Chapter 01: A Futile Quest

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The Guild of Gamers: The Warlord

Chapter 01: A Futile Quest

Cowering in the cupboard beneath the sink, he pressed his eye to the crack and covered his mouth, trying to silence his breathing as he watched his father slump down against the wall, groaning in pain under the intruder's impassive gaze.

"Did you really think you could betray the Guild and we wouldn't find out? That I wouldn't find out?" the intruder said, red eyes coldly staring down at his father even as his mother rushed over and tried to shield the injured man with her body.

As the intruder waved his hand lazily, the boy's eyes widened seeing his mother fly backwards, moved by an unseen force, struggling as she hovered in the air, unable to move.

"I'll get to you in a moment, wait your turn," the man said, turning to her with an amused smirk.

"L-leave her out of it, she didn't-" his father started, making the man hold up a single finger, silencing him.

"Lying? Really? I know I don't act the part, but you do remember how powerful I am right?" the intruder asked in amusement, kneeling to be at his father's eye level.

The way the black-haired man stood blocked most of his vision of his father, but he could see his mother worriedly glancing towards the cupboard even as glowing purple energy held her in place.

"I-" his father started, before being cut off by his own gasp of pain, the man calmly moving back to reveal his fist embedded in the other man's chest, blood spurting from his father's mouth as he tried to stop himself from crying out and giving away his position.

No amount of muffling could stop his cry from slipping out as he stared at the rapidly paling corpse of his father.

"Betraying the Guild has only one penalty: death. May you serve as an example for those who replace you," the man said calmly as he pulled his blood-covered hand back, his mother letting out a scream of pain, agony and despair as the man stood up and turned to her, the energy vanishing and dropping her to the floor.

Immediately she rose, radiating a golden aura as she lunged towards him, glowing white energy coating her hand as she thrust it towards his chest, the man catching it with his blood-slicked hand.

"Really, Bai? How did you think this was going to go?" the man asked with a sigh, the energy around his mother dissipating. "You know how powerful I am, how powerful the Guild is, how did you think betraying us, me, would end up in your favour?"

He sounded honestly sad, a frown on his face, grabbing his mother's other hand as it swung at his face.

"Well, we'll have a long time to discuss this little act of rebellion," he said calmly, and as he let her go, she vanished with a flash of purple. "Now, what to do about you?" the man said, turning and looking at the cupboard.

His eyes widening, he burst from his hiding place and made a run for the door, tears streaming down his cheeks as he tried to escape, freezing as the front door of his family home burst into black flames, blocking his escape.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you, I've never bought into the whole 'sins of the father' thing, you have no idea how many people tried to kill me to get even with my old man," the man said with a chuckle as he walked towards him, making him turn towards him in terror. "You're Hei, right? I'm Kuro," the man said, kneeling down to his height.

"W-why…" Hei started, trailing off as he glanced towards his father's corpse, making Kuro sigh.

"Your father made some mistakes, and crossed some very powerful people, myself included," Kuro said with a shrug. "He knew what the price would be, and he got caught, though it was your mother that pushed him into it."

"Where-" Hei started, trailing off again as his gaze lowered to Kuro's blood-stained arm.

"Did I send her? To my home, I'm clearly going to have to discipline her for this little rebellion, but she was always a brat," Kuro said with a chuckle, reaching forwards and ruffling Hei's hair with his bloodstained hand. "But that's between me and her, as for you? Eh, screw it," Kuro said with a shrug as he rose. "You're just a kid, after all," he said, turning and walking past him as the black flames disappeared.

Seeing the red-eyed man walking away made something snap inside him, his sorrow replaced with rage as he glared at Kuro's back.

"You'll pay for this," Hei promised, making Kuro pause as he turned back around, scratching his chin.

"You're not the first to say that, you probably won't be the last, and so far everyone else has been wrong," Kuro replied calmly, giving him a lazy smirk. "But who knows, maybe you'll be right. I doubt it, but stranger things have happened," Kuro said with a shrug, turning away and walking out of the door.

Glaring at the open door, Hei looked around the destroyed kitchen, bloodstains and broken furniture littering the room.

Kuro would pay for this, somehow, someway, Kuro would die.

— Hei — Years Later —

Making a declaration like that was one thing, but actually following through with it was a very different situation entirely.

I've spent years training in the hopes of avenging my father, but I know it won't be enough.

My target has impossible powers, powers that I hadn't even been able to find a hint of in all my years of searching, so I realised that I'll need to catch Kuro by surprise to have any chance of beating him.

