Chapter 128: Red and White

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It had taken three hours for the hosts of the Heavenly Dragon Emperors to wake. With their bodies fixed by Erik's micro monsters and after force-feeding them some potion to help accelerate their recovery, it was just a matter of time for them to wake up. The armors, which Erik and Joan had damaged had disappeared as soon as they teleported, leaving behind just their unprotected hosts with damaged shirts. The blonde one, who was the host to the Heavenly White Dragon Emperor, had a huge hole in his shirt on the abdominal region, while the brown-haired one, who was the host for the Heavenly Red Dragon Emperor, had a diagonal cut that went from his waist to his shoulder in his shirt that was caked with dry blood.

"Hugh… Did someone take notice of the dragon that trampled me?"

The blonde one said in confusion while taking his hand to his head. It then came to him. He remembered starting a fight with the red one and, as the fight was reaching its pinnacle, someone appeared out of nowhere in front of him and punched him. And what a punch! Not even Albion's power of divide managed to affect it before it hit him. After that, it was all black.

'So, I lost huh?'

The blonde one said inside his head.

'Yes, Hilbert. You lost, but not for the red one. He was defeated by another opponent at the same time that one took you out.'

A loud voice answered him inside. It was the voice of Albion, the Heavenly Dragon Emperor sealed inside the Sacred Gear. Hilbert chuckled at that. It seemed that Albion wasn't worried at the loss of some unknown person. He was worried about losing to the red one.

'You almost died there, Hilbert.'

Albion said again in his loud voice.

'That punch crushed a lot of your internal organs. No way that my power would have brought you back.'

Albion said again.

'That serious, huh? Then how am I alive?'

Hilbert asked Albion.

'The same person that defeated and injured you, healed you.'

Albion replied to Hilbert's question.

'And why would he do that?'

Hilbert asked again. He could swerd that he saw a huge white dragon shrugging inside his head.

'I have no idea. How about you ask him? After all, he is behind you right now.'

Albion replied and said to Hilbert, making the man try to get up and turn quickly, aggravating the pain that he was feeling all over his body. What he saw was not what he was expecting at all. There, just sitting on a chair and chatting with a beautiful woman while drinking tea, was the man who defeated him in one punch.

While Hilbert was waking up, his rival, the bearer of the Boosted Gear, was waking up too. His first reaction was a little different from his rival. The brown-haired man opened his eyes suddenly and raised his torso from the ground, taking a sitting position. His hand went automatically to his chest area, where he had been almost bisected earlier. To his surprise, the wound was gone but it left behind the proof that it had not been a dream. His shirt was caked in dry blood, together with a diagonal cut that extended from his waist to shoulder.

'Welcome back, partner. I thought that I lost you for certain.'

A loud voice said inside his head. It was the voice of Ddraig, the Heavenly Red Dragon Emperor sealed inside his Sacred Gear.

'Hey Ddraig. Is good to be back… But what happened?'

The man asked back.

'While you were fighting with the white one, an armored woman suddenly appeared in front of you and almost cut you in half. I tried to boost you one last time to diminish the impact, but it was useless. Her sword had dragon-slayer properties to it.'

Ddraig explained, replying to the brown-haired man, whose face assumed a confused expression.

'But then… How am I alive?'

The man asked again.

'After defeating you, she reunited with a man who had just defeated the white one in one punch. He then brought your body and the white one's body near him and started healing both of you.'

Ddraig replied to the man.

'It was a very close call, Paul.'

Ddraig said again after a moment of silence.

'Humm. But why would he heal me if his woman had just wounded me?'

Paul asked himself in confusion. The man could swear that he saw the red dragon smirking at him inside his head before receiving a reply.

'I don't know. Why don't you ask him yourself? He is behind you.'

Ddraig said to Paul inside his head, making the man quickly turn his body to look behind him, and see the same thing that his rival was seeing. A man drinking tea and chatting with a beautiful armored woman. At this moment, the man looked at Paul and Hilbert.

"Oh… It seems that the naughty boys have wake up."

Erik said while putting down the cup of tea that was in his hand.

"Rise and shine, Sunshine!"

