Chapter 233: The battlefield

As things between Helio and Hyora heated up in the air, things were also getting pretty heated below. 

Excrucio was locked in a deadly battle with Albert. Both were going at it with every intention of harming- or rather, killing each other, to be more specific. Both had smiles and neither was backing down. 

"Ah, boys." Excrucio's wife sighed as she put everyone around her to sleep. 

She, herself yawned as she put almost everyone to sleep: too boring. The few that were able to withstand her powers, were barely able to stand on their feet- and even though they were awake, they weren't in the best of shape to fight; they'd probably fall asleep in a minute anyway. The ones that fell asleep were living through their worst nightmares and were struggling in their sleep- truly a terrifying sight. 

"I would advise you all to stand out of my way. I'm not in the best of moods right now." Helio's mother cut through everyone around her without lifting up a finger. 

She wasn't smiling and there was a very blurry aura around her- her rage was on its full throttle. She couldn't really confront her husband and she couldn't cut Hyora right now, meaning, her rage didn't really have anywhere to go. 

There were so many things she wanted to ask him. There were so many things she wanted to apologize for and wanted him to apologize for too.

But- but she had to contain all of that and stay calm: patient. But she couldn't. it'd been fourteen years and she had enough of patience. All this time she suffered and now she hears that her husband was shouldering all that?

'That selfish bastard!' She knew very well that her rage wasn't justified but it sure didn't stop her from fuming. She'd hit him and after knocking some sense into him, explain thoroughly that marriage was a mutual relationship and from now on he wasn't allowed to suffer alone. 

"AREGHH!" A young man went for her back. He couldn't control his nerves, so he screamed. 

Helio's mother didn't look back but the young man's arms had fallen off- he was still alive. He again screamed- this time out of pain and passed out just moments later; falling to the ground fast. 

The same happened to anyone who dared to get near her. 

"Didn't I say, I'm not in the best of moods?"

The few people that were even thinking of going after her, gulped and moved to an easier target.

But any targets here easy?

***

Marg could fight well when it was with maybe a handful of people, but when it came down to large numbers, it was her weakness. 

Her powers relied heavily on precision but to large numbers, precision went out the drain. So, it was very hard for her to maintain a cool head and fight, while also keeping an eye on Helio. Helio was here because of her- or so she believed till now. But now she knew things ran deep, much deeper. 

Her feelings were a little mixed on the subject. There were so many new things she knew about Helio today and she knew Helio had been very surprised. And she wanted to be with him and hold his hands, tell him it was okay. But she knew that wasn't it… she couldn't and it wasn't okay. 

So, she couldn't really look away from him. She didn't know how the fight up there was going or what Helio was saying to Hyora but- she just couldn't look away.

Which meant, her focus on the battlefield wasn't quite what was necessary. 

"You're mine!" A man screamed. 

He was about to slam his fist on Marg's face. 

Marg- a bit flustered, was about to teleport almost immediately but before that, someone else punched the man. 

"AWW!" And he complained while blowing on his hand. "Punching hurts!"

Marg giggled slightly. "Thanks, Merin."

As for the man who was about to hit Marg, he rolled on the floor and Merin kicked him a few times before the guy passed out. Merin knew the guy- he was the same guy who'd invited him to this party- Vana Battlesuin. 

'To think I'd repay him like his…' But Merin didn't really think much about this. He knew, he'd be killed unless Helio's family won this, and in the name of friendship he was going to see this through. 

Merin pumped his chest with pride and smiled. "Leave it to me."

Meanwhile, they were surrounded by a lot of people. They were villains from various parts of the world and the Battlesuins were mixed in.

And almost all of them were aiming for Marg's head.

"On second thought-" Merin smiled nervously. He was sweating buckets. "I think we should run."

"Don't be so quick to run, you'll make us look bad," A girl said, breaking the necks of half of the people with shadows. She was a redhead with a very well-endowed chest. 

"You don't say!" Another girl created a whirlwind with just a kick on the ground and blew the rest of the people away: her luscious thigs were on full display; her tail gently swayed with the air. "And I'd skipped my evening pole climbing practices for this too!"

Both were Helio's friends or perhaps a bit more (Self-proclaimed) and both were smiling. 

"Hmpf, once a weakling, always a weakling." Another redhead walked by.

Marg and the girl had a lot of feelings involved but- "At least he's not a weakling who couldn't get what he wanted."

The redhead- Eve grinned. "We'll see how long that lasts." 

Eve had actually intended that for Marg, but Marg mistook it and thought Eve was talking about Merin. Eve didn't bother correcting her. 

"Kids, kids, pay attention when you're fighting." And then an old lady- Helio's Grandmother swept through the rest of the people. She'd used all the plants and grass here in the garden and bound everyone. 

Some did escape but they were maintaining their distance. "M-monsters!"

Helio's grandmother grinned very victoriously at the sentiment.

Just nine people were enough to subdue over a hundred of the world's best villains and strongest fighters. And almost none of them were hurt apart from Excrucio and maybe Merin's precious right pinky.

So, they really were perhaps monsters.

"Oh, looks like he's done," Excrucio's wife said.

And promptly a head fell on the floor, followed by a body. 

Everyone looked up as a boy slowly got down and stood in front of them, facing the fallen corpse- or so it seemed at first glance.