“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.”
The battle was getting more intense as the two sides were going all-out.A couple of Special Agents had been killed or rendered incapacitated. As for Celestia’s group, they weren’t as lucky as to remain unscathed throughout the fight.Bibi and Maxwell Lepard, whose roles were to offer tactical support, got heavily wounded and almost killed. Were it not for Signora’s timely magic, their bodies would have been blasted to nothingness by the barrage of flashy magic coming from inside the building.Sulong and Signora glanced at each other and nodded. The former then shouted atop his lungs,“We’ll take care of them. You all charge inside!”Thereafter, a pillar of crimson fire burst from his body, followed by an ear-piercing creepy roar, emitted by none other than the flame itself!The ghostly wraith-like silhouette appeared above Velvet Signora’s body, puppeteering her body like a marionette. Her hands were extended forward as they let out a blinding flash of light that split into many lase
“I’ll stay a bit behind. I wouldn’t want to get caught up in whatever is going to happen.” As they rushed into the building, Frederic suddenly halted his feet and muttered those words before dashing to the side. Although his actions were suspicious, Zeke didn’t have the time to chase or stop him. Frederic was weaker than he was, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have been able to escape if he had wanted to, and that meant that he was willingly following Zeke. Within two minutes, Zeke found General Zhang inside a spacious room filled with the Artificial Ends. Celestia and the rest were also there. “Zeke!” Celestia, Azmer, Xiao, and Ava were inside somesort of translucent bubble that constantly released waves made of Aether. They didn’t seem to be physically injured, but their faces were pale due to the effects of the fog. Zeke moved his eyes to the back of the room, where clashing sounds could be heard. He saw Cecilia moving around and attacking the General from a distance. The
Zeke found himself back in the Extinction Order after confirming the System notification.He wasn’t alone, Velvet Signora and Sulong Braveheart were also there. The couple were startled to suddenly find themselves in this ethereal place.“Zeke? What happened? The sky turned red and there was an earthquake.”As he saw the confused and anxious looks of the two of them, Zeke took a deep breath and explained the situation.Before he got transported here, he was sure that the System had teleported him out of the Department of Defense HQ, but he wasn’t able to see his destination as it happened too fast.“What about the General? And Angel.”“The General isn’t a threat anymore. The real danger is the Dead Ends. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it won’t be good. You must regroup with Celestia and the rest.”Zeke paused for a bit and frowned, “If the Dead Ends are really upon us, then there won’t be any safe places. You must resist it until I can reach you.”[Time remaining in the Exti