They all stared at him with a sense of fear and dread, and he, back at them, with a regal sense of superiority.

Aloysius: Hello, pests.

His voice remained eloquent, but there was a certain disgust in the way he said, "pests."

Tiffany: Wolfram!

Aloysius: You must be Tiffany Chang.

Tiffany: And you must be her older brother.

Aloysius: Ugh. That child needs to learn to close her mouth.

Max: Which child? And who is "she"?

Luke: Now's not the time, Max. You need to get out of here, now.

Max: What? No way. I'm not leaving you guys.

Max turned to Wolfram.

Max: Hey, who the heck are you, anyway?

Aloysius: Oh, that's right. I never introduced myself. I suppose even vermin deserve a little recognition for the destruction they are able to cause.

Tiffany: Tch.

Luke: This guy...

Aloysius: My name is Aloysius Wolfram. Take knowing my name as a reward for causing this much trouble. Of course, I will promptly ensure that you take that information to your graves.

Aloysius then turned to Tiffany.

Aloysius: You and your band of freaks have been giving my little sister quite the headache. She's been noisy. So I thought for once I would do something nice for her and get rid of the bug bothering her.

Tiffany: Mmm... How were you watching us?

Aloysius: Oh, that. How astute of you to notice that! Well, I might as well. It would just so happen that I can create crystals of my own and then use them as my personal cameras.

Max: No way!

Rose: He.... he's been watching us this whole time.

Aloysius: Indeed I have, Rose. Indeed. However, when I heard that my little sister was having an insect problem, I imagined that you would be more threatening. (sigh) Shame. Ah, well. The invincible Luke, the calculating Ken, the psychic Rose, and the sharp witted Tiffany. That is the way she described all of you, but you are all just disappointing worms.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Max: Hey!

Tiffany: Max. Stop!

Max: They're not bugs. And they're not "disappointing"!

Tiffany: Max, you need to leave! Now!

Max: No..

Aloysius: Ah, yes. The child with the power to control electricity. And also, the child who is immune to the crystals' influence. You are an odd anomaly. One I will have to eliminate personally.

Tiffany: Max, leave!

Max: I've got this.

Max dashed towards him at full speed to punch him, but his fist instead connected with a crystal hard force field surrounding his skin.

Max: What the...!?

Aloysius: Why yes. Of course, having watched all of you fight, I already knew what to expect from you. And so I surrounded myself with a skin level crystal force field.

Max: Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch.

Rose: Max, get out of there!

Max: Huh...

Aloysius blasted Max with a dark beam, sending him straight into the cave ceiling before he crashed down. Reeling in even more pain.

Max: Ugh.

Rose: Max!

Max struggled to get up while Rose ran after him.

Tiffany: Attack!

Luke: Yeah!

Luke jumped after Aloysius, but Wolfram avoided this by simply floating away, leaving Luke to crash into the ground next to him.

Ken: Well, now, he can fly. Perfect.

Ken started to fire laser beams at him while Tiffany threw Kunai, but he adeptly avoided them.

Aloysius: Your poor aim reveals your intentions. You are obviously trying to create a distraction. Most likely for....

He looked back at Luke, who had a massive rock in his hand and was about to throw it at him.

Aloysius: Hmph. Weak.

He sent a beam of energy right at Luke to destroy the rock before flying right into Luke and crashing into him. Luke got back up quickly and tried to punch him several times, but he simply dodged all of his punches by maintaining a safe distance while gently hovering above the ground.

Aloysius: Quite the bumbling buffoon I see.

Luke ducked, and Tiffany suddenly appeared from behind him, and she landed a kick, but rather than fall, he simply floated away.

Aloysius: Is this all you have?

Tiffany: Tch.

Ken's laser eyes suddenly connected, leading to an explosion of smoke that soon dissipated to reveal a completely unharmed Wolfram.

Rose: Max! Max! Wake up!

Max: Grrrrrrr.

Max got up and angrily charged at Aloysius with electricity in his hands.

Max: Why you little....

He dashed and jumped into the air and tried to electrocute him, creating yet another explosion that dissipated only to unveil yet again an unharmed Aloysius. Max was shocked that it had not penetrated his shield, and Wolfram grabbed his hand as Max tried to electrocute him again and again.

Aloysius: Were you not listening?

Max: Wha... but h... but how.....

Aloysius: I prepared this shield to counter you. You don't have nearly enough power to destroy it.

Luke: But I do.

Luke jumped to grab him, but Wolfram dodged him while still holding on to Max.

Aloysius: You know, Tiffany. This child is not used to battle, is he? He would be better off running away.

Max: Wh.. wha...

Aloysius: Am I wrong?

Tiffany: Release him, Wolfram!

Aloysius: What kind of coward asks for mercy from the enemy? Ugh. Honestly...

Tiffany: Rose!

Rose: R.. right...

Rose started to use her psychic powers to pull Max from Wolfram, and he let him go with little bother.

Rose: Max. I got you!

She gently lay Max on the ground, only for him to collapse to his knees.

Max: M... my powers.. th.. they...

Luke: Now you get it. Run!