Location- Sky Blossom City, Sky Blossom Card Stadium, Stadium Medic Ward
“If you care for your friend’s well being, do not make any noise and peacefully enter the medic ward. If we find anything suspicious we will kill all of you on the spot.” One of the cross-dressing men surrounding us threatened us to not resist and follow them into the medic ward.
Not knowing Pax’s current status we decide to listen to these crossdressing men. As of right now, the safety of Pax and other captives was the top priority. So, the girls and I quietly follow our apprehenders into the medic ward. Entering the medic ward we see a young man cross-dressed as a woman thrashing a fat figure lying on the floor, who despite being thrashed so brutally showed no sign of defence or struggle. Except he seemed to be yelling some profanity but thanks to the gag on his mouth only loud weird sounds sounded quite similar to the squeaking of a fat pig,
“Shut up you fat pig, I should have killed you earlier.” The young crossdresser vented his anger on the fat figure lying on the ground.
“That’s enough Benjamin, he might actually. We do not want the Chou family as our enemies now do we?” A skinny old man ordered Benjamin to stop as he seemed to be worried about the family of the fatty who had been beaten to a red pulp almost resembling a sunbathed pink pig.
“Yes, Head Cleric.” Benjamin stopped venting on the fatty and bowed to the head cleric showing his compliance.
“You guys are from the empire. How dare you conduct such an atrocity in our city. Do you think you can get away with this? No chances.” Hearing Benjamin address the skinny old man as Head Cleric Eliza deduced the background of our apprehenders, they belonged to the empire. Realising that the people holding us hostage were from the empire Eliza finally got a clear picture of what was happening here, after the kidnap incident during the life/death duel at Whiteburn manor Eliza would be stupid not to realise that people of the empire were here to kidnap her little brother Pax.
“Ding! Ding! You are correct, we are from the empire. And here’s your prize for interrupting head Cleric and speaking before you were asked to. *Bang*.” A middle-aged man dressed in senior medic uniform confirmed Eliza’s guess and punched her in the gut for speaking before she was asked to and interrupting the Head Cleric.
*Cough**cough**vomit**Cough* taking a hard fist to her gut by a peak Card Lord, unprepared Eliza coughed violently and vomited a mouthful of blood. Seeing Eliza’s condition, Amy and Beth cried out in panic as they supported their elder sister, ” Sister!”
“Okay, listen up you little shits. No one speaks or makes any sounds unless they are spoken to. The faster you understand your present situation the better. Otherwise… hehe” The middle-aged man warned the girls and me.
“Senior Crusader, what about that fatty he seems to have broken a few ribs and his right arm, from Benjamin’s thrashing.” One of the cross-dressing men reported to the middle-aged man about the noisy fatty who was squeaking in pain with a few broken ribs and an arm.
“Let him be. those squeaks are Pleasant to hear, it reminds me of my ranch back home.” The Senior Crusader nonchalantly ordered.
“Senior Crusader, how about we treat the fatty’s broken ribs except for his broken arm. That fatty does not deserve punishment, he deserves our thanks. Because of his shenanigans, we have a VIP and our benefactor among us.” As the Head Cleric said that he turned towards the girls and me. Glancing at us, his eyes shone brightly.
“Head Cleric, What do you mean?” Asked the senior Crusader following the head Clerics line of sight.
“I am Benson Barnard the 3rd and It is an honour to meet the hand of the god, Master Wyatt.” When the Head Cleric said VIP I thought he was talking about Corey and Eliza as they both were prime heirs of their families. Both Willam and Jake would be willing to pay any amount of ransom for their beloved daughters and granddaughter. It seems the Head Cleric did not seem to care about them. Instead, he addressed me.
“What?” I was puzzled by the words of the head Cleric.
“Our Lord, demigod Michael Angelo Godson used you as his hands to create an origin card in his image for lord Pax to guide us to his last and only descendent in this world. Making you the Benefactor and the VIP of our empire.” It seems me using demigod Michael Angelo Godson’s image for Iron Flesh’s appearance is being misunderstood and misinterpreted by these religious nuts and they have started to treat me as the hands of the demigod they worship. If these people are reacting so much just because Iron Flesh looks like demigod Michael Angelo Godson what would happen if they knew about the demigod bestowal skill, Insight Forecast.
“Oh, that. I did not do much. Pax’s fated ingredient was a demigod Michael Angelo Godson pendant.” I answered humbly to buy as much time as possible because even after scanning the whole medic ward thrice with my soul pupils I still could not find any trace of Pax. Instead, I found that there are a dozen more strong card apprentices from the empire hidden in shadows aside from the card apprentices in the medical ward.
“How dare you address our Lord’s name so casually from your filthy mouth.” The Senior Crusader thundered hearing me casually call Pax by his name.
“Senior Crusader, know your place. Master Wyatt is the hand of our Lord and close friend of Lord Pax. he has the right to call Lord Pax’s name dearly. You on the other hand be prepared to face the consequences of threatening the hand of our Lord. Now apologies to the God hand” In response to the Senior Crusaders threat to me, Benson slapped him so hard that he crashed into a wooden closet and fell to the floor in a daze. It seems that despite his skinny and old body frame the head Cleric is packing some serious power.
“Please accept my apologies God Hand, Master Wyatt.” Hearing the Head Cleric, the Senior Crusader hurriedly got up from the floor as he cleaned the blood at the corner of his mouth with the white medic coat sleeves. Performing a deep bow to me, the Senior Crusader apologised.
‘Fuq, these bastards are crazy and brutal.’ No matter how cruel I am, I would never belittle my trusted subordinates in the presence of a company. Escaping from these people unharmed was not a challenge for me but that would put the life of the girls and that fatty Chou in danger. As for Pax, by the amount of respect shown by these people while addressing Pan’s name I knew they did not dare to harm Pax, even if they were to lose their life. For me to create an escape plan, first I will have to locate Pax. Which I failed to do till now despite my Soul Pupils.
“It’s okay, Senior Crusader. you were just being protective of your faith. Head Cleric If you do not mind let me ask you where Pax is? He seemed to be injured in his previous duel.” I asked, trying to seem as genuine as possible and not attract the head Cleric’s suspicion. Escaping here was not a concern for me but finding Pax’s whereabouts was troubling me right now.
“Do not worry God Hand, Lord Pax is alright he is resting in the crystal coffin.” Said the Head Cleric as he unveiled the white cloth covering the crystal coffin. I checked the crystal coffin half a dozen times with my soul pupil. It was empty, even now with the naked eye it appeared empty.
It seems even the empire’s card apprentice also realised that the Crystal coffin was empty as they stared dumbfoundedly at the empty Crystal coffin in shock. Soon a Senior Cleric recovered from the shock and yelled furiously, ” We have been duped! Those damned heretics never planned on keeping their end of the bargain, no wonder the teleportation card did not work, did we walk into their trap.”
Hearing the Senior Cleric’s furious shout, other fanatics came to their senses and started to panic, unable to find their Lord Pax. The more they thought the more what Senior Cleric’s words made sense. Even the head Cleric started to think that the Senior Cleric’s argument seemed to answer all the issues they were facing. First the issue with teleportation now their lord is missing, the current situation was starting to seem more like a trap than a deal that went bad.
Seeing that the religious fanatics did not have their brother, the Whiteburn sister’s rejoiced but soon panicked considering the question that loomed over their heads, ‘if they do not have Pax, then where is Pax? ‘