After a couple of minutes of speaking with Rino, I headed downstairs to go get back into the arena, and from there I obviously got to meet my wonderful fucking teammate in Stelle. Who was Kafka's damned apprentice?
"Wow... Now that's not a nice look." Stelle muttered with in an awkward expression.
To which I stated flatly. "Your master is an embarrassment to all Masters of Martial Arts. She interfered in a sparring match between disciples, with lethal bioweapons at that."
Stelle's face twitched at my harsh words and she shrugged and spoke weakly. "She paid for that quite dearly... A few masters came to the Kure clan and showed my master their own displeasure, even the killing way of martial arts wasn't happy with her."
To which I only had one reply. "For good reason. There is no glory in a kill of a target who can't fight back."
With that, I popped my neck and said bluntly. "Aside from your master being a coward." Which made Stelle's eyebrow twitch in some frustration I continued. "We will be fighting together for this battle royal. Can I count on you at least being honorable and not stabbing me in the back?"
Stelle actually glared at me before she growled out. "Yes. I may be an assassin just like my master, but we only do what we are paid to do so. Breaking a contract will only have other assassins sent after us."
Hearing that... I realized something. "Someone paid Kafka to infect me with that bioweapon huh?"
And Stelle's face hardened as she seemingly realized she said entirely too much. "I... That is all you are getting from me. Just get your head in the game, be the front-line fighter and I will keep people from getting you from behind."
"I refuse to put my back to you," I stated calmly with Stelle actually looking like she was going to stomp in frustration as the announce spoke loudly.
"NOW! For the moment everyone has been waiting for! The grand melee! But this time its with two-man teams that have never worked together haha! The last duo or standing individual's duo will be the winner!"
I stretched as the other fighters got to their feet, and taking them in, I noted that I didn't recognize any of them frankly. From either Dead or Alive, Baki, or Kengan Ashura.
But then again most fighters from those series except for Kengan obviously weren't going to be company fighters... Imagine Yujiro Hanma actually agreeing to fight at the command of some white-collar CEO.
Now that would be a funny sight to see.
The announcer began a quick countdown and after yelling out. "Go!" I just stood there with my hands folded over my chest as I leaned against the wall as the fighters moved in to pick fights with other people.
"You aren't going charging in?" Stelle asked sarcastically.
"You aren't going over to kick them in the nuts when they aren't paying attention?" I drawled.
There was a pause before Stelle visibly took a deep breath before she said calmly. "Those... Were always an accident, but fine. If you are willing to be patient I won't say-"
I cut her off sarcastically. "For someone not saying anything. You seem to be speaking alot."
Was I being an asshole to Stelle? Oh hell yes, I was. But I literally had zero fucking shame as Stelle likewise didn't have a lick of shame in her master infecting me with one of Umbrella's damned super plagues.
I was this fucking close to becoming a zombie! And I wasn't going to forgive her so easily if at all for that.
But my thoughts were cut off and I hummed as two women came towards us with violent intent clear in their eyes. "We won't be letting you just sit out the fight until the end haha!" One of the women spoke with a thick Russian accent and I shrugged and responded calmly.
"Just didn't believe it worth my time to charge into the heat of things... Could actually be interesting though." I thought as I saw the center of the arena was filled with twenty fighters with an additional ten like ourselves being on the outer edge of the arena.
But I shrugged with my fists popping as the Russian-accented woman stomped towards me in a boxing stance with her arms held up in front of her face.
While her teammate dashed around with admittedly decent speed as she came to my side to seemingly cut off Stelle from fighting her teammate off.
I shattered their illusions though. I palmed the Russian-accented woman's flying knee she threw herself into as I used the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to pivot her entire body in mid-air so I could grab her ankle as she flew past me.
"Too much follow through." I blandly remarked as I whirled the woman around with my heel digging into the sandy floor as I spun with such speed that the woman lost all weight with the speed I was spinning her at.
Stelle realizing what I was doing, merely kicked a hail of sand, finger/toe nails, and teeth toward the other girl who blocked her face with her hands to protect herself. But at that time to protect her face... It blinded her to my human weapon.
And with a harsh cracking noise, I threw the Russian woman into the other woman with the Russian woman hitting the other so hard that she bowled her over and still flew out like ten meters and bounced, skipped, and rolled across the arena before she rolled to a stop lying still.
With that, I deeply inhaled and said with a chuckle. "Fuck it. Stelle, good luck to yourself." I said and then I fell into the Kyotōryū... As honestly how often did I get a chance to fight several fighters which I didn't need to care about scarring horribly with the swordless martial art.
I sprinted forward uncaring of Stelle's shout from behind as I ran into the thickest part of the fighting where four teams were duking it out. Just whaling on each other, while only making sure they weren't hitting their own teammate.
'Rose!' I thought as I came in with one of the Kyotōryū's techniques in a high-flying kick and the man I was coming after tried to block my blow... But I heard his forearms audibly snap from the impact of his forearm hitting my shin.
"Ahh!" He snarled in pain but his scream was quickly silenced as I stomped forward at to dash at my highest speed as I used another technique.
"Violet.' I whispered as I slammed both palms into the man's bare chest and the force was so great that he flew back and hit another man hard enough to know him down.
Another man came in with a powerful kick aimed for my side and I bemoaned his fate as I let his kick skate just my back so I could grab it with both arms with his leg pressed against my back.
"Sorry," I spoke as I used the Chrysanthemum technique next and with my enhanced strength I ripped my arms forward with his leg pinned between my arms and my back.
The infamous sword-breaking technique that could shatter hardened and treated swords upon meeting the guy's leg snapped his leg in three parts, where my arms were, and in the middle of my back where his knee audibly snapped and cracked like a bag of pop rocks being put into your mouth.
The noise of the man's leg being turbo fucked was actually so loud and distinct that the cheers of the crowd, and the other fighters' noises were drowned out with a couple of fighters even pausing with fright as I dropped the now unconscious man to the ground with his leg twisted in three different directions.
"Hmm... I think you guys are too weak for techniques honestly." I muttered before I drew in a deep breath and then I dashed forward towards a duo and fell upon them with both my hands coming down in knife strikes that cut open their arms as they blocked the blows.
With both men backing up a step at feeling the flesh of their arms hitting the air, I stepped forward and brought my leg up in a brutal sweeping kick that used my entire bodies momentum with my leg catching one guy with my kick being followed through to hitting the other guy with the first.
"Look as Jake Bariss as he takes out people left and right! With his duo teammate being boxed out of the fighting due to the Sony and Costco team duo!" I heard the announcer speaking as I was fighting a guy with a sumo wrestler build.
With the man having what felt like a good three hundred pounds on me or something. But even with the weight difference, I was still stronger... It just took some damned effort to get through the LAYERS of fat and muscle the man had.
With him only going down after I kicked him several times in the sides and back of the knee making him give up as his knee gave out from under him.
"Double team!" I heard a woman shout and my lips twitched as two teams, one with the female voice shouting having another man, and the other team had two men of differing martial arts building in extreme size versus honed muscles.
'Hmm, this is what I was both afraid of, and wanting honestly. Having more than one team on me!' I thought with a grin covering my face as I felt my muscles flex in preparation for the coming battles.
In particular, I felt the muscles in my back popping and stretching making me hum in thought as I realized my Hanma blood was warming up as it were.
