Immortal Ki Technique 77 Hope

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Lowen and the man led the remaining people out of the cave, in the end, there were a total of 132 survivors. 30 of them were young children both boys and girls while the rest were all women. When they made it outside and into the light they all couldn't help but squinch their eyes painfully. After a few moments, their eyes adjusted to the sun and they could finally see who had rescued them. Seeing Lowen, most of them couldn't believe it and were left in a daze. A child no older then any of the children here had somehow saved them all. Not only that, this young child had somehow defeated Rize and his soldiers. The thoughts of that ran through their heads all lead to one conclusion, Miracle. When the prisoners had just gotten over their initial shock, they then looked at their second rescuer and once more became shocked. One of them couldn't help but shout when she saw this figure.

"B...BENJAMIN!"

Lowen looked at the man called Benjamin and his eyes widened in surprise.

(No wonder, no wonder he looked familiar the first time I saw him. The way his face is shaped, that nose and those eyes. His face is closely related to Ben's, no it is related to little Ben's.)

Lowen turned to Benjamin with a look of annoyance.

"Are your kids named Nia and Ben?"

The man hearing his children's names from this powerful young one was confused. He didn't understand how or why Lowen knew.

"They are but how did you know that?"

Lowen's expression of annoyance didn't change as he answered back.

"You have Nia's eyes and your face is shaped like Ben's or rather they have your features I should say."

Benjamin immediately grew excited, he ran over and grabbed Lowen by the shoulders and lifted him up in antic.i.p.ation.

"You, you know my kid's? How? Why? Forget that, my kids are they doing ok? Are they still in Sento?"

Ben rattled away with question after question and after each one, his voice got higher and higher and his hands began to tremble and shake, he was almost too afraid to know the answer. At the same time, his spit was starting to fly and some of it had even been sprayed in Lowen's face causing him to grow impatient with anger. Lowen raised his hand above Benjamin's head and with one quick chop, Lowen struck the very center of Benjamin's forehead.

*Whack*

Benjamin immediately dropped Lowen and staggered backward, grasping his forehead in pain. He looked at Lowen with equal parts confusion and equal parts anger. With fury in his voice, he roared.

"What the h.e.l.l did you do that for?"

Lowen in return yelled back.

"You idiot, you were yelling and spitting in my face so of course I'm gonna hit you. Your lucky I didn't do worse."

"What, you hit me over something so trivial as a little bit of saliva. You had just mentioned my kids and you know i haven't seen them in so long, so of courseI'mim gonna get excited, yet you hit me, what's wrong with you?"

Lowen became more and more annoyed the longer Benjamin spoke.

"I don't care what you're excited about, don't make others suffer for it and another thing, just when in the h.e.l.l were you going to tell me your name or that your Nia and Ben's dad. Were you just gonna wait until we b.u.mped into each other at the dinner table?"

Benjamin looked at Lowen in confusion before it suddenly clicked.

"What you little brat, you're staying at my house."

Benjamin's words suddenly paused before he pointed accusingly at Lowen.

"Did you... Did you touch my precious little girl?"

To that question, Lowen's head tilted to the side as he stared at Benjamin like he was an idiot.

"What?"

"Don't what me, just answer me truthfully, did you touch my little girl?"

To this, Lowen could only shake his head no. Although he was, in fact, an old man, this body of his, however, was only about 7 years old. Not only did he not think of Nia as a woman in any way shape or form, but the truth was, his body didn't have any l.u.s.tful desires at all. This body of his had yet to go through p.u.b.erty and so he had no s.e.x drive. Besides all of his powerful attributes, his body was still that of a child's.

"No, and to me, Nia is like a little sister."

Benjamin stared at Lowen for a moment processing his words but could he believe someone so monstrous. It was then that Benjamin's thought of something.

"Nia is like a little sister, what the h.e.l.l do you mean by that? The way you act and the way you speak, you don't sound like a child at all and now you say my daughter is like a little sister to you, Just how old are you really?"

Lowen realized his mistake he shouldn't have said little sister but he also wondered if Benjamin was actually smart or not. That is until Benjamin's next words left his mouth.

"You, could you actually be a weird elf in disguise. You look like a child but in reality, your a 200-year-old short man going after peoples innocent daughters. You, you're a fiend."

Lowen once more grew angry at this idiots nonsense.

"You're not the brightest are you, but since your Nia and Ben's dad I'll let it go, so do me a favor and quit spouting bulls.h.i.t."

Lowen's words had the opposite effect of what he wanted. To Benjamin the act of Lowen not denying it and then Lowen basically calling him stupid, the old short-fused Benjamin made his appearance and with a low shout, he leaped at Lowen.

