The short journey from the cave where I had been recovering back to Terramalorum was mostly filled with silence, I did ask Telluric about how he managed the drain on his reserves that came with the use of a weapon as powerful as 'Vajra', his lightning bolt.Telluric informed me that despite how powerful Vajra was, it never drained his reserves very much even when he was a child, with the exception of "When I make it go boom" in his words. Cryptic words aside, I found it ridiculous that a weapon as powerful as his would take no effort to use, I suppose there's a reason that the whole world fears his strength above all else, as I had recently learned.

"So Telluric, can you tell me what you meant earlier?"

He scratched his head.

"You are referring to my comment about making Vajra 'go boom' yes?"

I nodded.

"Have you ever noticed that when I use Vajra I never clap more than nine times?"

I thought back on all my times training with the old man, and he was right, never once did he clap more than 9 times.

"Yeah? What does that have to do with it?"

"Well, to put it simply, each clap increases Vajra’s size, speed, and strength exponentially. But on the tenth clap in a single battle, the power overflows, and cracks begin to spider along Vajra’s surface."

He paused, his gaze drifting, perhaps recalling battles where he’d had to push Vajra to its limits.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"At first, even cracked, Vajra functions as normal, and the power it grants is… extraordinary. But after about five minutes, the expansion begins again, ballooning to the size of a whale, shrinking, then growing repeatedly. The constant shifting puts immense stress on it. Finally, the unstable Vajra can’t withstand the strain and detonates in a brilliant flash of golden-white light. The explosion spans miles upon miles, leaving no life behind, save myself."

I thought for a moment; the way he spoke about it made it seem like, even in a life-or-death situation, he’d struggle with the decision to use it

.

"I... I see. If you don’t mind me asking, how many times have you been forced to use the explosion?"

He stopped walking. A slow tingle crawled up my spine as I took in the look on his face—despair. I’d never seen him show anything but petty anger or that fake, lopsided smile. But this was different; this was real.

"When I was young and immature, I didn’t think about the consequences or the lives that would be lost... All I thought about was my own victory. There were times I could have asked for help, but instead, I clung to pride, thinking I could handle anything on my own."

He sighed, his voice dropping to a sombre whisper.

"In total, I’ve used the explosion twenty-three times in my long life. And all twenty-three are moments of shame I’ll never forgive myself for."

I didn't really know what to say, I also had killed people and regretted it deeply, but no one can understand another's grief, not entirely—even people who go through the same loss will experience that loss in their own way, and for some, words cannot describe the way they feel. I looked at the old man, this was a moment of fragility that I never expected to see from him, strong and proud Telluric 'The Strongest' at this moment was just an old man.

"What... what are you doing?"

I grabbed the old man and pulled him in for a hug, his long arms drooped to his side and his shoulders began to tremble, but he didn't allow himself to cry.

"I can't say I understand how you feel, but I also have regrets—In my short life I have already killed more people than I would have ever wished to, and I do understand how that effects me, so if it's at all similar for you then I get it, and as much as it hurts to hear, there's nothing you can do to bring those people back, all you can do is honour them by holding on to what their loss brings you and keeping it close to your heart.”

I let go of Telluric, he reached down and ruffled my hair, he flashed a real smile, It was so different from his usual lopsided smile I couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since he had smiled sincerely like this.

"Come on child, we don't want to be late for your party."