Barbarian's Path To Multiversal Domination Chapter 6: The First Blossoms Of Love

{New Epithets gained.}

[The Antifaith E+ —Killing religious figures leads to an increase in parameters, depending on their importance and number.]

[One-Man Army D—Whenever you face a force of more than a thousand alone, your endurance and recovery are increased.]

[Coast To Coast D+ —Long-distance travelling with a set goal is far more effective with increased speed and stamina.]

[Dancing With Death C- —Fighting while naked grants one increased battle instincts and proficiency.]

[Kingslayer D — Damage resistance against any ruling figure is increased.]

{Upgrades to current Epithets…}

[Madness Enhancement E+ → D++. Your bloodlust has been further intensified, granting an even greater increase in parameters.]

• New perk gained under Madness Enhancement {Unrelenting}. The greater the resistance to your attack and the more persistent you are, the more your parameters and madness rise.]

[Demon of The Trident E+ → D+. The bloodletting of others gives a greater recovery speed.]

• New perk gained under Demon of The Trident {Unburnt}. Significantly increased fire resistance while wet.

{Spoils of War}

• Blackfyre

• Balerion the Black Dread

…

Six years ago…

Being from a wealthy and protective family, Grace spent her school days in an all-girls private school. This was very much the opposite of what she wanted, of course. She always had a creative mind that longed for fantasy… which mainly leaned on romance. Alas, circumstances denied her the ‘perfect’ school love, where she could date a popular, handsome guy who matched her, and they could spend all their breaks together—doing homework or… other things. They would be the ideal power couple, taking over the school as Queen and King.

Alas… there was no King in her school. Nor a single guy, for that matter.

Even so, Grace thrived. She was a growing beauty, a natural charmer, athletic, highly intelligent and resourceful. All of her fellow students either admired and gravitated to her or hated her out of sheer envy. Hell, more than half the school would turn lesbian for her. She was, indeed, the Queen.

One day, she convinced her parents to go out with a girlfriend. Given this rare opportunity, Grace made the most of it. She hung out with her friend, visited her house, ate out, and then went to the park.

It was the peak of winter, cold as could be… so the day was quite short. Before she knew it, the sky grew dark as they used the swings. 

“We should go home.” Jeyne, her friend, remarked - rubbing her feet against the ground and stopping her swing. “My parents wouldn’t want me to be about this late.”

“It’s 4PM…” Grace chuckled, raising an eyebrow as she continued to swing.

“And it’s dark.” Jeyne countered. “Bad things happen in the dark.”

“Stop being a baby.” Grace smiled confidently. “Nothing will happen, don’t you worry.”

As if she had summoned a bad omen, four boys who were roughly three years older approached a few minutes later.

“These are our swings, ladies. Shoo innit.” One of them made a gesture, waving them away. 

“Sure… we’ll go.” Jeyne, anxious already, was quite happy about that.

“We were here first.” Grace countered.

“We've got a little alpha girl here,” one of the tallest members chuckled.

“Nah, that blonde is kinda peng…” Another grinned slightly. “She can stay.”

“She looks like a Year Nine… you’re nasty, Max.” The shortest, who was only a little taller than Grace, remarked. He was like a midget compared to the rest.

“The gap is like… three years? It’s not that deep.” Max shrugged. “Don’t be jealous that you can’t pull any girls, Shortmanz.”

The tallest grabbed Grace’s swing by one of its metal chains, pulling it to a stop. He then flipped over her fur hood, and his eyes widened.

“Wow… nah, you man can fuck the grass. This girl is mine.”

“Fuck off, Alfred.” Max raised an eyebrow. “I want her.”

“You can fight me for it, then.”

“Let’s not fight over some little girl.” Christian, the conciliator of the group, stepped between them. “We came here to chill, remember?”

“Let go of my swing, asshole.” Grace frowned, trying to take his hand off.

“She got more fight than you do, Christ.” Alfred laughed. “Shortmanz, make sure she doesn’t run off. I’m going to batter Max real quick.”

“Batter me? Yeah, right.”

In the confusion, Jeyne had scuttled away while Grace was stuck under the watchful eye of a young man. She realised the danger of the situation and tried to run, but Shortmanz ran after her. Her large coat was rather restrictive in terms of movement, however, and Shortmanz managed to catch up and tackle her. Afterwards, he forced her up by the arm.

“Don’t give me trouble, you dumb slag.”

“You’re the one who’s dumb.” Grace protested. “You’re the joke of your own group. Shortmanz… they only keep you around to have someone to make fun of.”

“...” Shortmanz frowned, raising his hand. He slapped her. “Shut up. I’m not a joke.”

“Yes… you are.” Grace chuckled. “A short fucking joke. If you were a real man, they would respect you… but you’re not. All you can do is hit girls.”

