章 11: B1: Chapter 14

Adam's lack of response to the present danger annoyed the Vladimir to no end.

*"Hey. Are you gonna take this off?"

The shitty prince motioned towards his own body. His used his newly reconstructed knife to point out a serious flaw. The knifes edge glinted as he waved it towards the wires that coiled and dug into his skin.

Adam smiled and tapped his finger on the long handle of his hammer. A whisp of silver-white smoke snaked away from his fingertip and grazed the metallic wires underneath Vladimir's clothes. Immeaditely upon contact, the wires corroded and subsequently, evaporated into sparkling motes of dust. Some of the lights dimmed and vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye. Whatever remained lit up and flew back to Adam, who stood there with a neutral smile.

Vladimir on the other hand grinned like a wild beast as he stretched his body. The clothes on his back, which had more than a little bit of extra room, became infinately close to being skintight. His height increased by almost two, fifths of a meter, more of an increase than what Rajah had shown while in school.

The magic winds that circled him entered an unrestrained and viscous state that matched his body's increase in virility. The flora, dead or otherwise, turned into dust in the immeadiate area around his body.

Oddly enough, the wild and brutish nature of his magical state amplified his hidden royal charm. The airless void around him actually vibrated with a domineering frequency like it threatened to collapse and expand simultaneously. The wolfhead cloak moved as if was alive and flipped over to cover Vladimirs unreasonably wild but stately appearence.

He looked like a wild wolf, with his hulking but unnervingly nimble body, and a king with his masterful control of the viscous army of wind around him.

"Take it easy shitstain..."

*"I know ya bastard. It's just been a while since I used my strength to move. Using magic to manage my every movement was so damn annoying"

Like a wild hunter, he smirked and crouched down into his starting position.

*"I'll go left you to right"

"Don't use your magic and physical strength at the same time or you'll overshoot. Alternate to maintain your temperature. Don't get cocky..."

Adam sighed and ended with, "and please control yourself properly for once"

*"I know, but can you?"

"...What?..."

*"That beauty. You haven't touched that girl yet. Right? She's cute but she's too young for you so control yourself"

Adam didn't even look at the shitty prince and spun the hammer in his hand like a top. His face did not change but a hint of annoyance entered his tone.

He loosely positioned his hammer above his shoulder, "One, We haven't done anything. Two, I'm actually younger than her. And Three..."

The beast's horrifying roar came to an end and like hurricanes, all parties stormed forward.

The bear's tornado of wind and snow shredded and uprooted everything in its path while it rushed forward.

Adam stamped his foot into the ground like a tyrant, spun his hammer around his body like it was a holahoop, and brought it down like an angry god. Just before he finished his strike, he made sure to tell his shitty partner, "...it none of your buisness"

The ground soundlessly quaked and burst open like a volcano as an earthen pillar erupted from the ground with impossible speed. Like an unstoppable tank, the bear charged through and shattered the stone into millions of pieces of varying sizes.

The shitty huntsman vanished into the chaos of Adam's attack so fast that the last thing the bear saw was a wolf's wicked grin.

Adam used the rebounding force to reverse the spin of his hammer and created a miniature whirlwind with his magic: Another pillar pierced toward the bear but instead of rock, it was pressurized wind. It barrelled out and closed the distance between him and the train like monster.

At the same time, A regal wolf in the shape of a man darted through the haphazard destruction of the earthen pillar and clawed at the bears face. Like an organized pack, the wind and unordinary pressure that generated from his body, followed after him and caused a massive wave of devastation.

The bear's nose exploded into a bloody confetti, its left eye and eyelid oozed and fluttered in streams of torn ribbons, and its ear flapped limply as it latched onto its head from a few matted strands of flesh. After a series of lethal strikes, lacerations covered the entire left side of its body. Each one deep enough to reveal the bone beneath.

If the Adam and Vlad left at this point in time, the bear would have died from blood loss. It would've taken a few dozen minutes but it was the safest option. As such, Vladimir intelligently retreated just as quckly as he attacked and vanished into a cloud of rubble.

Sadly, the bear had other plans. If it consumed the two pieces of meat in front of it, it wouldnt matter if it lost any amount of flesh or blood. It would undoubtedly breakthrough and become the apex predator in the middle region of the forest by consuming their magic. It would even be able to permanately reside with its mate in the inner region and not visit the outer rim, just as it was doing now.

