Northern glided through the air on his way to Verulania, already busy with tasks that mainly involved checking his profile and evolving the only talent he'd left untouched.
Because of that, [Whispering Gale] had gained five incredible talent abilities.
[Wind Blade], [Wind Compass], [Wind Embrace], [Windless] and [Wind Manipulation].
But that wasn't the most incredible thing about the new talent abilities. The most incredible thing was the fact that [Whispering Gale] had evolved into a talent that could now damage the soul.
[Wind Blade] for example could cut the physical, but Northern could also make it slice through things without form—including one's soul.
[Wind Compass] detected presence based on one's soul. [Wind Embrace] allowed him to merge with the wind itself, becoming invisible. With [Windless] he could erase the wind in a particular area, and [Wind Manipulation]... that one spoke for itself.
So the act of simply cutting down the pagoda wasn't something that came out of nowhere. There was a reason he had targeted the pagoda. Northern had something to achieve in doing so.
The answer was simple.
Fear.
He wanted the strange man to start fearing him. To realize there was no way he could have ever truly understood him. He thought he had studied Northern? Northern wanted him to understand that he hadn't even glimpsed one percent of what he was capable of.
He did feel a bit twisted for wanting such a thing. But only for a moment.
Watching the man's expression slowly crumble now filled him with satisfaction. A smile slowly spread across his face.
'I think I'm just gonna keep doing everything I want to do.'
The feeling was seriously intoxicating.
Either way, he looked at the man and spoke dryly, placing both hands behind his back.
There was something about him that no longer seemed like that of a young man, let alone a teenage boy.
"So... you were saying..."
Northern paused, watching him with a crooked smile.
"...you studied me?"
Northern raised his hands. The wind began to grow cold, stars of snow began to fall from the clouds.
"You saw this coming? You studied it?"
He dropped his hands and the air turned scorching hot, making the man sweat. The heat clung to him like a second skin.
"Oh, guess you studied this one too."
He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"Since you studied it all, I wonder if I have any new tricks to use on you."
At this point, the man was visibly shaking. The confident and irritated look on his face had vanished. Before, he'd looked quite superior. Now, he looked pale, eyes wide and trembling. It was hard to place him in any category—he was scared while trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
Northern looked down for a moment, his expression turning somber.
"Stars. Even I sometimes forget how 'talented' I am, you know. There's no way you could have studied it all."
He exhaled and stared directly into the man's eyes, as if piercing into his soul, while grinning wickedly.
"So... what's it gonna be, invader? Should we fight? Or do you think you could call back your men and surrender? You're fighting a losing battle anyway."
The man seemed to sink deeper into fear for a moment, then suddenly glared at him.
"Surrender? Surrender? That's not even a question. If I fight you I might die, if I don't fight you I will die—either by your hands or his hands. All of you evil men will kill me anyway. You'll never let me be!"
Northern raised a brow, curious at his words. He sighed and shook his head slightly.
"Young man, I'm not going to kill you. But yes, I can't have you running around. Instead, what I do is turn my prisoners into miners. Both those that are killed by me and those that aren't."
Northern looked intently at him.
"So if you really decide to surrender, you're definitely not going to die."
The man looked at him strangely, contemplative. But there was reluctance in his eyes. That was all Northern needed.
"Your ability is cloning, isn't it?"
He smiled knowingly.
"I'm curious how it works. I can do something similar too, but mine is much better."
As Northern finished talking, a perfect clone of himself appeared right next to him.
The man froze, his eyes slowly widening even more, his lips trembling as he tried to speak.
"H...h...how?"
Northern shrugged.
"They say there are no two identical talents in this world. But you know, I don't believe that. I feel glad, suddenly finding out that someone else has a talent like mine. Honestly, I want to steal it. But I have a feeling that yours works in a very twisted manner."
Northern glanced around.
"All these minions of yours. They are you, aren't they?"
Northern nodded.
"Been checking their souls since you got here. They're just like you. Their presence is just like yours. So I figured your cloning works differently. Malicious, in fact, but I don't know yet. I also can't see it... which means, Koll did whatever he did to himself to you."
Northern's face darkened.
"Who are you?"
The man's expression seemed indifferent. He looked away for a bit, a strange expression climbing his face. Then he returned his gaze to Northern with a defiant frown.
"You don't need to know anything. There's nothing you can do."
Northern sighed and looked at the man.
"I offered you my help already. Would you rather take mine or be killed?"
The man frowned, slowly raising his sword.
"You're speaking nonsense."
Northern shrugged.
"At least the nonsense will save your life... Or take it."
Northern looked at him again.
"The decision is really in your hands. But just know, there are plenty of ways for me to stop you. For example..."
Northern snapped his fingers.
Barely a moment later, the people in black clothing suddenly stopped. All of them frozen in movement, so that the instructors and others who were fighting them—even though they were already winning—had the chance to rain down blows upon them before discovering that something was wrong.
They stopped and watched carefully. Then all of them showed shock as they saw the invaders slowly start to fade, first into blood. Then the blood began to evaporate.