to you're more natural charm" jack

and she definitely has natural charm, with her perfectly proportioned body and her above average height, which complements her perfectly. her perfectly smooth skin is the wonderful shade of dark chocolate, complementing her light brown hair. of course any self respecting succubus would take perfect care over their body. she was wearing some rather revealing underwear accentuating all of her strong points, which was everything. on a side note, this amazones loves bastard swords and bows.

"i can't help it, i was starving. i haven't eaten in weeks, and you know what happens when my kind don't eat. although women don't give us as much as men, it still helps us stave our hunger." lilith

"why don't you join us jack. the full moon isn't that far away, surely you're already feeling the effects of the blessing." johanna

"come on jack, by succubus culture you are technically my husband. and johanna isn't a human anymore" lilith

i look over at the horizon and see the top of the moon.

"well, it looks like night is almost upon us, lets go inside." jack

end chapter 29

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