Path of the Slayer B3 68. Dragon Princess Reunion

Thumper and Merlin led us into a large multi-story mall, a concentrated marketplace housed within a uniquely designed series of interconnected structures. The way it flowed, with open spaces in the middle and shops on the sides of the walkways, was novel. As we maneuvered through throngs of shoppers on our way to a place called the movie theaters, we easily garnered attention from the mortals.

Grimmy and Doomie stood out the most. But so did Thumper with his royal features out in the open. That, and people seemed drawn to him for being seven feet tall.

Merlin garnered attention for his festive clothing and sharp elven ears. Then there was me.

“Dude, nice cosplay,” a young man said. “Are you like that guy from Mortal Kombat, but super chill?” He was pointing at my steely prosthetic.

Looking back at him, I used my identifying check.

[Identifying check succeeded! Juan Alejandro, No Energy, Rank 0. Threat Assessment: Low. Deeper Description: Available.]

I didn’t have to look around to use more identifying checks. Anyone passing through my Domain was under the purview of my identifying checks.

[Identifying check succeeded! Julie Anderson, No Energy, Rank 0. Threat Assessment: Low. Deeper Description: Available.]

[Identifying check succeeded! Kelvin Jones, No Energy, Rank 0. Threat Assessment: Low. Deeper Description: Available.]

[Identifying check succeeded! Muhammad Osman, No Energy, Rank 0. Threat Assessment: Low. Deeper Description: Available.]

[Identifying check succeeded! Chelsea Coleby, No Energy, Rank 0. Threat Assessment: Low. Deeper Description: Available.]

[Identifying check succeeded! Olivia Benson, No Energy, Rank 0. Threat Assessment: Low. Deeper Description: Available.]

[Identifying check failed!]

“Uh, you okay, man?” asked Juan.

I pivoted away from him immediately. My fellow nomads looked in the same direction where an identifying check failed.

A strange young man with dark skin and dressed in dark streetwear stood out from the mall shoppers. He had kinky curly hair. His eyes were dark like mine, but dark in a way that felt foul. The moment our gazes met, I sensed something corruptive hidden underneath.

But not cursed. Not hellish.

The other corruptive type.

“Defiler,” I growled.

The defiler’s smile grew wider. He raised a finger and pointed past my party before turning away to leave. The temptation to pursue him was strong, but something faster and more aggressive drew my attention in the other direction.

The moment she entered my Domain from behind me, I already knew where this was going. My party spread out, sensing what I wanted through the roots.

I placed myself in further danger. I entered the oneness state even with the extreme regressive protocols. I became closer to the mortal existence.

“No powers other than Path Energy,” I said, turning to her. “And I’ll prefer it if you try to match me in oneness as well.”

Melody didn’t stop to address me. She matched me by slipping into oneness as well, making it look effortless. Then she launched out of her heels and snapped her bare foot forward far faster than I expected.

She flying kicked me in the chest and knocked the air out of me.

My Path Energy took the edge off, but the blow still sent me sprawling backward into a tumble. Mortals shouted, screamed, and hurried out of the way as I got back to my feet and stood. Looking over the side of a railing, I saw a more open space on the next floor down and hopped over.

Melody vaulted over the railing, pressed her feet to the balustrade, and launched off harder. She slammed onto the reflective floor, breaking it, spreading cracks in all directions like a jagged spiderweb. The impact resounded loudly across the mall section as she straightened, rolled her neck, and assumed an unarmed fighting stance.

No banter.

No requests or orders.

The ire in her gray eyes, irises as sharp as needles, and the frown on her luscious, pillowy lips spoke of anger that would be redressed with her own hands. Beyond that, I saw a glint of her own hunger as she eyed me up and down. I assumed an unarmed fighting stance as well.

I balled my fists tight. She flexed her fingers like claws.

“Are they shooting a movie?” asked a mortal.

“Someone, call the cops!” cried another mortal.

“If this is some sort of stunt, those are some hot stunt actors,” said a third mortal.

“Back away, you all. Back. Back.” Merlin cast telekinesis and gently shoved the onlookers away.

Thumper leaned against the nearest column of the duel and watched us like a relaxed referee. Grimmy and Doomie frolicked about while cheering me on.

I smirked. “You look good when you’re angry.”

She growled. “You should be afraid.”

“Why?”

“I’m hungry, too.”

She launched with a blur of movement that would’ve crushed the prior me. The current me barely snapped away from a claw strike raked at my face.

I threw back a jab. She slammed her other palm into my forearm and clawed at it. She drew blood. She pressed me for more.

Her raking claw strikes reached for my face. Another one thrust toward my chest with a circular twist that would’ve broken ribs.

I found my rhythm parrying her face attacks, each impact ringing. Then I stepped back, pivoted, and avoided the brunt of her spinning claw thrust.

It wasn’t a perfect dodge. She slashed open my islander shirt and bled me some more.

I replied with a buck of my hips and a sharp raise of my knee aimed at her solar plexus. I put as much force and technique. Being this heavily regressed called for it.

Instead of dodging, she slammed her foot down, tensed her entire body, and let out a breath on time with my knee strike. The floor behind her bare heels cracked and rippled as she slid back an inch and no more. Then she snapped her clawing grip around my leg and turned her entire body into a tight cartwheel.

My world spun rapidly.

My mind nearly went blank. I couldn’t believe she caught me like that. It was like a standing-to-midair gator roll.

I ended up slamming into the mall floor, breaking it, forming a six-foot-wide crater. Even with Path Energy dampening the blow, the air still ended up knocked out of me again, dazing me.

