The Almighty Ring

“What a c*nt! You’ve finally made your move!” Jiang Fei roared mentally when Bargh’s sudden attack was nullified.

“Oh no.”

Bargh was shocked. He had genuinely thought that Jiang Fei was the kind that never learned his place. That was a good enough encouragement for him to make his move against Jiang Fei when he showed off his prized possession. The mental attack was supposed to be followed by a series of physical attacks, but seeing as the original attack was completely useless, Bargh had to change his move set.

Bargh was a being from the planet Bjolnir. Psychic attacks were the bread and butter for every Bjolnian. That attack was supposed to be his forte. Many had perished from that single mind attack without knowing what happened. Perhaps it was because of the fact that he was older, weaker, that caused his killing technique to fail. His greatest attack was only akin to a stone thrown into the violent sea, a tame ripple without much effect on the boy.

“Is he strong because of certain tools, or is he hiding his strength?” Bargh thought to himself, starting to calculate his next move. If Jiang Fei had been able to block that psychic attack because of an external assistance, Bargh would have a better chance at defeating him. The man had over 10,000,000 combat level. Even without using his psychic attacks, he could still defeat Jiang Fei via traditional means of attack.

On the off chance that Jiang Fei was indeed strong and able to survive the psychic attack with his own ability, the entire battle was already over. A young boy such as he must have been so strong that he had to hide his true potential or he would only be inviting trouble.

“Lord Bargh, you have done wrong by attacking me without first stating your reason. If you want a fight, I, Jiang Fei, will welcome you.”

After the taunt, Jiang Fei unleashed his self-imposed limiter. Energy crackled around him while the Blackhole Core and the Omnisurge fed him power. His combat level increased from over 2,000,000 to over 8,000,000.

“Hur hur hur… I was only testing you. A mere test…”

Bargh tried laughing it off albeit awkwardly. His mind however, was panicking. The man had clearly wronged the boy and even though the two hadn’t engaged in battle, both recognized the intentions harbored by the other.

When Jiang Fei’s combat level finally stabilized at 8,000,000, Bargh calmed down immediately. He might have had suddenly gained an exploding amount of power but he was still hovering at the region where he did not pose a threat to Bargh.

Combat level, after exceeding 10,000,000, delivered attack potency so strong that even a 9,999,999 combat level fighter could not handle. Jiang Fei was only a young boy of 8,000,000 combat level. An impressive feat nonetheless but an insufficient one.

Bargh was now calm and composed. His killing intent only grew stronger. He saw Jiang Fei not as a fighter but only a mobile, hardened safe box that he only needed to break open to obtain the treasure inside.

“A test? Perhaps I should do the same!” Jiang Fei hummed and hurled his fist out. A hot plasma blade ignited as the fist zoomed through the air, surging with the force of Metal granted by Origin Force, heading toward Bargh’s forehead.

“Be careful with that. You don’t want to swing it that hard lest you hurt yourself.”

The tiny scar in the middle of his forehead opened slightly. It happened in an instant, an event so fast that Jiang Fei could not have anticipated it. His skin, starting from the area around the scar, turned as black as graphite.

The blade that was aimed at his forehead was immediately blocked by his hand that swooped in at a speed at least 10 times that of Jiang Fei’s. Hot plasma discharge could be seen splitting away around his palm.

“What the–”

Jiang Fei was stunned. That was the last thing he would have imagined Bargh would do. How the blade of plasma was deflected like water put him on a whole other level of disbelief.

“You’re still young and have much to learn,” Bargh said with a smile. The third eye slowly opened wider and a black light flashed. What followed next, or rather, what came engulfing Jiang Fei entirely, was an aura saturated with killing intent.

Umbral Bjolnian

Combat Level: 11,000,000

Suggestion: Escape promptly.

The reading on his scope changed and it alerted Jiang Fei of the new information. If that was not enough to scare Jiang Fei, the presence and suffocating aura of the menacing man was a dead giveaway.

“You carry a valuable possession with you. Remember, do not flaunt your fortune to others. That is, if you get to live another life!” said Bargh as he laughed condescendingly.

A fist came next.

“F*ck me. What can I do now?!” Jiang Fei thought, alarmed. After intense thinking, he realized that he had two options. The first was to escape into the 10th Dimension and the second was to wait for Theon to interrupt. Those were the only options if he wanted to survive. Taking that hit, or any other, on his own would suggest a confirmed fatality.

Omnisurge, or his newly found special skill to convert foreign energy into his own would do him no good. Bargh was so strong that a single hit, be it even a graze, would be enough to instantly kill him. He would not have the time to delay the fight for him to further increase his will to live and fight.

“I can’t risk this.”

Jiang Fei made a decision. He could not wait for Theon to jump in. If he was a microsecond too late, he would surely bite the dust.

The fist came close, perhaps a hair’s width away from his face when Jiang Fei vanished, successfully escaping into the 10th Dimension.

“Where is he?!” Bargh roared. He wanted to trace the distortion in spacetime but the method of teleportation Jiang Fei used was different. Instead of a distortion that would lead to another point in spacetime, it just led to the same place; where he vanished.

“You can run but you can’t hide forever! I will kill all your men and feed them to the beast!” Bargh roared. Not two seconds later, his eyes set on the scared Kaa’lna.

“No,” Kaa’lna thought before she sprinted faster than she had ever ran.

Her heart sank and she wanted to escape. However, she knew better. No matter what she did, there was no running away from the black version of Bargh.

“Die,” he uttered. There was no emotion in it. No killing intent. Nothing that was purposely displayed. He merely stood there, shooting out a black ray from his palm.

Even though there was nothing to be felt, Kaa’lna was shaken to the core. The black ray was coming for her and that would no doubt kill her. There was no hope she could cling to. No person she could turn to. The man, the enemy, was a being too powerful to comprehend. The only thing she could do, was to get on her knees and wait for death to welcome her.

Out of the blue, a silver light flashed and Jiang Fei jumped into the ray’s trajectory, taking the hit for Kaa’lna.

“Gah!”

The blast of black ray was at least as wide and tall as an 18-wheeler. And when Jiang Fei took the blast in her stead, he felt as if his entire being was shattered into pieces despite that being merely an attack with no actual force behind it. Additionally, the black ray had travelled a far enough distance for it to dissipate. And yet, even after having its potency shed more than half, Jiang Fei was still hurt, but thankfully, not killed.

“My lord!” Kaa’lna shrieked. She was hoping that her master would have escaped, never expecting him to appear in the middle of an attack, much less to help her take the hit.

However, the worse was not over. Jiang Fei appearing in the middle of the black ray did nothing to slow it down. Like a pebble being washed along the shore, he was thrown off his feet, and was blasted by the ray. Not one tenth of a second later, the black ray, along with Jiang Fei, blasted Kaa’lna.

She wanted to catch him, to shield him from the attack but alas, she could not change what reality. Even when the black ray was already weakened by so many levels, she was still far, far from being able to defend against it.

She took the hit hard, but at the second she was thrown off her feet, she managed to catch Jiang Fei. In that instant, she summoned every bit of her strength and tossed him out of the ray. With her strength being spent all on helping Jiang Fei, she suffered greatly and spat out more blood than necessary.

“I see. Your feelings toward your men had summoned you to me.”

Bargh laughed. With speed faster than lightning, he flashed across the vast distance, appearing in front of Jiang Fei. One second later, Jiang Fei was held by his neck.