"I got his legs!" The bigger man yelled as he dove directly for my legs and I skipped to the side but realized the man was going to do only just that as he crawled with surprising speed across the sand to snag one of my legs as I blocked the punches and a kick from the other three fighters.
"Fine, you four asked for it." I muttered as a sharp whistle rang out as I used Awakening Breath to enhance my strength, and then my limbs went loose as I swung them around in the Water Stream Encampment with my loose fists carrying powerful strength with my fists slamming into their own fists and leg that came for me.
And as the man who dove for my leg... I gave him exactly what he wished for. As he dove for my leg, I gave him my leg in a knee to the face with how he dove to catch my leg as I re-adjusted myself.
But these people seemingly weren't as much of a chump, as even though I landed some hard blows and hurt their fists, and legs a bit. Only the guy I gave free facial surgery to with my knee was out of the fight.
A couple of minutes later, I was definitely feeling the burn as my breath came in deeper as I had knocked five more people out of the fight and now there were only four duo teams left with another guy that was lost after his partner got punched in the throat.
Wasn't me though... I wasn't going for more lethal blows like throat punches even if I used the the Kyotōryū at times to cut through the muscles of people.
"You still good to continue," Stelle asked calmly as she stood beside me as the last teams at an unseen signal moved to the center of the arena to start another brawl.
"I can rest when I am dead... Plus these guys are amateurs, they can fight sure. But they have not studied under Master or Grandmaster level martial artists." I spoke as I popped my knuckles to push the stinging pain down.
This was a decent-sized fight club. But it was still a smaller exhibition, the best fighters weren't here and even then. Alot of Master's simply thought fighting for a number of companies was a waste of time like the masters within Ryouzonpaku did.
"Fine, you watch my back this time." Stelle spoke making me raise an eyebrow as she drifted to the side slightly towards one of the teams and in unison, the team of both men turned towards Stelle and held their fists up at the ready while I gave Stelle a bit of space.
'Is she... Trying to show off or something?' I thought with amusement as Stelle handily beat the shit out of both of them with her favored kickboxing and Muay Thai combo martial art she seemed to favor.
Well favored for hand-to-hand combat. I was well aware that she seemed to be more of a master of using weapons like my master Shigure, but weapons were banned in all but the most extreme of Kengan matches.
And soon enough we had defeated the other teams without too much of an issue due to our inheritance of actual martial arts and our body's superior conditioning.
'Speaking of conditioning... Her body's strength and flexibility is much greater then it was the last time I fought her.' I thought with a frown as I walked beside Stelle as we left the arena.
The thought was so heavy that I stated blandly. "You were infected with one of those bioweapons as well weren't you."
Stelle didn't falter in her stride as she spoke with amusement. "Not bad. That's correcto mundo."
A moment later, we left the arena and entered the hallway leading to the changing rooms, and I asked curiously. "You know what happens when your body can't withstand one of those bioweapons right?"
To which Stelle chuckled and said coldly. "Oh yes, I have seen and killed a number of monsters for certain tests to see my body's fitness level. However... The virus used for my body was custom-made to not mutate me into a horrific monster and fit within my genome. It cost my master quite a pretty penny in fact."
I frowned at hearing that.
But before I could say anything Stelle stepped forward faster and then turned to face me with her eyes staring into my own. "Want to know more? I can give two things that will give you all the knowledge you can desire."
My frown deepened before I inhaled and spoke coldly. "Tell me then."
She grinned and then her expression went cool as she pulled out a slip of paper from out of her bra that she handed over to me with two sets of geo coordinates with one of them having an American address while the other had European details upon it.
"These two locations have everything you want. I would hurry though, both situations are rather... Volatile and who knows what could change there."
I frowned as something tingled in the back of my head reading this list... And then it hit me. She was sending me off to where Resident Evil 7 Biohazard takes place in the bayou. And then Resident Evil Village.
And although I was confident I could handle myself in the events of Resident Evil Biohazard... I had no such fucking confidence in getting involved in Resident Evil Village. As the people there could turn into literal flying dragons and could control fast massive tendrils of wood and other shit.
But... I wanted to know more of what the hell I had been infected with. And if I had been infected with whatever Mother Miranda had, or the super mold of Resident Evil Biohazard I needed to know.
With that, I frowned with Stelle humming and saying. "Interesting... Anyway, this is all I have. I personally wish you the best of luck. Not even some Master's returned from the second one in Europe and it is the reason why someone paid my master to infect you with that."
Stelle then turned her back on me and left with her actually fucking skipping as she entered the locker room she was seemingly assigned.
'Whelp... Looks like I have a road trip to America.' I thought as I went to my own dressing room and got cleaned up real quick.
-
After taking a long shower to wash the blood off myself from the poor bastards I cut open with my Kyotōryū and their bleeding mouths and noses. I met back up with Rino who sidled up close to me.
"So... Did you get in a fight with Stelle after you left the arena?" Rino asked curiously.
I snorted and with an arm wrapping around Rino's waist I spoke frankly. "No... Worse, she left me with more questions than answers. Questions that I need to leave the country to find the answers to."
Rino gave a small hum of thought before asking curiously. "Where do you need to go?"
I shrugged and said with some annoyance. "Need to get to get to the American bayou, probably somewhere in Louisiana."
I felt Rino chuckles as she said with amusement. "Well well. I have good news for you then darling. That condom factory we won in that first Kengan fight here is actually in Louisiana, so... If you want. You can just hitch a ride with me over there as I will be inspecting the factory and some other holdings in the area." She explained gleefully.
A hum escaped me as I gave the pink-haired beauty a knowing look before I said. "Oh, alright. If you want to whisk me away to another country I certainly can't say no."
Rino who wanted to spend more time with me and be my sugar momma was a plus sure. But in reality, the biggest reason to go along with Rino was simple. Getting paperwork to get into America would be a major fucking pain in the ass without her connections smoothing everything over.
Then Rino spoke again. "I already have a jet rented for myself in fact. We can leave in three days, we will have to refuel in Colorado on the way." Her voice became pensive as she spoke slowly. "Jake... As someone who is immune to my pheromones, on the way back. I want us to make a stop in North Dakota as well, I need to get my own answers in Racoon City."
I paused, and I squeezed my hand around Rino's waist before I spoke with some caution. "Umbrella... You want to poke your nose into Umbrella, again after getting your pheromones strengthened?"
She was silent for a long minute... More like a couple of minutes as we walked through the stadium towards the limo Rino had waiting for us.
But after we got into Rino's personal limo. She finally spoke up again. "I... Yes, I want to know what those evil fiends are doing. I have heard that they are trying to open a Japanese branch after China rebuffed them hard."
I tilted my head to the side and asked curiously. "What do you mean China rebuffed them hard?"
Rino snorted and after a minute she shook her head and said. "A Chinese Martial Arts Grandmaster was there during the meeting... And whatever Umbrella showed them, drove the Grandmaster into such a rage that he killed every single Umbrella operative in the building."
"Then a few hours later, all of China's martial arts schools, including the temples, and the Kaioh's ordained that anyone cavorting with the Umbrella corporation would be killed without mercy." Rino finished making me wonder what the hell Umbrella did that pissed off the Chinese martial artists so badly.
Either way, I exhaled and after a moment said. "Well then... Can you drop me off at Ryouzonpaku? I need to speak with my grandfather, and my master about going to America."
