Mikel did not receive any outside news for two weeks straight. When he came out, it was in the company of 9 ferocious beasts by his side. One tiger, two fire poison type vipers, two lions with fire and wind, three apes with ice and wing type powers. Lastly a four meter panda with both light and dark ability.
All the beasts are above two meters in height, their body mass is three times larger than a normal car. But they are still growing, more importantly Mikel inscribed the shrinking and enlargement spell on each of their bodies. This allows them the freedom to become as large or as small as they wish.
Mikel gives them a lot of mana grass to consume, especially the wind type. They absorb the wind properties just like him, this allows them to be fast and flexible during a fight. His stock of mana grass is fortunately in abundance.
As the one who created the essence flame, the puppets will inherit his basic skills as well as their own. They all have the spirit power, and his ability to absorb all types of elemental mana resources.
They are animals, he tried and fail to make them use his toy maker abilities. His humanoid first puppet on the other hand, has been upgraded to his guard. He increased its swordsman skills by using the heart blood of the four elders of the blood clan. They has all carried large weapons that day. One has a saber, two had swords, and another had an axe.
Mikel had separated their blood accordingly, in anticipation of using it as soon as he received the book of the undying. His guard is named Stan. He has the personality of a sociopath but he is completely loyal to Mikel.
Unlike the beasts, this puppet can talk. Today, it is teaching swordsmanship to Mikel and the students of the Toy city academy. At first, the students were fearful of the puppet. But Mikel had been seated in the class as well.
Unlike a human who may forget some important details when teaching, the puppet taught everything clearly and orderly. Three weeks into the lessons, he is able to steadily hold a sword and last against 'Stan' for half an incense stick in a spar. The training went extremely well, he got bruises and almost lost limbs several times. But thanks to his strong body, he recovered quickly.
Stan insisted on using an artifact sword imbued with sharpness runes to keep him on his toes. That is how he got many wounds on his body and almost lost limbs on daily bases.
This made Mikel understand just how bad the situation of the humans is when compared to the blood kin. They not only have speed, but also magic and centuries of sword wielding knowledge.
Mikel received a summon from the combined forces of the human race. Mikel had just finished forging the three other puppets and let them train the students and the soldiers inside the army castle. This way, everyone will advance together.
The four vipers have different colors and their poison flames are also different. He likes the silver viper, its flames are a pale silver color. Mikel made a lot of venom antidote using their fangs.
Mikel appeared outside the training camp with his puppet viper coiling around his neck. He went straight to the place allocated for Toy city soldiers.
"Mu Bai.." Mikel looked around but did not see his favorite general.
"He is not here, but I am." Madame Gin came out of a tent with a smile on her face. The white hair against her healthy wheat colored skin make her look extremely attractive.
Gina smiled when she saw this reaction. Her figure is already very good, now with this eye catching hair color, she had turned into goddess.
"Gina. How are you? They are not making this difficult for you here are they?" Mikel narrowed his eyes as if poised to start a fight. Gina smiled, their leader really cares for them.
"No, they are treating us well. In fact, they have been excessively accommodating. I suspect they want something." She stood next to Mikel and pointed at the large tent up ahead.
"What's in there?" He asked.
"Supplies. More than what they give to the others by a third." She sounds suspicious. Mikel agreed.
Then he asked about the training and it turns out they are training in the ways of killing the enemy. Not fighting. But putting your enemies down for good. This, Mikel approves.
He asked her to show him. After exchanging a few moves, he agrees this style is meant to kill. He wonders if he can find a dead hunter from a powerful family to create a puppet.
"Mikel." A cold voice sounded from behind the two happily sparring people. But they both saw him approaching from far. Since they both have spirit power as a unique ability.
Mikel and Gina stop their training just as a silver light flashed wrapping itself around Ming Ye.
