Child of Destiny

Chapter 1434: The Beginning (Part 8)

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”I know what happened to your brother.”

Nathan could not help but halt his actions when he heard those words, stunned. Then the expression on his face suddenly turned dark as he glared fiercely at Jan Mataeo.

Bernard suddenly disappeared after completing a special mission in the borders between the Soaring Continent and Deep Blue Continent and his entire unit.

They were already on their way back to the continent when the headquarters had suddenly lost contact with them. Later completely disappeared and no one knew where they were or what happened to them.

Nathan, who was the main commander of the headquarters, and their father, Samuel Springfield, had decided to suppress the news and hide it from their family to prevent them from being worried too much.

This information was only known to a minimal number of people, which included their closest and most trusted aides. No one could know about it unless they were directly involved.

Thinking about this, Nathan glared even fiercer to Jan Mateo as he suspected that Bernardʼs disappearance had something to do with them.

Seeing that, Jan Mateo shook his head and clarified. ”Before you think that I am the culprit of his disappearance, you better remember that I am not interested in you people. The ones that I am interested in are those who can provide me enough nutrients that will supplement my growth.”

”But I do know the perpetrator of that incident,” he added cunningly.

Crackle!

”Enough with your bullshit and tell me where my brother is,” Nathanʼs finger suddenly flinched as golden lightning flowed through them.

Bang!

Not long after, a bolt of lightning suddenly fell from the sky in the form of a golden dragon that opened its jaws wide and tried to devour Jan Mateo and the people around him.

BOOM!

But it could only bite on an invisible barrier that was protecting the ground, preventing it from approaching them. Its sharp teeth made of lightning sank deeper into the barrier, trying to crush it, but it was unable to move further after the barrier hardened itself.

That was just the start as the battle in the sky quickly broke out right after Nathan charged at them.

Crackle! Crackle!

Golden lightning danced around Nathan as he charged toward the opposing group while throwing his fist forward.

Boom!

A beam of lightning shot out from his fist and flew straight to the group. It even carried the trait of a dragon aura that was unique to the Springfield Family.

Roar!

That beam of lightning spiraled in the air before turning into a huge dragon that opened its mouth wide and headed at the opposing group.

Jan Mateo did not bother to move as his people took the initiative to step forward to face the incoming lightning dragon.

They released their respective auras, which were in deep purple and hints of black hue on its surface. This indicated that their Demonic Aura was so dense, which also started to affect the surrounding atmosphere, corrupting it.

Boom!

Right after they blocked the attack, they quickly scattered in every direction, targeting the other Domain Realm Experts, and leaving Nathan to their leader.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Naturally, they would not forget Old Ryong, this old demon. None of them could take on that old man, so they could only leave it to one of the direct subordinates of Jan Mateo – one of his Demon Generals.

Swoosh!

Seeing the incoming opponent, Old Ryong slightly shook his head a little. ”Youngsters these days sure are confident.”

Cough!

With a cough, the old man suddenly unsheathed the sword hidden on his cane and swung it horizontally.

His actions were too slow and barely contained any power. It was as if he was waving that sword around like a conductor in an orchestra rather than slashing his opponent.

But what happened next was something no one understood.

Time seemed to have stopped from the perspective of the Demon General and no one could move freely aside from Old Ryong, who was swinging his sword at him.

He then saw the sword slowly moving toward him in and gentle and calm manner. It was so slow that it was even creating a series of overlapping afterimages on its path.

But that was nothing, but a mere illusion created by Old Ryongʼs actions.

The eyes of the Demon General contracted as he saw this. He knew about this phenomenon. It was not because the time had stopped, but because the opposing side was moving way too fast that even his perception of time was being distorted.

Old Ryong was so fast that the timed to have stopped!

This was the pinnacle of speed!

Even the time itself seemed to have been affected due to how fast this sword was.

Urging his body to move faster, the Demon General released a bestial roar. He was the fastest among the Demon Generals, but even with his boasted speed, he was still nothing in front of this old demon that he was facing.

Without a choice, he could only focus on defending himself. He summoned his Demonic Powers and surrounded his body with them while adjusting the position of his demonic core within him.

Swoosh!

It was at that moment when a flash of light passed through his body sliced his shoulder and severed more than half of his body diagonally.

Fortunately, he was able to change the location of his core in the final moments, giving him the chance to save himself. Before his body could be separated by that slash, his Demonic Powers quickly responded and reattached the parts that were sliced by that strike and healed instantly.

Despite that being the chase, the Demon General quickly halted his charge and swiftly retreated, especially when he saw that Old Ryong was preparing for another attack.

He now had been slapped by reality and had to respect this old demon.

Cough! Cough!

On the other hand, Old Ryong stopped suppressing the uncomfortable feeling stuck inside his chest and started coughing. His previous injury was triggered because he overworked himself a little with his previous attack.

