Ch 28: Spar

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Felix's POV

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Next day

I went through the usual day's affairs.

The girls were quite bummed out that we didn't go to the big gym today. It couldn't be helped. The gym wasn't officially opened yet. That was just an inspection. There was still some polishing to do and the safety equipment was also being made.

The day went along and it was night.

Dad called me over to the study.

"Son, he says that it's done. He now controls everything that happens in Tri-Scar."

"I was expecting it, but I'm still surprised that the other leaders didn't have anything to retaliate."

"Son… you had turned their most trusted person, Salazar, into your slave. From what he told me, they had never even expected this to happen…."

"It's just that they're more trusting of each other than I thought they would be. Anyway, we can officially start making them work. Let's call him up."

*Ring* *Ri-*

Salazar immediately picked up the call.

"I heard that you are the big boss now, isn't that right?"

"N-no m-master, I am just your slave! Nothing more! You are the big boss. I'm just the front!"

"It's good that you know. Send over the remaining elders and the two leaders. Then we'll start the plan."

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4 days later…

"Mmmph! Mmmph"

"Mmmph! Mmmph"

I had already 'Compelled' the remaining elders and now I was standing in front of the leaders.

They were tied and gagged up. I wasn't in Ertonville, but a little port town. It would be too much of a headache to transport two grown-up men over on land, so I just came to the port town where they were 'shipped' to.

"You know…. You shouldn't have been such fucked up bitches if you didn't want this to happen. But I can't blame you on this one. I am just an anomaly you couldn't predict, Hehe."

"Mmmph! Mmmph"

"Alright, Alright, I'll give you the feel-good shot. Oi Barner, give me the injections."

"Yes, sir!"

The elder ran and came back with a case. It had some good, disorienting serum injections in it. I took two injections and gave them both a shot each.

Their facial expressions loosened, and more than that, their mental guard collapsed completely.

I did the usual and 'Compelled' them to be my slaves and willing-cannon-fodders.

Their eyes glazed over for some time, and after that, their eyes had reverence for me. I analyzed their mental state for safety and it was all fine, too.

"Barner, untie them and send them back to Salazar."

I had already made plans for what to do with the gang. It was quite simple if I wanted to over-simplify it… Expand. That was all I wanted them to do right now. I wanted them to gather all the scum of the world together in secrecy.

I had already tasked Salazar to start writing a database of all his members and their crimes. He could do that in the name of 'getting to know their history to give more appropriate missions to them' and even promotions. I would be judging them and punishing them. It was not Justice but Vigilante-Justice.

But the punishment could wait for now. I had to let them expand first. The bigger they were, the better the intimidation factor would be for the other gangs.

Of course, there were those who don't really deserve severe punishments such as those who were only doing small time crimes to feed themselves ,and those who were dragged into the world of crime by the gang and hadn't done anything heinous yet.

There were exceptions to the punishment as well. Like I said, it was not Justice but Vigilante-Justice. No matter how horrible the crimes were, if they had a use to me, I'll keep them and make them my slaves. Just like Salazar and the two leaders here. They had the brains and appropriate thinking process to run a criminal organization.

Salazar had also shut down all the human trafficking and brothel businesses Tri-Scar was conducting. When the general members asked him about it, he gave the excuse that 'the authorities were getting vigilant about them'. I plan to make him shut down all his businesses after I've 'Compelled' most of the normal members. As for their financial support, my very 'friendly' investors will do the trick.

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It was still September, but it was gonna end soon.

Dad and I were standing at the airport. Our guest this time was also a legendary player. His in-game name was 'RayChaser' and his real name was Ivan Moore.

He was a legendary archer from the previous timeline. He came here to work for Dad as a PR manager in his game studio.

We saw an abnormally tall guy in his late-twenties and an old lady coming out of the arrival section. The guy had dark brown hair and brown eyes, very ordinary. He was the 'RayChaser' we were waiting for. His grandmother was walking beside him.

In his deal with Dad, he had demanded for his grandmother's health expenses to be covered. Dad could've just agreed to it without questions but for the sake of keeping front, he asked for a 10 year permanent contract in exchange. They had reached an agreement and now they were here.

"Hello, Mr. Hudson, it's great to see you again. Yo, little Felix, I hope you're doing great too."

"Haha! We are! I hope you and your grandma are great as well! Now, let's not make your grandma stand any longer. Let's go to the car."

I greeted them too, and we headed to the car. I helped them load the luggage, and we drove straight to their new residence.

