My Villainess Ex Won't Leave Me Alone

"My face!" Jax snarled, blood gushing out of his nose, his breathing blocked, affecting his speech.

He expected Lucian to target his face, but his guard was not enough to prevent the attack from succeeding.

"I'll kill you!" He tried to punch Lucian, "Fuck you! Fuck! Is breaking noses your fetish? You sick fuck!"

"Language," Lucian dodged his attacks before kicking him down and grabbing him by his neck from behind, "Is it a fetish if it's effective?"

Nothing broke easier than a nose, and nothing looked scarier than a bleeding face. Especially during a group brawl where everyone would get scared seeing the same fate awaiting them.

Least effort for the greatest impact.

The goal was not only to inflict immediate physical damage but also to disrupt an opponent's mental state. The sudden image of breaking a nose, the shocking display of blood, all worked to throw an opponent off their rhythm and instill fear.

Lucian didn't have much aura, nor the strength of an average northerner to rely on. He had to find a way to compensate for it with an element of surprise. There was only one chance to strike and he had to make it count.

Jax tried to free himself but the disparity in their ranks was too wide. And what used to be a one chance opportunity for Lucian became a one-sided beatdown.

Lucian slammed Jax's face into the tree a few more times, before he squeaked like a frog, "B..boss.."

"Summon it back," Lucian ordered, "I'm not done with it yet."

"It's not listening to me," Jax choked out, blood dripping from his mouth, "I'm done...for... my cultivation is destroyed..."

"I would rather have it destroyed than have it run wild again. Summon it back," Lucian ordered again, pulling on his hair, "I'm not asking."

"It's gone, I swear..." Jax sobbed, "It's all gone, it left, and it's never coming back. I can't feel it anymore..."

Lucian let go of his hair, and Jax slumped forward, falling into the dirt. He didn't move, didn't try to get up, and didn't try to defend himself. It was like he had lost all motivation to live.

Lucian bent down, searching for Jax's pulse and listening to his breathing, "I will look for another way to restore your ability to cultivate. You don't need to depend on the beast for that."

"Fuck...you," Jax mumbled weakly, spitting out blood from his mouth.

Lucian chuckled at the response.

'Seems like it's still here,' he thought, and continued to persuade Jax to give up on the beast, "Look at me, see what I was able to achieve without relying on my innate talent. Just because you were born with an unlucky tattoo doesn't mean you are doomed to be an unlucky man."

"Shut...up," Jax said and got his face slammed into the ground again, "Arrgh!"

"Nobody's talking to you," Lucian said and pressed on when the beast returned, "Be gone. Nobody wants you here. You are a nuisance, a burden. Unwanted, unneeded. Leave and never return."

"Yeah..." Jax said weakly to the beast, even though he knew the words had no effects on the beast, but they seemed to help him at least, "No more women...for you to breed with."

"Right." Lucian laughed at that, "It's all it knows how to do. Breed. Pathetic."

Jax's body began to twitch, his muscles spasming and bulging out, "Arghhh..."

Lucian noticed a few parts of Jax's tattoo begin to glow, the rest of it was dim and lifeless.

"Aaargh," Jax's wounds began to heal at a rapid pace, the blood flow stopping, "I will show you pathetic!"

Lucian ducked out of the way as Jax's fist flew past his face. His movements were much faster than before, and his strength had increased significantly.

"Let's go, let's go!" Jax growled and charged at Lucian, his fists flying at Lucian's face in a flurry of strikes, "Your nose is mine!"

Lucian blocked and deflected the incoming punches with his arms and legs.

This was just the first stage beast and it was already such a pain to deal with for Jax.

Jax's father was trying to become a three marked hunter when his mother fled to the north due to it, making Lucian wonder what their household must have been like.

The northerners risked their sense of security, getting into debt, serving their entire lives to the nobles...all in exchange for the opportunity to become knights. The kingdom at least shrouded it under a noble lie.

The southerners, on the other hand, risked their sense of reason, their pack values, in favor of power, becoming slaves to their animalistic instincts if they weren't strong enough to break free of them.

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The sun had risen above the horizon by the time the beast had finally exhausted itself. Jax was covered in sweat, blood, and dirt. He was panting heavily, and he could barely lift his arms.

Lucian panted as well, but not nearly as badly. He was able to keep up with Jax's attacks without too much difficulty, taking the opportunity to study Jax's movements and find weaknesses.

The ground around them had turned into a muddy pit, and the trees were all scratched up as they used them as shields and launching pads.

The beast's motivations weren't honorable. You couldn't provoke it to fight your enemies for you, you couldn't reason with it.

It was a horny, ugly, and stupid creature.

Taming it would only lead to self ruin, and yet there were people who succeeded. The most powerful hunters in the South were proof of that.

"Congratulations," Lucian said between heavy breaths, "One marked hunter you are now. Let's keep this a secret from others for a bit longer, shall we?"

"Sur...ugh," Jax groaned in pain, too tired to argue.

They both turned toward Uldric, who immediately shuddered and tried to make himself smaller, "I won't tell a soul, I swear!"

"I did it," Jax whispered in disbelief. He had a lot to process and sort through in his mind, "I actually did it."

Lucian didn't give him time to bask in the glory of his achievement, using the opportunity to cut his wings, "The gardening squads are short on storage keepers, so you will be filling in that role until further notice."

"Yes.. wait...what?" Jax's brain couldn't keep up with Lucian's orders, "Why… does it sound like… I'm being demoted?"

"Because you are being demoted," Lucian replied, grabbing his jacket from Uldrick's arms, "Your cut of the profit will be deducted according to your new position, and helping you advance will be calculated based on northern standards."

Jax whined, crawling on the ground and raising his arms in the air in a dramatic gesture, "Bo~ss."

He looked terrifying, but not as terrifying as his regenerating ability that was slowly fixing his face, not visible to the naked eye, but Lucian could tell. It would be a matter of few months and it would be as if Lucian never touched him.

Lucian checked his arms and knuckles. They would have been bruised from blocking and throwing blows if he was still the old Lucian.

Instead, the skin was intact and smooth as if there was armor that took the brunt of the attack.

'I finally feel like a normal northerner now,' Lucian thought.

Hay heads weren't born with it, but the rest of northerners were.

Celine's skin was bouncy and soft to touch, yet it was very resistant to hickeys, for example.

'I forgot to try to give her one again. I should do it next time,' he made a mental note to himself.

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