With its future in mind, the bear's torrent of wind exploded out and destroyed everything in a cone from the left side of its body. Dozens of meters of foliage and trees cracked and splintered. Since Vlad vanished milliseconds before the attack, it assumed that the meat who attacked it was killed in its attack. There were very few beasts who could survive its last resort explosion of magic.

Assuming that, the bear continued it's charge forward.

The right side of the bear's face and body fared no better, it actually suffered even worse for its decision to continue on ahead toward Adam.

The uncontrollable and rampaging magic the bear released, collided with Adam's scalpal like pillar of wind and failed to withstand the focused preassure. The scattered wind assimilated along with pieces of debris that were scattered all about.

Under Adam's calculations, the fog like wind multiplied in power and danger since rock, wood, and razor sharp leaves, spiraled along inside of it. The bear would not have faced it's current situation if it didn't use its own magic to defend.

Adam made sure that the stones he collected crashed and chipped into sharp needles with micro adjustments that forced collisions between the stones. The attack, which would of have initially been as big a five meter wide blast sharpened into a stone tipped drill the size of half a meter.

The bears entire right side blasted into chunks of meat that were then torn to shreds. The bear was thrown off course by two steps, but even though it lost half its face, its momentum carried forward.

"Lucky?"

"We are busy"

"Why have you locked me down? This is really not a good time"

"We dont have time for this"

"...Lucky?...Great..."

Adam frowned at his rigid body and watched in painful slow motion as the bear approached him. The tornado that surrounded it completely destabilized by the time it reached Adam. In other words, The sharpness of the bears wind changed into a blunt pushing force that lashed out it all directions, like a ballon that was popped. The blast shot the immobile Adam away before the bear could snap its open maw closed.

Three dozen meters, and two trees later...

Adam came to a stop after he crashed into a third and very study tree. He sat there, with his back to the tree, for a full second in absolute silence. The bear silently and slowly moved forward frame by frame. The two trees he crashed through fell in slow motion. The brush that covered the floor flew up and fell just as slowly. Everything moved at a snail's pace, everything except for the grayish white smoke that filtered towards him.

The fallen trees, broken leaves, and dispersed magics all turned into streams of smoke that found their way into Adam's nose as he breathed in.

"What is this?"

"Master, The R&D units..."

"I understand Zed, but why is this being installed now?... "

"Master, We have no choice. The units that would usually be assigned to managing the regulation of minor installations are currently being used by you"

"I'll end this now then. Pause this as soon as...Fuck! That Idiot shithead..."

Vladimir prepared himself to deal the killing blow when he watched the other side of the bear's face explode like confetti. He repositioned to the bear's shadow the moment it raged and misstepped.

The shitty prince took the explosion as his que and pushed himself back to his peak speed. This time, his inhuman speed actually came directly from his physical body and not a "mystical" force like magic and generated an enormous amount of heat that cooled down because of the magical vacuum that surrounded him. Sadly, he reflexively used more of his magic and entered an uncontrollable level of speed for a split second.

*"Fuck...", escaped his mouth at the same time as Adam's curse.

He initially aimed and positioned himself to take the bears head clean off its shoulders but he ended up overstepping his bounds and ended up in the bears path.

The bear, in the last moment of clarity before death, snapped its jaws and took a bite out of the shitty snack that miraculously presented itself.

Luckily, Vladimir used magic refill the void and blast himself away from certain death. The bear still managed to catch his arm.

"This shitty idiot though it was a good cut his own arm off...", Adam crawled to his feet and stumbled as smoke vibrated all around him, as if they were being forcibly held back. He refilled the magical void so an implosion of rushing wind and moisture wouldn't happen.

"You know that I had no choice. It was either that or..."- Vlad rolled across the floor and held his stump of an arm with a pale face. The fact that he didn't faint or scream was a testament to his willpower.

The bear collapsed to the ground just two meters away.

"Get a few broken bones after the bear lands on you? It died the moment it caught you so you wouldn't have lost your arm if you stayed dumbass", Adam pointed to the bears cloudy eyes, it died the moment it latched onto Vlad. Even worse, its teeth only barely locked onto Vlad's arm.

"Whatever. How long is this gonna take?", Vlad grabbed his arm from the bears mouth and stood by Adam.

"This is going to take as long as it takes for you to shut you crappy mouth", Adam grabbed some of the smoke around him and fashioned them into silver wire that burrowed into Vlads cut off arm and deconstructed it.

"You!", Adam's hand momemtarilly slipped, which caused a familiar silver wire to slip off its path and slip into Vlads cloths.

The wire cut across his chest and created a deep gash. Adam then twisted his hand, tightening the wire as it wrapped around Vlads waist, arms, and legs.