"Ah, you dare mess with my daughter."

Swinging the wolf battle hammer at Lowen, Lowen easily avoided it. Benjamin wasn't disparaged and continued forward, swinging and punching at air. Lowen with his quick steps would again and again easily avoid Benjamin's strikes only increasing Benjamin's anger.

"You little s.h.i.t, face me."

Hearing Benjamin's provocations, Lowen himself had quickly run out of patience. Why did he need to take this abuse? He had told Benjamin the truth and yet he still didn't believe him. on top of that, it was Lowen who had rescued Benjamin and now he's accusing him of foulness. Lowen's eyes sharpened and as Benjamin rushed forward, Lowen went forward as well to intercept. Benjamin swung down at Lowen with a heavy force, not intending to kill but at least to teach Lowen a lesson. Lowen though was having none of it. As the hammer closed in on him, Lowen simply extended one hand.

*Thud*

The ground cracked under Lowen's feet by an inch or so but he didn't move back even half a step, yet the hammer had come to a complete stop. Benjamin was surprised, to say the least. He knew Lowen was strong but he hadn't witnessed Lowen's strength first hand. Seeing this now, however, Benjamin was feeling regret but he couldn't stop with his daughter's innocence on the line. Benjamin prepared for another strike and went to pull the heavy hammer back but again was shocked to find he couldn't budge it even an inch. Lowen smiled at him smugly before lifting his other hand and throwing out a simple punch.

*THUD*

Benjamin's body was separated from the heavy battle hammer and he was sent flying more than 20 ft. As his body crashed into the ground, it was only now that he realized just how strong Lowen truly was. Looking down at his chest, Benjamin could feel that a few of his ribs had been cracked. A strong taste of metal filled his mouth as he spit a bit of blood onto the ground. Standing up, Benjamin looked at Lowen wearily as cold sweat poured from his brow. All of the surrounding people were astonished, they could now believe that Lowen had truly been the one that saved them.

As an awkward silence began to fill the air, it was then that Roland had made his way over. Seeing the two fighting, Roland had wanted to stop them immediately but before he could say anything it was already over. Standing in front of Lowen, Roland asked.

"Is it done?"

Lowen gave a small nod.

"It's over, Rize and his plans are no more, we won."

Roland, hearing these words felt his legs grow weak as a wave of relief washed over him. Roland now felt incredibly tired and yet still he held onto some guilt. Roland shifted his gaze at Benjamin and he instantly knew why. Before he could deal with it though, a few people were running over to him while crying.

"Chief, you came for us."

"Chief, this boy saved us."

Again and again, calls for their Chief echoed out as the few villagers that were from Sento recognized their leader. Roland looked over the crowd of women and children and could see they were desperate for something, for some form of comfort. Roland spread his arm out and the crowd's murmurs became soft and quiet. Roland filled his voice with authority and spoke.

"Everyone, I must say this to you here and now."

Roland got down on his hands and knees and slammed his head into the ground hard.

"IM SORRY!!"

The women and children hearing this were left confused as Roland continued.

"Kidnapped, beaten, broken, ravished, starved, all of this is my fault. I can never know the true extent at which you have all suffered and I know there's no going back to normal after what you have all been through. But I swear this here and now, no matter what, you are still my people and I will always take care of you."

As Roland's words continued, the women and children began to collapse to their knees in anguish and grief. Every one of them broke out into tears and cried painfully. They had suffered untold horrors never knowing why or how they came to be there, only knowing that there was their personal h.e.l.l. After a while, their hearts had closed them selfs off, they couldn't allow themselves to feel or the thoughts and feelings would drive them to insanity. Now though, Roland was giving them the one thing they truly wished for, hope, a hope of something, a hope of anything. Many had witnessed their husbands killed as they lay in bed next to them. Many had been separated from all those they cared about for an entire year. They couldn't ask for normal, they couldn't ask for anything but despite that Roland had given them something greater, hope.

As Roland finished his words the crying slowly died down and there was a long silence. Finally, Roland felt a frail touch upon his shoulder, slowly lifting his head, a thin woman looked at him. As a small smile weakly spread across her face the woman's thin lips parted and she said.

"I forgive you."

Lowen didn't know what to make of this situation. Roland had seemingly become a different person over these last few months but Lowen still wasn't sure if he had truly changed. Seeing this now, hearing his heartfelt words, Lowen believed. Even if he didn't want to, there was no denying it.