Ivan aka 'RayChaser' was a pretty chill and jolly guy. I wasn't as worried about socializing with him as I was with Geralt aka 'ColdSteel'.

We reached their new home, which was a small cozy house in the suburbs. Ivan was really grateful to Dad about it. Dad had bought the house and was giving it to Ivan to live rent free here with his grandmother.

"Boss, I honestly thought you would give me a shitty old house when you said about arranging a residence for us. But this is great! Right Grandma?"

"Yes son, may god bless you Mr. Hudson. Thank you so much."

"Haha, there's no need for gratitude, grandma. I'm just doing what I can. Your grandson will be working with me for at least the next 10 years. I had to make him worry free for him to do his job right."

"Hear that Ivan?! You need to put your all in this job! Get that?"

Ivan's grandma was quite the vocal type when she starts talking. Ivan was sweating bullets. He was probably scared that she might say something she shouldn't.

We didn't stay for long and said our farewells to them after settling them inside.

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October, 2011

The Gym finally makes its grand opening.

Dad invited all the employees to the first floor's lounging hall and celebrated with a party.

Honestly, the employees came here mostly because Dad's parties always had great food. But that sentiment changed when Dad gave a presentation on all the facilities we had here. To top it all off, when Dad announced that the service was free for all the employees, they went ape shit….

Overall, the introduction was quite successful. The ladies were satisfied with the inclusion of a separate gym, too.

They had made fantasy games for over a decade now, so naturally they were quite hyped about training in weapons, too.

Dad and I planned to make all of them join 'Etheria' when it launches. They would be the backbone for operating our guild. They had all kinds of people specialized in different subjects. From Logistics to PR Management, from Human Management to Data Analysis and Planning. All of our companies already had all the 'human components' needed to operate a guild.

I had already brainwashed them to the point of never betraying us. It was not through 'Slave Compel' but through a mixture of subtle 'Compelling' and a good work environment.

As for normal workers like programmers and artists, they could be normal members of the guild. Every guild needed those in order to operate. Dad's business ventures were expanding and employees were slowly getting more and more, raising our member count to an impossible number for a new guild.

I had planned to make new branches of the gym when I feel like just this one isn't adequate enough.

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December, 2011

Dad's new games launched for the holiday season. The reception was simply mind-blowing.

Our record studio was also cashing in big bucks. The music was well received and became hits.

People were anticipating our newest releases in both of our industries.

'Pãy-trêê-ôñ' had also become a gold standard for creator support. Our transparency and incredibly low platform cuts had made almost all the creators join the platform.

At this point, because of me 'compelling' the investors here and there, there wasn't any real need to set up all these industries. We could have money at our beck and call at this point.

But what money couldn't buy was fans and their loyalty. Yeah, we could donate money and leave a splash for some time, but it won't stick for too long. But products that people would fondly look at for a long time could.

Besides, how can we hire more 'employees' if we dont have enough companies?

People would rave about all the new products we'd launch, and purchase them. They would be enthusiastic about getting a job at one of our studios and companies. It would all create cult followings.

I couldn't compel each and every person on this planet, so this was the next best thing.

Of course, all the companies, except for Dad's original one, were registered to one of our 'loyal' surrogates. No one knew that all these companies had one master owner behind them. Our private information protection firm was doing a helluva job to make sure this remains the same.

We were proceeding towards a point where we could 'ask' the Lantir Government to protect ours and our employees' information. We could even start doing it now, but for the sake of making the process buttery smooth, we decided to become 'Shadow Masters' of Lantir before doing it. We could make do with the info-protection firm for now.

Besides the fortune that the investors had, they also had a lot of contacts. Because of those contacts and our enticing job offerings, our tech company for home security and our liquid nutrition companies were starting to come together way before we had even anticipated it. It was a pleasant surprise.

On the more criminal side of things…

Salazar had done sorting out his clansmen's deeds. As anyone would imagine, the whole list was quite fucked up. The only solace was that only about 15% of the members had done the fucked up shit and the rest were just lackeys or small time robbers.

15% was in no way a small number. The approximate number of fucked up criminals was somewhere around 600~. It just meant they were the ones who Salazar would select for risky jobs first before anyone else.

Salazar secretly gave 'promotions' to those members, telling them to not tell anything about it to anyone. Then sent them off to risky places. They accepted their jobs in elation of their 'promotions'.

