Anthon lowered his head while frowning.

He, of course, thought that the voice he has heard a couple of times in his lifetime to support him but never had Anthon thought that it would be using him.

While not caring any longer, Shin turned around and smiled faintly, his night-like eyes were bright and his warm presence was leaking out. Shin opened his mouth and said with a joyful tone.

“I have found out what I need to do.”

Not even understanding what Shin was trying to say, they tilted their heads or just thought of the words he just said.

“I may not understand everything, but I found out something.”

Shin still had his smile on his face as he was talking while glancing at each of them.

“Have you ever thought of why I am special?”

“Is it because of my Power of Death?”

“Why do I have Guardians? Why did they split up and fight each other, one side wanting to kill me and the other side wanting to protect me?”

As Shin was talking, they did of course also feel confused.

Surely, why is Shin special?

Before continuing, Shin’s eyes lost its shine and he glanced down at the floor.

“There are more enemies out there which we don’t know off, there might be Gods, Divine Beings and Ancient Creatures. Each and every one of them can threaten all of us.”

“But, I now know what to do.”

Kali frowned slightly, she had already guessed there might be existences like Gods or Divine Beings targeting Shin, but she hasn’t told Shin that.

After she and Aria talked about it for a short while, they did silently agree to not let Shin know anything about something as dangerous as that.

Azane was slightly vigilant, if talking about strength, she shouldn’t be that much weaker than Aria.

That would mean that there aren’t that many individuals which could harm her. But, if they are going to talk about existences above the mortal realm, that would be something else.

Peutoa knew that following Shin would be dangerous, even to the point of she might die without knowing how it happened. But, she had already decided she would offer her life to him. The only thing Peutoa would do is to follow Shin’s order at any given time.

The only one trembling slightly was Laura.

It’s impossible to say that Laura’s not afraid of dieing, she has of course wishes and dreams to fulfil. But, at the same time, she has a premonition that following Shin will be very dangerous and rewarding.

Eline was fidgeting slightly and didn’t care that much because she had already decided to follow Shin. For the big fights, she can’t do much as she has to rely on the others. Therefore, she just wants to enjoy being with Shin.

Anaj, on the other hand, didn’t care at all, he just had his eyes closed. But after thinking about it, he opened his eyes and watched Shin, wanting to know the answer.

Lastly, Aria didn’t mind whatever Shin wanted to do. She had painstakingly gotten stronger just for him, who else would she want to protect and fight for?

Humph!

Anything Shin wants, he will get it, even if it means to massacre or protect him against Gods!

Shin waited patiently when he saw all of them thinking, but he continued speaking when he saw that they all focused on him again.

He raised his head and smiled brightly and said.

“I just have to kill them all.”

“Huh…?”

Kali blinked a couple of times when she heard how easily Shin talked about murdering Gods and existence on that stage which is above the mortal realm which they are living in.

But, not even half a second later, Kali’s purple eyes turned golden and laughed loudly.

“Hihihihihi!”

Her laughter sent shivers to everyone’s ears besides Shin.

While staring at Kali, Shin’s bright smile curved upwards even more.

How beautiful…

“Then, how are you going to do that, Shin?”

While trying to suppress her laughter, Kali asked happily, her golden eyes slowly turned purple.

“I need to become stronger, even if I have you and mother to fight for me and protect me, I have a feeling that me cultivating would result in our chances becoming higher in winning any kind of fights.”

Shin carefully explained, but still, he didn’t know specifically about the details.

A small pout appeared on Kali, she then said.

“That’s true, but you have to understand one thing too.”

She glanced at Aria and nodded.

Aria understood what Kali wanted to say and took over from her.

“You aren’t allowed to use any strength stronger than what you can personally use.”

“That means borrowing Powers or strength from anything if it’s your Guardians in any way or whatever things exists because they will only harm your body more than it will help.”

While speaking, Aria’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Humph, daring to harm my son and only giving him momentary strength, nonsense!

Hehe, let’s see how strong Shin will become, walking on them like the ants they are!

As Aria was thinking, Shin pouted as he did not really want to promise her that.

He, of course, knew that he shouldn’t use any kind of borrowed Powers or his own Power of Death carelessly, but, what if there was a situation where it was needed?

As always, Shin’s expressions were transparent and Kali, Aria, Peutoa, Laura, Azane and Eline clearly saw through what Shin was thinking of.

While rolling her eyes Azane said.

“Don’t worry about that, kid.”

“Until you are strong enough, let us do the heavy work. When you are strong enough, then you can stand by our side and when you’re stronger than us, protect us at that time, alright?”

Weirdly enough, Shin nodded happily, he thought that was a wonderful idea.

Haha, one day I will be able to protect them by my own ability!

Shocked, Aria and Kali raised their eyebrows. Clearly, they knew that Shin wasn’t a fool and could understand a lot, that could be seen from how Shin figured out there were others which were also causing troubles for them.

