Confrontation. 1

"Oh my?"

The mysterious man didn't make any sudden moves, he glanced behind Leonard which made Leonard more on guard.

Leonard was already making preemptive moves in which he launched his shadow, extending it by half an mm.

"That's useless."

He waved his hand and the shadow that Leonard had extended just disappeared.

"Wha—"

This made Leonard more cautious. He hadn't bought anything out of the store yet that he could use just by command of thoughts except Shadow Arts.

He has no other moves than this.

"I'm pretty sure the three idiots would be in here…."

His voice was firm and resolute as if nothing could stop him nor he would back down.

Leonard felt the children shaking—trembling at the sight of the man.

"But it seems that they didn't get the most prized one."

"hah." Leonard sneered. Then he remembered something, back at the jeep "Are you, Sir Osbourne?"

"Oh? My name is that known?"

"Hahaha… very… very infamous."

Leonard's voice was cold, his eyes exuded enmity and he was raring to go.

"hah… child."

Osbourne waved his hand and Leonard felt the pressure, as if an ant to a man he was shoved to the right into a wall with an unknown amount of force.

—slam!

The force was so intense it made a crack on the wall in the shape of a spider's web. Leonard's arm shook and it felt like it would break, but thanks to his cultivation method it didn't.

"Agh!"

However, the force was still so strong and fast that he was just sent flying into that wall within a second. The pain undoubtedly surrounded his body.

—thud.

Leonard fell to the ground like a broken kite, his arm was intact however it flayed around like strings in the wind.

"argh…"

"Child, I admire your courage for coming in here alone."

"huff… huff..."

Leonard sat up and with sweat coming down his forehead he looked up, meeting Osbourne's gaze.

"Alone?"

"huh?"

At that words, Osbourne's brows twitched. Leonard gathered mana with his fist and dashed forward, opening his palms at Osbourne's chest.

"What are you—"

Perhaps Osbourne is not used to fighting as he didn't have the instincts and habits of one, thanks to that Leonard managed to release a shockwave out of his palm, sending Osbourne meters away with Leonard experiencing the same but much milder.

"Ugh!"

Osbourne hit the secured door that he entered, he was sent so far away that his back landed on the door frame from the other side.

He landed down face first and it made a bad thud sound that everyone would cringe upon hearing.

"Ha…"

What Osbourne did, however, made Leonard have his eyes widen in shock, as his body tore piece by piece and became a figment of light that recreated itself back again in the image of Osbourne along with his clothes in front Leonard, standing.

"No… no way… the Light Transcendent Body Formation?!"

"hm?"

Leonard knows this seemingly strange phenomenon. He encountered someone like this in his first run, till finally, it kicked into his mind.

Sir Osbourne. Dr. Osbourne. In the first run, he is infamous for terrorizing the Imperial family. Nobody knows why exactly.

"Ugh… fuck to meet you like this."

"Exactly."

Osbourne raised his arm and Leonard flew backward hitting the cell behind him, he fell once again and grunted, now Leonard knew he wouldn't be able to damage this opponent of his.

Osbourne had the Light Transcendent Body Formation, a power only achieved if one has advanced through their cultivation and became an Intermediate Arcane.

But Osbourne is not a magician but a scholar. With his white lab coat along with his black pants and white T-shirt showing his round belly, there is nothing that reeks of magus in him.

"Phew… shit."

Leonard was in a panic, but knowing that Osbourne just had this breakthrough in his research meant he didn't have this power for long.

And judging by how Osbourne deals with Leonard, it means he isn't well versed in combat. For Leonard who regressed after 8 years of suffering, Osbourne is merely a greenhorn.

Leonard stood up preparing an unstable mana clump in his hand.

"I told you it's futile."

Osbourne raised his hand once again, but before Osbourne could fully reach out his hand Leonard's shadow already extended towards Osbourne in merely half a second.

Leonard was already moving as well whilst Osbourne was raising his hand, and when the shadow reached Osbourne?

Leonard appeared in front of Osbourne instantaneously, his hand which was moving so that Osbourne's untrained arms were slower.

In half, a second Leonard's hand which was holding an unstable clump of mana reached Osbourne's chest, and then.

—Bam!

Osbourne went flying once again, but this time. He felt more pain than he was supposed to feel.

"Argh!"

Leonard stood up, he prepared another clump of unstable mana.

"I'm going to be sick after this."

Leonard used Shadow Arts to skip distance once again and placed his knee on top of Osbourne, pointing the clump of mana in his head.

"Who are you working for?!"

Leonard pressed his knee on Osbourne's back.

"Ugh!"

Osbourne gritted his teeth, he looked at the cells beyond the hall and back at the boy who's forcing him down.

"What difference would it make?"

"Oh? After all these kidnappings, you're asking that?"

