Chapter 046:

“Yes, I am fucking strong!” Alexander roared, inexplicably upset.

Timothy nodded at this and finally looked up after a moment of contemplation. With tears still streaming down his face, he stared Alexander in the eyes.

“Kill him,” The young boy whispered, “Kill him, and you can keep my body,”

The offer brought a brief lingering silence before it was shattered by Alexander’s malicious laughter.

“You cheeky brat. What a shitty deal! The life of a Captain Commander for the body of an overweight slob,” He said before continuing his laughter.

Finally, having had his fun, Alexander’s laughter stopped and his smile took on a sinister tone. He leaned forward and rested a hand on the mirror’s surface. “Besides, brat. What makes you think you have a choice?”

The mirror’s surface started rippling as if being distorted by some great heat. Oddly, Timothy could not see any fire being materialized but still, he could practically feel the room’s temperature rising dramatically.

Soon enough, it wasn’t just the mirror suffering as the room itself started rumbling.

‘No, it’s not just the room,’ Timothy realized, it was the world that was shaking. Once again, Timothy was forced to marvel over the existence that had taken over his body. The mere threat of his descent shook the world.

Despite that, Timothy remained relatively calm, “You won’t do that,” He spoke confidently.

“Oh?” Alexander asked back, the heat surrounding him distorted his image making it look inhuman. “And why wouldn’t I?”

“Because, Alexander. You are a hero,”

The mirror’s surface shattered into millions of distorted shards. Waves of heat flowed out of the mirror, pushing Timothy back.

The heat was so immense that it felt as if he was about to burn away, but burning would be too light a term for it, rather, he was being melted, bones and all.

Even then, amid the infernal heat, something even hotter wrapped itself around his neck.

“You…” The heat spoke into his ear, threatening to turn his melting brain into mush.

“D-did you think it was a one-way street? You can see my memories and I can view yours,” Even though his eyes had melted away at this point, Timothy fixed his eyes onto Alexander’s.

“Kill him,” Timothy Baek whispered before melting away into the wind.

Once he was gone, the world stopped trembling and the all-encompassing heat slowly dissipated, leaving a steaming Alexander who sat on a nearby chair, scowling to himself.

“Tch,” He clicked his tongue.

With a snap of his fingers, the world immediately lit on fire and he woke up.

………………………………………………..

The moment he opened his eyes, he scanned his surroundings. His immediate priority was to figure out how much time had passed.

The people around him did not seem to have drifted far from their initial positions, this meant that the time he had spent knocked out was thankfully not that significant.

That being said, it was clear that Nox sensed something was off as he was currently gazing at him with intrigue.

Cursing Timothy in his mind, Alexander’s face immediately lit up in a radiant smile as he greeted the Captain Commander with all the cordiality expected of a noble.

This seemed to catch the knight off guard slightly as his eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in suspicion. Furthermore, Alexander’s keen senses told him that the man was also disappointed; in what, he did not know nor care.

“You did well in the qualifying rounds,” Nox expressed with a nod of approval, still measuring him up in his eyes. “Substituting a lack of skill with wit, admirable,”

Ticked off by the backhanded compliment, Alexander was of the mind to lash back but held his tongue and simply thanked him.

The two continued conversing lightly when Nox’s communication Crystal began glowing.

“I must go now. Good luck in the next round, I look forward to what tricks you have in store,”

“Sure thing, Uncle Nox. Thank you for your service,”

Just as the two parted ways, and with his back turned to Alexander, Nox commented casually, “Your parents would be proud of you,”

{Synchronisation Rate: 25%}

His system chirped in response to the wave of hate washing over him.

“Thanks!” Alexander earnestly replied before turning around and walking away.

Rather embarrassingly, it took quite a while for him to calm Timothy’s raging emotions.

Admittedly, not all the hate was the boy’s.

‘Cocky bastard, I’ll have his head on a pike before long,’

Alexander promised the boy.

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………………………………………………..

Zackery Moore’s Point of View:

As he usually did, Zackery stood before his bathroom’s mirror, studying the black ooze that diligently pinched and prodded his wounds, stitching them closed. He was almost fully healed now, it wouldn’t be long before he’d be back at full strength.

‘No,’ He corrected himself, ‘I’m stronger,’

Squeezing his hands into fists, he felt a strength he did not previously possess coarse throughout his body. When this had first happened, he felt joy at the fact that he was growing stronger, but as time marched forward, he felt his joy be nibbled away.

Granted he was strong for his age, as strong as some of the more accomplished squires, but what good was strength if it couldn’t be controlled?

Briefly, the image of his mother flashed through his mind; her kind golden eyes regarding him with an almost suffocating amount of love and care.

His breathing grew ragged as he tried his hardest to keep his emotions in check. Come to think of it, it was she who had taught him how to breathe.

Tears flowed freely from his eyes, ‘Ma, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to,’

Oh the heights he could have reached if he had had more time with his mother, the things she could have taught him, the strength she could have departed onto him.

If only she was beside him now, if only he could talk to her once more, if only, he hadn’t killed her.

His silent cries turned to sobs as he covered his eyes with his hands, trying to shove his tears back in. He couldn’t afford to break down completely as the tournament was rapidly approaching.

Finally, after a couple of minutes of him gathering what was left of himself, Zackery looked up, dreading how puffy his eyes would look.

