20th October 2065, 21:29 pm, a manor in Adirondack Mountains located in Upstate New York.
A man in his mid-20s sat in a luxurious chair while sipping on some cognac with ice. He was around 5'9, with a thick black beard that was cut neatly, a nicely shaped mustache, and piercing hazel eyes that were narrow.
Coupled with his neatly combed black hair, he really did look like a fine noble gentleman.
However, Henry cared little for such things. He only maintained his looks out of forced habit, one that he was trying to get rid off, so that he could act more natural.
Alas, old habits died the hardest.
Whatever the case, he was browsing his Holo-Tab calmly as he sipped on his wine, entertaining himself by browsing through the pages of various attractive models with good bodies.
If Draco or RamButt were to view his current filters, as well as his search history, they would weep and hug him like he was their long-lost brother, for this lovely man prioritized a good behind above all else.
Still, the Dao of Booty varied from man to man.
To Draco, he preferred upper-grade booties only and would usually ignore anything below A- grade. He also liked them fresh and unblemished due to the kind of women he ended up with.
On the other hand, RamButt cared not for your grade, but your presence of booty. Whether you were E-grade or SSS-grade, he would still appreciate you.
He also didn't mind if the booty was real or fake with implants, as he understood the struggles of the bootyless, neither did he care if a booty had stretch marks or cellulite, for in his opinion, it made the booty more realistic and wholesome.
Meanwhile, Henry took on the middle approach. While he wasn't as elitist as Draco, he also wasn't as utilitarian as RamButt.
His bottom line was that it had to be above C-tier and he abhorred fake booties, whereas he did not mind natural ones with marks, because like RamButt, he regarded it as part of the things that made them special.
As such, he either scoffed with each picture he saw or nodded with appreciation. It wasn't until his eyes fell on a particularly provocative picture that he spat out his cognac.
Henry's soul trembled greatly as he gazed upon a picture of a red-haired beauty with a crown braid who was posing sexily over a balcony as she gazed over the waves. Her tight red bikini did nothing to hide her D-cup breasts and her superior booty that would rate as A- grade.
He checked her username and the caption beneath the image.
[Brother Is Best: Just some cool times in Davian Resort. #Resort #Luxury #Astarte4Life]
Henry sat there for three whole minutes, captivated by the perfection he saw. Then he looked left and right before entering her profile and checking all her pictures.
All of them were bombshells like what he just saw. Her follower base had reached over 900 million, while she only followed slightly around 10,000 people.
While Henry was gorging himself on the sight of beauty, his phone rang. The young man frowned when he picked it up because this was an old burner phone that was made in the earlier part of the century.
Given his old profession, this was a necessary evil to avoid getting tracked. The only ones who should still have this number were either the World Council's subsidiary they used for dark activities, or…
Henry gazed at the number, hesitated, but still picked up the call.
"Who is this?" He asked brusquely.
"Hmph, it seems you have become big for your britches, eh boy?" A youthful but provocative voice sounded from the other side of the line.
Henry's face changed greatly. "A-aunt Fyre… what do you want?"
Fyre smiled on the other side of the line. "We just finished an international competition and I received word from my old friend that her son is seeking to return home. I want you to go pick him up and bring him to me. Just look for the Central State's Purgatory Group."
Henry gritted his teeth. "I told you, Aunty, I'm no longer a Fixer! I quit that life after what the clan did!"
Fyre was silent on the other side for a long time, before she said. "I found him, you know. Their son. Her son."
Henry was so shocked that he crushed his drinking glass. "You mean you found Aunt Lilith's son?! The prodigy?!"
Fyre humphed in agreement. "Not only that, but I'm looking after him now. Although, nowadays, maybe he's looking out for me… Anyway, I will tell you more about him and let you meet him after you complete the task I've given you."
Henry was silent for a while before sighing. "I won't do it."
Fyre did not get angry, but asked quietly. "Why not?"
"I don't care much about helping a lost clan member go home, but that would be indirectly helping the clan, and I want nothing to do with them. Not after what they did to Uncle Dante and Aunt Lilith!" Henry roared with anger.
His words seemed to touch upon a shocking secret of the Lucifer Linage, and Fyre's face on the other side darkened slightly.
"Of course I know that! I was there when they made the decision to harm my nephew regardless of the circumstances! Why do you think I also left the clan and stayed outside?!" Fyre roared right back.
"Sigh… however, at the end of the day, time heals all wounds. Besides, we both grew up in the clan, so it's time to go back and sort things out. Hiding outside won't fix the problem from the roots."
Henry snorted. "Is this what you are saying, or is it what the prodigy is saying?'
"Oh my nephew? I dare not even bring the matter up to him because he hates his parents… yet he strangely still feels for the clan. Must be Dante's bloodline in him." Fyre stated casually.
Henry shot to his feet. "WHAT?! AFTER ALL THAT HAPPENED, HE DARES TO-"
Fyre cut him off coldly. "There's no use shouting at me. Go and find that lost child I told you about and come over. Once you meet your cousin, you can try to tell him the truth at your own risk, because his mind is already set."
