Emma held Lory to the side while carefully looking at the people that had been taken care of by her father. She was making sure that none of them stood back up and started attacking her father.
Ning crouched in front of the man whose head he pulled up by his hair. "Speak. What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I…" the man started speaking but stopped as the pain he felt in his hands exceeded what he could handle.
Ning sighed and left him, looking toward one of the men that clearly weren't hurt much and walked up to him.
"Did you come here for the beast?" he asked the man.
Emma's eyes narrowed and tightened her grip around Lory. They had come here for him?
"You said something about only 1 being here. Considering that the only thing that we have 2 of are the two beasts," Ning said. "So are you here for the little cubs?"
The man grunted a little and suddenly pulled out a sword from somewhere. He went in for a stab with the sword, hoping to kill Ning while he wasn't paying attention.
However, when the sword struck Ning's neck and didn't pierce through him, he panicked. For the first time in his life, he felt fear for his life on a level that he hadn't before.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Ning said, holding the sword in his hand. "You shouldn't have done that."
He crushed the sword and in an instant the wind that made up the sword filled the room with a book, destroying it a little.
The man who had just gotten up to kill Ning fell to his knees at the sight of a man destroying his sword with just his hands.
He had gone too far and now he was going to die.
"Get up!" Ning said.
The man didn't get up. He had resorted to his fate. He was going to die now, and he could only regret listening to his friends today.
"Get up!" Ning said again. "I'll let you live."
The man prepared for his death. He took a deep breath, remembering his parents and feeling sorry that he had grown distant from them. Had he not become the man he had become, maybe they would have still called him their son.
In the end, it was all regrets that he held. At least he would now be rid—
"Wait, did you say you'll let me live?" the man asked as he quickly looked up.
"Yes," Ning said.
His eyes narrowed. "Stop giving me hope and just kill me," he said, looking down.
"I'm not joking," Ning said. "I'll let you live."
The man looked up once again with a frowning face. "What's the catch? There is a catch here, right?" he asked.
"Of course," Ning said. "Why would I let you go here for no reason after you came to steal from us?"
The man stared at Ning for a moment before asking, "So, what do I do to gain my freedom? Do you want me to lick your shoes? Become your slave? What do you want?"
Ning smiled. "I want you to fight him," he said, pointing toward Emma.
"The girl?" the man frowned. "You want me to fight her?" The man was a little confused. Why would anyone tell a big man like him to fight a little girl like her?
"I didn't say her. I said to him," Ning said. "I don't want you to fight the girl, I want you to fight the beast. His name is Lory and I think you will make an excellent fighting partner."
"In fact, I think everyone here will make for an excellent fighting partner for him," Ning said. "Ah, speaking about that, I'll have to say goodbye to you all for now. Prepare in your little abandoned warehouse on the south end, next to the bakery that makes the sweet donuts. I'll see you all tomorrow morning at 7."
Ning snapped and everyone disappeared, including the rocks and all. The mess in the room ordered up and every else went back to being normal.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Sir? Miss? Is everything alright in there?" a voice asked.
Ning opened up the door. "Yes?" he asked.
There was a young boy outside who leaned in to look inside. "Is everything in here alright? We heard complaints from outside," he asked.
"Everything is fine as you can see," Ning said opening the door to see everything in pristine condition.
The young man frowned a bit and nodded. "Sorry for bothering you," he said and turned to leave."
"Wait a moment," Ning quickly said.
"Yes?" the young man asked.
"Is there any freshly made food we can eat?" Ning asked. "Maybe some hot food."
"Ah yes, you can go to the cafeteria section at the lowermost floor," the young man said. "Or we can deliver it to your room for a slightly extra cost."
"What do you want, Emma?" Ning asked.
"We can go down," she said.
"Thanks for your help," Ning said and sent the man on his way. He closed the door and turned around to a frowning face from his daughter.
"Why did you do that?" she asked.
"The food? Did you not want to eat?" she asked.
"No! The men from before. You let them go without punishing them at all. Why did you do that?" she asked. "And instead, you are now putting Lory in danger."
"Danger?" Ning chuckled. "Do you really think I would do that?"
"Then? What was that? Why must he fight?" she asked.
"So he can train," Ning said. "He needs to be in some serious fights so that he can learn to protect himself."
"But what if he is hurt?" Emma asked.
Ning chuckled. "Do you think I would let him do it if it was dangerous?" he asked. "You don't seem to realize just how strong Lory has become in the past few years."
"Just wait for tomorrow. You will be quite surprised."
