Chapter 9 - Targeted! part 3

Fifteen days after the situation in the main chamber of the Lord's Manor, Jodye Trill was spending the better part of his last few days being taught how to read and write by his mother. His father would also take him on trips while cramming information down his throat. During these trips Charlotte Slaughter was the one primarily responsible for Jodye, drastically improving their relationship.

They were currently walking through a grand palace within a noble estate on the other side of Lake Nicaea. This vast estate was equal in size to House Trilleck but far more quaint in styling. This was the grounds of Jodye's maternal family, House Shu.

Merely, as both of Jodye's parents were adopted, he was no more a Shu than a Trilleck in his bloodline. Apparently, this was part of why his talent was such an issue. However, Jodye was sure there was a lot more to it than that.

"Auntie Charlotte is so pretty. Are you a pill model?" asked Jodye Trill glad in elegant white and gold garments. Pill models were exceptionally beautiful women who accompanied masters in promoting their services. This was similar to models in his former world.

"You kidding me kid? Where did you even hear of pill models and the like? Has the lady been allowing you to use the profound viewing crystal?" asked Charlotte Slaughter who was currently holding Jodye in her arms. Her explosive figure was outlined in a soul-stirring manner. Her black hair hung down like a waterfall, shining with a gorgeous brilliance in the sunlight. Her collar was lowered to the point of revealing her collarbones and downwards to the deep and snowy valley of her chest. She was wearing a purple dress with a golden wolf design, which had a slit that revealed her sexy chocolate legs. Jodye had his arms wrapped around her fragrant neck as he rested his head on her ample bosom.

If lady Isis were to see this, then she would certainly feel betrayed. Jodye didn't resist being held by this beauty at all, he was way too comfortable. Charlotte, however, thought he was cute, "I am no pill model, but I have done so for your father before."

"Wow, really? Pops is a master?" asked Jodye curiously. He had never heard this before.

"Indeed, though not many people know. He uses a false identity whenever he goes out as a master, people would never believe it was him if he told them," replied Charlotte Slaughter with worship evident in her eyes. This made Jodye secretly jealous of his handsome and cool dad, he wanted to grow up and woo beautiful ladies as well!

"How come auntie Charlotte doesn't become one of Jodye's mothers?" asked Jodye Trill sagely. Charlotte smelled different from many other women. It was pure and flowery, a strange sort of pleasant scent. For awhile, Jodye couldn't figure this out. His obscenely acute sense of smell still baffled him on a daily basis. However, recently he realized that his mother's younger maids all had this smell as well. When he asked his mother, the startled Isis told him this was the smell of purity!

His words made Charlotte immediately turn scarlet. 'Bingo,' thought Jodye to himself.

"I would never marry your bad father, he would play me to death," snarled Charlotte after some consideration, which shocked Jodye. The seriousness in her voice was unmistakable, she definitely said those words from the heart. "I would much rather have a handsome little husband like you, little guy."

Jodye's eyes sparkled with dazzling light. 'Lucky chance!'

"In that case, I will definitely marry aunt Charlotte once I grow up," little Jodye harrumphed, "don't forget your words okay? You must wait for this young lord to reach adulthood."

"Oh really?" Charlotte pinched Jodye's little cheeks, making him turn red. She giggled and thought this lad was quite likable. "It's a deal then. Okay, now let us find your father."

Charlotte Slaughter was actually only jesting. How could she know that Jodye had already marked her as his woman now and in the future? He would tell his father this at first notice to prevent any confusion.

Everywhere Jodye went the sapphire blue fate gem would float slightly above the back of his head. Or rather, it should now be called a destiny star.

The destiny star would follow him around like a shadow, glowing resplendently whenever he was concentrating on something. It was as if it was thinking with him. The hue of its soft aura even changed based on what he was concentrating on! When he read and studied the gem would glow like a small blue star. At night when he refined his muscles with astral might, the fate gem would burn golden like a tiny sun.

