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.
Celestia had learnt of Zeke’s meeting with Teresa Moon, but even though the night had fallen, he hadn’t come back yet.She was in the villa along with Jack, Signora, Angel, Katrina, Wolfie, and Sulong.“He’s not answering… Did something really happen?”Sulong looked a bit nervous as he put down his phone. If this was the General’s doing, then, considering Zeke’s flashy skills, there would have been a big commotion, which would have reached Celestia’s ears by now.However, there was literally no news whatsoever.“Hm?”Celestia and Katrina were the first to hear the sounds coming from outside.“Enemies. Get ready!”The moment Celestia spoke those words, everyone got into position. Katrina unsheathed her blades and stood close to Angel.Red flames wrapped around Sulong’s fists, and a white glow burst from Signora’s body.The wall-sized windows leading to the garden were shattered as a couple of smoke bombs were thrown inside. However, before the mist could spread, Celestia extended her
“How’s this going to help us?”Zeke stared at the 2 meter-long metal rod in Frederic’s hand. It looked like an unremarkable rod rather than an actual artifact.“Technically, it is an artifact. A conductor and storage for Aether. There are several of these inside the Mother Starship and it facilitates the flow of Aether.”He sighed and tested the rod, “Unlike you, I can store and use only a limited quantity of Aether. I require somesort of a boost, so to speak. Okay… the ship is going down so he’s what we’re going to do…”…The Mother Starship, which was the size of a small mountain, fell down from the sky and brought with it explosions and flames.The sight was horrifying, especially from a spectator’s point of view.There was a deafening rumbling and a bright flash of light as it was about to crash on the coast.The Special Agents sent by the Minister had kept their distances and raised layers upon layers of small barriers.There was even a magical wall that surrounded the entire cap
“This place should be safe.”Julia Lopmore took them to a spacious underground banker South of the city.The energetic girl from five years ago had matured a lot, either in terms of attitude or appearance. However, as she laid low and avoided public attention, no one really knew what she had been doing the past couple of years.“Thank you.”Celestia, who was the unofficial leader of their small group, bowed toward Julia.They didn’t have a place to hide as the General surely knew all their bases. They could have gone to the company, but that would involve other people.The Lightning Flame Mercenaries might have grown in popularity and become nationally recognized, but they were still a small organization compared to the Department of Defense.Moreover, as Zhang attacked them in their villa, it was apparent that he didn’t care about the public attention it might consequently bring.“We still cannot contact Zeke.” Said Azmer as he let out a heavy sigh and glanced at Cecilia.The old Imp
As she witnessed the slaughter, the young Layla turned around and puked. Even though she was a mercenary, she wasn’t used to such brutal sights. Admittedly, Zeke’s voltage had burned almost all the bodies, but some were blown to pieces or filled with bloody and gaping holes.Even Vins looked disturbed as he tried to not look at the gore and blood. In contrast, Kiam Hells and George Mill weren’t the least bit affected. The former hailed from a tribe of warriors and the latter had been a veteran soldier for more than a decade before joining the Lightning Flame.It was a horrifying sight to see a young man kill so many people so fast and with ease. Any doubts any of them had harboured toward his strength was not replaced by fear and awe.When Layla saw Zeke stare at her and the other three and then approach them, she got a little bit tense.“I remember seeing you. You’re one of the mercenaries?”“They’re our finest, actually.”Young Jeremy, whose handcuffs were broken by the voltage, sto
“.... What?”Although his plan was successful, General Zhang was flabbergasted when he heard the shocking news.The Mother Starship had crashed into the Eastern coast of the Nezulian Republic. The subsequent explosion reached the capital, but Bhak Djinn had acted fast and set up layers of barriers that absorbed most of the damage.“He escaped…”The red-haired man sat on his chair and shook his head, still processing what happened. He knew that Zeke was taken by the Zyth, which made the timing of his attack perfect. However, Zeke’s fast escape was totally out of his expectations.Even if he was the Holder of the Paths of Extinction System, it was still surprising to see him not only escape but bring ruin to the Zyth’s starship.“He has been sighted with Frederic Whitefort. It is highly likely that they are now working together.”The General frowned, his expression turning colder. As if things couldn’t get worse, an agent entered the room and reported on the incident that happened in fr
“Hate me and resent me all you want, but the truth remains: I gain nothing by backstabbing you right now. Even if I manage to get your System, which isn’t possible due to how strong you’ve become, I’ll still have to start from scratch. I wouldn’t be able to resist the Dead Ends. I might survive, but what use is that when everyone is dead?”Frederic stared back at Zeke, his voice and expression both serious. “If you succeed in destroying the Dead Ends and want to get rid of your System, then I can relieve you of it. How does that work?”There was a hint of desperation in the Vagabond’s words. He genuinely didn’t know if Zeke would accept or would just kill him there and now.After an inordinate silence, Zeke spoke,“First, tell me what you know of the Dead Ends.”“Do I have your words that you won’t kill me?”“Prove yourself useful and make me change my mind. I’m disinclined to let someone like you free, especially after all the shit you did.”Frederic Whitefort let out a heavy sigh i
“Trying to find the facility that’s manufacturing the Artificial Dead Ends will take a lot of time. If you’re really hell-bent on killing the General, then why not attack the HQ of the Department of Defense?”Frederic nonchalantly spat that proposition right after his lengthy explanation of the System.“The HQ? There will be hundreds of Special Agents. It’s impossibl-”Vins objected but Frederic interrupted him,“Pipe down, will you? I wasn’t talking to you.”“You’re our captive, in case you forgot.” Kiam Hells approached Frederic and gave him a chilling glare, but he chuckled.“I’m Zeke’s captive, to be precise. If he wasn’t here, I’d have killed all of you already.”“I’d like to see you try, pumpkin head!” Blurted the young and pink-haired Layla.She stomped the ground and gave him a look of anger, but when he stared back at her, she fidgeted nervously and hid behind George Mill.“So… what’s the plan, Zeke? I think it would be best to wait for Celestia and the rest to contact us.”