>>> A few Kilometers away, near the Gate<<<
Benny was crouching on a fifteen story high rise building located near the A-Tier Gate. Her bow lay on the floor right of her, as her hand fiddled with what seemed to be an explosives trigger. She hummed a tune from her childhood, her eyes not leaving the gate. Soon rumbling noises could be heard about a few kilometers north of her.
"The hunt begins" she murmured, as she wrapped her greyish black Quather on the switch and clicked.
BOOM!!!
An explosion rang right from underground, forcing the fleeing scorpion to resurface, albeit temporarily. The scorpion's muffled screech erupted, before it stopped and continued drilling its way to the gate.
"Hmph! You really think you can get away ". She clicked the switch again. This time, a larger explosion rent the air as a column of fire jutted out from under the coal tar, and with it, a severed pincer. She smiled and clicked three more times in quick succession, and then a fourth after adding her Quather on the switch. The soft and one larger explosion rocked the road, as craters formed. This time, the Umbara scorpion screamed in utmost agony. It had lost a few legs and its right pincer in less than thirty seconds. Nothing like this had ever happened to it, even when it was a mere C-class.
The explosives Benny used weren't normal. In this world, Quatheric energy blasted out of gates would change the atmosphere and fauna of an area. Sometimes turning it desolate, other times spurring growth. But one thing was common. It always formed lodes of Quatheric-Crystals, or QC's. These QC's could be mined and used for multiple purposes, be it power generation, medical advancement, and most of all, weaponry.
It took the concept of warfare to another level, as weapons crafted from QC's did more damage relatively speaking to regular modern day machinery. This and the fact that except explosives, most modern day machinery didn't do as much damage to Evo-beasts, they were a welcome upgrade. The explosive C4's Aziz gave Benny was one such weapon. It did five times the damage regular C4's did, and could be manipulated by Quatheric energy.
The scorpion jumped out of its tunneling, seeing that underground wasn't as safe as it anticipated. It created a quatheric barrier around it, and by a stroke of ingenuity, began shifting the earth around it to move its semi crippled body. This was one of the attributes of the Umbara scorpion.
Earth Control.
It hadn't used it against Law and his team originally because it had no time to do such. Being peppered on all sides at the time made it nigh impossible for it to move freely, talk less of use its special quatheric abilities. Now that its life was at the brink of annihilation, it didn't hold back anymore in its usage of its abilities.
In almost an instant, it was just a hundred meters to the gate, which hummed incessantly, spurting Quather and humming loudly like a well-oiled machine.
Benny smiled as she took up her bow and nocked an arrow, her posture one of serenity and poise, as if she had become one with her bow. Soon her black hair turned silver white, and her irises became as white as snow. She drew and took aim, closing one of her eyes; a projection of three others formed, two above and one below her opened eye. Time at this moment, seemed to grind to a snail like pace. No sound was made, except the sound of slow, calculated breathing that escaped Benny's mouth.
"And now, the hunt ends" she spoke coolly, passing silver-white Quather onto the arrow she had drawn. Just at this moment, the scorpion jumped into the air towards the gate in front of it, like it was a last ditch effort.
"Heh!" was what it heard next. It turned its face towards the sound, it's eyes squinting to its maximum limit, before narrowing it shock. It could clearly see Benny with her bow drawn, but when it saw her arrow, fear grabbed at its already frail mind.
Benny let go.
The instant she did, a line of light instantaneously cut through the throat of the scorpion. What followed a second later were eight sonic booms. The Umbara Scorpions eyes soon lost light, the last thing it saw was Benny's eyes; Eyes that looked at it like prey.
With a loud resounding crash, it hit the floor and rag dolled, before going limp, eternally. Benny stood up and dashed across the distance with her quatheric energy and parkour skills, before landing right on top of the carcass of the scorpion. She then pulled out a dagger made out of an unknown bone, fused it QC's and walked up to the head of the beast.
"Your body shall be nourishment to me, rejoice little one" she said, before plunging her dagger into its thick skull, which gave way like a hot knife through butter. Soon purple blood gushed out, revealing a beating brain matter and a core seated on it. She picked the core that was the size of a tennis ball, and placed it the back pocket of her combat pants, before looking at the brain matter. She smiled and grinned before sticking he arm into its open skull and pulled out some of its bloodied grey matter, before stuffing it into her mouth and chewing.
"Hmmm! Delish"
>>>Ten Minutes Later<<<
The team had called for reinforcements from the army after they had killed the scorpion. In less than ten minutes the gate had been surrounded and defensive positions placed. The Commander was elated by the sudden change of situation. They had been on the back-foot of this gate for over a year now, but it seemed to be under control now.
"Mr. Lawrence, I do not know how to thank you enough" he said as he shook hands with Iron Law.
"Me keh? See who did the most work here" he replied, pointing at Benny. She frowned slightly, but before she could make a retort, Law cut her off.
"It seems someone forgot about the bet they made about a year ago. I wonder who could be that shameless" his baritone voice boomed across the battlefield. Cmdr. Abdullahi, who was about to speak, swallowed back his words. Obi on the other hand, chuckled, as he eyed Benny.
Aziz on the other hand threw is head back into a loud and hearty laugh.
"Ha ha ha haa!!! Wallahi Law you're wicked."
"Hmph, na me use mouth make bet?" Law replied as he wriggled his brow and looked at Benny, satisfied with the knowledge that he won.
