Demonic Pornstar System

The first hit came before Kaiden could reassert his footing properly.

The guard's kick slammed into his ribs, the force of which rippled through muscle and armor alike. A second blow followed in the form of an upward punch, aimed at his jaw. Kaiden caught it in his palm, but the impact still jarred his hand. Then came a second kick, low and fast, driving into his side.

This wasn't a man anymore.

The strength pouring out of him was unnatural in its entirety, wild and unstable.

It felt as though the guard had jumped from the might of an average human to that of a level forty awakened in the span of a heartbeat.

Kaiden's feet slid half a step back as he blocked the next wild flurry. The guard's eyes were bloodshot, and his mouth twisted open in a snarl. Strings of spit clung to his teeth while his words were replaced by guttural growls. He struck again and again, heedless of pain or defense, the kind of frenzy that came when the mind no longer ruled the body.

Something was wrong. The control in the man's movements was gone. His focus, his restraint… all stripped away. Kaiden realized he wasn't fighting a person anymore, but a frenzied beast.

If he wanted to, he could've killed the man because there was basically zero defensive effort in his motions. It was as if he didn't care one bit about his own life.

But Kaiden didn't do that. After all, escalating an already bad situation like some savage smelling blood with no self-control wasn't who he was.

He couldn't drop the man, not with Naira and her mother just below him. So he grabbed the guard by the torso and hurled him aside. The body hit the ground several meters away, rolling through the home's rough floor before the man pushed himself up again. His back arched, his breathing came ragged, and his eyes burned red with something more primal than rage.

Then he roared and lunged toward him on all fours.

Kaiden braced, ready to meet him.

"Hold."

The single word cut through everything.

The charging man stopped. His body jerked as though struck by an invisible hand. The sound that came from his throat died into silence. Then, as quickly as his fury had come, it drained out of him. His limbs loosened, his head drooped, and the glow in his eyes dimmed.

Kaiden found it far too eerie, becoming tense from the sight. This was domination in the purest form.

He turned his gaze toward the leader.

The scarred man hadn't moved. He stood where he was with his eyes locked on Kaiden. To his surprise, the man's eyes shone with a quiet kind of interest. His expression was unreadable. There was no anger, no fear, only a detached curiosity that didn't belong in a moment like this. The crowd around him stayed motionless, their posture disciplined, waiting for his command.

A flicker of recognition crossed the leader's face after studying Kaiden for a few long seconds.

"Kaiden Grey."

The sound of his own name, spoken by a stranger deep in the wilderness, made Kaiden's pulse race for a moment. He hadn't introduced himself to anyone here.

Then realization hit.

The Awakened Media Platform. The same network that broadcast raids, duels, and awakenings to literally anyone. His rise through it was monumental, often being promoted by its algorithm.

It wasn't strange for the man to recognize him; his surprise came from how isolated and devastated this place was. Before the mana apocalypse, no one would have ever expected such a guy to know anything about the outside world.

Kaiden was already aware that the Awakened Media Platform could reach literally all humans, but the implications were only now truly drawing on him when seeing that such a person recognized him.

"I liked that undead spider fight. Although it was for a low-level awakened in a D-tier dungeon, it turned into quite the spectacle."

The man's words came out with a rough accent, the kind that turned vowels heavy and consonants sharp, but he spoke clear enough to be understood without any difficulty on Kaiden's part.

What made it difficult wasn't the sound of his voice… it was what he said. His tone carried no malice, no mockery, just plain curiosity that didn't belong to the situation.

Aria and Nyx exchanged a look, both trying to make sense of it. Luna turned toward Bastet, who only shrugged, clearly in doubt. The tanned felinid had no clue what this human was about.

They'd all seen the state of the place. The broken expressions, the thin children, the tortured woman still trembling beneath her daughter. It painted the leader as a monster before he even spoke. So when Kaiden threw his guard aside, they'd expected bloodshed, screaming, the usual descent into violence that came with men like him.

Instead, he talked. Calmly. As if none of it mattered.

It didn't redeem him, not by any means. As far as they were concerned, he was still an evil piece of shit. But it reminded Kaiden that people, no matter how cruel, were rarely one-dimensional. The world didn't deal in absolutes.

Kaiden had a hard expression of mistrust as he asked, "What's your name?"

The man smiled in response, making the scars on his face pull tight. "Varek," he said. "Varek of the Iron Plains."

Varek turned his gaze toward the guard still on the ground, then to Naira and her mother. His eyes lingered for a moment before he looked back at Kaiden. "Would you care to sample the hospitality of my tribe?"

Kaiden blinked. Of all the things he'd expected, an invitation wasn't one of them. "Hospitality," he repeated, wary.

Varek nodded. "I understand your reservations. What happened here… was a misunderstanding. You've overstepped your boundaries, but I'm willing to overlook it. I harbor no anger toward you. You've proven your strength, and that's enough."

Kaiden glanced toward his companions, hoping one of them understood this better than he did. They were just as confused.

Aria was the first one to address the man. "Are you aware of what would happen if you attacked representatives of the Awakened Association?"

Varek's lips curled into a dry smile. "I am."

Nyx came next. "Then I hope you don't think what happened here counts as self-defense that could justify your attack on us. You can't claim you struck because we were already hostile."

She pointed toward Naira's mother. "Kaiden had every right to intervene. The law's clear: if there's a reasonable belief that a person's life is in danger, interference is justified, even on sovereign land. We have more than reasonable doubt about the health of this poor woman. If the whipping continued, we firmly believe she would've been killed."

Kaiden turned to her, greatly impressed. His far too sexy space babe must've done serious research without him even noticing.

He caught himself smiling. She really was an amazing woman.

Varek's gaze drifted back to her. Then he inclined his head.

"I don't dare," he said simply.

That earned the man another bout of confusion from the Sinners.

However, now that they understood he was aware of the implications of attacking them, staying for a bit seemed like an ideal offer, if only to satiate their curiosity and to solve Naira's situation.

Furthermore, they would be lying if they weren't tired; killing those Ravagers did a number on them. A rest would do good.

As such, Kaiden nodded at last. "We accept the offer. But first, we'll tend to Naira and her mother, then update the others about our situation."

Varek simply nodded in acceptance.