"What the fuck?!" Ming Ye released his signature red flames burning his clothes in the process. Meanwhile, the silver snake became even more excited upon feeling the flames lick its body, it opened the scales absorbing the flames into its own body.
Then, it rapidly shrank in size and flashed back to Mikel's neck as if what just happened was a dream. Mikel took out an overall and tossed it to Ming Ye so he can cover up.
This is why Mikel made the Nano skin. If Ming Ye was wearing it, Mikel wouldn't have seen his flaming red pubes.
"Hahaha.."
"Ei Ming Ye, if only you didn't rush up ahead to take revenge on Mikel. Would his pet trouble you?" Wei Han asked in a good mood. This Ming Ye and him do not get a long well because of his nasty temper.
Mikel counted about 4 base leaders in the group. "Mr. Lu, why was I summoned here today?" He didn't want to stay for too long and lose track of his projects back home.
"There is an important mater we would like to discuss with you Mikel." Lu Song stated and the others nodded their heads in agreement.
"Discuss away." Mikel doesn't look impressed.
"Not out in the open." Lu Aang who appeared out of nowhere chimed in from the side. Mikel didn't even glance at him. Which made him miss the ugly look Lu Aang has on his face, and the obvious signs of having been crying.
Mikel looked at Huo Jun who is awfully close to a handsome looking Lin Mo who one of his generals. Lin Mo has a recently mutated black lightning super power. His eyes have become purple, making him look ethereal and unreal. Most importantly, he is drop dead gorgeous.
"I think I will stand here and hear this out in the open." The more they look nervous, the funnier Mikel finds the situation.
"Our mother was abducted!" Lu Aang finally broke down. He seem to be losing whatever shred of strength he had on his legs. The others watched Mikel closely. Mikel's expression showed surprise then he seemed a little bit amused.
"That's unfortunate." In the narrative, Ying Yue will eventually return to the blood clan as the mother of the future king of all blood kin. She will activate her 'seed' potential and become a blood kin.
"That's it? You're not horrified that the woman who gave birth to you is being enslaved by others as we speak?" Lu Aang looked to be in anguish.
"First of all, that woman will be fine. She is among kin." Mikel looked at Lu Song, his barely visible smile deepening. "You don't look sad to having your lawfully wedded wife taken by a group of blood thirsty monsters."
"She is your mother." Lu Song raised an eyebrow.
"Mother, is a strong word." Mikel winced. Mikel took out a single and lit it up. "Is this why I was summoned here? Because if that's it.." He didn't finish before Wei Han stepped forward.
"They took Wei Lin." That wiped the smile away from Mikel's face. Before he can say anything in response, Bai Ping also stepped forward looking like he hasn't slept in days. He opened his mouth to speak but only a low whimper left his lips.
Mikel has a serious expression now. "They took Bai Ming." Mikel's sensitive hearing picked up this statement. Mikel's eyes turned cold.
April walked up to Mikel from the side. "I think what you said before makes sense now. You were right, let annihilate these fiends." The hatred in her eyes is intense. Mikel took a step back. This expression he knows too well.
"What do you propose?" He asked April, but his eyes are on Lu Aang, this annoying little brother who thinks genocide is too cruel.
"How about you Lu Aang? Are you able to stomach so much killing?" Mikel felt a jolt of justified schadenfreude.
"I....We..." Mikel chuckled seeing his stutter. How amusing. He found out many other high profile people's family members have all been abducted by the blood clan. Mikel felt sick just thinking about what they are going through right now.
"I want the to pay. Every last one of them." April declared with trembling lips. She is either very scared or very angry. Mikel wanted nothing to do with this woman's wrath. In the last life, she got close to him using the same expression. Then she betrayed him for her lover Wei Han.
April saw the cold expression on Mikel, she bit her lip in desperation. She needs something from Mikel, it will be harder to get it if he doesn't sympathize with her.
"I get that your people were taken, why call me?" After understanding the situation, Mikel still asked something that is confusing him about this arrangement.
