Chapter One-Hundred and Twenty-Nine: A Tomorrow Problem

Shigure was stunned, frozen in place as he looked at the remnants of the people that had survived the true one-sided smiting from Drake. Whimpers and cries filled the room, and the smell of burning flesh and charred earth wafted through the air.

"-rd Sh.g..e! L..d! Lord Shigure!" Uta shouted at him, shaking him back into the present, her voice starting out as a muffled distant tune eventually coming into focus.

"W-what happened?" he asked, startled.

"That man... He went crazy," Uta said, gripping her own sleeves shaking, "My Lord, I understand more than ever that we have made a mistake in making him an enemy… I-I apologize for contributing to this.."

Shigure was momentarily dumbfounded but forced himself to compose himself, not wanting Uta to feel solely responsible for the situation.

"No, I am to blame for asking you to speak to his assistant alone… I should have addressed him myself. As for this," he looked again at the carnage that filled the tent, "This was Adam's foolish doing… He played with a beast more dangerous than we could possibly imagine."

Continuing to scan the area, Shigure spotted Savannah somehow still alive despite being directly involved. He quickly stormed over his face grimacing into a scowl as he passed the survivors of the incident as well as the now-freed hostages. But they were not his priority right now.

Grabbing her from the ground and forcing her to face him, he roared in anger.

"What were you imbeciles thinking?! Did you not see what that man was already capable of when he fought both I and Bear!?" Shigure shouted.

"W-w-we… We just didn't want to lose our power… We thought he wouldn't dare do anything if we had one of his team members! How were we supposed to know he would kill everyone?! Would anyone in their right mind do that?" she shouted back trying to deflect.

"Does it look like that man is in his right mind?! Or that he conforms to the old world's way of thinking! You've all done nothing but doom us!" Shigure spat, throwing her back to the ground as he bit his lip.

Fuck! Just looking at this mess that man wasn't even slightly serious when he faced me! If he can wipe out the near entirety of our fighting force without breaking a sweat, we stand no chance! And we don't even know the capabilities of his teammates. Shigure thought, his face paling and his brow breaking into a cold sweat.

"My Lord…" Uta asked concerned.

"We have to go to him immediately. If we don't make this right we're all good as dead. That man, Shot. He's less human than I believed and he doesn't bat an eye at killing those he deems less than. All we can hope is that we can appease him…" Shigure said, his face curling into a grim wry smile as he chuckled nervously.

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"K-kill me… You have her, so keep your promise! Kill me!" Adam pleaded.

Drake pulled Claire into his arms, making sure she was fine as he heard her breathing steady, completely ignoring Adam for now.

She seems fine but how can I be sure nothing was done to her? Drake wondered.

"You will have to ask for a healer to cleanse her, or perhaps the oaf has a potion to do so," Natto offered.

Drake nodded, his eyes snapping back to Adam as they turned to hateful points.

"You think we're done here?" Drake said in a low growl, standing slowly not to jostle Claire.

"Y-you promised…" Adam wailed.

Drake scoffed, "I never said a word about you dying painlessly. We are going to have a long chat about what a complete piece of shit you are."

Drake moved over to the bed in the tent placing Claire down.

"Natto you can come out. Watch her please," Drake instructed, turning back to Adam.

Natto rolled out onto the bed, stopping next to Claire as Drake strolled back over to the pale man whimpering on the ground for his life to end.

"I can't tell you anything even if I wanted to! I'm bound by a magical contract!" Adam screamed.

A deep orange magic circle formed in front of Drake's hand as it began to bubble and slither up his arm.

Drake slowly brought the arm closer and closer to Adam's face, "We'll just have to put that to the test won't we? Because I don't believe a single word coming out of your mouth."

Adam stared at the hand inching closer and closer to himself, the sweat from his face quickly evaporating as it dripped down onto the hand covered in magma.

"I-i just wanted to bring you under my wing! I needed someone as strong as you! You should take it as a compliment!" Adam stammered.

