Chapter 6: Death Dealer

June 6th, 1991

Earth - ?????????

Xu Family Household.

Laying prone and unresponding in a beautifully decorated Chinese living room is what looks to be an armored block of ice. The previous murkish black is gone to reveal a sky blue armor, the interior of the t-visor on the helmet is completely black, no signs of the blue eyes that were shown earlier.

Surrounding this armored block of ice is what appears to be several people and what looks to be a headless dog with wings, chirping excitedly.

This armored block of ice is Jack, and the people surrounding him are his adoptive family.

On the way back from the doctor's with Mattias, Xu Wenwu made his way home leisurely, joking along the way with his adoptive son.

Nearly 30 minutes later, he comes home to a scene from one of his nightmares. Blood and frost were seen covering almost every inch of their family's courtyard along with dismembered body parts and cut in half bodies. With his years of experience, he could instantly tell that there were nearly 60 bodies littered throughout his home.

Scanning the courtyard to make sure that none of the bodies were his family, he suddenly hears several people crying inside his home.

Quickly running in along with a shocked Mattias, they see Ying Li, Shang-Chi, and Xu Xialing shouting at what seems to be a block of armored ice.

"Please, Jack, are you okay?!" Ying Li had what looked to be burns on her hands from dragging Jack into the house.

"Wuuuu Jack wuuuu," a young Xu Xialing could be seen crying over Jack. Her tears freezing into his armor.

Shang-Chi was just staring at the ice block in front of him in a depressed fashion.

"Ying Li! What happened here?!," Wenwu asked in extreme worry. Running over to the crying Xialing and picking her up before she could hurt herself.

Ying Li yelled, "Some guys called the Iron Gang came in declaring revenge on you! If it wasn't for Jack coming back in time, I would be dead. He killed nearly 40 people..." Ying Li was extremely angry at the start of her sentence but seemed to become more and more quiet as she recounted what happened.

"What?! Jack killed all those people? The Iron Gang??? I haven't even heard of these people before," Xu Wenwu said, seeming to be genuinely shocked.

Xu Wenwu also felt extremely proud of Jack. He went forward to his son, looking down on his armored form. He couldn't help but admire how powerful he looked. "Is he still alive?," Xu Wenwu asked timidly to his wife. This question caused Xu Xialing to burst into even more tears.

Ying Li seemed downtrodden, "I don't know, this armor blocks me from taking his pulse. I can't move him any further either, I already got these burns from dragging him inside," Ying Li said on the verge of tears.

Suddenly thinking of something, Ying Li perked up and ran outside into the back forest. "I'll be right back! Don't freak out when I bring something back! He's completely harmless!," Ying Li said while sprinting away.

"Bring something back? 'He's completely harmless'? Is she hiding a man in the back mountains?" Xu Wenwu couldn't help but think while patting his crying daughters back and looking over the incapacitated Jack.

Looking over to Mattias consoling the despondent Shang-Chi, Xu Wenwu couldn't help but frown. "What was Shang-Chi doing during this time? Was he hiding with Xialing?" Wenwu thought disappointingly.

Before he could ask his son, he could see his wife running back from the back forest with something in her hands. "A headless... dog? With wings?" It took a moment for Xu Wenwu to process what he was seeing.

Running into the living room where Jack was located, she set the headless-winged thing down near Jack.

The creature took notice of its surroundings, giving what seemed to be hums and occasional chirps when it found something interesting.

"Morris, can you see how Jack is doing? Do you think you can wake him up?" Ying Li said with worry and hope.

The now named Morris looked up at the woman and chirped a few times. Going over to the body of Jack, Morris hummed and chirped over his prone form before backing away a foot from Jack and sitting on its hind legs.

Looking at this wonderous creature, Xu Wenwu was stunned; recognizing it from some research he did on Ta Lo, Xu Xialing stopped crying and looked on in curiosity, and Shang-Chi and Mattias were dumbfounded by this mystical like creature.

Suddenly, Morris raised its bulbous head and let out a pleasant melody, "Chiiiirp chIIIiiiiiRrrrp chirrrp CHIRRRP ChiiRrrP".

After finishing its performance, it seemed extremely smug. It ran over to Ying Li for pets after its performance, shaking its bulbous feathered-butt.

Before anyone could react to the creature, Jack sat up straight in his prone position, taking a deep breath of air.

"JACK!" the whole family yelled. Morris seemed disappointed that no one appreciated his melody.

Looking around from where he sat, Jack looked down at his hands. Deactivating his [Organic Ice-Form], Jack was engulfed in a giant hug by his entire family.

"Er, what happened?," Jack asked, confused.

After Ying Li and the rest brought him back up to speed and he remembered everything that happened; Jack looked over at the crying Xu Xialing with snot bubbles in her nose while she was sobbing, and he couldn't help but send a snowflake imbued with [Magic of Fun] hurtling onto her nose.

"BWAHAHAHHAHA!," Breaking out into massive giggles, Xu Xialing had snot bubbles bursting from her nose and tears coming out of her eyes.

"Eh, maybe that wasn't such a good idea," Jack thought while wiping boogers off himself.

After that, he took notice of his surroundings. Looking at his proud father and mother and his despondant brothers, he saw a headless creature looking depressed over in the corner, and he couldn't help but be stunned by its appearance.

"A.I. Chip, scan that creature!" Jack thought.

Hoping the creatures soul attribute wasn't higher than himself, he wanted to see the stats of this weird looking thing.

Jack once tried scanning his adoptive mother and father in his childhood, but their soul attribute is higher than his, making him unable to scan them, which is extremely impressive if you think about Jacks Demi-God level soul. Xu Wenwu, with his immortal life and the Ten Rings, has made his soul attribute extremely high, while Ying Li's training as Ta Lo's guardian and bonding with the protector of Ta Lo made her soul attribute soar as well.

