“Lon?” Clint pursued him and yelled loudly.
The other person was looking around initially as Clint had been blocked by the pile of parts here. Once he heard the shouts, he noticed Clint there immediately and ran towards him.
“Is it really you, Lon?!” once the other person had approached him, a surprised look appeared on Clint’s face when he finally recognized the figure in black clothing. “Why are you dressed like this when you’re not even a big celebrity? You look like you’re afraid of meeting someone you know.”
Baylon stopped walking and rested while panting lightly.
“Clint, do you know what happened to my body? After you spoke to me that day, I felt as if my mind was suddenly filled with many unknown things while my body seems to have become weird and different.”
He couldn’t explain it but Clint had always felt that Lon was somewhat strange, as if something was not quite right with him.
“It’s not a big deal actually, hehe… I met with a minor accident and I need your help… One of my friends…” Before he could finish speaking, his eyes widened suddenly while his gaze drifted behind Baylon towards the further end of the river bank. “What’s that?”
He had barely finished speaking before the little white dot in the sky above the river bank flew towards them suddenly.
It was actually a large pure white blood-sucking mosquito that was as smooth as a mirror on the surface. He could tell that it was a technologically advanced object at the first glance. Its most prominent features were its blood red eyes and sharp blood sucking mouthpart that was a meter long. It looked abnormally fierce.
The mosquito noticed Clint and Baylon instantly.
‘Suspicious targets have been discovered. Preliminary steps to approach them are in progress. Willpower force field sampling…’
This mosquito was at least two meters long and two meters wide. It looked like a normal blood-sucker that had been enlarged numerous times. Its wings were currently vibrating and making buzzing noises as it flew towards Clint and the other boy.
‘Target is being verified… One of the pieces has been determined. It has not been expanded yet. Will begin attacking and attempting to retrieve it,” a cold mechanical noise echoed from within the mosquito’s body.
Moments later, its cold blood red eyes glared at Clint and Baylon instantly.
“Eh… This is…? Damn! It’s a colony of drones!!!” said Red Moon suddenly when he recognized them and was shaken from his thoughts in a flustered manner. “Someone has discovered me! Escape quickly!!”
“Eh?” Clint stood on the spot in a daze without reacting.
Hiss…
Two noises that sounded like air jets could be heard as two of the white mosquito’s sharp skinny legs broke off suddenly. It spurted towards Clint and Baylon instantly and flew towards them.
Both of its fine legs carefully sprayed murky red flames outwards. Shockingly, both of them were actually two disguised targeting missiles!
Clint and Baylon were both shocked and could not react to their current situation at all.
“It’s a condensed missile!” Red Moon’s voice rang out suddenly.
Instantly, Clint understood.
It seemed as if everything that Red Moon had said was true. The supposed Forbidden Mech and unknown forces that were pursuing him and the potential dangers he would encounter in the future… Everything was true.
Regarding these matters, he’d initially assumed that the other person was just joking, teasing, kidding! Things like this only occurred in novels and would not happen to him for no reason. Although he had always done things according to Red Moon’s instructions, he had never believed any of these things deep inside his heart.
However, while looking at the two condensed missiles that were flying quickly towards him now, Clint suddenly understood everything at once.
At this point, the missiles had only been flying here for less than two seconds after they were launched. Despite the short span of time, Clint had already thought about many things within these two seconds.
As the missile approached closer, everything seemed as if it was being shot in slow motion. His mind became completely empty as he’d never encountered a situation like this before. What was he supposed to do? Hide? Where would he go to hide? What kind of place would he hide in? How would he hide? What would he do? He did not know anything. Unfamiliar feelings of helplessness flooded his mind.
“That’s right! Lon is still here!!” suddenly, he thought of Baylon who was in front of him. “I can drag him into this too!!”
“You can’t involve him!!”
Clint felt a strange strength stirring in the depths of his heart suddenly.
He reached his hand out and used his mightiest strength and fastest speed to push himself in front of Baylon’s body in one quick movement.
“You should stay out of the way! Why do you care whether other people live or die??!!” scolded Red Moon loudly while hiding inside his mind. When he noticed suddenly that something was not quite right with the directions of Clint’s movements, he made some quick calculations before his mind nearly exploded with anger.
“You idiot! Go left! Left!!!! My God!!! For God’s sake, why are you so stupid?!!”
They could have definitely have evaded the dangers easily if Clint had not made it into a fatal situation. Coincidentally, the direction in which he threw himself towards and later pushed Baylon was where the missile was actually headed…
“Forget about it, I’ll take matters into my own hands…” desperate times called for desperate measures, and Red Moon had no choice but to take action and interfere with the flying missile’s tracking to deflect it towards two other sides.
Sure enough, once the interference signal was released, both of the missiles instantly flew towards two separate sides. After two explosions rang out, everything became peaceful again.
“Pfoo…” Red Moon exhaled heavily. “You’re going to scare me to death sooner or later if this continues.”
‘Target discovered. Self-destruction sequence in progress…’ suddenly, a beeping mechanical noise could be heard from one of the white mosquitos on the other side.
“What?” Red Moon was dumbfounded.
Clint who had just breathed a sigh of relief was stunned as well.
