BOOOOOOOOOOOM! A terrifying explosion echoed, and numerous cracks appeared in the sky. That violent explosion sent crimson and black energies scattering everywhere, energies that seemed to pull everything into their core. They sucked the giant, bloody tornado into the sky while lifting massive rocks from the ground toward it.
James quickly escaped from inside the tornado after snapping his fingers. A small square appeared and began expanding over a 200-meter area.
James bit his lip, unleashed his power, and tried to contain the massive explosion that seemed ready to detonate again, expanding like a giant balloon in the sky.
"Complete Containment!" James shouted as he flew in the sky. That energy began gradually disappearing, slowly being absorbed. But this wasn't the case; James had transported it to parallel dimensions to contain the explosion.
"I hope you're okay!" James said, looking with concern through his left eye.
….
A few minutes before the explosion!
Marcus was flying at high speed toward the massive explosions to see if Guther needed help, having learned that Guther had transformed into an ancient beast.
So he thought he'd reached the pseudo-fourth level… and that the great explosion was his doing. But he also knew he might lose control of his powers, become a complete beast, and lose all his humanity. So he moved at high speed, avoiding all the previous shadow beasts that wanted to fight him, and rushed toward the location of that powerful energy.
But what he saw nearly stopped his heart. His friend was lying on the ground, covered in numerous wounds, his black scales slowly peeling off and falling to the earth.
He was breathing with extreme difficulty, but his red eyes were fixed on the two strange people fighting a person with long red hair and strange purple eyes. That person had a demonic expression on his face.
He was floating high, holding a violently spinning air sphere in his hand, and added some of his bloody aura to it, making it lethal.
Then he threw it to the ground, and the sphere transformed into a massive, bloody tornado whose high winds sliced anything approaching it.
Fearing for his colleague, Marcus moved quickly toward him, lifted his huge body as if lifting a sponge, and moved him as far as possible from that giant tornado… 600 meters away at super speed.
He thought the two strange people had retreated, but when he looked closely, he was shocked to see they had charged into the giant, bloody tornado. "Madmen" was the best word to describe them.
But that wasn't all; he saw numerous vines rushing toward the tornado, but they were being sliced by the winds and scattered. When they hit the ground, they triggered powerful chain explosions.
The situation didn't calm down there. He saw one of the two strange people rocketing like a missile toward the bloodily smiling person, with a massive, thick vine chasing him from behind.
But he didn't pay it attention… and suddenly, Marcus saw a dark black and purple aura erupt from that person's body. When he unleashed it, the crimson moonlight disappeared, and an eclipse occurred.
He was also surprised when that bloodily smiling person launched an attack resembling crimson moonlight, illuminating the sky again from that darkness.
When their attacks collided, Marcus activated a stone wall surrounding him and his colleague from all sides, like a dome, and enveloped it with an energy barrier. Another thing he saw then was that the other person activated a huge square around the explosion, and then his view was cut off.
….
"What does it mean to possess power?" a familiar voice asked at the explosion site, saying, "Is it control through rules? Rebellion against them? Or is it something else?" The bloodily smiling person asked Xiao Ping, who was unconscious… and was holding him by the neck.
"Hey! Answer me!" the person shouted while violently shaking Xiao Ping's body. He said, "What does possessing power mean to you!"
Suddenly, Xiao Ping opened his green eyes. His vision was slightly blurred, but he slowly regained it and looked at the body of the person before him, of which only a right arm connected to thin bones and a small part of the chest remained. There was a head speaking—it was deformed: one eye had burst, leaving only darkness in that socket; the other was purple and half-red with blood. His long hair had burned, leaving only a few charred strands on his skull.
"Monster!" The only word Xiao Ping could utter at that moment, but he wasn't afraid. Instead, he remained calm and focused energy around his right hand!
"Hmph," Xiao Ping laughed lightly despite his situation and said, "What will you gain from this?"
"These might be your last words, who knows!" the person replied, much blood leaking from his mouth, with a piece of flesh from his cheek still attached.
"The meaning of possessing power differs from person to person! Some seek it to protect their loved ones, some want it to break rules and climb the hierarchy in their world, and many want it for selfish reasons like revenge and—" Xiao Ping tried to continue when the person squeezed his neck forcefully.
