Volume 2 Episode 5

"I'm sorry Master Lin. I had no choice. I hope that yo-" his thoughts about asking for forgiveness was suddenly interrupted by a large explosion from the apartment.

"What was that? Were there any explosive devices in the room?" The man in black asked, to which Richard shook his head.

"N-no, not that I remember. There wasn't anything that could explode. And even if it did, the floor had been on fire for several minutes now. It would've exploded ages ago." A bad feeling suddenly welled up in Richard's heart as he looked at the explosion. 

"Then… What was that explosion?" The man in black asked impolitely as he stared at Richard.

There was no need for him to beat around the bush with someone like him.

"I have no idea," Ricard replied softly. 

Grave silence surrounded the area as they both gazed at the apartment that just exploded.

"Wait, my subordinates will check it out. You come with me to meet the boss. He has to meet you to say thanks." The man in black spoke after a long pause. He called out his subordinates to check out the place where the explosion had occurred, and then turned to look at Richard.

"I've told you before and I'll tell you again, I do not want to meet Eric, I just want him to pay me back what he owes," Richard said dully, and the man in black snorted in response, finding his words funny.

"That's Mr.Lindon for you Richard, and what's with this payback you're talking about?" His eyes flashed with a cold glint. "If I remember correctly, we're the ones who knew about the secret but didn't tell the Hamill family." The man eyed Richard and enunciated each and every word individually. "If anything, we're saving you."

Saving him? Richard, who naturally didn't believe that he would be so kind-hearted, smiled sardonically.

"F**k off Gerald, you guys only kept the secret so you could use it. There isn't an ounce of sincerity amongst you people." 

Gerald, the man in black, acted as though he hadn't noticed Richard's disdain. "Maybe, but right now we're the only ones that can help you out of this mess that you're a part of." Gerald sneered at the comments made by Richard. He knew that Richard had taken a path he couldn't go back.

Richard could only help but clench his fists at the sharp remarks made by Gerald. He knew that control was out of his hands. All he could do now was to go where the flow takes him.

As he sighed, Richard made his decision. "Fine, I'll go with you."

"There you go. Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Let's get in the car, the boss is also very exci- wait.. what's that coming towards here?" Gerald pointed at the sky, causing Richard to look up as well. There was an object flying towards them at high speed, and it looked like it was going to make a huge impact on landing. 

"GET BACK!" Yelled Gerald to his subordinates as he tried to get back. Most of his subordinates tried to escape, but weren't so lucky.

BOOM!

The object had crashed on to one of the cars and caused a huge explosion upon impact. The subordinates of Gerald who were close to it were burned to dust. Anything that approached the object, was turned into nothingness in the blink of an eye. As Gerald watched in horror at the death of his people, the object that landed was now visible.

It looked like…. a human?

'Don't tell me..'

"M-master Lin?" A surprised and frantic shout from Richard reaffirmed Gerald's suspicions but even he couldn't believe his eyes. The person that was standing before him had a body of a muscular man, not the body of a teenager. But the face was eerily similar to the description he was given.

"Did that machine turn him into that?" Gerald tried to understand how the machine made a scrawny teenager look like a bodybuilder in a matter of minutes, but couldn't find an explanation to it.

"Mister Lin, if I presume? my name is Gerald Miller, a member of the Landon Family, and we have no grud-" "SHUT UP!!" Gerald, who was trying to calmly handle the situation was interrupted by the roar of Lin, who seemed to be glaring at Richard. His furious roar reverberated throughout the area, and rumbled along with his words.

As he spoke, Lin brandished his hands, causing a boundless blazing power to converge on his palms. Richard and Gerald looked at him and looked at each other, and stepped forward shoulder to shoulder. 

Swish!

Richard, who was standing without moving, disappeared from his sight, causing Lin to be on guard.

"I'm sorry Master Lin, but I'll try to finish this quickly." He heard a voice near him, but before he could turn to attack, a massive hand formed out of wind plummeted towards Lin, covering half the sky in the process, and blasting him away. His strike carried the violent winds of thousands of miles and an intense fury. Lin tried to resist the flow, but to no avail as it lifted him up into the air. Then, the wind started to spin around him, forming a small sized tornado with Lin caught in the middle of it.

"Gerald, now!" Richard shouted, and Gerald took a step forward. The power of fire gathered in his hands before he blasted out his fists towards the sky, forming a huge wave of flames that reached the height of trees behind him. Then, he pointed his hands at the tornado, which made the waves flow in that direction. His waves filled with the boundless energy of flames enveloped the tornado, merging with it. It looked like two extremely powerful taboo weapons had clashed in the air. Lin was essentially caught inside a flaming tornado.

As the tornado burned to the maximum, both Richard and Gerald dropped their hands down, which caused the burning tornado to be pressed down suddenly with a tremendous force. The sounds of all sorts of explosions and immense surging energy were heard. A massive crater suddenly appeared on the originally flat ground. This was without a doubt a sort of annihilation. 

 "That should've been enough," thought Gerald as he started panting for breath. He had used his Trump card, the Burning Waves, which drained most of his powers for a long period of time. He looked at Richard, who also seemed to be out of it.

"Now now, that shouldn't be all you can do, right?" However, as they were calming down, a sudden, loud, sneering comment made both the people startle, forcing them to jump back. For a moment, they were unable to believe this. The flames of Gerald combined with the strong winds of Richard should've made a strong combination that even professional magic users would have a hard time dealing with. The air control of Richard would enhance the power and intensity of the fire, which would cause the temperature to reach a terrifyingly high level that would cause the opponent to be burned alive in a matter of seconds. And yet, they had failed to achieve the desired result.

"That's a shame. I thought since you had the balls to cross me, one of the members of the Hamill Family, you would have the power to back it up. But unfortunately, it appears I was asking too much from a bunch of rats who were trying to act like beasts. I suppose a rat will always be a rat." The voice continued berating both the men without a care in the world. 

"Well, now that you have played your hands, I suppose I have to show you what I got right?" After the voice finished speaking, a solitary figure emerged from the smoke filled crater. As he came into view, both Richard and Gerald couldn't keep calm. 

"You gotta be kidding, right?" 

Lin's body had come into full view. He had no injuries on his body. Not even one. It looked like their attacks didn't even lay a scratch on him. Although to an outsider it may look like that, the truth was that the ridiculously fast recovery rate had practically healed Lin during the time he was talking. As he looked at his enemies, a sinister smile crept up his face. 

"Now.. are you both ready?"