The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 551 : KISSES AND SECRETS (1)

WOOOOOOOOOOOP

The world shook and twirled.

The next moment, Victor opened his eyes to find he was back in the empty space with a new system notification suspended right in front of him.

ENEMY HAD LOST THE WILL TO FIGHT

YOU WON!

VIC VOLT

KEY NUMBER 5219

CONTESTANT NUMBER 381

WINS: 1

LOSES : 0

BATTLES: 1/10

“Damn it… Not cool!” he couldn’t help but curse as he adjusted his clothes. He had just started getting serious with Lily when the system pulled him away. This was not cool at all! No man should be interrupted in that state! Damn system… He was going to get his revenge for this one day!

And what was wrong with Lily getting defeated almost immediately! Damn it! Maybe it was because of that setting or something…Whatever!

Thankfully, before doing anything, he managed to get enough soul power from his fragment in Lily’s necklace. That part had more than enough to sacrifice thanks to his meal, so even after giving him more than half of its reserves, it was still ok!.

He could feel that his soul was no longer breaking apart, so for the time being there should be no longer any problems, but he might need some time to completely heal… Still, he needed to act carefully just in case. Once he left this place, he should let Ruby check him just to make sure!

Looking at the system interface, there was a new timer… Now all he could do was wait, and hopefully his next opponent would be none other than Caspian, not only for his grand plan, but also for his sanity. If his opponent turned out to be some hot girl, he might not be able to control himself with her!

***

“Father… There! It’s big brother!” Iris exclaimed as she pointed at the sky, at one of the myriad photos showing the final moment of each of the battles that were happening simultaneously between the combatants. Some had known identities, but some were total dark horses. It would have helped if that commentator was here, but sadly the moment the second round started, he seemed to have completely muted.

Theodore quickly looked where Iris, who didn’t qualify for the second round, pointed, and there he was, a still photo of Mike defeating his opponent. The moment Theodore focused on it, it immediately appeared fully detailed in his vision.

In it, Mike looked magnificent in silver armor, riding on a black horse and holding a large lance in what looked like a medieval joust. A young man, whom Theodore thought familiar but couldnʼt identify, was on the other side of the tilt, getting his chest rammed by Mikeʼs lance and was in the middle of his fall, about to be trampled under his horse’s hoofs.

Under the ethereal photo, there was just a simple text.

KEY NUMBER 0071 WINS

KEY NUMBER 0619 LOSES

“I didn’t think this tournament would include something other than direct combat!” Iris said as she looked around at the infinity photos that kept popping up as each battle concluded. Some seemed to be normal battles, while others were weirder. Some Fought dragons; others seemed to have just finished an ice skating competition. It was totally absurd and intriguing at the same time.

What kind of tournament was this? Seriously… Couldn’t they let them watch those battles live instead of just the last-moment shot? That would have been cooler, but on the other hand, with hundreds of battles going at the same time, this might have been impossible.

“That’s not the most important thing…” Theodore, who squinted his eyes, said. “Look at the numbers… the ones from the clans, including the first round, and the ones who might sneak in, ignoring the quotas set by the player council, can’t possibly be more than 400… Yet look, there are more than a thousand… “ he added, looking at a photo showing a boy with the number 1141 getting his neck strangled in a leglock by a scantily dressed young woman who held the number 366. They seemed to be in an ancient wrestling ring. “It seems like the player council is also at a loss…” he said, looking at a balcony upstairs. Those guys staying silent felt a bit strange.

“Is this tournament really just to set the oligarchsʼ positions and benefits for the next 300 years?” Iris asked, trying hard to ignore the clear air of jealousy around Max, who sat to her side with a pack of ice on his crouch as he glared at Mike’s photo. It should have been him here….

“It might hold some other meanings…” Theodore whispered, glancing at his mother who sat behind. She was also looking at the sky with a deep frown. He could tell she knew something, but she was not saying it. “...” He sighed, turning back to the sky himself. “Now let’s hope your siblings don’t do anything stupid…” he said as his eyes quickly jumped from one photo to another, searching for his sons. Not only Mike was here, but Alice and Roy too. Hopefully nothing wrong would happen to them.

“Oh… Father, look, isn’t that Victor’s maid, Lily?” Iris suddenly exclaimed, making Theodore quickly turn to look at the photo she was pointing at; then he gasped in shock.

“THAT BITCH!”

