A Close Shave

Shunk! The trident came down swiftly and stabbed at a blurry red armor while a sword was slashed onto his own chest, splattering blood on Hawk's mask. Deodomus had arrived in the nick of time to save Luna and had landed a swift blow!

"Motherf…" Hawk muttered before taking a swift step back.

Swoosh! Luna was warped into Deodomus' ring before he spun speedily.

"100 Swirls!" Swish-swish-swish-swish! He attacked speedily, harming no one as the three assassins had retreated in time. But Suddenly, Xiao emerged behind Hawk and stabbed at him with a spear.

"Death Spear!" Boom! Hawk dodged at the last moment but his right wing was blown away. Xiao moved away immediately. Hawk angrily turned mid-air and attacked.

"Trident Thrust!" Whooshm! Clang! The trident stabbed into Xiao's breastplate and pushed her several feet away.

"This is for bullying my Deo!" Hailey suddenly shouted from a distance. Hawk looked over and found a lightning cat jumping at his face.

Crackle! Boom! Bzzzzt…! A lightning blast blew Hawk away, destroying his mask and revealing his bleeding face.

Swoosh-swoosh! Xiao & Deodomus appeared together attacking him head on with spears.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Spears turned into blurs and sparks flew everywhere with each speedy collision. Hawk, although flustered, regained footing within a few seconds. That is when Deo and Xiao split away, attacking from different sides.

"Sparrow Step, 100 thrusts!" Xiao shouted, jabbing her spear forward.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! At once, she displayed unimaginable attack speed, delivering each thrust at the speed of sound! Hawk was pushed away. He had his forearms crossed in front of him, using a defensive technique. The impact of each thrust still made his bones creak.

Swoosh! Deodomus attacked from behind.

"Yeti Leap, Troll Throw, Death Spear!"

BOOM!!! Hawk was blown upward, a spear having pierced his back and come out of his stomach!

"Motherfuckers…!" Hawk groaned a curse, landing on his feet. Deodomus attacked again while Xiao retreated, letting her arms heal. Her tendons had bursts and gotten damaged in the last attack. It wasn't easy for her to generate so many sonic speed attacks consecutively while holding onto the weapon.

"Trident Spiral!" Hawk threw his trident at Deodomus. It spiraled like a shredder but was dodged. However, it returned, homing onto Deodomus who was forced to face it properly. Hawk used this chance to retreat and heal himself. His gaze swept over the battlefield around him.

The assassins were attacking the three cultivators but failing to kill them. Crow and Parrot had taken the chance to try getting rid of them while Xiao and Deodomus were away.

Swoosh-swoosh! They sprinted toward Hailey and others, reaching them within a moment.

"Now Hailey!" Muchen shouted and Hailey clapped.

Bzzz!! Lightning burst out from the ground, taking the shape of a birdcage. At the same time, Hailey, Gyoro and Muchen retreated. The birdcage opened behind them and closed up again, trapping the two birds.

"Fuckers!" Crow cussed.

"Get them!" Parrot shouted and Crow summoned feather darts, guiding them to attack Hailey and others.

Bzz! Bzz! Bzzt! The birdcage grew smaller rapidly. Before the two assassins could think of anything, they were zapped heavily as the birdcage collapsed on them, leaving them disoriented.

In the meantime, Gyoro and Muchen killed assassins left and right. They weren't too powerful but with Hailey's lightning support, they managed to kill many. Of course they were getting injured too. The poison from earlier had spread through their torsos and blue veins were emerging on their necks.

Swoosh-swoosh! Deodomus and Xiao teamed up again, coming straight at Hawk.

"Hmph! Come!" Hawk summoned two new tridents and spun them speedily. In fact, the speed was so fast that it allowed him to levitate!

Whir-whir-whir-whir!! Hawk flew up, spinning the trident in his left hand while attacking with the right.

Swoosh! Whirr…! Trident shredders started raining down on the couple who defended and dodged while attacking with death spears. Hawk was almost healed and preparing to attack with full force when Deodomus' ring glowed and Luna appeared, all healed up. She had obviously consumed healing pills when inside Deodomus' spatial ring.

At once, Hawk paused. He stared hard at Luna who was now his equal, and then at Deodomus and Xiao who had displayed incredible prowess. Then he compared them with Crow and Parrot and other apparently useless minions. The difference was clear.

"Tch!" Hawk let out an irritated sound before he whistled and signaled for retreat. "We'll meet again Luna." He said those words before flying away.