"ack!"

Leonard pushed the unstable clump of mana closer to Osbourne, his body was reacting to the unstable clump of mana badly as it started contorting when the clump of mana get close.

"I'm not one of the perpetrators of the kidnappings! Ack! My senior is just using this as an excuse to keep me locked in here!"

"How can I be sure of that?"

"Check my pockets!"

Leonard did so, he had doubts since Osbourne's body literally turned into mana particles and reemerged back to be himself without any changes, that was including his clothes.

Once Leonard checked his pockets he heard a subtle clinging, then he took it out to be a bunch of keys.

"..."

"Those kids were being brainwashed, I… I'm only a Mana Particle Physicist!"

Osbourne yelled. Leonard carefully looked at him and knew that he wasn't lying.

"What's a man like you doing in here?"

Leonard threw the unstable clump of mana away at a safe distance. It exploded in a flashy sight before disappearing.

"I told you… I'm being kept here for my research."

"and by the looks of it, you succeeded?"

Osbourne sat down properly before looking at Leonard filled with sweat.

"Yes… as you saw earlier."

"Okay…" Leonard looked at Osbourne again and then smiled. "Now tell me."

Osbourne felt a bit of chill on his spine that he avoided Leonard's direct gaze. He just sat there with sweat gathering on his back.

"Who are you working for?"

"This organization?"

"mhmm."

"The Revolutionary Company… or rather, the Zurtin Brites…"

Hearing Zurtin Brites, Leonard made a face, however, Osbourne was already looking down, he knew he wasn't a fighter and this kid has already shown he can deal with things such as the psychokinesis Osbourne displayed.

"Now, Sir Osbourne."

Leonard squat

"Tell me the whole story on why you're here."

He asked gently with a smile on his face, but it felt more like a threat to Osbourne.

***

"Third floor underground."

Lenneza said in worry, in one sentence in a diary, She knew one thing.

'Leonard had Fairy blood'

However, that doesn't finish the story, he gave no context. It was merely a description of a bland subject, Leonard's diary only mentioned that—

"My Head gets noisy whenever I don't take the 6-month bloodline suppressor. I hate it."

Those words, Lenneza might have an idea but she only placed it in the back of her mind.

'Can he read minds?'

However, she is quick to discard this as Leonard would surely manipulate her if it was the case. He did the same in the first run after all.

Now, why was she thinking of this?

"His face…"

She was quiet, she was quite annoyed, she looked at Leonard's face to find someone getting irritated, annoyed, and agitated, yet joking as if he was fine.

"He was always like that."

"Careful young miss."

Rens held Lenneza's underarm as she tripped off debris.

—Boom! Boom!

The under City was being raided, it was just under Roshen, Marchen territory's second city.

"Third Floor underground."

Markus muttered, the three of them have been running on the hall ever since Leonard took a call. They were running against time as the raid was progressively getting aggressive.

"My… "

The trio halted on their tracks, the hall's stairs were already there, but there was someone at the entrance, a silky black hair dripping down his head which reached his shoulders, khaki pants, and a suspender belt on his white-blue striped polo shirt.

He was someone they didn't know, that's why they were cautious. But Lenneza noticed Markus and Rens were warier than before.

"We got a lot of annoying things lately."

The man looked at the trio.

"But I didn't expect this."

His eyes narrowed and Markus and Rens pulled out their weapons, Markus having daggers whilst Rens pulled out a sword.

"Hahaha! Surrender and I'll give you at least a painless death! And that girl..."

The man licked his lips which creeped the hell out of Lenneza. She took a step back and prepared the spells she would use.

"Resistance is futile ya know!"

The man spoke in delight as the end of his lips curled upwards, lounging like a frog leaping with no warning he reached out to Rens first who looked very experienced out of the trio.

The man's nails clashed with Rens' sword before eventually being pushed off by Rens himself.

"My name is Yin Gu be grateful you even managed to hear my graceful name—"

When Yin Gu was introducing himself a wave of flame hit his entire body, it scorched his entire body and left him with no clothes.

"Bastard."

Lenneza was disgusted by how Yin Gu looked at her, she looked at his scorched body coldly and clicked her tongue, casting another instant flare.

Markus and Rens just looked at the poor guy who got absolutely scorched with flames as his body turned to dust.

"Okay, we should—"

"Poor guy."

The trio immediately placed their gazes on the voice, and what they saw immediately shocked them. The man Lenneza burned is there standing behind them.

They couldn't put their head around how this man is still alive after being scorched to ashes.

"Oh don't look at me like you've seen a ghost." he chuckled as he moved forward "I did warn you though. Now I'll give you all a painful time that you'll beg for death!"

Yin Gu dashes forward, his nails elongated and sharpened to a dangerous degree.