Chapter 253: Cullin
The Imperial Strength Lineage wasn’t what one might expect. They weren’t behemoths, carrying around capped shoulders and bulging triceps. They were relatively small and petite, their power packed into bodies maybe just an inch or two taller than a normal day-to-day human.
Eliz might not be the strongest, but she wasn’t anywhere near the weakest of the Demon Geniuses. It could be said that even amongst the best of them, no one Demon Genius would take the other casually. Even Urouge, who had the best of schemes, had to let Eliz go in the end.
And yet... here she was...
Dead.
The council was shell-shocked. It could be said that the Imperial Wind Lineage’s head had only left moments ago; not even a handful of minutes had passed since their confident words. It was practically like Zarek had heard them and then decided to prove them wrong.
On a stage they could all see as clear as day.
The Imperial Strength Lineage’s head’s bottom lip separated from his top lip as though he was about to say something, but whatever was going to come out formed a quiver instead, his words not working properly.
Just like that, a pillar of a generation was wiped out, and there was nothing at all that they could do about it. Even if they broke all the rules and descended now, reversing the situation was an impossibility.
Eliz’s soul... it had been taken by this man.
...
Zarek yawned, feeling a bit tired as he rolled his shoulders. It wasn’t like he had had any time to rest since he started using Lurkers to reconstruct his body. Then he had hopped right into this fight.
But unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to waste.
Looking up into the skies as though he could see the cameras pointed right at him, he shook his head.
He didn’t want to do things like this—antagonizing so many powerhouses was definitely not smart. But if he was doing this, he obviously had his reasons for taking such steps.
He had thought long and hard about how he was going to one-shot an S Class, and at the end of the day, this was the only path toward doing exactly that.
The Ashen Souls of the Demon Geniuses.
As fast as he was growing, it wouldn’t be fast enough. Even these geniuses expected to have over two and a half more years here. Their growth was already fast, but it would only accelerate further as they grew strong enough to take advantage of the more dangerous opportunities.
But Zarek didn’t have the luxury to wait for that. So, as of now...
They were going to be his key.
Plus, he wasn’t the sort to let those that tried to kill him slide. So his next target was all too obvious.
Looking in a new direction, his eyes flashed.
Urouge.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He shot off into the distance in a long, streaking line, his body pulsing with Godsfall.
—
"You’re a bastard," Urouge sneered.
He didn’t receive a reply as he wiped blood away with the corner of his mouth.
In front of him, a young man stood. He was tall, feeling just a hint shy of being too tall to be human. Looming at over seven feet, he seemed like the sort that should collapse with a little push, but he was anything but.
His muscles seemed as compact as Eliz’s had been, his breathing calm and even. Though his skin was grey, it almost looked... natural in a way, as though someone even on Earth wouldn’t look toward him twice.
However, the red rim of his irises and the sharpened point of his ears spoke of a different result to that walk through Earth.
In the palm of his hands, this young man rolled the badge.
"How did you get your hands on this?" the young man asked.
Urouge’s teeth clenched. "I took it from its previous owner, obviously."
"Did you?" The young man snapped his fingers and the badge danced, spinning and landing on the tip of his forefinger. It twisted in space as though it had been placed in a separate location entirely.
"Who are you trying to impress, you cunt? You’re a Pyromancer, not a spatial mage. Your petty tricks don’t move me."
The man hardly reacted to the words, and yet Urouge sputtered, his mouth exhaling a large amount of smoke and fumes as though he had just swallowed smoldering coal.
Urouge keeled over, his body shaking from head to toe.
"Answer my questions nice and calmly."
"No need to bully the weak so much."
The young man slowly turned to see Zarek standing on a swaying branch. The latter was, luckily, not so naked anymore, adorned in some beast skins that wrapped around his waist in a skirt. But the rest of his body was practically glistening in the sun, his smile shining just as bright.
Urouge’s eyes opened wide. How had Zarek gotten here—and so silently at that? With Urouge’s senses, there was no way he wouldn’t be able to pick out someone like that.
Though they were in a thick forest, it wasn’t to the point that it couldn’t be seen through at all. What had happened in these last few months?
"Cullin of the Imperial Fire Lineage, I presume?" Zarek asked as though he wasn’t really asking. "You know, I’ve heard that you’re the most powerful of the lot. A little fairy told me."
Cullin looked at Zarek as though trying to analyze something. But when he didn’t see what he was looking for, he was actually quite a bit surprised.
"The fact you’re here is actually quite convenient for me. I probably won’t have to skate around here for much longer then. You three should be enough."
"We three?" Cullin asked slowly.
"Ah," Zarek waved a hand as though it wasn’t a big deal. "She’s not in the picture anymore. Let’s talk about us instead. Wouldn’t that be more interesting?"
Urouge’s heart skipped a beat. Her? He couldn’t be talking about Eliz, right? Thinking about how Zarek had found him, and his casual mention of this third party, Urouge’s blood ran cold.
He wouldn’t admit it, but those several weeks ago when Zarek had so easily left, he had not only been more than a little bit pissed, but he was worried.
The trouble with someone who was willing to cut their losses so cleanly was that they would almost always come back. Not only would they, but they would come back with a vengeance and a well-thought-out plan.
After making Eliz run, Urouge had been looking over his shoulder the entire time. The irony was that this had made him improve far faster than he would otherwise.
The Imperial Spirit Lineage had been quite happy to see this. This was what they were hoping would happen. They always said his potential was on the same level as the other two, but his character wasn’t in line with theirs, causing him to lag behind on several fronts despite having potential that might even exceed their own.
Unfortunately, it would have taken until the end for him to catch up entirely, especially after he spent so long tracking Zarek and slowly whittling him down... all because he preferred to play games than deal with things directly and properly.
At some unknown time, the tree Zarek stood on had become completely coated in black, a tar dripping down its length and forming threads that gently fell and stuck to the ground.
There was an odd pull that formed on the surrounding air, making it heavier, as though everything was being pulled toward Zarek. Even the badge spinning on Cullin’s finger almost shot over before he casually caught it before it could.
"Intent!" Urouge’s eyes widened.
That was impossible. Absolutely impossible. Zarek was too far from the A Class—how could he have a Godsfall Intent, let alone one that felt so potent and powerful?
Urouge might have been lazy, but he was well studied. He had studied his fair share of Godsfall Intents, mostly because he planned quite the ambitious path, wanting to give each one of his Summons a different type.
Well, four specific types to be specific. With the path he was working on, he was confident that he would pull it off. However, even then, he knew that he might be well on his way to the S Class, if not already in it, before he succeeded.
Cullin’s gaze landed on the tree, and then toward the ground the swarm of black was quickly covering.
"You don’t have this much Godsfall to expend," he said calmly.
"I should have been more clear when I said let’s focus on us ," Zarek said with a smile. "I more so meant you should be worried about yourself. I’m not sure you want to spend the extra bandwidth to worry about me too."
Cullin didn’t respond directly, looking toward Urouge instead.
"You took this from him, right?" He could remember that Zarek had been with Thalion. It seemed Zarek wasn’t as pathetic as they all thought. "Interesting. Alright," he looked back toward Zarek, "we’ll see if you have the right to be so arrogant then."
A rush of heat came from Cullin. It didn’t form flames at all, and yet the wall of approaching black came to a grinding halt.