"Is this... magic power?"
The twirling cyclone on the man"s forehead immediately reminded Roland of Nightingale"s description about the form of magic power, but seeing it now for himself, he thought it was more like a galaxy. Several spiral arms were revolving around the nexus, the brightest point which was located in the center. Despite that it was only about a palm size, when he carefully looked at it, he could notice numerous details and felt some surging power in it.
"Are you a martial fighter?" The man suddenly opened his mouth to ask in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
"No, I"m not." Roland was fully alerted.
"Yeah, I guess so." The burnt-face man turned his body toward Roland without moving his head at all. "You taste sweeter."
Roland looked for weakness in the man"s body while saying, "if you were a girl, I might be a bit interested in hearing these words. Are you a man bit by the magic power... no, Force of Nature?"
"Force of Nature?" The burnt-face man snorted contemptuously. "They"ve no idea where this power came from and knew nothing about its essence."
"Don"t talk as if you know everything." Roland retorted. thinking, "come on, this is my dream!"
The man opened his mouth which was full of bleeding blisters to say, "I can"t tell, but I can feel it. It doesn"t belong to this world. It"s a gift from the deities. I thought the hijacker could attract at least one or two martial fighters to come here, but he surrendered too fast. Fortunately, my efforts finally paid off, as you came here..."
"Crack!"
Roland struck first to gain the initiative before the burnt-face man finished his sentence. This was a trick he had learned from his fighting experience in childhood. He could tell from the way the man acted and talked that he was a dangerous guy. Given that, it was not a wise choice to act after he finished talking.
He straightly punched the man on his forehead, as fast as a flash of lightning. As he found his strength had increased sharply, he did not punch with all his power. However, he still clearly felt the man"s bones cracking under his fist.
His strike sent the burnt-face man up into the air.
Meanwhile, the warm flow inside his body began to surge, dancing with joy for such a good start.
The man landed and rolled on the ground until hitting a wall. When he staggered to his feet, Roland came up to launch another attack without any hesitation.
He believed his own judgement, as this was his Dream World.
Moreover, his opponent was obviously not a human being.
When his face bones were broken, he seemed to feel no pain and did not beg for mercy at all. No human being suffering such a sharp pain could react this way.
Roland felt that his mind was clearer than ever before.
The violent warm flow filled his body, but did not make him woozy.
He knew that at this moment, he should beat up the underdog, which was another trick he learned from his childhood fighting.
This time, he hit the man with all his strength.
He punched with no skills as if he was. .h.i.tting a sandbag, keeping the burnt-face man constantly moving to defend. Apparently, the man did not expect this at all and started flailing as Roland"s blows were raining down upon him. Roland soon started to feel that hitting the man was like hitting tofu, as his muscles were torn loose after his arms, sternum and ribs broke. If he were a normal man, he would be dead at this moment.
Roland scolded while giving the man a good thras.h.i.+ng, "You a.s.shole! Turn your head 180 degrees. You thought you were making a horror movie?"
He was very upset by the fact that as the creator of this world, he had been scared by the burnt-face man when he had seen him in this alley.
"This... is... impossible... Why... I can"t use it..." The man"s voice changed completely and soon Roland could hardly hear anything he was saying.
"Use what?" Roland noticed that the cyclone on the man"s forehead was twirling slower. He tried to reach out his hand to touch it and found that it became somewhat tangible. "You mean this cyclone of magic power?"
"No, don"t touch it..."
Roland knew that he must do what his enemy did not want him to do. He held his head down and grabbed the cyclone. When the warm flow in his body began to boil, he tore it down.
Suddenly, the burnt-face man quieted down and collapsed to the ground, paralyzed and lifeless.
The cyclone turned from dark red to a bright color when it fell into Roland"s palm. Now it was white in the center and blue on the outside, more resembling a galaxy.
It began to twirl again and quickly left his palm, turning in to a beam of dazzling light. It shot up into the sky, leaving a trail like a silver wire and disappeared after several seconds.
Meanwhile, the warm flow inside his body calmed down, giving him great satisfaction. He felt good from head to toe.
He had completely lost his mind.
He thought that this world might be more complicated than he imagined.
Looking at the dead burnt-face man on the ground, his mouth corner twisted and then he turned away heading for the exit of the alley.
It was dark when he returned to the towering tube-shaped apartment building. A swarm of flying insects attracted by the light in it were buzzing noisily in the corridor.
He fumbled to take out his key and inserted it into keyhole. Before he turned the key to open the door, he heard a burst of rapid footsteps behind it.
Zero opened the door with a frown, but he still saw some worry in her eyes.
"Where have you been?"
"Where have you been?"
They asked simultaneously.
"The cram school added cla.s.ses today. We"ll get a day off tomorrow as some teachers will come to check."
"I had gone to look for you."
"Look for me?" the little girl asked doubtingly.
"Yeah, you didn"t come back on time." Roland laughed while rubbing her head and then walked into the apartment.
Three dishes and some soup were already placed on the table, but all the bowls and chopsticks remained neat and clean. Obviously, Zero had been waiting for him to come back.
That was why she had run to the door as soon as she had heard the sound at the door.
Roland sat at the table and said, "Let"s have dinner. I"m starving."
Zero stared at him, asking, "Were you worried that I was cheated by some stranger? I"m not a kid anymore. Next time, you can just wait for me at home."
Roland could not help but roll his eyes at this, thinking, "Nowadays, junior high school students are so mature? I remember myself at this age, I was terribly naughty. When I still had some allowance, I would go to the game hall and when I didn"t, I would go into the mountains to catch chafers. I would never come home until it was dark. How come this little girl behaves so well?"
He somehow felt a little embarra.s.sed for himself at this thought.
"Oh, you"ve got a day off tomorrow?"
"Uhm, what?" Zero still seemed a bit annoyed but looked relaxed.
Roland said while eating, "Come to the library with me, I"ll buy something for you on the way."
"Buy... What?"
"Well, I bought you some clothes last time, so this time, let"s buy some dresses, shoes and pajamas... you have to get something new to replace what you are wearing now." He smiled. "I"ll buy you a cellphone. We need to stay in touch in case something like this happens again."