Chapter 591 My Dear Sweet Boy
While still falling from the sky, Ryze saw Edward swings his fist with all his might.
Even though Zero reacted very quickly exposing some light that glows in his hand, it seems that he was too late as the punch landed directly on his chest before creating a thunderous sound, it was the impact sound of the power of that punch.
BAM!
Blood escapes Zero\'s mouth as he widens his eyes and was sent streaming away.
Not only does the punch create a devastating shockwave that flattened everything in the surroundings, but the friction of air that almost looks like soundwaves spreads as Edward\'s fist lands on Zero\'s chest.
It was akin to a blooming flower, Zero would definitely unable to get up from that.
Ryze got pushed away across the ground from the powerful shockwaves, he feels like he was rolling for more than half a minute before finally stopping. Looking up, he saw the sky-high dust and debris blocking the entire place.
But his eyes were attracted to the sound of propellers in the sky.
Raising his gaze weakly after exerting everything that he had inside his body, Ryze glances up and saw many drones starting to crowd the sky because of the commotion they created. Sector 2 is the same as sector 3E.
Since this place is the best place to live, it\'s also technologically advanced.
Any disaster that hits sector 2 will be recorded through the drones and will alert the main FAA and UWO compounds, especially with destruction like this. It surely sparks the drones to come here.
One and the only reason that the drones arrived late was probably due to the friction of energy.
Despite the minerals like steel, rock, and coal also mutating ever since the Supernatural Emergence, these drones are not able to fight back the shockwave that is equivalent to an eighth-rank realm attack. But now these drones have finally come.
Upon looking at this, Ryze intends to run away not wanting the drones to record him.
However, his attempt failed miserably when he was attacked by a world of pain that he has never experienced before. It stiffens his body as he falls back to the ground weakly, he can only bury his head in the ground as the drone focuses on him.
With the body of a Dragonman, he can\'t hide the fact that he\'s a Supernatural now.
Meanwhile, after the devastating shockwave.
Mrs. Greene and the others started to recover after Delta stood back up. Sensing the powerful gust of shockwave that was about to come, Delta immediately knocks the others down from her back before protecting them underneath her body.
It was pure instinct and she managed to protect them from the powerful shockwave.
As the light comes into vision again, Mrs. Greene saw Delta bleeding profusely because of the shockwave that hits her back. Now she can\'t even move properly, and soon enough she lays on the ground whimperingly.
"We need to keep moving! Let\'s go!", Russ stands up and shouted.
Having experienced similar situations in the military, Russ is the first one to recover and command the most logical action. None of them are Awakened, one hit and they would definitely die so they need to get out of there.
But Mrs. Greene instantly went over to Delta that is whimpering in pain.
With clear concern in her eyes, Mrs. Greene rubs Delta\'s furs softly feeling sorry for her before looking back at the source of the shockwave, "Edward...", she mutters softly with a voice filled with worry.
Spending most of her time in the mansion, she was getting closer to the people there.
Edward is one of the people as he was always available and stays in the mansion, his family, Zelene, and his Uncle also occasionally converse with her, especially Zelene that likes to run left and right in the mansion in the hope to ease her boredom.
It\'s natural for her to develop a sense of worry due to their close attachment now.
Not only that but Edward is even fighting for their safety, Mrs. Greene doesn\'t want that but she was already here and she wouldn\'t be able to help no matter how much she tried. She\'s as weak as a baby for an Awakened.
Pant...
Pant...
\'M-My ribs are broken, and my spirit core almost shatters!\'
Crouching on the ground, Zero vomits a mouthful of blood before touching his chest.
Even from the outside, he can see that his glowing light spirit core inside of him cracks from that attack, and the stabbing sensation he was feeling right now is definitely his ribs cracking and shattering into pieces.
It was a ridiculous amount of attack, Zero didn\'t expect that at all.
Unlike his previous form, he was now clad in a white and golden robe with his entire body turning into a composition of light, it was his Gladiator Form, \'If I hadn\'t activated my Gladiator Form in the last second, I would\'ve died from that attack\'
Gritting his teeth, Zero looks up and saw the scene on the other side.
\'But in the end, you\'re just a seventh-rank realm Awakened. You don\'t have a Gladiator Form. It\'s the end of the line for you, Edward...\'
A couple of miles away from him, the dust fades and shows Edward\'s figure.