***

“Is that Lily?” Katila gasped as she pulled at her husband’s arm, making him turn his head to spot their daughter, who was tied up in a very lewd position by what looked like the tentacles of some monster, as a dashing-looking blond young man who stood in front pinched her chin and kissed her lips.

KEY NUMBER 381 WINS

KEY NUMBER 411 LOSE

“Damn… It is her! What is she doing there?” Aaron exclaimed as he used his eyes to glance sideways at his brother Aarak, whose eyes were also glued to the photo. He didn’t know how she got here, but now all of his offspring were in this tournament… The family elders would no longer be able to ignore him after this. “Ouch…. Easy!” he didn’t get to be smug for long as his wife pinched his arm.

“IS THAT WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT? YOU SHOULD BE ASKING WHAT THE HELL LED TO THIS, AND WHY DID HE KISS HER, AND WHY WAS THIS CONSIDERED HER DEFEAT?!” Katalia hissed. Her daughter was a Scion, so getting into the tournament wasn’t that surprising. What she wanted to know was how she lost!

“First… Lower your voice a bit; we are not alone… As for Lily, I am as clueless as you are!” he shrugged. “She might be the winner as far as we know; we don’t know that she lost for sure… Can you tell which number is hers?“ Aaron quickly said, making a valid point as he glanced at the result before his eyes returned to the photo. The text didn’t say which belonged to which.

“Look at her damn unfocused, hazy, half-closed eyes… That girl is completely and utterly lost!” Katalia spat angrily. “Who is that damn guy?”

“No idea, but… from what we have seen, that match for the first battle seems to be between two guys who knew each other… We should ask her when she returns!” he said. Like his wife, he believed his daughter would return safely. Scions could be defeated, but were nearly impossible to kill. If not for that, his damn brother would have long got rid of her!

“Then… Could this guy be that Victor guy?” Katalia asked, eyeing the young man’s facial features dangerously. If not for her clan’s rules of not interfering with the outside world, she would have long gone to the Von Weise family to collect debts for her daughter!

“No, that Victor is a Von Weise elite heir, so he should have Purple hair. According to the reports, that idiot is a mere dandy, this guy on the other hand is giving me a very dangerous vibe…” Aaron said, squinting his eyes. “I think…”

“Master, I got his identity!” Before Aaron could continue, a butler from the family hurried to tell Aarak, who seemed to have given an order to look that guy up. “According to the family’s database, He is known as Vic Volt, and according to many witnesses, he was the one who cleared the Moon dungeon!” he said as he looked at a chalk board artifact in his hand where he had drawn a very detailed sketch of Vic to be sent to the main family base where that data was processed before the relative data got sent back. “That’s all the info about him, though he is on the eldersʼ interest list!”

“Vic Volt?… Who is behind this one?”

“No idea, master; the intelligence department thinks it might be one of the hidden lords.”

“Oh, well, another player would change nothing at this stage. Just keep an eye on his match results…” Aarak just said, ignoring his brother as his gaze returned to the sky. Was he worried? Yeah, a bit, but not for long. Unlike his brother, he knew a secret only very few knew in this day and age. Scionʼs powers inside the tournament’s second round would be severely weakened! This was the final test before the IMPERIAL Dungeon after all… The world would not help them here!

Aaron, thinking that his brother was purposely acting as if he didn’t care to hide his annoyance, smiled slightly… JUST WAIT, in the next family head competition, he was going to grab back that seat he lost unjustly 20 years ago! And after that, he would get his sweet, sweet…

“Look! It’s Perez! He won!” Katalia suddenly said, making Aaron, who was lost in his own fantasies, turn and notice the photo of his son standing on the top of a mountain, cutting the rope and making another contestant fall into a deep abyss. This time it was clear he won!

“That’s our son!… And Tulip is right there!” he said, making Katalia quickly follow her husband’s gaze and turn to look for her favorite child!

In the photo, Tulip had some blood on her fist and was standing proudly in what looked like a dungeon as some poor guy lay on the floor with several of his limbs torn apart.

“What did that poor guy do to anger her?” Aaron asked with a frown. During those years, he only met Tulip a few times, but that didn’t stop him from following all the intel the family got about her, so he knew that she had her mother’s bitchy temper! “OUCH! What was that for?” he quickly pulled his hand away and asked as he checked the damage caused by his wife’s pinch.

“I just didn’t like the look in your eyes…” she spat before turning to the sky again. “Now…Where is that stupid son of mine?”