To Jodye Trill's shock, the presence of this gem gave him a level of mental clarity he didn't previously have! It was easier for him to memorize things, and his body's cultivation was progressing a bit faster! Body transformation was without a doubt the most challenging path to advance in. Every step was far more difficult to take than the last. However, the suffering became more comfortable to deal with as one progressed. Jodye's special physique had someone accompanied him from his past life. For this reason, he wasn't afraid of pain because he didn't believe he would die so easily. Unless, of course, he was blasted into dust by a space cannon.

"Well, if it isn't sister Slaughter. Still trailing behind House Lord Osiris like a loyal little bitch, aren't we?" came the snide and unremarkable voice of an approaching female warrior. This woman was plain-looking but had a sharp aura surrounding her, like she was a sheathed sword. Her combat armor hugged her rather shapely body making her look both like a warrior and a dancer.

This was Jodye's first time encountered such a sharp aura up close.

Jodye and Charlotte were currently both wearing the same frowning face the moment this voice was heard, especially feeling her so brazenly release her sword aura. However, seeing the frown on the former made the latter smile and helped her recover her icy composure.

"Selma Shu. To what do I owe the displeasure of this visit?" the approaching woman was no stranger to Charlotte, this woman was a Seated Elder of House Shu and one of her longtime rivals. They had fought each other dozens of times in the last 200 years.

If Jodye knew this, then he would be totally dumbstruck. After all, Charlotte Slaughter didn't look a day over 25-years-old. By all accounts, he had always presumed he knew the age of those around him. Unfortunately, the only people who appeared their actual age in his presence were his father, second mother, third mother, fifth mother, and his siblings.

"I heard the Lord's young son is here. However, I'm disgusted to see you coddling such a large child," Selma Shu turned her nose up at Charlotte holding Jodye like he was her baby. "Lying about his age is one thing, but must you take it so far?"

Charlotte was speechless momentarily, as she couldn't refute the woman's logic. Jodye was the size of a four or five-year-old child. As a male, it was a little inappropriate to carry him if she didn't have too. Merely, wasn't Jodye only one this year? Charlotte couldn't bear to treat him like a child just because he overgrew, he was still in the stage where he needed to be spoiled.

"You can't talk to her like that!" berated Jodye Trill, catching both women off guard. Most children wouldn't dare speak in such a situation, but the little Lord was not most people, "Charlotte is my retainer and future confidante. You can't bully her or I'll tell my dad for sure! Not only that, once I grow up, I'll come to fight you too!"

"As the representatives of House Trilleck, we are owed due respect." Charlotte Slaughter chimed in after kissing little Jodye on his cheek. "Or did your Shu clan wish to ignore our intimate relations to attack us here?"

"As if you were worthy," Selma Shu was clearly unresigned to end things like this. It was at this moment that both Jodye and Charlotte realized that this woman may have come just to cause trouble.

The question was why?

"It's been a while since I tested your blade, Slaughter. Around 50 years right? Now is as good a time as any." Selma Shu licked her lips as a saber appeared in her hand. Jodye was stunned when he heard her words. Moments later the atmosphere changed slightly, as Jodye felt Charlotte's body tense.

"You..." Charlotte Slaughter grimaced. Was she not clearly holding the young third Lord? Yet this woman was already drawing her weapon and forcing Charlotte into accepting her challenge. How could Charlotte put down Jodye to spar with this woman? That would be a direct breach of command!

Plus, she felt the real target of this may not be herself. She may have made a few enemies in the past, but she was only a Seated Elder and a member of the Five Element Wolf Pack. No one would risk offending the Lord just to get revenge on her for they could not bear the retribution. Which likely meant that she wasn't their target at all!

"They want Joseph!" Charlotte Slaughter thought to herself. She was upset, but not panicked. There were only a few experts in this estate she was afraid of, and Selma Shu was not one of them.

"Hmph."