"More like an insult," Drake said coldly, his hand just millimeters from Adam.

"I have a master! He's very strong! If you keep this up he isn't going to be happy!" Adam said making a 180 in demeanor.

Natto scoffed from the bed, "The filth has cracked…" she murmured.

Drake moved quickly his hand going to Adam's exposed shoulder and ran his hand down his arm, the sound of searing flesh hissing the entire way as Adam shrieked again in pain, his flesh curdling and charring as it slowly began to regenerate only to be burned once again.

"What makes you think I give a shit about some old decrepit dude who can't even fight me himself? You touched someone important to me. This is between you and me and I'm going to make sure you die in the most painful way I can possibly imagine. This isn't business or part of the tutorial anymore. This is personal," Drake spat venomously.

Snapping his fingers Drake conjured slivers of earth above every major pain point he could think of. And with a quick flick of his wrist, countless spikes began to embed themselves into Adam.

"Ahhhh!! W-why! It was just one girl?! I didn't even do anything to her! You have so many more!?" Adam squealed.

Drake physically cringed hearing the word of having so many more, but something twinged inside of him.

Were they not his? Why shouldn't they be his. They should belong to him just like everything else. That's why he was so angry, no? They tried to take his possession.

Drake quickly shook his head.

"Is that what you think of people? As things? They are people I've promised protection to, and you violated their peace which makes it my job to make it right and more," Drake spat.

Drake's fingers expanded, the tips finding the ends of the stone spikes one by one, turning them into magma themselves as they began searing Adam, increasing the pain he felt several times over.

"Since you brought it up, who is this big mysterious bad guy behind you?" Drake asked, crouching down, the magma from his hand melting away and burning the ground below before a blue magic circle shifted replacing the orange one, a long spear of Water manifesting.

"I-i can't tell you!" Adam wailed.

"Not good enough," Drake sighed, embedding the spear into Adam's stomach.

This back and forth went on for several more minutes, but Drake was unable to glean any useful information outside of a stronger and more dangerous person or thing behind Adam.

A lull broke only due to Natto speaking up.

"Drake. Claire is regaining consciousness," she told him.

He was forced to stop, turning away from Adam, but made sure to keep a watchful eye on him through his aura sense.

"Claire?" Drake said pensively, hearing her groan as she slowly roused.

"W-where am i…? Drake?" she mumbled, sitting up slowly in the bed.

"You're safe," Drake said, smiling behind his mask, "Do you remember anything, how do you feel?"

Claire put her hand to her head, noticing Natto next to her as well as she gave a small grin.

"I just remember being taken into a dark place… After that, I'm not sure. I-i feel alright? Should I not?" she said somewhat chuckling.

Drake was taken aback by how nonchalant about the whole thing she was being, but if she couldn't even recall what had happened it might be for the best.

Drake scoffed.

"You are much stronger than I gave you credit for… I'm glad you're safe…I-" Drake caught himself on his words not sure what to say, but before he could find the words his Magic Sight and Aura picked up Adam attempting to move and cast something.

Drake instantly whipped around, his arms flaring to live as he shot forward with deadly precision, giving the makeshift vampire no time to react.

Drake had moved so swiftly and with such instinct that he only realized that he was holding Adam's head in his hand after hearing a gag coming from Claire behind him.

[You have killed Participant Adam Savage Level 15] [Experience Earned, 1,373,425 TP awarded]

"Shit.. I still wanted information out of him," Drake sighed, more concerned with killing his only lead on who was manipulating the poor sap behind the scene than actually taking his life.

But another surprise awaited Drake as Adam's body burst into blue flames.

"What? I'm not doing that…" Drake said his face twisting into confusion as he dropped the head on the ground, it bursting into blue light as well.

What came next was the sound of an ethereal far off voice that was annoyingly familiar and condescending.

