The Eternal Family



The duel continued for a very long time. the smell of sweat, the taste of blood, the riveting sense of his own heart beating. A sense of focus that he had never felt before in his whole life. No kickboxer had such precise kicks that came at his face.

No kickboxer had punched him flying.

No kickboxer had slammed his face to the ground.

He wanted to fight, more fight. MORE!

Dark eyes shining, his focus at an all-time high, his foot rightly put on the ground, he looked at the still leisurely Bamboo and said, "Your fist is the most real I've felt in a while."

He had never been beaten Ass down-to-earth like this ever since he had reached this world, of course, some eldritch godly Eternal had whooped him in the ass for once, but that was in the end inside an illusion and being beaten by a mortal felt more real.

Bamboo looked at the still shining black eyes of the kid and said, his voice calm, "At least you have a backbone. And some bit of talent too."

Ace breathed out, and asked, "How do my moves seem now?"

Nodding at the focus, Bamboo spoke, "Your biggest issue is less evident now, you are trying not to use your legs as much, but there is still a bit of rigidity in switching between leg to hand. And then, you still have no eye for weaknesses, I could leave my head open and you might still go for the leg."

Ace nodded and got into fighting form again, but Bamboo didn't do that and said, looking behind Ace as he did so, "Let's stop here for now."

Frowning a bit, Ace nodded. He barely had one day here and then he won't have a chance to train, so If not now… then when?

He then turned around to look at Rome and Raina but was surprised to see that they were no longer there, not even the kids or the onlookers, everyone had left. Leaving only a wan old man and the grey-haired old lady behind.

In the light of dusk, their old selves cast shadows on the natural ground as they simply sat there and gazed at the setting sun. They were silent, calm, and serene.

"Bamboo greets the chieftain," Bamboo said respectfully.

Others and even the chieftain himself might consider him as a core part of the Settlement's power and control. But infront of the Chieftain whom he had been seeing from his childhood days to today, he had nothing but respect.

Surprised, Ace also tried to bow and give his salutations. But before he could, the chief spoke, "Don't bow, these old bones can't bear the weight of a Prince bowing."

Ace turned silent. Bamboo from the side blinked and looked at Ace's face, and then looked back at the chieftain and healer with his round eyes. What Prince?

Ace smiled and rubbed the back of his head as he asked, his tone embarrassed, "Did you send all the onlookers away to speak with me?"

Standing up weakly from the ground, The chief smiled languidly and bowed slightly before saying, "I bow before the power of the Great Kingdom. Please accept my bow, Prince."

"I accept, you may stand," Ace replied, his tone still a bit embarrassed.

Standing straight, the chief then spoke, "As you asked, it was indeed me that send the children away. They shouldn't know of your identity, right?"

He came with a hidden identity, so he must not want to be known.

Ace didn't speak and silently pondered for a second, even these people knowing of his clone's existence was a danger. A small probability of danger as it may be.

The Healer, the old woman who gave him clothes earlier, spoke, her voice calm, "Lord Prince, You can't really have expected for even us to not find out your true Identity right?"

Did he really believe going bald was enough?

They were not dumb, what did he expect?

Uncle Bamboo sat on the ground and looked around in curiosity. Was this kid really a prince? But which prince had a Body Gift? He hadn't heard of any with that.

Ace was silent for one more second as he pondered, then said with a bland tone, "I really didn't want you to see that I was a prince. No, I actually didn't even want to meet you. But things happened and this is the easier way to reach the Academy, so I ended up here."

Chief smiled and then asked, "But coming from the Castle, you could also use the way near the waterfall to reach the Academy, right?"

Bamboo couldn't help but frown. Why was this kid lying?

Feeling the urge to slap himself for not thinking, he said, "Indeed. But the Waterfall is dangerous these days for us royalty."

A Danger for the royalty? The chief's and the old woman's hearts started to pound a bit, was the waterfall some walk away filled with danger enough to harm even the Royalty?

Bamboo didn't believe it and asked, the frown deeper on his brows, "Hey Kid, why are you spouting things out of your ass? I just went there yesterday!"

"Ah, that's why I said dangerous for royalty, are you a royalty?"

Bamboo questioned back, unable to back off, "What can be dangerous for royalty?"

"Leave it at that Bamboo," said the old Woman, her eyes calm. They didn't have to involve themselves with Royal issues. Even if it might be just be farts, the prince was better off left unquestioned.

Standing infront of him and even speaking to him like this was already rude enough, he shouldn't have even come here to what royals called the slums in the first place. And to question his honesty? That would just bring about disaster.

For now, it was better if they consider it as him having to come here no matter what.

And Ace just kept pondering as he looked at them, of course there was no danger but he could only think of that at the moment. Really, he already knew there was a high chance of him being caught but he came regardless.

But of course, he wasn't completely unprepared for such a situation either. now that this had ended up happening. He had another Idea. An idea to make his clone's journey much more enjoyable.

"Chief, tell me, what do they call you?"

"You can call me BlueFlame, Prince."

Ace sat on the ground like Bamboo did, and got comfortable on his seat before asking, "So old man BlueFlame, What do you think about becoming my slave?"

An immediate silence hushed the place.