Chapter 30 - A Display of Might

"Hmm, did you not hear me? Well, I said that Truda and Ajax should have a quick spar between each other so we both can get some ideas of what we are working with." I teasingly smiled at Sheila as I exposed what she was planning or at least what I think she was planning.

"Wait, you knew?" A hint of surprise showed on her face, but she quickly calmed down, farther showing her capabilities.

"Not really, it was more of a guess, to be honest. Along with the hunch, I had, and the way Truda was acting farther proved my theory. And your confirmation was all I needed." I quickly explained my thought process to her because I want us to have an equal relationship with her (soon to be my people hehehe) and my people. And as they say, "First impressions are everything", while it isn't 'everything', it sure is hard to recover from a bad reputation, so its best to start strong.

"...I see." 'He's much more capable than I thought', is what was probably going through her head right as of this moment, but for now, she isn't the situation to address at the moment, Truda's and Ajax's fight is.

I only really agreed to this fight because, one, Truda needs to learn some manners when talking to other people. Two, I want to see the gist of Sheila's people's abilities and the same for my people's abilities, as this will be my first time seeing them in action. Not only would this help me plan what to work on first, but it will also give me better insight into my people's fighting style as well and what to improve on.

"Alright, so do you agree to this arrangement?" I turned to look at Ajax, then at Truda, to see if they were ready.

"Anytime Boss, let's get this started! I'm getting restless!" Ajax shouted in excitement. I mean I know he was a battle junky but isn't he a little too excited?

'Well it doesn't matter too much, I just hope this attitude of his doesn't come to bite us in the rear in the future. You know what just to be safe, I'm going to look for a way to tone that down.' Anyways, food for thoughts to focus on later, now I turned to Truda.

"Are you ready?" I knew the answer, but I have to be kind and show that I acknowledged her, instead of saying, "Alright, let's begin" without addressing her and only my people that would make me look arrogant and rude. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much?

"Hmph, let's just get this over with. So I can teach YOU and your people a lesson about respecting your superiors!" My eye twitched at that comment of hers, and with how rude and condescending she was speaking towards me and my people.

'That's rich coming from you, but I won't say that out loud as I need to be the m.a.t.u.r.e one here.' I wanted to roll my eyes, then slap the f*ck out this b*tch, but I won't stoop to her level.

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*Ajax's POV*

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I've never in my life wanted to so badly snap someone's spine in half, rip it out of their body and shove it right up their arse, as badly as I wanted to do that to this b*tch right now. But with Lord Ryoku and that kind lady, Shiela, right here, I couldn't do that.

But however, she challenged me to a fight, it was like the heavens heard my prayer and granted me my wish! Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on her and teach her what this 'worm' can do, hahaha!

...

"Oh, what was that! Still talking s*it about us, and you're saying your's our superiors. The only thing superior here is this superior a*s kicking I'm bout to unleash on you!"

'...The hell did that come from? Well, whatever it sounded cool, so it should be fine.' After, saying that Lord Ryoku turned to me and smiled lightly, but everyone else was stunned after that one.

'Was it too bad?'

"You, you!" Truda looked at me with clenched teeth, teeth that looked like they were ready to take a bite out of me, and unexpectantly she actually did want to, as she pounced at me.

"I'll kill you!" I honestly didn't think this b*tch would get so heated after only a little bit of me insulting her and I didn't expect her to just pounce at me like that, so I definitely didn't have time to dodge as, one, she was faster than me, I could tell. And two, I really didn't expect her to just pounce at me in front of our two sides.

'Well, since I can't dodge...I at least need to block it!' I didn't have much time so I raised my arms in front of my face and c.h.e.s.t and prepared myself for the pain that was about to come...however, that pain never came...as Lord Ryoku was pinning her down with his paw.

"Truda...you need to learn to behave yourself especially in front of me. Don't take my kindness as weakness, because if you do something like that again, we will have problems and you WILL be punished...are we clear?" This was my first time seeing Lord Ryoku like this but the only way to describe this is...SCARY! I don't know why but as soon as he opened his mouth, it was like the world darkened and storms were brewing overhead, like the world itself was showcasing Lord Ryoku's wrath, that would descend if he was pushed too far and that was something I didn't want to see.

And not only that but it was like the temperature plummeted down to, "Holy s*it, my balls are freezing" levels of cold. His voice was deep and rumbling like it was echoing in our skulls, and his words were like orders, that we couldn't...no could never afford to disobey. I didn't like this side of him at all. And I wasn't the only one that was thinking like this, scared out of my mind, as everyone else was shaking, without expectations, Truda the most as she was the target of his anger. I only now realized I was shaking too.

"Y-Y-Y-Yes S-S-Sir, I deeply apologize for my behavior and I will never do it again. I hope you can forgive me for this." His paw was pressed on her head, but I can see that the pressure that he applied to it was lessening more and more, as the cracks on the ground weren't spreading anymore, then he finally removed it from her head.

"Good girl now was that too hard to be respectful to us or me." He patted her head, which somehow dispersed the tense and scary atmosphere that made it hard to breathe and calmed us down. And somehow his patting actually seemed to calm her down...and it even seemed she enjoyed it, as she had a slight smile on her face and had her eyes closed.

"No Sir...I'm again sorry for how I was acting towards you and your people...I misjudged you." She finally opened up her eyes, and they seemed...different. They were no longer filled with contempt and disdain, but sadness and...longing. I have no idea.

"It's okay, as long as you realized your mistakes and you learned from them, then everything is good." He smiled as he finally stopped patting her head, something she didn't like if the slight frown she has said anything about it, but it didn't last very long, as she got up and walked to her group.

...

"Well, change of plans, let's head to The Apollo and then we can continue from there...follow me." Lord Ryoku finally said after a wave of silence passed through after Truda went to her group. But after Lord Ryoku was done talking and even wanting to continue dealing with Sheila's group, we all let out sighs of relief. Because finally, that scary monster that was Lord Ryoku before is finally gone, and that is something I never wanted to deal with again.

'But was Lord Ryoku always this strong and scary. Well, I'm happy he respects us enough to be so kind and helpful. He even increased all our strength, but what have we done for him to deserve any of this.' And the answer to that was...nothing...Lord Ryoku doesn't even need us and yet here he is defending me and even going as far as to threaten a whole another clan...because of me.

'I will never forget this Lord Ryoku...before I never really took everything seriously...but after this, I will serve you with all my heart and soul, for that is all I can give you!'