Regardless, he was able to quickly recover himself by using a special technique. Even if this would risk worsening his injuries later, he did not have a choice since they had to stop Jan Mateo and his people no matter what.

The Ace City under them might be being destroyed by the Black Serpent Mafia, but something worse could happen when these people took over of that ʼworkʼ.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Boom! Boom!

The battle both inside the Ace City and in the sky above it reached a whole other level, attracting the attention of many experts.

Those representatives from different countries and organizations also got the wind of this battle. They even became more interested when they heard that Jan Mateo also appeared in this country when he was supposedly hiding from the eyes of the World Government.

As one of the ʼgreat villainsʼ of the world, it was natural for him to be labeled as one of the most wanted criminals around the world.

They became curious about what forced this ʼGreat Demonʼ to come out from his hiding place. They wanted to know what he wanted from this continent, where most of his enemies gathered.

Due to this, they sent some of their people to see what was going on in the Ace City while they were waiting for the participants within the cultivatorʼs tomb to be done with their exploration.

They came here to get a slice of the pie when they heard the appearance of an ancient tomb, but they did not expect that they would come to find some entertainment to watch.

…

While situation in the Ace City was growing more and more chaotic and Shin was about to head back to the temporary base of the Black Serpent Mafia along with the Domain Realm Executioner, Bernard finally found an opportunity to move.

He had been bidding his time since the time he was captured and brought into this place. His unit had already been disposed of by the organization after not getting any information from them even after torturing everyone.

He was the only one left in his entire unit, so his eyes were filled with vengeance.

But he had to adjust his plan when he saw that Shin was also captured by the Black Serpent Mafia. He did not know what those guys had eaten to dare to provoke the Springfield Family this much, but he was sure that they were plotting something big.

They were supposedly working in the shadows up until now. But since they had decided to step into the light, Bernard was sure that these people had discovered something.

He was not sure what Shin was planning to do, but he could tell from their last meeting that the organization was planning to use him for something. He might not be aware of what it was, but Bernard was confident that Shin was forced to do it due to him being captive.

Whatever it was, he could not let this little nephew of his be wronged by the others due to some misunderstanding that this plot would bring.

Shinʼs background was already complicated enough, making it somewhat sensitive.

If his involvement with the Black Serpent Mafia got revealed to the public, much less with his history with them, things could spiral out of control. They would be powerless to stop it when that happened even with the power and influence that their family possessed.

”I must save that kid at the very least,” Bernard knew that the Black Serpent Mafia had some plans to mess with Shin or even with their family, so he had to do something to prevent that from happening.

And the only solution that he had was somewhat obvious to his eyes.

Filling his eyes with resolve, Bernard calmed his mind before gathering his focus on his lower abdomen.

He might not be as powerful as his father or as famous as his brother, but he at the very least had some special methods that could help him with his current situation.

The cylindrical objects that were restraining his limbs might had the ability to restrain him from circulating the energies within his body and sealing off his martial attainment. But that would only apply to conventional methods. It would be a whole different matter if he ignited his ʼDragon Coreʼ and forced his blood to flow in berserk.

(*A term for the Golden Core that was unique to Springfield Family)

Supplementing it with his life force, the effects would be powerful enough to free himself from these restraints.

”Argh!”

With a berserk roar, Bernard urged his blood to circulate in reverse while igniting his life force to arouse the powers of his ʼDragon Coreʼ.

He was originally planning to use this technique to self-destruct and drag those top experts of the Black Serpent Mafia along with him. But with Shinʼs involvement, he had to change the plan and wanted to use it to save the young man instead.

Boom!

With a crimson aura covering his entire body, he found an immense strength that gave him the ability to free himself from the cylindrical restraints.

Bang! Bang!

He first freed his arms by pulling them out before destroying the ones that were wrapped around his legs.

Bang! Bang!

When his feet landed on the ground, his eyes were already bloodshot and a crimson glow was flashing at their corners.

Wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, he made his way toward the door of the prison room, leaving a series of deep marks on the ground.

His current appearance was more of a demon rather than a person.

In the military, his name might not be as resounding and mighty as the Dragon King or as intimidating as Demon Fist General. But his title struck fear in everyone who heard it.

In that circle, he was known as the Brutal Demon!

…

”Hey! It is time to change shifts.”

”Finally, I am getting tired of standing here all day!”

”The leaders are not here, so we canʼt lower our guard at any moment.”

The room behind them was heavily guarded as the prisoner inside was someone that even their leaders would have a hard time facing.

All their security measures were on high alert since no one with absolute strength was currently present within the base. They had to send all their Domain Realm Experts along with the others to make sure that their operation would go smoothly.

They were chatting among themselves when the iron wall behind them, which was supposedly reinforced with a special defensive array, exploded all of a sudden.

Boom!

Caught in the explosion, all the agents guarding the room were killed in an instant.

Crack! Crack!

Not long after, a naked person walked out from behind the collapsed wall and stepped on the broken debris on the ground.

Roar!

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