""How did you even come in? You were not with us in the group."" Isaa stared at the man that slowly floated down with big smiles.""I have connections. Right, Kendra?"" He turned his head towards the child and suddenly felt all his power been gone. Falbergastly he started flapping with his hands and falling straight into the only water puddle in the whole meadow.
Isaa just shook her head while Kendra closed her eyes and chuckled. ""It seems that person didn"t tell you everything about this world, didn"t he?""
They just sat there calmly while man slipped on wet ground and fell again straightforward into the puddle. It wouldn"t even be strange if it was ice but why he was slipping off again and again. In the end, he looked like a ball of mud and almost started crying silently.
His anger rose and he stared at a certain point at trees while the two girls ignored him on the floor, preparing for sleep. Another man appeared out the treetop and slowly floated down near the fire that Isaa made. ""Good evening, Kendra, Isaa."" Without any other comment, he went to sit down on the nearby log and waited until the ball of mud wiggled himself to the fire.
His body was covered with all kinds of stuff making Kendra wrinkle her eyebrows but looking at twitch on Taskmasters face she knew there will be some fun tonight. She winked at Isaa and sat down on the log next to him with a huge smile.
From the side, he gave a single glance to her face and he knew she was ready for having fun. Indeed, still playful like a child. But that is fine. He will let her. She needs it.
The ball suddenly started wiggling and cursing. ""Taskmaster, you old cat whisker, what is this?""
No answer was heard but his wiggling became more and soon Kendra turned pale. Bunch of bugs started crawling towards the man in mud. Isaa knew her mind and suddenly she stared at Taskmaster that didn"t know why there was such dark energy directed at him.
He could feel Isaa staring daggers at him and when he saw her motion at Kendra"s face he understood something was wrong. But it was already too late.
Kendra stood up, took a piece of firewood and started beating all those bugs into pulp scaring booth men. Taskmaster was truly perplexed about her burst of anger. But while he contemplated what he did wrong, Isaa suddenly yelled at him.
""You idiot, stop the bugs!!!"" Her yell made him see how Kendra"s face became even paler as one of the bugs started crawling Kendra"s legs up. With a wave of the hand, all the bugs disappeared and even squirming of the man in mud slowly stopped.
Isaa shook her head and pointed at the mud ball. ""Get rid of the dirt on him. It was fun making him like that, but bug attack... You stepped one step too much. Kendra hates everything that can crawl on her. Especially dirty stuff."" She walked slowly to frozen Kendra, picked her up and walked towards the sleeping area.
The Taskmaster was completely left unguarded. ""But what did I made wrong? Didn"t she want me to make him pay for his intrusion? I do not understand.""
""You men are all the same. Have eyes but don"t see, have brains but don"t think. If I didn"t meet many wise and good men in my life I think I would have become one of those women that want to live alone for eternity. What is the use of a man that is such an idiot? Didn"t you say you know everything? Then figure it out yourself!"" She waved her hand and suddenly a thin s.h.i.+eld surrounded them as they went inside the tent.
Taskmaster waved his hand and the man on the ground became again clean. He stood up and shrugged off as one of those creatures was still on his shoulder. The insect wiggled bit on the floor and then dug itself into the earth, escaping the death.
The other man was no one else as the stupid idiot that had a deal with Sect master. He sat down on the other side of the fire and glanced towards the tent.
""Isn"t it strange. I can"t hear a thing inside. How is that possible?"" He could see only a thin layer surrounding their sleeping place, so he was astonished.
Taskmaster was ta first quiet, letting his thought wander, but then suddenly looked at him with fierce eyes. ""I heard you did a favor for that old man. What is that about?""
""You know the Cave of Asan? "" The man pocked with one branch inside the fire and few sparks flew out. ""That idiot went there alone. There is a huge amount of treasures of Dasil the Old left. But that old geezer made those strange things inside where you can lose your powers or just die. There are so many caves of the Immortals that gave up on their immortality and went to live like normal beings and die. But no, he had to go exactly to that cave.""
""If he went there alone, does that mean that the other idiot that tried to do the same was, you?"" The Taskmaster was not stupid and stared at him with a smile.
""Yes. I am the other fool. Actually, you know I am about to break through the final stage. I just wanted to have one drop of the Elixir of True Power he made before leaving immortality."" He glanced at Takamster and saw his eyebrows furrowing.