The reason why he made the 'promotions' a secret was because if other members knew about it, then they may also start doing heinous crimes just to get these 'promotions'.

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Back at home.

We had just celebrated Irene's 12th birthday a week prior and were now heading to the gym.

It didn't snow much in Ertonville, so the roads were still drivable.

"Remember, if I see any of you misbehaving, then I'll just cancel the spar plan altogether. Is that understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, stop chewing on my ears now, we get it!"

Irene made a sassy remark.

Silia patted my shoulders and consoled me.

"Fel, stop being a worrywart. We will be just fine. Besides, you'll be there if anything bad happens"

She had started to call me by my nickname for some time now. The timing was pretty random, almost like it was deliberately timed to make it as casual as possible. I might be overthinking it, but with Silia and her brain, anything was possible.

"I'll trust you guys…"

They had been pestering me for quite a while about sparring. Honestly, they have been taking their puberty and the emotional changes quite well these days. The discipline they had accumulated in themselves was starting to become effective on their emotional outbursts. It was a welcome news for me. Now, I could accelerate their training ahead of time.

We bantered during the entire trip and finally reached the gym. I parked the car, and we got out of it.

We had all grown quite a bit now.

Silia was now 5'9.5". Irene had grown to 5'4", now that her puberty had started to kick in. Melena was also growing at a respectable rate and was now 5'5". As for me, I was at the cusp of officially reaching 6'0", just barely a fraction of an inch smaller. I was quite the monster, as Uncle Geralt aka 'ColdSteel' had said.

We made our way into the gym and were met by a lot of employees who were just chilling in the lounge.

I could also see Uncle Ivan aka 'RayChaser' ,and Uncle Geralt and his crew having a great time at a separate table. They seem to be laughing and playing some card games.

I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but these guys had hit off quite well. From what I heard, it all started with Uncle Geralt and his crew helping out Uncle Ivan's grandma. They seemed to really like the 'honest-to-fault' and caring grandma, and had made frequent visits helping out Ivan and her.

For me, two future legendary players getting along was a pleasant surprise. It was the best outcome possible.

We greeted all the employees and made them all sit when they tried to get off their seats to greet us. It happens almost every day. Quite a lot of the employees had passed the minimum requirements for weapon training now. Naturally, I had taught them.

On a fateful day when I was teaching them, one of the employee started to call me 'Master'. I could really feel that he genuinely respected my teachings, but I was also quite embarrassed that a middle-aged man was calling me that. I tried to stop him, but he argued that a teacher has to be respected regardless of age and I finally relented to his insistence.

That was the start of the bandwagon of all the employees calling me 'Master' in the training hall. I had strictly prohibited them from calling me that outside the gym. I could feel through telepathy that this prohibition had actually made them respect me even more.

They already had very good sentiments towards me because of my 'Compel' and because I helped them out whenever I was visiting the offices.

Alexio was also training quite hard after seeing my performance that day. He was still confused about which main weapon to choose. I let nature take its course and let him choose it by himself without any interference from my side.

As an assistant, he got to know quite a lot of people here and with his humble personality, he was well liked by all. Some ladies even tried to hit on him, but Mariana was always by his side and always 'saved' him.

After 'escaping' the 'students', we made our way to the 12th floor, which was a private arena floor only allowed for my family and loved ones.

"Come on girls! Let's go and dress up!"

They were quite excited… to say the least, and immediately ran off to the locker room. I shook my head and made my way to the men's locker as well.

After we dressed up and came out, we had a small lucky draw and the spar line-up was finalized. It was…

1: Irene vs Silia

2: Silia vs Melena

3: Irene vs Melena

I wasn't participating as I would already be sparing with all of them to train them.

They all put on their safety gear, which they honestly could've done in the locker room. I knew what their thought process was at this point, without even using my telepathy. These girls were really getting out of hand…

Anyway, Irene and Silia made their way to the ring, and I hopped in as well to be the referee.

They took their positions on two corners of the fighting ring and waited for my signal to start.

"The rules of the match are: 1. You automatically lose if you touch the ropes on the ring border. 2. Take a hit and you're out. 3. If you don't stop when I tell you to, then you'll be banned from ever sparing in the gym ever again. Do you all understand?"

"Yes!" X2

"Alright, on the count of 3…3..2..1..Start!"

Silia was the one to make the first move. She lowered her body and charged at Irene. Her spear was loaded, ready to thrust at any time.

