by Yuri Ajin
Sharply flew to the side.
Landing on his feet, he decided to be more cautious.
Alas, this didn’t help him. No matter how many times he attacked or tried to outsmart his opponent, he couldn’t get close to Kai. With each passing second, he was more and more sure that his opponent was actually holding back.
Diamond had been trying to land a hit for two minutes now, but Kai just kept dodging in a manner that reminded Diamond of a person he hadn’t seen in a long while.
Having realized that Kai was simply playing with him, he decided to use his signature move, which he had invented in his youth and perfected by the time he embarked on the path of cultivation. Until today, only two people had been able to dodge it.
Closing the distance in one sudden jump, Diamond swung as if he was about to hit Kai in the head, but almost instantly shifted the center of his gravity, intending to knock down his opponent.
In the next moment, he lost his balance, after which he felt a painful jolt in his stomach.
It can’t be! My Cover is powerful enough to stop a bullet! he thought as he fell to the ground with a loud thud.
“Lil’ bro, did you really think that you could defeat me?” Kai asked with a kind smile.
Slowly getting up, the furious Diamond clenched his fists. It wasn’t the outcome of the battle that angered him, but Kai’s behavior and actions.
“What the fuck are you on about?! Who are you?!” he growled, ready to beat the answers out of him if need be. “Who are you calling little brother, huh?! How dare you use the moves he did?!”
Chapter 10
BROTHERS
Diamond was never very tall. But, having become an Exorcist, he began to tower above the rest even though he had stopped growing a long time ago. People instinctively bowed their heads and dropped their shoulders next to him, as if they didn’t want to offend him. His aura alone made them tremble in his presence.
However, things were different now. Standing in front of Kai, who was a head taller than him, Diamond, for a change, didn’t feel like he was the one in charge. Rather, he had the feeling that he was standing in front of a mountain. And no matter how hard he tried to intimidate Kai with his aura, he just couldn’t get the damn grin off his face.
“I order you to answer me!” he exclaimed and used the Master’s Will. As it had never let him down before. But it did now.
“Calm down... You always were hot-headed.” Kai smiled even wider, making Diamond flinch. “Did you think you’d get rid of me that easily, lil’ bro?”
Diamond, who, contrary to Kai’s jokes, was usually level-headed, had one trigger — his family. Any slander or joke on their account was enough to throw him into a fit of rage. However, for some reason, this time he restrained himself.
A tiny flame of hope had sparked in his soul.
“I get it, I get it...” Kai nodded. “You saw my corpse. Besides, it’s been eighteen years, and I look different. However, I have something that’ll change your mind.” He put the tip of his index finger to his forehead. “Memories... Ask me anything and you’ll see that I’m telling the truth. I’ve always had a good memory.”
“What was the name of our cat?” Diamond asked, immediately calming down.
“That’s a trick question,” Kai replied, slightly surprised. “We never had a cat. But we did have a golden retriever. Mom got him for us when you turned ten. I named him Sean, but you didn’t like it and you called him Sean the Comet. Unfortunately, he never responded to Comet.”
Diamond’s mouth opened in surprise. Not only was Kai correct, but his answer contained details that no one but his brother and mother knew. Still, it was going to take him more than one lucky answer to believe in this miraculous resurrection.
So, Diamond continued asking questions and Kai continued answering. With each question, his anger died down, but the heaviness in his chest and limbs only increased. Feeling like the weight of the emotions that he had experienced in the last hour would crush him, Diamond, both mentally and physically exhausted, sat down on the floor.
The two of them never knew their father, so their mother had to raise them all on her own. They didn’t live in the best area of their small town, but one couldn’t say that they had it bad. That is, until their mother got hit by a car when the two of them were fifteen and twelve years old, respectively. Having lost the ability to walk and move on her own, she lost her job and had nothing but the insurance money to rely on. Determined to start providing for his family, at the age of sixteen, Kai started underground fighting. His career took off incredibly quickly, and by the age of twenty, he wasn’t only the best fighter, but also the owner of most of America’s fighting pits.
As for Diamond, he always imitated his brother when he trained, wanting to become as strong as him. This prompted him to join the army after school, thinking that his brother was working as a bodyguard for some businessman and not dealing with illegal business.
He wanted to become a respected member of society, able to provide for his family. Unfortunately, after his first year of service, their mother, whose health kept declining after the accident, passed away.
Diamond took it especially hard. His pain and depression got only worse when, a year later, he was left completely alone. The news of Kai’s death devastated him. Looking for a way to get his mind off things, he devoted himself to the service. For one reason or another, he kept looking forward to being sent to the worst of fronts.
For years, he was certain that he’d never again be close to anyone. However, today the wall that he had built around his soul cracked.
“Is it really you?” he asked, looking at Kai with teary eyes.
“Well, who else could I be?” Kai squatted next to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “Or do you need more proof? I’ll answer as many questions as you want.”
“But... but how? You died... What happened?”
“I died...” Kai said with a heavy sigh. “Or rather, my body died. Being an Exorcist, you probably know about the existence of a soul, yeah?”
