Lewd System: Every Scream and Moan is EXP

Chapter 380: Chapter 380: No More Kindness

Once he’d pulled the cloak on, Jax said, “All done. You can stop blushing now, chameleon. Go on, turn yourself from red back to whatever color you came in.”

Delphine shot him a glare sharp enough to draw blood, but Jax had already drifted off into his own head, his curiosity leaking out before he could stop it. “By the way, Delphy. What exactly is the deal with your mother? Why’s she suddenly bending over backward to help me?”

“That’s supposed to be my question,” Delphine said. “I don’t have the faintest clue what’s happening here.” Then she froze. “Hold on. What did you just call me?”

Jax rubbed at his temples, half his mind still chewing on the situation while the other half answered on pure autopilot. “Delphy. It’s a cute little name, isn’t it? My sister gave it to a red panda when she was ten, the day I dragged her to the zoo. And the face you were making just now reminded me of that exact same creature.”

Delphine was busy cursing him in six different ways inside her head when Jax let out a quiet sigh and murmured, almost to himself, “Yeah. That one really dug up some precious old memories.”

Delphine shelved her anger for the moment, catching the weight buried under those few words. “It must be really hard, na,” she said, voice softening into concern. “Getting yanked into a whole different world. Forced and fooled by an archdemon down some painful road. Leaving your own family behind, with no promise you’ll ever find your way back to them.”

Jax’s head snapped up, genuinely caught off guard. “How did you know that? Since when?”

“I overheard mother and that man talking earlier today, before we headed to the birthday ball this evening,” Delphine said. “But don’t worry, I’m not the type with loose lips. That holds, of course, as long as you don’t turn out to be evil.”

Jax glanced toward Sianna, whose eyes were still locked on him from a distance while her thoroughly pissed-off commander drove a spear clean through Harry’s feet, pinning him flat to the dirt.

“Your mom’s cooking up something even I can’t read,” Jax said. “Maybe she’s just taken a liking to me. Maybe she wants me to be your brand-new daddy.”

Delphine hissed. “I swear, if mother weren’t watching me this very second, I’d be giving you a free tongue piercing right now. You really are scum. And here I was, fool that I am, actually worried about you.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks for the concern earlier, by the way.” Jax shrugged. “But I’m honestly fine. No, scratch that. I feel a whole lot better here than I ever did back in my world.”

Delphine’s eyes went wide. “WHAT? Then what about your family? Do you hate them that much?”

“If we’re talking my real world, my real family,” Jax said, “then the only one I’ve got left is my sister. My father’s still breathing, sure, but he’s just a scum who never gave a damn. And then there was our mother. I barely remember her, she died early. All she ever left the two of us was no roof over our heads, and a diary of her so-called achievements, every page of it packed with her own mischievous, chaotic little adventures.”

He went on, easy as anything. “As for my sister, well, she got teleported into this world too. But I’m fairly sure she’s forgotten all about me by now, off living her best life here in her own way. So really, there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

Delphine stared at him, blank, for a long beat. “…So the madness runs in the blood. Well. Suddenly every single thing about you makes perfect sense.”

She chewed on it a little longer, then frowned. “But aren’t you toying with Senior Astrid’s feelings here? Not that I care about her, mind you. But still. You vanishing one day, or her finding out you were wearing a disguise this whole time, wouldn’t that shatter her?”

“She already knows everything about me,” Jax said. “And who told you I’m leaving this world? I’ve gone and applied for citizenship here. It’ll come through soon enough. So fret not, you’ll be spending the rest of your years at the academy stuck with me. That’s assuming I don’t get bored of the profession first.”

Delphine considered him. “Going by that confidence of yours, you’re clearly hiding a mountain of things. But, somehow, I feel relieved your will is so firmly glued to this world.”

Jax blinked, thrown. “Excuse me?”

Delphine panicked and whipped around to face the other way. “I mean, I’m relieved for Senior Astrid. Otherwise, knowing how unhinged that woman is, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if every professor in the building ended up executed and my whole academic life took the fall for it.”

