Chapter Fifty-One - Since You Helped Them, Now They Are Your Responsibility!

"Dude, everything that is posible to hurt is hurting..." Locke complained as he lay on the living room floor, his body was covered in wounds that slowly closed at a visible speed.

"You got a little too carried away, don't you think? Acting like that, so hot headed it seems a bit out of you common character, you're usually the planning type!" Tia was beside him, helping Locke clean the wounds, she looked through the glass doors at the group of lizard people watching them waiting in their backyard. "What are we going to do with those gecko guys?"

Locke rose slightly from the ground and looked at the lizards. "I have no idea..."

Tia finished cleaning the bloodstains covering Locke and punched him in the shoulder. "There, you are already better! Now fix this! Since you helped them, now they are your responsibility!"

Locke stood up and sighed he watched the fairy climb the stairs alone and then, he turned to the group of lizard people hugging each other and catching up in his garden, he walked out of the house and met them.

As Locke left the house, he spent some time watching the families happily hugging each other, the lizard kids are running and playing in his backyard, they childish laughter made Locke realize that those creatures were just normal families, just in a different race than the usual.

Utizir, who was hugging a lizard woman, watched the children in silence, his reptilian face had his mouth curved in a kind of smile, as soon as he noticed Locke he let go of the woman and went straight to him. "My lord, we have no words to thank you for saving our families!"

"I didn't do anything big, I just fought a bunch of imbeciles for a while, you guys were the ones who saved your families!" Locke spoke with a smile.

"No, without you we would never make it! We will be grateful for what you have done to the end of our lives! You are a hero to our people!" All the lizards bowed in unison, even the children.

"Oh boy... Enough of bending over, guys! This kind of thing makes me uncomfortable!" Locke responded as he tried to get Utizir to his feet. Soo... what are you guys going to do now? Do you... Do you have anywhere to go?"

"We can't go back to our old home, as the Heralds of the New World know the place... But you don't have to worry about us! In all the time we spent living with humans, our people learned a few things! We even have money stored in one of those human banks, all we need to find a good place with lots of water and space to build our houses!"

Locke thought for a moment, his house was surrounded by a lake on one side and a forest on the other, being the last house before the huge forest reserve that stretched into the mountains in the distance, his house also had a great distance of the other houses, being the first house to be built in that area, a pioneering a house in a project on that lake, Locke knew it was all one of the cult trap's, but he had already dealt with it and the company that owned the land had disappeared, the other constructions were not going to happen anymore, but the land was still empty.

"Hmm... I had an idea... How much money have you been saving?"

***

Maria was in the kitchen of her house, she was in the middle of preparing a birthday cake for her youngest daughter, for the first time in a long time she had managed to forget the guilt that consumed her, the company that forced her to sell that damn cursed house had completely disappeared after seh recived the last payment and the new owner hadn't contacted her with any concerns, she finally began to believe that this nightmare was finally over.

Her favorite song started to play, it was the ringtone of her phone.

Maria put the cake in the oven as she reached for her cell phone, the number on the screen made her chest go cold, the number was marked by Locke Driscoll, the handsome guy for whom she had sold that house to.

'No! No no no no! Started again! That poor boy must be living in hell!' She thought as her eyes watered, the memories that plagued her nightmares crossed her mind, and for a moment she thought about ignoring the call, pretending it never happened, but the guilt was stronger, she took a deep breath trying to compose herself as she answered the phone.

"Hello..."

"Hey, Mrs. Maria, how are you?" Locke's voice was animated, which made Maria look confused for a moment.

"I, I'm fine... But what about you? Some... Some problem with the house?" She asked, instantly regretting it.

"No, no, no problem with the house! The house is perfect! Moving here was the best decision I ever made! In fact what I need from you has to do with it! I have some good friends who would like to buy all the land around the lake!"

"You… aren't you having any problems with the house? None at all?" Maria was incredulous.

"No problem at all! The house is perfect! I still can't believe I paid so little for it! But back to our subject, are you responsible for the sale of the other land?"

"Yes... I am..." Maria replied, she was extremely confused by the course of that conversation.

On the other side of the phone Locke smiled.

***

After that things went smoothly, the purchase of the other land was quite manageable, The amount of money the Lizardkins had saved was not at all low, Locke was extremely surprised when he learned of the amount, the explanation of the lizards was simple, they were a semi-aquatic creatures that could breathe underwater, they used to take their sustenance easily from the dark waters of the swamp, they also didn't have any predators in this new land, other than that, the swamp they once lived in was also full of that black liquid that humans used to move their vehicles, and so, before their house was taken by the cultists, they were the the only ones to explore the riches of the swamp they lived in.

Maria also had all the documents about the sale of the other land in her hands, when she was put in charge of selling the first house, Locke's current house, she had signed a document that made her responsible for all other sales in that area, the which at the time filled her with joy, due to the great possibility of financial return, now that the company had disappeared, the lands had been taken over by the city government, but she still had the contractual right to be the one who can sell those lands, soon after a few back and forth to City Hall with her, Locke found himself owning all the land around that lake.

The lizards refused to own the land, they had great respect and admiration for Locke, as well as a trust in the level of adoration for Locke, they also didn't have the proper documentation to own that land, and they they wanted to keep the cultists from finding out about their new home, then everyone came to a consensus that the better way are Locke stay ahead in possession of that land.

