Kapitel 65: A Cruel Truth
Lin sat cross-legged in a cave with only black jeans on. He was reviewing his fight with Reiko, a mental battle. After simulating his fight over and over again, Lin realised he was lucky to have won that fight. Out of 60 simulations, he had won only three times. For the rest, he was defeated, though that gap in experience closed every time he did a simulation, and now, he had won his fourth battle in a row.
Lin opened his eyes and sighed. He clenched and assessed himself. "After these many reviews, I feel I have improved a bit. I couldn't do Xu's training routine because I didn't have much time, but after this bout, I must follow it to train my body."
Lin stood from where he was. After stretching for a bit he headed out of the cave. He closed his eyes as the sun's rays fell on them. It was hot outside. The sound of water gently flowing filled the air as Lin walked towards a cliff. "It is time to perfect my flight skills. I should find a way that works best for me. So far, I just concentrated the flames and used them to propel myself or surround myself with it to keep myself airborne."
"However, it seems those methods don't work for me, especially if I want to fight easily while airborne. I should be able to suspend using as little power as possible and use as little power as possible where propelling myself."
Lin concentrated power below his feet and in his hands and shot off into the air. Once airborne, his legs flipped ahead, and he came crashing down with a boom. Dust filled the air, causing him to cough. He lay on his back panting. "That was too much power. The power from my legs and hands was completely different. I almost broke my back. I need to find a way to balance my output."
Lin struggled up and stretched. Just then, a giant bird flew by. It was so fast you would miss it if you blinked. Lin's eyes brightened as he saw the bird pass. "I think this could work. If I spread the flames along my body like an outline, I could use that to reduce the gravity on my body just enough for me to lift off easily."
As he thought, a black glow appeared around Lin, outlining him. At first, nothing happened, but once he increased the density of the flame a bit, he felt his body become lighter. He sprung on his toes and pushed himself off the ground. He went up a few meters and came back down. "Hahaha! It worked. With this, I should be able to take off much more easily. I need to be able to use little power to levitate, but if I want to levitate by spreading more flames around me, that would be too much. In that case…"
Lin used flames to create winged shoes on his feet. After pouring a little more power into it, he began to levitate. "Now to fly." Lin concentrated a little flame power under his feet and shot off, arching through the sky like a shooting star.
In an exquisitely designed office, a man with a teal curly quiff hairstyle with a neatly trimmed beard sat cross-legged drinking tea. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt over black trousers and shoes. The door opened as a man in a striped t-shirt entered. "Uriel", the man said as he approached the man in black, hand stretched out.
"Niall" The man responded and took his hand. They exchanged pleasantries, and Niall asked, "Uriel, to what do I owe this visit?"
"No time to catch up with an old friend?" Uriel asked, a bit disappointed. Having been friends for a while, he expected they would chat a bit before they got to the other stuff. Niall shrugged and replied, "We could catch up after this. You would usually just call, but coming out here must mean you have something important to discuss."
"Well, you are not wrong. Then, I will get straight to the point. Various gates to various layers have been compromised", he said after a heavy sigh. Niall immediately frowned. He understood perfectly what that meant. "How many are we talking?" He asked after a pause.
"Five", Uriel said directly with gritted teeth. He seemed annoyed. The look on his face told Niall how serious the situation was. "WHAT! And what is the state of these layers?" Niall was covered in cold sweat. It was pressing for the gates of layers to be compromised like so. Uriel bowed his head in silence with a clenched fist. His demeanour told Niall what he didn't want to hear.
He gasped loudly, "No way. The protectors of the layers are Sentries. To us, those people are literally gods. And you are telling me five of them have been killed? And by a single person?"
Niall's aura filled the room, immediately destroying all the windows there. "Uriel, tell me this is a joke." Niall was devastated. The thought of someone capable of killing Sentries, people likened to gods, descending to their layer, made his knees almost buckle.
"Unfortunately, that is what happened. This happened about three months ago, the time it took me to get here from the sixtieth layer. What are we going to do now? The calamity beings seem to be getting stronger by the day, and their leader, we got information about who he was. You have to prepare yourself for this one as it is someone you know very well", Uriel said and transmitted his voice directly into Niall's ears.
His face immediately turned ghastly pale when he heard who it was. His entire body shivered violently. He stood up and ran into Piora's conference room with Uriel directly behind him. As soon as he entered, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to him. Seeing the look on his face alerted all gathered there that something serious must have happened.
"Aku, contact all the Piora heads across the layers for an emergency meeting. As of right now, we are in a state of emergency", he said to the woman in purple, who was addressing the house before he came in. She nodded as the space around her distorted. She disappeared from there. As if having learned something, someone who never showed up for a meeting with Piora, the head of the Azeria family, appeared there.
"I assume you found out too", he said, looking at Niall, his expression ghastly as well. The other family heads were very confused but didn't make any sound. They waited patiently for Niall to speak.
Standing in the middle, Niall addressed the house, "It has come to our notice, that the entrance to five layers has been compromised. Along with that, the protectors of those layers have perished along with the said layers."
Audible gasps filled the room as the family head was in utter shock. None could even ask a question. "That is not the only thing we found out. We also found out the true identity of the leader of the calamity beings. The one who single-handedly took down the five layers with their protectors. One we all know and had grown up with. One who sought strength and one day disappeared in search for it."
With the statement, they all turned completely pale and shivered. They could already infer whom he was talking about. Not wasting much time, Niall announced the person's name.
"The leader of the calamity beings is none other than the one who led us to defeat them in the first battle. One who seemed to have transcended into a realm above that of a Sentry, Drak, the Battle Beast…"
Gasps and expressions of shock filled the room as the name slipped from his lips.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein