Kyle went to the meeting place, and he quickly found Swamp Dragon.
When he saw Swamp Dragon, he released a sigh of relief.
"Glad to see you're still alive," Kyle said with a smile.
Swamp Dragon nodded, a small smile on his face. "I'm glad that you're also still alive. Seems like we both got through our battles."
"Eh, about that," Kyle said. "Turns out, I'm busy with something else. I only fought one Divine Beast, and I realized that there is some stuff I could change to improve my power. My Momentum has increased, but only a tiny bit."
When Swamp Dragon heard that, he sighed.
He had felt relieved that Kyle was still alive, but apparently, the truly dangerous part hadn't happened yet.
"I see," he said. "When I saw you, I felt like you were a bit different. I thought it was your Momentum that changed you."
"Yeah, sorry, no," Kyle said. "I'm infusing my mind with an old Complex Law right now. If I'm lucky, I will finish the entire thing before the battle happens. I wanted to do that first."
Swamp Dragon's eyes widened in horror. "You're doing what?!" he shouted.
Kyle blinked a couple of times in surprise.
Such a reaction was very unlike Swamp Dragon.
"Infusing my mind," Kyle repeated.
Swamp Dragon narrowed his eyes. "That's even more dangerous than fighting a True Battle, Bang! Infusing your mind with a Complex Law is something you can only do safely when you're halfway through the Fusion Realm! If you make any mistake, you might not die, but you will change into someone else, and worst of all, you wouldn't want to change back."
Kyle blinked a couple more times. "I mean, yeah, I went crazy a couple of times, but I always recovered afterwards. Also, I'm already 30% done."
Swamp Dragon took a deep breath as he closed his eyes.
"What Law are you using?" he asked.
"My old Law of Meteor," Kyle said.
Swamp Dragon remained silent for a while.
"Think about the Law," he said. "What does it represent? If you were to turn the Law into a person, would that be a person you can identify with?"
Kyle thought about Swamp Dragon's words.
A meteorite.
How would such a person be?
Well, a meteorite was very destructive. It moved incredibly fast and without pause. While traveling through space, it would just keep going forever, but as soon as it came into contact with any sort of matter, it would turn into a do-or-die situation.
If it hit another rock, it would either destroy the rock or destroy itself. If it came into contact with any sort of atmosphere, it would start burning away until it either hit something solid or no longer existed.
A person like that…
Someone who went all-in on everything, even when it was dangerous. Someone who broke through everything that was in their path. Such a person had a goal, and they would do their best to reach the destination of their trajectory, wherever it may lead.
Unstoppable. Endless effort. Unending conviction. Goal-oriented. Intense.
As Kyle thought about this hypothetical person, he realized something.
'I am not that kind of person…'
Kyle looked at Swamp Dragon.
'But I want to be.'
'In a way, this could describe Swamp Dragon. He has an incredibly strong conviction, and he follows his morals, no matter what. Even if the Karmic Laws changed or if they were in his way, he would keep doing what he feels is right. He put so much effort into defending the world from the Cult without getting a lot in return. He just does it because it's what he believes in.'
'He knows he's fighting an uphill battle. He knows he can't clean up all the filth in the world on his own. It's an eternal battle, which he will never win. And yet, he keeps going. He keeps trying.'
'I admire that in him. I wish I could go through life with such conviction. Instead, I'm just being a weasel that tries to get by. In the end, my life is still the most important thing to me.'
'But do I want to remain like that? Do I want to keep being a weasel forever?'
At that moment, Kyle thought about the Lord's Blessing inside of him.
He would betray the Array of Stars in the future. He had to. If he refused, the Lord would kill him, and if he came clean, the Array of Stars would execute him. Both ways led to death.
'A weasel. I'm going to do stuff I don't want to do just to survive.'
'That's who I am.'
'But it's not who I want to be.'
As Kyle thought about the Law of Meteor, he felt like incorporating it into his mind would be the right thing to do.
"Yes," Kyle answered. "If the Law of Meteor were a person, I think they would be driven, focused, and determined."
Swamp Dragon's eyes remained furrowed. "Self-destructive, explosive, and stubborn," he said. "An inflexible person who will destroy everyone in their path, even if it destroys them."
"You?" Kyle asked.
Swamp Dragon's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"You don't want to do anything that goes against your morals," Kyle said. "You might call it driven, but others would call it stubborn. You would destroy your Karmic Luck, endangering your life, assuming that following it would stop you from doing what you feel is right. You're also quite explosive when it comes to killing people you believe are deserving of death."
Swamp Dragon's eyes narrowed in anger.
"And I admire that!" Kyle shouted, stopping Swamp Dragon from talking.
Swamp Dragon seemed taken aback as his brows rose. "Admire?"
"Yeah," Kyle answered. "I wish I could stick to my conviction like you. Yet, instead of doing what I think is right, I just do whatever I need to do to survive. You're a proud eagle. I'm a weasel."
Swamp Dragon raised one of his brows in uncertainty. "You're one to talk," he said. "You've been swinging your hammer for centuries without knowing if that will ever pay off. You've tried to sacrifice yourself just to let Manny and me escape. You've even refused to kill Star Genesis during your battle."
"You make one dangerous and risky decision after another because you want to do it. Even now, you're doing something crazy again, which I would never dare."
Swamp Dragon shook his head. "You admire my qualities? Ironic."
"I admire your qualities."
Now, Kyle was the surprised one. "Wait, you admire my qualities?"
Swamp Dragon nodded. "Haven't you noticed? You showed me how you comprehend Laws in the Star Seeking, and I changed my method of comprehension to mimic yours. You've shown me how important Momentum is, and I've been working hard on my Momentum ever since. I saw you surviving several attacks that would've killed anyone else through sheer creativity. I copied your methods, and they've saved my life before."
"Bang, without your influence, I wouldn't have become a Unique Transcendent, and I wouldn't even have had a chance to become a Unique Primal."
As Kyle heard Swamp Dragon, he felt embarrassed.
He wasn't that great.
Swamp Dragon was great!
Swamp Dragon sighed. "I should trust you more," he said. "Maybe the reason why I became so angry is that you're doing something that I wouldn't dare to do."
"Your courage has made me feel inadequate in comparison."
Kyle sighed. "Well, I don't completely agree with you, but it also doesn't completely matter."
Kyle smiled and held his fist out. "Still, good to know that I'm not a rat in your opinion."
Swamp Dragon looked at the fist with confusion.
Kyle moved it forward a bit. "Come on! This interaction feels a bit too gay! Give your bro a fist bump!"
"Fist bump?" Swamp Dragon asked.
"Just hit my fist with your fist," Kyle said. "It's how good buddies greet each other on Earth."
Swamp Dragon scratched the back of his head before hitting Kyle's fist with his own.
But then, Swamp Dragon looked at Kyle with uncertainty. "This is a bit awkward, and it might be a strange thing to say after we talked so much, but I'm not attracted to men, in case that wasn't clear."
"Same, bro," Kyle said, putting his hand on Swamp Dragon's shoulder.
"Just two bros admiring each other's personalities."
"Nothing gay about that."
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