Chapter 180. The Power of the Hero (4)
"Kang Shin, you just turned a small city into rubble and dust."
"Isn"t it awesome? I should take this opportunity to live a grander life."
Along with the crumbling concrete, Peika and Sharana shredded computers and other electronics. The giant building that had once stood tall was nowhere to be seen and only an empty plot of land remained. I might have a talent for the demolition business.
"Y-You, what…!"
As expected of an SS ranker, Brightman was completely fine. He reached toward Peika and Sharana, but there was no way the elementals would be caught by him. Soon, he realized that it wasn"t the elementals he had to aim for. It was me.
"Thunder Knight! You think you can get away with this? Both you and Korea will pay for it dearly!"
I jumped off Lotte. After recalling Peika and activating Thunder Beast, I pulled my fist back. Seeing me jump down, Brightman gritted his teeth and dodged. However, if I was going to let him escape, I wouldn"t have jumped off in the first place.
"Sharana!"
[Yes, Master!]
"Kuk!"
Brightman froze on the spot as if something was restraining him. I suspected that he wouldn"t be able to move for at least 10 seconds. I circulated Peruta Circuit to the limit, and a giant whirlpool of lightning enveloped my fist. I was just about to hit the ground. Seeing Brightman"s face getting bigger, I struck my fist toward him.
"Kak!"
Thanks to hitting his face with full force, I didn"t receive much shock from the fall. Instead, Brightman slammed against the ground and caused fissures to break out.
"Kuk, Thun-Thunder Knight, you just…!"
"I"m going to hit you now, so don"t open your mouth. You might bite your tongue."
"You just committed a crime— kuhuk!"
I gave him an uppercut. Immediately afterward, I felled him by kicking his chest and mounted him. His face was swollen.
"Thunder… Knight…!"
"That one was for the punch you gave me in Windermere."
I hammered his face with my fist. His nose, which stood as high as his pride, sunk. I continued with lightning wrapped around my fist.
"This one is for hitting on Hwaya when you"re a middle-aged married man."
I punched his solar plexus three times. He coughed out blood. As expected of an SS ranker, the way he coughed out blood was different than normal people. I leisurely dodged it and hit him one more time. Then, I focused my mana in my fist and held it up.
"And this one… is for daring to touch my sister!"
"Ku, huk…!"
For the next 10 minutes, I beat him so that he could only barely breathe. There wasn"t a single bone in his body that wasn"t broken. I made sure to break his jaws, so he could only eat porridge for the rest of his life. I made it so that he could never walk, never hold or touch objects, give birth, or have hair.
At that time, Lotte landed. When Walker and Daisy got off, they widened their eyes after seeing Brightman. When I turned around, Walker surprisingly had his mask off and was revealing his face.
"Ed… ward…!"
Hearing the words that left Brightman"s mouth, I remembered that Walker"s name was Edward. I was also amazed by Brightman"s rate of recovery.
"Joshua, what a sorry state you"re in."
When Walker was with me, he always called Brightman by his last name. Now, however, he was calling him by his first name. They exchanged glances that I couldn"t understand.
"So you really were… alive…!"
"You didn"t know?"
"I couldn"t believe it… until I saw you with my own eyes… But why…"
"I told you, Joshua, that the world won"t continue to go the way you want it to."
"Fool! Why did you join hands with this kid!"
"You"re a kid too, Joshua. But unlike you, this kid isn"t a selfish narcissist."
"Kahak… I won"t allow a yellow monkey to hold the supremacy over the world…! Edward, it"s not… too late. Right now, get this monkey out of here!"
I punched his face again. On the other hand, Walker burst into laughter.
"You hit a new low, Joshua. You tried to kidnap an innocent person just for that?"
"Kidnap? You destroyed Brightman Group"s building for something like that!?"
"You"ve always been like this, Joshua. You treat your belongings like treasures and others" belongings like pebbles on the side of the road. No, the ones you liked, you tried to obtain by all means. I always found your att.i.tude disgusting. I see that it still hasn"t changed, even in this situation."
"Edward…! I gave you everything you had!"
"You"re right, Joshua. You did give me everything."
Walker approached us. His fist was enveloped by a black aura. When did he get so strong? His mana was certainly above an SS rankers. He stopped in front of me and raised his fist. While I stared with widened eyes…
He struck down on Joshua"s face.
"Kuhuk!"
"But there wasn"t a single thing I really wanted."
With Walker"s blow, Brightman lost consciousness. He picked his fist back up and shook off the blood. Then, he said with a grin.
"Punching him like that was on my bucket list."
"You… You"re pretty cool."
"You just found out? You really have no eyes for people."
While a strange air flowed between Walker and me, Daisy shoved her face toward me.
"His mind, I read everything. Lacking information, I can make up."
"Thanks, Daisy. Then…"
There was no reason to hesitate. I removed Brightman"s ability down to the last minuscule piece. For someone with such a dirty personality, his ability was a brilliant ball of light with a golden l.u.s.ter. It seemed abilities don’t always match their users" personalities.
I held it toward Walker.
"Take it, Walker, it"s yours."
"I thought you"d say that… There"s someone I want to give it to. Is that okay?"
"Brightman"s younger sister, Sophie?
"Ek!?"
Walker looked at me in shock. I made a sly smile and poked his shoulder.
"Not a single thing you wanted, huh… I think I know what one of them is, eh?"
"K-Kang Shin, you— khuk!"
"You just cursed, right? Hehehe, so I"m right."
"Kang Shin, that"s not it…!"
I rolled Brightman"s unconscious body into a random crater in the ground. He would no longer be able to do anything on his own. If this Sophie was the type of person Walker described her to be, I was sure she"d take care of Brightman.