My mother apparently had similar abilities, which had filled me with the hope that maybe I had inherited them, but nothing I've done has helped there.

Maybe I do have powers, but with no idea how to use them, it was useless. I've looked into countless forms of 'magic': chi, qi, chakra, demonology, and everything else I could think of, to no avail.

The second problem I have is actually finding Kuro, who seemed to not exist in any kind of official capacity. I've looked into his parents' past, paid private detectives to search for any trace of him, but they've found nothing.

But I had a breakthrough, Kuro was Japanese for black, and around the same time that Kuro had attacked my family, a Yakuza crime family had moved into Hong Kong.

Okay breakthrough is pushing it, but still, it's the best I have to go on and I'm willing to follow just about any lead.

The Yakuza had tried before, but the local Triads had always pushed them out, but this time they'd failed to drive out the foreigners entirely, and while the leader of the Yakuza was rumoured to be a woman and not a certain smug asshole, she was also rumoured to be unkillable.

Triad members I've bribed have told me stories of her being shot, stabbed or even burnt, but always returning seemingly unharmed mere hours later. They'd even claimed they'd captured her, killed her and destroyed the body, only for her to reappear the next day. Too many people are telling the same story for it to be completely untrue.

It's the first time I've heard concrete rumours of someone with powers and while they weren't Kuro, the fact that they were Japanese make me hopeful that this gang would lead to his target.

Which is how I ended up here.

Sidestepping the knife that was thrust towards my stomach, I jab the beautiful Japanese woman in the face with one hand as I grab her wrist with the other.

Tracking down the gang's base hadn't been that hard, my triad contacts had been more than willing to help me for a price.

Sneaking in had been harder, and eventually failed, but that just resulted in me leaving a trail of broken bodies on my path to her.

I've spent more than a decade training to kill someone so far above these thugs that they couldn't hope to even slow me down. Though admittedly I'm lucky guns are so rare around here, everyone has just been armed with knives, bats or other improvised weapons.

Not letting up, I use her wrist to pull her back towards me, even as I twist it painfully, forcing her to drop her weapon, and knee her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her.

As she doubles over, I grab her head with both hands, gripping her long black hair, and immediately raise my knee again, smashing it into her face repeatedly.

She'd have shown no mercy to me, so why would I?

Still, I need her alive and as she goes limp, I let her go, watching her slump to the ground.

Checking her pulse, I nod to myself and picked her up, grabbing a chair and placing her unconscious body on it as I reach into my pocket, pulling out some handcuffs I brought specifically for this and cuff her wrists together behind the chair, simply pacing back and forth as I waited for her to wake up.

It doesn't take long, despite her small frame she's tougher than she looks, and as she looks up at me, there's no trace of fear in her eyes.

"Do you have any idea who you're challenging?" she asks quietly, her tone entirely calm and composed even as I flip her knife in my hand, catching it as I walk towards her.

"I believe I do," I reply, just as calm as I approach her. "I have questions and I think you have the answers, at least I hope you do, for your own sake," I continue, pausing as she laughs.

"Because you'll kill me if I don't? Or maybe you'll torture me first, boy, you haven't a fucking clue what you're doing, do you?" she laughs as I raise an eyebrow. "I can't die, and I don't feel pain. Go ahead, do your worst, I'm not telling you shit," she mocks, and without hesitating I stab down at her knee with her own blade, my eyes widening in shock when she doesn't even flinch as it pierces the flesh and even cuts into bone.

"I see, but that just convinces me that you know what I need to know," I say after a moment I pull the blade back, looking her over for a moment before I slash at her with the blade, leaving a long vertical cut in her plain white shirt and the bra beneath it as her eyes widen slightly, her shirt falling open to expose a pair of small breasts. "I'll find a way to get you to talk, no matter what it takes. I didn't come this far to give up now,"

Maybe she's just really good at bluffing, but a part of me hopes she is truly immortal because it'd mean I've finally found a viable lead, maybe not to Kuro but at the very least towards the source of these powers he, my mother, and now this girl seem to have.

"Who sponsors your little gang?" I ask, making her laugh again.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she replies with a mocking smile, even as I place the blade against her stomach.

"Answer the question," I order, pushing it in enough to draw blood.

"No," she replies, smiling unnervingly as I drag the blade in a diagonal line across her bare stomach, cutting deep. "Now what, boy? What's the grand plan? Gonna gut me?"