[Ding! Command Received! Scanning...]

After waiting 20 or so seconds, a window showed up in front of Jack:

[Name: Morris

Race: Dijiang

Attributes:

Strength: 92.3

Physique: 120.5

Vitality: 120.2

Soul: 102.5

Energy: 60/120.5

Innate Talents: ???]

"God damn! What a powerful creature!" Jack thought.

After pushing off his clingy family and making sure they all knew he was alright, he made his way over to Morris. Kneeling down to the creature, he asked, "Are you the one that saved me, little guy? Thank you!" Jack said while giving the excited creature a bellyrub.

"A.I. Chip, scan my attributes!" Jack thought while giving love to Morris.

[Ding! Command Received! Scanning...]

[Attributes:

Strength: 15.3

Physique: 27.5

Vitality: 15.2

Soul: 112.5

Energy: 0.1/27.5]

Looking at his energy, Jack couldn't help but shake his head wryly. He ran out way too fast. How is he supposed to fight Mephisto and other gods in the future with such a weak energy reserve? With that thought in mind, he wanted to ask his father for harsher physical training, but that could wait until they cleaned the bodies out of the courtyard.

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July 7th, 1991

Earth - ?????????

Xu Family Compound.

After the run-in with the Iron Gang, Ying Li and Xu Wenwu believed it would be best for the family to move back into the Xu Family Compound for a while, while they figure out if anyone else is after them.

Thinking of this, Xu Wenwu called some old subordinates in the Ten Rings to figure out what was happening. Learning that the man he left in charge, Raza, was using his name to order missions and make plots; including killing members of the Iron Gang to take over their weapon dealing business, he was furious.

With anger he hasn't felt in years; he went to the Ten Rings headquarters in Afghanistan after informing his wife he had a lead and killed Raza with his rings, taking over the organization again without his wifes knowledge. Knowing there will always be someone to take his place, Wenwu felt it was best to run things himself again.

Returning home to his wife a month later, he acted as if nothing had changed while secretly giving orders to his subordinates under the table.

On the day he returned home, Jack approached him and asked him to turn up his training as much as possible. Feeling proud of his son, he brought him to his wife to discuss possibilities in the tea room.

"So, my son, what kind of training did you have in mind? Ta Lo or physical?," Wenwu asked his son while sipping his tea.

"Extreme physical training. I also want to learn how to use staff weapons better. I realized in that fight that just bare-handed martial arts and my powers won't cut it," Jack explained while petting Morris. He needed extreme physical training to boost his physique attribute, which in turn boosts his energy attribute.

His thoughts also on how he tore those gang members into pieces with that war glaive, gave him insight on how powerful a weapon could be in the hands of someone who knows how to wield it.

Thinking back on that day, Jack found it odd that he felt no remorse in killing those people. Most stories he read and created have had their characters barf, vomit, and cry after their first kill.

"I felt nothing, just the determination to save my family," Jack thought.

While Xu Wenwu seemed to be debating in his mind, Ying Li felt extremely guilty having her 7 year old son seek so much power. "Am I a bad mother?," She thought.

Xu Wenwu, finally coming to a decision, said, "There's a man in America that's my previous subordinate undergoing an assignment. He's a master in physical training and staff techniques. Even more-" Before Wenwu could finish, he was cut off by his wife.

"Absolutely not! My child will not be going to America where I can't see him!," Ying Li yelled with more force than she intended. Breaking her cup on the table. They then engaged in a stare-off.

Realizing this would probably be a good time to show his parents the [Infinity Castle], he invited them towards his room, telling them he has something important to show them. On the way there, he was ignoring his bickering parents.

Finally reaching the door to his room, he imbued some energy into it while thinking of entering the [Infinity Castle] space in his soul.

Making a grand gesture towards his door while bowing, he said, "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to my abode."

"Jack, this is no time for j-" Cutting himself off with the sight that was shown in front of him, Wenwu was shocked.

Ying Li was also shellshocked.

Morris just ran right inside the door. No worry in his mind.

Following in after Morris, Jacks parents were stunned with the sight in front of them. A huge white moon hung in the sky, illuminating a football sized field in a glowing white light. Various weights and other knick-knacks were seen laying about. Pitch black darkness was seen everywhere except the football sized field and the glowing moon.

"J-jack, what is this place?" His mother asked, stammering through the question.

"This my dear mother is my [Infinity Castle] space. Although there's no castle yet, there will be in the future! I found this space while experimenting with my powers. I can enter this space and exit through any door imbued with my powers, meaning even if I go to America, I can come back whenever I want as long as my bedroom door doesn't break! Isn't that great?!" Jack said in excitement, obviously giddy with showing off his power.

Looking at this dimenison and then at the smiling Jack, his parents couldn't help but sigh, "I guess you're going to America then," his mother said teary-eyed.

Engulfing his mother in a hug, he said, "Mom, why the hell are you crying? It's not like I won't see you every week?" Jack said, exasperated.

"Every week? you mean every day, right?," Ying Li said, pouting. Jack just ignored that last part.

"Good, I need to focus on Shang-Chi and Mattias' training as well. Shang-Chi has been training harder than he ever has since that day the Iron Gang attacked." Thinking again after he said that, he continued, "Your new trainer will be a man named 'Death Dealer'. Our family jet will take you to America next week after I get the paperwork sorted." Xu Wenwu said after some thought.

"And you'll show me how this [Infinity Castle] works as well," his father said with his mothers agreement.

Hearing the name Death Dealer, Jack blanched. Maybe staying in China wouldn't be so bad.