A chuckle escaped Rino with her saying. "Aww you wish to tell your grandfath-" And then she paused.
I could all but hear her mind whirling at the thought of teasing me about telling my grandfather what I was doing. Then, there was the reminder that my grandfather was known as being on the same level as Yujiro Hanma, and thus, he was a literal walking nuke that could bring about the destruction of a nation should he wish to.
And then Rino backtracked and said. "That is perfectly understandable Jake, I will drop you off, and then you can spend time with your fellow disciples and family before I pick you up in two days."
With that, we fell into slow companionable silence with Rino leaning her head on my shoulder while I just relaxed with my hand around her waist.
And with the relaxed atmosphere, I could actually feel Rino's pheromones gently entering my system but my body automatically processed them without issue.
'Reminds me about how Yujiro can sense cavities in people's teeth... He can smell their cancer like a dog can, and he can even move his brain within his skull to have his brain dodge a bullet hitting his skull.' I thought with some amusement.
Though... With this combination of a universe going on. I had another more poignant thought about the Baki universe. What the hell was going to happen with Pickle and Musashi?
As Musashi was very much a supernatural event with that dumbass pulling Musashi's soul from the afterlife and putting it into a cloned body. Not to mention Dead or Alive had some weird ninja/demon shit going on.
With Haruka being a perfect example as she could tap into some funky ninja ki nonsense sometimes when she got emotional. Or maybe she had some demon blood... I had no fucking clue honestly.
All I knew, is that sometimes she could punch small wisps of energy outwards and her red eyes would glow a bit. Nothing too exaggerated but it was still an obvious thing.
Not nearly as fantastical as seeing a video of my grandfather deciding to run across the ocean from Japan's mainland to the island of Hokkaido for the hell of it across the Tsugaru Strait.
The ride with Rino did have to end when I got to Ryouzonpaku with Rino kissing me on my jaw before she whispered. "I will pick you up in two days." And with that, she let go of me with her chuckling and saying. "So just make sure not to get into trouble before we leave Jake."
I got out of the limo with a cough of embarrassment as I saw Shigure standing atop the walled gates of Ryouzonpaku with her arms folded over her impressive chest. With the limo quickly driving away as though Rino was having the driver speed away as Shigure dropped down the ten-meter tall wall to land in front of me.
"She is being clingy." Shigure idly noted making my lips twitch before I shrugged not really having an answer to that.
But still, I had to speak as I did have something important to talk about. "I need to speak with you and Grandfather. I have to go to America with Rino, I got a lead on whatever I got infected with."
Shigure's eyes tightened on my form. "Stelle and Kafka were there at the fight... Kafka wouldn't share anything, so Stelle told you where to look?" She questioned.
I nodded with my master letting out a breath of before she gave a sharp nod and then said simply. "Very well, go ahead and tell the Grandmaster about this meeting. We will have it after dinner preferably."
And the taciturn Shigure jumped back onto the wall surrounding Ryozonpaku and with a flicker of motion she dashed off into the compound and out of my sight as I took the normal way in by opening the heavy doors of the dojo and then closing them before I made my way to the main house and entered.
Once I entered the main house I was welcomed in by the sight of Honoka, Marie Rose, and my half-sister Miu listening to the tv eating some snacks, while messing about with their cell phones.
"Oh! Jake, we saw your fight online already from where it was being streamed. You did great!" Honoka spoke sending me a thumbs up at seeing me enter the living room.
I chuckled and said. "Yeah, it was honestly an interesting fight having so many people to go after... And having to worry about them having some form of teamwork. But they didn't so it wasn't an issue."
The girls made a humming noise before Miu spoke with some thought. "I wonder if that will become more of a thing actually? Having teams of fighters work together to take down another team. It could possibly bring companies alot more money depending on how the matches are structured actually."
My lips curled at the realization and I knew that the companies in the Kengan Association would likewise leap to take part in such betting, especially in the semi-public events where large stadiums would be sold out in the tens if not hundreds of thousands of seats, not to mention online streaming money they can make from the fights.
Because at the end of the day, the Kengan Association was built on the use of fighters to facilitate the gambling of fuck loads of money. If they could make more than one person gamble at once, the house would just make more money.
As the Kengan Association did the hard work of keeping the law out of the matches and making sure registered fighters had their medical bills paid.
"That... Could very well be the case." I muttered before brushing a hand across my face at the thought of having to team up with Stelle more. Which I categorically didn't want.
"Anyway Miu, where's Gramps at?" I asked curiously.
Miu blinked before she chuckled and said happily. "Oh! He is in the backyard meditating, let's go see him together actually."
Not having a problem with that I walked towards the back of the main house with Honoka and Marie Rose going back to their phones as Miu followed close behind me as we briefly talked about my fight with the Trojan condoms fighter.
Hayato Fūrinji was sitting calmly within the shade of a full tree, with his legs folded and his eyes closed as he was in deep meditation. And knowing my grandfather, both Miu and I silently sat in front of him with our legs folded as we meditated as well.
A couple birds chirped and I gave a small smile seeing a squirrel that had ran away at our approach return and climb back up my grandfather's back to stand upon his head while a couple of birds landed on each of his shoulders.
'He is one with the world now... Animals can only sense him as a statue or part of the world itself, not a living being and certainly not a threat.' I thought as I saw the peak of 'Sei' martial arts.
His stillness was so profound that he had shut down his heartbeat and stopped his breath. It was a sign of how far his mastery over his body and the astounding potential the human body could reach in this universe.
Honestly... With how combined this universe was, it was probably even more profound than I knew from my knowledge of the 'Mightiest Disciple' universe.
But regardless I closed down my thoughts along with Miu and we remained silent for a good while, just sorting out our minds, calming our emotions, and emptying ourself of doubts so that we could achieve the void of true meditation.
After a good while I was pulled out of my meditation as I heart my Grandfather's heart start beating powerfully, with his heart literally being audible from like three meters away, and then as I opened my eyes I saw him taking in a deep breath.
Then as he exhaled, the breath came out so hard and hot from his overheating body that it came out as steam that pushed the grass we were sitting on to the ground.
"Hmm... I heard you and Shigure talking. You had a meeting you wish for me to attend with her?" He asked genially with his loving grandfatherly smile crossing his face.
I nodded, pausing before I shrugged and said. "Yes, its rather complicated but I got a lead on the bioweapons that were used on me."
For a split moment, I felt my grandfather's ki escape him at the reminder with the ground beneath his feet making a cracking noise as he tensed.
Before he relaxed and one of his hands came up to his long blond beard and began stroking it as he said more calmly. "Hoh? I see... Then I give my blessing in going to take a look, however, I do ask that you be careful."
I smiled wryly before shaking my head. "Alright Gramps, I still want to talk to you and Shigure about it. Its got a couple details I want the two of your opinions on."
I figured I should come clean slightly. It's not about my reincarnation or anything. But I should share what kind of monster Umbrella truly was. And how I was likely going into two hotspots for biological horrors where I would need to go full lethal from the get-go.
Going through such a situation would undoubtedly change my ki obviously... And I was already loving my dweeb of a little sister and my doting but also firm grandfather, so I didn't want any issues.