Jodye felt himself get covered in a layer of protection again. Crimson pure essence qi condensed into a blade on Charlotte's hand as she rapidly shot forward and slashed out with her palm. A crimson-golden wave of blade qi collided against the chest of Selma Shu who was knocked crashing 300 meters back, coughing up blood miserably.

Selma Shu stuggled to her feet in horror. What was this obscene force? This was not part of the plan. Since when was Charlotte this powerful?

"What's going on down there?" two guards from the palace quickly ran downstairs when they heard the commotion. They were clad in black armor, and when they arrived, they instantly grew enraged. "How dare you attack our elder! Guards, to us! Get them!

When she saw several guards rush her way from out of nowhere, Charlotte's body exploded with a black qi aura as she burst through the wall of the palace and landed in a courtyard. Charlotte took a mighty leap with Joseph in her arms, rapidly soaring through the sky as she fled.

"We can't leave the Lord's side, but I'll send our mounts," came Elder Mercer's voice through the device in Jodye's hand.

"Okay," during this time Charlotte Slaughter had just contacted the Honored Pack on her serene sound mirror. Three howls were heard in the distance as three mighty Spirit Wolves rushed over before they stopped around Charlotte with snarling teeth, "Don't worry little Joe. I don't know what's going on, but I'll never let them touch you!"

Jodye Trill was thoroughly confused at this point. Wasn't this House Shu also considered his family? What exactly was going on here?

"Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte. Things do not have to be this way, you know?" came a sinister voice from behind the two guards, who parted way to make room for this stranger. One could tell from his slightly withered hand and his old voice that this stranger was an elder. He wore white hooded robes with a golden flood dragon design. The inner-hood of these robes shined with golden light, masking his appearance.

However, Charlotte could never mistake this voice. This was the voice that haunted her dreams. The evil maniac who stole her innocence and almost destroyed her purity. If not for Osiris...

Somehow this voice sounded like it was directly next to them, instead of hundreds of meters behind. From behind this old man, another expert rushed out to chase Charlotte. He was the polar opposite of the old man, as he wore black robes and a hood that shrouded his face in the darkness. Only his mouth and beard could be seen.

"Trevor…" it was at this instant that Charlotte finally paled. Trevor Graves was the Right-Hand of the most terrifying expert in the West Ward. She had gotten used to hearing his voice many years ago after she got kidnapped by the White Demon Temple. That was the most horrendous memory of her life. Her body shuddered involuntarily, which made Jodye super nervous.

"Are we going to die, Aunt Charlotte?" Jodye asked innocently. Things just didn't look optimistic, and his father seemed to be in no mood for helping them as of now.

Charlotte Slaughter looked at the boy in her tight embrace before she whispered, "the Winter Spirit Wolf on the left is mine. I'm going to send you to your father's side. If you can't find him turn and leave far, far away from here."

As she spoke, she had the all-white Winter Spirit Wolf approach in the sky, while placing Jodye on its back. Charlotte put a protective charm around Jodye's neck and kissed his forehead. The Winter Spirit Wolf turned and then dashed into the distance. It looked as if he was running on a snowflake rainbow, making an extremely beautiful sight.

"With the speed of Chucky (Winter Spirit Wolf), no one will be able to chase up to him unless Altis is here as well," Completely relaxed now that Jodye wasn't on her side, Charlotte's eyes shined with crimson-golden light. A mysterious purple magic cube appeared in the void next to her. As soon as this source artifact appeared a loud howling was heard, and the two Spirit Wolves next to her joined in with this howl, causing waves of pressure to push back the guards who were arriving to surround her.

One hundred meters in front of Charlotte, a middle-aged man in black robes slowly descended from the sky. Charlotte saw the black qi essence billowing from his body, and she immediately let her own essence aura explode. The black pure essence qi fused with her innate slaughter qi and condensed into a deadly crimson halberd, radiating fearsome light. Charlotte Slaughter grabbed this halberd, and sword qi whistled in the air as her form begin to morph.