Irene also started to move and went towards the center of the ring. Her gait was relaxed, nimble enough to move in any situation.

Silia reached a certain distance from Irene and thrust her spear at her.

Irene could read Silia's intent quite well and turned her body to the side to completely dodge the spear. She made use of her staff portion of her mace and smashed the spear to cancel out any of Silia's successive moves.

She came close to Silia and gripped her mace close to the ball portion of the mace. She used that as a pivot point and smashed the staff portion down on Silia in a rotation movement.

Silia was no slouch either. She retrieved her spear and put it at an angle in front of her.

*bang*

The two weapons collided, making a loud sound.

They used the recoil of the impact to retrieve their weapons and start moving for their next attacks.

Irene beat Silia in making her move now. She grabbed the end portion of her weapon and smashed the mace portion towards Silia in a horizontal strike.

Silia was already at a pretty close range and could not dodge without compromising her position. She opted to shield herself with her spear again.

*bang* *oof*

Silia didn't get hit, but the sheer momentum of Irene's strike sucked the breath out of her.

Irene capitalized on that moment and used the recoil of the impact to reposition her grip to be close to the mace again. She used her staff portion for a swift and deadly strike.

Silia had no options to dodge, so she again opted for a defensive position.

Irene had learned her lessons and struck on a blind-spot at a tricky angle.

Silia still managed to deflect Irene's weapon and struck her weapon towards Irene to break her momentum.

Irene made a bold move and continued to attack rather than take a defensive position. Silia's height and reach was an advantage that she luckily circumvented by getting this close. She didn't want to lose this opportunity.

Silia's strike was quite desperate and was easy to read. Irene side stepped and launched another strike while Silia was still vulnerable.

Silia's eyes constricted, and she tried to dodge, but it was all for naught.

*tak*

Irene had canceled out a lot of the momentum in her strike when the staff got too close to Silia, but still it hit her on her side.

Irene had won.

It was pretty amateur spar. I hadn't really taught them much about fighting with a real person yet. They had just been honing their strikes for the last year or so. This was already quite good for an ad-lib spar.

"Alright stop, you guys did good for your first real spar. Silia, don't get upset. You guys have been training on dummies this whole time. Situational awareness will come with time. I'll train you personally and tell you what you could've done when the spars end. Irene, you did a really good job! Getting as close as possible to Silia to curb her advantage was a great move. That last move was bold, but this is the kind of mindset that's needed in a desperate battle. But be careful, this is a spar so nothing was really serious, but if it was a real battle than you could've died or gotten injured if you had a single mishap in your strategy. Do not use these do-or-die moves from your next sessions unless really necessary."

" :⁠-⁠P *Thbbft* I get it! I get it! It's not like a real situation will ever happen, so let me have my fun!"

"Hooo, Irene, do you want a Mom-Son teasing combo for dinner?"

"NO!"

"Then do as I say. Got it?"

"Yes boss!"

'You guys need to grow up quickly. I need to tell you the truth. You and Melena aren't really taking this seriously, especially the glyphs. Thankfully, both you and Melena are quite talented in close combat, so it's evening things out for now.'

"Alright, let's start the next spar!"

Melena hopped in and took her position.

Silia also took her position. I could see an aggressive glint in her eyes. Silia was quite a competitive girl. I could see that she was really hurt by her previous loss. She would probably be on an offensive this time.

"3…2…1…start!"

Silia and Melena ran towards each other at the same time.

Melena had one of her daggers in a reverse grip and the other one in a normal position.

Silia, on the other hand, had changed her strategy and opted for a mid-grip this time. Excellent for slashing and maneuverability.

Melana tried to use the same strategy as Irene and tried to close in on Silia. But Silia had learned her lesson and didn't let her do that.

Silia back-stepped while slashing her spear at Melena, maintaining her distance.

Melena ducked and dodged the strike while desperately trying to close-in on Silia. But she didn't expect something…

After Silia's first strike failed, she pivoted her spear from the middle and the butt of the spear was now rotating from down to upwards, making a successive strike at Melena in an upper cut.

This was why I liked spears the most. This simple weapon was versatile in any situation and Silia was slowly understanding it.

Melena desperately rolled to her right, barely evading the strike. She dodged it but her posture was all messed up.

Melena tried to correct it, but it was for naught.

Silia didn't stop her strike and continued to rotate her spear. This time the spear head was heading Melena's way. Melena tried to deflect the spear with her daggers but Silia was one move ahead this time.

