Ascension of the elder

Chapter 159: Afro woman

"What happened to your eyebrows??"

On opening the door he saw Clara pointing at Elena who had her back to the door. When she heard the door opening she turned and faced Kyle whose eyes were immediately drawn to her brow. Like Clara had said Elena was now missing both eyebrows leaving her completely smooth and it gave her a rather otherworldly look.

Turning away from Kyle, Elena began to address Clara.

"When I got shocked away from the wall I decided to try again, but it looks like it gets stronger each time you try."

She said before crossing her arms and nodding her head like she had just proved a point. Clara looked over Elena's soldier staring at Kyle hoping he could do something about her. Kyle coughed into his fist before asking a question that was burning in his mind.

"Elena how many times did you try to break through the wall? The shock array shouldn't have anywhere enough power to scorch off your brows."

"Oh I stopped counting after the first five tries."

Kyle closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose when he heard this.

"Did Susan also continue trying to see the other side?"

Kyle felt his curiosity peaked when his thoughts turned in this direction. How would Susan look with no brows and an afro?

"No she quit because she lacks the will to follow through."

"Okay well that's something then. Anyway I'm going to bed as it's been a long day, are you guys going to stay with me or staying in your own rooms?"

"Staying with you."

"Sleeping here."

"Ghmiphas."

Miranda had just come out of the bathroom with her toothbrush sticking out of her mouth and trying to respond at the same time.

"Um so demure aren't you girls. Anyway I'm going to brush my teeth as well before bed."

With that another day passed with Kyle once again being smothered by his girls. Waking up the next morning he found himself wondering how long he would be able to keep his chastity with these girls being all over him all the time.

Elena was the first to start moving and she crawled up him to give him a good morning kiss.

"Morning Kyle."

"Good morning Elena, I've been meaning to ask how's your brother doing with you being here so much?"

"Oh he's doing well, his friend Theo's parents have kind of adopted him so we can have a little space but you know I always talk to him during meal times and keep an eye on him during training."

Elena smiled a little when she spoke about Chad, even if she wasn't truly his sister she did care for the boy and having some space made the transition a little easier. Plus when Elena had come out from her coma Kyle had told everyone that due to a mishap with her cultivation technique her personality may be a little off so everyone including her brother accepted her new self.

Kyle feared that Chad may feel he was being left behind by his sister and he really didn't want the child to feel abandoned. But with a new surrogate family he should be well looked after and may now have the chance to have a somewhat enjoyable childhood.

Shortly after Kyle and Elena's little chat the others woke up and they all got ready before heading down for breakfast, which was as chaotic as usual with some new additions turning up including his cousins, Beth and the Black family along with Kyle's parents and his uncle. With this it looked like the family has grown again.

Kyle did wonder if he would need to remodel the bastion so the kitchen was larger if his extended family increased any further. Kyle grabbed One, Ash and Faye to check on their new distribution of forces.

"Currently 'shadow hand' have enough personnel for New Grange City and we've also got contacts in the nearest cities so we can know if anyone is planning on making a move on us from outside."

One reported to Kyle with a little pride as he had expanded the 'shadow hand' with the help of his brothers freeing up Kyle's time which is what he had told them he needed them to do as he was tied up with other things.

"Good I want to begin making inroads into the surrounding cities to form a bulwark around us, unfortunately that will only cover our east and south. That leaves us open to beast attacks from the west and north. Ash how are our military forces looking?"

"Excellent after the last series of battles we have captured and pushed into service several thousand more men. With the slavery seals and secrecy seals placed on them with the promise of being released from slavery after a certain point they have all begun training. You'll have an effective offensive force in a couple of months."

Ash responded with a happy face as he was now in a situation where he was in command of a large force like a general which he never thought would happen in this life as all the generals in the imperial army are from noble houses.

"Good but has there been any word from the imperial forces commander yet?"

Kyle asked as he wanted these men in his forces as they knew the imperial army's tactics and plans with far more depth than Ash did as he was just considered a border guard.

"Not yet but I think you have his attention. If I was in his position I would give it some time to see how you do plus he's sent messages to the other imperial forces informing them of what's happening and probably wants to see what they do as well."

"You're probably right Ash so we'll just leave them alone for now but Faye keep an eye on them and any other unknown elements in the city."

"Yes sir do you also want to know about the state of 'steel lotus'?"

Faye asked but Kyle could see some excitement in her eyes so with a smile he indicated for her to continue.

"Currently we have not expanded our forces as much but we have recruited some more members from the slums. Our largest increase was in our spy and information network thanks to my sister. Using our contact with the mercs we've used the falcons to make contact with some sympathetic brothels and smugglers in the other northern cities."

Kyle was surprised at this as intelligence was essential in establishing his new empire. He was planning on creating a framework in New Grange and the surrounding cities using merchants and the like but whores and thieves could work even better as it had also helped in the recent battles.

"Give your sister my thanks; this could be the beginning of a new branch separate from 'steel lotus' and 'shadow hand' which would deal solely with intelligence and spying."

With that breakfast was over and daily training commenced again. Kyle was still training his Grandparents while Dylan and Susan were still being punished. Harris had begun training with Harris and Ash as Kyle didn't want him to stagnate after he had his fun with him and being with others in his age range would help push him on.

After training/torture was finished Kyle sought out Miranda's father Liam as he was their resident hunter/scout team leader and Kyle had some plans he needed his help with.

"Liam can I talk with you for a minute?"

"No problem Kyle, what can I do for you?"

Liam looked at Kyle with some curiosity as he knew Kyle was very smart and whatever he came up with would be interesting.

"I would like to organise and expedition into the wild. Specifically towards the north and west looking for the lost cities closest to ours."

Liam looked at Kyle intently when he said this as these cities had been completely overrun years ago and this was where the attack they had suffered had come from. When the outer cities were attacked New Grange City had reinforced them, but before their soldiers had even arrived the cities fell and the demon beasts had continued forward.

These four forces had joined together and encountered the reinforcements 2 days out from New Grange. It was a massacre with only a few hundred managing to make it back and raising the alarm. This attack also led to the formation of the slum when the beasts had breached their defences.

This was a dark day and led to the further downfall of New Grange City and now Kyle wanted to retake these lost cities. Liam thought about this for a moment, he didn't think there would be problems finding the cities as they still had maps with their locations but they didn't know what state the cities would be in by now and if they had become monster nests.

Kyle seemed to understand Liam's trepidation so decided to explain further.

"Liam I want you to organise several teams of hunters who are willing to take the secret seal. We will train them for a while. When they are ready they only need to investigate the sites, if the beasts have moved on or there are few enough of them, they will reactivate the bastions present before retreating. I don't want to risk anyone so we'll try dealing with this remotely."

Liam nodded to this as this was the safest course of action they could take. He already had some men in mind to head up these teams so he quickly to his leave to talk to them about this. Kyle carried on his way as he needed to speak to Darken at the array guild but before he left he looked at an irate Susan who was annoyed with Elena.

"Why don't you have an afro to?"