"And let you die? No, pain isn't going to work and killing you either will just free you or lose me my only lead, but I'm a creative man, I'll find your breaking point," I promise, tossing the knife away as I glare at her.

"Oh? Go ahead, maybe you'll make my day a little more interesting," she mocks even as I look around the room.

I really do get creative and I've always been good at improvising with limited resources, but no matter what I break or cut, she doesn't stop mocking me. Even waterboarding her doesn't do anything as I stare down at her, a mocking smile on her face.

I don't take any pleasure in causing pain, but I can't deny the more she proves unbreakable the more I want to make her scream, her mockery grating my nerves. Before I saw this as a necessary evil in my quest to avenge my father, to find my mother, now I just want to shut her up.

I stripped her down to just her panties so I could see what I was working with, countless cuts and bruises on her otherwise beautiful body as she smiles up at me.

"Any other bright ideas?" she asks, making me growl quietly at her, making her giggle despite the bloodstains on her face.

"Pain and injury truly mean nothing to you, don't they?" I say with a sigh, making her laugh louder.

"It's like I told you that when you started, but we can't all have an IQ higher than our shoe size," she mocks, pausing as I reach forwards and grab her bare breast, still bleeding from my earlier attempts, and squeeze it, making her moan slightly in surprise.

"If pain doesn't work against you, maybe I should try a different type of interrogation," I say with a glare, watching something pass through her eyes before she smiles again.

"Well, it can't be less effective than what you've tried so far," she replies, watching as I pick up the knife again and cut her panties on each side, pulling them away to reveal a tiny pink slit. "Oh no, please don't stick your tiny virgin cock inside me, whatever will I do? You've found my weakness, I can't possibly take 20 seconds of desperate thrusting!"

"Last chance, because if this doesn't work I'm just going to start cutting pieces off," I warn, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her towards a table, forcing her to bend over it.

Nothing else has worked. I'm willing to try just about anything at this point.

"Make sure you start with the non-vitals!" she says, wiggling her ass towards me as she cackles. "You're such an amateur, but don't worry! When you realise how useless this all is, we can swap places and I can show you how to really break someone," she promises, her tone still playful.

"Did the Guild teach you that?" I ask, making her still. "That's who you work for, right? Who is soon sponsoring you." I ask, watching as she turns back to me with a serious look. "Or is it Kuro?"

There's shock and recognition in her eyes as I say his name and for a moment I'm hopeful.

"You know, I mistook this entirely. I thought you were just another mortal who couldn't possibly understand what he was asking…" she starts, before sighing. "Ahh, I see now. Hello, Hei."

"W-what?" I ask, making her laugh as she simply pulls her arms apart, the cuffs easily shattering.

"I suppose that means playtime is over, I have orders for what to do if you show up," she admits, turning around as her wounds rapidly heal.

Not taking any chances as she starts to glow, a red aura surrounding her, I rush her and lunge forwards with the knife, my eyes widening in shock as the knife strikes her exposed chest and simply disintegrates, the blade turning to ash as it touches her aura.

"Sorry, I was just playing gang leader to kill some time, nothing in this world can actually threaten me," she admits as I back away, unable to even open my mouth before her figure blurs, immediately reappearing inches in front of me. "You want to find Kuro? Sure, let me help with that," she says calmly, grabbing my throat and lifting me from the ground.

Before I can even speak, she clenches her fist and my neck snaps like a twig, tossing me aside with a smile.

As I feel the life drain from me, I hear her final words to me.

''Say hi to daddy for me.''

My vision darkens as I watch her chuckle to herself, and my awareness slowly starts to slip away. But as everything goes black, my sight suddenly returns, my surroundings different as I find myself sitting in a comfortable chair, the man I want to kill sitting behind a large wooden desk.

I immediately go to lunge at Kuro, but find my body unwilling to obey me, Kuro chuckling at me.

"Hey, Hei," Kuro says lazily, waving at me. "Don't worry, I'll return your ability to move later, but welcome to the Guild!"

Stopping my futile struggles, I glare at my father's killer.

"You realise you're dead, right?" Kuro asks, making me pause. "That's how the Guild works, by grabbing the souls of potential recruits after their death. If you'd prefer, I can just release you to the void, your father can go eternally unavenged and your mother can remain my slave…" Kuro offers as I feel myself regain movement above the neck.

"My mother is alive?" I asked, any resistance vanishing. I hate Kuro, but I'm not completely consumed by it.

