Captive Mate BL - Chapter 13: ++

One rule: Survive. Everything else is optional.Reika Kagetsu doesn’t want to be a hero. She just wants to feel—pain, fear, adrenaline—anything to remind her she’s still alive.Tenshiko Academy promised her that.What she got instead? Brutal training. No rest. No second chances. And monsters—inside and out.Now she’s fighting the Shikiban: creatures born from blood, madness, and buried secrets. But the deeper she goes, the more she begins to wonder...What if she’s one of them?Power always comes with a price. And Reika is about to pay it in full.

After years of exile, Marcus is coming back home. A powerful mage with few equals, Marcus lives in a world full of monsters and powerful adepts, many of which have bad histories with him. But he has not come back to pursue vengeance or start a fight. All Marcus wants to do is reconnect with old friends, build himself a house, and maybe train a successor or two.Alas, the world didn’t stop just because Marcus went into exile, and not everyone is content to let go of old grievances. Strange things are happening in the world at large, too, hinting at a looming disaster of unknown nature. Still, where there is a will, there is a way.If nothing else, Marcus has a lot of magical power to throw at problems.+++Zenith of Sorcery is set in its own original setting and isn’t related to Mother of Learning… beyond being written by the same person, of course. This is a more classical fantasy story than my previous one, with a lower level of technology and stuff like elves and dwarves, but it has a lot of worldbuilding effort put into it and its own complex magical system. The story has significant xianxia influences, but isn’t meant to be a xianxia story.For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I write relatively slowly. I intend to publish chapters at the rate of one chapter every three or four weeks, subject to further delays as life intervenes.

The good-natured Hou Yuxiao arrived in a martial arts world clearly divided between good and evil with a magical dual-colored lotus flower and became the Family Head of a small, insignificant Demon Path family in a county town, overseeing three younger brothers and a sister.The second brother was hot-tempered, the fourth brother was prone to fratricide, the youngest lived amongst the Demon Path but spent all day studying Confucian classics, and the only sister turned out to be a...Looking at the four problematic children, Hou Yuxiao fell into deep thought!It was a time of great contention,with Dynasties desperate for virtuous talents, seeking to stabilize their reign over The World,with sects dominating certain regions, aspiring to tower over all living beings,with families carrying on centuries of legacy, aiming to pursue happiness forever,with gangs reigning supreme, striving to build everlasting power,with academies resolving doubts and imparting knowledge, hoping people would promote the practice of farming and reading to future generations,...Thousand-Faced Handsome Man Hou Yuxiao, Black Extinction Demon Blade Hou Yucheng, Nation-Topping Demon Consort Hou Yuling, Blood Sword of Sunrise Hou Yujie, and Saint-Overturning Demon Confucian Hou Yuduan...Years later, looking back, the Hou Clan had already ascended to the pinnacle.

There is a very strange restaurant in the City of Sin.

Elves and dwarves must share a table, orcs are strangely well behaved, dragons are only welcomed on the small square in front of the restaurant, and the demons must bring their own stool.

This strange restaurant with their strange rules continuous to attract a long line of customers.

“This place serves the best food! The chef of this restaurant is a genius!” Some of the guests in the restaurant left glowing reviews. But these guests have a word of warning for other guests, “No matter what you do, never, never attempt to kidnap the boss or try to ‘eat and run’. You will die.”

A cute little girl stood near the door, and demanded in her tiny voice, “You have eaten the food, now pay up, or I will beat you to death.” The five-meter tall dragon suddenly felt a chill running up its spine.