Vlad grunted as a series of silver wires embedded into his flesh like stitches, his missing stub of an arm completely disintegrated by now.

"Oops. My hand slipped..."

*"You are a bastard", Vladimir glared at Adam.

"Please forgive me. I don't know what I'd do without your utmost respect...", Adam's hand slipped again, but this time he earned himself a look of complete understanding.

"Just a little bit more. I need to make sure that your arm doesn't just come flying off when it comes back"

Adam then assisted Vlad to where they had to go. The silver wire made any physical movement near impossible so Vlad had to use magic to move his body around at all times. Sadly, he was exhausted and couldn't find the concentration to use magic, especially when thousands of wires ripped into his flesh.

-LATER-

Similar to the first cave, this room possesed dozens of pelts that covered the ground and walls. Wooden beams along the walls and a floor of paved stone underneath these rugged areas, were the only major difference other than the wooden furniture.

Elena and the stunningly beautiful new girl sat in the middle of the cave at a simple wooden table.

"Are you here to take me back?", Elena locked eyes with an almond skinned beauty who was just as cute as her and nodded at her question.

The young woman wore her silver blue hair in series of braids that were collected behind her head by a crystal clear tiara. Elena noticed the way her dress accentuated her beautiful figure in a graceful way that only a perfectly tailored outfit could. However, what impressed Elena the most was the way the young lady created, held, and sipped tea from her glassy teacup. Aboslute elegance and style.

"Yes princess. You father was extremely worried about your well being and asked us to come find you."

"Fae. You can call me Fae. I may be a princess but you are a witch. Your status is similar to a King's, so there's no need to be humble"

Elena laughed and waved her had dismissively,

"There's no way I'm that great. You are definitely in a higher position than me. I could tell that much from how you moved and how you used your magic. It was very memorable"

"Thank you but you shouldn't doubt yourself. You moved through my boundary and weren't hurt in the slightest. That is remarkable. Even I don't have the confidence to pass through without harming myself"

"I don't really know if what I did was as great as you say but you are definitely much better than me. I mean, you managed to do something like that and handle those things. They were all so much stronger than anything I've fought. I'm not even going to mention how effortless it seemed for you"

"Miss Elena"

"Fea"

"Adam!", Elena followed the voice and noticed him standing there with a serious and neutral expression. He called his own name.

"What do you want Adam?", Elena feigned an angry stare as she tried to wordlessly reprimand him for interrupting her talk.

The princess looked at the two with a knowing smile. She could see a familiar light in Elena's eyes whenever she stared at him.

"We have to go"

"Why?"

"...time..."

"Mister Adam, I cannot leave until this man tells me about his relationship with Philip", The princess noticed his urgency and thought that he meant they all needed to return.

Adam sighed and said, "Princess. Please don't tell me that you followed this shitty guy because Phillip looks like him"

"..."

"Hey shitstain, Why haven't you said anything this whole problem could've been avoided?", Adam sighed and then looked At Vlad who held his armless stump in pain. Silver wire swirled out of his wound and made an oddly accurate reconstruction of his arm. His own flesh and blood would fill in the area after he used a bit of magic to guide his regeneration.

"Phillip's story is not mine to tell. I only said anything to the pretty little miss because you would have killed me If I didn't"

Adam grabbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"Alright. listen closely. Phillip can only be with you if he can get through this forest and learn from this shitty homeless guy. If he can accept what this shitstain tells him and handles all of the problems, I will be the one to personally wed the both of you"

Elena noticed Adam's extremely exhausted face and approached with loving concern.

*"Tired?", her hand landed on his pale forehead.

"Getting there", He held her hand and moved it with a dazzling smile, one that made Elena freeze.

"Your grace is?", Fea asked questioningly but with a bit of respect. She had an eye for people and understood that Adam carried himself with a muted kind of elegance.

"The Empire's envoy, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone what I looked like"

"Certainly your eminence"

Fea stood up and respectfully bowed after learning of Adam's "true" identity.

"That reminds me, you are also going to need the blessing and guidance of your kingdom's resident witch. You'll know once you try to talk to her. Also, I recommend that both of you should be at least Star rank 2 to deal with any resistance . I would even say that you reach your father's level before the two of you decide to tie the knot. Afterall, It would be really unfortunate if someone crashed your wedding and wanted to take you by force and all of you were Ill prepared"

"Is that a word of wisdom or...", Before Fae could finish speaking, a white fog wall engulfed the serious princess and sent her away.

