After Ming had locked Hikari in her room, he had managed to capture Nox before she could escape the manor. And they were now flying towards the Yang estate, Ming in his dragon form and Nox tied up in more rope while being held in one of her grandfather's claws.
"Hey, old man! Wanna make a deal?"
"Hmph! I'm not letting you go this time! You are in serious trouble lass!"
"I guess you don't want sleeping beauty to wake up then!"
Upon hearing Nox's words, the dragon suddenly stopped mid-air as his neck turned to look at Nox.
"That's right! I can fix her up! But I guess you're not interested!"
"You're bluffing!"
"I'm not!"
"Even the greatest physicians and alchemists our clan had to offer couldn't treat her! Why would you fare any better?"
"That's because they were quacks! I bet they couldn't even treat that paraplegic you got stoved away!"
"…"
"What's that look about? Do I have something on my mask?" Nox said as she slipped her hand out of her restraints to rub her mask.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing much! Just everything you got!"
"Pft! HAHAHA!"
"Don't believe me huh?"
"No, I don't!"
"Then let's make a bet instead!"
"Hm? What kind of bet?"
"You want me to play house with you guys and I want the house itself! So, let's bet if I can fix your coma patient! I own your clan! If I fail! I'll have to call you whatever you want! Deal?"
"HA! You think I'm letting you near her without any proof! Treat Xing first, then we'll talk!"
"Sure! So, if I treat that paraplegic and the sleeping beauty I get the Yang clan!"
"And when you fail! You'll stop running off on your own and call me 'gwanpa' like Hikari!"
"Sure, let's shake on it!" Nox said as she reached out her hand to his other claw.
Ming blissfully unaware of what kind of bet he was making shook Nox's hand, enacting a soul contract with the best doctor in the history of the magic continent.
"Whoa!"
"WHEEEEE!"
The sudden vision that flashed before his eyes the moment he made the deal caused him to flinch and drop Nox, causing her to plumet to the ground below.
…
Nox's POV:
Okay I got something neat this time. I've been needing a base to hide my stuff in, but there are too many nosy nascent souls around, which make it difficult to keep stuff hidden, especially when it's that big project I've been planning to restart. The playboy might have destroyed my hopes and dreams of infinite money last time, but I'm sure as hell not gonna let him ruin another money printer, which is why I need guard dogs. That is what I'm planning to have these dragonewts named after my pet fish do after I slap sleeping beauty awake, but first I'm gonna need to teach the paraplegic to walk.
That was the plan anyways, so why do I have to fight this body builder?
The moment the old man fished me out of the river he dropped me into, he dragged me back to his land where I was immediately forced into a deathmatch with the bodybuilder lady I met in the forest.
"Hey, pipsqueak! I like your guts!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PIPSQUEAK, MUSCLE-FREAK?"
"MUSCLE-FREAK? I DARE YOU TO CALL ME THAT ONE MORE TIME!"
"MUSCLE-FREAK!"
*BANG*
And with a punch to the ground the fight began.
I had managed to dodge the first hit, but damn! Those muscles aren't for show. She made a giant crater the size of a house without any of her elemental energy. Even for a dragonewt that's not easy while in human form.
"Hey, don't fight! Ning, stop bullying little Nox" The old man said, trying to intervene.
*BANG*
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE!" I screamed, punching the snot out of the old man with an aura enhanced punch.
It might not have done much damage, but it still sent him flying.
"*whistle* You sure pack a punch for such a scrawny chick!"
"And you're pissing me off!"
I'm only a few months away from being at my preferred height, but even then, I'd be a couple of inches shorter than this muscle-freak. This sucks.
"Come at me, pipsqueak!"
*Inhale**Exhale*
"Huh? What's with the smoke?"
This is a little trick I haven't used in a few days. It's a 3rd stage aura I developed way back when I was busy using my regular aura to keep myself alive. It creates a white smokescreen by imbuing the air I breathe and touch with a small amount of my aura.
*BANG*
*Swoosh*
It not only functions as a smokescreen that blinds both the eyes and that annoying 6th sense, but it also has a slight debuff effect on anyone who touches it. All their senses, reaction time, physical strength, speed, and defenses. Everything gets weakened a smidge. It is barely noticeable, but it is usually enough to throw them off a bit.
I was currently hiding my presence, waiting for an opening to strike with my dagger and/or magic gun. Or maybe not the magic gun. Don't want someone to go blabbing about it to that playboy.
*Swoosh*
"Ouch! Hey, you're using a weapon! That's not fair!" She said while holding the cut I had made on the side of her midriff.
"You're the one who brought your fists to a knife fight!"
"THERE YOU ARE!" She said as she swung her tail in the direction of my voice.
*Swoosh*
"Huh?"
"To bad, so sad!" I said, using spirit magic to alter the direction my voice was coming from.
"OKAY! I'M SICK OF THIS SHIT!" She said as she raised her hands in the air.
She then activated her earth element qi and created giant floating rock arms, that mirrored her movements.
*SWOOSH*
She then used them to fan away most of my mist.
"Found you!" She said as she threw a punch with those giant rock arms.
*BANG*
I jumped away just in time, barely avoiding being crushed, only to find that the muscle-freak had predicted my direction of movement and was already there to greet me with a punch.
*Inhale*
*BANG**BANG*
"UGH!"
This was another one of my aura tricks. My special aura fire is called the 'Flames of Control'. They allow me to have complete control over anything they come into contact with, whether it is physical matter, or pure energy. By engulfing the inside of my body with it, I can change the direction of kinetic energy and send it out of another part of my body, like the punch I just threw back at the muscle-freaks face. I call it, 'Kinetic Redirection'.
"What's wrong muscle-freak! Can't take a punch?" I taunted.
"HAHAHA! LET'S DO THIS!" She shouted, with a grin on her face and a bloody nose.
*BANG**BANG*
Kinetic Redirection may be useful, but it is not without its drawbacks.
*BANG**BANG*
It puts an immense strain on the body as it requires me to shift nearly every cell I have to pull off.
*BANG**BANG*
I also need to release the kinetic energy almost immediately, or it will start tearing apart my organs. So, I need to get the timing of my attacks right if I want to use it offensively.
*BANG**BANG*
There is also a limit to how much energy that can move through my body like this at once, since there is a limit to how much my cells can take before popping.
*BANG**BANG*
"Give up yet?"
"*Huff**puff* ARE YOU KIDDING! THIS IS THE MOST FUN I'VE HAD IN AGES!"
"God damn battle maniacs! *cough*" I muttered as I covered my mouth to hide the small amount of blood I just coughed out.
*CRASH*
We were just about to start another slugfest as the old man in his dragon form came crashing down from the sky.
"THAT'S ENOUGH YOU TWO!!!"
This is probably the first time the scaly old bastard has made himself useful. Battle maniacs like the muscle-freak are always a pain in the ass to get rid of. It's like they can't decide whether they are an S or an M and want to make it my problem.
"Tsk! Buzzkill!" I heard the muscle-maniac mutter as she turned to me.
"You sure pack a wallop, kid! Let's pick this up again when dad's not around, kay!" She said before wandering off.
"Okay! So, now that she's gone, let's go deal with what's his face!" I said as I started walking towards the building right outside the mountains.