"She is, and if you listen you might still be able to save her," Kuro says with a smirk. "Or I can release you, you can attack me and immediately die again, twice in two minutes has to be some kind of record,"

As my body unfreezes, I force myself to relax and not move to attack the entirely too smug man.

"What are you? What is the Guild?" I ask, taking deep breaths. Gather information first, don't rush into anything.

"I'm… well, that's a difficult question. I'm an infinite being, capable of making and destroying universes at will. The Guild is a project between me and three other beings like me. We pick interesting people after they die, grant them power 'system' and send them to another world for a second chance at life," Kuro explains, before smiling. "Your father was one of those people, but he decided to try and use his power to kill me, wanting my position and power,"

"He wouldn't-"

"You didn't even know he had godlike powers, didn't know he ruled a hundred worlds. He and Bai thought hiding away in a low-powered world to plot my demise would stop me from noticing, but it didn't work," Kuro deadpans, before shaking his head. "But I digress. You interest me, so I have an offer for you; I will give you a system, send you to another world as a member of the Guild, and if you impress me on that world I'll return your mother to you," Kuro offered as he scoffed.

"And the catch?" I ask, making Kuro chuckle.

"You realise if I wanted something for you, I could take it. The catch is that you'll have obligations to perform as a member of the Guild, and if you fail them I devour your soul. Of course, if you refuse I'm also going to devour your soul, so what do you have to lose?" Kuro says easily.

"My freedom, for one," Hei replies, making Kuro laugh again.

"The only four people in the entire omniverse that are truly free are me and my associates, and it's debatable at best for two of them. The rest are just part of our games. I'm offering you a chance to go from being a trash mob to becoming a player. Accept or refuse, it doesn't make a difference to me and I'll just find someone else to take your place,"

"Was that girl your daughter?" I ask, making Kuro pause before he nods easily.

"That was Asami, one of my many, many daughters. She likes playing games in the mortal worlds, so I let her. It's not like she was ever in any danger, she only let you get that far because she has a fetish for being defeated, she's always had odd tastes that one," Kuro says with a shrug. "She could have destroyed the entire city with a clap of her hands, and you might as well have been punching a steel wall for all the damage you were actually doing,"

"She was playing with me," I mutter, scoffing at myself. I really never had a chance, did I?. "Does she have a system as well?"

"No, she's just my daughter. I'd give her one if she wanted it, but she's happy without," Kuro admits.

"I want to kill you, and you're offering me power?" I ask, making Kuro chuckle again. "Why?"

"I might look young, but I'm very old, older than your entire planet. I highly doubt you'll ever reach my level, no matter how hard you train, but if you do then I'll simply crush you like I have every other challenge. I'm offering you power because I want to see what you'll do with it, the same reason I offer everyone else power," Kuro explains. "So, the question is, do you accept?"

I have nothing to lose, even if it pisses me off to be forced to play Kuro's games. If Kuro is telling the truth—and he has little reason to lie if he really is so powerful—I might be able to save my mother.

But when the only alternative was certain death, I have no real choice but to play along.

"As if I had a choice, what happens now?" I ask, making Kuro smile.

"Normally, we'd go over the different systems and worlds you're eligible for, but since you just tried to rape, torture and kill my daughter, I don't feel like giving you any choices. Good luck, and Hei? Welcome to the Guild," Kuro says with a lazy smirk, giving me a wave as my vision once more went black.

System Initiating…

Warlord System Online

— Bonus Scene — Kuro Tepes —

Hei is fun, and while back in the day I would never have allowed someone who wants me dead to get a system, it's not like they can ever truly threaten me.

All the Guild gamers have hard caps on their strength. They can't reach the pinnacle of power that is me and Shiro, they can't even reach the levels of Dantalion or Gray. Frankly, the Omniverse wouldn't survive someone else reaching my level; Shiro and I cancel each other out, but adding a third gamer of our level would mess up the precarious balance we have.

That's something Bai and her naive husband didn't understand, their little gamble was doomed to fail from the beginning.

But I have a soft spot for Hei because I always spoil my grandchildren. I suppose it's my fault for letting Bai become a System Administrator and not keeping an eye on her, she takes after Diaochan a little too much, poor Huo never stood a chance.

Huo was the last user of the Warlord system, and he gained so much power that Bai got it into her head that he could actually take me on. The funny thing is that she didn't even hate me, she's just way too ambitious.

I could have just disconnected him from the system, sending him back to being a regular powerless human with a click of my fingers, as I can do for any Guild gamer.

