Nothing happehe entire walk. No words exged, no subtle movements for tricks. It was just a simple walk, almost as if they might have been good acquaintances. Calling them good friends would have been too much, real friends would have talked. They just looked pletely fortable with the situation. No questions. No problems.

  Yet it didn’t ge the fact that it all had to eually. The point at which they reached a safe distance from everyone else came. her would react if it was too soon or too long. Both just seemed to agree oter in silenbsp; The distance was enough.

  Such behavior was a natural course for Haruo since if he said anything it would have been a surprise. He read the atmosphere clearly to know what was going on. A pletely passive approabsp; If it had been any more willing, you might have thought he already had surrendered himself to Teris.

  Turning to face the other, Teris broke his featureless expression the moment he looked at Haruo. It would have been impossible for even someone like Seiji not to see how excited the man was about the potential that Haruo represented for him. “You’re a very iing man.”

  Stone faced, Haruo made no sort of twitark his own quandary on Teris’ rea. ‘He’s still referring to my power or something else? Feels like he’s looking deeper.’

  Haruo was correct about Teris. “I’ve been looking over the reports about you. Uhe others, you’ve shown off your power the least with only a single e. You’re a cautious individual. It’s left things with a lot of uainty regarding you. Makes me very curious.”

  Unknown to Teris, it was rgely not a case of caution. It was often just how things worked out for him. ‘Fighting is unnecessary. Best to avoid it when possible.’ He traveled with them, but wasn’t motivated by the same things as them.

  Digging his hand around in some void, which ate his arm up to the elbow, produced a stack of papers. Teris flipped through enjoying the tactile feeling of the paper. “The reports from the ents are probably the stra I’ve seen since I’ve joined. It says you stayed behind to allow the escape of two others.”

  Suformation was hardly o him, since he resent. So he wondered what the man tried to achieve by bringing up something unneeded.

  “Says here that the euation just ended. None of the Agents report about an e of any sort. Just that after your rades left things just ended. Very mysterious. Surrounded by twenty Agents and nothing happens, if the reports are to be believed.” Teris tossed the papers bato the void, disappearing from sight. Refocused, his eyes locked on Haruo with a deeply peing stare. A stare that wao dissed breakdown every part and piece of Haruo to uand it better. “Care to add your entary about the situation?”

  “No.”

  Raising an eyebrow, Teris seemed a little surprised by the refusal. “If an uanding is to be reached multiple perspectives are required. These reports are meaningless.”

  While hardly a persuasive agreement, nothing ged Haruo’s decision. “Abstain.” It was nothing he po talk about. It ointless pursuit.

  “So yoing to keep quiet on how you mao defeat twenty Agents without fighting.” Teris had some thought about the subjebsp; It gave him a few pieces to work on a theory, but a theory only went so far until it o be tested. The oo test it stood before him, refusing him. “I glean a little from their statements. Whatever happehen you did so in such a way that no one wishes to talk about it or is uo talk about it. Unless you have other powers outside of your animals, I find the tter an impossibility. I ’t rule anything out yet. I doubt you’ve shown the full potential of your power yet.”

  There was ohing Teris was correct about. Haruo felt certain that his power wasn’t at its maximum yet. However, he didn’t knoerful it could be or what he o do to be able to reach that strength. The whole thing was as fn as Atntis. Powers, super humans should have been something of fi left to authors, yet it became reality. A reality that swallowed him up. “So…”

  “So I want to see your power in a. Oh sure, I’ve got orders to capture or kill you for suspi of rebellion and colluding with Eudokia. But that’s only a sedary matter. You’ve got something iing inside of your body. That’s far more pelling than the orders.”

  The dire and reveal of Teris true motives didn’t surprise Haruo mubsp; From the start, it was one of the possibilities that Haruo cluded based on his initial reas. It should be a positive thing for him, however Haruo felt certain it was not so simple. “No fighting?”

  “Now, I didn’t say anything about that. Though it’s going to depend on what you tell me. Practical experience is more useful.”

  Unfortunately, there was little that Haruo could answer. He knew a little about his power, but it still remained beyond his uanding. “I ’t answer.”

