A Crooked Grin

The two walked for another quarter of an hour along the dirt road overgrown with wild grass. The trees around them grew denser, their interlocking branches and leaves blotting out the sky and letting barely any sunlight through. Whenever the wind blew, the leaves rustled with an eerie chill.

Suddenly, Aris came to an abrupt stop. His shoulders bobbed as he forced a sound from his throat.

"Geh heh heh... geh heh..." It was a strange laugh, shrill and hoarse enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Riyao frowned as he listened. Without thinking, he raised a hand and slapped the back of Aris's head. It landed with a crisp smack, not particularly hard, but full of disdain.

"Geh heh my ass! Would it kill you to talk normally? You sound like an old hen being strangled. You're making me physically sick."

The slap sent Aris stumbling. He staggered a couple of steps, clutching the back of his head and grimacing in pain. The eerie atmosphere he had created shattered instantly.

He turned around in fury, his face and neck red as he roared, "Riyao! You fucking dare hit me?! Let me tell you, we've already got you surrounded! You couldn't escape even if you had wings!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a rustling came from the dense woods around them, and more than a dozen mages emerged one after another. There were indeed quite a few of them, but their looks...

Riyao stared wide-eyed. Some sported colorful kill-matt hairstyles, reds, greens and purples like an overturned tray of dyes, with enough gel in their hair to reflect light.

Some wore ripped denim jackets and jeans with one pant leg longer than the other. Iron chains hung from their waists, clinking as they walked.

Others wore dark smoky makeup, their eyeshadow smeared on as if someone had punched them twice and their lips painted a bruised purple-black. No matter how Riyao looked at them, they resembled non-mainstream types who had just crawled out of their graves.

Aris seemed quite pleased with his people's looks. He spat into his palm with a "ptoo," rubbed his hands together, then swept one hand back over his greasy hair.

He forcibly slicked his bangs into a slant reaching all the way to his ear, then twisted his lips into a wicked, alluring smile that he evidently thought was handsome.

"Riyao, if you know what's good for you, hand over the treasure and magic books you've got! I might consider sparing your life and letting you run with us, so you can live it up!"

The Buried Love Family members around him immediately chimed in. Some pounded their chests and laughed wildly, their iron chains clattering.

Others stood on tiptoe to peer at what Riyao was carrying, their eyes shining.

Looking at the bunch of oddly dressed characters, Riyao couldn't help bursting into laughter along with them, slapping his thigh.

"Heh heh, if we can get this healing mage working for me, we'll definitely be able to hold our heads high among the dark guilds!"

A green-haired kill-matt rubbed his hands together, staring greedily at Riyao.

"Treasure... want treasure..."

A short, fat underling drooled, staring fixedly in the direction where Riyao had put his gold coins. Those were the only words he kept muttering.

"Heh heh heh, this young man's got such delicate skin, slurp..."

An underling with pink-dyed hair and heavy makeup licked his lips, his eyes glued to Riyao's face. His tone was positively dripping with sleaze.

"I'll take good care of you..."

As soon as he spoke, a purple-haired underling in smoky makeup beside him suddenly stamped his foot and cried in a pinched voice, "You bastard! Are you really leaving me for him? Have you forgotten all the vows we made to each other?!"

Riyao's laughter stopped abruptly. The smile froze on his face, his lips twitching and his eyes full of disgust.

Wanting his treasure was one thing, and he could put up with them coveting his magic books, but they actually coveted his good looks too? Even that was one thing, but it was a man?! Damn him!

Aris hadn't noticed what was going through Riyao's mind. Still holding his crooked grin, he added smugly,

"Riyao, don't be ungrateful! As long as you join our Buried Love Family, we can give you a striking look of your very own: a rainbow-colored afro with black eyeliner, eight more ear piercings and skull studs in every one. I guarantee you'll be the center of attention wherever you go!"

The Buried Love members immediately cheered. The green-haired underling raised his iron chain and shouted, "Join Buried Love, rule with your looks!"

The pink-haired underling swayed his hips and chimed in, "Stop resisting and embrace true love!"

The purple-haired underling was still wiping away tears. "Unless he agrees to share with me, I'll never accept it!"

Riyao took a deep breath and slowly raised his hand, a faint green light flickering at his fingertips. His earlier smile was gone, replaced by the disgust of someone so traumatized that he wanted to hit somebody.

"Your lousy family... and those lousy looks..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the golden Fairy Tail guild emblem on his chest suddenly blazed with dazzling light!

Golden lines spread from the emblem, crawling up his neck and across his limbs and face. The Hundred Battles Spell Formula activated in an instant, and magic mixed with life force surged through his body like a tide. Even the air around him rippled with gold. The previously faint green and gold magic energy abruptly soared, and his aura surged!

He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking. One corner of his mouth rose uncontrollably, almost replicating Aris's crooked grin.

"Fuck!"

Riyao suddenly caught himself and raised a hand to pinch the corner of his mouth shut.

Damn it! This bunch of non-mainstream weirdos has warped my style! I absolutely can't let them assimilate me!

When he let go, his face had assumed an arrogant, mocking smile. "Geh heh heh, you ignorant trash, you've got it backward! You haven't surrounded me. I'm the one who's surrounded you!"

"Boom!"

With a deafening boom, the ground beneath Riyao's feet instantly split apart. Weblike cracks spread in all directions, sending stones flying.

His figure vanished from the spot as if he had teleported, leaving only a golden afterimage. The pressure of the wind swept up fallen leaves and dust, forming a small whirlwind.

The next instant, Riyao appeared where the crowd was thickest, like a wolf among sheep!

The green-haired underling screamed as he flew backward. The magic energy had somehow smoothed down most of his stiff afro, leaving his gelled hair plastered limply against his scalp. In an instant, he went from "ruling with his looks" to "background extra."

"Great Mercy and Compassion Gatling Fist, muda muda muda muda..."

"Treasure... my treasure..."

Before the short, fat underling number three could react, Riyao backhanded him in the stomach. The impact of the golden magic energy sent him rolling away like a ball, scattering the loose change he had secretly tucked inside his clothes across the ground.

Riyao moved like lightning, weaving freely through the crowd. As his fists flew, green healing magic energy and golden attack magic energy exploded in alternation.

The pink-haired underling had just tried to come over and "take care" of him when Riyao drove a knee into his stomach. The impact smeared his greasy, heavy makeup into a mess, and he flew away, wailing for his parents.

The purple-haired underling was still wiping away tears when Riyao casually swatted him into a tree like a kite with its string cut. His smoky makeup smeared all over his face, making him look just like a panda.

Aris was scared out of his wits, his earlier arrogance completely gone. He turned and tried to run.

"Impossible! How can a healing mage like you be so good at fighting?!"

"Huh? Your information gathering is complete garbage. You actually came looking for trouble without properly learning about me."

"Ah—my hair!"

Aris let out a piercing scream as a punch slammed him into the ground, embedding his head directly in the dirt. His carefully applied hair gel had completely failed him, and his hair was a dusty mess. His crooked grin had turned into a mournful grimace.

The Buried Love Family members around him were scared shitless. No longer daring to act wildly, they either fled with their hands over their heads or were so frightened that their legs gave out and they dropped to their knees, begging for mercy.

In the once-eerie forest, all that remained were screams and pleas for mercy rising and falling, along with the echo of Riyao's strange "geh heh heh" laugh.

Sure enough, his own "geh heh heh" laugh was more satisfying.