Chapter 48: Abrupt Aggression (Part 2)

Silence was the only thing pervading the alleys. It was as if something was lurking behind and would creep closer and drag someone away by force. Still, there was something much, much more frightening right before Zenover and Garty.

An aggressive Jogrin was presented before their very eyes. He appeared highly poised, ready to engage in any moment.

Despite the intimidation he was displaying, the soldier showed no signs of wanting to run away or panicking. Jogrin didn't manage to get a response out of him. Jogrin began to scowl.

"I won't ask a second time."

"..."

Even after that, the soldier still seemed as if he never heard Jogrin. As Jogrin was lifting his right arm to point at the soldier, he turned around with an awkward expression.

"Um... What do you mean by that, Jogrin? I'm just an average soldier who's following Grand Commander Kapel's orders. So um, if you keep showing any kind of hostility, I'll have to report to him. Please drop your arm..." The soldier scratched his head while showing a wry smile as he attempted to threaten Jogrin with a report to his higher-up, namely Kapel.

"Drop the act and tell me who you really are. Insolent." Jogrin's words became more aggressive.

"I still don't understand what you're getting at. Please refrain from any action that will lead to severe consequences..." The soldier incessantly persuaded Jogrin to stop showing hostility, but to no avail.

"Enough." His glare only grew more and more fierce.

However, the soldier didn't seem to waver at all, which definitely wasn't normal. Zenover and Garty alike could sense it as well.

Inadvertently, they slowly backed away from the other two who were confronting each other. Being in a quandary, they could neither turn tail and run, nor could they join Jogrin in confronting the soldier. In fact, they didn't whether Jogrin was acting truthfully or not, but in Zenover's opinion, it was likely that he was.

In any case, all they could do was watch on as a fight was about to break out.

"Are you done pretending? Did you think I couldn't see through your fallacious emotions?"

"... Fallacious emotions? You saw through me?... Your 'emotional perception' sure is a pain in the neck."

The attitude of the soldier changed drastically, as he turned around and gazed at Jogrin.

"What...? What are you?"

Jogrin's aggression diminished slightly as soon as he saw the face of the soldier, or rather, his eyes. The feeling they exuded felt familiar, reminding him of a certain past event: the abduction of the red-eyed girl via the bright red portal. The red glint from the "soldier's" eyes was mesmerizing, but at the same time, for anyone looking at them, their instincts would immediately scream "danger!"

Despite remembering the past, Jogrin still didn't let his guard down. If this... thing was involved in the abduction, he needed to seize this opportunity to find the answers, or as many clues as possible.

"Asking me what I aksed you? How unoriginal, Jogrin. I thought Darkians hate anything unoriginal. They're all about advancement and creation, that's why the ones who can manipulate Dark Matter via their nerves were at the top, isn't that right? Ah~ my bad~ I should be using past tense here."

It appeared that this individual knew a great deal about Darkians - the species Jogrin belonged to.

"To think that you were able to see through the 'emotions' I spent so much effort in fabricating, I guess my powers are still not up to standard, at least against you, that is."

"... Are you the one who messed with the soldiers' minds in the midst of the bombardment?"

"Woah woah, not hesitating in milking information out of me, huh? Do you really think I'll let you do as you please? By-product!"

"By-product?"

"I told you I'll not answer you."

"You still divulged some potentially imperative information, with that single word you just blurted out." Jogrin calmly retorted.

"You think you're smart, don't you? Suit yourself. You're nearing your end either way. Enjoy what remaining time you have, Darkian, for I will return once I regain my power."

With a warning, the "soldier" levitated, and what followed was a tearing of space above his head. The opening grew bigger and bigger, until the "soldier" was able to fit through it. In almost an instant, he disappeared into the tearing of space, before it closed and left a few drops of red glowing fluid.

This encounter was unable to yield any significant clues about the "mind tampering" issue, nor any information about this planet or the invaders of the Darkian planet. However, there was something at the end that caught his attention, along with the red glint of the "soldier's" eyes. The opening that appeared above him, was bright red. Though it was somewhat dimmer, he was certain that...

It had the same kind of light as the one from back then. In other words, whoever was disguising as the soldier was undoubtedly involved in the abduction, or even be the one responsible for that.

But that raised the question: was he also the one responsible for the destruction of the Darkian planet?

No, what even was that thing to begin with? Showing up in a disguise, gave an ambiguous warning, and left just like that. He also seemed powerful, despite his claim of his power having dwindled. It was highly likely that he'd be an enemy, and one that'd be difficult to deal with, especially since Jogrin was unsure of the extent of his powers. But if he refrained from attacking Jogrin, that should mean Jogrin held at least adequate prowess to fight for himself, right?

Well, not knowing how to use one's powers was equivalent to having none at all. If he were to actually engage in a fight with the "soldier", Jogrin could foresee him losing, even though there was a chance he could just heal up all the damage he'd have taken.

Anyway, now that the threat was gone, another problem had arisen. It was indisputable that Kapel sent a soldier to oversee Jogrin, but now that said soldier'd vanished... it was certainly going to cause an uproar, with accuses of Jogrin being the culprit being thrown at him, unless...

"Zenover, Garty, do you happen to have an empty container?" Jogrin turned around and queried the two who were still inn a daze.

"Huh?! Oh, um..." Garty let out a weird sound after she came back to her senses. "Container?"

"To retrieve some evidence that'll be useful later."

"Oh..." Garty, still unable to comprehend what Jogrin said, took out an empty plastic bottle and handed it over to Jogrin.

He then placed it on ground, exactly below a hanging pole, where some of the red fluid was barely hanging still. It didn't take long for it to drop in the bottle accurately.

"Not corrosive. I guess it works then... Still, it feels like the fluid contains quite a lot of energy..."

As he said that, Jogrin knelt down and reached out to the drop that'd already dropped onto the ground.

"Wait! Don't you think it's dangerous?!" Zenover tried to stop Jogrin, but he didn't listen and continued. In the end, he touched the fluid with his right index finger.

What followed shocked both Zenover and Garty, as the red glow of the fluid seeped through the skin of Jogrin finger, and was contained in the bones of the finger. It traveled upwards through the bones within his right arm at a slow pace, and at the same time, it grew dimmer and dimmer, until it completely lost its glow and became pure black. Lastly, it was moved to the tip of his tail.

"So that's why he was so aggressive towards me." Jogrin instantly made a conclusion from this.