Suddenly, Shortmanz face froze as he let go of Grace. He slowly stepped back, leading to her raising an eyebrow. What made him shit his pants?

“D…D…”

He turned around and ran for his life. Grace slowly turned behind her, seeing a black flash. Before she knew it, he passed her and hounded down Shortmanz, leaping into the air and extending a leg.

BANG.

His drop-kick sent Shortmanz headfirst into the rocky walkway, smashing his face down and cutting most of it.

The sight had been engraved into her heart.

A boy younger than her, yet dashingly tall. His jet black hair was wild, an inch longer than his broad shoulders. His body was rather muscular for his age, and he had an aura of dominating strength that most men could only dream of. 

“Shorty…” He stomped Shortmanz head with a bored look. “Why’d you get so scared? I just wanted to hug you for old time's sake."

“Dennis… HELP!” Shortmanz cried out as loudly as he could, alerting the other three.

"Oh, Dennis is helping." Dennis chuckled, stomping on him again.

They immediately stopped their scuffle and turned to him. 

“So that's how it is...” Dennis let go, kicking him away and turning to the other three. “Maybe Freddy Fazbear, Max Pain and Jesus Christ will give me more of a fight.”

He stepped forward to meet them. 

Even though Grace could’ve most certainly turned tail and ran… her heart bid her to remain. It was like a fairytale of sorts, a dashing knight in shining armour charges in to save the beautiful damsel in distress. Except, this shining knight was a boy in black-and-white Adidas shorts, a plain sleeveless black-and-white Puma shirt and black Nike Air Forces, which looked like they had seen far better days. 

His fit would make any brand loyalist want to bury themselves in anger.

“Still around, huh…” Alfred chuckled. “You haven’t gotten expelled yet?”

“Loosely hanging on, day by day,” Dennis replied, grinning slightly. “Since you guys graduated and ran away, no one wants to fight me anymore. School is more dead than your hairline these days.”

“Lucky for you, then.” Alfred crunched his knuckles. “We’ve all been going to a boxing club, training hard, and that. The only reason you beat us before was that we didn’t know how to fight. Now… it’s different.”

“Is it?” Dennis chuckled. “You lads hit the pads a little? Gave it a nice, soft, touch?"

“More than little, Denny.” Max added. “We’ve been sparring.”

“Ooooh… sparring.” Dennis almost looked curious. “What club?”

“Alexander Boxing Club.”

“Pfft…” Dennis laughed. “Hahahahahahahahahahaha…”

“What’s so funny?”

“Man like Alexander Boxing Club… that’s where all the fancy mancy pussies go.” Dennis clenched his fists as he raised them. “The hardest part of training there is making sure you got nice and pretty boxing shorts.”

“We’ll see…” Alfred countered. “Since you’re so good, we’ll fight you all at once.”

“That’s the only way you shitters stand a chance against me."

The next thing Grace saw was Dennis pummelling all three of them like there was no tomorrow. It was like seeing poetry in motion, except Dennis' words were his lethal blows. He weaved and danced around them, countering with lethal force. Kicks, punches, headbutts, elbows, wrestling… 

However, it was still three against one and Dennis, for all his might, was still less developed than the older boys.

They managed to lock him down, with two holding down his arms and the other continuously punching him. 

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Grace watched in horror as Dennis took hit after hit for what felt like an eternity. She slowly stepped forward, holding her hands close to her heart. 

"Stop it..." She spoke out, leading to the three of them pausing. "He's lost already, just let him go."

"... Keep hitting him, Alfred." Max frowned. "You know what will happen if Dennis gets up."

"That's right..." Dennis grinned wide. "Keep those punches coming, Freddy."

"..." Alfred paused, feeling unsettled.

There was something absolutely frightening about fighting him… the more you hit Dennis, the more excited he got. And the more excited he got… well…

The other three young men just weren’t built the same.

Alfred tried to punch him again, but Dennis shifted his head and bit into his wrist.

"What the FUCK!" Alfred screamed out, stepping away in horror. "I'm bleeding... I'm bleeding!"

"Big deal."

He proceeded to headbutt the one holding his right arm… and then punched the soul out of the one to his left. Once he was free, the rest was history.

"The fun starts now." Dennis chuckled, spitting out Alfred's blood.

While he laughed madly, they screamed in terror.

…

After a minute, they had all turned tail and ran for their lives in separate directions. Dennis stood still, his face full of grazes and bruises. However, he didn’t look in pain—he seemed to take joy in it. His only show of dismay was when it was all over, and he stood as the decisive victor.

Grace slowly approached him, trying to settle down her rapidly beating heart.

“Are you alright?” 

“...” Dennis slowly turned to face her. “I didn’t fight them for you.”