Hearing I still wanted to talk about it, he threw a glance at Miu and correctly understood I didn't want to talk about it in front of Miu so he nodded slowly and chuckled. "Ohoho, alright Jake, I will speak with you and Shigure after dinner. Oh, and Jake. Kasumi wished to speak with you if that's alright."
I raised an eyebrow hearing that, as Kasumi was less of a disciple and more of a lesser master in her own right. So I stood up and said respectfully. "Alright gramps, I will go see her now if she isn't busy. See you after dinner, Miu give me a couple minutes and I will transfer some of my winnings over to the join account so we can have meat tonight!
And yes... All the masters were basically jobless, not making much if any money for the dojo besides Akisame Kōetsuji who had his clinic and made a bunch of Buddha statues that he sold occasionally.
Sadly it was me and the disciples bringing in the most money with Kasumi doing whatever ninja anti-martial artist police work she did bringing in most of the dojo's money until I came here at least.
As both Miu, Honoka, and Marie Rose were all high schoolers so its not like they had the ability to get decent jobs or anything.
But, I was curious as to what Kasumi wanted so I headed off leaving Miu with Hayato to talk and go back to meditating if they wanted to, while I meanwhile went to go look for the auburn-haired beautiful ninja chick,
And after shooting her a quick text I learned quickly enough that she was in her bedroom in the main house and she gave me permission to come to her room.
So I made my way over there and said hi to Kensei real quick. He was pervertedly reading a smut magazine on the back porch of the main house.
Once I got to her room, I knocked with her calling out. "Come in Jake."
Opening the door... I froze for a moment seeing Kasumi wearing a rather revealing martial arts outfit that exposed much of her cleavage and showed off her legs.
"Jake, I saw your fights through the police channels. You did rather well honestly." Kasumi spoke kindly though my lips twitched at how she mentioned she watched it through the police's method of keeping track of martial artists.
I gave a slight hum as I came in and then after a moment of thought, I came over to her and sat across from her on the floor. As she was sitting at a low table that was so common here in Japan.
"Actually... What do the police and government think about Kengan matches anyway?" I asked curiously.
At my question, Kasumi actually snorted and said bluntly. "Ohhh. The government loves Kengan matches. So... Sooo much money changes hands along with properties. And every single time money changes hands along with assets, the government gets their cut."
My lips twitched at how disgusted and unwilling she sounded, but there was no denying the truth in her words with her continuing. "To say nothing of how several members of the Kengan Association themselves are actually government employees or literal royalty of multiple other nations, it's something that isn't going away."
I brushed a hand across my face as Kasumi sighed and said. "It's barbaric... But humans watching drama, or other humans fighting one another is coded into our very DNA, we are a species born to fight after all."
'A bit of a departure from base Earth humans... But Kengan/Baki humans aren't exactly humans by any stretch of the word.' I thought with a wry smile crossing my face.
"But anyway Jake, I had a favor I wanted to ask you." Kasumi spoke and I nodded but said with a hint of warning.
"I will do what I can to help if I can, but I am actually leaving to go on a trip back to America in a couple of days for some business," I explained.
The brunette beauty shrugged and then said. "I see, thank you for telling me that. But I was hoping that during your next Kengan match here in Japan anyway, you bring me along. The department has another Master martial artist getting involved with the martial artist sphere but I want to get a feel for the more organized Kengan side."
"That shouldn't be an issue honestly... I see politicians and stupidly rich people at the Kengan matches so inviting you shouldn't be an issue." I mused.
With that I looked back to Kasumi who was smiling and I got back up to my feet saying. "Well, I want to go relax in my room before dinner for a bit. See ya at dinner Kasumi." I finished with Kasumi bidding me farewell, and she closed and locked the door behind me as I left.
Which... Would normally be rude but Kensei Ma was a pervert who would steal Kasumi's underwear.
-
After getting a text from Miu that dinner was ready, I came down and had dinner with most of the masters, and all the disciples with just small talk being shared then after the meal I went onto the back porch as Grandfather and Shigure finished up their own meals.
A couple of minutes later, the Grandmaster and my own master sat down beside me as we three stared out across Ryouzonpaku's large lot.
"So Jake, tell me what is going on."
I took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "I... I did some traveling before I came here to Japan, and I know some things. Just don't feel, no aren't right in the world."
"The place in Louisiana I am going to will be dangerous due to it having a super mold that can infect and violently mutate them and even grant them insane reliance and a form of immortality."
My master and grandfather were silent before I raised up a hand and clenched it into a fist as I continued. "That place supposedly has some of the information I need on what I was infected with... But apparently, the biggest piece of the puzzle is in Europe, a landlocked away in snow storm's and filled with literal monsters where even mast-"
I was cut off by my grandfather as he growled. "Romania... You wish to head to the deadlands of Romania where even Masters have died with zero explanation."
There was silence for a minute before I exhaled and said. "Yes. I need to know what the hell I have been infected with."
After a moment Shigure spoke quietly. "I could go with him to Romania?"
My grandfather hummed in through, before he exhaled and said quietly. "Jake... It's up to you, will this be your trial? Or do you want your master's help?"
I thought about it for a while then after a moment of thought I asked Shigure seriously. "Master... Am I ready to kill a god, a dragon, and a clan of vampires?"
Shigure paused at my question and gave me a long hard look as my grandfather audibly facepalmed and then she said in her typical blunt manner. "No, no you are not ready." To which I shrugged and then asked with a wry smile. "Then I think I will need you."
I felt a hand land on my shoulder and I heard my grandfather drawl out. "My darling grandson... What is the meaning this, god, dragon, and vampire bit?"
Looking over at my grandfather I held in a shudder as his eyes were literally glowing with his ki and I decided to fucking blame Stelle and Kafka as I explained the dangers of Resident Evil Village.
The clan of Dimetrescu, and other things... And then I got into Mother Miranda.
Mother Miranda who was more than a hundred years old and was a living god with her control over the Black Mold/Megamycete that could change into any biological structure she desired, and could even do kooky shit like eat people's memories and take their forms.
She could literally compress her mold into the crystal, turn it into molten lava, and then yeet it at people. To say nothing of being capable of flight and having all the memories of the people the Black Mold had killed over the millennia it has been around.
My grandfather was silent for a long moment before he said simply. "I see... You are indeed not ready for such a journey. But you are my grandson, and I myself can seek those answers."
I looked up at him with a chuckle escaping him as he patted my back as he winked and said. "Jake... I am ninety years old, and now I am just learning there is an actual dragon monster, an actual biological god I can slay haha! If anything... When we are going there, I will have Yujiro show up as well, he will appreciate such a fight as well."
I facepalmed as I considered Yujiro Hanma and my Grandfather, literal walking nukes doing their thing in beating a biological god to death basically... And actually, that was a thing I needed to speak about.
"Gramps... The people that were just civilians there have literally been turned into lycans, werewolves with no minds anymore. You will need to kill if you go there, there is nothing but literal monsters there."
My grandfather gave a slight hum to that and then he looked me in the eyes as he squeezed my shoulder and said seriously. "Jake, the path of killing martial arts is entirely in the mind and heart. The act of killing in our line of work is... A painful reality, but in such a situation as an actual vampire dragon monster, killing such a being isn't something that contrasts with my beliefs."
With that said my grandfather gave me a final pat on my shoulder before he said softly. "You remind me of your father Saiga... Don't think so much about taking the help of others."
And then my grandfather got up and without another word left left me and Shigure behind in a moment of silence.
