He spoke in an icy tone, calm and collected. But on my end...
With bloodshot eyes, I imdiately drew my swords in fury, my body exploding with violet aura, ready to lunge at him in an instant.
"You finally showed yourself, you son of a bitch!"
I was about to shatter the floor beneath and hurl myself at him with everything my body could muster.
But in less than a second, a crushing weight slamd down on my shoulders, freezing in place.
A trendous aura pressure, the strongest I’d ever felt, paralyzed completely.
Surrounded by that blue aura radiating from the Engineer, I realized it was coming from him.
"Did you learn nothing from last ti?"
He spoke with the sa frigid tone, rising from his seat as he approached, radiating that overwhelming aura.
"You know you can’t defeat ."
"Shut your damn mouth!"
Struggling against him, I tried to move in any way I could.
But it was pointless.
My dark aura was nothing but a tiny speck against the ocean of absolute power he unleashed.
Face to face with him...
I tried my best to calm myself, gradually suppressing my aura.
Normally, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my cool in front of him, but things had changed after all I’d been through.
As much as I wanted to rip that mysterious face of his apart, now wasn’t the ti.
I simply didn’t have the strength to take him down .. not yet. Besides, I knew he wouldn’t kill . This bastard wanted alive more than anyone else.
So, bit by bit, I forced myself to calm down under his cold, blue gaze.
"A wise choice... this will do."
With those words, he retracted his aura, allowing to finally catch my breath .. and reminding once again of the vast gap in our power.
In front of that kind of strength... I had even forgotten how to breathe.
The Engineer ignored completely, walking past as he left the temple.
"Where do you think you’re going ?!"
Leaping from my place, I chased after him imdiately.
This was probably the longest ti I’d ever spent in the sa space with the blue-eyed bastard. There was no way I’d just let him disappear again.
But, contrary to my expectations, he didn’t leave.
With a single motion of his lone hand, his power swept across the entire sect, and in an instant, more dark structures materialized from thin air.
At that mont, I finally got my answer—the one I’d been wondering about since I arrived.
So he was the one who built this place.
Staring at his back, I felt a tangled ss of emotions surge within .. most of them a burning hatred that made want to kill him on the spot.
But tangled up with that hatred... was the weight of countless unanswered questions. Questions I was sure only he could answer.
"Ask, if you’ve got questions. This is your chance."
As if reading my mind, the blue-eyed man spoke calmly, still manipulating the terrain like it was nothing. I let out a dry laugh without aning to.
"Now that’s unexpected. Since when are you feeling generous, Engineer?"
I said coldly. But as usual, he said nothing.
There was no reason for him to lie to . If he wanted to escape, I’d never be able to find him anyway.
With the door open before , a hundred questions flooded my head. All the things I desperately wanted answers to.
But above them all...
I asked the one question that brought here in the first place.
"How do I save Danzo?"
I asked firmly, giving it my full focus.
The final mission gave two choices: save him, or kill him.
And if anyone knew a third way, it would be this son of a bitch.
I waited for his answer. A few seconds passed.
"There’s no clear answer to that question."
The veins on my forehead twitched like worms as rage welled up again.
"What the hell do you an by that?! Aren’t you the one who said this question would require using the System’s Inquiry Skill?! And that I’d regret it if I used it too soon?!"
I shouted without thinking, frustration spilling out of .
He was supposed to know the answer. He was the one who hinted at it through the system interface that day.
But the Engineer showed no reaction. He turned toward calmly.
"You seem to misunderstand sothing, Frey Starlight."
Coldly, he spoke words more confusing than anything I’d heard from him before.
"Did you really think I was the one who created the system you’ve been using all this ti?"
His words made furrow my brows in disbelief.
"What are you talking about?"
"Wake up already. There’s no way I could give you a power like that."
Continuing to spew this nonsense, my mind only filled with more questions instead of answers. I couldn’t help but yell in frustration.
"What the hell are you saying?! If you didn’t create it, then who did?!"
"That power was inside you from the start. All I did was shape it into a system interface so you could use it more easily. That’s all the system is ... your own power, nothing else."
Each word felt like a hamr pounding my skull.
No way... this couldn’t be true.
There were too many contradictions.
If the system was my own power, how did he manipulate it in the first place?
"What kind of bullshit are you trying to sell ?! Weren’t you the one who issued missions? Weren’t you the one who gave answers after the Victoriad?!"
I kept screaming, while he calmly continued reshaping the sect.
"I don’t issue your missions."
"What?!"
"And as for the system inquiry... all I did was tell you the answer because I happened to know it at the ti. Unlike now .. when I genuinely have no clear answer."
His words hit like relentless blows.
Suddenly, mories of the system’s sarcastic remarks, its cryptic missions, and everything else ca flooding back.
Covering my face with my hands as my expression darkened, a terrible realization crept over .
"That wasn’t the Engineer..."
"It seems you’ve finally caught on."
As his voice echoed in the temple, I collapsed onto the ground without aning to .. realizing I’d just opened a door to an entirely new nightmare.
"If it wasn’t you... then who?"
I asked once more, staring up at him.
He opened his mouth and answered flatly.
"I won’t tell you."
"What?"
"Why so surprised? I said I’d listen to your questions. I never said I’d answer all of them."
Hearing that smug response again, especially now of all tis...
I found myself drawing my swords, unable to control my rage any longer.
"You really are a son of a bitch, damned engineer . The filthy engineer ..that title suits you perfectly!"
Exploding the ground beneath my feet, I shot toward him at blinding speed, ready to blow him to pieces with every ounce of power I had.
"Take your cursed nonsense and go to hell!"
Swinging my sword, I slashed at him with terrifying speed .. my blade was re inches from cutting him down.
But then, in that mont...
Ti froze, in the strangest, most unnatural way.
Only the engineer moved, unaffected. Calmly, he placed his hand .. glowing with an overwhelming blue light .. right on my chest.
"Sleep for a while. Maybe it’ll help clear your head."
Even though ti itself was frozen, I could hear his voice with perfect clarity.
Then, without warning, his fist released a destructive wave of aura that tore through my body, hurling backward until I smashed through the temple wall, shattering it completely and breaking through to the other side.
I collapsed on the ground, defeated in a single blow.
With one strike, the engineer had knocked out cold, leaving buried in the abyss of darkness.
The gap between our powers... was beyond asure.
...
...
...
I don’t know how long I remained unconscious. But when I finally awoke, night had already fallen outside.
With heavy, dragging steps, I stumbled out of the temple, wounded far more in spirit than in body.
And there he was .. the damned Engineer .. still standing there, calmly continuing to build the sect.
Facing him once again, I realized sothing clearly.
My ti with those piercing blue eyes was far from over.
"You truly are a damned son of a bitch... cursed engineer."
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