"Gggkhgkh!" Xiao Ping made a strange sound from his throat due to the person tightening his grip.
"I wonder: what type are you?" the person asked while slightly loosening his grip on Xiao Ping's throat, but began gathering energy in his fingers to finish Xiao Ping upon hearing his answer.
Xiao Ping saw everything with his ability and knew that whether his answer satisfied the person or not, he would kill him either way at that moment. His lips twisted into a devilish expression, and he said, "To trample with my foot on loved ones, the hierarchy, and the entire world, and do whatever I want!" Saying that, the energy in his hand grew to the size of an adult this time, and he aimed it at the face of the person who was still gathering energy in his fingers to finish Xiao Ping.
...
BOOOOOOM!
An explosion echoed inside the previous explosion, causing numerous cracks in James's square.
"What's happening!" James trembled while trying to hold onto his square as much as possible, because if he allowed that explosion to escape, it would cause a cosmic catastrophe.
But the explosion didn't subside; it kept growing inside James's square and would inevitably shatter it sooner or later with the powerful waves emanating from the explosion, violently striking the square, each blow causing strong vibrations in the sky.
But James didn't surrender; he kept pressing his fingers to close the square around that explosion and prevent it from escaping.
But he heard a cracking sound—not from the square, but from inside James's body. Because of this, a demonic energy leaked from his body, bringing a suffocating, powerful pressure.
'No… the Alpha Seal will break if this continues! So I must end this quickly. I don't want them to find me now, not after I've tasted freedom!' James thought while breathing and looking at the silver ring on his right-hand finger, considering summoning an angel to contain this great explosion.
Indeed, he moved his hand slightly and said, "Summo—" James couldn't complete his word because he saw a giant eye in the sky looking toward the square containing the explosion, which had numerous cracks.
An immense pressure descended on the sky at that moment, overwhelming the pressure that had leaked from James's body moments earlier and completely dispersing it.
"This pressure! An artifact… from the fifth level!" James stammered when he saw that giant eye in the sky and recognized the level, thanks to his right eye's ability. But he didn't stay silent long, saying, "The fifth level of the Eternal Observer path, known as 'The Hidden!' This artifact is considered forbidden! Who in hell possesses such an artifact!"
James Beyond was shocked and very afraid of this artifact, calling it forbidden! For good reason: it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe; anyone within its range will be erased if it wills. Everything in its presence is under its will alone; no one has the right to command or direct it, nor even decide when it will be sealed again!
"So that's why that rift appeared in the sky from Xiao Ping's first strike with the refined artifact! This was all a fake scenario to complete the play! And we were just puppets on stage from the beginning!... Should I escape? No, Ping is still inside the explosion…" James didn't know what he was saying; his thoughts were scattered.
The giant eye turned its gaze toward James, who soon felt immense pressure from just its look. It spoke in a strange voice: "Human, from which path do you come?"
'It wants to know my path? It seems it still holds hatred for the killer… of the person's body it emerged from! I must tell my path anyway!' James thought while answering in a trembling voice: "I follow the Path of the Great Mechanism!"
"What a majestic path indeed, you've chosen well," the giant eye praised suspiciously and continued: "What is your level! Because I know this level you show isn't real! Who are you!"
"These are my private affairs, and no one should know them, so I won't answer!" James said, looking at that giant pupil staring at him.
"Do you dare, human, not to answer!" The eye looked deeply at James and exerted another pressure on him.
"I wouldn't dare, but you have no authority for that! Give me your second question! Do you think I'm foolish? There's nothing scary about you unless I disobey an order upon you, but something you have no authority over or haven't predetermined, you cannot do!" James replied while the tension and fear in his heart disappeared.
"You are right, human! It seems the Path of the Great Mechanism remains a heavenly path and hasn't vanished yet! The question here: who is the person dearest to you!"
"I won't answer!" James replied quickly.
"Then what is your favorite type of woman?" the eye asked.
"I won't answer!" James replied.
The eye continued asking James countless times until it finally calmed and said: "Then as stipulated, I shall grant you one wish!"
"Finally!" James sighed, exhausted by the endless questions the giant eye had asked him, but if he didn't answer or refused its questions, it would destroy everything before it.
"My wish is… hmm…" James thought deeply and said: "I want my partner to return alive!" He said it while looking at the eye.
...
End of Chapter ~ To be continued