There was no sign of him moving even after a couple of minutes has passed, he was completely still like a statue, kneeling on the ground with his face looking down. Stabbing through his body was a sword bigger than his entire body, the sword made of light was stained by red color from Edward\'s blood.
If it weren\'t for the sword of light, Edward\'s body would\'ve fallen to the ground by now.
Just before he landed the last attack by exerting everything that he have, Zero reacted and activate his Gladiator form just before the fist lands and sent him crashing away. Under the influence of his Gladiator Form, he stabbed Edward with the sword of light swiftly.
Even though he was caught off guard, his reaction speed with the Gladiator Form is still inhuman.
Despite almost dying himself, he survived the brutal exchange thanks to his Gladiator Form which can be activated again at a crucial moment. Without it, he wouldn\'t be still alive right now as Edward proves to be a ridiculously strong opponent.
Upon witnessing Edward\'s state, Ryze\'s eyes widen as he unconsciously held his breath.
"E-EDWARD!!!"
Ryze\'s shouts reverberated to the surroundings as he saw the sword of light bursting through Edward\'s back, and he was not moving even a little bit with any sign of life. Only the wind can make his hair sway and dance to the rhythm of nature.
No sign, there was no sign of anything that indicates any form of life.
Upon hearing the very loud shout that was thunderous, screaming the familiar name, Zelene couldn\'t help herself and immediately runs in the opposite direction, slipping from her Uncle\'s hands.
"Zelene! Stop!"
But seeing her running in the opposite direction, Mrs. Greene gets up and runs after her.
Robert and Edward\'s Uncle grabs their hair in frustration seeing the two of them running back even after making it this far, and without wasting any time the two of them helplessly run after them while screaming their names to come back.
Only Russ was left, he puts both of his hands on his waist, "It\'s going to be a tragedy..."
Although he knows that they were going straight to danger, Russ realizes that he can\'t help them and decided to keep on running away from the place to find safety. It\'s the least he could do in honor of the ones that died.
Meanwhile, Ryze saw Zero arrive near Edward, limping.
The force brought by Edward\'s final attack congregates and results in his wounded body.
Looking at Edward that is still unmoving, Zero crouches in front of him before grabbing him by the hair to see his face. No resistance, he feels no strength in raising Edward\'s head up which confirms the truth.
"It\'s your damn fault for siding with the Supernaturals, you deserve death"
But when Zero was about to let go of Edward\'s hair and deal with Ryze that is struggling to stand up, fighting against his own body that refuses to gather strength from tanking the third-circle Pneuma Spell earlier.
Grab!
"Hmm?!", Zero widened his eyes when his hand suddenly got grabbed.
Out of nowhere, Edward grabbed Zero\'s right hand that is grabbing his head while the other hand grabbed Zero by the collar of his white robe. Zero was incredulous at what he was seeing, \'H-How is he still able to move! I stabbed him through his chest and his Spirit Core!\'
Raising his head, Edward\'s eyes gleamed with determination.
Nobody should have this relentless will that refuses to go down even through everything, the absolute shock is etched on Zero\'s frozen face, and it brings a nasty but weak smile to appear on Edward\'s face.
"W-What do you expect? D-Did you e-expect me t-to just roll over and die?"
"You-You\'re still alive?!", Zero exclaimed in utter surprise surprise.
Spitting blood to the side that mass in his mouth, he then continues, "Sorry... but I\'m not that soft."
In the next second after hearing this, Zero grits his teeth angrily.
Even with everything that has happened Edward is still stubbornly clinging to life and refuses to die, it was terrifying for a person to have a strong enough reason to keep on living even with this many injuries.
"Let go of me!"
Despite trying to pull himself back, Zero finds that Edward\'s hands are going nowhere.
Ryze wanted to help but tears started to flow down his eyes as even with the desperation he was feeling from watching Edward, his body still refuse to move no matter how much he tries to force it to stand up.
Pushing him off the ground with all his might, he was greeted only by his trembling arms.
Nothing seems to be working, Ryze doesn\'t have a strong enough will and body to fight through the injuries he sustained. It was very contrasting with Edward\'s battle-hardened body, \'I\'m weak, I can\'t help. Someone, please stop him...\'
With pure anger, Zero manages to break free from Edward\'s clutches.