But as much as I love my spoiled daughter, Bai and Huo were trying to turn other gamers against the Guild and I can't let that go unpunished. Diaochan would sulk if I executed her, and I'd feel pretty bad about it too, but I don't give a singular fuck about Huo, he let Bai lead him around by his dick and died for it.

"Have you learnt your lesson?" I ask, watching as Bai's dark eyes lock with mine with a glare.

"I'm not a child you can scold, father," Bai growls out as I chuckle. "What game are you playing? Why give Hei a system? You know his thirst for vengeance won't go away,"

"Because I see his potential, or because I'm easily amused," I admit, making her glare harder,

"Do not include my son in your little games, father," Bai growls, her usual facade of grace and beauty gone entirely. "Was making me a widow not enough?"

"You made yourself a widow when you convinced your husband to challenge me, that's on you," I deadpan, smirking lightly. "And I'll include him in whatever games I want, it's not like you can stop me,"

"And if he continues trying to slay you?" Bai asks, not responding to my very correct statement. I've sealed her powers, so she's in the same situation as Lucille now.

"Then I'll get bored and he'll die, but I think the lure of power will win out over his desire for vengeance. I'm playing the long game, it's not like I don't have the time." I admit, making her flinch slightly.

Aww, there is some motherly love in that cold manipulative heart of hers.

"Don't worry, I'm a forgiving man and I'll let you earn him some forgiveness," I say, pulling her against me as she glares up at me. "You might even earn some forgiveness yourself, in a millennium or so."

"Tch, very well. You've proven that I cannot best you, I'll behave myself." Bai finally said, the 'for now' implied.

She's always been one of my more strong willed-daughters, so I'm not surprised. Honestly, I just find her rebellious nature cute.

"But for now, I have work to do thanks to you, I'll get to disciplining you later," I say, clicking my fingers as she disappears, reappearing in my bedroom.

Sitting at my desk, I press the little red button and smile as Lucille is teleported into my office, wearing a very tight miniskirt and an equally tight white shirt with the first couple of buttons undone, looking like the porn version of a secretary.

"Is it that time of the day already, Sir? How would you like me to serve you today?" Lucille asks, giving me a slight smirk as she approaches me, pausing as I hold up my hand.

"Maybe later, my dear, but I wanted to talk first," I say, making her blink in confusion. Lucille has been serving as my secretary and sex slave since the creation of the Guild (and her second attempt on my life), but I've realised something.

She has serious and easily exploitable daddy issues. Shiro never gave her any real affection, and by treating her far kinder than he ever did, I've wormed my way into the position of father figure that Shiro never was.

She doesn't like being a slave, but her rage and murderous intent towards me has long since faded. She still hates Shiro, but that's understandable.

"Is there a problem? Have I not been behaving, sir?" Lucille asks, slightly nervous as I move away from my desk and towards her. She needs approval, and that makes her easy to control.

I was angry at her for a long time, but anger is a lot of effort I'm not willing to spend. She isn't worthy of my hatred.

"That's what I wanted to talk about, you've been an incredibly good girl all these years without a single attempt at rebellion in centuries, and I think that's deserving of a reward," I say. Her deep blue eyes widen in surprise as I place my hand on her shoulder, removing some of the seals on her powers. "So, how would you like a promotion to system administrator? There's a new gamer I want to keep an eye on," I offer, making her beam up at me as she feels her powers returning.

"I-I'd love to, I promise I won't make you regret this," Lucile says quickly, hugging me before she freezes.

We've fucked countless times, but a simple show of affection is rather different, and as I chuckle and return the hug she slowly relaxes.

"I know you won't," I respond simply, because turning my one time killer into my loving servant is a win in my book.

Shiro fucked up raising her, but it's his loss and my gain. Well, it was my loss as well back then but that doesn't matter now.

"Thank you," Lucille whispers, smiling up at me before she leans forwards and kisses me lightly, pulling back. "Please, allow me to show you my gratitude, sir," Lucille says as she lowers herself onto her knees, her hands deftly undoing my trousers.

She pulls my cock free, gives it a slow lick from base to tip, then slides her soft lips around the head before fully engulfing my cock in her talented mouth, beaming up at me all the while. As she applies aeons of experience pleasing me, I mentally chuckle. Yeah, Lucille is way too easy to manipulate.

So eager for approval, for even a whiff of power, and all her anger is aimed at Shiro. She'll make a fine servant, and she can monitor Hei for me.