  “As I would expebsp; Revealing your secrets would open up weaknesses for me to exploit. This is still a bat situation for you. So it would only invite disaster. Hence why this’ll e down to fighting. It’ll be the only way to satisfy both of us.”

  “I don’t have the answers you want. I don’t know why it works, just that it does.”

  “You cover yourself up as much as you want, but there’s o pretend.”

  “I’ve rus. I know how to make it work, but the reasons are beyond me.”

  Teris lifted his hand to his in thought. ‘There seems to be something of a truth to what he says. Is it actually possible?’ Even true, it didn’t stop Teris’ goal. “No matter, I’ll figure out how it works for you.”

  “I find it unlikely.” If he couldn’t figure it out from testing his body, it seemed unlikely a stranger would have better lubsp; His power didn’t make any sense. There was nothing logical about the way his power worked. Haruo couldn’t uand it.

  Chapter 251 – Relut Beast

  “Sounds like a challenge. That’s why you seemed iing. I like a tough problem.” The white uniform disappeared in pce of a white b coat along with a simple taher vest and shirt. An orderly appearance repced the stoe. Already tall, even more so o Haruo, the length of the coat seemed to make him stret length further.

  Even though it was a clear sign of i, Haruo took no a. ‘It’s e down to a fight again. This is not why I came.’ He stared over at Teris to get a read on his stance, ohat was different from others. It wasn’t very martial reted like he saw from others. “I’ve no reason to fight.”

  “You do seem more like the tag along type from the way I saw you in yroup. And judging from your ck of es, but it’s going to happen. I want to see your power at work and you o defend yourself.”

  “No.”

  “Your physical body won’t be able to take the sorts of things I’ve got. You will o do more than just stand there.”

  ‘There’s no ving him.’ Still unmotivated, Haruo waited for Teris to make an a. Rea was better in his situation, especially since he didn’t know what the man could do.

  A gss vial taining a clear liquid popped up from seemingly ueris’ coat sleeve. He ba atop his index finger with effortless ease, likely with no effort thanks to his power. “If yoing to be like that. I’ll just have to show you that you o be more aodating.” Twirling his finger around the base of the vial like it was glued to his fihe tents seemed to be stirred up in prep. He tossed it once he felt things were ready.

  Before it even hit the ground, a light came from ihe gss reag to the chemicals. It burst open into a violent explosion just a meter away from Haruo. Despite the bst, Haruo made no move to do anything about it. Smoke and a strange blue substance surrouhe air around him. A ck of any sort of response from Haruo made it clear that the results were poor.

  Ohe cover from the explosion blew away, Teris got a better look at Haruo. It firmed everything that he specuted from the early test results. “A sturdy body on top of your strange power. I see why you’ve resisted the o fight.” Produg two vials this time, he seemed to have a new pn. “Just as a warning, this is going to amplify the power of that explosive you just witenfold. You’ll o do something more than just stand there.”

  Bluffs didn’t seem in his nature, something Haruo judged. It didn’t ge what he khat Teris aimed to achieve, while Haruo remained unwilling to cave. ‘I’ll still survive a bst like that, but I wouldn’t e out unscathed like before. I’ll o do something.’

  The amount of time he had to e up with a pn ran out fast. His attack already was in motion towards him. Haruo stared at the two vials, one clear like before and the other purplish. An easy identification, but Teris had no iion of hiding it. He just wao force Haruo’s hand, killing him would have ended what would be iing.

  An explosio off again, pletely c Haruo. Yet it didn’t seem as intense as the st. Teris noticed immediately and narrowed his eyes to examihe situation. ‘What was that I saw? A blur of something…’ Just before it blew up, a part of Haruo’s body blurred in his eyes, his arm. “So you prevented my enhang agent from mixing with the explosive agent. Stubborn still.”

  Haruo lifted his left hand up to reveal the protected purple liquid. It remained intact from the bst, henable to add to the bst. “Your explosive agent es the liquid in here ag as a catalyst that it feeds on to expoially increase the rate of the pound’s heating and energy artificially.”

