Meeting 'Old Friends'

'So that's how you take the world in your hands.' Desmond was so engrossed in the 'performance' of the mighty Home-Bringer. Even though he hated and feared him, Desmond was honest in accepting the fact that he was better at entertaining the people.

[You can't do that?]

Was that an insult or a genuine question? Desmond was confused.

'Yes, I can. But not as good as him. He was molded to be a perfect superhero from his birth.' His eyes focused on the red spot in the sky. The longer the second goes the smaller the object becomes.

Any normal person and 'normal' hero would've lost Home-Bringer by now, but not him. Not our hero. He channeled mana to his eyes to increase his vision to capacity and refocused on him.

[What are you doing? You know--]

'You said that guy can detect when someone was even slightly looking at him, right?' His whole body shivered in excitement.

[You're doing that on purpose? To annoy him?]

'Yes! Just to annoy him.' He grinned maniacally.

Up in the air, above several kilometers of the ground, the mighty hero was stylishly flying in the air after delivering a kickass speech to the parents and children.

He was whistling in a jovial mood.

'Well, technically, I was the reason those poor kids and parents died. The least I can do is entertain them a bit.'

The overall mood of Home-Bringer can be said to be the best as his reputation is souring through the sky right now with the recent events such as saving the academy from the wolves and now officially announcing its protection.

[Someone is watching you.] Home-Bringer heard a soft voice inside his mind. He was annoyed, understandably.

'Where?'

[from the audience.]

'What? How can someone from there see from this height?' He quickly scanned the ceremonial hall.

For him, searching the ground from this height was so simple. He didn't even need to channel mana into his eyes like Desmond.

There were more than three thousand people at the ceremony hall. He quickly scanned all of them and found the one who was looking at him. It was a boy.

"A boy?"

He looked at the boy with white hair and purple eyes. The moment their eyes met, the boy smiled excitedly and waved at him.

"OH!?!" Instinctively Home-Bringer smiled and waved back at him, and increased his speed.

[It's him. Desmond Shepheard, son of Graham Shepheard. Told you there was something wrong with that kid at the funeral.]

"Ah, I remember that kid. Didn't think much about him at that time. The kid sure has some talents. He will also be receiving an award for his contribution to the academy incident. Poor soul must be hard to be fatherless at that age."

He increased his speed and reached far in the sky and didn't stop until he was sure he don't feel any more eyes on him.

[And who do you think is the reason for that?]

"Ha ha…" He chuckled. "Well, he deserved it. He tried to kill me and I killed him. It's simple as that." He stopped in mid-air as his gaze landed on a Hell Flame Eagle approaching him from the sides.

The Eagle was no more larger than a common Eagle but their differencing factor was the flame that spread across its wings. These creatures can be said to be one of the apex predators of the air.

The bird flew above the hero and swirled around him. Watching him with its cruel eyes.

Home-Bringer slowly raised one of his hands and waited. When the Eagle saw no threat, the apex predator of the air regally landed on the raised hands.

The hero looked at its burning red eyes. One predator to another.

They stood there, eye to eye, carefully studying each other.

The mighty Eagle with its wings folded and the caped hero with his innocent look.

"You see, it was always like this," His eyes suddenly turned red with smoke trailing from them, but before the Eagle sensed the danger, its eyes reflected the red streak aimed at it.

It fell. With no sound of pain or shrieking, the once mighty apex predator of the sky fell from its high throne to the mortal ground.

"… Yes, it was always like this, the survival of the fittest."

*****

[What were you thinking??] The system's annoyance can be felt through its voice.

Desmond didn't respond. He was still looking at the sky even though he no longer can see the mighty hero.

'One day!' He clenched his fist in anticipation of his face-off with the mighty hero. Now, Home-Bringer was like an enigma for him. Someone he can only watch from afar. If confronted, he would be turned into charred meat in a matter of milliseconds, but one day... One day he will rip apart him. He will drag him from his high throne and twist his hero neck. At that time, there won't be anything to stop him from doing that.

But that has to wait a little bit. Even if he becomes strong enough to fight the hero overnight, he will wait. He will wait until he got answers to all of his questions regarding the system and its creator's intentions. After all, he doesn't wanna become the next Home-Bringer, constantly under attack from other system holders.

"--Quiet the speech, ain't it?"

Desmond yelped to the side very suddenly and surprisingly as he heard the very familiar voice near his damn ears.

"Wh-what?" He looked back to see the annoying pest, a hero named 'The Chiseled Jaw' was smiling wide-eyed, showing his perfect set of white teeth.

"It's been a while, old friend. I've tried to contact you many times, but you never picked up. I figured you must be busy training hard after what we've been through last time. Since I don't want to lag behind you, I was also training extensively, to the point I almost every time break my bones in sessions." The Chiseled Jaw shook his head.

He did indeed look strong. There was power in his eyes, something there wasn't before.

"... You--" He wasn't sure if he wants to congratulate or be angry with the supposed 'old friend.' He was altogether too flabbergasted to even speak.

He took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Good for you, and I'm not your friend. So, stop calling— Oi, oi, oi, what are you doing?!!" Desmond was dragged by the shoulder and urged to move by the boy.

"C'mon, let us meet our other friends, friend. They are on the other side." Chiseled jaw said whilst pushing Desmond.

'Motherfucker, really got strong!!' Since he doesn't have any energy to waste and was a little... Only a little curious about how much others have improved, he reluctantly urged towards them.