Roland slowly stood up and made his way over to Benjamin, there was still one more thing he had to do. Roland and Benjamin walked a little bit away and Roland told Benjamin everything about how his kids were treated and how he did nothing to stop it. Benjamin's became furious at first but then he realized something, this whole situation was mostly his fault. Not only that, his kids from Roland had said were now doing better than everyone else in the whole village thanks to Lowen. Benjamin had been through h.e.l.l but he somehow made it out alive and his kids were safe what more could he ask for. Benjamin punched Roland hard in the face breaking his nose, sending him to the ground. As Roland stared up at Benjamin fearfully, Benjamin then extended his hand and helped him up.

"I forgive you."

After the two came back and people saw Roland's b.l.o.o.d.y face, they were immediately alarmed but after a quick explanation, everything was settled.

Lowen went back into the cave in search of some food for everyone, if they were to make the 2 and half day journey back to Sento then they would need rations. Inside, Lowen had found all the food they needed and then some. This place had to feed more than a thousand goblins, so of course, there was enough. As Lowen made his way around the cave, he had also found Rize's personal dwelling, inside he found a few jewels and around 300 gold coins but to Lowen, his biggest discovery was the notes left behind by Rize. Inside one of the notes, in particular, Rize had mentioned that purple chunk. Lowen had now found a clue. After quickly stuffing it into his chest pocket, Lowen once more left the cave.

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After having a meal, almost everyone had now fallen asleep. After being freed from that cave and then after who knows how long being allowed to eat to their fill and after running through all of those emotions, everyone became exhausted. As the people around him slept, only Lowen, Roland, and Benjamin were now awake. Looking at the tattered state everyone was in, a sudden thought came to Lowen.

(Now that I'm in the aura body stage, I can truly extend my ki outside of my body, I wonder.)

Lowen sat in the meditative position and slowly circulated his ki. In conjunction with his earth energy, Lowen extended his power to everyone around him and with a thought, he began to heal everyone. If he were just at aura body stage this might not be possible but after that purple chunk gifted his mind with that powerful energy, Lowen's thought process ad doubled or possibly even tripled. He could now split his thoughts even more and control his power, allowing him to heal multiple people around him at once. After a few minutes Lowen would heal 3 more people around him and when he was finished he would heal three more. In this way, Lowen quickly healed them all. Roland could feel Lowen's strange energy enveloping people but thought nothing of it as it only seemed to help. After only glancing at him for a few moments, Roland went about his own business and ignored it.

Benjamin, seeing that Lowen was busy, still held some gripe with him and thought this to be the perfect moment to go and bug him. Walking over, Benjamin sat down right in front of Lowen with a heavy.. *Thump* Lowen already knew his intentions and instead took the initiative and spoke.

"I didn't touch your daughter, she's like a sister to me and I would never do anything to cross that line."

Benjamin was briefly taken aback and for a moment he was silent. Thinking over what Roland told him, he knew that it was Lowen who had not only saved his kids but had taken care of them and protected them for over half a year. Benjamin looked curiously at Lowen and then said.

"You swear?"

Lowen opened both of his eyes and stared at Benjamin with all seriousness.

"I swear."

Benjamin released a long sigh and said.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For looking after my kids, Roland told me what you did."

Lowen said no words and instead simply nodded.

Once again, silence filled the air but only for a moment.

"Lowen."

"What?"

Benjamin paused for a second and stared at Lowen with puppy dog eyes. Lowen was shocked for a moment because little Ben had made those exact same eyes when he wanted s...o...b..rry juice. Seeing little Ben do it was cute but seeing Benjamin do it was absolutely disgusting. Lowen scooted backward a few feet and again reiterated.

"What? What is it? What the h.e.l.l do you want? You're creeping me out."

Benjamin took no offense to this and continued looking at Lowen with puppy dog eyes. Finally, he said in a shy voice.

"My hammer, can...can you please give it back."

Lowen almost fell over in aggravation.

(That's what he wanted, d.a.m.n this man is greedy.)

Lowen looked at Benjamin and quickly tucked the hammer behind himself and said.

"No way old man, finders keepers."

Benjamin's mood quickly switched from one of a beggar to a demonic beast and he yelled at Lowen trying to explain.

"You little s.h.i.t, I lost that because of Rize, its still mine so hand it over."

Benjamin lunged at Lowen and Lowen quickly stepped back.

"You lost this more than a year ago, its mine now, so get your own."

The two began arguing louder and louder, waking everyone up. Just as it looked as if it were getting serious, Lowen struck down with a chop to Benjamin's forehead.

*THUD*

Benjamin slammed into the ground face first, he was out cold.