***

“AS I ALREADY EXPLAINED, I DIDN’T DO IT ON PURPOSE!” Yulian screamed as he ran like crazy. Alice followed right behind him as fast as her pretty legs could carry her.

Both of them were running on a seemingly endless path with a huge centipede crawling behind them, its body turning around as its sharp jaw claws tried to catch them.

ENDLESS RUN

RUN UNTIL ONE OF YOU CAN’T RUN ANY MORE. THE GREAT MAN EATER GALVAN IS ON A DIET, SO IT WILL ONLY EAT ONE OF YOU…. WHO WILL IT BE? ARE YOU BRAVE ENOUGH TO FIND THAT OUT?

When they appeared here, even before reading this prompt or seeing the monster, Yulian, who saw Alice glaring at him while trying to take out her weapon, knew that he needed to escape. He learnt that a long time ago from his father’s interactions with his mother.

Alice, who quickly realized that weapons couldn’t be used here, bolted right behind him, deciding to use her own fists.

Then the monster that should have attacked right after they finished reading the prompt quickly realized that those bastards were not playing by the rules, and hurried to follow. That’s how they ended up running for what seemed like 5 straight hours.

“LIKE HELL I WOULD BELIEVE YOU!” she spat. “YOU COULD HAVE CLEARLY REJECTED THAT MAN-STEALER BITCH EVEN AFTER WHAT WAS DONE!” Alice, who ran fast screamed at him, ignoring that monster as she tried to catch her cheating husband, but to her dismay Yulian was really fast! And with her flight skill locked, she had no other way but to run as fast as she could!

“I CAN’T ABANDON A GIRL AFTER SLEEPING WITH HER! THAT IS NOT WHAT A MAN SHOULD DO!” Yulian yelled without looking back. He already told Alice the full story as they ran, but every word he said made her even angrier for some reason.

“BASTARD! AND YOU STILL CALL YOURSELF A MAN!” she yelled again, using her Dragon Howl skill to paralyze him. None of my physical skills seemed to be working just fine!

“Stop cursing at me…” Yulian, who, as a soul paladin, was not affected at all, complained. “You are also my wife…”

“LIKE HELL I WOULD MARRY A CHEATER LIKE YOU AFTER THIS!” she screamed, “I… AH!”

BOOOOOOOM! WOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Before Alice could continue, the centerpiece that had been going at a similar pace to the couple for so long seemed to have finally managed to reach its target calorie loss for the day, and decided that it was time for a meal.

It suddenly spat some kind of liquid forming an entire dome that drowned Alice who failed to dodge in time, paralyzing her, and in milliseconds before the latter could realize what happened, it wrapped around her and opened its huge mouth to take the girl’s pretty head in one bite!

“NOT ON MY WATCH!”

Before Alice could do anything, she felt a gentle hand grab her, then, after stealing a rough kiss from her shocked lip, he flung her away. He did it in one swooping motion that neither she nor the monster realized what had happened; it was too late!

“YULIAN! YOU…. HSSSSSSSSSsss” before she could scold, she gasped in shock just as she watched the latter jump into the monster’s mouth whole! “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…” she screamed, then…

BEEEEEEEEP

MATCH ENDED

Before she could understand what happened, the world tilted around her, and she was back to the white space.

“Yulian… You…” She bit her lip, and tears began to pool in her eyes before stopping all of a sudden as she read the prompt.

OPPONENT MANAGED TO ENTER THE GREAT MAN EATER GALVAN’S STOMACH AT ONE PIECE, ACTIVATING THE HIDDEN RULE.

YOU LOSE

“What..… Then… He should be alive?..... AH! BASTARD!” she spat angrily, yet her cheeks were burning hot. On her lips, she could still feel the heat of his rough kiss! “I will beat your ass later for that…”

***

Tom squeezed his fist hard as he looked at his opponent. He didn’t know how to get here, but he knew that this was a chance granted by heaven!

It all started when some piece of shit attacked him from behind at the heavenly sect, and the next thing he knew, he was here, in a strange white space with the words. ‘YOU HAVE BEEN QUALIFIED TO ENTER THE IMPERIAL TOURNAMENT’ displayed in front of him.

He had no idea if the attacker was the one who sent him here or if it was the effect of something else. The key-shaped birthmark on his chest, which he had felt since youth, was no longer there after all, and he felt its place burn when he was transported.

He had a million questions, but this tournament had 7 for him. And searching the names that were available for the first question, he quickly found a familiar one… CASPIAN!