Diamond nodded.
“Well, for some reason, my soul didn’t die. It wandered for twelve years until it was transferred to another world, where it entered this body. This world already had a System and its cultivation had reached much higher levels. I spent six years there and then we got to this place called the Indestructible Tower, which, as it turned out, was a portal. That’s how I came back to Earth.”
“This... This sounds...”
“Incredible?”
“Yeah...” Diamond sighed. “Is that the dark tower you’re looking for?”
“Yes.”
“But why? Don’t you want to stay here?”
Kai smiled sadly.
“Apart from you, there’s nothing else that binds me to this world.” He shook his head. “Also, my sister is waiting for me. She must be worried.”
“Your sister?” Diamond asked in surprise.
“One day, I’ll tell you everything...”
“But why can’t you just bring her here? Why do you have to leave?”
“Because only Holy Lords can control where the Gates send you and Earth doesn’t have the necessary resources for anyone to reach that level, I have to go to a more developed world. Non-cultivators don’t live long, so I can’t leave her. That’s why I wanted to ask you to come with me,” Kai said, hopeful. “Just imagine — new, wonderful worlds, new cultures, and new races! New types of cultivation. New tests... We just need to find the tower, and then the whole universe will open before us!”
Kai knew that Diamond had made the Lord level unattainable for himself by taking advantage of the forbidden resources. However, he also knew of a way to save him. Before, Rune’Tan told him about the existence of ancient artifacts that could cleanse any soul. Basically, they’d allow a cultivator to do a factory reset of their cultivation. However, with the knowledge that they had gained in the past, they’d be able to develop much faster than before. Such artifacts were the
Holy Grail for many powerful cultivators eager to achieve as much as they could with what little time they had left.
Kai’s goal was to find one such artifact and give it to his brother.
“Sorry, but I can’t do that,” Diamond replied, shocking him. “This is my home. My people are here. Too much depends on me, Kai, I can’t just leave... Especially not now, when Earth is teeming with danger.”
The brothers fell silent, looking at each other.
“I understand...” Kai finally said with a heavy sigh. “This is your path... But, I’ll come back for you. You’re an Exorcist, so you have more than a century to live. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
“As am I.” Diamond smiled for the first time that day and nodded firmly.
“Alright, now...” Kai got up and held out his hand to his brother. “Tell me about Eve...”
“I will...” Diamond replied and took his hand. “But before I tell you about her, I must show you something.”
***
Kai and Diamond walked down the long hallway of the third underground floor in silence.
“This is where we research System objects,” said the man walking in front of them. According to regulations, even the lieutenant general couldn’t be here without a guide. “This is where we study their structure and their impact on reality.”
Hearing those words, Kai snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the man.
“Tell me,” he said. “How did you learn to create modern weapons with System characteristics? Where do so much material and necessary knowledge come from? Has the System really helped you?”
The guide glanced sideways at Diamond, who nodded in response.
“It’s no longer a secret,” he said. “You can tell him.”
“Well... Not really. We learned how to make them ourselves. About a year before the System appeared, we were able to create a new type of AI, endowed with almost all the abilities of the human mind. This helped us to create a special external energy detector, which allows us to analyze the structure of any System artifact. Based on the collected data, the AI models and forms the necessary energy pattern. So, we were able to strengthen our weapons.”
So, the computer creates the correct structure, and people remember it and use it... Incredible! But how did they manage to make such a machine? Kai was amazed. I shouldn’t have doubted them... I’m sure they’ll do just fine. Humans have survived much worse. We always find a way to adapt.
“What about materials? Items have to contain at least a drop of energy in order to become System items, as far as I know,” he said.
“Right. The System helped us with that, too. You see, a year and a half ago, several members of the Union managed to defeat a very strange monster. For their effort, they were awarded three Crystals with the extremely rare Force-Infusion Technique. Using it, we can permanently fill almost any material with energy.”
Kai just barely managed to hide his surprise. He couldn’t even imagine that in a world in which cultivation was a relatively new thing, there’d be something this advanced, something that didn’t exist even on the Plateau. On Saha, people constantly had to look for new deposits of useful energy-filled materials. Only with such resources could craftsmen create artifacts. Even the clans didn’t know how to saturate objects with prana, which was why they had to wait for centuries and even millennia until nature did its thing.
I can only imagine what the new worlds will have to offer...
Finally, they stopped near an armored System door. Their guide fiddled with it for a while until it opened with a loud hiss.
Christopher, Laura, and one of the technicians were already inside. It was impossible even for the employees to get to this place just like that, which was why Diamond had to contact the commander-in-chief personally. After a couple of minutes of negotiating, the old man agreed to let Kai visit the lab. However, he had both Kai and his friends sign a contract (it was like a System oath, but for several people) with the Union. Still, to be on the safe side, he increased the security by sending two more Exorcists to accompany the visitors.
“This is the research room,” Diamond said. “And these are my colleagues. Christopher Lowe, you already know him. And Laura Baggins. She’s in charge of everything here.”