Elena frowned at Adam's rapidly deteriorating complexion and was about to say something when her senses faded away little by little.

"See you in another two decades ya bastard"

"I'll be there for the kid's coronation you shitty prince. Make sure he's strong enough to protect his love. I wouldn't want those chains to be for nothing"

Vladimir grunted but smiled despite his angry looking face.

"You might want to look up a book or two about kingdom management, and learn some more utility magic that has to do with your senses. Don't limit youself. If its rank- less from any type, learn it. And try to tell her that you're sor...", Adam's body faded away before he could finish speaking. He did have enough time to throw a piece of paper that he made with a bit of smoke. It contained the method to release the silver wires from Vladimir's body if he ever wanted to do so.

It goes without saying that Adam returned to reality before Elena.

He immeadiately fell to his knees and coughed up a mouthful of black blood. It then crystalized and shattered on top of the sand that should have been white. The sands were now grayish along with a stormy sky.

He touched the floor and a familiar screen popped up into view. His eyes locked onto time that was in the top right corner, 6: 14 pm or 18:14.

"Three minutes?"

"Master. two minutes and 28 seconds left before we shut down for the scheduled network update"

"Alright...", He forced himself to stand up.

Elena shifted uncomfortably on a white bed surrounded in fluffy blankets and pillows that starkly constrasted her black dress. Both of which stood out amongst the sea of grey sands. Sadly, Adam ran low on time otherwise he would have waited for her to wake up, stretch, and then wake up for real after she pretended to still be asleep.

He removed the bed after adjusting some slides on his floor screen. It simply vanished into a cloud of smoke when he snapped his fingers. Simultaneously, the smoke entered his body and returned some color to his skin.

"Wake up. You are very late to your family dinner"

"...", Elena could hear how tired Adam was before any of her other senses returned. Moments later, around the same time that she could orient her body, her eyes fluttered open and locked unto him faster than lightning.

She hastily ran up to and carressed his deathly pale face. She wiped the blood the dripped out of his nose with her sleeve and frowned. Her latern like eyes stared into his dimly lit ones.

They didn't need to say anything to each other to understand what the other needed

With his destructive state in mind, Elena knew that she had to leave. She noticed how cold his skin was and knew that it would dangerous for him if she stayed and distracted him any longer.

"Next time I promise to entertain you longer, but now, you need to go. I don't want your parents breaking down the door"

"Would that be so bad?"

"Lea..."

"Fine. Can I... "

"You can keep the dress, your clothes are by the door. You can leave from here. Nyro set it up"

"Don't forget about our promise. Two days!"

"Its three"

Elena skipped away from Adam and grabbed her school clothes from the dark silver, almost black, pedestal that popped out of the ground near the door. She put her home code in the futuristic dial and was ready to leave when Adam did something uncharacteristic.

Almost instantly, he closed the short distance between himself and Elena. The sands below his feet rippled and darkened by a few shades, like a shadow traveled through them, when he reappeared. His arms wrapped around Elena's waist and his head found itself nestled in the crook of her neck, hidden by the wide brim of her hat.

"I'm sorry. For what I did to you, for the promises that I broke and will continue to break, and for all of the pain that I will put you through"

"Adam...What...?"

Elena tried to turn around but her entire body felt like it was trapped in a vise.

By the time he let go and backed up, his face and body were flush with incoherent, uncontrollable, and uncomfortable intensity.

Oddly enough, she stayed in control of her own expression and silently left. She opened the door to a completely empty and dark room, like a starless area of space and then appeared moments later at her her own house. The transport sickness that usually hit, didn't. Which should've been impossible unless Adam somehow made it easier...

Adam immediately let out a heavy breath and fell onto his back. The sand once again rippled around his body and became more than a few shades darker. He reappeared in the center of the room like a ghost.

"What is happening?"

Little by little his room darkened as the ripples expanded. His platform rose from beneath his body and lifted him upwards.

"We ran out of emotional support units so our human emotions prompted an irregular course of action", Lucky responded with a deadpan voice.

"That's not what I meant. I still had time so why am I running out of everything"

"We are experiencing a significant disturbance in the network. By that, I mean mother has issued a complete shut down"

"Complete shutdown? What about Evelyn?"

"The effects have not reached our sister series as of yet. Her reboot is to proceed as scheduled"

"What about the units outside?"

"We are to continue. The shutdown has been designated for all major hub units. All secondary locations have been ordered to 'pick up the slack' as mother ordered", Lucky reported .

"Alright. See you guys later"