Feeling the troublesome willpower starting to get on him, Zero steps back with clear anger on his face before he started punching Edward repeatedly in the face while his body is still pinned by the sword of light.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh keeps on repeating as Zero pours his anger out.
"Why!"
Bam!
"Won\'t!"
Bam!
"You!"
Bam!
"Die!"
Edward\'s face started to become bruised heavily, blood keeps on splattering to the ground from each punch, and even a couple of his teeth got knocked out of his mouth as Zero kept on pounding like a lunatic.
But he did this more out of fear instead of anger, he was taking the fight very seriously.
Not even a glimpse of what\'s happening should happen in the first place, but Edward\'s willpower terrifies him as anyone would\'ve died by now but he\'s not dying yet. It\'s hard to tell that he\'s actually a human.
"Why won\'t you die already?!!"
Bam!
With one last powerful punch, Edward\'s destroyed face tilted to the other side roughly.
Slowly his head falls down weakly from the sheer number of punches he takes in this state, he inhales one sharp breath before he mutters very weakly, "D-Don\'t kill his family. I-I\'m trying to help you, h-help humanity. J-Just walks away..."
Zero stopped for a moment, but his mind was already filled with the thought of killing.
Nothing that enters his mind can be rationalized as he was in a berserk state, but when he was about to end Edward with yet another sword of light his eyes caught something in the distance.
Showing a sadistic smile, Zero then said, "If you\'re so bent on protecting his family..."
"I\'m going to let you live a bit longer to watch me kill them, let\'s see if your \'willpower\' can still be this robust after they all die by my hands!", he added before walking past Edward and heading to Mrs. Greene that is holding the struggling Zelene.
Mrs. Greene evokes fear in her eyes upon seeing Zero walking toward her and Zelene.
Upon hearing this, Edward glanced to his back and saw Mrs. Greene and Zelene in the distance, "No, d-don\'t... D-Don\'t do it, bastard! C-Come back h-here and fight me like a m-man!", Edward reaches out his weak hand intending to stop Zero from advancing.
Instead of a shout, only a soft mutter escapes his mouth as his hand is unable to reach Zero.
Even Ryze was walked past as Zero heads directly to Mrs. Greene.
"Raaargghh!!!", Ryze shouted desperately while trying to push his body from the ground, he was exerting everything that he had in the moment of desperation just to save Mrs. Greene that somehow got back here.
Sparks of dark red fire around his body started to show signs of life, his eyes are bulging angrily.
Mrs. Greene holds Zelene\'s waist before shoving her to the side roughly.
Crashing to the side, Zelene looks back and saw Mrs. Greene looking at her with a somewhat warm smile, "Zelene my dear, please just run away from this place. For your brother\'s sake, don\'t waste your life like this...", she mutters softly.
But the towering figure of Zero already arrives behind her.
With one swift motion, Zero grabs Mrs. Greene by the neck before lifting her off the ground.
Forcing Mrs. Greene to face him, Zero tilted his head before he said sinisterly, "Your son is a Werewolf, he stains humanity by his presence which makes you the mother of a Supernatural. Blame yourself for having a Werewolf son..."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Greene closes her eyes accepting her fate.
Aoouuu!!
\'Ah... I can hear them very clearly now\'
Slowly opening her eyes, Mrs. Greene caught a glimpse of Edward looking at her with widened eyes. But she smiled, warmly, before she looks up to the bright sky that signifies such a good day.
Her mind then traveled to her son, Rex. A troubled adopted son that she loves very dearly.
The moment when she helped Rex bury his deceased parents as he cries in her embrace, he turns cold ever since that day but he was always warm to her. His smile, everything flashes in Mrs. Greene\'s mind, it was as vivid as the clear sky.
A tear falls down her eye before she mutters softly, hoping to reach Rex who is far away.
"Forgive them, my dear sweet boy. Forgive them for what they did, they don\'t know and lost..."
"Know that I\'ve never regretted taking you in, and I\'ve always loved you until the very end"
Squinting his eyes without any hint of mercy in his eyes, he ignored the shout and roars from Edward and Ryze. Each breath Ryze and Edward took was very heavy as if the end of the world is going to happen as soon as Zero stepped over the line.
Not long after, the grip becomes stronger. A chilling bone-cracking sound then echoed.
Crack!!