Henry gripped his fist and sighed audibly. "Fine. Where is the guy you want me to bring located?"
Fyre smiled. "Head to a small town off the coast of Los Angeles, right beside Monterey Bay. At this time, you should find him at the aquarium there."
"Hm." Henry replied before ending the call.
He stared at the burner phone and had the urge to crush it, but withheld it and breathed out tiredly. He then gazed at his Holo-Tab which was still displaying pictures of the beauty he had found.
"Hm…" Henry hummed as he thought about his next move. He scrolled through the pictures of Bella casually until he saw one that shocked him thoroughly.
[Brother Is Best: With the core members of the number 1 Guild, Umbra! #Supremes #Number1Guild #BestInTheWorld #Astarteforlife]
He saw a familiar face in that picture, which was Fyre. It was impossible to mistake that mischievous look, those torpedo tits and those green eyes.
Besides, she was a carbon copy of his Aunt Lilith, only that the little sister was the opposite body wise, with an unbelievable backside, while having an average bust.
His mind processed many things quickly until a lightbulb clicked over his head. As such, he shot up from his luxurious couch and climbed the stairs of his manor, two at a time.
The servants gazed at him strangely, having hardly seen their master so enthusiastic and motivated to do anything in recent times. Most considered him to be wasting away, as all he ever did was lounge around sipping expensive wine while perusing booty pictures.
Henry was currently standing in front of a mirror, dressed in black tight-fitting armor that was a mixture of kevlar and spandex. As such, he ended up looking quite amazing.
Unlike Cobra, whose tight garments highlighted annoying parts, Henry was more manly and not androgynous, making him look masculine and attractive – for females – on him.
Henry then wore a helmet that came to life with advanced tech and synced with the rest of his suit.
(Welcome back, Platinum Rank Fixer, Nightwalker.)
Hearing his old codename, Henry snorted. Nevertheless, he still felt a bit proud when his rank was mentioned, since Platinum was the highest in the world. There were less than 10 people at that rank with him, each of them from various regions around the world.
As he gazed at himself in the mirror once more, he frowned when he noticed that the world around him became dark. Then, it switched to an area of tragedy and danger, with volcanoes exploding, the earth cracking to release magma and earthquakes occurring almost everywhere.
Henry did not panic, as he was quite familiar with this realm. As such, he turned around to view the face of a serpent that was grinning eerily. Its grayish white body stretched into the clouds, a small goatee growing from its chin.
Its yellowish-green slitted eyes focused on Henry to an insane degree, making the fellow want to poke them.
"…Jormungandr. What do you want this time?" Henry asked coldly.
The giant serpent scoffed. "That is no way to talk to a God Serpent, human! I may tolerate you, but don't believe for even a second that I won't rip your soul apart and take ov-"
Henry was non-plussed and just interrupted him. "Let's skip this skit, yeah? If you could, you would have done so when you first dragged me here as a child. Since then, you have done nothing but be a nuisance to me and my life."
Jormungandr snorted. "Says you. I have only given the most sagely of advices to you! Not to mention, your Nightwalker alias would be nothing without my power. Even now, I only awoke from my slumber because I sensed you drawing upon my power."
Henry scowled. "It's MY power that resides in MY blood! You are just the avatar of that power, but you don't own it. Otherwise, you could have refused to listen to me and I wouldn't be able to access it."
Henry smiled provocatively. "But we've both been through that phase of conflict already, haven't we?"
Jormungandr rolled his eyes. "Who knew you could wise up so easily. Out of the all the 9 God Serpents passed down by the progenitor, you were the first to awaken. The progenitor chose us, so we could guide and protect the other 8! … but instead, you decided to break all ties with the Lineage!"
"You know exactly why I did that, and I know you still agree with me deep down, even up till now." Henry pointed out casually as he ignored the earthquakes and jumped onto Jormungandr's head and sat there.
Jormungandr was already used to Henry's impudence after so many years together, and so the mighty God Serpent didn't even react to the act.
"Well, yes but…" Jormungandr grumbled.
"Besides, my current mission is to find a lost child of the Lineage. There's a chance that this one might be an Inheritor like me, so I'll need you to keep an eye out." Henry revealed calmly.
"A lost child, huh? That works. Then, get a move on." Jormungandr hurried his host as Henry returned to his bedroom, though one could argue he had never left.
Henry smirked and opened a calamity portal, then walked in quickly. Within the black portal was a world just like the one he had seen, a place struck with lightning, thunder, lava, earthquakes, tsunamis and every sort of apocalyptic scenario jumbled together.
Henry ignored them and snapped his finger. Immediately, a tsunami enveloped him, carrying him at its pinnacle as he traversed the depths of this realm. He moved like this for about an hour before he gazed at a certain spot.
He jumped off the tsunami, which returned to where it came from and opened another calamity portal. When he stepped out of it, he noticed that he was at the shore of a bay.
He appeared in an inconspicuous alleyway beside two docks. Walking out of them casually, he noticed that there was still some activity even at this time of the night.
He ignored them and moved rapidly towards the aquarium. Due to his bloodline affiliation, Henry could technically fly as Jormungandr could too, the Ragnarok Bringer known to tear through the clouds with his humongous size.