They watched the mosquito shrink its body into a ball before deconstructing and assembling itself into a silvery white sphere. There was a glimmering pale red layer shining off its surface.
“Damn! It’s a freaking Fuel Air Explosive!!” Red Moon could not help but curse.
It was a weapon of mass destruction with a range of two hundred meters! The Fuel Air Explosive was so powerful that people who were hiding underground would suffer the repercussions and die as well. It could remove all the air and oxygen in the area within moments too.
“To hell with your…!!”
He could not even finish cursing in time. The only thing they could hear was thunderous…
Boom!!
At that moment, a white light shined brightly and exploded within seconds. It turned into a thin white cloud that dispersed in every direction.
A white mushroom-like cloud rose from the side of the river bank and reached ten meters above it. It covered more than two to three hundred meters of the grounds in the surroundings.
The Mech pieces were blown away by the explosion, causing most of them to fly away. There were only a few sharp pieces that remained in their original locations because they had been stabbed in the ground earlier.
The intense cloud explosion blew all of the bits and pieces in their surroundings away. The terrifying impact force tore the steel to shreds and lifted the muddy water from the river bank. The force crashed into the ground, exposing the black mud that was hidden many meters below.
At the center of the white clouds, fiery red flames had begun to burn, covering a range of over two hundred square meters within moments.
At this moment, a dark red dot lit up where Clint was located suddenly. Its redness was as deep and dark as blood. It was also dense and sticky like a liquid droplet that coagulated after puddles of blood had evaporated.
“Red King…” a low voice that could be heard indistinctly echoed from the sky.
Pfoo!!
Numerous blood-red clouds floated out of the blood droplets suddenly. The bloody clouds formed a large sphere that contained wandering nebulae, a glimmering Milky Way, and countless twinkling stars.
Within the endless galaxy, an unimaginably large scarlet Mech floated above the center of the nebula quietly.
The humanlike red Mech had an extremely long tail that was coiled around its body like a snake.
Ka…
The Mech raised its head slowly as if it was looking at something in the sky or the universe.
Boom!!
The blood clouds exploded suddenly and formed a red circular ripple. The exploded red cloud immediately canceled out the impact of the flames of the Fuel Air Explosive that were sweeping over.
Simultaneously, a strange vibration passed through their surroundings in that moment… It traveled further and further away…
*************************
At the bottom of an abyss
A pure white Mech that was immersed in lava opened its eyes suddenly before the third golden eye on its forehead too opened.
“Forbidden… Hahahaha… I’ve finally found it!!” the sound of deep, strange male laughter echoed from inside the Mech.
The white Mech was more than sixty meters tall and beginning to float out of the lava slowly. It exposed its elegant and fine airframe before two large white pauldrons extended from its body sideways. From afar, they seemed like a second pair of arms.
A red glowing line of lava flowed downwards from the center of the Mech’s body while the numerous red lines formed a gigantic star symbol.
Within the surroundings of the abyss, two other white Mechs with the exact same symbol on their chests in glowing green lines stood upright. They were the Great Light Mechs that had trespassed into Blackboard Region.
*************************
Blackboard Academy
Hall of the Power Holders
The positions where the virtual images of the three head professors were located lit up clearly. The three figures appeared here one by one.
“These forces are…” the Dean gripped the armrest of the chair lightly.
“Forbidden…” Vice Principal Simis answered softly. “Finally… The legendary Forbidden Core has appeared here… Can you sense the hidden messages in the forces there?”
“Red King… Is this an opportunity… Or a catastrophe…?” the old woman’s eyes were downcast.
“In any case, we have to find the location of that item immediately! Holders! We may decide to either protect or capture them, but everything is still too early now,” said the Dean, making the final decision.
“We have no choice but to request for Black Star to return.”
“There’s no need for that, there aren’t many people who can detect these forces. Getting Medero to sort it out will be fine,” said Vice Principal Simis, shaking his head. “Black Star’s hasty return will only make people more suspicious. They may even focus their gazes over here.”
“Alright.” Dean Cruz von Shaw reached her hand out and tapped the area in front of her lightly before a virtual display floated out in front of her. “Fortunately, this force can only be sensed by those around us. If the other regions find out, the outcome will be inconceivable. We must set up an interference for the force immediately.”
*********************
Inside the car
Strangely, Garen felt as if some of his Willpower forces were scattering faintly. He was unable to sense these forces at first, and could not detect this strength as well if his soul was not much stronger than most and if he did not possess a few Soul Seeds.
“This is…”
He stretched his hand out and pressed it against a white Rainbow Stone. He was planning to absorb some of its Peacock Stone properties. He could sense the different types of information inside these subtle forces.
“It seems like some major changes have occurred…” Garen’s Soul Seeds could detect the general situation of the world. He had previously used this ability to determine where the protagonists in the worldly situations where located. Once again, his Soul Seeds were clearly experiencing these feelings again.
After hesitating for a while, he cast aside the distracting thoughts in his mind.
“No matter what changes have occurred, they are not something that my current self can grasp. Only by ensuring that I am strong enough will I have the right to gain benefits.”
He focused his mind and pressed one hand downwards with great force before closing his eyes.
Shh…
Numerous blue lines stretched out of his palm slowly before piercing through the white Rainbow Stones inside the box.