But, for him to fooled that easily by Azane, that was not something they had thought of. Kali was ready to even ‘discuss’ for an hour about why he shouldn’t overexert himself, but, it seems that was not needed at all…

Aria and Kali turned around and glanced at Azane, somewhat speechless, but they became annoyed when they saw Azane’s smug-face…

Why do I have the urge to punch her?

Aria tightened her fist for a second before she calmly turned around towards Shin with a smile on her face.

“Yes, Shin.”

“Let us protect you until you become stronger, when you’re stronger, remember to protect mother, alright?”

Shin nodded with widened eyes, his smile twitched as he was trying to smile even broader, but it wasn’t possible at all.

Just by seeing Shin smiling, Aria felt her heart beating harder.

She firmly clenched her fists.

Let’s see how it goes, our previous plans are already getting disordered…

“Sigh…”

Shin sighed as he bitterly smiled for a second, he walked toward where he thought were the door was.

“Let me have a moment, we can leave after that.”

After he said so, Shin walked past everyone and walked away.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Kali and Aria nodded and then turned around towards Anthon and Nadine.

But, what they didn’t see, was that Shin smile as he was walking had a sense of loneliness and bitterness.

Not long after, Shin pushed open the door and walked out.

He was welcomed to trees and sounds of birds chirping. Shin glanced around and found a rock, he then walked over towards it and sat on it.

Shin closed his eyes and focused on his internal body, after carefully checking it, Shin let out another bitter smile.

“Seems like I have a long way to go.”

At that time, his body acted like a whirlpool, sucking in any kind of Power and auras in the air. But, it wasn’t fast, it was only letting in a stream at once.

Shin would, of course, know where his limit was, taking way too much in a short period of time could harm his body if it wasn’t controlled perfectly.

Therefore, Shin had already thought of how to do things.

First I need to learn how to control my body, be it my aura, Power or those…

I can’t rush this, it would be a disaster.

Shin shook his head for a second before calming down again.

While being focused, Shin unknowingly raised his right hand.

Shin’s right hand slowly reached towards his right ear, blocking any kind of sounds and noises.

Not long after, he raised his left hand and blocked his left ear.

Everything Shin was able to perceive now, was an empty world devoid of light and sound.

Throughout the whole world, cracks could be soon. These fissures slowly became larger, shattering the ‘wall’ which held the world in place.

But, nothing broke, nothing shattered besides the ‘wall’. What happened was, several different types of lights entered the world.

Red, blue, green, black, white, silver, orange, purple, golden, pink, yellow, transparent and many other types of lights shined brightly as they entered Shin’s world.

Shin could only blankly stare at the fascinating scene, but he shook his head once more as he focused once more.

“Humph!”

“Come!”

Shin roared in a deep voice, all the different type of lights trembled for a second before they all organised themselves. All the lights slowly rotated around Shin, but they became faster and faster.

After what seemed to take forever, all the different lights had vanished and only left one thing left; a jet-black coloured light which shone right in front of Shin.

The pressure Shin felt from the jet-black light was a lot greater than the different ones. As Shin thought, he had succeeded, he let out a smirk.

While knowing that he had finally finished what he had wanted to try, Shin’s body which was sitting on the stone, slowly opened his eyes. His previous night-like eyes were completely black, not letting anything shine other than the jet-black light.

“Haha…”

Shin laughed merrily in a low voice as his eyes slowly turned back to its normal night-like again.

As Shin thought of something, a frown appeared on his face. He slowly raised his head towards the sky and narrowed his eyes.

Hehe…

You all wanted to play games, right?

Humph!

Wanting to play like the absolute God? Hehe, I will make you regret even being born, I will see you fall and trample on all of you!

Shin’s body slowly released an ominous aura, his silver hair which has grown slightly longer waived in the air.

His body which was still leaking his aura, Shin slowly stood up from his sitting position on the rock.

As he stood straight, his aura erupted and rushed upwards towards the heavens!

I will be taking this as a gift, I will be coming personally sending gifts later!

Shin’s jet-black aura which shot towards the heaven, was above thousands of meters the ground and exploded like a bomb.

His aura which exploded in the air turned into a whirlpool and sucked in every piece of Divine Energy.

Not a second later, the front door of the cabin broke open and several beings rushed out.

Aria and Kali in lead while the others barely behind them. They all widened their eyes as they saw the ominous jet-black aura Shin was releasing.

Kali raised her head and couldn’t believe what Shin’s aura was doing, it was simply stealing Divine Energy!

Shin smirked as he flipped his right hand, by that command, the jet-black aura which he sent up towards the heaven, slowly descended towards Shin.

The jet-black aura was rotating in itself, trying its best to contain all the Divine Energies it was holding.

