Assassins

Alex stretched his neck with a satisfying crack before rolling his shoulders and loosening the joints. Opposite him was Shana, now in sports clothing with boxing gloves on, while Lilia seemed to float nearby with her long wings stretched out from her lower back.

In the succubus' hand were the Jiu Jutsu and Krav Maga training manuals that Alex had purchased from his system [Store] and had been studying. 

Today's training session was only one of many, but Alex was still a beginner.

He launched his attack first, aiming to close the distance and grapple Shana. She was light on her feet however, preventing him from getting too close while throwing punches that could easily break his guard and send him flying.

She was careful however, only using a fraction of her strength to prevent any real damage. As much as Alex tried, his system was not one oriented for combat, he just wanted to be strong enough that he wasn't completely useless and his girls could rely on him.

Every punch he received earned him skill points in his defensive stats, while his grasp on martial arts was slowly growing with each attack. The system training manuals were a little different from the norm, but that should be a given considering everything else in the [Store].

His grappling techniques often involved grabbing privates and even using his lust energy to immobilize or increase damage. CQC was supposed to stand for close quarters combat, but for Alex, it seemed to mean close quarters cop-a-feel.

Overall, his combat skills were still unrefined, but the system training manuals adjusting things in ways that the techniques aligned with his lust energy and he learned the basics like a fish in water.

Alex even managed to gain a temporary upper hand when he used Lusty Strike and landed a sudden elbow into Shana's stomach before flipping her over his shoulder and pinning her down in a position where his hips were tightly pressing and grinding against hers.

"That hurts," Shana complained after throwing him off with pure strength, rubbing her stomach in annoyance.

Just as Shana was pummeling Alex to 'train his skills' after he had struck her chest and referred to it as "lacking defense," a group of shadows among the trees and on the roof of the house shifted.

Under the final dying embers of the summer light, a group of silhouettes attacked. From the trees, a group of five assassins with their bodies wrapped in black cloth flew out and struck with swords and sabers.

From the roof of the house, while the trio were distracted, a dozen daggers shot at them like bolts of silver lightning. In the poor lighting however, this was a near impossible to see attack.

Lilia's giggle echoed through the yard eerily as she vanished from her spot to protect Alex while Shana shifted her body at the last minute to avoid a sword and was stabbed through the shoulder by one of the daggers.

"Who are you?" Alex called out with a glare, his heart racing at how close he had just come to being assassinated.

His gaze also flickered to Shana in concern, wanting to help remove the knife but not having a chance to.

The intruders glanced at each other with their eyes and didn't say anything, instead opting to attack with everything they have.

Alex found that with the evolution in his life grade, his dynamic vision had increased significantly and he was able to follow their moves. Their arms swelled and they swords started emitting large arcs of electricity between the blade and the ground.

His hair stood on end and he felt the danger in the weapons, but he refused to cower.

"Lilia, get the ones on the roof!" Alex commanded while focusing on the attackers before him.

An assassin struck down with their blade and Alex narrowly avoided it, leaving the sword to carve through the ground like butter while a few stray arcs of lightning burnt his legs.

Alex retaliated with Lusty Strike, hitting the assassin in the neck and causing him to stumble back but dealing no substantial damage.

The assassin launched a sudden kick as they regained their balance, hitting Alex in the stomach and sending him flying into the house as his body shattered the back door and crashed into the kitchen fridge. The white-goods appliance cushioned his landing as it deeply crumpled in on itself.

[Sturdy as an M +1630exp]

[Sturdy as an M upgraded to Lv 9 (1,130/4,800)]

Following Alex was several blades of sword qi and a bolt of lightning aimed to take his life. All the assassins charged after him except on which stayed to hold back Shana.

Shana's boxing gloves had broken as her fists punched through the soft padding and into the body of her attackers. Unlike Alex's attacks, where he struggled to deal any substantial damage, her punches and kicks snapped bones and bruised organs.

Unfortunately, the girl could only use one arm due to the dagger in her shoulder, forcing her to take longer to subdue the assassin.

A sixth sense told him follow-up attacks were coming and he knew he wouldn't be able to dodge due to being off balance.

Alex brought his arms together to protect his vital organs as best he could. Instinctively, he also used Lusty Strike and imbued lust energy into his arms to reinforce them.

The lightning hit first with a thundering crack, hitting his forearms with the force of a hammer, scorching his skin and muscle while numbing his entire body.

[Sturdy as an M +2,130exp]

The sword qi hit next cutting through blackened flesh and digging into bone before finally stopping.

[Sturdy as an M +1,690exp]

[Sturdy as an M upgraded to Lv 10 (150/10,000)]

While Alex's attack power was somewhat lacking, his body was considerably sturdy, especially once he imbued the defending part with lust energy.

Despite blocking the attack though, his arms were turning numb as blood ran freely.

Three assassins charged in through the broken door like a raging storm. Just as Alex was about to call out for Lilia and Vanessa, the latter appeared behind him.

"Bastards, you dare!" Vanessa's voice was ice cold and dripping murderous intent.

Alex only saw frostfire spread along the floor and walls, only diverting to avoid him, before engulfing the assassins.

The fire was like small ice crystals, but they grew and shifted like real fire while the paint on the walls curled and crackled while the floor started splitting and emitting an eerie wispy white smoke.

The assassins swept out their swords and released their qi in full force, causing Alex to drop to one knee as he felt his body being suppressed by their energy. 

He already knew they followed some sort of power system, but it was at this point that he realized they were in fact cultivators. If only he had the means to be able to measure their strength with something other than what would end up being be a certifiable sex toy.

