Heroes

Thousands of people live in the Briestone village. The village is located in a remote location and has no significant source of revenue other than the crystal mine nearby. A couple years ago, the people of the village led a happy life as the mining operations brought good revenue and profit to the village.

The original mayor of the village divided the profit fairly among everyone. Everything changed when the original mayor died suddenly two years ago. A new person became a mayor and forever changed the village.

The mayor, named Tod, forced everyone who are above the legal age to work in the mine. Anyone who dared to go against him would be killed in cold blood. Through his tyrannical rule, everyone's life suffered tremendously. He only provides enough food for the village to survive and work for the next day.

Any profit that the village makes from mining goes directly to his pocket. Many young men felt hopeless and despair at the situation. Some young men dared to leave the village with Sean to provide better earnings for their family.

After a productive "working" session, Sean would return to the village secretly and provide food for the young men families. Their goal was to make enough through banditry to leave the village with their families.

"Accountant, go fetch me the statements for this month" Tod returned back to the village and sat down in his office. He didn't have to do much for work as his main responsibility is to divide up the energy crystals correctly between the highest bidder and keep all the revenue to himself.

His father has connected him with influential families in the country. Usually, all the energy crystals would be mined and sent to the Stellae family for handling. The village would be provided compensation for its services and the compensation would be split between the villagers.

The new system is quite different than the old system. Tod would intentionally undercount the number of crystals mined every month. The remaining crystals would be sent to the influential families that gained favors with his father. His father then would provide him a large chunk of income every month.

"Seems normal this month as well. Send the crystals to the designated locations" Tod reviewed the statements created by the accountant and ordered the crystals to be sent to other families.

"Yes sir, it will be done" The accountant bowed and walked away from the room. He had no choice but to comply to the mayor. Anyone who had tried to report his corruption to the Stellae family has been killed mercilessly. Everyone gave up hope after not seeing any action from the Stellae family for two years.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM

An explosion occurred in the village and shocked everyone near vicinity.

"Hello to everyone in the village. My name is Bruce Pendragon, and I am here to see the son of a bitch named Tod, anyone heard of him?"

Bruce walked into the village by himself and created a fire explosion in the middle of the town. The mayor guards quickly approached him.

"Kid, do you have a death wish? Do you know who you are offending?" The guards looked at Bruce like he was a dead man.

"You guards have two choices, either get the hell out of my way or die protecting that son of a bitch Tod" Bruce pulled out the Light Piercer and pointed it at the guards.

"Captain, this kid has a death wish. Let's kill him before the mayor gets mad" One of the guards said.

"Fine, go kill the kid! Make it quick, we don't want to be seen killing a child" The captain agreed with his underling suggestion and gave the approval to kill Bruce.

"You guys unfortunately picked the wrong side" Bruce quickly summoned a whirlpool trapping the guards, then he pointed Light Piercer at the whirlpool.

"Blazing Blitzkrieg"

Bruce combined his fire and lightning elements together and channeled Light Piercer to shoot out a blinding beam at the guards.

BOOOOOOOOOOM

The aftermath was as expected, all the guards were dead. Since majority of the guards were at Body Refinement Stage and the captain was at mid stage Elemental Profound, none of them could have survived Bruce's attack.

Everyone looked at Bruce in shock as he just killed the guards without breaking any sweat. The mayor saw what happened outside and turned deathly pale, he could not believe someone was brave enough to kill him. Even worse, that person has the capability to do since all his guards were dead. He quickly dashed out the door and communicated to his dad about what happened.

"DAD, SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL ME!" Tod screamed into the transmission talisman.

"Son, calm down. What do you mean someone wants to kill you?" Rok, Tod's father, was on the other side of the transmission. He didn't think someone would kill his son since he placed him in a remote village as the mayor. He had provided his son with guards at Elemental Profound realm. His son should have been safe from anything.

"This little kid came by the village and started killing the guards. I don't know what to do!" Tod escaped the building and ran away from the village. He himself was at Elemental Profound early stage. He was much faster than normal mortal.

"What do you mean a little kid came by and killed all the guards? Are you absolutely sure?" Rok didn't believe in his son story, there was no way a little kid could have killed guards at Elemental Profound stage. Not even prodigies in the Kingdom can reach Elemental Profound this early on.

"Yes, I am absolutely sure. Come here quickly dad!" Tod was still running for his life.

"It'll take me 3 hours to get there, tell him about me if he catches you. If he hurts you, he'll face my wrath!" Rok quickly left for the Briestone village to save his son.

As Tod was running for his life, he heard a loud noise.

BANG

"ARGHHH"

Tod was in extreme pain and when he looked down, he saw that there was a hole in his leg. He started to scream for help, but it was futile. He then saw the little kid walking toward him.

"Well well well, if it isn't the son of a bitch Tod I'm looking for" Bruce jumped in front of Tod with a cold expression and smacked his face.

"Oh, my apologies Tod, I saw a mosquito on your face. I had to smack it away from you. You understand right?"

Bruce lifted up Tod from the ground and looked at him with a mocking expression. For the first time of his life, Tod felt genuine fear. Ever since he was born, he never went through any struggle. His dad would get him anything he wanted. Even the women that rejected him were soiled by him without any trouble.

"So, I'm going to kill you right now. Any last words?" Bruce shined the Light Piercer with a towel wipe and pointed it at Tod.

"NO DON'T KILL ME! MY DAD IS A LATE STAGE SOUL MANIFESTATION EXPERT. HE WILL HUNT YOU DOWN IF YOU KILL ME!" Tod screamed in despair as he stared at death in the eyes.

"But he's not here right now, why do I have to be afraid of him" Bruce smirked.

"He'll be here in 3 hours, everyone in the village will die with you if you kill me" Tod desperately came up with reasons to stop Bruce from killing him.

"3 hours huh? That's good." Bruce smiled at Tod and whistled loudly. A few moments later, the bandit group came near him. They looked at the state that Tod was in and wanted Bruce to torture him more. This asshole has been putting their families through hell.

"I know what you guys want and you guys will get that chance, but not now. Set up everything we have discussed earlier and wait for my signal." Bruce pulled out a chair from his storage ring and sat down. He then taped Tod's mouth shut and dragged him under the chair.

"Little Tod, I will wait for your father for 3 hours. If you make any noise during these 3 hours, I'm going to shoot randomly at your body, understand?"

Tod no longer saw Bruce as a little kid but as a devil. He agreed to Bruce's request and nodded many times.