My Path of the Slayer blared with warning. The Dragon Princess was descending upon me like a predator going for the kill. I had a split second before she locked the mount on me and went for the ground-and-rip.

I went for an unorthodox move in return. As she settled onto my waist, her sizable thighs squeezing my sides, I fished out of my pouch a single item. Melody reacted with her clawing hands ready to slash, isolate, and break my arm.

The small plate holding a slice of cake stopped her in her tracks.

That slight hesitation gave me room to buck from underneath her. I extended my hand all the way and slammed the cake into her face, specifically the lower half. Enough of it went into her mouth to stun her further.

I flipped the position and swept her off of me, slamming her onto her back. Instinctively, her legs locked around my waist and trapped me in her guard, but I didn’t plan to pass it.

I hooked my hands under her butt and got on my feet. I straightened and lifted her up, letting her sit in my hands and look down into my face. That left me open to further strikes, but the way her gray eyes focused in-and-out while openly licking and slobbering over her own face meant the cake still occupied her focus.

So, I waited, letting her sit heavily in my hands, as her legs shifted up and down around my waist, less of a lock, and more of an unconscious act from overstimulation. It was then I noticed she wasn’t wearing a thick gambeson like the first time I saw her.

The curves of her full-figured body were out in display with her casually dressed in tight blue pants with a short top that left her belly exposed. Her abs were hard and clearly a testament of her training while in the middle of a thin waist.

I leaned heavily on all of my romantic experiences. The game was still afoot.

“What was that?” she asked huskily, licking around her lower mouth, her tongue reaching further than a human.

“Cake. Specifically, vanilla frosting cake. I left you a slice.”

“You baked that cake?”

“Yes.”

“You can bake?”

“I can cook.”

“Why does it make me think of my father? That can’t be possible. You’re not like my family. You’re too small. Yet, you’ve touched my soul.”

I threaded my next lines carefully. “I’m just a man with various passions. How that affects you is your issue.”

She sprouted fangs. She hissed as her claws traced over my face without drawing further blood. “You are no mere man! A mere man cannot make me so angry and so obsessed!”

I smiled inwardly. She wasn’t calling me an ant anymore.

Progress.

“There’s truth in that. But my basis comes from being a mere man first and foremost. All that I’ve accrued and worked for from the ground up is because of that simple manliness of mine. With some help from my family, of course.” I glanced away from her, my neutral face shifting into a warm smile as I looked at my fellow nomads.

She looked and studied the others. I was smiling warmly at them and not at her.

A throaty growl reverberated out of the princess. Her long tongue lapped around her lower face again to ensure she got all of my cake.

Her gray eyes narrowed as she studied us. “Merlin. Thumper. They’re nomads. So is that half-goblin girl. And…”

I dropped her, letting her collapse into a crouch. Before she could straighten and assume her regal bearing, Doomie dashed in and wrapped her arms around the princess’s neck.

Melody fell to her knees without realizing how far she compromised herself in front of me. She couldn’t help it, I imagine, with how Doomie clung to her.

“Melody,” I said, grinning, “say hello to your daughter, Doomie. Doomie, say hello to your mom.”

“What?” Melody murmured.

“She’s your daughter. Our child. Born from your Doom Brand and one of my hidden powers.”

“What?” Melody didn’t know what else to say.

Doomie was the happiest she could be. Her joy beamed through our roots.

Turning away from the tender moment, I gestured while also speaking through our roots for a change of plans. Watching anime would have to come later.

Grimmy wasn’t happy about the change, but we could make it up later. The party agreed with me, and I turned to act quickly.

I scooped Melody into a carriage with my arms. Doomie settled on top of her mom, shrinking herself down to the size of a small toddler. Before she even realized what she was doing, Melody embraced her tiny daughter, and we set off from there, my party following.

“Whoops. Mall cops. And actual cops. I got them.” Merlin’s energy sparked with wizardry, and he sent out some casts.

Flickers of telekinesis swept aside the modern guard force like they were mere toys. Simple magic shields rippled to life while stopping bullets. Merlin ripped apart their tiny and weak non-magical pistols from their hands and ensured their destruction. Then he gathered them all into a ball and dumped them softly into an indoor pond, soaking them, dimming their will to fight us.

While he did that, I exited oneness, and so did Melody, returning us to the peak we could achieve while under tight regression protocols.

The weight of her power became far more noticeable, making me think Thumper was right that Melody was Mythical Quality. If so, then my party had a lot of work ahead of us to get past the overwhelming power of the forerunners, especially Melody Eclipse.

At the very least, I’d calmed the Dragon Princess. I had her where I wanted her.

“I’ve been advised to eat you, Arden the Nomad,” Melody said. “I’m not exactly sure what you are. I know you aren’t the Ninja King. But to devour you would be a worthy thing for me. Perhaps I would gain some measure of your true power. I’m inclined to do so with how troublesome you can be.”

“If you eat me, you can’t taste any more of my special cooking,” I said. “And you won’t be able to find cooking like that anywhere else in the Realm Verse. It’s exclusive to me.”

Melody batted her long silver eyelashes at me. She twisted her pillowy lips into a pout as she glowered.

She couldn’t brood for long. Not with our daughter all over her.

Small-sized Doomie patted her mom on the cheek and stun-locked the Dragon Princess again. Emboldened, Doomie kept drumming her little hands on Melody’s cheeks.

“Does this mean I can make that joke? You know what joke I’m talking about, right?” Merlin asked as we exited the mall and made our way to the main event.

“You can make that joke. I just can’t promise you how I’ll get my revenge for it,” I said. “But I will get my revenge. And you won’t know when.”

“And you won’t know from whom,” Grimmy said evilly.

Merlin looked between the two of us and dropped the subject.