Could this place be the rumored Tournament Caspian went to attend with the sect’s higher-ups? Searching a bit more, he quickly found a few names he recognized from the sect. Why was he here?

Not knowing what to do, he tried to consult his Whimsical System, but that thing seemed to have gone to sleep and was not responding as usual.

Having nothing better to do, he naturally answered the questions, and then he found himself in what looked like an ancient stone arena, under the orange sunset sky, facing the one guy he wanted to shred into pieces.

“Who are you?” Caspian, who stood in front of him dressed in a golden martial arts uniform, asked with a dangerous light in his eyes as he inspected Tom from head to toe.

“I am…” Tom paused for a moment as he looked at his hand, remembering something. “I am you!” he said with a smirk, realizing that he was still disguised as Caspian thanks to the pill the system gave him as part of his plan to scam Nova. Hell, he was even wearing the latter’s clothes!

He never expected to face the real thing looking like this, but this was good. Knowing how powerful the Heavenly Sect was after staying there for a few months, he never wanted to be those guysʼ enemy.

Still, Tournament or not, Tom knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to avenge his lost chastity.

“You think you are funny?” Caspian frowned as he tried his best to see through Tom’s disguise. He couldn’t! His inspection skill didn’t activate at all!

“We will know about that in a moment!” Tom said as he tried to pull his sword from his storage ring. Sadly, that didn’t work.

It took him a moment to notice the System notification plastered in the sky in the middle of the arena.

PRIMAL BATTLE

USE YOUR HAND, NAILS AND TEETH, THEN SHRED YOUR ENEMY APART.

CAN YOU DO IT?

ARE YOU CRUEL ENOUGH TO FACE THE FUTURE?

“Shit…”

“It seems we can only do it the good old way!” Caspian was not that annoyed by the announcement; on the contrary, he seemed to want to try it as he took off the golden martial arts shirt he was wearing to reveal a fully ripped muscular torso that made Tom feel a bit hot as he remembered that fateful night when their bodies were mangled in a burning mess and…

“NO!….” Tom spat as he shook his head, trying to erase those shameful images. With a deep breath, he strengthened his resolve to kill this guy once and for all!

“What, scared?” Caspian, noticing Tom’s reaction, said with a smirk. As he eyed him from head to toe, for some strange reason, he felt he wanted to fuck that guy…. Well, he looked exactly like him, so it was understandable… He was, after all, the most perfect being under heaven!

“Like hell…” Tom said as he also took off his shirt, to reveal a similarly ripped body. Then he slowly began to approach his enemy.

Caspian did the same until they were both 5 feet apart; they began to move sideways in circles. Then…

WOOOOOOSH!

Tom attacked first, intending to grab Caspian’s neck with his hand and finish this fast, as his feelings began to fluctuate.

Naturally, Caspian was ready, immediately parrying Tom’s hand with his arm, then grabbing for the latter’s neck with his other, but Tom managed to tilt his head, making the latter miss.

Caspian quickly used his first hand, which was still parrying Tom’s attack, to grab the latter’s forearm, then deliver a knee strike to the latter’s stomach. It was clear that Caspian was a far better fighter. Well, this was to be expected. Tom had never gone to a proper martial arts school, unlike Caspian, who not only grew up in a sect, but had the memories of a demon that was a natural predator…

“Ahhhhhhhhhh….” Tom, although managing to take a step back at the last moment to dampen the impact, still grimaced in pain, but using this chance, he grabbed onto Caspian’s hand that was grabbing him, then threw himself onto the floor, forcing the latter to fall down. Still, before he could do that, Tom intended to trip him; sadly, his maneuver failed as Caspian, who fell to the ground, quickly used the chance to pin Tom’s leg under his knee. “Damn…”

Caspian quickly intended to hit Tom, but the latter, knowing that he was about to get completely tangled up and not willing to surrender, pushed hard with his hand at a natural angle, dislocating his shoulder as he lifted his head to headbutt Caspian’s head. Sadly, his reach was a bit wrong and….

The two ended up in a very strange situation with their mouths pasted atop each other… They separated almost immediately, then, as if bewitched, they dove in with another passionate kiss, their bodies entangling with each other as if their lives depended on it. Their eyes were no longer those of bitter enemies, but those of lovers who had never seen each other in ages!

That old good curse that had been weakened a lot thanks to the Heavenly Sect’s doctor’s efforts seemed to have fully relapsed due to that kiss, returning with 200% of the effect!