On the other hand, Winter was unusually protective despite her usual delicate mannerisms, shielding Frank as she snapped, "F-Frank is a very busy man."Her classmates were certainly dissatisfied."That's sly, Winter!" "Yeah, aren't you just keeping him to yourself?""It's alright, Winter." Frank patted her head and smiled—he never received formal education himself and was therefore not averse to the students' eagerness to learn. "If you're all interested, I'll try to make time for a lecture every month.""Once a month…?"The students were all disappointed, though something was better than nothing.Winter blushed even as she braced herself against the other girls' pointed looks. "That's plenty! Frank is very busy!" Frank made a solemn face just then. "Alright, class dismissed."As the students all thanked him earnestly for his lesson, he was once again reminded of his junior apprentices who always fooled around.The thought left him clenching his fist.As he strode out th
However, why would the Salazars of Sunny City have a problem with Kurt, whose operations were based in Riverton?Seeing the confused look on Frank's face, Bravo sighed. "You might not know this, but the Salazars had an agreement with us. We would secure a piece of land and pull strings across Riverton, while the Salazars would build a pharmaceutical factory, which they claimed would help them win a monopoly over Riverton's pharmacy business."Frank frowned. "If I recall, Kurt was poisoned even before the Salazars' Beauty Pill hit the market."Bravo nodded solemnly. "Yes. They did not like our asking price, and things went sour. Mr. Stinson must have been poisoned right then… But they returned after a while, very agreeable this time. They even had no problems with Mr. Stinson raising the price by twenty percent, though you saw the outcome for yourself—their Beauty Pill lost to the Turnbulls' Rejuvenation Pill, and that was when they refused to pay us the outstanding cost."Watching
Then, as Bravo and everyone else looked on in shock, Frank's tone changed sharply as he declared, "Not your last breath—I'll save you even if you've stopped breathing.""Shit!""Amazing!" "That's pompous!"Everyone including Bravo was shocked that Frank would humble himself, only for him to declare his overwhelming confidence.It in turn encouraged the goons, and suddenly none of them were afraid of the Salazars' poison.They were even shouting battlecries, ready to teach the Salazars a lesson!"No more dirty tricks! We have nothing to fear!""Let's go! Down with the Salazars!""Come on!"They all got into their MPVs rowdily, then drove along the road, forming a grand convoy and drawing plenty of attention.-In reality, Bravo's concerns proved to be true.Although the Salazars' factory was long since defunct, Jaud White was there, smugly calling Donald Salazar in Sunny City."I'm sure Kurt Stinson found out who poisoned him a while ago," he said confidently. "Just leave
"The Salazars have set a trap!" Bravo bellowed furiously. "We would've fallen for it if we didn't have Mr. Lawrence with us!"Then, turning toward Frank, he asked, "Are those threads…?"Frank was chuckling coolly upon a closer look. "They make up the outermost layer, and it's been laced with the sap of the Araneus Floret. Once you touch it, you'll lose consciousness before you know it, but it won't kill you.""It's child's play," he added. "Just keep your blades in front of you and flail around. Make sure not to get the sap on your skin. You'll be safe that way.""You heard him, boys!" Bravo turned toward his men and barked, "Don't let the threads reach your skin!"With that, he led the way, swinging his machete endlessly before him to cut off the threads.-"Hmmm…?"In the factory, Jaud White had just gotten off the phone with Donald Salazar, and he frowned.He could sense the perimeter threads being touched and sneered—Kurt Stinson's men had really come to reclaim this patch
"Fall back!" Bravo bellowed, knowing that now was not the time to act tough after Frank had spoken.Their land lot was right there and not running anyway, and so he fled, with his men helping him as they ran outside the factory.It was only then that they saw the thin blue smoke in the air, almost invisible to the naked eye."Mr. Lawrence saw that before we all did." One of the goons sighed, feeling lucky to have survived that. "He's simply amazing!""Ya think? The man had some moves too—he took down Mr. Lambert with just a couple of moves, and it was so clean!""Alright, shut it!" Bravo snapped.He was blushing while also a little spooked that Frank had subdued him.As Kurt's best fighter, he had been carving a reputation for his exploits over the years. Naturally, it was a little unacceptable for him to be subdued so easily.Still, he felt fortunate that he never made an enemy of Frank, or he would now be suffering for it."Nobody breathes a word about this, ever," he quickl
Frank strode forward, his eyes narrowing threateningly."N-No…"Jaud started sweating all over his brow, having long since given up on the idea of fighting Frank directly.And now that he saw Frank, his first thought was to run—the further away, the better!"Damn it! Didn't Chaz Graves promise to bring in the Lionhearts and kill that son of a bitch?! That's so long ago, but here he is, still alive and kicking!"Even as Jaud cursed inwardly, he was flashing a smile that could well be a scowl. "Oh, hello, Mr. Lawrence! Long time no see…"Frank continued forward, his dark aura bursting. "Long time no see, huh? I guess that's true, since I still haven't settled things with the Salazars.""Oh, no, no, no…" Jaud quickly threw up his hands, quickly hatching a plan. "Come on, Mr. Lawrence! Ever since his son's death, Donald Salazar has been repentant. He's even attending church and told me not to get you upset and all that…""Really?"Frank chuckled coolly. "The last time I ran into h
Jaud recognized Frank's moves. "The Five-Peat Archaeus… of Mystic Sky Sect?!""I'm surprised you know about us." Frank strode up, ready to end Jaud's life.Jaud promptly threw up his hands in panic. "No, please! Don't kill me, Mr. Lawrence… Right, I can trade a secret of the Salazars for my life!"Frank had a hand poised to strike but paused. "A secret of the Salazars?""Yes." Jaud coughed even as he lay on the floor. "The Salazars still want you dead. Just let me live, and I'll tell you their secret.""Speak," Frank growled, his expression cold."Then… Do I have your assurance that I'll live?""I'll kill you right now if you don't tell me!"Frank's vigor charged again, and Jaud's eyes widened against the tremendous pressure.Even as he begged for mercy, he steeled himself while cursing Donald endlessly. "Fuck! I had to run into this monster today of all days… But don't think you can get away while I can't, Donald!"If only Donald did not cut corners and paid Kurt, they certa
Frank glowered as he projected his pure vigor. It manifested into a hammer out of thin air, swinging straight toward Jaud's chest!"Hell no!" Jaud suddenly leapt several meters into the air, dodging Frank's hammer.He clearly had no intention to fight Frank as he fled wildly out of the factory.Given how fast he moved, he was clearly pretending to be maimed before."You're running now? Too late!"Frank's pure vigor was still connected to him even after he projected it—it was an ability unique to the Five-Peat Archaeus.And with a wave of his hand, Frank turned the hammer that shot past Jaud back to him."What?!"Jaud thought he was safe as soon as he dodge the hammer earlier and did not expect it to still be under Frank's control!As the hammer turned back to him, it struck him squarely in the chest this time, sending him flying even as screamed."Gurk!" Jaud's chest was sunken, and he was coughing blood as well as pieces of his own lungs into the air.He landed heavily be