  Teris cpped his hands, actually pleased with the quick dedu. “A fellow intellectual. You will be a very iing one indeed.” Popping up from his sleeve again, as though the man was a magi, a yellow hued liquid appeared in a simirly shaped vial. “This time it’s mixed together. So you won’t be able to avoid it this time with your sleight of hand. Though it’s more unstable mixed and the results are actually less even and predictable, I don’t prefer it like this. Lacks the sort of elegance.”

  ‘Atempt, but if it is as unstable as he says, it could be very bad. An uneven ption and release of energy is going to make some areas weaker and others far more powerful.’ sidering the odds he dealt with didn’t make Haruo secure in his position. It escated in the worst ossible.

  There was ation in its use. Teris tossed it stirred up at Haruo with some hopeful expectations. Uo prevent it, the bst went off two meters away from Haruo, a case of its unstable properties. Unstable or not, the explosion was han what it was talked up to be. It pletely covered up Haruo and ripped into the grass taking out random ks to toss as debris.

  However, when the smoke cleared Haruo remained unharmed and no closer to summoning its animals. It didn’t mean Teris was without answers. His eyes quickly locked in on a strange arc carved deeply through the earth. ‘So you used y strength to forough earth up with near equal force to ter the bst. It re weak enough for you to just take the rest unguarded.’

  Some frustration would be natural for Teris, but it just made him think even more. He wao see this animal power in person. He o analyze it himself. All the reports were doh too little information and unreliable. Not until he saw it could he grasp it. Something uific like spirits was a curiosity he normally ignored.

  Opening his b coat, a quick peek beh it revealed a wealth of thin vials stored on loops. Retrieving a single small vial, ner than a needle, the significe of it couldn’t be uated. Teris gnced over at Haruo, but his stoic expressioed anything to read from him. However, he knew from the previous dispys that Haruo would immediately uand the importance.

  Another of the usual vials popped up in his hand as an apa. He tossed them into the air far beyond Haruo, where it exploded. The size was about the same as the first, but it didn’t seem to be the important part.

  Watg the fallout from the bst, Haruo started to deduce the i. ‘The bst was meant as a transport for the smaller pound he pulled out. Likely it o be spread through the air to be effective. Could be a poison, but that would defeat his purpose. But it o be distributed as an aerosol.’ The limited information he had could only produce theories. He had to wait for what happened and gamble that it wasn’t something dangerous to him.

  Suddenly his stance slipped and he forced himself to readjust his footing. ‘The ground’s uneven, almost soft…’ He dropped his sight to the earth, realizing whatever Teris released into the air must have started to have its effebsp; His foot slipped again. He had trouble keeping his banbsp; ‘Liquefa?’ Another sed ter his foot pushed through the earth. It was as though he fell in quid with it swallowing him up too quickly to reabsp; Further movements just made it worse.

  Teris walked up to Haruo putting one of his vials he edge of the liquefied ground. It was of a different cain, a pale blue. “This explosive is quite a bit more powerful thaher I used alone, but it’s quite a bit more stable. Easy for transport.” He dropped down another of the purple enhang pounds, followed by a final clear vial. “See this one? It’s an acid, powerful enough to melt this gss as you see. I use it as a timer. You’ve got about thirty seds before the acid is released and triggers the others.”

  Standing up and walking away to a safe distahe whole thing pyed out so casually. It was all just an experiment, for sbsp; “You’ve got twenty seds now. I’d suggest you make your decision soon on using your power.”

  Haruo stared at the three tainers. All out of his reaothing could be doo stop them. Not with him stu the sinkhole. ‘Looks like he found a way to er me…’ The options finally ran out. He would be forced to use his animals. It wasn’t the way he would have preferred, but he couldn’t let himself die.

  A bright light broke through parts of the earth. It grew stronger as the earth seemed to mound and rise.

  Time ran out.

  Bright red bsted out over the area throwing ks of earth and waves of mud. Smoke covered over the entire area from the bst. It cut out everything with shattering silence.

  Thinning clouds allowed a faint white light to bleed through. It took on further shape as the smoke dissipated. The form was rge and wide, but became clear quickly through pockets of the clouds. A lion’s head bathed in white light revealed itself. Seated on its back, Haruo, dirtied from the experien the liquefied earth, unharmed still.

  “Now we begin,” Teris remarked with excitement.