Ch47.Expansion - Part 1.

The rest of the night went smoothly, a few of my guests got completely wasted after having a few cups of my Dop Wine, going so far as throwing up all over my booths. Fortunately, while they were drinking, they started to get used to the Wines flavor and therefore, quite a few of them bought some jugs, netting me quite the large profit. Besides that, we also made a killing from the bets and my waiters even got quite a bit from the tips of young masters gave to the waiters as thanks for the tip notes on how to drink that wine without losing their reputation. There were a few who had to be carried out of the arena as they were too drunk to drive, the others all left while smiling and praising the fight and asking when the next one would take place.

We just responded to these questions by saying that this is a very rare occasion and doesn't happen too often, we then promised that they would be the first to be invited to the next event. After all the guests left, I instructed my guys to clean the arena up and find some place to dispose of Rooyy. I truly hope that this will prevent others from messing with me and my territory, but just in case it isn't enough, I believe it's time to make my move against Bortie.

Since Bortie sent this punk to test me, I feel it is necessary to retaliate as hard as possible, even though this was already in my plans, nobody else knows that. Early in the morning, I will start making my move on the takeover. I think the best move on my part is to directly confront him, even though he is also a Circle 1 mage, from what I know, he hasn't gone to an academy so I doubt he has managed to create any decent Runes in his Circle. He probably only has 6 Runes in his Circle, this means that I should be able to overpower him easily even though I have just created my circle. I could use the experience with fighting a mage as well, 'This is going to be FUN!!'

After waking up in the morning I call my clan members to gather in the hall for a briefing on what is about to happen today. I then explained that I will go into Borties territory today in order to take him down, what they need to do is be prepared to move as soon as I win the fight. What I then need them to do is to quickly contact all the businesses in his territory and have them enter my protection. I then need them to scour the area for all of Borties men and then either secretly dispose of them or capture them in case it is possible to have them surrender to my side.

There is not much trust in this type of field, so technically, as long as I am able to defeat their boss, there shouldn't be much issue with converting them. After making sure everyone was prepared, I left my house and started walking towards Borties territory. His house is in the center of his territory and it has the appearance of large water fountain, going so far as to actually sprout water through the roof. He has used a lot of money to alter and customize his house, even though he is living in one of the poor slum based areas, he still seems to want to appear rich.

I arrive at his house early in the morning while the sun is just starting to rise, I hope he is still asleep so I can surprise him and get this over with as fast as possible. I jump into my Shadow Space and pass through under his front door. As I make my way through his house trying to find his bedroom, my attention is quickly grabbed by something, before I could react I was blasted with a beam of high pressure water and I was shot back straight through his door.

The door was blasted open, I reacted quickly and stabilized myself by quickly rolling to the side, and crouching down on the ground, getting ready to retaliate. That is when Bortie walked out of his house while he is busy creating a few Runes in the air around him before joining them together into a circle that grows larger and drops down to his feet before slowly spinning around him. He then says, "What are you doing sneaking into my house!! DO you have any idea who I AM!?"

I slowly get up from my crouching position, put my arms by my sides while my hands curl up to form claws and internally activate my Camouflage Rune, my body then slowly darkens and I take on the form of a humanoid Panther while my nails slowly sharpen. This form has become much more lifelike and I can physically alter a few parts of my body now such as sharpening my nails and teeth, I can't change their size just slightly alter their shape.

Immediately after changing my form, I start building up tension in my legs and respond by saying, "You don't need to know who I am, just that I am the new boss around here!" After saying that I release the little built up tension causing me to explode forth with a burst of speed.

As I got into range and was about to slash his throat with my claws, Bortie just snorted in disdain and activated the Magic Circle that was floating around his feet. The Circle glowed in a Deep blue radiance before forming a few thick streams of water that immediately started twisting and flowing around him.

As my claw was about to reach him, a stream of water immediately flowed around him traveling right in front of where I was about to strike, thus it blocked my attack, absorbing all the force and therefore made my strike completely ineffective. He then formed another Magic Circle at the tip of his finger, it was formed using only three Runes. He immediately activated it, which then shot forth a beam of pressurized water, hitting me right in the chest.

I quickly jumped back using the force of the water to help me create some distance between us, I then rolled to the side and slipped into the shadows. After entering my Shadow Space, I looked down at my chest and noticed that it was actually a bit red, although it hasn't causes any serious injury, it has slightly managed to get past my defenses, and this is after I my Runes have completely reformed my body! I slowly start building up tension in my arms and then after a few seconds, I jump out of my shadow space and bolt towards him again.

As soon as I reach him, I clenched my fists as hard as I could trying to build up extra tension, I then punched using both of my hands while releasing all the built up tension, greatly improving my power. Bortie's face is completely calm and the water streams that are constantly surrounding him automatically move to block my path, effortlessly blocking my attack again. He then looks at me as I backed away and crouched down on the ground while building up tension again, he then says "I don't know who you are or what your goals are, but you can give up on attacking me, there is no way you will get past my defenses. Now, I am surprised that you survived my water blast, but it won't be long before one of my blasts manage to kill you, so I suggest you escape now before I get serious."

He then raises both of his hands and points at me, forming a Magic Circle in front of his fingertips. Almost as soon as the Circles form, he activates them thus firing multiple streams of compressed water at me. I try to dodge as fast as I can, but he is firing too fast for me to react effectively and since I was concentrating on building up tension, I get hit by multiple bolts of water. A few of them actually managed to piercing my skin, fortunately they stopped after that before causing any serious damage.

'Shit, things can't go on like this!! What is happening?? I should have more Runes in my Circle than this fucking Academy-less, illiterate Wanna-be!! ME being limited to using just my physical Runes can't make me this much weaker!! FUCK!!'

I start concentrating on dodging his attacks and then finding some shade. I then dive into my shadow and then move as far as I can inside my Shadow Space, popping in and out, both trying to confuse him and attempt to get behind him.

'The only way I can break his defense is by building up tension long enough! I need to spend the next few minutes building up power, hopefully this delaying tactic will cause him to run out of Magical Energy. As long as I can wait him out, this fight is my win!!'