Chapter 367: Tyrant Laz
Laz could feel the glares as the group of women finished that first lap. Based on Laz’s estimation, it was around a three mile run. And much to Laz’s surprise, Gretchen and Wilma were able to hit their targets the entire time, causing the slowest racers to finish much faster than they would have otherwise. Laz also noticed that the two old women were fair as well. No matter how slow one of the runners were, as long as she was giving it her all, they left her alone. But when one of the women started slacking on the run and dropping back, they would be hit with a jolt that was hard to ignore. Even with their strengthened bodies, the jolt at a medium setting was enough to cause their bodies to stiffen up, making many of them fall over in the process. If they didn’t get up and start running soon enough after having fallen, they would be hit again. One particularly stubborn girl actually ended up wetting herself on the ground, having been hit so many times that she lost control of her bladder.
Just as Laz was about to say something to the two sadists, they stopped him with their words.
"She won’t die from this. And it’s better that we beat the stubbornness out of her now as opposed to waiting until it endangered her life or that of her sisters," Gretchen commented.
"Just because you don’t want to do something doesn’t mean you can just curl up into a ball, plug your ears and ignore the world. She no longer has that freedom," Wilma added.
Laz had to admit that these ladies were ice cold, even if they were doing it for the girls own good.
And he took it as the standard by which he needed to teach.
"Hey, uh... sir...?" Gia asked, panting as she stood there in line waiting for the rest of the runners to finish.
"Yes?" Laz asked, turning from the older women to look at her.
"Uh.. something seems weird. It was only three miles, but somehow I feel exhausted. I’ve done ten mile runs with Joan and was never this worn out. I think I might be sick or something..." Gia said, a bit hesitant to say this based on the situation.
"You’re not, but I’ll only explain why once everyone gathers," Laz replied, neither soft nor cold.
"Ok," Gia said with a small smile. She felt awkward about the whole her and Joan assaulting Laz in the shower and then the incident in his room, but despite Laz’s indifference, she didn’t feel like it was being held against her. That allowed her to relax as she focused on calming herself down.
"I won’t mince words, all of you are pretty slow and weak. I know some of you tried using your energy and natural abilities to go faster and I also know that your confused that it didn’t work. Well, there is a reason for that," Laz said, eyeing the group. While he had to admit that the sight of forty almost naked women in front of him was enough to make his blood boil, he also knew that focusing on his task was more important. It also helped him in that this whole experience caused him to have Kat’s face stuck in his head and therefore kept his mind free of other distractions... for the most part.
"Uruz reversed and Thurisaz... combined correctly and what they are doing is sapping whatever energy your body emits and sends it away. Basically, the shirt is like a battery that you’re constantly feeding your energy to and because of that, it draws it away from you every second it is on your skin. This not only allows you to focus on just training your body without shortcuts, but also allows you to work on your energy control. If you’re able to perfect it, then it would allow you block off the energy drain. Until then, it’s a good way to wear each of you out."
This was something Laz had come up with after going through Vivi’s super course on runes. Although things had happened and he had never tried it, he did know that when he was recovering after having lost his connection to his energy, the workouts he did felt far more draining than anything he had done with his abilities. Therefore, he had a good idea that this would work. Now that he was putting it into practice, he knew he had been right.
Everyone of the forty women in front of him looked at him with various expressions. Some were amazed and grateful, others looked like they wanted to kill him. After all, when the mistress and elder announced they would be doing a group training to improve themselves, they had never imagined that it would be this difficult. The truth of the matter was that each of them, Gia included, had gotten so used to their own energy supporting them that they forgot what it was like to be human with a human’s limitations. Had they had access to their energy while doing this run, even the slowest of them would have completed it in half the time.
"From now on, these shirts will be worn every morning of your training and we will be doing so five days of the week. There will also be a special class on Saturday if you’re interested. Obviously if you decide not to come then you will be assigned to guard duty or so I hear to cover those who would normally be here. Obviously, if we were only going to have you run, that wouldn’t be something you need me for. Although each session will start with a jog to get your blood pumping, I am here for another reason. As these two ladies behind me have figured out, all of you are basically just glass figures. A bit too much pressure and each of you would break and shatter, just like that. So therefore, I’m going to be molding you from glass into iron... and you’re going to hate me for it. I expect that by the end of the time I’m here, each of you will want to kill me, some of you may even try. I welcome you to do so. It means that I’m getting to you. I can only hope that none of you will break that easy when you realize that even if you come at me together, none of you are a match for me. Now then, on to the second part of todays training. You all are going to stand in this line and not move. You’re not allowed to fall, you’re not allowed to talk, you’re not to do anything but stand there. These two sadists will be my enforcers... to ensure you keep standing. If you fall... well... they will make sure that you get shocked back awake, understood?"
"Uh..."
"What the fuck is going on.."
"What is this maniac doing?"
"Are you fucking for real right now?"
A power shot out from Laz, a wave of suppression that acted like a storm, covering all forty of the women at once. Just as they were distracted, it hit them, causing many of them to stumble while some of them actually fell over from it. Just as they hit the ground, balls of light hit them, causing their bodies to convulse as they once again stood on their feet out of fear of getting hit again.
Laz had simply projected a bit of his bloodlust on to the waiting crowd. On a normal solder, it would have little to no effect. But on these women, it was far more than they had ever experienced.
