7 Chapter 7 Completion

As night fell upon the town Julian's mansion was lit up with lanterns as the townspeople streamed in. Everyone had a strained and heavy atmosphere about them. They all knew that now that his mansion was completed, he would direct his boredom towards the rest of the village.

In the mansion the feast was getting underway as Julian and his lackeys were gorging themselves on all of the food that the townspeople had made. The townspeople sat in strained silence as they silently prayed that nothing would happen. However, exactly as they feared, Julian grew irritated with the situation.

"What are all of you doing?! How am I supposed to enjoy myself with all of you acting like it's a funeral? Are you trying to piss me off?!"

Julian got up from his seat and walked towards the nearest townsperson, a young lady and her parents. The girl silently cowered before Julian as he approached.

"How are you going to make it up to me, hah? C'mon, say something already you damn pests!"

Julian slapped the girl as he continued to rant towards the townspeople. As his emotions, fueled by his drunken state, began to grow the townspeople began to shiver nervously as they looked around for somebody to take the brunt of his abuse.

"So that's how it is ay, guess you all need to be taught a lesson."

Julian began to draw his sword from his sheath as the villagers began to panic and crawl away from him. Julian disregarded them and slowly approached the girl he had slapped earlier. The girl began to cry as Julian slowly approached her.

However, an explosion rang out amidst the fear of the situation, adding more fuel to the fire of the situation and causing all of the townspeople to flee with all due haste. The first explosion was quickly followed by several others resounding from all over the mansion. The explosions had been made by Kole who had stolen barrels of booze and attached them with a flammable string made from various plant stalks. Although the explosions weren't overly large, they were quite loud and set the mansion on fire. Julian barely recognised the explosion as his drunken mind was focused on the girl.

"Now then, where should we start, perhaps down here. Hmm, yes, this will do nicely."

"Nooo!"

As the girl cried out Julian was knocked flying into a wall.

"Leave."

Kole coldly told the girl as he walked towards Julian. The girl sat in shock before quickly following Kole's advice. As Julian pried himself out of the wall, he saw Kole through the haze of his drunken mind.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Nobody important."

Julian lashed out towards Kole with his blade wildly. Kole Dodged the blade as he backed away from Julian. Julian pressed forwards as his anger began rising at the fact that his enjoyable night was ruined by the little cockroach before him.

"Blazing Saber!"

Julian called out a technique name as flames began to surround his blade. Kole observed the flames with a point of interest as this was his first time witnessing this system. Although he couldn't see anything, he could feel energy flowing out of Julian towards his blade before transforming into an element.

Julian cleaved through the wall where Kole was standing moments before as the flame from his blade began to start a fire in the room.

"Stop running you little shit and die already!"

"Do you think anybody would honestly listen to you."

Moving into Julian's strike Kole stabbed him in the gut with his claws. Julian cried out before being sent flying back after Kole struck him with his knee. Kole looked at Julian with a look of disappointment.

"Is this it? This is all you have to offer? I'd assumed that to become third rank you must be decently powerful, but you're so pathetic."

Kole shook his head in disappointment at Julian's pathetic figure. He had planned several other strategies to catch Julian off guard and land a crippling blow, but he had not been expecting him to be so incapacitated by liquor. Although Kole didn't realize it, poison resistance was a rare ability that wasn't seen much outside of evolution systems. Most people carried antidotes or learned cure spells, the innate ability was rarely seen outside of monsters.

Julian in his embarrassed state was further incited by Kole's disappointment which he took as ridicule and got up from the floor.

"Don't get so cocky you bastard. I'll kill you in a heartbeat!"

"I highly doubt that."

As Julian became angrier his form fell apart further. Kole backed off slightly as he led Julian down a hallway. Julian wildly slashed everywhere as he futilely tried to land a blow.

"If you had been in peak form you would probably have run me through by now, but on top of being heavily intoxicated, you have failed to notice how much blood you have lost. You were even so generous as to help me by spreading fire throughout the mansion. The smoke you've been inhaling has further inhibited your senses and movement."

Upon Kole's enlightenment Julian suddenly realized that the mansion around them was on fire. Initially the fire had been caused by Kole's explosions, but he had started more with his blazing saber. Although the fire hadn't been a problem he had been breathing in smoke for a while now and could feel his body becoming heavier.

"Y-you, who are you, why are you doing this!"

Julian angrily shouted as he increased the intensity of his blazing saber. Kole didn't bother dodging and clasped the blade between his hands. As Julian barely processed what happened Kole struck him in the gut once again with his foot, wrenching the blade from Julian's hands.

"Don't be confused, this isn't really about you, you aren't really important."

As Kole corrected Julian's all-important belief he slowly approached, blade in hand. His hands were slightly scorched from the flame but between fire resistance, manipulation, and temperature regulation, he was relatively unharmed. Julian on the other hand was fully suffering from all of his accumulated problems. The smoke was becoming fatal while his gut wound had dropped his blood levels significantly. He couldn't make a decent swing, much less take his blade back.

"The only reason I'm doing this is to survive, that's all that matters."

Kole swung the blade and watched as Julian's head fell from his body, a look of complete terror reflected in his dead eyes. Having achieved his mission Kole quickly fled the burning mansion and soon left the town. The only thing he took with him was Julian's blade and sheath as he didn't have a weapon and saw no harm in carrying one.

Kole settled down near where he had landed on the planet and curled up to sleep. He would wait for the shuttle to come and retrieve him. After which, he would officially become a part of the corporation. With such thoughts in his mind Kole drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, on the branch station.

"He has performed much better than I had expected."

The guide lady was once again sipping her tea as she listened to the report on Kole's process. Her assistant standing a few feet away had a confused look in her eyes as she gave the report.

"Ma'am pardon my rudeness but why have you taken an interest in this applicant. There are more promising talents back at headquarters. There are many among them who would be more than willing to join under your group."

"Ah, a fair question. Let me ask you one instead. What would you say the limits of those talents are?"

The assistant quickly brought up another document as she quickly refreshed her memory.

"We have determined that the lowest among them will achieve fifth rank at the least, some may achieve seventh rank, one even has potential to reach eighth rank."

"Precisely, we have a grasp on their potential. They have good potential and with intensive training they will achieve much. However, this boy has something they don't. What do you suppose happens when one is forced to confront their own mortality? Some give up and accept their fate, others go insane. However, there are a few who ignore reason and defy their fate. Those individuals aren't necessarily the strongest, but the strongest are always those individuals."

As the lady took a break from her speech to enjoy her tea, her assistant still looked on confused. To her knowledge there was nothing to back up her boss' claim. As if predicting her assistant's confusion, she explained further.

"To put it more simply, all of the gods are individuals like that boy."