"I won't be meeting any peasants." Luna replied with a smirk.

And just like that, the fight ended abruptly.

The disoriented Owl and Parrot were taken along with the corpses of other assassins, as the Assassin Squad retreated. Two minced corpses were still lying on the ground that nobody cared about.

"That was a close shave…" Muchen muttered as the rest of them neared Xiao and Deodomus. They were still looking at Luna apprehensively. Xiao and Deo turned to face her and smiled.

"Nobility and Generalship." Luna demanded, staring at Xiao.

"Plus, the leadership of Carny's assassin brigade." Xiao offered but Luna shook her head.

"I'm no longer an assassin." She said as though sadly. She was thinking of Skird. Then sighing, she put him to the back of her mind and moved on. Her gaze landed on Deodomus.

"Why did you stop fighting us?" Deodomus asked immediately.

"You had the chance to kill me too." Luna said. "Or warp me away. Why didn't you do it?"

"…I think I've harmed you enough already. I couldn't do it anymore." Deodomus said guiltily. Luna nodded.

"And that is why I stopped fighting you lot. I noticed your sincerity." Luna said, sparing a smile. The morning sun was making her white skin glaze & she looked beautiful.

"Waahhh Luna…you scared me earlier!" Hailey complained, hugging her from the side. Luna couldn't help but smile, and ruffled her hair.

"I had to put up a show to get Peacock off-guard." Luna explained.

"Alright, let's get outta here shall we?" Gyoro said anxiously. "The people will be crowding over soon, along with city guards."

"Hmm, let's return to Blue Raven." Muchen suggested. "We're heavily poisoned." His face had turned blue by now. Hailey somehow wasn't as much affected. Her lightning element could possibly be curbing the poison in her system.

"We leave tomorrow." Deodomus said. "Assassin Squad might not return but they might be lying in ambush outside. We must heal and prepare for another battle before embarking on our journey."

"Sounds good. Let's go." Xiao said and immediately all of them vanished.

---

Metah city awoke with a start. The marketplace had been damaged; the roads were battered and riddled with weapons, craters and blood. Minced corpses of Peacock and Dove were splattered here and there. Not far from there, a few houses had collapsed in the fight between Owl, Peacock and Skird. The city guards were dumbstruck and forced to run around the whole town, investigating the matter. The local mafia was found to have been massacred. The murderer had been Skird but no one knew about it.

---

In Blue Raven, Xiao's group finally relaxed.

"Ugh, that was such a bitter antidote!" Hailey complained, sticking out her tongue which had turned green.

"Heheh, isn't booze more bitter? You showed no aversion to that." Gyoro chuckled.

"Bleh. Booze is still nicer." Hailey spoke.

"I'll go check up on Muchen." Xiao said, slipping away to another room where Muchen was concocting multiple medicines together in different beakers and furnaces.

He looked over his shoulder and blinked before turning back to his work.

"Need something?" He asked.

"Anti-pregnancy pills or something like that." Xiao said. She had been fucked a lot and needed to stock up on her pills. She didn't want to bear another child anytime soon.

Muchen nodded and summoned a box containing a dozen pills. He placed it on the floor. "I'll make more of these after this current batch of healing & energy pills." He said.

"Hmm…" Xiao squatted beside him, taking the pill box and swallowing one pill from it.

There was an awkward silence.

"There's another thing I needed." Xiao said with a frown. "Do you have some medicine to aid in cultivation? I'll be trying for a breakthrough soon."

"Oh, certainly I have!" Muchen said & summoned a potion. It was purple-colored and sparkling in a glass tube.

"Pour it in your bath water and take a dip for 20 minutes. Then cultivate afterwards." Muchen said. Xiao nodded, pocketing it. "It will cleanse your meridians and remove all the residuals from yang pills or energy pills. It will also make your body adapt to those pills so less residue will be left after consumption." He added.

"Okay…" Xiao said and moved behind him. Her long arms came over his shoulders as she hugged him lightly, whispering in his ear seductively. "There's yet another thing I want…"

A surprised smile rolled on Muchen's lips while his heartbeat escalated. "Anything you want, my milf princess." He said.

---

"I'm pregnant." Luna said to Deodomus in the adjacent room.

At once, silence lingered as everyone gawked at Luna.

"C-congrats Luna!" Hailey exclaimed, hugging her but Luna didn't break her gaze from Deodomus'

"Marry me." She demanded.

Deodomus sat frozen. He had a very bad feeling about this!