The attackers didn't retreat at this. They ignored the crystalline fire sprouting on their clothes as they seemed determined to kill Alex at the cost of their own life for reasons of which he had no awareness. 

One stamped their foot and shattered the wooden floor, splinters of wood still burning with frostfire shooting out like a barrage of ghostly wooden needles. These needles pierced through the kitchen cupboards, windows, and of course, would do the same for Alex in mere moments.

Alex could barely muster up the strength to breath, let alone move out of the way, but Vanessa stepped in front of him and lifted her hand to raise a barrier formed out of her own qi the caught the burning wooden needles midair before she cast them aside.

Another assassin turned their qi into a murky water that crept along the floor like a spreading swamp to try and combat the frostfire, but it was only had a limited effect before the fire simply spread over the top of the water too.

"Alex!"

Shana barged in and immediately attacked the assassins from the back, hitting one in the back of the head and causing them to slam face first into the edge of the kitchen island bench with a sickening crunch. The bench edge shattered and the supporting structure fractured while the assassin lay motionless, only the occasional twitch of a hand or finger indicating they were still alive.

There were only two assassins left and Vanessa took advantage of Shana's distraction to attack. Her qi flared up, completely suppressing the attackers' qi and giving Alex room to breath while a sword covered in weightless blue crystals of fire pierced through through one of their chests and lifted them up as the frostfire rapidly spread to their body and ate away at their flesh and bone.

Alex felt like throwing up at how gruesome of a sight it was, the flesh melting from bone as the integrity of the body collapsed and pieces begun to fall off.

"What are you doing?!" Shana cried out in shock, kicking the last assassin and snapping their knees as she rushed to stop Vanessa.

Vanessa looked at the infuriated blonde whose left arm was drenched in her own blood from the dagger stabbing through her shoulder.

"Turning the bastard who dared attack my darling into ashes, what of it?" She responded as she flicked the broken and falling apart corpse off her blade.

With the battle over, the frostfire throughout the kitchen died down under the control of Vanessa, but the damage had already been done. 

The floor was all cracked and still emitting smoke while most of the paint had curled off the walls and left giant dark burn marks like electric burns through a timber board. The kitchen had been completely destroyed with the fridge crushes and the sink plumbing spraying out water.

None of the people were in a position to preserve the house, and just like that it now needed a massive renovation. There is no doubt that even if Vanessa had insurance, they wouldn't cover this one.

"You're a murderer!" Shana was righteously pissed off as she glanced at the corpse before glaring at Vanessa.

"And what were they trying to do to you, to Alex?"

"That isn't an excuse to kill!"

Vanessa decided to ignore the furious superpowered blonde, and appeared before the final assassin who had been acting dead after having their knees shattered.

She swung her sword down in a single swift motion to decapitate them, but Shana intervened and caught her sword with her bare hand. The blade cut through flesh and drew blood, but once the girl had her grip on the blade, it was stuck as if in a vice.

"You're pissing me off!" Vanessa's eyes seemed to emit fire in her anger as she secretly regretted not putting more strength in the swing, "I've tolerated you long enough, don't get in my way!"

"Like fuck I will let you kill another person."

"You dumb bitch! Is this why darling is so injured, you were so concerned about killing them that you held back and weren't able to protect him properly?! You don't deserve to stay by his side."

"How dare you try turn this back on me when you are trying to commit murder!"

"Get off your moral high horse," Vanessa leaned in until her nose almost touched Shana's, and because she was the taller one, was also looking down into her eyes. 

"You don't understand a thing about cultivators," she continued. "Simply the act of attacking another with the intent to take their life is enough the ignite a blood feud. We need to kill them now, then find out who sent them, and kill them too, else this will only be the first of many attempts. 

"This time, they underestimated us by thinking it was only me and I was still at the third layer of Qi Condensation, sending a group at the Fifth Layer of Qi Condensation. Next time, they will send more attackers, more powerful attackers."

Shana was obviously unwilling to back down on her stance and argued back, "That's bullshit, killing them won't stop them sending more people."

Vanessa was equally unwilling to compromise, her traditional cultivator heritage preventing her from having the slightest consideration towards mercy or a soft approach.

"This is now a blood feud, bitch. It's not about being the stronger person, but who can crush the other first."

"Enough!"

Alex breathed deeply after shouting, his chest hurting and his arms feeling like they were doused in fire now that the adrenaline had worn off and the pain returned. He may be sturdy, but the damage he had suffered was extremely severe.

"Darling," Vanessa turned her head and pleaded, her voice much softer now, "these people attacked you."

"I know."

"They tried to kill you."

"I know."

"They stabbed your sister."

"Step... I know."

Vanessa clenched her jaw and ground her teeth together.

"Are you truly going to let them go?"

Alex understood this was a choatic, often violent world. The Realm Guard and its Hero Division wouldn't have such a massive presence if that wasn't the case.

"Even if these people came from outside and don't follow our law, we are still a part of a society. If we don't uphold our laws, who will?"

"..."

"These people aren't going free either. Shana, call the police and report the incident. As for our injuries... I will buy healing items from the system [Store]... I don't have money for medical expenses after all."

Vanessa looked like she had eaten a lemon, but unlike with Shana, she listened to Alex and put away her hostility.

"Let go," She calmly stated to Shana who was still gripping her tang sword in a bloody grip.

Shana held onto it while glaring back into the cultivator's eyes for a moment before releasing her grip, the gash on her palm now stinging once it was exposed to the air.