Chapter 238: FEAR
Raphael’s beastly body was soaring through the air, the vast sky stretching endlessly above him. He wanted to stop, but his body refused to obey.
His vision blurred from the sheer speed; his eyelids felt heavy, as if they would close at any moment.
And then suddenly...
A figure emerged from below....
It was Logan.
Spinning in midair, Logan’s leg cut through the sky like a blade and slammed squarely into Raphael’s chest.
Boom!
This time, Raphael’s body plummeted to the ground like a falling meteor.
Bang!
He crashed into the ground with a loud explosion, the impact carving out a wide pit. Cracks spread in every direction, while his battered form lay at the center of the crater.
Logan also landed afterward, softly, as light as a falling leaf. Not a single crack formed beneath his feet; the ground was left untouched.
Without a word, he began walking toward the pit.
Raphael still lay unmoving, his beastly frame sunk deep into the broken earth. Yet his eyes remained sharp, following Logan’s every step.
"How can this be possible?" Raphael’s mind roared in disbelief. "He’s just a boy—fifteen, sixteen at most. I don’t know how he came into possession of a cultivation technique... maybe sheer luck. But to grow this strong in such a short time? Is it really just cultivation... or something else boosting his progress? Or maybe som....." He coughed. "Maybe something else entirely." Raphael’s mind was in a total mess.
And it wasn’t just him.
Alice stood frozen, her lips trembling as emotions stormed within her. "Oh, sweetheart... can’t you stop making your mother worry like this?" Her voice carried shock, fear, and pride all at once.
High above, Audrey hovered in silence. "Is this why? Is this why our ancestor chose to use the soul resurrection rune on him?"
Meanwhile, step by step, Logan descended into the crater. His presence loomed closer, heavier with every pace.
Raphael clenched his jaw and forced his battered body upward. A faint green glow flickered across his wounds. Slowly, his torn flesh began to knit together.
Logan halted, his gaze narrowing.
"You can even use healing magic?"
Hearing Logan’s question, Raphael chuckled. "You still don’t get it, do you? There is no such thing as affinity. It’s just how strong you are, how connected you are, how deep your understanding goes." By the time he finished speaking, all the visible wounds in his body were already healed.
Logan, who had stopped, started walking again. Raphael also stood back up.
Logan stopped coming only a foot’s distance away.
Both faced each other.
"I underestimated you, Logan. I really underestimated you. But I won’t make the same mistake twice." His eyes hardened. "This time, you will go down for sure, whether you give me the technique or not; it doesn’t matter anymore. But I can’t let you live."
Raphael, in his beast form, was at least twice the size of Logan. So Logan had to look up to see his face.
"I would like to see you try," Logan replied calmly.
And then....
The air shifted around them. Air curled up from the ground and started to swirl.
Raphael’s body flared with mana. "Gravity." He said it once, and a huge pressure erupted.
Logan felt a mountain weighing on him. But still his gaze didn’t waver. His limbs didn’t shake. His mana also flared. But that wasn’t all. His internal energy surged to its maximum.
Raphael, who was confident in his strength even just a moment ago, panicked. Because Logan’s pressure didn’t just neutralize his, it totally overpowered him. Raphael gasped. "How.... How is this even possible?"
And before Raphael could even stagger back, Logan’s right fist buried itself in Raphael’s gut.
Bang! Whoosh!
First, a loud explosion, and then a body flew back, tearing through the air.
Logan wasn’t done. He then slowly raised his right hand as multiple fireballs materialized. They weren’t massive in size, but their sheer number looked terrifying.
And with a flick of Logan’s hand, all shot forward.
After snapping some trees, Raphael’s body finally hit a thick pillar and slid down. But he quickly got up, ready to counter the incoming fireballs.
He flung his hand forward, and multiple ice spears shot forward.
But just before the clash, just before when the ice spears were about to hit the fireballs, all of the fireballs changed their track and bypassed them, and continued to charge toward Raphael.
"Fuck! What just happened?" Raphael’s pupils shrank.
