Eugene watched as the other two went jumping over the moving sandstone blocks one after the other. Their quick pace left many of the prospects stand and rub their eyes, but it looked akin to a snail's crawl to him. Ok, maybe Luka was like a dog at best, but Albert was quite slow.
Even with his slow pace, though, Albert remained the person he had to look out the most for.
Whimsical, annoying, rude, and a total blabbermouth in his perception, when all these met with the trait of being an 'unparalleled genius' all of them became the most effective power ups one could ask for.
Eugene, more than willing to give them a headstart, crossed his arms and observed the situation.
He couldn't tell anyone apart except the princess who's eyepatch made her stand out, but it was easy to keep tracking the two that had left by keeping an eye on them. Moreover, they were the ones moving the fastest were none other than those two.
Albert yawned while running over the blocks of sandstone. He focused down on one group of ex-adventurers that had managed to seize the first of the golem cores.
"Oh?"
As if it were a drag, Albert moved over to an unmoving block of stone and stretched his hand out, his reach going further than the end of the block and grabbing empty space.
"What is he doing?" Titania asked.
When Eugene turned to his side, he finally noticed that all three fairies were sticking to him. The white-haired fairy was pinned down by the blue-haired one while Titania sat atop the white-haired fairies back.
Eugene shrugged and shifted his gaze back.
As if that had been a cue, the block that the group of adventurers stood atop trembled. All of them lost their balance from the sudden quake, and in the blink of an eye, the block started to drop from the skies.
"AHH!" A scream resounded as the block came tumbling down right next where Albert stood. The block slammed over another, and the person holding the core tumbled backward. His hand waved as he fell of the block.
Still yawning, Albert reached out to the man falling next to him and grabbed the core right away as the man continued falling.
A chill ran down Eugene's spine.
Albert was whimsical, annoying and rude, but if there was one thing holding him back in their previous world then that was his kindness. He was kind to the point that he would gladly get bullied to avoid hurting others.
'What happened?' Eugene thought, and was surprised by his own thoughts yet again.
He wondered why that friend of his had changed so much.
But, Eugene didn't mind change at all. To wonder about its reason in this way, where he thought 'what had hurt him,' was something very foreign to him.
Eugene shook his head and sighed.
Useless. Useless thoughts.
"If anything, he's become a monster."
Adding cold-hearted in that man's 'calculating' was something that left even him uncomfortable.
"I should get going," Eugene said. "Take care, Titania."
"Want me to tag along?"
"It's fine, these punks are nothing."
Leaving behind those words, Eugene jumped off the block.
Albert and Luka both stopped in their tracks and turned to their backs. Eugene had just voluntarily fallen off?
Albert quickly regained his bearings and ran again, but Luka couldn't understand what had happened. He blinked his eyes, and felt the presence of something powerful above him.
His eyes shifted upward as a white-haired man appeared in the skies. His hair fluttered grandly while the chains around his hand rattled, yet his leg didn't move an inch as he soared through the empty skies.
"What in the world…?"
Was this flight? No, flight magic required you to fly. This guy, he looked as if he was riding on a carpet made by some giant blue genie.
Luka was left with his mouth agape, but decided to get a move on.
A finger, it was actually too much to lose.
Luka's Ki filled his body and he shot off the ground. At an unprecedented pace, the boy had spent all of his time training. From when he was living in the village with his childhood friend to when the princess had sought him out and brought him to the Royal Palace of Schwarz.
Keeping the experiences of his past life in mind. That bitter time, that lacking power.
All of it helped in his unprecedented rate of growth and his Ki had already reached the level of intent Ki.
Luka jumped over the blocks. The gap between each of them was covered by his immense strength as he moved in a way that didn't fall back behind Eugene's flight.
His eyes landed on the core of another golem. A red-haired and brown-haired woman were holding the core in their hands with a pale-looking boy tagging along.
Them, he could take them on.
Luka ignored the rest of the people in his way as he shot toward the group of three. His hands stretched out and he activated his intent Ki around the group.
With his other hand, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a small stick.
The boy dropped in front of the group of three and brought his attacks in all at once, at a rate they couldn't have reacted to.
—CLANG!
A loud sound resounded, similar to steel hitting steel. Luka's eyes widened as he noticed he couldn't bring any of his attacks closer.
"Eek!" The pale boy screamed and clung to the brown-haired girl in maid uniform. She kicked him in the stomach and sent him reeling away.
"Don't touch me, you bastard."
"There, there, miss Lily, let us attend to our guest first and then knock this rat away.
"EEEK!"
"Heh," Luka scoffed. "I didn't think you'll manage to put up a barrier."
"Hey, weren't you messing with my young master?"
Before he could speak, the girl in maid uniform approached him, her eyes widened into dark circles.
He…
He thought this woman seemed familiar…
"Miss Lily, please calm down."
"Li…ly?"
Memories rose back up in his mind.
A tragic fate. A young child battered over and over.
He remembered the previous lifetime. The last turn.
At that time, Eugene Hall had a full hand of fingers, a skin without the sight of a scar and hair that didn't go below his shoulders.
Eugene Hall, the petty dastardly villain that had brought him hundreds of troubles in his attempts to harass every single woman in the academy. It was from a time when that little rat hadn't even evolved from the form of an insect.
At that time, Eugene Hall had brought along a maid with him to the academy.
A brown haired maid with eyes that lacked a soul. The maid's face was usually swollen and her sleeves pulled to the brim to hide her cuts.
He remembered the first time he had confronted Eugene Hall for bothering his childhood friend.
["Oh? That girl? Her basket is pretty neat. What say, why not hand her over and take this Lily here for a day?"]
That was what that scum had said.
And when that Lily had started to tremble, he kicked her down and screamed at her for breaking his orders.
Luka remembered well the satisfaction he felt after punching him in the face, and the regret that followed.
That bastard had eventually beat her over and over, and then it got worse when his friends had beat up Eugene.
That rat had killed his maid.
A deep sense of shame rose from his chest. Though all of it was Eugene's fault, the thoughts of 'if I had done it differently.' 'If I had saved her right then.' Had never left his mind.
"Um, Mr. Guest, you do realize there are a hundred fireballs pointing at you, right?"
The red-haired mages words snapped Luka out of his thoughts.
He looked around, and sure enough, a hundred fireballs were surrounding him.
He gazed back into the barrier and stared at Lily.
"Don't leer at me, pervert. I'll end you. Only young master can leer at me. Actually how dare you speak to him? I should kill you right now. Yes, young master is too kind, I should end you on his behalf."
He had already heard more words from her here than in his last life.
A very strange feeling was filling up his chest.
"Mam," he said, as respectfully as he could. "Is this young master you speak of, Eugene Hall?"
"Hah!? Who gave you the right to take his name?!"
Luka knew those eyes well. Eyes of obsession, not necessarily romantic.
"Are you happy serving under him?"
"Pfft, I have never gone under him yet. I am more of a top."
"Miss Lily!"
"Haha!"
Luka laughed.
She really did seem happy. It was a stark difference.
'Maybe, if I had done things in a different way.'
That thought kept him going.
"I'll leave you be for now."
"Aren't you just running away, Mr. Guest?"
Luka shook his hand and turned around. He jumped off the block and ran away.
Behind him, all hundred fireballs disappeared in thin air and the barrier that Sophia had set up broke apart.
The strong didn't need to run away.
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