With what was left of their money the Lizardkins started to build their houses, at a reasonable distance from Locke's house, making their little village by the lake, and Locke was happy to have new neighbors, he helped with what he could during the constructions, using his strength and talents in the process, it felt good to use his powers for something that wasn't destructive at times.

When a part of the houses was already complete Locke was finally able to relax a bit, he felt that he had done what he could for that tribe with whom he had a certain minimal kinship, it was time to receive his rewards.

Helping the Lizardkins had earned him a completely new title, they called him a hero and treated him like one, the title Hero of the Lizarkins in his status was a reflection of that. The title had the effect of making the Lizardkins friendlier to him, which he didn't believe was possible.

The system also rewarded him with a blueprint and a new spellbook page, Locke thought it was time to get some new spells and used all the pages he had accumulated, so he got six new spells.

Unsurprisingly the first magic he acquired was Electromancy, from the school of arcanism, since he had consumed that huge number of Raijūs cores and had gained the ability to absorb electrical energy he felt it was a matter of time before he started to mastering lightning and attacking with it by himself, raising his hand Locke made an electric current run between his fingers, as expected the energy was black in color.

The second spell he unleashed was a big surprise, from the school of witchcraft he got golem creation, the information on how to create and engrave a mana circuit into a construct in order to make it a mobile creature was engraved in his head, and Locke couldn't wait to test this spell, unfortunately, as expected from this school's of spells he needed some items as ingredients.

He also gained two new runes, reinforcement and explosion, reinforcement had the ability to increase, through the use of magic, the durability of any object it was engraved on, explosion was self-explanatory, once the rune was engraved in a object, it would explode when Locke wanted, it looks like he wouldn't need grenades anymore after all. Locke tested this magic by engraving the rune on a small stone, when he was ready to throw it Tia asked for the honors, Locke handed the stone to the fairy who cast it into the lake, for some reason she screamed out loud "EXPLOOOSION!!!" when she did it, Locke detonated the stone instantly.

The explosion was bigger than he expected, the cost of each rune wasn't a small amount but he didn't expect an explosion just a little smaller than a grenade, Locke tested it with other objects, it seemed that the bigger the object the more mana he needed to mark the explosion rune on it, but the explosion was also more powerful, all tests were done by Tia, who repeated the same joke every time she threw one of the explosive objects into the river, she repeated over and over "EXPLOOOSION! EXPLOOOSION! EXPLOOOSION!", when Locke finished testing the magic she demanded that he take her home in a piggyback.

Locke also learned a new divination spell called True vision, by activating the spell Locke gained the ability to have a separate view of his body, as if he created a floating third eye, and could move it freely at the cost of his mana, and the maximum distance this new vision could go didn't seem to have any limits, but the farther he wanted to go the more mana he needed to use.

The last spell came as a huge surprise to Locke, from the school of Alteration he received the Transmute spell, which allowed him to modify the properties of any metal, he tested the spell on a small nickel coin, easily turning it into lead using the his mana, he then tested something that came to his mind, he expended almost five times more mana than in his previous experiment, but soon found himself with a gold coin in his hand.

"I don't think we'll have any more money problems anymore, after all, now you have a Midas touch!" Tia commented with a smile.

Locke looked at the shiny gold coin in his hands and felt strange, he didn't think it was a good idea to make this magic public and not think in live this way, besides he already had more than enough wealth for this life after all, since his inventory was still full of all treasures he received from killing Rudra, but he was sure he could find a use for this skill when the time came.

After getting used to his new spells Locke went back to analyzing how he should proceed, the cultists' threat was still very real to the city, their own house was one of the multiple traps they had prepared after all, Locke knew their only motive for not being chasing him yet is because they were too busy fighting the Burreal and the Church, but Locke didn't want to wait to see how this fight would end, the cultists were a constant threat to those he love and Locke was in the mood for put a end in them, he will deal with that threat himself.

Locke still had all the intelligence gained from Scarlet, the vampires might be out of the picture but there were still other important points of cultist control in this town and Locke had a bad feeling deep in his chest when trying to figure out what the cultists master plan can be.

From what Locke had learned so far the cultists hated the way the world had gone, they hated the way humans were far from magic and were so dependent on science, they wanted to bring about a new era where humanity would once again be linked to magic, and for that they created a series of supernatural threats. Locke thought they were nothing more than a bunch of crazy, stupid people with stupid goals and minds with the size of peanuts.

However Locke had to put his plans to hunting down the cult in waiting, as the weekend was approaching and he would in no way waste his time with Hanna.

The girl, however, showed up at her house on Thursday morning, driving her sister's car, which Locke was surprised because this was the time she worked, but the look of worry and fear on the girl's face make him understand that something was wrong.

Hanna ran into the house as soon as she got out of the car, grabbing Locke by the arm and dragging him into the living room.

"Hanna? What was wrong? Are you okay?" Locke questioned worriedly.

"I had a vision! Something is coming, we don't have much time! You have to stop them!" The girl spoke with an expression of terror.

"What's coming?" Locke asked seriously, he still didn't really understand his girlfriend's gifts but he completely believed in her.

"I saw a group of strange people on top of a building in the center of the city! They were doing some kind of weird ritual, A group of armed people tried to stop them but they managed to complete the ritual! Then the sky turned dark and cracked like glass, and a huge monster came out of it!"

Locke heard the explanation in silence, he thought for a moment.

"How long do you think we have until this happens?" Tia questioned.

"You didn't understand! It's happening!!"