She started to walk off, then remembered the actual reason she’d come over, and turned back to him. “Oh. Right. Mother said you’re free to do as you wish with that one.” She pointed across the field at Harry, still screaming in pain, pinned to the ground.

She added, flatly, “But make certain he dies right here. If he is left alive, he would be a threat to our family as we have committed few crimes along with him.”

A grin spread across Jax’s face as he looked toward Harry and fell into step beside Delphine, walking toward him. “Don’t you worry about that. I have no intention of making the same mistake twice.”

Every slow step and that wicked look in his eyes sent a fresh shudder of dread down Harry’s spine. And the moment Jax reached him and ground a knee down onto his chest, a punch came crashing into his face.

Everyone watching saw the raw rage behind Jax’s fists. His knuckles split and bled, but there wasn’t a trace of pain on him, only a grim, satisfied calm. The punches came one after another, each one splashing out more blood, slowly ruining what was left of Harry’s face.

Then Jax stopped. Just for a moment, to admire the masterpiece laid out beneath him. Harry’s face had swollen up into something barely human, one eye shut and dead, his nose smashed clean out of any recognizable shape and leaking red, his lips split open.

Jax hauled him up by a fistful of hair and dragged him in close. “What happened, Harry? You had so very much to say a minute ago. All that talk about caging me. About the girls. About the gruesome little death you had planned for me.”

The teasing lilt was still there in his voice, but his eyes had gone to pure death. “So where did it all go? Don’t tell me you’ve run clean out of words. You were practically a poet back there.”

Harry spat a mouthful of blood, coughing around it. “…Go to hell.”

“After you,” Jax said, smiling.

Then the teasing drained out of him all at once as he shoved Harry back down, cracking his head against the ground. “You brought every bit of this on yourself. You painted your own death. With your revenge. With that imagination of yours. With your own filthy tongue.”

His voice dropped lower. “Honestly? I’ve been far too kind to you, and to your world’s champions up till now. And look at what all that kindness ever bought me. So no more of it. You touched a nerve you should never have gone anywhere near. And there is no version of this story where a man who says those things about my woman gets to keep on breathing.”

Jax drew his sword to finish it, but Harry suddenly broke into a manic, wheezing laugh, spitting blood as it rolled out of him. “A woman. Hahaha. And a queen of a foreign world, no less? You really have lost your mind. It’s honestly frustrating, losing to a psycho who’s convinced he belongs to a world that’s nothing but a playground for all of us.”

He coughed, grinning red. “Anyway. Your little delusion gets cleared up soon enough. Because me being wiped out doesn’t mean you’ve won a thing. Loki’s still out there, waiting to hand you a properly satisfying ending. Real shame I won’t be around to watch you and your finale.”

“Don’t worry,” Jax said. “I’ll grant your dying wish. I’ll show you a perfect ending myself, right after I win this game and take a stroll across your world. And things aren’t anywhere near settled between us, but I’m in a hurry tonight, so you’ll be getting a quick exit instead of the slow, painful one you’ve earned. So I’ll be coming for you, in your world, or in this one, if your side loses the game. Until then? You’ll just have to sit tight and wait.”

He glanced at the stat screen hovering over the broken man.

[Champion Harry]

[Level 51]

[HP: 15 / 15000]

[MP: 6000 / 50000]

And then his fist came down, one last brutal time, straight into Harry’s face, blood spraying out and splashed on Jax’s face.

A moment later, Harry began to disappear.

And as he broke into drifting particles, Jax spoke. “You know, I’d only ever heard about fools like you. The kind so easy to pick up and use like a tool, over and over. First your crush played you for everything you were worth. And now, right here at the end, Loki played you all over again, and you couldn’t see through her real game for even a second.”

And as Jax stood there savoring his win, behind him Sianna crossed the distance and came to a stop, towering over him.

Jeremy_Baker, Ordici_T and Rod_Snow dropping golden tickets, appreciate it.