Until Shigure broke the silence with an uncustomary smile. "Do you think I could slay the dragon vampire with my sword?"
I gave my master a weird look before I said with amusement. "Depending on who gets to fight what, you gotta ask yourself. Is stealing such a kill from Yujiro Hanma worth it?"
And my master obviously had zero response to that. With her even pouting and giving me a look of blame knowing all to well she had no answer.
Though with that, I patted my knee and said. "In either case Shigure, could we spar for a bit?"
And after a good while of getting my ass kicked I went and got myself cleaned up before going to bed, I was texting Rino and letting her know my grandfather wasn't going to 'politely' deny her the right to take me out of the country or something.
[Thats good to hear, well you just relax for a couple of days, or do training... Unless you wanna come spend the night again with me?] Rino sent and then a ping ring out as another message came to my phone this time with a picture attached.
Which depicted Rino in a sheer sleeping gown as she lay on her very large bed. With her giving me a needy pout in the picture as though asking. 'What am I alone in my bed?'
Resulting in our messages getting a bit steamier before I naturally went to bed.
-
The next couple of days consisted of myself spending time with the family, my fellow disciples, and time with my master.
But on the day of the afternoon where I was going to fly overnight to Louisiana, I was sitting down with Sakaki and Kensei Ma who were both drinking lightly and decided to drag me into the card game they were playing.
And after playing some cards with them... And losing damn near every hand due to them being monsters who could read my intent, even if I had decent control of my body. I got picked up by Rino's limo and taken to the airport.
'I really have a fucking sugar mommy.' I thought with a wry chuckle as I saw Rino's private company jet that was painted in reflective gold with black trim.
I came up to the jet, and the hostess pulled down the ladder for me and as I climbed into the plane, I realized it had a raised roof to allow taller people to stand up properly and not be as hunched over.
"Oh you made good time I see." Rino spoke as she strode out of a private bedroom at the back of the plane and I realized the plane itself was a full-fledged house basically. There were a couple bathrooms, one at the front for the two pilots and the hostess, along with a small bedroom for the help to sleep between changing hands during the flight.
There was a full kitchen and dining area, and then there was a separate back bedroom to give Rino privacy.
"Yeah, nothing held me up. So how long is the flight supposed to be?" I asked curiously.
Rino gave me a wry smile and then said calmly. "This is a private jet, a long-range one as well. So rather than the typical twenty-hour commercial flight, we are looking at close to only ten hours due to higher speeds, and our refueling only takes half an hour with no layover or anything."
'No wonder Yujiro forces militaries to fly his ass across the world in fighter jets with how impatient he is.' I thought before Rino coughed and said more happily.
"Thats why we are leaving now late at night though. We can watch a long movie to put us asleep and then by the time we get to Louisiana we won't be jet lagged or anything." Rino spoke as she slid in close.
And then she wrapped her arms around me and spoke softly. "Now darling... Carry me to bed, I have been spoiled by that night you slept at my house and now my bed feels so cold without you."
I chuckled and without another word, I did what the pretty lady asked. The bedroom within the back of the jet wasn't that big compared to Rino's penthouse, but it had a sizable large queen-sized bed that took up much of the space while a large screen would roll up in front of the bed end so we could watch tv straight ahead of ourselves.
"So, any taste in movies you desire?" She asked curiously as she took out a remote and pulled up the systems digital library and after a moment of thought I spoke.
"Directors edition of Lord of the Ring's Trilogy."
And as we lay down together Rino gave me a small poke to the side with her snarking in warning. "Jake! We do need to get some sleep you know, I may not be that into fantasy but I have heard how oppressively long the movies are."
I just chuckled at my prank being ruined and I just said. "Alright alright, just the first movie Rino."
Rino pushed the remote with the movie starting and as we watched said movie we were left alone as the pilots got us going and into the air without any incident.
And once we were in the air at our cruising height Rino tightened her hold on me as we snuggled and I reciprocated by kissing her head that was buried against my chest while one hand delved down to give her fantastic soft ass a good squeeze.
"Hmm, are you feeling pent up darling?" Rino whispered gently between soft nipping kisses on my neck.
I gave a small hum of acknowledgment as I pulled her close to me. And after a moment she whispered. "Ok, let me take care of you." With that, I felt her move and she got up slightly to lean over to quickly grab a set of paper towels before she laid back down beside me.
She then pulled my face into her large soft breasts with one hand as she hummed and undid the buttons of her sleeping gown to expose her breasts. "There you go darling, enjoy while I take care of you."
And as she kept my face buried in her breasts she used her other hand to delve into my shorts that I changed into to sleep beside her and her small soft hand quickly encircled my hard length with how her pheromones were flooding into my body.
"Don't have any condoms... Nor any morning after pills, so we can't go that far." She whispered as her hand began firmly massaging my length as Rino dominated my senses as she used her free hand to gently massage the back of my neck as she kept me pressed into her breasts.
'She doesn't want to get pregnant, fair enough.' I thought as I knew Rino had her own ambitions with her company and wanted to bring down her comically evil father who ran several other companies.
Me knocking up Rino would fuck up all her ambitions, and I respect Rino not to push her into something she wasn't ready for.
And so Rino gave me a handjob that was augmented by her fantastic soft tits wrapping around my face that I played with at my will until I relaxed and hit my peak with Rino collecting my seed into the paper towels she collected at the start.
After I relaxed after my orgasm, I said in a tired drawl. "Those paper towels better go into an incinerator or something."
Rino was silent before she sighed and said. "I know... With Umbrella, and other bioweapon, pharmaceutical companies, I already have a pocket incinerator in the plane along with at the suite back home."
My lips twitched as I asked curiously. "I mean, it was kinda sarcastic. But why do you need a whole incinerator?"
There was a pause before Rino was quiet and only broke it when she said dryly. "Jake, my darling. Women tend to leave a lot more DNA samples, and I rather not have clones or bioweapons with my pheromones running around."
'Shit, she meant her periods ick.' I thought as Rino giggled evilly seeing my expression.
But with that, Rino just snuggled up with me and said tiredly. "Alright... Sleeping time, be a good man, and be my pillow."
And with that, I mentally shrugged and decided that getting some sleep was a wonderful idea as the hum of the jet lulled me to sleep.
-
Hours later, I awoke as the jet rumbled with turbulence as we were coming in for our landing with the jet's intercom quietly turning on with the male pilot's voice coming online. "Miss Rino, Miss Rino and guest. We will be landing and deboarding in Baton Rouge in twenty minutes."
I got up from the bed with my neck popping as Rino yawned loudly and looked at me with sleepy blurry eyes as she grumbled. "Why... Why are you so awake already?"
Chuckling slightly, I said shamelessly as I flexed an arm with impressive muscles popping up. "Perks of having a very, very healthy body and mind."
And with that, I began changing clothes uncaring of Rino watching as I put on a pair of jeans and a leather jacket over my t-shirt. "Alright, Rino... So, want me to spend the day with you before I run off to-"
Rino held up a hand and I raised an eyebrow as she gave me a firm look before shaking her head and saying. "No Jake, I can handle my business here in Baton Rouge. Leaving you a week to deal with whatever you need to do in the Bayou."
I frowned... Before nodding and saying firmly with no discussion in my voice. "Alright Rino, but do not... I repeat, do not leave and head off to Racoon City without me alright?"