In less than a breath, she had transformed from a beautiful curvy woman to a three-meter tall wolf-woman with purple fur. Her long black hair remaining floating without wind behind her, and two menacing golden fangs hung below her jawline. The purple magic cube next to her started to rotate at high speed, as black curse marks poured out of the artifact and into the halberd, forming black wolf hieroglyphs all down the pole and on the blade.

This was her famous Swordfire Death Halberd, the Heaven's Mantle of the Hell's Daughter. All saint path warriors were able to condense Heaven's Mantle after reaching a specific realm.

The black-robed man didn't stay idle as a voodoo doll that looked like a corrupted tiger cub appeared in the void next to him. His hands blurred as countless hand signs begin to form seals of voodoo curse power. A purple-black radiance was emitted from his hands as curse seals start to crawl up his arms. His black essence qi condensed into two mighty gauntlets, one for each arm. These gauntlets were swiftly covered in eerie black snake glyphs almost as soon as they formed.

Though this took time to explain, everything was completed in only a couple of seconds.

Charlotte Slaughter let out a powerful sound that could only be interpreted as a bark, as the two Spirit Wolves next to her used their respective lifeblood powers to form magic circles under their feet as they charged toward that black-robed man in the sky. The black-robed man saw the two Spirit Wolves and was inwardly startled. He was able to identify that these Spirit Wolves were a type of pureblood Origin Beast and that was more intimidating than a trickster.

These were magical beasts that could cultivate! Unlike Vicious Beasts which had to evolve by feeding on others, an origin beast simply didn't need to evolve to become stronger. They could cultivate their origin force! Pureblooded origin beasts were born in pairs directly from world veins. When creatures die and decompose the world absorbs their everything and uses it to reconstruct its own creature. For an origin beast born from the world vein, their mate was always born with them! That's why whenever any species of pureblood origin beast was born that entire species would flourish. The only thing scarier than powerful pureblood origin beasts were origin god beasts, which were born from chaos veins.

The black-robed man saw that the left was a River Spirit Wolf while the other was a Molten Spirit Wolf. Water and Fire, Yin and Yang, these beasts would not be easy to deal with.

The River Spirit Wolf had already turned into a liquid form, as its paw lashed out like water whip attacking rapidly and consecutively. The black-robed man and was forced to block with his saint weapon over and over again. Behind him, the Molten Spirit Wolf spat out a stream of magma. The magma entirely scorched the black-robed man's back!

"Greater Earth Devil Palm," the black-robed man launched two palms imbued with voodoo earth power one for each Spirit Wolf. From his hands, two palm-shaped boulders the size of an adult male shot out so rapidly like missile fire. The River Spirit Wolf transformed into a waterfall and avoided the attack, but the Molten Spirit Wolf was knocked tumbling away.

Void Shift!

Meanwhile, Charlotte operated her origin energy suddenly vanished from where she was floating. When she reappeared in the void 200 meters away, she immediately smashed down with her Swordfire Death Halberd, causing a tempest of slaughter-sword qi to collide with a figure hidden in the void.

Bang!

A sizable explosion followed the collision between the halberd and a short sword in the hand of Trevor Graves, who was knocked back several steps and actually coughed out a bit of blood before regaining his composure, "My, my…you have grown, Slaughter. You can actually contend with this humble one for a bit? Truly intriguing."

Charlotte Slaughter herself was knocked back a few feet, and blood trailed from her mouth. Since she had successfully sneak attacked this bastard, it was safe to say that their strength was equal. She felt disgusted that this bastard dared to refer to himself as 'this humble one.' Only the saints who followed the righteous or orthodox paths would be respected as a humble one. As a saint who focused on the evil path, or the Sinner Path, Trevor Graves was the worst type of scum. She didn't bother responding with words and instead slashed out with her heaven's mantle.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Trevor frowned deeply, but it couldn't be seen through the golden light shrouding his face. They had clashed over 20 times but he had yet to gain an advantage. He hadn't expected that this woman had reached such a terrifying level of strength. They attacked each other with a wide array of skills and techniques. The weight of every strike was nearly 20 AP! This didn't match the reports on House Trilleck's collective might at all. He felt he should have waited a while before capturing her previously, and the harvest would have been much more significant. She slipped away before he could drain her. Trevor continued to clash against Charlotte while he spoke out, "Are you so dismissive towards your former husband? We were once one you know."

