As promised the next part of this scene started with an explosive shout of panic.
<Chapter 364: When Night Comes (2)>
“You’re going to throw magic bombs?”
Ron looked toward the person who asked that question. It was someone he did not know. However, Ron still warmly responded back.
“The first branch building and the Directory storage facility will disappear from the world today.”
Ron then took a step back. The sound of the roof breaking down could be heard.
A few people were mildly impressed by Crock's ability – this was because during their rampaging with Cale, they'd seen plenty larger, older and stronger buildings being brought down, so it wasn’t as impressive to see it being done by someone who was currently playing the role of the antagonist to Cale's group.
“You’ve gotten better.”
“Ugh!” Crock started to frown after seeing Ron leisurely dodge his sudden attack with a single step and then give him a compliment. However, his greatsword headed for Ron once again.
“Archers, aim for Ron Molan and Beacrox Molan’s arms! There should be a mage on their side nearby! Find them now!” Crock shouted the orders as loudly as he could.
“Yes sir!”
“Yes, leader!”
TCF!Bud shrunk in his seat when TCF!Ron glanced his way, he didn't know whether he should apologize to TCF!Ron or say that he would give Crock a good talking to when they returned, but either way, being on the receiving end of the penetrating stare from Patriarch-nim TCF!Ron was enough to give him nightmares.
“…We will retreat.”
“Squad Leader-nim?”
“We will retreat. Do not make me have to repeat myself again.” Atures chose to retreat.
He coldly responded to the confused expressions on his squad members’ faces.
“Do not forget our main mission.”
Their main mission. Find the whereabouts of the Mercenary King.
“F**k, these Arm bastards…” TCF!Bud grumbled with annoyance written all over his features. He sobered up again after receiving that look from TCF!Ron and so he was able to maintain some semblance of his composure without provoking TCF!Glenn into jabbing him in the ribs to shut him up. At that same moment, TCF!Glenn realized he hadn't jabbed, punched or even pinched TCF!Bud in a while and decided to go back to doing his job of keeping his friend alive. He recalled that moment earlier when the Goddess had agreed to take over the job and decided that she must have done a fairly good job of restraining him seeing as TCF!Bud hadn't lost his head or any limbs even though he'd been misbehaving and sprouting nonsense plenty of times already.
They needed to find the traces of the Mercenary King who disappeared from Leeb-An City. The squad members tried to retreat as their leader ordered.
“Who said you could go?”
They could see a person looking down at them and smiling with a greatsword on his back at that moment. Beacrox was smirking with one corner of his lips up with his arms full of magic bombs. Beacrox’s gaze as he looked down at the Arm members was cold. It could not be helped.
Everyone agreed, just like they did, TCF!Beacrox must also have had deep rooted hatred toward Arm for what they did to him and his family. So, they fully supported his decision to face them even with his arms full of those dangerous magic bombs. There really was no better way to terrify their enemies than to show them just how angry the enemy had made them. The recording on the Palantír turned grey again as flashbacks began once more – this time they were from Beacrox’s perspective.
Fifteen years ago. Back when he could still be called a young boy. He still remembered how his house had burnt down, his family members had died, and how his mother had stood in front of him while swinging her sword. Just like his father, Beacrox had a lot of anger about that situation as well. In fact, he had even more anger about it than his father. That was the reason the young boy who had been told he looked like his mother had lost his smile and had to become an adult with a cold expression like his father.
TBOAH!Ron winced, TBOAH!Beacrox's expression became impassive and completely unreadable, but in his chest his heart was racing so fast he was a little afraid that someone – the dragons or the various Swordmasters – around the room would notice and call him out on it, however none of them did, it was because they all understood and empathized with TBOAH!Beacrox in that moment.
He recalled a moment from the past. Choi Han had come to find him in the rear garden to say something when they were at the Super Rock Villa.
‘You seem to be more talented in stealth techniques and throwing knives arts than greatsword arts.’
Choi Han then threw a throwing knife to Beacrox. Beacrox ignored how Choi Han had disrespectfully called him, ‘you,’ as he caught the throwing knife and threw it toward a tree. The throwing knife accurately landed at the center of the target. Beacrox looked back at Choi Han and responded.
‘None of your business.’
“Oh…” TCF!Choi Han frowned with a bitter expression on his face, but he soon schooled his face back into calm impassiveness because he knew TCF!Beacrox well enough now to know that he would not appreciate getting sympathetic glances and looks from TCF!Choi Han – it was a mutual feeling between them ever since they'd bonded to a certain degree and had began to treat each other like family as well. TCF!Choi Han respected TCF!Beacrox’ enough to take heed of his preferences and abide by his conditions.
That was the only response he could give. He still remembered it. He had seen how his house had been covered in fire. He remembered how the fire seemed to grow taller with every scream from his family members.
‘Beacrox, wait here. Your father will come soon.’