""He still made that elixir? Do many people know about that?"" His eyes became dark when talking about it.
""Of course, he did. Not only that. He spread the strange maps all over the universe and whoever finds the map, can enter his cave. But the funny thing is, he never shows how to exit that place if you go too deep."" The man pocked again and few sparks fell on his clothes but he didn"t care.
The two men were in deep thought for a few moments but then the man started talking again. ""After entering the Cave of Asan, you enter one hollow s.p.a.ce. Literally hollow. Ther is nothing. No doors, no windows, no gra.s.s, no tress, absolute nothingness. You can walk for days and you won"t arrive anywhere. Fortunately for me, I just entered and almost collided with him. He lost a sense of time and s.p.a.ce. While he hit me I stepped one step back and we actually left the s.p.a.ce. In his confusion, he promised me anything I want. He actually did that officially with blood promise.""
Taskmaster gave him a long stare but the man shook his hand and pointed at him with still burning stick in his hand. ""Do not even think about it. I didn"t even think about to use that. Before I even knew what happened he did that. In a joke, I asked him to give me his daughter as a wife and then he woke up from his daze and hunted me for almost a century trough the worlds.""
A short snort could be heard from Takmaster"s lips. ""If it was just a joke, why didn"t you give up on that promise. Even blood promise can be broken if both sides agree.""
""Because before he woke up, just moments before he did, he accepted it. It was no more just blood promise, now is blood engagement. But... wait why are you looking at me like I am about to get killed by you now. Listen, let me finis.h.!.+"" This time he felt real fear. In the high realm, even those in power knew how powerful Taskmaster was. Not even his family would dare to attack him. He was just G.o.d from the upper realm. Not even millions of him could fight this man.
Taskmaster pulled back little his aura back but left enough to make that man feel anxious. ""Even if there is blood engagement there is still a way to get out of it. The girl has to give up on the engagement and that"s it. So easy. I went through many different worlds to find the child and got into most ridiculous situations. But when I found her, I realized something. That child definitely... can"t stand me at all.""
Taskmaster suddenly relaxed and for the first time smiled at him. With a nod, he looked the man up and down and shook his head. ""If you appear in such attire, of course, she would hate it. That body is not your real one and that child"s powers are high enough to notice that you are an imposter. Smart kid.""
The man"s shoulders slumped when he poked again into the fire and pouted like a small child or a girl? ""She said she hates my essence. It"s not the body, she hates me.""
A chuckle could be heard from the side and they could see two women leaning on teachers back and staring at them. Their piercing gazes made both men feel quite scared and uncomfortable.
Isaa stared at the man with narrowed eyes. ""Who are you actually and what are you doing in this world?""
He beggingly stared at the Taskmaster that just looked up and ignored his stare. On the end, he gave up and suddenly a beautiful man with short black hair, piercing green eyes and burly body appeared instead of that thin man and looked at the two women in reluctance. He feared their stare but was surprised that they calmly looked at him.
He was quite confused. ""Do you not think I am attractive?""
Isaa flatly stared ta him. ""If you like yourself so much, then mary your own body. Why coming after little girls? You didn"t answer the question!""
""I am Palcca, the G.o.d of Strenght. I came here to talk to her and to you, Isaa."" he looked affectionately at her but she just waved her hand like brus.h.i.+ng a fly off.
She just shrugged. ""Not interested. I am cultivating now. Not interested in such things until I do not feel like. Understood?!""
Isaa turned her head and just simply said. ""I am not interested. I ask to be disengaged from you. Should I make some kind of blood thingy to stop this ridiculous situation?""
Both men shook their heads in unison. She just nodded laid down and with yawn whispered. ""Then that"s it. We are no more engaged. Stop bothering me. If you don"t, I"ll ask Taskmaster to stop you. Ok?""
She closed her eyes and with a smile fell asleep while Palcca shot a stare at the Taskmaster. ""What does that mean? I od not understand.""
""You are really an idiot. Arent you?"" Isaa was about to lay down and couldn"t stop herself rolling her eyes and answering the question. ""She just broke up the engagement, you are free. And just in case you bother her, she will ask her Taskmaster to punish you."" A small smile appeared on her face while saying her words.
On Taskmaster"s face appeared a big smile and he winked at her. ""If my Kendra say that, so shall it be.""
Kendra, of course, as usual, had no idea what is going on and slept blissfully. What will await her in the future, who knows, but now she needs sleep. So much...