“Hehe, thanks!”

Shin laughed as he was smirking and then raised his hand and touched his own aura.

He grabbed the jet-black aura and dragged it towards his own chest, he closed his eyes tightly.

“No, don’t do that!”

Kali roared when she saw what Shin wanted to do, she stomped the ground and rushed forward with all her strength. But, no matter how fast she was, she could only see the jet-black aura being sucked into Shin’s body.

Kali’s eyes swiftly turned to golden and she checked his body, inspecting every single cell!

Nothing moved, Shin’s body stood there like a statue, not moving a single muscle.

After half a minute, Shin opened his eyes slowly, with that, a line of blood ran down from his mouth. But even so, he smiled.

Before Shin could even celebrate his own victory, he felt a smack on the back of his head and his cheeks being pinched.

“Why did you do that!?”

“Didn’t we just agree that you aren’t allowed to borrow any kind of Powers!?”

Kali yelled out in despair, she didn’t even know why she was despairing, Kali felt her heart being curshed by the sight she saw when Shin's body was on the ground after the battle against Muir, she didn't want to see something like that again.

Without even thinking about it, Shin nodded.

“I did agree with that.”

But, before anyone could retort why he would do something like that, Shin continued.

“But, I didn’t borrow anything.”

Shin smirked once more as he laughed in his heart.

“I’m stealing!”

With a clear conscious, he said in a joyful tone.

Azane rubbed her temples, she couldn’t even groan normally any longer. After meeting Shin and the others, she thought that all of her values she knew of, was worthless!

Trying to suppress her laughter, Eline could manage to try staying angry at Shin as she pouted and angrily stared at him.

Anaj stood behind everyone, he had his eyes widened at the sight he saw, but he wouldn’t comment about it.

“Shin, don’t do anything reckless again, it’s very painful for me to see you like that.”

Aria spoke as her whole body was trembling.

Shin who clearly saw that she was trembling, felt regret for his action. But, he knew that for this being worthful, he had to do it many times and defeat those who wanted to harm him or those he loved.

Still, Shin lowered his head and slowly walked towards Aria while entangling his fingers. He stood in front of Aria, still not daring to glance up towards her face.

Aria could clearly see that Shin was hesitating. His expressions and feelings were transparent, she knew that he was regretting it, but also would do it again if he had the chance to do so.

“Sigh…”

Aria sighed and reached out towards Shin and hugged him firmly.

“Shin, I know that you think if you become stronger, you would be able to protect us, right?”

Not even waiting for his response, Aria continued.

“I was like that too, but I promise you that doing it like that will only bring misfortune and despair to yourself.”

“I’m sorry.”

Shin shook his head, he understood what Aria meant by that.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

“We don’t have time.”

But, he also figured out something earlier with the conversation with the voice and him dealing personally with them.

They will be able to appear in not a long time and if they appear, it would be a disaster.

The weakest one of them would be on pair with Kali.

“What did you just say?”

Kali dragged Shin away from Aria and questioned him seriously.

Shin shook his head dejectedly and said again.

“I do not know when, but they will descend.”

Kali squinted her eyes and asked once more.

“How do you know that?”

Still shaking his head, but this time, Shin smiled bitterly too.

“I sensed it.”

“When I felt their Energy, it had a sensation of it being accepted in this world.”

“If that Energy becomes accepted, their true forms will appear.”

“I’ll protect you until you’re strong enough to butcher them all!”

Kali’s eyes turned cold as she spoke.

“Thank you, but from what I sensed, they are very strong.”

Shin really wanted to decline, he didn’t want Kali to be injured or die during a fight against them.

“Don’t you trust me!?”

Kali’s voice turned cold as she spoke to Shin.

“I trust you.”

Shin said only that and smiled brightly.

With only that smile, Kali turned silent and her cold presence which was leaking out stopped and retreated into her body.

“But, this is bigger than what any of us had thought.”

Shin continued once more, he now glanced at everyone and said clearly.

“We thought we would only face one group; one person – Muir.”

“While everyone was in the dark, there have been people playing with us. They are far stronger than what I can even imagine, I could barely take their leftover Divine Energies.”

“That would say that I could barely manage to fight against one of them with all of my strength.”

Shin calmed his breath and continued.

“From what I can sense from all of your auras, Kali is the only one who can fight against one of them, and not the strongest ones either.”

“If mother, Peutoa, Azane and Laura fights together, you would be able to fight against one too like Kali.”

“There are many of them, while we are very few!”

Shin yelled out, but after seeing the shocked expressions of them, he calmed down once more and continued.

“Therefore, if I must steal their leftover Divine Energies to become slightly stronger to help us in the upcoming fight, I will do so without hesitation!”

“Even if the heaven is falling down, I will stand in front of you all!”

Shin said with a strong tone, not letting anyone disagree with him.