TBOAH!Beacrox winced deeply, bowing his head and squeezing his eyes shut, a painful expression upon his face as the sound of his mother's voice filled the Palantír Hall, that one line was all it took to shake his carefully constructed mask. TBOAH!Ron set his hand upon his son's back, feeling helpless and angry that there was nothing he could do right now. However he was no the only one who moved the moment TBOAH!Beacrox’ façade cracked.
Grigori materialized in the seat beside TBOAH!Beacrox. She leaned into him, encroaching into his personal space and wrapping her aura around both TBOAH!Beacrox and TBOAH!Ron. The record continued, pulling everyone's attention back it, even TBOAH!Ron, TBOAH!Beacrox raised his head to watch too, his eyes stinging and bleary with grief, sorrow and pain from the past that still haunts him.
Beacrox had still been short and weak at that time. Beacrox could not forget about the greatsword in his mother’s hands as she stood in front of him. His father wanted Beacrox to use a greatsword as well. But most importantly, Beacrox himself chose to use a greatsword.
That was true, that was all true and everyone in both worlds decided that there was something precious about his decision to keep his mother's sword-style alive and make it a part of his own skill.
He too knew about his talents. He was talented in torture arts and stealth arts. Just seeing his father from the side made him think that he could easily do it if he practiced a bit. The others in Cale’s group were getting stronger at extreme speeds. Even before the sword master, a high-grade mage, and a necromancer had appeared, Beacrox’s growth had been stunted in comparison. It would probably be difficult for him to reach the sword master level with his greatsword arts. It was not because he was focused on cooking. He had reached his limits with the greatsword, however, he could not give up the greatsword.
“You made a good choice Son…” TBOAH!Ron said to him and TCF!Ron nodded looking at TCF!Beacrox to ensure that he understood that this sentiment was shared by him as well. TCF!Beacrox and TBOAH!Beacrox briefly shared a look with one another and then turned their gazes toward their respective fathers and nodded to them. They couldn’t find their voice yet, and even if they did they were afraid that it would break. Grigori spread her aura to encompass TCF!Beacrox and TCF!Ron as well. Her divine power permeating their bodies and embracing the aching parts of their souls.
“Beacrox Molan.”
Beacrox could see Atures Poeff staring at him. He could also feel many other gazes focused on him. He took one step forward. He heard his father’s voice by his ear at that moment.
“Let’s get started.”
That was enough.
“No!” Crock charged toward Ron at max speed after hearing the comment.
However, Ron had already shot up into the air. Beacrox then took out his greatsword.
The large sword shined from the sunlight. However, nobody could look at Beacrox’s sword.
“S, shit!”
He was holding the greatsword with both hands. The things that had been in Beacrox’s hands prior to this were thrown into the air. All of the magic bombs were thrown high into the air
“C, catch them!”
“Dodge! Avoid the bombs!”
It was right before the situation turned to hell.
A small laugh came from Grigori as she watched this scene – apparently the Goddess also enjoyed chaos and explosives. Although no one wanted to call out and confirm their sudden suspicion, they all wondered if this was yet another reason for why Cale and Kim Rok Soo were her favourites – because whenever they fought with someone, something somewhere always blew up. In many ways the Goddess also resembled the dragons from both timelines because they also like destroying things, although with how immense their strength was it was no surprise that they would find enjoyment in such things. All the humans decided that it was best not to criticise the Goddess.
In that desperate situation, Beacrox also kicked off the roof and jumped into the air as his greatsword started to create a large arc. Beacrox could see Crock and Atures at that moment. Crock looked anxious while Atures looked shocked. Beacrox smiled as he swung his greatsword.
“N, no!” Someone started to shout.
And the face of the greatsword hit the side of the magic bomb.
“Holy crap!! Cale did you teach them baseball?!” Rok Soo exclaimed in alarm.
“What the hell are you talking about now? No, do I look like I have time for sports? This is all Beacrox patronizing the bastards who made him angry!” Cale clicked his tongue and slapped Rok Soo's hand that had roughly grabbed his arm in the excitement.
“Human, what's baseball?”
Cale sighed heavily and then looked down at the TBOAH!Black Dragon and Raon who were looking back at him with starry eyes full of eager-to-learn curiosity.
“It's a sport… from the other world…” He replied and then briefly explained the basics that he could recall to the kids that all perked up to look at him and pay attention to his words. Cale felt like his peaceful future as a slacker was even more in jeopardy when Raon said he wanted to try it when they returned, he promptly blamed Kim Rok Soo for this and glared at him even while the scene on the Palantír went on.
The greatsword created a few more large arcs and slammed into the magic bombs. The magic bombs that were hit started to shake as they were all slammed in the same direction.
“H, how could this be!” One mercenary started to pull on his hair.
TCF!Hannah chuckled deviously and shamelessly called out to TCF!Bud.
“I can see why you tried to get me to join the mercenaries guild now… it's obvious that there aren’t many members that are strong.”
“Ho?! Bud tried recruiting you Hannah?” Cale asked, the danger glint from his earlier glare now heading toward TCF!Bud.