"All you ever fused with is this same ass that you're about to kiss!" With these words, Trevor seemed to have crossed Charlotte's bottom line. She completely snapped and attacked berserkly with her Swordfire Death Halberd. "I have never given myself to you and today you will die you filthy bastard!"

"Tch, you're just a lost clone who believes herself to be my loyal kitten," Trevor made a tooth sucking sound as he lamented the failure of this mission. Charlotte was momentarily distracted by these seemingly outrageous words, when Trevor vanished and reappeared in the distance holding his messaging crystal, "This mission is busted. We'll have to try another method."

Trevor sensed a certain familiar qi signature, and he quickly produced a black crystal from his spatial ring and crushed it as soon as it appeared. The next thing Charlotte knew, spatial laws radiated outward and Trevor was teleported away in an instant.

"Coward!" screamed Charlotte Slaughter. She was aware that Trevor had just been toying with her, but she still felt totally peeved that he escaped so easily. Turning to the black-robed man a couple of hundred meters away, Charlotte starts smirking evilly. She couldn't possibly kill Trevor, but what about his lackey?

In the skies above the House Shu estate grounds, two brutal battles were taking place. Meanwhile, Jodye was holding on for dear life to the Winter Spirit Wolf who ran at insane speeds.

"How could she be so sure I would even be able to endure this?" he grimaced because of the powerful shockwaves combining from the fights above and the heavy wind pressure. He felt the threat of death from these shockwaves.

"Don't worry, young master, Chucky will protect the young master!" However, Chucky the Winter Spirit Wolf barked at Jodye a few times who shocked to find he could understand this origin beast completely.

"I can talk to spirit wolves?" Jodye marveled. Chucky clearly was barking just now, yet Jodye comprehended it perfectly. It wasn't like this with other animals. Has he always been able to do this? In that case, isn't his mother's Wind Spirit Wolf rather rude?

A serene energy barrier covered Jodye, and he no longer felt as threatened by the terrible shock waves.

Whatever was going on today, Jodye Trill became aware of one thing. He was being targeted by forces with a strength that he couldn't even fathom, and they didn't want to simply tickle him. If it weren't for Charlotte's quick thinking and efficient actions, Jodye would likely have been kidnapped. Merely, he was worried about Charlotte. Could she face those foes all alone? Jodye simply had no clue how prominent these people were, he couldn't gauge it at all.

"JOSEPH!" Jodye was awakened from his thoughts by his fathers bellowing voice that seemed to shake the whole estate.

"Pops, I'm here!" screamed Jodye Trill at the top of his lungs. His father had told him previously that if Jodye could hear his voice, then his father would also be able to hear him. Sure enough, in a couple of seconds, the Winter Spirit Wolf slowed to a stop before bowing deeply. Osiris Trilleck appeared in front of Jodye like a wind ghost. He looked fierce and enraged.

"Ke Si," said the House Lord coldly after arriving. As Jodye heard a soft bell chime behind himself, he simply looked at his father whose face softened just a little as spoke to him, "Little Joe, go home. It's too risky to have you here. You'll be safe with your mother."

Osiris placed his finger on Jodye's head, and the boy instantly lost consciousness. The House Lord looked in the direction of Charlotte's fight, before speaking to his butler, "Take him. Keep him healthy, my friend. I'll have to apologize to Niagara. Today it seems I must clean up the House Shu."

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Sky Fall Legend