“... I never said you did.” Grace chuckled, nervously fixing her hair. “It’s just that… what you did was really cool, you know. What year are you in?”

“Year 8,” Dennis replied bluntly, spitting his blood onto the ground. 

“What school do you go to?”

“None of your business.” 

“...” Grace bit her lip as she felt her confidence fade. Weren’t those other boys head over heels? What’s the deal with him… “Well… are you single?”

“No, I'm married to fighting." He walked ahead of her.

"Is that a joke?" Grace chuckled, following after him.

Dennis kept walking, ignoring her.

"My name's Grace, by the way. What's your name?"

"Buster Himen."

"Bust-her-himen?" Grace laughed. "You know, for someone trying to ignore me, you're pretty funny."

"Get off my dick. Fuck off." Dennis glanced back. "Do I need to say it in Spanish?"

"Maybe. My English isn't very good." Grace shrugged, smiling.

Dennis rolled his eyes, walking faster until Grace had to jog to keep up. His Spanish grade was among the worst... and no, he didn't know how to say it in Spanish.

"If I walk alone, what's to stop the same thing happening? Since you're the hero who saved me, you're supposed to finish the job and escort me home safely."

"... I'm not your daddy." 

"Not yet, you're not."

"What?" Dennis suddenly stopped, raising an eyebrow as he turned to face her.

"What?" Grace looked clueless. "I could... give you a kiss on the cheek or something."

"Kiss yourself." Dennis didn't look interested.

"What about on the lips?" She doubled down.

"On my dick."

"... That's a bit much." Grace remarked, pouting slightly. "Your mother must've not been doing a very good job raising you. I mean, what kind of gentleman are you?"

"Breaking news..." Dennis shrugged. "I'm not."

"Please..." She grabbed his hand, her emerald eyes shimmering as she changed her point of attack. "I need you."

"And home needs me more."

"... What about some money?"

"Money?" Dennis' expression suddenly changed. "How much?"

"Uh... I don't know. Like £500?"

"Eight-three Big Box Meals..." Dennis licked his lips as his brain suddenly functioned at 100%. "I could eat like a King..."

"... So..."

"Deal." Dennis firmly nodded. "Let's get going. I'm hungry already."

"By the way, why are you wearing so little in this weather? Aren't you cold?"

"Cold?" Dennis scoffed. "This is a Russian summer."

With Dennis as an escort, she couldn't feel safer. The walk home was smooth as ever. When she got back, she kept her word and rewarded him with part of her allowance.

"Half a grand..." Dennis filled up his wallet with the cash notes. It hadn't ever felt so fat. "Fuck me, you're rich."

"Well, yeah..." Grace pouted slightly. "And you're a big gold digger."

"Gold digger?" Dennis blinked. "I guess. See you around."

"... Wait." Grace grabbed his sleeve as he turned around. "Don't you want my number?"

"Nah." Dennis shrugged her off. "This is a one-time thing."

"Wow... you got your money, and now you're just going to run off?"

"I didn't get paid to be your boyfriend."

As Dennis strode off, Grace felt all the more determined. Though he didn't have the qualities she thought she wanted, there was something about him...

His strength, confidence, the way her charms left him unfazed... the way he made her feel. No, he wasn't a knight in shining armour. He was the black knight who slew the dragon for sport and freed the princess in the process...

After that, the princess would relentlessly work towards making this knight hers.

~

The present.

Dennis woke in Grace's lap, who was sipping on a milkshake while watching anime on her massive TV in the living room. It was a beautiful sight, one that he found strangely more calming than usual. He didn't feel as restless.

"My Pookie Bear is finally awake." Grace smiled, pinching his nose. "Had enough battles for a lifetime?"

"A lifetime? Nah... just today." Dennis glanced to the side and observed what she was watching. "Some anime shit?"

"It's the Battle of the Gods movie... and I'm rewatching it," Grace replied, shrugging her shoulders. "It's pretty good. I think even you'd like it - especially since it's all about fighting."

"... Sure."

Over an hour later...

Dennis hadn't said anything, his eyes glued to the screen.

"I WILL NOT LET YOU DESTROY MY WOOOORLD!"

The banger OST came in, and Dennis felt strangely hyped as he witnessed the determined Super Saiyan break free from his shackles. He took the God of Destruction into the skies and started exchanging blows - some of which landed. They continued out into space, where Goku finished his burst of power with a mighty super kamehameha.

"... I want to be there," Dennis remarked, his naturally hazel eyes glowing golden.

"You're nowhere near that level..." Grace countered, chuckling. "You'd get obliterated in an instant."

"Not now... but I will get there."

Dennis's determination only grew, and so did his ambitions. 

"Hm..." Grace smiled sweetly, stroking his hair. "Of course you will, Dennis. Your destiny is to be the strongest."