“Hello, Fido,”

His eyes had just registered the sight of the stranger leaning against the bathroom door when he heard the greeting.

His heart damn near burst from his chest and a string of expletives were already making their way out of his throat when Timothy suddenly lunged at him, his hands grabbing at his neck.

Coming to terms with the second fright of the day, Zackery reflexively dodged back and away, using his newfound strength to display impressive speed.

Unfortunately, that was for naught, as Timothy seemed to already anticipate such an action. With bizarre fluidity, the bastard wrapped one end of the towel he had grabbed off the rack around his fist before whipping the fabric toward Moore.

Caught off guard and completely unaware of what Timothy’s plan was, Moore failed to react to the towel and it wrapped itself around his wrist.

“W-what are-” Before the young hero could finish his question, he was forced to bite his tongue as Timothy wrenched the towel wrapped around his hand toward him. Normally, Zackery would have ripped the fabric to shreds, but the sheer absurdity of him being attacked in his own bathroom had robbed him of any thought more elaborate than “What the fuck is happening right now?”

When he finally decided to start fighting back, Timothy was already behind him, tying the towel around his neck.

Thinking quickly, Moore dug his feet into the ground and pushed back into Timothy, slamming his attacker against the wall.

“Nice reflexes, fido, but I’m afraid it’s gonna take more than that,” Timothy whispered into his ear.

Something was odd about the way he spoke. It wasn’t the words themselves but the breath that entered his ear, it was scalding hot and it made him dizzy.

Unfortunately, before he could further process what was happening, Timothy had covered a hand over his eyes and an immense amount of heat flowed into him.

“Mmmaaaaagagagggggghhhhhhh” Zackery screamed allowing his emotions to rage as they pleased. He was scared, unsure of Timothy’s intentions and he feared for his life.

In that moment of weakness, he made a decision that he knew he would soon regret; he allowed the monster they called a god full control of his body.

He felt the familiar sensation of bones shifting and muscle tearing as his body acclimated to the beast’s divinity.

“Ah, ah, not here, we’re talking inside,” Timothy’s voice sounded once more, the noxious vapor pouring into his ears, melting his brain.

And just like that, the world turned dark.

………………………………………………..

{New skill unlocked!}

{Assessing current skill level…}

{Assessment complete!}

{- Innate Skills: None.

- System skills: Communication (Common-Below average), Charismatic Leadership (Uncommon-Average)

- Skill List: Evasion (Common-Advanced), Hand to Hand Combat (Common-Intermediate), Eyes of Discernment (Uncommon-Advanced), Spear-Play (Common-Master), Swordsmanship (Common-Novice), Knife-Arts (Common-Intermediate), Soul Fire Manipulation (Unique-Master)}

{User Status-Main Attributes:-Vitality: 16; -Strength: 25; -Durability: 12; -Agility: 30; -Stamina: 18; }

{Bonus Stat Points Awarded!}

{Bonus Stat Points: 80}

After Subduing the young hero, Alexander stood still for a moment, panting as he winced due to the sharp bouts of pain emanating from his ribs.

‘Well, that’s what I get for tousling with the hero, huh,’ Alexander wiped the sweat off his brow before glancing at the wall of text courtesy of his beloved system.

He scoffed after` reading about his new skill, ‘What a barbaric way to describe the Pale Flame, 80 points tho…nice,’

He was about to continue the task at hand when he was rudely interrupted once again by the system’s alarm.

{User eligible for title!}

{User has acquired the title: Flame Emperor}

{Flame Emperor: All attacks involving the element of fire receive a 20% boost in damage}

{Would User like to equip the title: Flame Emperor?}

{Only one title is equipable at any given moment}

“Hey, that’s pretty good,” Alexander remarked with an admiring whistle before covering his eyes with his palm.

He took a minute to appreciate the darkness before sending his consciousness outward and into his surroundings; when he came upon the pale, rotating particles that constituted Zackery’s intent, he melted his own intent down and merged the two together. Soon enough, he was able to descend into the young hero’s sea of consciousness.

Unlike Timothy’s cramped sea, Zackery’s was vast and unending ‘I guess this is why the kid was chosen, I’m sure this place is big enough to store the guardian,’

Wanting to waste no time, Alexander immediately combed the space over in search of the beast, but soon that proved unnecessary as he immediately came upon the cage.

Upon approaching, Alexander noticed a few things. The cage was a visceral thing made of grotesque body matter. The bars that shaped the majority of the cage were made of bone which simultaneously looked brittle to the touch while also giving off a sense of density.

From what he could see, the inside of the cell was padded with fleshy masses that were soaked in blood; an effect of this being the disquieting squelching sounds that rang out whenever the guardian took a step.

In fact, it was those steps that assured Alexander of the beast’s presence as visually he could see nothing past the bones due to the roiling mist of darkness that flowed freely between the bars.

Finally, he stood a distance away, facing the cage. “Hey, Fido,” He called.

The mist’s ebb and flow grew erratic and a low growl soon emanated from the cage. The growl, though seemingly low and casual still caused their surroundings to shake with fear.

“That’s not much of a greeting now is it,” Alexander asked with a yawn as he materialized a chair and sat on it. “C’mon, I don’t have all day,”

The beast seemed to understand his words as a howl suddenly pierced the all-encompassing silence of the void and a pair of ghostly golden eyes appeared from within the cage’s mist.