Perhaps only a few girls were fine, the ones near Gia. They had killed before, like her and this wasn’t anything stressful for them. Knowing that his was going to happen, Laz brought out a small statue from his pouch that he always carried with him. The statue itself wasn’t anything special, just a depiction of a roman gladiator that he had found in Gretchen’s house and asked to borrow. The special part about it was the energy battery that Laz had attached to it’s base to power a run he had carved into the figure’s shield. The battery was one that he had obtained from the outpost outing that he had gone on with Ruby. While the strength of the energy stones the order was mining was much higher, the battery was much more regulated and therefore easier to control.
One the run lit up, pressure descended on the group around Gia as they felt their much more human bodies start to sink down to the ground.
"Until we get to a level that will affect you all, this will be your training. HORSE STANCE!" Laz shouted as the group complied. Laz walked around them while balls of light blasted out, hitting girls from the other group would sometimes be overwhelmed and require a shock to get back in a stand position. Sometimes he would correct their posture, other times he would make them squat lower until each of them was at a similar level of body stress. No matter how strong they were, this was a type of torture for them.
Well, except for Gia, who smiled as she voluntarily squatted lower when Laz didn’t adjust her stance. Due to her spread legs and arms back while her palms were squared with her side, her shit had come up to just below her waist, causing her to be exposed. While the tee shirts were originally long enough to act like a short dress, Gia’s stance was one that just flaunted it. Seeing this, Laz just shook his head even though she was staring right at him as though challenging him.
’Yeah. I don’t know what you think this is... but I think even you will hate me when this is over,’ Laz thought to himself.
Leaving the gravity group, he instead made his way through the other group who had finally stopped falling down. As he walked through, he made certain to stop in front of each woman and look her square in the eyes. Most of them turned their eyes away, afraid to meet his gaze. But when he came across the first one who scowled at him as though she wanted to attack him, he Laz lashed out and slapped her across the face, sending her flying to the ground and almost hitting the woman next to her.
"WHAT THE FUCK?"
"YOU FUCKER!"
"YOU LITTLE DICK BITCH!"
"I’M GOING TO BEAT YOUR ASS!"
Curses and threats came from all around as many of the women who had watched that happen came charging at Laz at once. Or they tried to, until dozens of balls of light came flying over and hit all of them at least once, including the girl on the ground who was rubbing her cheek. After all, Laz hadn’t put any force into it, not enough for an infected to fall over even with her energy sealed. It was mostly surprise that had caused her to fall.
"BACK IN LINE AND STAND STILL!" Laz ordered, his voice booming as he increased the amount of bloodlust he was giving off.
That, mixed with the balls of shocking energy and the increasingly scary nature of what was happening made everyone hurry to obey his orders.
Laz didn’t move from the spot as the girl stood right back in front of him, tears in her eyes but the scowl gone from her face, replaced instead with one of anger and fear that made her avoid his eyes.
"Oh. I guess to make this more interesting, you all can move from your spots for only one reason... and that would be to fight me. If that’s what you wish, just put up the first two fingers on your right hand and point them at me while you walk towards me. This will allow you to get to me without being zapped. The moment you at are within five feet though, I will accept your challenge and fight you," Laz said, putting on what he thought was an arrogant smile while demonstrating.
"Oh. One Last thing by the way. These shorts of mine are more than just for looks. They are actually draining my energy the same as yours, so I won’t be able to fight you as anything other than an ordinary man. And let me add that it was pretty hard to get them to do that since I had to use a whole different rune set and even layers of them..." Laz had walked to the front as he was talking not really paying attention to anything other than his own words. As he did so, several of the braver women had already made the gesture and were walking towards him quickly as though itching to rip his head off.
AS soon as they realized that Gretchen and Wilma were shooting at them, several more joined them as well, wanting to vent their frustration.
Gretchen and Wilma just smiled and let them do as Laz had said.
"I mean I guess I should have worn like... I don’t know... swimming trunks, since that would have given me much more room to work with.. But these hold a special meaning and I just felt..."
The girls had started running at Laz as soon as they left the line, charging for the chance to be first while Laz had his back turned. But the moment they stepped within five feet, Laz’s voice cut off as he flashed into action. The first girl he slapped to the side, using enough force to knock her sidewise and out of it. The next he slammed a fist into her stomach, causing her to fall forward and start puking her guts out. After that, he handled all of his attackers one after another after another with one move each.
At the end of it, he sat down on top of two of them that had fallen on to each other and laid the final attacker down over his knee. She just so happened to be the one who he had lightly slapped earlier who had started this whole thing.
In front of the thirty women of both groups who were still standing, he proceeded to spank her naked ass as though she were a disobedient child and he were her father.
"If you fail in your challenge, then you will be punished of course. That’s just the way the world works. And don’t think I will go easy on any of you who dares to challenge me. Be prepared for broken bones and broken pride. If you’re going to do something, you’d better be serious because out here... I MAKE THE RULES!"
Watching Laz act like a tyrant, Gretchen and Wilma whispered back and forth.
"This... is this too much?"
"This is just child’s play for what’s to come. It’s not like he’s raping them although I told him I didn’t care if he did."
"But this..."
"It this breaks them, then so be it. How much did we have to survive through in this life to be here? Besides, imagine just how mentally strong they will be if they survive this."
"I hope you’re right Gretch..."
"Me too. But I trust in him."