"Haha!! Finally! It took you long enough! Too bad for you, but one of my skills is a cheat death! So I'll be safe and sound outside the tutorial once it's over," Adam said, the sneer in his voice obvious.

Drake wasn't sure how to respond so he just talked to the air.

"That's great, means I get to kill you twice," he smiled.

"Such arrogance! I hope you can keep that up when you're in the face of my master! And the whole army of the undead! You're going to pay you bastard! And I'm going to ravage that girl in front of you next time we meet. I promise you that!" Adam screamed.

Drake's aura and mana flared, his teeth grounding.

"You better keep your promise and come with everything your filthy, sorry ass has! You're going to need all that and more to take some from me again! When I see you, I'll leave nothing left, not a soul, not an atom of you will exist! So bring your big scary wanna-be Overlord, it'll take all of that and more for you to have a shot in hell at beating me!! No one, not you, not some hiding little bitch off on some planet playing where's Waldo, or some system, not even some fucking god is going to take from me! She's mine!" Drake snarled, his eyes humming yellow as they flashed with power.

It turned quiet in the tent. The connection Adam had with them was either broken or running out.

"Um…" Claire whispered behind Drake, breaking the uncomfortable silence that fell on the tent.

"Well that was quite the statement…" Natto scoffed behind her hand, turning away from Drake.

There is something wrong with me… Why do I keep referring to people as mine? Is it another effect of the stones? I have to get a handle on this. Drake sighed but turned to meet his figurative maker.

"Yeah. I may have gotten a bit heated there…. My bad," Drake said.

"Oh, it's ok… So… I'm yours…?" Claire asked, her face turning into a grin and a shade of red.

Drake scratched the back of his head.

"Look, I'm genuinely glad you're fine… My statement that I'm going to wait until after the tutorial is going to stand. But I am truly sorry I couldn't protect you like I promised," Drake admitted, "It will never happen again," he said moving over to the bed.

Drake pulled her into his embrace, this time his desire to protect her behind them, not out of obligation but out of truly wanting to not see her hurt like before.

"So stay close to me," Drake whispered.

Claire was stunned, nodding into his chest, not sure how to answer.

Drake chuckled, giving her a pat on the head with his clean hand, the other snapping his mask to the side so he could show his full smile.

"How else am I going to keep an eye on you? You're a bigger troublemaker than my little brothers. Who gets themselves kidnapped like that?" Drake sighed in fake disappointment, shaking his head slightly.

"It isn't like I planned on it!" Claire shot back, pinching his side.

Drake laughed it off, his expression relaxing. Truly glad she was alright and that it had worked out and he had found her unharmed. Not only because she was safe, but because he feared what he might have done had something happened.

Drake's exterior might have been soft, but inside his thoughts were struggling to deal with his new cold thoughts and emotions that began to stir. His inner thoughts told him to wipe out Shigure and the threats his Coalition leaders posed if he allowed them to stay alive. His thoughts pleaded with him to eliminate anything that may stand in his way or possibly take any of his possessions from him again.

But he fought back, bottling up the thoughts and emotions that screamed at him to fight, at him to kill any and all threats. Muffling them to soft whispers in the back of his mind.

This is turning into a fucking bad anime music video. I don't think I can handle it if I suddenly get a voice in the back of my head screaming to kill everything. Although Sakuna was pretty badass. Drake sighed.

Breaking the moment more than Drake's internal struggle had, a small pink construct began gaging on the bed behind Claire, making both her and Drake turn to the noise.

"Guhhhh, can you get another tent? I feel I may lose my precious snacks if this continues any further… It's like watching a trainwreck but not the one you can not tear your eyes from. If anything I wish to tear my eyes out!" she howled, pulling at her eyelids.

"Well that's just rude," Drake laughed, letting go of a reluctant Claire.

Drake gave a smile to Natto, but his thoughts still poked at the back of his mind.

It's just a problem for tomorrow… It's alright to just be happy right now, isn't it? Drake thought, sighing.