Chapter 1045

"Come on pops, did you think I wouldn’t guess that you would do something like this?" Grey’s mocking voice was heard coming directly from beside Gustav.

The leader of the Otherworlders didn’t fret as he calmly teleported out of the way.

Not like Grey was actually planning on doing anything immediately though.

His breathing was slightly ragged, so he was trying to regain his composure as he watched his father appear a few paces away.

"Come on, why aren’t you taking this seriously? Or don’t you feel like your life is in genuine danger?" Gustav questioned with furrowed brows.

Even with the heavy hit the Supreme Magus had dealt him, he wasn’t bleeding, while Grey was still panting with a deep grimace.

He was holding his flank, refusing to let it bleed out.

At the same time, he was swirling Ki into that same position in order to seal the injury.

His saving grace here was that the Excalibur... or whatever his father had called the technique, didn’t hit his internal organs.

It only tore quite a gash that could be healed if he had the time.

The only problem here was that he didn’t have that time on his hands.

He needed to end this fight and return to his friends quickly, because for some odd reason, there was a Zodiac that hadn’t moved from his position.

’Uh... what is his rank again...?’

Yeah. Upper Zodiac One; the first zodiac Gustav had hired into his ranks.

For some reason, the man gave him the creeps even more than Gustav did.

Though Gustav was the leader of the organization and could control them all, that particular man seemed like a loose cannon that couldn’t be restrained—someone who did things as per his whims and only listened to Gustav for the fun of it.

’Wait. I think he has a name, right? I wasn’t really paying attention... uh! What was it?’

A second later, it clicked in his head.

’Yes, Jim! That was what Gustav called him. But why does that name sound so familiar to me?’

His brows knit in deep thought as he searched through his memory bank in order to pull out where he had heard that name before.

He was sure that the name had been spoken by a loved one.

This helped him narrow down his search, and when it did, his eyes stretched wide in realization.

"Mum..." he whispered silently.

Yes. He remembered that day.

The day he had decided to confess to his mother that he had actually awakened his affinities.

She wasn’t shocked and instead said she already knew.

Fast-forwarding through the memories, she had spoken about a certain uncle from his father’s side who always checked up on them and helped the family with money since his father had been expelled from the family after he failed to awaken an affinity.

In fact, their former house was bought by that same uncle, and his name was....

"Jim..." he whispered as his eyes narrowed into slits while looking at Gustav.

"... How many?"

Gustav lifted a brow.

"Huh?"

"How many lies did you tell mum? How many manipulations? How many deceits to someone who loved you wholeheartedly?! Do you know how distraught she was when the news of your ’death’ was delivered? She loved you with all her being and what did you do?!"

Grey’s hands curled into tight fists immediately as his eyes began crackling with sparks of lightning in their depths the more he stared at the man.

"... Your damned organization took her life. She died because of one of your zodiacs! Damn you!"

"...."

"It was all for the greater good."

"What damned greater good? You keep killing innocent civilizations. For what?"

"If I were to tell you, you won’t be able to survive the truth. If I were to tell you, just know that all my hands will be revealed, and when they are, even your soul won’t be found when I’m done with you."

"...."

"Ah... tell me one more thing then," Grey uttered as he lifted his gaze to look at the sky, then drifted toward the jagged mountains in the distance.

"Zodiac number one isn’t human, right?"

Gustav’s expression didn’t change one bit as he looked at Grey blankly. "Hm?"

"That’s why he refused to remove his mask even after you gave the order. King of Beasts—that’s his alias, right? The creator of all beasts and the controller of them all. He is also one, right? A beast?"

Sigh—!

Gustav shook his head and shifted into a slight stance, the ground shuddering with his every breath.

Bursting out from below were giant metal constructs that were a mix of knights and golems, wielding swords as their weapon of choice.

They numbered in the hundreds as Grey stared at each and every one of them with an unperturbed look.

Behind him, wind swords, lightning arrows, and fiery arrows sharpened into existence, numbering a thousand in total.

Oh!

Click!

Now a thousand ki swords had been added into the ranks, gleaming above him while pointed forward.

"I really don’t know why you speak too much for a supposed ’Supreme Magus’."

"I don’t know. Maybe I’m trying to give a bastard a chance to repent before I send him to the same location he sent my mum."

"...."

The corner of Gustav’s lips twitched in irritation. "Your friends and allies won’t survive if Jim joins in."

Grey didn’t rush to reply as the ground cracked beneath his feet, with lightning crackling in his eyes and legs.

"And so will you. I will make sure I take your head back there."

"Let’s see about that."

BOOOOM—!

The planet trembled as both parties lunged forward with sinister aura and intentions.

_____

A/N: Hey Magus Legion! I hope you are getting your coins ready for our fifteen Chapters mass release on June 1st as celebration of my dad’s birthday.

By the way; any support you can bestow the book, please do. It gives me motivation to keep writing. Thank you for reading.