Erik said to the duo while smiling widely. Hilbert and Paul stood in place looking at Erik with a dumb expressions on their faces.

"Sheesh… People these days have no sense of humor anymore."

Erik said again while making a disappointed expression at both men's reactions.

"The problem is not their sense of humor, husband. You are the one that comes with some strange things sometimes."

Joan said to Erik while putting down her cup of tea. That comment seemed to have hit something inside Erik. He made a shocked expression while looking at Joan that quickly morphed into a mock-hurt one.

"Oh, et tu, Joan?!"

Erik said jokingly again while putting a hand over his 'hurt' heart. Joan just rolled her eyes at that. While that was happening, both men still stood in place looking at the trade-in in front of them dumbfounded.

"Er… Excuse me?"

Paul said after recovering from the 'shock'.

"Yes, Red?"

Erik said while turning and looking at the man. Gone was the joker semblant. In its place was the 'all business' semblant. Paul almost flinched at the sudden change but found the strength to continue.

"Why did you heal me?"

Paul asked Erik. Hilbert nodded his head at that question. He too wanted to know why they first left them at death's doors just to bring them back. After hearing the question and seeing the other man nodded his head, Erik looked at them as they were idiots.

"It's very simple. Death would be the easy and quick way for both of you. For what you both had done, you must receive the according punishment."

Erik said to both men.

"Punishment? For what?"

Hilbert asked confused. One could almost see the image of a white dragon grimacing at his host's stupid question.

"'For what', you say? Let's see, shall we?"

Erik said and took a paper that was on the table. It was a letter. He then started to read its contents out loud.

"City of Porto, Portugal, year one thousand six hundred and fourteen. Dear Lord Ravenclaw, I came through this to report to you the list of the approximated damage caused to the city by the two being in red and white while fighting. Damage to public property: fifty thousand miréis that include roads, fountains, public illumination, and public buildings. Damage to private property: eighty thousand miréis that includes private buildings, animals, and lost merchandise. Injured people: five hundred and thirty-two. Dead people: sixty-one. The number of deaths can go up due to some of the injured being still in danger."

Erik finished reading the letter to the two men in front of him and looked seriously at them. At least they looked ashamed of it.

"So, how are you two paying?"

Erik asked the two.

"Pay…?"

Hilbert asked while his face was getting red.

"I don't have money."

Paul added while looking to the side. Erik continued looking at the two of them and then nodded his head in understanding.

"Then it is decided. You two will pay for everything with labor."

Erik said and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened visually anywhere but internally to the men's bodies, Erik's micro monsters had already cut most of their control to their gifts.

"We will be sure to assign you to the good-paying jobs so you don't lose more than a few years repaying your debts. "

Erik said, leaving the two men dumbfounded while looking at him.

"Ah, and you will use no magic while at it and Sacred Gear is only allowed if at danger."

Erik said again. This time he got a reaction from both men, who went white at the mention of doing labor.

"Next time you two want to see who has the bigger dick, find an empty place to do it."

Erik said to them and then snapped his fingers.

*snap*

Under both men, a blue magic circle appeared.

"Now I will transport you two to the person who will take care of you until you had paid all your debt. And don't even think about fleeing. I have both of you marked already. Even if you escape to the Dimensional Gap, I would be able to find you."

Erik said to the white-looking men and then activated the magic circle, sending the two away and back to the city of Porto. Luckily for them, they had destroyed the city while wearing armors, so no one would recognize them.

–

Years passed again and during them, Erik had the opportunity to talk better with the hosts for the Heavenly Dragon Emperors and the Dragons themselves. And they were not good talkers at all. They had no interesting histories to tell of didn't have the skills to maintain an intelligent conversation for long. They were both meatheads.

In the end, it had taken both men fifteen years to pay their debt. A the end of it, both men couldn't look at the other's face without grimacing. Even being fated rivals, fifteen years of doing labors at each other's company had killed any will in them of fighting each other. It helped too that they could not use their full powers. When their debt was paid, Erik returned to them their full strength and both just looked at each other, nodded their heads, and walked in opposite directions.

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