However, flight burned more Bloodline Energy than simply using calamity portals to enter the Apocalypse Dimension. As one could imagine, this was a dimension parallel to ours where all sorts of disasters, natural and man-made were generated and kept.
The idea behind it was that when Ragnarok came around, Jormungandr was supposed to open calamity portals all over the world and let the apocalypses flow out.
Obviously, Henry was neither going to do nor allow that, instead he had found another use for it apart from combat. Jormungandr had been speechless for an entire week when he had been forced to watch how his inheritor used his precious apocalypse dimension.
Back when Lucifer was still around, and the God Serpent had roamed the world as an avatar, it had cost him enormous amounts of energy to create such a dimension and to set its rules, only for it to devolve into this millennia later…
Whatever the case, Henry easily appeared in Monterey Bay and angled towards the aquarium after interfacing with his suit's AI. It obviously had a tracker, locator, and GPS system for when he was tailing important targets.
The town was quite lively despite the time, as not everyone here was a fisherman. The town comprised of many roles and occupations, even the often shunned nightlife, so Henry wasn't surprised.
What did surprise him was Jormungandr who manifested as a tiny gray snake on his shoulder. The God Serpent was gazing at the aquarium's entrance with a strange gaze.
"Do you sense anything?" Henry asked gravely.
Jormungandr hesitated. "Yes and no. I sense the potent bloodline power of the Serpent Lineage, but my senses are being blocked by something as strong as me or even stronger. That is a good indicator that whoever you're about to meet is also a God Serpent Inheritor."
Henry was startled, then had mixed feelings. From the moment he had awoken way back then, Jormungandr had told him that the only reason for it happening to him was to discover the other ones who were in hibernation and protect them.
However, due to his circumstances over the course of his life, he had not been able to find a single one, something which Jormungandr had castigated him for endlessly.
Now, he was about to meet the first one, and it seemed that they had already awakened. Seems like their purpose was for naught in the end.
Henry could tell that Jormungandr was bothered by this greatly, but he himself did not care as much. Rather, he smiled and entered the aquarium calmly.
As it had long closed, there were hardly any people around. Henry easily moved towards the main display, which was a huge pool that housed a family of sharks that were almost extinct in this area.
To Henry's surprise, there was a fellow seated calmly atop the pool, right in the center. Where a normal person would have sunk in, the water seemed to solidify below the fellow's seating area, holding him up.
Not only that, but the sharks within the pool hovered around him, playing with each other, behaving more like dogs happy to see their master than bloodthirsty beasts. It was quite cute if one had no common sense and normal sensibilities.
Henry shook off his surprise and walked to the side of the pool and gazed into it. He whistled as to how deep it was, wondering how much it cost to build this thing.
Then, he noticed the man who was seated at the edge of the pool had stood up. Like a king being carried by a chariot, he stood ramrod still while the water pulled him over towards the side.
Henry watched this feat with a guess in his head, but noticed that Jormungandr was silent. As such, when he and the handsome fellow before him came face to face, they spent a few seconds observing each other.
Henry then removed his Nightwalker helmet and smiled. "Nice to meet you brother, the name's Henry Jasek."
The other fellow smiled amiably and shook Henry's hand strongly. "Nice to meet you as well Henry. My name is Connor Lord."
Henry nodded. "Connor, did you awaken recently? Also, can you tell me a bit about your parent so I can identify which sub-clan they came from?"
Connor did not see a problem with and explained what happened to him. Henry's eyes widened.
"Ah, so you're from the Water Serpent Clan. As far as I know, you should still have two uncles and aunties, as well as four cousins, waiting for you in the clan."
Hearing this, Connor felt a thump in his chest. After losing his parents, he thought he had no family left, but it turns out that he still had blood relations in this world.
This both comforted and scared him.
Henry continued. "As for your bloodline, you seem to have awoken the Serpent God Inheritance, with your major being the God Serpent Leviathan."
"For that matter, you and I are similar. I also awoke the Serpent God Inheritance, specifically the God Serpent Jormungandr as my major. He was most excited to meet one of his compatriots when I was coming, but I think he got a little shy in the end."
Henry laughed while Connor snickered. "I could say the same for Leviathan. He seemed buzzed that someone at his level of power was around, but now, he is also silent."
"Okay then Connor, first things first, Aunt Fyre wants us to meet the prodigy of our clan before heading back. Will this bother you?" Henry asked as he began wearing his helmet once more.
"Not at all. I am curious to learn more about our clan and how things work. Can you educate me on this prodigy and what it means?" Connor replied with a shake of his head.
Henry smiled and opened a calamity portal beside him, coating himself and Connor in apocalypse energy so that they would remain unharmed in this realm.
"Well, you see, it all began when a meteor crashed onto earth during the dinosaur's era…."
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Author's Note: After battling on the verge of life and death, I have finally overcome my weakness, and enjoyed my rightful Zenkai boost.
Chapters should slowly return to normal from here.. From February 1st, chapters will return to their breakneck pace, similar to the past two months.