Chapter 167 - Opportunity
All the people working there stood up straight, putting a hand over their heart as Nitocris walked by, indifferent to all those around him. Like a King walking through a procession. He cut a truly regal appearance with his tall, solid frame clothed in a dark suit with a slim white tie.
As he walked inside, his shoes clacked on the concrete floor, its tapping firm and steady. His subordinates admired Nitocris to the point of worship. Their eyes sparkled as he walked by, some even ready to prostate if he would just look at their direction.
Nitocris had managed to unify the small scattered groups and combined them into one big group. More importantly, he did it with flair. He was as ruthless as his father but what made him different was that he was ruthless to his enemies and those who opposed him. Those who followed him were treated well and rewarded generously.
That was a true King.
Though dubbed the King of the Underworld, it was truly just the Underworld King of their country and not the entire world. Still, it was impressive enough. It was powerful enough. Their country wasn't some small island in the middle of nowhere. It was large enough to be considered one of the superpowers of the world.
Nitocris walked over to the stage, watching with cold detachment over the shirtless young boy panting on top of it. His body was glistening with sweat, every firm muscle strained as he fought. The blood of his opponents was all over his body and face.
His face had this really crazed and happy look as he smashed the face of yet another opponent before giving him a vicious side kick to the face that sent the poor guy flying a few feet, some teeth flying out and blood splattering all over. He even rolling over a bit before just laying there, unmoving.
Once that was done, Nitocris hardly spared a glance at the fallen body and looking at Kyle, asking simply, "Had enough fun yet?"
Kyle heard Nitocris's voice through the bloodthirsty haze in his mind. His eyes cleared slowly as he blinked several times. He looked about, noting the rather bloodied stage, the people cheering about and Nitocris looking at him, bored.
It was only then that Kyle realised how long he had been fighting.
He slowly stood up properly, bringing down his leg from the previous kick's position and loosened the cricks in his neck while rotating his shoulders. He took a deep breath with his eyes closed, calming down the blood lust.
Kyle had to admit. Allowing the Smith Wrath to let loose once in a while felt really good. Once his heart stopped beating erratically, Kyle opened his eyes.
To the complete and utter disbelief of everyone present, the young kid from Hell opened his eyes and gave this huge, dazzling smile at Nitocris. The cold, murderous and chilling aura that had been emanating from that small form disappeared completely.
"Big Bro!!" Kyle shouted happily, practically bouncing over to the edge of the stage, "What are you doing here?"
The change in the scene made everyone's mind go blank. That was just too drastic.
Nitocris just looked at him without a word, turned and walked to leave.
"Nooooo!! Don't leave me behind!!" Kyle wailed loudly, jumping off the stage.
With a huge grin, he grabbed his jacket from the person who was holding it out to him and quickly followed after Nitocris out the door.
Everyone couldn't help but feel like Nitocris was the Ruler of the Jungle, while the one following him was an obedient but mischievous puppy.
Nitocris's subordinates puffed out their chest, feeling even prouder at that moment to see how their Boss, with just that one sentence, had managed to completely subdue the killing machine on stage.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The bookies were happy as now, things could get back on track. The contenders were ecstatic for now, they could finally have a chance for a proper fight rather than simply walking on stage to die.
Bob was perhaps the most relieved, for he could now finally stop shaking. Luckily, the Beastmaster came to take Ice away.
He had thought Ice was bad then, but the Ice now ... his skills had improved so much that all of the fights could hardly be called fights. Previously, Ice would drag the fights as he often tested his moves but this time?
Ice was simply aiming for the 'one-hit-kill' move. After each fight, his moves were more and more brutal and the whole place was starting to feel like the Killing Fields.
Bob wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"We will be taking a short 10-minute break to clean the stage," Bob announced. After all, the stage was just too slippery with blood at the moment.
?? VVIP Room ??
"Mind telling me what was that all about?" Nitocris asked as he swirled the whiskey in his glass, staring at Kyle in the eyes.
"Nothing much," Kyle said, "Just needed to vent."
"Could you at least do it at some other place? Just those two hours and we lost a few hundred thousand in bets," Nitocris said.
"Oh, come on," Kyle whined, "As if that small change would damage the Club much."
Nitocris downed his glass and grunted, "That's not the point. If I hadn't stepped in, how long would you have gone on for?"
"Maybe the whole night? I don't know," Kyle admitted sheepishly.