She grimaced but took a deep breath and said with a wry smile. "Alright darling, now let me add some money to your account and charter a car to send you to those coordinates, that woman gave you."
"Ok Rino, you be good and don't get into trouble while I am gone," I spoke as I drew Rino into a tight hug with her free arm squeezing around my waist in turn.
After separating from Rino she quickly ordered me a ride and then she gave me a quick peck on the cheek before she got into the limo she had already called for herself and then left for her own business in Baton Rouge while I waited for my own ride.
With Rino having told me that with my satellite phone's subscription, I could make a call from anywhere that wasn't shielded by a Faraday Cage or under several dozen meters of rock.
This was funny as I knew if things went remotely close to canon, I would need to go into the salt mines to get the Umbrella super Necrotoxin that could kill the main hive of the super mold in Eveline.
Funny enough the MOLD that was the whole antagonist of Resident Evil Biohazard and then Village wasn't in any way made by Umbrella, hell if anything they were trying to destroy it knowing that there wouldn't be much of a world left should it break free into said world.
No, the E-Line of MOLD was made by an organization that went by the letters HCF, Which stood for H- Hive or Host, C-Capture, and F-Force.
It was an organization even made by Albert Wesker who was originally involved with Umbrella obviously and it was an organization that was obsessed with large-scale fungal bioweapons.
With Eveline being a homunculus clone basically, she was created to be the perfect host for the MOLD, and have the mental strength to control other people, animals, hordes of insects and more monstrous mutations that the MOLD had infected.
Honestly, the MOLD was far more dangerous than Umbrella's zombie diseases and even things like the Tyrants with how bullshit they could get as was evident in the parent MOLD that was in Eastern Europe where we see it in Resident Evil Village.
The ride Rino had picked me up actually had an armed bodyguard for some reason though funny enough and the drive was a solid two and a half hours to get out into the Bayou proper and all too soon I was dropped off, alone at the Bakers Plantation.
"Alright, Jake... No need to fuck with the Bakers yet, I need to get the E-Neurotoxin, and then inject Eveline with it to hopefully kill her if I use two doses of it." I muttered as I hopped in place to get ready.
I just needed to get past the Baker's mansion which was going to be crawling with fucking monsters, and mutated insects, make my way through the Bayou, which was going to be infested with MOLD monsters and then follow the satellite maps I had of where the old salt mine was. In order to use the machines down there from Umbrella who failed to deal with Eveline.
Making my way down the gravel road, I walked fast towards the main house, and as I looked around... I grimaced seeing the house was built within a marsh of the Bayou, which meant that much of the house was literally built over the waters of the swampland on stilts and whatnot.
'Ok... I am not fucking swimming through the swamp to get past the estate, nor is there an easy path. I am going to have to actually go through the damned house.' I thought with dread before I bucked up with my heart ready to go.
"Alright monsters... Here comes a martial artist." I muttered hyping myself up as I just fucking hoped the mystery virus or whatever that was running through my body could deal with the MOLD.
I came up to the door of the Baker's massive estate, and I took a deep breath before I kicked the handle of the rotting door and with a loud crunching noise, the rotting wood of the door cracked and crumbled beneath the force of my kicks with the barbed while and metal reinforcements quickly giving way.
After kicking down the door, I walked into the large house's front room.
The walls were darkened with age, uncared for with dark splotches of black rotting mold splattering across the walls, and across every crevice.
Along with the furniture being mostly destroyed or otherwise covered in the filth of the black MOLD or debris from the Bayou swamp mud.
I didn't bother exploring, I just powerwalked toward the back of the house. Literally kicking all the locked doors down in my way and already I could hear something or someone upstairs yelling though I couldn't exactly hear what they were saying or tell much of what they were saying.
And after a minute of rushing through the house, I hit the back. It was a huge room filled with hunting trophies and wasn't as destroyed honestly... Until I came in anyway, and without a moment of hesitation I went over to the boarded-up door and began ripping up down the boards over the door.
"The hell is going on in here!" A male voice roared but at that point, I had already kicked down the door and entered the back patio and could see a couple of large guest houses built over the Bayou with the plantation dock stocked with a couple of small boats in the back.
'The salt mine is a bit into the Bayou, gotta get-' My thinking was silenced as a fist slammed through the wall near me and I sidestepped it as it became an open palm that tried to grab me.
'Nope!' I thought as I drew a breath and before the arm could retract I delved into the Kyotōryū and I slammed a knife hand through his arm with his arm falling off with him yelling and ripping the arm's stump back into the house.
"Boy! Breaking in here without even knocking or saying hello is mighty rude!" The male voice snarled even as I power-walked away.
I wasn't running in particular because the wood planks making up the dock were old, extremely moldy, and creaking loudly in warning with every step I took.
Then as though to underscore the anger in the man's voice I heard a loud crashing noise behind me and my lips twitched seeing the patriarch in Jack Baker stand up with a snarling grin on his face.
The man... Was diminished is what I would like to say, his skin pallid as snow. With splotches of disease pockmarking his skin. But the strength in smashing through his house no matter how rotted and weakened wasn't something normal.
I knew this... Husk of man was strong, his body reinforced and filled with the Black MOLD, giving it powerful regeneration.
And even as I gazed at him, I watched him pick up his arm and put it back on the stump with his fist clenching open and closed in but moments after he re-attached his stump.
"Now young man, I think you need to come say hello to the family. You are obviously lost, and needing some discipline in your life. If your first thought is to cut some poor man's arm off haha!" He cackled as he began stomping towards me.
I loosened my muscles and I readied myself knowing the man wasn't actually a fighter and I spoke. "I think that would be a terrible thought honestly... I do have a question though?"
The man didn't respond to my question and merely lashed out with a hand to grab my shoulder but in turn, I delved into Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, and used his arm as a fulcrum to pull him towards me to meet my flying knee that slammed into his chest.
And I hit him hard... With no fucking mercy I smashed my knee into his chest with his ribs audibly shattering before I flexed out my knee and twirled us around and then as we pointed at the end of the porch I slapped aside his hand that tried to grab the arm I had grabbed and my leg extended at full power to send him flying backward with a loud crashing noise as he shattered the rotting wooden guard rail.
With him falling into the swamp's thick muck as it seemed the water was rather low close to the house.
'The mud will slow him down.' I thought as I quickly made my way across the porch and walkways with Jack Baker screaming in anger as he climbed back onto the patio by the time I made my way past the large guest houses and reached the boats.
"Fuck you, you middle-aged immortal asshole," I muttered as I knew I would have killed the man if he was remotely normal with how I turned his ribs into a frag grenade that would have torn apart his inner organs.
But even as I spent a couple of minutes figuring out how to turn on the engine for the boat. I could see the bastard back up and making his way towards me.
A roar of the engine rang out though, as I found the proper switches and pulled the rope start on the engine to get it going.
And with a total lack of respect, I just flipped him off as I took off with the damned boat with myself shooting out into the Bayou as I thought of something actually... 'Why didn't I just have Rino have a couple of helicopters fly me around the Bayou to get me around?'
Would have definitely made it more convenient, though it would need to be a large military helicopter with several armed men in order to keep the helicopter safe.
And honestly, that was probably reason enough, god knows how difficult it would be to get mercenaries in the US to operate in the US itself.
