“That might not be the case,” Christian tacked on pensively. “Zayn Larson is a perfect class fighter now—he has a better standing. If he manages to offer a convincing apology to Daneli… You know what Daneli’s like. He appreciates talent too much. In fact, he’d probably spare Zayn from an execution.”His three allies, including Taio, went silent.Had Taio thought about such a possibility? Yes, he definitely did—and God knew how much it p*ssed him off. First, Zayn murdered his brother-in-law, and now he had injured him to the point of being a walking corpse. He was a shell of his former self, with no dignity or pride left to salvage. He hated Zayn so much. The heat from his rage was present within every fiber of his body. It was unlike any degree of anger he had ever felt—nothing on Earth could possibly extinguish these undying flames.“I don’t care what it takes—Zayn Larson must die! After his death, we’ll finally be free from fear!”The other three murmured in assent, though they h
As quick as the thought had sprung into his mind, Zayn began to chase after the silhouette. He was so fast that it looked like he had teleported from one location to the other. Oblivious bystanders only felt the soft breeze of the wind billowing past them.The sight of the scarlet silhouette had caused Zayn’s heart to race, and an equally heart-throbbing face filled his mind’s eye.Dear God, it was Lysithea. Lysithea, whose supple, radiant skin had briefly entangled his own.She was here for him—a thought that enlivened him at first, as it meant that a friend had come to see him. A split second later, he grew wary. What if Ezra was using her as bait?He thought about the possibility for a moment, before deciding to tail the young woman anyways. He knew that she was smarter than that. Zayn figured that she was the last person to do such a thing, and that Ezra would be too proud and too bound by his honorable status to use such a cheap trick. Besides, Zayn was confident with his abil
Zayn stopped dead in his tracks. He was definitely the one at fault in this case—he really messed up big time. He hurt both Lysithea and his mother. Sighing heavily, he asked, “Is… Mother alright?”“You’re lucky she’s fine,” Lysithea snapped, “I’d maim otherwise!”Zayn went silent, letting only the howling wind speak for him. The gust had turned into a gale as it ferried their exchange, but for some reason, the words only arrived in a voice no louder than a whisper.Zayn asked again, very softly, “When can I see her again?”It was the mother of all depressing topics of conversation. Zayn had naively thought that achieving the perfect class would be enough to save his mother, but he knew better now. It was still a far cry from the minimum competency—he would not be able to rescue his mother if Ezra Sword stood in his way, let alone the Saint of Sicut in Caelo, who was rumored to have already achieved the legendary state of Invincibilis.“The day when you achieved Invincibilis, mayb
Back at Violet Vision, Zayn leaned into his chair. In his mind, he had mulled over Lysithea’s words and attitude enough that he felt compelled to conclude that she was definitely acting strange.She was hiding something from him, he felt. However, he could not detect any weakness. She was far from wanting in brio as well, in fact, it seemed like she had progressed enough in her fighting prowess. He thought about it again and again. Finally, he decided that her abnormality could probably be chalked up to her being mad at him. She was probably furious at him for making his mother despair.Lysithea was right about one thing, though. Three years was too long. He had to save his mom as soon as possible. Her freedom had to be restored.He had to achieve the state of Invincibilis. He had to, and he would—as soon as he could!There, within the borders of Yando City, a large mansion stood proudly in its seclusion. The passage of time had left its mark on the house, yet there was nothing tha
Antony dodged the question with an implicative one of his own. “Tell me, Brooks. Do you remember how old you were when you first broke into the ranks of the perfect class?”Recollection bubbled beneath Paxton’s eyes. They twinkled and glinted like embers, reflecting the light from his bygone, fiery youth. “It’s been thirty years since I attained the perfect class, man. I was thirty-five,” he sighed.He finished his sentence with a small smile—just curved enough to hint at his satisfaction. Attaining the perfect class at such a young age was nothing to be sneered at and he knew it.“Thirty-f**king-five! Man, you’re here showing the world what being gifted really means, don’t you? How many experts out there brokered all their might and effort without ever gaining purchase into that level? But you—well, you did it in your thirties,” Antony exclaimed. He had always been one of the ordinary, untrained, non-special majority, and with it came the same doe-eyed adulation to people who achie
Still, Paxton’s bemusement never dissipated. Reaching the perfect class at the age of twenty-eight? What did that even mean? Was “genius” even the right word? Or could this enigma be more correctly classified as a monster?Being the man known as Ares, the God of War, Paxton Brooks had experienced enough mind-blowing, skull-numbing strangeness throughout his storied life that his biography could have been counted as an epic. Anyone with his life experience would have a mind more resilient and shock-resistant than the average person, and indeed, he calmed down significantly despite his surprise and his composure returned.He looked Antony Hoffman in the eye. “You’re not pulling a fast one on me, are you, Hoffman? You’re telling me that there’s a guy out there who attained the perfect class at the young age of twenty-eight. That’s impossible, alright? You’re describing a freak of nature.”Antony bobbed his head excitedly. “Since when did I ever kid you, man? The name’s Zayn Larson, a
Antony let him ramble. Paxton probably understood his intentions at that point.About a minute later, Paxton started, “Has anyone found out about his reason? Why did he go against his direct order? Why misappropriate the Ambrosia Fruit? What was his ulterior motive?”Antony was bemused. “Do we need to? The Ambrosia Fruit is the solitaire of Earth’s quintessence, a treasure that could propel a man straight into the next few flights of evolution. Can’t you imagine just how seductive the fruit was to a superior class fighter like Zayn? It could strengthen him by leaps and bounds,” he replied. “Besides, he attained the perfect class after this, didn’t he? That’s gotta be a result from consuming the Ambrosia Fruit.”His conjecture sounded pretty full proof, yet Paxton found a reason to shake his head. “I doubt that’s it. Remember, he was the same young man who managed to reach the fourth tier of the superior class within two years. His absolute genius and talent were evident; I don’t thi
Zayn had been living leisurely for the past two days, and his life was back on its original track once again. However, he did not let down his guard just because of that. He knew that what he experienced now was the calm before the storm and many challenges would be lying ahead of him. Meanwhile, he had already stabilized his martial arts training of being a perfect-class master fighter and digested 80% of the Aeon Karpos inside his body. When he could digest the remaining 20%, he would become an unbeatable fighter, and by then, even if Ezra Sword were to attack him, he had full confidence that he would have the ability to fight and perhaps even defeat him!He would cleanse his humiliation by then!He had already handed over his authority to Luke, Sean, and Gordon to manage his business empire in the meantime. It was akin to an enormous machine running rapidly in secret. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Zayn was already the wealthiest man in Guineve now. Moreover, his