A waiter came and placed a tray of several damp towels on the coffee table in front of Kyle. Kyle reached out to take the towels and started wiping the blood of his body and face.
He was careful with his face as he didn't want to smudge the make-up. It was a special type that was oil based and wouldn't wash off with plain water but any scrubbing would definitely affect it.
Once he was relatively clean, he donned his jacket. His singlet had long been ripped off during the fight, so he had to make do with baring his chest out in the open. Not that he minded since it was nighttime.
"Luckily someone informed me," Nitocris replied, "Otherwise, who knows how long you were going to be in that berzerker mode? Burying the bodies can be troublesome."
Kyle sighed and leaned back on the sofa, resting his head on it as he looked up at the ceiling. He was feeling better now but he knew that Nitocris was right. That was partially the reason why he went to the Fight Club.
It wasn't just to find a better quality of people to fight. He knew that Nitocris would step in if he went on too long.
Kyle knew of the 'Beastmaster' title Nitocris got saddled with and that tickled him to no end.
Still, it was rather heartwarming to have that stone cold man actually care enough to come and pull him out. Even though that same person rather would die than ever admit it, giving the excuse of loss of money instead. It was only with Nitocris that Kyle found he could be ... childish? Needy?
It was weird since technically, Kyle was still older but yet, he felt this 'older brother' vibe from Nitocris. That made him act rather differently around Nitocris and he was lucky enough that Nitocris 'entertained' his whims. He was grateful for that.
"Thanks," Kyle mumbled low, though he knew that it was still loud enough for Nitocris to hear it.
"Hmmm," Nitocris acknowledged, not saying anything else, and accepted the waiter pouring more whiskey into his glass, "Come over this weekend. For some strange reason, Mum misses you and the other one."
Despite the fact that the men in the room would not talk, Nitocris wasn't the type to reveal any sort of information. Hence, he deliberately didn't mention who 'the other one' was in relation to 'Ice' or him.
"Okay," Kyle replied, getting up. "Gotta go now. School and all."
Nitocris nodded and Kyle left.
Nitocris sat there for a while, thinking and pondering on a few things as his gaze didn't leave the door that Kyle had exited from.
If the boy needed to vent occasionally, he should be okay with a few missions, right? Such a golden opportunity to use such a skilled young man.
Nitocris smiled as he finished his drink.
?? Gym5 ??
"Let me get this straight," Rxel began.
"You want us to judge your twin competition?" Rylen asked.
"No, not judge ... well, maybe it is in that sense," Kay said, "You're both the subjects and judges."
"You'll be flirting with us?" Rxel said slowly.
"And all we have to do is resist?" Rylen continued
"And the one who manages to seduce us the fastest is the winner?" Rxel confirmed.
"Yes," Kyle said, sitting languidly at the cafe booth they were at.
They had arrived at Gym5 that morning and immediately looked for the twins. It wasn't hard as they still came in every weekend to train and have fun. Kyle didn't need to scale the wall this time since he managed to get it out of his system yesterday.
Now, it was just this.
They had invited the twins out to the cafe to explain the rules of the game.
"Each of us will get our turn and we will flirt with each of you," Kyle began, "So there will be a timer as to how long each of you will last. The one with the shortest time wins."
"What if we don't succumb?" Rxel asked.
"Oh, you will," Kyle replied confidently.
"Oh no, we won't!" Rylen declared proudly.
"We shall see, won't we? Are you up to it?" Kyle asked.
"Oh, and no touching, brother," Kay said, pointing at her brother, "No physical contact of any kind."
"Of course," Kyle said, "Wouldn't be fair otherwise."
Kyle had no qualms about skin contact with the same gender, but he felt that it would be cheating. Flirting should be with words and charm, and not use physical contact to manipulate the person by stimulating desire and using it against them.
The art of seduction has two elements to it: the first requires you to know yourself well and what is seductive about you and secondly, to know the target well enough so that your actions would penetrate their defenses and create surrender.*
"Soooo..." Rylen said, looking at them, "We just sit here? What?"
"I take it that you're both willing?" Kay asked with a smile.
"For sure," Rxel said with a grin, "I'm waiting to be seduced."
"Great!" Kay said, clapping her hands, "Who wants to be my first victim?"
Rxel and Rylen looked at each other. They started playing scissors-paper-stone to decide.
Rylen grinned, saying eagerly, "Me."