"Mikel, we need to go into the barrier and retrieve our people. The training will have to stop and we will just have to go to the offence right away.
"The hunters are against this plan." Huo Chen said after materializing next to Mikel in a black shadowy portal. Mikel did not react much, he felt the portal before it opened and knew the owner of the darkness element in the portal. But he is impressed with the proficiency of the Blackwell family as well as the versatility.
"I sold you all barriers, didn't I?" Mikel looked at these people with critical eyes.
"They were abducted outside of the barrier." April's barriers had been updated to flash red when a blood kin is inside the barrier. This was put in place after the blood clan elders came to Toy city last time.
"We leave tomorrow. We would like you to be there as well." Lu Song said with a tone that is neither humble or arrogant.
"Who are the Lu's sending to retrieve the Madame?" Mikel asked with a bit of sarcasm.
"I am going." Lu Pei who has been holding up Lu Aang spoke for the first time.
"Well, I don't see why I should go. But I can give you these two guys to join you." Mikel released the blue ape and a blood red viper puppet. The two beasts enlarged their bodies and towered over many buildings near the training camp.
The base leaders stood still with their hearts beating fast from fear. These puppets are fashioned from the essence of actual beasts, the puppet flame gives them that undead menace. Their bodies radiates the unnatural aura that can only be found in cursed beings.
"What are those?"
"Mikel, can you control them?" Lu Song looked on with eyes that Mikel has never seen before.
"I can control them." Mikel assured. "I had made them as gifts for my generals." As soon as he said this, his five generals squeezed to the front to look at the monstrosities their leader made for them.
Mu Bai looked at the ape with shining eyes full of excitement. "I want him." He pointed at the ape able to control wind and ice powers. The purple ice ape.
"Here." Mikel took out a talisman and gave it to Mu Bai. "Drop your blood here and he will become partly yours. You will be able to feel his thoughts and communicate with him using your thoughts only."
"Because I used my spiritual ability to create their essence puppet flame. They will always belong to me. Think of it as I am their parent, and you are just the guy who marries my child." Mikel explained the 'partly' wording in his statement.
"Makes sense." Ivy said looking at the viper. Not the red one, but the one coiled around Mikel's neck.
"Does it have poison?" Poison Ivy asked eyeing the viper with a glint in her gaze. As one of the generals, she is looking forward to her own pet.
"Poisoned fire. Quite excruciating, if I do say so myself." Mikel responded with pride, he handed her the puppet.
Mikel took out the rest of the puppets showing them to the five generals. Huang Muyan took a lightning type tiger, Amon accepted the metal and wind tiger that Mikel made the first time he made a puppet. After they all accepted the puppet master relationship, Mikel took back the rest of his puppets into his space.
"These talisman allows your power to pass through the puppet without hurting you. and vise versa. You will be able to communicate with your hearts or minds, they can find you even if you are in the depth of the ocean. This is a lifetime partnership where you are completely in charge. Congratulations." Then his gaze went to the base leaders who look green with envy.
"Like I said, I will borrow your team two of my puppets to help you retrieve your loved ones." He reiterated, let it be known, that I am not risking my life or my sanity on this suicide mission.
"So, you're afraid?" Lu Aang snarled. Mikel shrugged.
"I'm terrified. And I am not looking to overcome my fears just to save a cold bitch that has nothing to do with me. There, I said it." He didn't even change his expression when he heard growling from all around him.
These people all lost someone to the blood kin and his careless words have offended them. On the other hand, Mikel has no fucks to give. He just looked at them with an unimpressed lazy gaze.
"You're lying!" April pulled Mikel away from the group after shouting at him. Mikel is surprised by the strength of her grip. The next second, April pushed him into a white leather couch. Mikel looked around in surprise.
"I have space power thanks to your two evolution potions." April appeared near a cabinet with bottles of alcohol. Mikel stayed seated, looking around the place with curiosity.