The waters of the Bayou were thick, thick with mud, algae, and other debris... But worse was the thick clouds of flying gnats, flies, and the tapestries of large spider webs I dealt with by putting a wooden pole on the front of the boat to break through all the webs as I followed the maps I had of the Bayou to get to the salt mine.
A loud thud rang out as the bottom of the wooden boat hit something hard and I shuddered as a fucking massive gator... Clearly not at all natural with how it was like thirty feet long or something and covered in the black MOLD floated to the surface as my boat continued to drive on.
Thankfully Gatorzilla didn't decide to come after me and I reached the solid ground where the series of hills were, where the old salt mine was supposed to be.
So leaving the boat behind, I got moving onto the dry land with the world silent of all life. And inside the Lousiana Bayou, which was supposed to be overflowing with life? That was an eerie feeling, not hearing any birds or anything.
But as I walked uphill towards the salt mine, I could feel the rocky ground becoming soft, and as I came up to a chain-linked fence. My lips curled into a frown as I saw the ground beyond the chain-linked fence had been seemingly dug out or carved apart and filled with mucky pools of water.
'Dammit, gotta walk through the water.' I thought with annoyance, but also trepidation as I knew it was the perfect ambush point even with how shallow the water seemingly was.
I quickly climbed over the chain link fence as I could see in the distance through the tree line was the tower over the mine. Which housed the elevator that would lower me past the bedrock and into the salt mine.
A splash of tepid heavy water rang out as my feet hit the water and I quickly made my way through the knee-high water... Until something splashed to my side.
My head snapped to the side and automatically my hand swung in a knife hand as a lashing tendril of MOLD flesh shot out of the water like a spear at me.
The knife hand hit the hard bone within the spear of flesh and I winced internally with a grimace escaping me... As the bone making the core of the spear was stronger than literal steel.
So I instantly pivoted as the spear retracted backward and then shot forward towards me again at high speed. Switching to the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to convert the insane strength of its stabbing motion to pull the fucking monster out of under the water.
A loud splash rang out as a humanoid figure made seemingly entirely out of thick black MOLD flew into the air and even in mid-air I saw its other arm bunch up, with each arm seemingly being an arm spear that could shrink in on itself before violently decompressing and shooting the arm spear outwards.
'Ultimate Technique: Shichika Hachiretsu Kai' I thought as I used one of the stronger lethal techniques of the Kyotoryu as the monster hovered above my head as it still had so much built-up momentum.
'Right palm strike to the chest. Left-hand jab to the chest.' I thought even as the monster flew directly over my head I did a flip to drive my right knee to its chin. And with our orbits synchronized in the air, I slammed both palms into its chest using the Red Blossoms and Green Willows technique to rupture its inner organs.
Then as we came down to the ground I used a double hand chop to its sides just below its rib cage with my hands coming together and carving past all the meat beside its spine and then I finished the technique with a powerful axe kick that shattered its spine and finished separating the monster's waist and legs from its upper body.
With my axe kick also fixed my alignment so I landed on my feet with my body feeling the burn of using such a technique.
I gave the monster a look... And I grimaced as I could see, I could literally see with the naked eye how the black MOLD in the swamp water was helping the monster fill in its wounds and visibly regenerate like a finger tips worth of flesh every second as it worked to rebuild all its internal organs.
'Dandelion.' I thought as I formed a knife hand then using the tips of my fingers I stabbed into the head of the monster with a cracking and then squelching noise ringing out as I broke its skull and created a large hole in its MOLD-infected black brain matter.
'That will slow it down as well... Fucking bioweapons.' I thought as I shook the tainted gore off my hand and kept moving toward the salt mine in the distance.
A couple of minutes later, I frowned as while the water got shallower, two more of the MOLD monsters that were once poor fucking humans stood up out of the swamp water.
"Alright... Gotta be quick." I muttered as I circled around the two monsters to put one behind the other and as the first one stabbed its enhanced spear-like arm at me, I dodged it and then did a fast front flip as I used the Kyotōryū's hidden art of Scattered Blossoms.
With my fast-flying frontal axe kick that got enhanced with my front flip cutting the monster in half from shoulder to waist.
From there I had to switch to the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to block the arm spear of the other monster and then use its own momentum to yank it in for a powerful Lariat that shattered its throat and spine... Though I doubted a collapsed throat passageway meant much to these monsters.
But the shattered spine would keep that one busy allowing me to quickly make my way to the mine with the ground becoming truly solid again.
I reached the mine shaft elevator that would send me into the salt mine without incident and besides that. Nothing else happened of note as I quickly just slapped the button that would send me down into the salt mine.
Reaching the bottom of the salt mine, I held in a grimace as I walked into the tunnels that the mine itself was clearly showing smaller signs of the MOLD taint. Though much diminished which made sense with how all the walls were encrusted with salt due to the Bayou being connected with the ocean once upon a time.
And my thoughts were more than correct, as all too soon another trio, these molded poor bastards bigger than the previous three I mess with. I carefully dealt with them with my martial arts and made sure to destroy their mutated heads with several kicks.
Then I made sure to duck under all the trip wires that were hooked up to small explosives hidden in the walls as I entered the depths of the salt mines. Soon enough after taking a staircase even further down, the walls were covered in metal with the area actually having some low-powered lights giving some better vision than the flashlight I had.
'The scientists from the group that made Eveline were here once upon a time.' I mused as I took in several long-decayed corpses wearing scientist outfits that were clearly killed with firearms.
Being the Umbrella team that came here to deal with Eveline lest her MOLD spread throughout the Bayou. Though they all died to her so-called 'family' or succumbed to inhaling the mold spores it was constantly putting out.
I had to deal with a couple more molded monstrous humans that were hiding in the walls of the area and soon enough I got to the Umbrella base camp and I found the E-Necrotoxin synthesis machine.
'Ok... The D-Series sample of the children who couldn't take the MOLD during their gestation in the womb is also here. I just put this in here, hook it up there.' I thought as I put the glass case containing the dried-out remains of the malformed fetus into the machine.
The whole point of the MOLD bioweapons was to use homunculus children infected with the mold as biological bombs basically. Drop them into an area and they will swiftly infect the area with the Black MOLD, and everything that is infected by the mold will be mind-controlled by the main host of the MOLD.
With the D-Series being total failures and not even surviving to full gestation, but their DNA was far more concentrated so when used as a base for the necro-toxin Umbrella had planned for the sole surviving E-Line MOLD bioweapons in Eveline, her MOLD body instead of fighting the toxin would integrate it into her body.
Only once I dealt with Eveline would I be able to actually check around the Baker estate to get the answers I needed.
It took a couple of minutes, but soon enough the injection filled itself with a bright green liquid that made something in my body recoil making me wonder if the virus I had inside of myself could feel the danger in the dangerous chemical cocktail.
Once it was done I carefully secured the metal-lined vial in my jacket and went to make my way back to the elevator leading back up to the surface. Where I actually got out of the salt mine without issue...
But as I came up to the surface. My face darkened seeing two figures standing there with twisted haunting grins. First was Jack Baker, the patriarch of the Baker family, and alongside him was his wife who I couldn't remember the name of but she was clearly even more crazy then her husband.
Her face was even more pale and gaunt having like a porcelain-like sheen to it. "Well, boy! Did you do some good prospecting in the mines? Film some kind of youtube video or whatever blasted nonsense kids your age love to do?" Jack demanded as he stomped towards me.