Kai nodded in greeting and then looked around. Computers were everywhere. On the far wall was a huge display of Earth.
“And why are we here?” he asked.
“Tell him about the satellites.” Diamond told the scientist.
“I’ll tell him,” Laura said before the man got a chance to open his mouth. “To make a long story short, a year and a half ago, we launched an especially large raid to the zones with a big number of monsters and retrieved some rather unusual search artifacts. A couple of months ago, we launched twelve special satellites into orbit, on which we placed these artifacts. Thanks to them, we can find anyone if we have a clear mental image of them.”
Kai turned to his brother.
“She disappeared and you were looking for her?” He immediately realized.
“Yes. The cameras recorded Eve leaving your room on the night of the murder, but then she simply disappeared,” he explained, and then turned to the technician. “Drake, please upload that image I gave you.”
Drake nodded and turned to the computer. A minute passed. The image of Earth on the main display blinked, but nothing happened.
“Is it broken?” Kai asked.
“No. It’s working fine,” Laura said.
“Then what was that?”
“A message. Object not found.”
“She must’ve died after the arrival of the System...” Kai sighed.
“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong,” Diamond said, surprising him. “Drake, find Luke Johnson.”
A minute later, a dot appeared on the screen, pointing to Boston.
Kai turned to Diamond with an astonished look on his face.
“We learned that these artifacts work by looking for something we call a ‘spirit imprint.’ If a person dies, their imprint will remain in that place for more than several decades, by our estimates. As we just demonstrated,” Diamond said. “Eve is the only one we have never been able to find. Your arrival might’ve just explained why...”
“Do you think that she somehow left even before the System arrived here?!” Kai asked, taken aback.
“Exactly. Come now, we’re done here...”
“By the way,” Kai quietly asked as they were leaving, turning to Diamond so that the others wouldn’t hear. “There’s something that I forgot after my death... What... is my name?”
“Are you kidding me?” Diamond snickered. “It’s Kai... Kai Evans.”
Chapter 11
MISSION PREPARATIONS
Sitting in his temporary room, Kai pondered. Two things bothered him now — Eve and his own name. Where did his former love and murderer disappear to? And how come he had the same name on both Saha and Earth?
Did she really leave this world? he thought, no longer experiencing the terrible pain he did during his first couple of years on Saha whenever Eve would cross his mind. It’s not possible to completely hide from those satellites, I checked. They’re too advanced; their components are of Royal-rank. Not to mention that the network covers the entire globe. There’s no way that there are blind spots...
But how did she disappear then? Could it be related to that strange weakness I felt before I died? Now that I think about it, it kinda felt like an aura. Like that of stronger cultivators that have the ability to slow down or even control weaker enemies... Is she a cultivator? If she is, why would she want me dead? So many questions, and not one answer... Kai sighed, and then conveyed his thoughts to Rune’Tan. “Old man, tell me, can the masters from the Ecumene get to a world without a System?”
“Hmm... Purely theoretically... It’s possible. However, it’s extremely difficult since there are no Gates, which means that they can rely only on their own strength. That is, they must first learn about the
existence of a certain world, figure out its coordinates, and then come up with a way to get to it. In any case, Forces of Space would be involved, since without them it wouldn’t be possible to cross the distance between the worlds quickly. Only extremely powerful, almost god-like masters can create a portal on their own. I mean, I suppose that a rich and strong organization could be capable of building a spaceship or something,” Rune’Tan explained. “However, in this case, the question is: why would anyone want to go to such a world? Without the System, there’s neither prana nor ki, or there’s very little of it, which means that there can be no valuable resources. Even rare and unusual techniques are unlikely to interest a master that powerful.”
“I see.” Kai nodded, sinking into himself again. If Eve isn’t here, perhaps I’ll run into her somewhere else. She must’ve started cultivating before me... But what about my name? Is it just a coincidence that the guy was also called Kai? I wish Rune’Tan knew more about it... But if it wasn’t an accident... What was it then? There must be some connection between these two lives! The only thing that comes to mind is my ability to control and see energy... But why would my name be connected to that? And even if it were, how would it be connected to it? Damn it! This is a dead-end. Why can’t I figure out this strange force of mine when I know that it’s there?! What a bunch of bullshit!
Snapping out of his thoughts, he sensed an aura coming in the direction of his room.
There was a knock, and then the door opened.
“Kai, gather your friends. The preparations are complete. It’s time for the briefing,” Diamond said.
***
In addition to the eight Exorcists, their guests were also in the Oval Room today. These fourteen people were to become the main participants in Operation Purification.
“Well, since everyone’s here, we can begin,” the commander-in-chief said. “Miss Baggins, before we begin, tell our allies what happened two years ago and who our enemies are.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “As you know, the System came to Earth four years ago. In those days, our three major enemies were other people, Demonids, and beasts. We quickly learned how to deal with them, so humanity began to recover a little. But two and a half years later, a new threat appeared in South America, with which we had just established contact.”