=Strange, I figured someone his age would want to give up some bad memories.=
=Huh... that’s surprisingly deep of you.=
=Where’d you steal it from?=
<...alright, I got it from the pop culture section, there was a movie about a little girl and a robot that had to delete its own memories in order to do stuff.>
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A whole bunch of questions went through Harold’s mind when he saw that Zhen Liu had, for reasons beyond him, just shot his own fucking grandfather.
Why did he just shoot him?
Is he doing a weird last minute betrayal?
Why did it suddenly feel like Harold was holding an aether crystal that was increasingly becoming more and more unstable in his ar-
When Harold looked down at his hostage, he couldn’t help but notice that the leader of the Zhen Clan was glowing and releasing an increasingly denser and denser amount of aether by the second. It took one of those aforementioned seconds for him to realize that Zhen Shi was breaking through.
While it wasn’t visible to the public, Harold’s expression pailed greatly when he realized what was going on.
’Shit! I need to kill him, but where the hell do I toss him?!’
While Valresta was home to several different continents, each with their own taboos and customs, there was one rule that everyone respected: Don’t get near anyone in the middle of a breakthrough, unless you’re ready to die or at least three time stronger than them.
The reason for this rule was simple, the sheer amount of aether produced when someone breaks through tantamounts to an explosion that scales with the power difference between the ranks.
Thankfully this explosion rule only applied when someone has achieved a breakthrough, or some dumbass thinks it’s a good idea to try and kill someone mid-breakthrough.
When a Novice became an Acolyte, the power produced is enough to affect fifty centimeters with a light shockwave. Not enough to break anything, but enough to push someone back or knock over a vase.
When an Acolyte became a Master, the resulting explosion is enough to pulverize trees within two meters.
In the event a Master breaks through to Grandmaster, twenty meters.
With this scaling in mind, imagine how much power a Grandmaster to Lord releases, and how absolutely fucked anyone would be if they’re in pointblank range.
It should be noted though that the big sects and powers around the world have special chambers designed to contain this explosion of power, as well as siphon the excess energy to use for other purposes.
Unfortunately, Harold didn’t have the time to drag Zhen Shi to such places, nor the desire to.
From what he could feel, Zhen Shi was about to breakthrough any second, and if he didn’t kill him now, he’d be in big trouble.
He couldn’t just let him go and run, Zhen Shi would just come after him and use the explosion to kill him, or stay and destroy all of his stuff and family members with the explosive release of power.
He couldn’t just slit his throat and be done with it, because that would just prematurely release the energy and kill him with it.
He couldn’t do nothing either, because that would just kill him too!
’Wait...of course! You’re going up, motherfucker!’
Out of desperation and realization, Harold rapidly strengthened his physique with aether and proceeded to throw Zhen Shi upward like he was a toy ball. The action happened so quickly that neither Zhen Shi nor Zhen Liu were able to react in time.
’And you are outta here!’
Once Zhen Shi was far enough upward and away from his person, Harold proceeded to take his [Armament] in both hands and charge it up with even more aether. Responding to the influx of aether, the sword began to grow larger and glow with a sinister power. When it was fully charged, Harold struck forward in a stabbing motion.
Harold launched a massive blade made of dark hellfire at the ascending Zhen Shi, hoping to engulf the man and turn him into nothing but ash and bone.
’There’s no way you’ll be able to block this while in the middle of a breakthrough, you’re finished!,’ Harold proudly thought to himself.
Assured in his victory, Harold turned to see the look of despair that was surely on Zhen Liu’s face right now, only to be confused when he saw the man counting down on his fingers.
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’Three’ [Ninety-six percent.]
’Two’ [Ninety-eight percent.]
’One.’ [One hundred percent. Activating Kaijin Armor Enhancement: Jotun Protocol.]
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Before Harold could even comprehend what Zhen Liu was doing, the sound of a massive explosion occured above him.
"Hah! You’re nothing but ashes now, you fucking-what?!"
High, high above Harold’s head was a black smoke cloud, a clear indication that an explosion had occured, but he didn’t expect to see the shadow of a fucking jiaolong to be writhing inside it. Granted, he had never seen a jiaolong looks so unusually muscular, have the shadow of fur and massive tusks, but you know, now was not the time.
The jiaolong moved about in the smoke cloud for a bit before realigning its head to face towards Harold.
The next thing anyone knew, a loud earth shattering roar that sounded like a mix between a crocodile growl and a mammoth’s trumpet reverberated through the air. This terribly loud roar was enough to force Zhen Liu and Harold Wolfe to cover their ears in an attempt to block it out, while also conveniently distracting the latter long enough for him to not notice the large chain made of aether firing out of the cloud and wrapping around his waist.
"Ack, you son of a -Gah!"
When the roar ended and Harold could start hearing again, the chain around his waist suddenly tightened and pulled him directly up and towards the jiaolong shadow and smoke cloud.
As Harold got pulled in closer and closer, the cloud of smoke dispersed, revealing that it wasn’t a jiaolong hiding within, but a humanoid shaped blur that proceeded to use the momentum of being pulled and pulling in order to slam a fist directly into Harold’s face and launching him towards the ground.
Thinking fast, Harold used a quick burst of aether to cushion his landing and roll to his feet. Aware of the danger, Harold brandished his blade and prepared to fight. The humanoid figure followed shortly after, touching the ground gently and causing it to freeze like permafrost.
"A pity. I was hoping to make you impact and crater the ground a bit more. No matter, that just means I’ll have to give you the beating that the ground failed to deliver," the figure replied.
The moment Harold heard the figure’s voice, his eyes went wide. He knew who that voice belonged to, but it didn’t match the body it was coming out of.
’That voice is clearly Zhen Shi’s, but why does he look about three feet taller?!’
Whatever the reason may be, it was probably gonna be bad for him.