Into the elevator making me groan before I blinked and realized something.
'I need to go lethal on him.' I thought and I blurred forward in a flash of speed towards the man before his more monstrous wife got involved.
Jack Baker, for all that he was augmented and basically immortal due to the MOLD that infected his body. Was a bare-bones human, with no heightened fighting abilities.
I blitzed forward with my booted foot slamming into his face knocking him backwards and as he rolled, I dashed past him and then slammed the elevator closed before pushing the button to send Jack back down to the bottom of the salt mine with the elevator going down.
"Bah! You be wasting your time young man." Jack's wife cooed and I shivered with actual disgust as, when she opened her mouth. Large thumb thick centipedes traced over her teeth and went in and out of her mouth with her sloppily slurped them back into her mouth as she finished speaking.
"Gods be damned, you are scary," I admitted as the matriarch of the household advanced on me with insects pouring out of each hole of her body and flooding the ground beneath her long dress especially with the insects rushing towards me.
But I kicked the control panel which controlled the salt mine elevator, with the buttons being smashed along with the electronics cracking into pieces while I used the force of my kick to send me into the air so I could avoid the bugs and I was fucking off.
I sprinted at high speeds using all my martial arts-enhanced strength to get away from the woman as I wasn't the Resident Evil protagonist with all the guns. I didn't want the glory of punching a skin bag filled with black widows, diseases from the Bayou, and other filth.
'Should keep Jack locked in the mines until he goes the long way out the other way without the elevator. And the woman can't run especially.' I thought as I ran back to the boat only to blink and see that there was another boat there. Where Jack and his wife must have followed me here.
So after getting the engine going on the boat, I came in on. I stomped a hole through the wooden deck of the other boat so it would sink and I headed back to the Baker estate with my boat.
The roar of the engine droned out the sounds of the Bayou's life and although I saw what I thought to be monsters or something coming up out of the water at hearing or sensing my loud as fuck boat, but I kept the boat well away from the horrors of the swamp.
But I made it back to the Baker's house without any of the infected swamp monsters actually being able to react to me in time and get to the boat.
Going back up the dock, I felt my instincts scream in warning so I ducked and rolled across the dock as a loud boom went off with the planks I was previously on exploding as the remains of the beam fell into the swamp below the porch.
I looked wildly outwards and I saw in an open window in one of the guest houses a man armed with a shotgun or rifle. Then I saw him line his next shot up. so I skipped forward with all my strength to dive with my arms held in front of my face as I smashed into a boarded-up window.
Another loud bang rang out and I hissed as a streak of fire screamed through my body as I felt a couple of the shotgun pellets slam into the muscles of my back as his shot went through the frame of the window and the scattering shot hit me a couple of times.
'Dammit.' I cursed as I stood up with a grimace at feeling the metal pellets having broken through my leather jacket but thankfully they got buried in the strong layer of muscle in my back.
But, I was a human in the martial arts world. A bit of buckshot wasn't going to slow me down in the slightest even if it stung like a bitch.
I stood up after rolling away from the window and then with a growl I flexed my back muscles and two soft clattering noises rang out as the metal pellets fell to the wood floor and out of my body.
'My body will heal the holes up in an hour at most.' I thought as I could feel the virus within myself going to work healing the wound at great speed.
I quickly made my way through the Baker's Family house taking out one of the metal vials into my hand to be ready as I followed the MOLD streaking the house. Heading to where the mold was deepest engrained.
"Get out! I don't want you here!" A female 'younger' voice hissed into my mind and my lips twitched as the voice was scratchy and I could literally feel the bioweapons virus giving me a fever as it attacked the MOLD that had obviously entered my system at this point.
"Fucking great... I got a shitty mold little girl in my head." I grumbled as I embraced the suckage of my bioweapons virus burning out the MOLD that had clearly infected me.
The further I walked, the more I felt a weight on my shoulders as my vision darkened around the edges while whispers filled my ears.
But I ignored the voices in my head with practiced ease... Why would I heed the insane whispers of a monster with the voice of a little girl.
Coming up to the large library, I found my target after a few minutes of searching.
See, the E-line of Connect's bioweapons had the one major flaw all homunculus faced as part of their natural existence in being a shoddily made vat-grown 'human' Their lifespan was shit.
And in the E-lines case, Eveline herself grew and aged at thirty times the average human's. So having only lived for three-something-odd years, she was already a wheelchair-bound old woman looking like she was ninety-plus years old... Thing with knotted white hair covering much of her face.
"Go... Away." She hissed and then a wave of air slammed into me and pushed me back a half dozen meters with my feet cracking the wooden floorboards beneath me.
'Fucking telekinesis really?' I thought anxiously as I stomped my feet into the ground and began forcing my way through the constant wave of telekinetic might forcing itself onto me.
"Why, why are you doing this? I just want to give people my gifts! I want them to love me!" Eveline snarled in fury as the walls of the estate cracked with the force of her lashing out telekinetic might.
"Because you... Are a danger to the world, you have zero care for others. And you shouldn't have come into this world just to suffer and make others suffer." I growled as pushed through the wall of telekinetic might.
Each step was compounded with Eveline's rising fear with her weakly trying to move her wheelchair from me to get more distance. But in reality, her focusing on moving, only weakened her telekinetic fuckery which made no sense to me.
Either way, with her panicking and trying to move away, I was able to slip past the wall of telekinetic might as I realized it was more of an energy field she was projecting from the thousands if not hundreds of minds she had consumed and had all their mental energy to pull from.
And the energy field wasn't omnidirectional. It seemed to come out in the shape of a cone so I got to the side of the cone and was freed of the telekinetic wave allowing me to fully sprint down the five meters to Eveline.
"I wont-" Eveline screamed as I closed in and then her words were silenced as both syringes filled with the D-Necrotoxin were stabbed into her neck with their contents being pumped in but a couple of moments.
I stepped back from Eveline with the two syringes sticking very obviously out of both sides of her neck as I watched in real time as her body violently twitched as the necrotoxin began burning away the MOLD within her.
My body tensed as something in Eveline loudly snapped and then her head tilted up to me and with sadism clear in her voice, she snarled. "I am eternal... And I will take your body and mind for my own!"
To which I snorted and said flatly. "Sorry Eveline, but my body already has a rather territorial bioweapon already inside of it."
And I could see Eveline's eyes widen as I felt my fever rise before she coughed as her hands turned pure white like stone and the calcification began running up the rest of her body.
But Eveline just smiled a mirthless thing as she spoke. "Maybe so... But I will make sure you carry my Gift, even if it's the last thing I will do in this horrible world."
And I watched as Eveline's body basically get turned into stone as all the mold inside her body calcified and then I saw from her body, that the mold attached to her and leading to the house and surrounding area was also being calcified as the necrotoxin violently spread through the fungal infestation.
"Alright... Time to start hunting the secrets I need." I muttered to myself as I took a deep breath knowing that this was now going to be the fun part in this little adventure.
Now came the joy of secret hunting in this god for saken mansion filled with puzzles.
But then again. I could just punch down all the locked doors and whatnot to get the information I needed.
'Time to unga-bunga smash all my problems away.' I thought as I held in a grimace as I could still feel Eveline's MOLD still in my body even if whatever Bioweapon was already in my veins was keeping it contained.