Silia closed-in on Melena even though it took away her distance advantage. She was also vulnerable this time, but her move had paid off.

*tak!*

Due to the sudden acceleration caused by her stepping closer, Melena couldn't read the strike properly and got hit on her shoulder pad. The strike wasn't softened like Irene had done, but that's why the safety gear was present.

Silia had won this time.

I could see Silia grinning from ear to ear as she helped Melena up.

"You guys did a good job. Melena, you're getting a bit too focused on dodging. Although it is the correct way for an assassin but you have to know that this is a spar and your location is known to your opponent. You need to have more battle styles for different situations. But no matter, that's what I'm here for, aren't I? And Silia, you did excellent this time. That first strike was a deliberate lure, right?"

"Yeah!"

"I see… that was pretty clever… good job!"

"Fel! Now that I've made a mistake, you need to teach me personally too!"

"You didn't purposefully make those mistakes, right?"

I narrowed my eyes at Melena.

"No! I promise!"

*sigh*

"I'll be teaching you guys like I've always done. So no one should have these kinds of stupid thoughts. Am I clear?"

"Yes!" X3

"Then, let's start the third spar."

Melena and Irene took their positions, waiting for me to count down.

"3… 2… 1… start!"

Melena ran fast towards Irene, and Irene also ran towards her at her fastest speed, her gait wasn't as nimble this time.

Irene made use of her reach and struck her mace at Melena in a smash.

*bang*

Melena side-stepped the strike and Irene's mace smashed on the ring.

Irene tried to make an uppercut with the recoil of her previous strike, but Melena struck off the mace with one of her daggers.

Melena's dagger shot towards Irene, but Irene used the staff portion of her mace to defend from it.

Irene stepped back quickly to maintain her distance.

Melena didn't want to give her a chance and took large strides towards Irene.

Due to the time she had gotten, Irene repositioned her mace to strike again, but Melena had already closed in on her by this time. She was now merely 3 feet away from Irene.

Melana was already very close to Irene now. She made full use of her fast and light daggers and unleashed a barrage of strikes at Irene.

Irene tried her best to dodge and deflect the strikes but because of her weapons weight, she was naturally a lot more slower than Melena.

*tak*

In the end, one of Melena's daggers struck Irene's side and the match ended.

Melena had won this one.

"Good job everyone! Mel, you did a great job this time. And Irene, you got too excited because of your first win. If you hadn't been cocky from the start, this match wouldn't have ended so quickly for you."

"Does that mean you'll train me too?!"

"When did I ever exclude any one of you from training?!"

"Hey! You could've at least said something nice and romantic!"

"Romantic my ass! Now, all of you get in the ring. I have a pretty good memory and know all the mistakes you guys have made. We'll practice on those first."

"Then what?!"

"If we have enough time, then I'll teach you some footwork as well. It's a bit tedious to learn, but it will be helpful."

I couldn't teach them advance moves and footwork as they all required more strength and agility than what a normal, mana-less human would have the capabilities for.

But simple ones were fair game now. They had all grown mature enough to take these tedious lessons a bit seriously.

The footwork will not only make them more nimble, but also allow them to have a better call and response when sparring and ultimately when in battle.

"Hmmm, aren't you guys going to ask me for a spar? Maybe even try to make a 3v1 match?.... I thought you guys would…"

"Feelee, none of us are masochists."

Irene replied sassily.

"I see, I see… wait a sec…. Where did you even learn that word?!"

"What?... I'm a growing girl! Mind your own business!"

"Ho?~ Should Aunty Martha also not mind it if I tell her?~ Irene~ What type of content are you consuming these days?~"

I could see Irene getting real nervous now, a sly smile came up to my face.

"Hey hey! Feelee! L-Let's keep things civil alright?"

"What do I get?"

"W-what do you want?"

"No lap pillows anymore."

"No! Never! You may as well tell mom about it! Only a day… that's all the concession I can give to you."

"We'll discuss the terms later. Now let's start the training."

Like so, I practiced with them and corrected any of their mistakes. I also emphasized on learning the glyphs with the excuse of them helping in clearing the mind.

I still couldn't tell them the truth for now. They were just not mature enough to process the whole situation in a serious manner.

But who says the time won't come in the future….

(A/N: I swear to god… I could've probably just broken this chapter into 3 normal length chapters…

I hope you guys find some improvements in my action writing...

Leave a power stone if you like my content…and…

Thank You all for reading this chapter!!!)