Jacob was rattled.

He was breathing hard after leaving Helena crying on the floor of the villa. He had fought with her in his past life more than once, but never like this, never this close to actually losing it.

Jacob suddenly felt very alone. He wished he had someone his own age to discuss this matter with.

To people not his age, his reactions were totally uncalled for.

How do you explain thousands of years of blood?

One mistake was all it took—one bad coincidence.

If had been let Helena go to any other city, the power balance of that place would have shifted tremendously. She would have upset the hierarchies and the people in charge. She needed to stay in St. Peter by Juliet’s side. They were each other’s counterweight.

Should he have explained that?

Like I never tried that before.

He loved Helena, but that did not make her less of a child than she was.

It’s so fu**ing complicated being this fu**ing old.

Jacob went inside the forest and threw a punch at a tree, splitting it in two and hurting his knuckles. He tried to calm himself down, but he only managed to destroy more than ten trees with his bare hands.

"DAMMIT!” he shouted.

He had been on autopilot. It was not a big deal if you let an emotional person go on with their life before the apocalypse. But during the fu**ing apocalypse? Well, it was a huge fu**ing deal.

There were so many things that could have gone wrong with Helena’s behavior if he didn’t correct it immediately that he didn’t know where to start from. And that was what made him mad. He couldn’t even articulate it; such was its obviousness to him.

How could he transfer all his experience and explain?

I can’t. I can only teach her the hard way.

People thought threats should never be the way. But when you lived long enough, killing and torturing appear to be egregious solutions to avoid wars. Threats? Those became a staple of casual conversations in the world after the change.

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Jacob knew how wrong it was to still think with his old mindset. But what do you do when you experience wars? What do you do when you experience fu**ing massacres!?

Why couldn’t he get to talk with someone with enough experience to understand his fu**ing plight?!

KID, THIS GREAT ONE IS OLDER THAN YOU. EVEN IF YOUR SOUL IS INDEED OLDER THAN YOUR WEIRD BODY, THIS MAGNIFICENT SWORD IS MUCH OLDER THAN YOUR PALE ASS.

Jacob stopped in his track.

You are older than me, aren’t you?

THIS GREAT ONE IS MUCH, MUCH OLDER THAN YOU. AND WHAT YOU ARE EXPERIENCING RIGHT NOW IS SOMETHING THAT I HAVE SEEN COUNTLESS TIMES. NOTHING NEW TO THIS GREAT ONE.

So, have I done the right thing?

WHO KNOWS WHAT’S RIGHT AND WRONG? THIS GREAT ONE IS ALWAYS RIGHT, OBVIOUSLY, BUT OUTSIDE OF ITS GREATNESS, THE LINE IS VERY MUCH BLURRY.

You are saying that you don’t know, basically.

YOU STUPID IMMATURE BAG OF FLESH, I’M SAYING THAT NO ONE CAN KNOW!

The sword’s voice thundered in his mind.

YOU GAVE A KID WITH A TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL A CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE SO STRONG IT COULD SPLIT THE SEA AND LEVEL MOUNTAINS. THIS GREAT ONE UNDERSTANDS THE NEED TO DISCIPLINE CHILDREN TO AVOID THEM DOING GREAT HARM, EVEN UNKNOWINGLY.

I’m afraid she won’t see it.

OH, YOU IDIOT, SHE OBVIOUSLY WON’T SEE IT. SHE WILL HATE YOU FOR IT. BUT BETTER BE IT THIS WAY. IF SHE HATES YOU, LET HER. AS LONG AS SHE CHANNELS HER EFFORTS IN SAVING YOUR DASTARDLY FLESHY BEINGS, WHO CARES ABOUT HER FEELINGS FOR YOU. OR IS THAT WHY YOU ARE SO UPSET? YOU WANT THE CAKE AND EAT IT TOO, YOU STEEL-DEFICIENT CREATURE.

Could it be that a damn sword had seen right through him?

Jacob sighed, much calmer now.

Sword, I haven’t asked your name. Mine is Jacob. Thanks for your wise words.

WISE? JUST WISE? THIS GREAT ONE IS SHOWERING YOU WITH KNOWLEDGE SO GREAT—

Jacob silenced that thought.

FOR THE SAKE OF BLUNTED EDGES, YOU TOUCHY LITTLE—

OKAY, STOP IT! SOMEONE FORGE ME INTO HAIRPINS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! THIS GREAT ONE NAME IS UNPARALLELED AMONG ALL HEAVEN, ALL THE NINE REALMS OF THE SKY. GREAT GOLDEN LETTERS OF THIS GREAT ONE’S NAME ADORN EVERY SINGLE HALL—

Jacob remembered about a singular process that was common for artifacts.

You forgot your own name, didn’t you?

THIS GREAT ONE HAS NOT FORGOTTEN! THE NAME’S JUST TOO COMPLEX FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND. I’LL GIVE YOU TIME TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LIFE AND THEN BESTOW IT UPON YOU!

Well, we are both old goats, I guess. I’ll give you a mighty name as a thank you for lending me your imaginary ear.

THIS GREAT ONE ALREADY HAS A NAME. THE GREATEST OF ALL!

You sure, I have a name that we use for Kings among Kings, the ultimate sovereigns who can’t be named lightly.

WELL, THIS GREAT ONE COULD MAYBE LISTEN TO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO OFFER.

Well then, nice to meet you, oh Great Kevin.

The sword clearly hesitated for a few moments. Jacob had suspected that it did not know any names on Earth.

I truly envy such a great name as yours. And if you don’t want it, I might take it for myself!

NO! THIS GREAT ONE ACCEPTS THE MIGHTY NAME OF KEVIN AND SHALL BE LENDING YOU MORE OF ITS GREATNESS IN THE FUTURE WHENEVER YOUR TINY FLESHY THINKING ORGAN—

Jacob shut down the connection and exhaled. It wasn’t easy talking to Kevin, the mighty great sword.