As for the bet, it was very simple. About three years prior, Lawrence and Benny founded their hunting party to make money quickly. All this changed after a year of working together, and feelings were gained between the two of them. A year ago, Lawrence had asked Benny to marry him, but to everyone's surprise, she rejected him.
After asking why, she gave an ultimatum to their marriage, which Obi and Aziz came to know as the 'Bride Price Bet'. This bet stated that she would only marry Lawrence if, and only if, he could help her kill a hundred A to S class Evo-beasts within a year.
And the Umbara scorpion was the hundredth.
Benny grunted under her breath, but underneath her angry face, was a hint of happiness.
"Nkem (my own; another way to say my love), is this scorpion enough, or do we have to kill another one hundred?" he said with a knowing smile as he saw her expression.
"Hmph. There is no need, we have enough money"
Silence…
More Silence…
"Nwannem (My Brother), you have arrived!" Obi roared in excitement and sent an open palm to his brother, who received it with a resounding handshake. Lawrence put his arm over Benny's shoulder and laughed heartily, like a life mission of his had been fulfilled. Azeez scrunched his nose up and said
"I have enough cows back at my ranch at home. Wallahi, you will eat beef so much you will vomit. Ha Ha!"
Cmdr. Abdullahi was at first taken aback by these series of events, before he spoke up to interrupt.
"Ehm, sirs, about the allocation of QC's…"
"There is no need, we have more than enough to retire in peace" he said as he cupped Benny's jaw and smiled lovingly.
"Let's go home" she replied calmly, before looking at the skies. From now on, her life wasn't just her own.
>>>A month later<<<
At an open field in front of small house, canopies and chairs were arrayed just in a U-shaped format as celebrants dressed in traditional attire filled the place. The skies above looked like it would rain, but the people prayed against such. It was the biggest wedding in the whole of Sapele town. The wedding of the 'Lion' himself could not be missed by anyone, as he was a national hero adored by all Nigerian's and Africans alike. Even expatriates that worked with the Iron Law came to give their well wishes.
The traditional dancers and singers took center stage, bringing the pump and pageantry to the seemingly gloomy day. It was at the moment; the lead singer looked at the entrance of the building and saw the couple walk out. Dressed in gold lace see through shirt, a red wrapper with the insignia of a golden lion hanging from his waist, a bowler hat and a walking stick on his left hand, Lawrence looked as handsome and glorious as a king. Benny on the other hand was In a golden blouse, red wrapper with the same insignia, this time just under her chest, and a head tie. She was adorned with golden jewelry and red beads on her neck and hands.
Her beauty shown exquisitely as she looked towards the crowd. The crowd cheered in ecstasy as the musician went ahead to change the song to an upbeat highlife one. Seating under a canopy just at the expatriate section, was a man, Chinese in origin from the Wall of the East (Coalition of Asian states), who came wearing his traditional robes. He was flanked by Chinese security outfits in suits.
He had dark neck long hair and looked very plain with a pair of glasses over his eyes. Next to him was a woman in similar Chinese kimono. A beauty to behold, her velvety black hair was tied to a bun. Her milky white face was devoid of makeup, but seemed to beautiful to look upon. On her nose down she wore a grey see through veil, which did little to dilute her beautiful features.
On her lap was a five year old child, who seemed oblivious of his surroundings, and more aware of the toy rubix cube in his hands. The man smiled when he saw Lawrence walking from canopy to canopy, greeting the elders of both families. They continued this until they reached the expatriate entourage. Some Ascendant friends from the UAF and WOE stood to greet him, the handsome Chinese man and his wife did the same.
"Ah ha, greetings brother Li Quanyi, it's an honour" Lawrence said as stretched his hand for a handshake.
Li Quanyi stood and shook the outstretched arm, before pulling him for an embrace.
"Brother Law; has the tiger gone to rest in his mountain?" he asked with a laugh. While this was going on, Benny and Quanyi's wife were also holding hands. They seemed to be very familiar with each other, as if they grew up together.
"Sister Roulie, the weather here isn't as cool as over there. It must be hard for you"
"Not really, as long as my junior sister needs me around, I would always be there" she replied to Benny's greeting. Her son who tugged at her gown got her attention as she introduced them.
The wedding went on smoothly, even when the rain poured. Lawrence and Benny took center stage even under the stormy weather. A day they would never forget.
>>> Three Years Later<<<
Lawrence was in a dilemma. He was seated on a bench in a lonely hallway made up of white ceramic tiles; sweat perspiring from his forehead like a dam had been let loose. He'd been in worse situations where his life and death were hung on the balance, but at least he had some semblance of control then.
Now… he had to rely on a group of white clad practitioners of medicine known as doctors and nurses.
"I knew I should have taken her abroad." He murmured in his heart. Soon a black skinned man in white walked out of the delivery room; his head a potpourri of grey and black receding hair. His countenance bore ill will, even when he smiled; an after effect of his work as a medical practitioner.
"Doctor, h..h..how is she doing" Lawrence asked. Fear could be seen literally glowing in his eyes. The doctor heaved a sigh, before looking directly at Lawrence. His frown slowly gave way to a curt smile.
"Congratulations Mr. Ugo, it's a boy"
Lawrence stood still for a few seconds. Before letting out a roar so loud it literally shook the hospital.