Chapter 428: More secrets (2)
He spoke in an icy tone, calm and collected. But on my end...
With bloodshot eyes, I immediately drew my swords in fury, my body exploding with violet aura, ready to lunge at him in an instant.
"You finally showed yourself, you son of a bitch!"
I was about to shatter the floor beneath me and hurl myself at him with everything my body could muster.
But in less than a second, a crushing weight slammed down on my shoulders, freezing me in place.
A tremendous aura pressure, the strongest I’d ever felt, paralyzed me completely.
Surrounded by that blue aura radiating from the Engineer, I realized it was coming from him.
"Did you learn nothing from last time?"
He spoke with the same frigid tone, rising from his seat as he approached, radiating that overwhelming aura.
"You know you can’t defeat me."
"Shut your damn mouth!"
Struggling against him, I tried to move in any way I could.
But it was pointless.
My dark aura was nothing but a tiny speck against the ocean of absolute power he unleashed.
Face to face with him...
I tried my best to calm myself, gradually suppressing my aura.
Normally, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my cool in front of him, but things had changed after all I’d been through.
As much as I wanted to rip that mysterious face of his apart, now wasn’t the time.
I simply didn’t have the strength to take him down .. not yet. Besides, I knew he wouldn’t kill me. This bastard wanted me alive more than anyone else.
So, bit by bit, I forced myself to calm down under his cold, blue gaze.
"A wise choice... this will do."
With those words, he retracted his aura, allowing me to finally catch my breath .. and reminding me once again of the vast gap in our power.
In front of that kind of strength... I had even forgotten how to breathe.
The Engineer ignored me completely, walking past as he left the temple.
"Where do you think you’re going ?!"
Leaping from my place, I chased after him immediately.
This was probably the longest time I’d ever spent in the same space with the blue-eyed bastard. There was no way I’d just let him disappear again.
But, contrary to my expectations, he didn’t leave.
With a single motion of his lone hand, his power swept across the entire sect, and in an instant, more dark structures materialized from thin air.
At that moment, I finally got my answer—the one I’d been wondering about since I arrived.
So he was the one who built this place.
Staring at his back, I felt a tangled mess of emotions surge within me .. most of them a burning hatred that made me want to kill him on the spot.
But tangled up with that hatred... was the weight of countless unanswered questions. Questions I was sure only he could answer.
"Ask, if you’ve got questions. This is your chance."
As if reading my mind, the blue-eyed man spoke calmly, still manipulating the terrain like it was nothing. I let out a dry laugh without meaning to.
"Now that’s unexpected. Since when are you feeling generous, Engineer?"
I said coldly. But as usual, he said nothing.
There was no reason for him to lie to me. If he wanted to escape, I’d never be able to find him anyway.
With the door open before me, a hundred questions flooded my head. All the things I desperately wanted answers to.
But above them all...
I asked the one question that brought me here in the first place.
"How do I save Danzo?"
I asked firmly, giving it my full focus.
The final mission gave me two choices: save him, or kill him.
And if anyone knew a third way, it would be this son of a bitch.
I waited for his answer. A few seconds passed.
"There’s no clear answer to that question."
The veins on my forehead twitched like worms as rage welled up again.
"What the hell do you mean by that?! Aren’t you the one who said this question would require using the System’s Inquiry Skill?! And that I’d regret it if I used it too soon?!"
I shouted without thinking, frustration spilling out of me.
He was supposed to know the answer. He was the one who hinted at it through the system interface that day.
But the Engineer showed no reaction. He turned toward me calmly.
"You seem to misunderstand something, Frey Starlight."
Coldly, he spoke words more confusing than anything I’d heard from him before.
"Did you really think I was the one who created the system you’ve been using all this time?"
His words made me furrow my brows in disbelief.
"What are you talking about?"
"Wake up already. There’s no way I could give you a power like that."
Continuing to spew this nonsense, my mind only filled with more questions instead of answers. I couldn’t help but yell in frustration.
"What the hell are you saying?! If you didn’t create it, then who did?!"
"That power was inside you from the start. All I did was shape it into a system interface so you could use it more easily. That’s all the system is ... your own power, nothing else."
Each word felt like a hammer pounding my skull.
No way... this couldn’t be true.
There were too many contradictions.
If the system was my own power, how did he manipulate it in the first place?
"What kind of bullshit are you trying to sell me?! Weren’t you the one who issued missions? Weren’t you the one who gave me answers after the Victoriad?!"
I kept screaming, while he calmly continued reshaping the sect.
"I don’t issue your missions."
"What?!"
"And as for the system inquiry... all I did was tell you the answer because I happened to know it at the time. Unlike now .. when I genuinely have no clear answer."
His words hit me like relentless blows.
Suddenly, memories of the system’s sarcastic remarks, its cryptic missions, and everything else came flooding back.
Covering my face with my hands as my expression darkened, a terrible realization crept over me.
"That wasn’t the Engineer..."
"It seems you’ve finally caught on."
As his voice echoed in the temple, I collapsed onto the ground without meaning to .. realizing I’d just opened a door to an entirely new nightmare.
"If it wasn’t you... then who?"
I asked once more, staring up at him.
He opened his mouth and answered flatly.
"I won’t tell you."
"What?"
"Why so surprised? I said I’d listen to your questions. I never said I’d answer all of them."
Hearing that smug response again, especially now of all times...
I found myself drawing my swords, unable to control my rage any longer.
"You really are a son of a bitch, damned engineer . The filthy engineer ..that title suits you perfectly!"
Exploding the ground beneath my feet, I shot toward him at blinding speed, ready to blow him to pieces with every ounce of power I had.
"Take your cursed nonsense and go to hell!"
Swinging my sword, I slashed at him with terrifying speed .. my blade was mere inches from cutting him down.
But then, in that moment...
Time froze, in the strangest, most unnatural way.
Only the engineer moved, unaffected. Calmly, he placed his hand .. glowing with an overwhelming blue light .. right on my chest.
"Sleep for a while. Maybe it’ll help clear your head."
Even though time itself was frozen, I could hear his voice with perfect clarity.
Then, without warning, his fist released a destructive wave of aura that tore through my body, hurling me backward until I smashed through the temple wall, shattering it completely and breaking through to the other side.
I collapsed on the ground, defeated in a single blow.
With one strike, the engineer had knocked me out cold, leaving me buried in the abyss of darkness.
The gap between our powers... was beyond measure.
...
...
...
I don’t know how long I remained unconscious. But when I finally awoke, night had already fallen outside.
With heavy, dragging steps, I stumbled out of the temple, wounded far more in spirit than in body.
And there he was .. the damned Engineer .. still standing there, calmly continuing to build the sect.
Facing him once again, I realized something clearly.
My time with those piercing blue eyes was far from over.
"You truly are a damned son of a bitch... cursed engineer."