TCF!Hannah continued to nod and grin in reply to Cale’s question. TCF!Bud, on the other hand, let out a wounded whimper at Cale’s ‘I’ll deal with you later’ expression and sank even lower in his seat to hide.
The magic bombs slammed down while making some loud noises. They all slammed down into the pit where the original Mercenaries Guild building used to stand.
“I should move mine as well.”
The magic bombs in Ron’s hands gently fell into the pit as well. Ron then landed on another roof and opened his arms.
“Now then.” Ron clapped his hands and said a word in a low voice. “Explode.”
That was all.
For the briefest of seconds Cale recalled both the times when he'd given the same command as well as the one time that Redika had done so during the Plaza Terror Incident – with those thoughts in mind, he decided it was hypocritical of him to judge TCF!Ron.
The people started to cover their ears and flattened themselves against the ground. The explosions seemed to never end. The people on the ground could feel their bodies shaking from the ground shaking. They finally looked up after the explosions stopped only to see a tall pillar of fire.
“…Ah.”
It seemed to be shooting up into the air. The underground area where the Eastern continent’s greatest and oldest records had been located. A large pillar of fire shot up from the debris of that pit. It was a red fire that seemed to want to burn everything up.
“Ohh! That's a nice explosion!” TBOAH!Eruhaben admitted with a tone of admiration and appreciation lingering in his voice. It made Cale sigh softly to himself and avoid the pointed look he was getting from Rok Soo beside him. Although Rok Soo wasn't judging Cale for emulating the Dragons' love for destruction, Cale felt like Rok Soo was, and that's was enough of a reason for him to stick close to the quiet TCF!Alberu and hope that the attention he was receiving from everyone would soon go somewhere else.
Some of them turned their heads. It was because they heard Ron’s voice.
“Now the records, the history, has disappeared.”
The mercenaries, members of Arm, and even the nearby residents who were hiding and watching everything. All of them could not hide their shock at his words. That meant that the Directory was burning inside of this pillar of fire.
TCF!Ron felt the gazes of several people on him now, but remained calm and as composed as always. He correctly assumed they were looking at him and his counterpart like this because the Goddess had not shown how they'd moved the records from the Directory into Eruhaben-nim's spatial dimension. TCF!Ron decided to play along and pretend that they had indeed destroyed the real records, and this caused TBOAH!Ron to feel somewhat awed by his counterpart's bold and unexpected move.
Beacrox who was next to Ron had taken out a teleportation magic scroll at some point.
“Get them! We must get them!” Crock jumped up and started to run toward the Molan father-son duo. The mercenaries who came back to their senses also started to charge.
“This really makes me think of the Plaza Terror Incident…” TBOAH!Basen mumbled, his hand unconsciously rubbing his knee where the phantom aches and pains from that experience still hurt and played tricks on his mind. TCF!Basen, who had not experienced the Plaza Terror Incident, eyed his counterpart recalling how TBOAH!Basen had been the one to attend the King's birthday celebration in the other timeline, and not Cale.
Both TCF!Basen and his counterpart were feeling a lot less hurt after having their dissonance about that difference between themselves concerning that incident, healed by the Goddess’ divine power earlier – but there were still plenty areas of themselves that nagged them both.
“Well, it's not like they’re the only ones allowed to use this method!” TCF!Lily whined with a pout. She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back with an expression that dared anyone to object. No one did because she was correct – Arm used the same tactic, but there was no reason for Cale's group not to do the same to them. In fact, Cale's group were more effective at doing this anyways.
Crock gave another order as he did that.
“Mages, put out that fire right away!”
He then picked up his greatsword to throw toward Ron. However, he hesitated for a moment and the greatsword ended up being thrown, not at Ron, but right in front of Ron.
“You’re still the same.”
Crock could see Ron giving him a cold smile before completely ripping apart the magic scroll.
No one dared to risk their life by questioning TCF!Ron about why he let Crock keep his life after that kind of attack – also the members of the audience who had that thought weren't entirely stupid enough not to notice the way TCF!Ron and TCF!Beacrox seemed to be paying close attention to Crock throughout the battle, even though he was currently not on their side.
The Molan duo’s body slowly started to turn transparent. Crock’s greatsword then landed one step in front of Ron.
“Damn it!”
Crock stopped running and plopped down on the ground. He slammed down on the ground with his fist. They were gone. Ron and Beacrox. The two of them had instantly teleported away.
A bond existed there between the three of them, and no one had the courage to ask about it. However, it was not hard to guess how this bond came into being. As noted earlier, Crock was someone who had spent time with Ron and Beacrox and the only reason he had survived the massacre that had claimed the lives of the Molan Household was because he had gone away some time before the attack occurred.
To draw attention to himself openly in front of Arm and Atures was like asking for trouble, so even though they weren't on the same side, the two groups had done just enough to avoid looking suspicious.
These thoughts and realizations helped TCF!Bud redeem his sanity from the brink of drowning in the second-hand-embarrassment at Crock's behaviour throughout the conflict.