Azmer and Maxwell Lepard came to pick up Zeke right after his meeting with the General.Zeke was curious, but neither of the two asked any of his questions. Besides the initial greetings, they remained silent.Azmer seemed to have grown, his golden hair tied into a pony-tail. He had a mature and serious demeanor exuding from him, and he acted like a disciplined agent.Maxwell, who was driving, kept sneaking glances at Zeke.The drive to the Capital took several hours, but only because they avoided the highways or roads in which there were any government troops.Zeke could sense Cecilia nearby, actually standing on top of the rapidly-moving car. It didn’t seem like Azmer or his friend were aware of her presence. Admittedly, however, Zeke could feel an impressive quantity of Aether within Azmer’s body. Undoubtedly, the youth who had once been his bully had grown considerably, mentally and physically.He and Zeke had already cleared their feud and were no longer enemies, so to speak. T
“You don’t think he’s going to sit back and watch, right? In fact, I guarantee that he’s devising a plan on how to take you down. He’ll exploit your weakness and aim for your family and friends. Speaking of which…”Teresa King let out a sigh and continued, “I spoke to Edward Orland, your brother. He refuses to join forces with me. ““Why?”“Because he’s loyal to the General, that’s why! He seems to agree that the Imperials must be eradicated at any cost and no amount of reasoning will convince him otherwise.”“...”Teresa didn’t seem to be lying, which only added to Zeke’s confusion. Edward might be an agent under the General, but he was a kind and caring individual. He also took his job really seriously.Zeke had been back for less than a day, so he didn’t have the time to check up on everyone. Edward was generally in the HQ of the Department of Defense.As for Maxine, she and Zeke haven’t talked for a long time. Zeke had learnt that she became a teacher at Erys, but that was it. Sh
“Try not to destroy this place. Okay… start!”The moment Teresa gave the signal, all 8 Special Agents attacked.Ava was the first and fastest amongst them. She leapt forward as a burst of dark purple energy raged forth and descended upon Zeke.[Thunder Movement]His body crackled with blue lightning as instantly moved away. [Ground Wall]The dirt shook and a thick tall wall surged from the ground, blocking a massive fireball before crumbling.Zeke took out the shortbow and leapt in the air, firing multiple thunderous projectiles at the small machines controlled by Bibi.Xiao, Devan, and Franklin, all close-quarter specialists, rushed at him from three directions.[Rain of Arrows]Zeke pointed his bow upwards, which caused shiny voltage-imbued arrows to fall down all around him.Devan and Franklin used their black batons to block, but Xiao stomped the ground and thrust his special silver spear.Zeke was hit by a rapid and semi-invisible force, which blew him to the back. He gritted h
“You can drop me off here.”-ZekeOrdered by their boss, Azmer and the other Special Agents accompanied Zeke back to the Sunken Metropolis. They used two inconspicuous six-seater vehicles and travelled through dirt roads instead of the highway. Then again, General Zhang probably knew that Zeke would go meet Teresa.“Don’t worry about me. Just go and make yourselves useful!” That was what the Minister had said as some of the team members, specifically Ava, didn’t want to leave her alone in such a crucial and dangerous period of time.By lending help to Zeke Orland, Teresa had basically showcased her stance on this matter. She would no doubt be considered a traitor and dealt with accordingly.Still, she wasn’t a pushover, neither was she stupid enough to keep herself exposed to potential assassinations.“You too.”Cecilia got off the car with Zeke, but when he waved her hand, clearly gesturing for her to remain with the others, she frowned.They stopped just outside of the city and Zeke
It happened around 7 in the evening, when the sky had almost turned dark. Zeke had just left the graveyard only for several silhouettes to appear.They didn’t immediately attack, but they were holding oddly-shaped artifacts that pulsated with Aether.Blue lightning crackled around Zeke as he stared at the Zyth closest to him.Out of all the Zyth here, he only recognized this one, which only added to his surprise and confusion regarding their unexpected arrival.One of the professors at Erys, the Zyth known as Nayro. He was one of the few Zyth that lived on the Aether Planet rather than staying with the rest of his kin.“Zeke, my boy! It sure has been a long time.”Nayro was as cheerful as ever as he let out a joyful laugh.“Indeed it has.” Zeke swept his gaze across the other Zyths, which numbered no less than 20. They weren’t moving, but their wariness was more than apparent.“I suppose this illustrious company you brought is for me?”“It’s just a precaution, my boy! You’ve grown st
“What do you hope to achieve by bringing me here?”When he heard Zeke’s question, Viator’s beady eyes stopped their incessant movement and focused on the young man.“Instead of staying on your doomed planet, we want you to come with us. With your cooperation, we might be able to study the Paths of Extinction System. We are ready to accommodate you and anyone you want to bring along. We have no destination in mind and what little fuel we currently have is only enough to run away from the Dead Ends. Eventually, we will run out of fuel and be stranded in space, withering away with the passing of time. You store enough Aether in your body to fully power our Mother Starship and allow us to travel longer distances.”“If you know about the Systems, then you surely know that mine will interfere and force me to stay.”“Yes, we are aware of that. Our efforts for the past decades weren’t completely fruitless. We know how the Night Goddess resisted the System and emerged victorious. If you agree,
“Why did you do this?”After a short silence, a brave Zyth stepped out of hiding and glared at the human.“It was your kind that forcefully brought me here and planned to lock me up.”The Zyth, enraged, jumped at Zyth while unleashing a wave of vermillion flames.Unfortunately, the flames were overpowered by Zeke’s voltage. The Zyth, too, was blown away with ease.It was apparent that he wasn’t a fighter.“S-stop!”“Don’t!”Female and male Zyth rushed from all around and ran toward Zeke as they saw him about to attack again.“You attack me and then tell me to stop if I retaliate?”“Haven’t you killed enough of us? Our leader is dead!”Another Zyth stepped up and yelled atop her lungs. She looked like any other Zyth, only her outfit was different.The confrontation between Zeke and the remaining Zyth was short-lasting as an intense tremor assaulted the Mother Starship.The lights stopped working and there were a series of explosions happening from the way Zeke had come from.The Zyth f
Now that he had been freed, Frederic stood up and channelled his Aether. A sparkling white light coated around his body and healed some of the minor injuries.“Alright. First and foremost, I’m going to need you to unlock a new path.”“That’s your plan?”“It’s part of it. You can’t deny that, during our time together, I didn’t give you good advice on growing stronger and making perfect use of the System’s functionalities. It’s a shame that we turned into enemies, though.”“Spare me your pointless commentary.”Frederic let out a soft laugh and nodded. He raised his left hand and let out small bits of Aether.“Even though you only have one eye right now, I’m sure that your Aether sensitivity and Aether Control should be high enough to allow you to perceive Aether and even see it.”Zeke nodded as he stared at the somewhat disjointed flow of Aether that emanated from the Vagabond’s hand.“The path you’re going to unlock is a time-gated one, so you need to use your PE to quickly unlock it.