He waved his hand again. This time, multiple ice walls materialized.
But....
Baffling him even more, all those fireballs changed their course again and shot toward him. And this time, before he even had the chance to cast new spells, all blazing spheres slammed on his body.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Though after the transformation, his skin had hardened, multiple bloody wounds appeared as his body was hurled back, slamming into a tree.
He tried to get up, but Logan blurred from his position. And before Raphael even knew it, Logan pressed his leg on his body, pinning him down on the ground.
Raphael tried to throw more spell attacks at Logan, but suddenly, an enormous pressure erupted. Raphael felt as though his whole body would turn to meat paste.
He wanted to talk, but no word would come out. He could only stare at Logan as fear crept into his heart. "What is he?! What?! Is he really just a human?!" For the first time, he was afraid of Logan. "I shouldn’t have conspired against him. I should have stayed far away from him. Far, far away."
Logan raised his hand slightly. And a sphere started to materialize, compressing multiple air blades inside it. If the Guildmaster Ali Arkmam were here, he would surely be flabbergasted seeing this. Or maybe not. After all, after meeting Logan, he had been on the edge of his seat continuously.
Logan aimed the destructive sphere toward Raphael’s head.
Even from the pressure it was emanating, one thing was clear. Raphael’s life? Now it belonged to Logan. The moment he wanted to end his life, all he would need was a flick of his hand.
From a far distance, both Alice and Audrey were solely focused on the fight, which was now at its end. Both were shocked, baffled, rooted on the spot. Even Audrey, who was from another planet and had seen a lot, was speechless. "Though his soul was resurrected, how did he grow this strong in such a short time?" She thought.
Meanwhile, at the fighting scene....
After pinning down Raphael, Logan hadn’t said anything yet. But Raphael knew what Logan would ask. And Logan didn’t disappoint him. After a long time, Logan finally opened his mouth, "So now are you ready to spit out everything, or do you still need some motivation?"
Raphael tried to say something, but due to the gravity still weighing on him, he couldn’t even move his lips.
Seeing his struggle, Logan suddenly remembered that he had actually forgotten to lift the gravity.
He quickly let it go. And as soon as he did, Raphael gasped for air.
But Logan didn’t bother about his struggle. He pressed his leg even more and narrowed his eyes. "You can talk now. So tell me. You want to talk or still need some motivation?" Logan asked without any sympathy.
"The cultivation technique, it’s...." Raphael started to talk, but coughed up blood before he could finish. Then he started again, "The monster race, they wanted to get ahead of us, rule the Milky Way galaxy. But they never could. They started a war multiple times. But each time they were defeated."
Logan listened to every word carefully. "Just as I thought. They are in a fight for power." Logan thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Raphael continued like a parrot. "It wasn’t just the monster race. Other races also wanted to get rid of us. But all of them failed. And just when they were about to accept their fate, accept that they would never be able to defeat us, the monster race discovered something."
Raphael paused for a bit. "A planet, in a different star system. And though far behind in magic like other races, they had something unique, like the Mecha race. The cultivation technique, where one could build up internal energy, store it, and use it. Though lacking in comparison to magic, it was powerful. Powerful enough to shake the hierarchy."
"That’s why the monster race planned to invade the earth. But..."
Raphael coughed up blood again. "They couldn’t hide it from us. So when they began sending their troops here, we also started looking for ways and means to reach here. And after a long time, we actually found one. But..." Raphael sighed.
But Logan didn’t have time for the drama. He pressed his leg even more. "Out with all of it already."
Raphael started again. "By the time I reached here, all the cultivators were gone. All dead. So I got worried that the monster race had already inherited it and would defeat us soon enough. However, I soon discovered that they had actually failed. But they still kept trying. So I also stayed back, waiting for them to find it and steal it from them. They wouldn’t be able to defeat us if we both had it. I kept waiting, for year after year. Even centuries passed by. I was getting impatient. But then....."
He paused and looked at Logan’s eyes. "But then you entered into view, Logan."