"You prepare the Soul Contract. Whether she can accept an SS rank ability is another matter."
"Can I just… make her into an explorer?"
"Walker, I didn"t know you were such a pure-hearted guy…"
"I told you, I have no romantic feelings for her!"
I couldn"t give someone an SS rank ability just because Walker liked her. Although I wouldn"t impose a harsh condition like the one on Walker, there had to be measures in place to prevent her from doing anything out of place. For example, using her newly acquired ability to create a strange organization like the one Brightman tried to make.
We told everyone in Revival about the matter and voted on creating a new dungeon explorer. Unlike with Yua, most of the members didn"t know about her. As she was also the younger sister of Brightman, they couldn"t fully trust her either. In the end, most of them agreed under the condition that a Soul Contract would be used. Walker created the contract for Sophie as he trembled.
Then, we headed to Britain. As we took our time destroying Brightman"s organization on the way, it took about 4 hours.
Sophie was staying in Brightman Group"s luxury hotel in London. She was in charge of operating Brightman Group businesses in Britain and was 27 years old this year. Unlike her older brother, she was extremely talented in running a business. According to Walker, that is.
"I get it, so can you stop bragging about your girlfriend?"
"She"s not my girlfriend!"
The moment she heard Walker"s voice, she let us into her room. I was grateful. If possible, I didn"t want to deal with Britain"s police.
Sophie was indeed the type of girl Walker would like. Unlike her older brother, she had a slender and tender figure. Though her grey eyes were a bit sharp, her radiant blonde hair mitigated her cold look. Just like her older brother, she had a sharp nose. With her charming full lips, she exuded the charm of a beautiful woman.
"Edward!"
Surprisingly, she jumped into Walker"s embrace the moment she saw him. She didn"t look at us at all.
"You should have told me if you were alive, stupid!"
"Joshua would have found out if I did."
"Couldn"t you have done it secretly?"
"That"s…"
"I hate you!"
It seemed British people had a custom of kissing people they hated. Wanting to get hated as well, I asked Walker.
"Not your girlfriend, you said…?"
"This is… family intimacy."
"Edward, I was so worried…!"
"Looks like you"ve been well."
"Not without you!"
Sophie buried her face in Walker"s embrace and didn"t look up. Walker sweated. He faced us and shook his head, but it was too late. Daisy said bluntly.
"Humans are… really weird… Move imagination to reality… explosive reproduction rate."
"There would be all sorts of crime, so stop there."
"No crime, if there"s love."
"Let"s not talk about that for Walker"s honor."
Sophie refused to get off Walker for a while. After 20 minutes, she seemed to have calmed down, as she turned her head and faced us. Of course, she was still in Walker"s embrace. She asked with a cold look.
"So, you"re the one who ended my oppa? You won"t make excuses, right? It"s all over on TV."
"Well, yeah. You can call me Dragon Knight."
"I can"t believe you appeared in front of his younger sister… Did you kill him?"
"He"s alive. Though, he won"t be able to satisfy any one of human"s three desires."
"Edward, why did you go under such an eccentric man…?"
"He"s better than your oppa."
"It"s impossible for anyone to be worse than my oppa. You don"t have to say something so obvious."
The ball of light I held began to shine even more radiantly the moment it neared Sophie. It meant she was extremely suited to the ability. There wasn"t even a need to make her into an explorer. Ciara… why did she turn Brightman into an SS ranker instead of Sophie?
I glanced at Walker, indicating that it would be fine for her to accept the ability. He sighed and took out the Soul Contract. Then, he began to explain. Sophie"s eyes widened as she listened to Walker. After about 10 minutes, she gave the reaction I was expecting.
"Edward… Are you telling me to become the head of Brightman Group!?"
"Exactly."
"Can… Can I think of it as a proposal?"
"No."
"Edward, stop being to cheeky all the time! This is a proposal, right?"
"No, you and I are in different leagues. With this, you"ll be able to stand in a position you"re suited for."
Ah, I knew that expression. It was the expression Loretta made often. Hwaya also began to make that expression recently. Whenever I saw that expression, things got tiring. It seemed my intuition was frighteningly correct, as Sophie pushed Walker"s chest and shouted.
"No! I won"t become the head! I won"t take that ability and become an explorer or whatever either!"
"Sophie, think of the bigger picture!"
"I am! Without you, I can"t focus on any work! The profit this quarter wasn"t that good either, and I wasn"t satisfied with my report for grad school either! If this continues, I"ll be single for the rest of my life and die a virgin! If you won"t become my fiancé, I won"t agree to any condition!"
"Sophie, you…!"
"Since Oppa"s out of hope, I"ll have to continue the clan, but I don"t want to marry anyone besides you, Edward! I said what I wanted, so come back when you"ve made up your mind!"
This woman somewhat resembled Hwaya. Was it a British thing? Was everyone so cool and fiery like Hwaya?
Sophie pushed Walker away. Of course, as she was not an ability user, it didn’t do much. Walker sighed and turned toward me. I"d never seen Walker make a face like that.
"Kang Shin, cooperate."
"Sure, I will."
When I nodded, Walker"s expression brightened, while Sophie"s expression darkened."
"You"re not satisfied with ruining Oppa and want to ruin my marriage too? If you do, I"ll use The Brightman Group"s full force to annoy the h.e.l.l out of you!"
"Listen to me, Miss Sophie. If it"s what Miss Sophie wants, I can put a clause in the contract that Walker has to become your fiancé."
Walker and Sophie exchanged their expressions perfectly.
"Let"s get along, Dragon Knight! No, my best friend!"
"Kang Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!"
With this, everyone can be happy! Except for Joshua Brightman, of course!
Author"s note:
The result of the popularity contest will come out soon. It"s taking a while to count.