The place is organized meticulously as if a robot lives there.
"Ming ming told me you have a crush on me. I assume she was mistaken?" April poured herself half a glass of bourbon and drank it neat in one go.
"May I have a drink?" Mikel just meant to provoke her but she poured him a drink as well.
Tasting the liquor, Mikel coughed at the level of alcohol inside. "This is not bourbon." He put the glass down.
"I made it better." She quibed.
"Well, say goodbye to your liver." He added.
"I want you to come with us. For some reason I think your presence will tip the scales in our favor. Please. What would it take?"
"I don't knkw what you have that can possibly make me reconsider." Mikel said honestly. His base did not suffer from this attack and he doesn't know why, but he has no reason to go into the worse place he can think of, just to help a bunch of strangers.
"My sister means alot to me. She is easily bullied and I am afraid by the time she returns, she will be long dead on the inside." April went to a corner and opened a large floor safe. She pulled out a transparent container with a glass like stone inside.
"This is a mineral ore. It is 10 times harder than diamonds. The crazy part? It is almost entirely composed of an unknown energy. This energy can be used to regenerate electricity, fuel batteries and even charge your energy draining barriers."
Mikel didn't move or have any reaction. He was long dead by the time this ore was discovered in the narrative, he knows exactly what it is used for. But with April here, who knows just how much more useful this item will be in the future.
"I am still not going." Mikel stood up and started walking out. But at the door, he found a barrier preventing him from exiting.
"You already know what this is don't you?"
"No comment."
"Fine. I didn't want to say something so cringe but, if you help bring back my sister, I will be your woman." She even shivered at her own cringe worthy words.
"That, couldn't be further from my considerations." He admitted. April is not too surprised.
"Please, Mikel. I have a bad feeling about all of this. Only if you go can I be assured."
"You are wrong to trust me about something like this, I am the kind of person who will bomb the place without taking out the hostages." These words seem to awaken her somewhat from whatever stupor she was drowning in a while ago.
"You care for her. That is why you saved her last time. Please save her again this time. I am begging you Mikel." She looked at the container.
"I have four mines of this stuff. I will give them all to you."
"You will give them all to me?" How tempting. This is energy, a consumables.
"I'll like to take them now please." April visibly relaxed. In the corner of Mikel's view, where he can't see, the corner of her lip raised impeccably. 'GOT YOU' She thought, internally.
"Then take me to these mines, I would like to lock them down and have my people start mining out the ore." Mikel reiteratedfeom the side.
"What?" She is genuinely shocked he wants to move in with mining before even doing the work.
"Do you have no plans of giving me those mines at all?" Mikel's eyes turned cold. This girl spent too much time plotting she forgot this world is no longer in times of peace. If she crosses him, he will grind her to dust.
April became flustered. "I mean to give you the mines after we return from the mission."
"No." Mikel walked towards the door and this time, he punched out the barrier that obstructed his path. It shattered into pieces of glass like space pieces and April suffered a backlash.
She doubled over puked blood on the floor. Mikel did not look back. April's eyes as she gazes on his back are filled with undeniable hatred.
Meanwhile, Mikel called out. "Retrieve the feed." Just as his AI is about to see what these people have been plotting, a rustic metal net descended from the sky and practically nailed him to the ground.
At the same time he felt the let's true purpose working on his body. Draining his mana. This is a truly sinister and vicious plot. Incarpacitating him while letting him feel the excruciating pain of having mana siphoned out on his body by an external force.
A few moments before Mikel fell unconscious, he sent a message through the blood contract to everyone of his soldiers, generals, golems and puppets.
His body is transported to a place he hated the most in the world. As it turned out, Mikel has been sent over to the blood clan in exchange for those kidnapped by the blood clan earlier that week.
All those base leaders had deviced a plan to hand him over and possibly decide his assets among themselves. Especially that mountain of high level mana stone mine.
....