Lexon, suspended in mid-air, closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings for a moment.
The moment he opened his eyes and obtained the coordinates, he sped toward the location.
It didn't take long.
With Lexon's speed, he quickly arrived at the coordinates he had sensed.
This was an urban district.
And Crane Lady was inside a factory building below.
Lexon pushed his perception through the steel structure, seeping into the interior.
Instantly, every detail inside the factory unfolded within Lexon's mind.
There were three people in the center of the factory.
A bearded man with a cigarette, a young man in a suit, and a tall, burly woman.
Judging by their auras, it was easy to identify them... all three were Reincarnators.
As for Crane Lady, she had been tossed aside like a tattered sack.
Her chest rose and fell only at long intervals, revealing her precarious state.
'She looks like she's about to die.'
Lexon thought to himself as he looked at the blood-covered Crane Lady, whose limbs were all broken.
*Tsk, tsk, tsk. They sure are ruthless... Even I'm not this demonic.*
The "kind and friendly" Lexon felt that they had been a bit too heavy-handed.
"I might as well save her. She's a useful tool, after all. If she lives, I won't have to go through the trouble of finding another creature to place a restriction on."
Lexon murmured to himself as he landed and began walking toward the factory.
...
"Blade Demon is just an asset we hired... Why is he acting like he's our boss? We even have to play guard for him?" Inside the factory, the young man in the suit paced back and forth, his face and tone filled with annoyance.
"You hired a superior, didn't you?" The man with the cigarette puffed out a cloud of smoke and chuckled. "I didn't see you acting so tough when Blade Demon was actually here."
"Tsk." The young man clicked his tongue and argued, "Higher-ups said not to have any conflicts with Blade Demon..."
"You're just scared," the smoker laughed loudly. "After all, 'Mad Dog' was killed by him in a single strike... If you tried, you'd probably be cut down in one hit too!"
"..." The man in the suit fell silent, staring at the smoker with resentment, but he didn't say anything further.
He knew very well that despite the irritation, it was the truth.
He really couldn't survive a single strike from Blade Demon.
After all, the other man was a mercenary Reincarnator who was extremely famous within the circles of third and fourth-stage Reincarnators.
He was a man who lived by the blade, a man who had even become a demon for the sake of the sword...
If he could have survived a single strike, he wouldn't be here now ambushing Reincarnators from the Blood Rain Alliance.
"By the way, Power Woman..." After silencing the youth, the smoker turned to the muscular woman. "Wasn't 'Mad Dog' your partner? Why don't you have any reaction to him being killed by Blade Demon?"
Power Woman's voice was deep and quite neutral. "I stay with strong men. If he died, it means he wasn't strong enough. It's only natural."
"How coldhearted..." The smoker sighed, tossed away the butt of his finished cigarette, and lit another, taking several blissful puffs. "As I thought... cigarettes are the only thing that keeps a person going..."
"Heh... You really are 'Smoker'... that title fits you perfectly," the young man in the suit didn't miss the chance to retort.
"It would be great if I could still smoke even as a ghost after I die," Smoker replied, seemingly unbothered by the sarcasm.
"Right," Smoker seemed to recall something and looked back at the muscular woman, teasing her. "Blade Demon is very strong. Power Woman, interested in giving him a try?"
In response to the teasing, Power Woman merely gave him a cold sidelong glance and ignored him.
Just because she sought out strong men didn't mean she was looking for a death wish.
"Just try it... It's not like—"
Smoker was about to continue.
But his words came to a sudden halt in the next moment.
His relaxed, careless expression instantly became incredibly serious.
The young man in the suit and Power Woman beside him did the same.
All three turned their gazes simultaneously to the same spot.
That spot... was where they had been told to watch the broken female Reincarnator by Blade Demon.
Somehow, a figure had suddenly appeared there.
A figure they hadn't sensed at all... a figure they had no idea when he had arrived...
"Keep talking. Don't mind me."
Then, the three of them heard a calm voice coming from that figure.
But... how could they not mind?
"Who are you?" The young man in the suit spread his fingers, arcs of lightning flickering at his fingertips.
"A lightning ability, huh...?" Lexon turned around, looking at him with a hint of curiosity.
For an ability that was both cool-looking and useful in various ways, he didn't mind acquiring it.
"Answer me!" the young man in the suit growled when Lexon didn't respond.
*Just who is this guy...?*
*And those eyes... that look that treats everyone like they're nothing...*
For some reason, the moment their eyes met, the youth felt an immediate surge of disgust toward the man in front of him.
"What is your ability?"
Under the young man's low-voiced interrogation, Lexon simply shifted his gaze to Smoker, completely ignoring the youth and asking about something else with a curious tone.
"..." Smoker took a heavy drag of his cigarette and asked back, "Are you a companion of that Reincarnator?"
"What is your ability?"
But the only response Smoker received was a repetition of the same question.
Consequently, Smoker's brow furrowed.
"If your ability is interesting, I might let you stay," Lexon said with a smile on his face.
Seeing that smile, Smoker's frown deepened.
'Stay...?'
What did he mean by that?
He couldn't quite understand.
"You can tell me yours as well..." Lexon shifted his gaze once more, landing it on the burly woman.
"You'll find out what our abilities are soon enough."
In an instant, whether provoked by being ignored or believing he needed to strike first, the lightning flickering in the youth's hands grew even more dazzling. The sound intensified as he swung his arm, sending a fierce bolt of lightning streaking toward Lexon at extreme speed.
"Swift Thunder!"
"Smoke Solidify!" Seeing the youth take action, Smoker didn't hesitate to follow suit.
In his mind, the heavily injured woman they were guarding for Blade Demon was almost certainly a teammate of this newcomer. Since they were on the side that hired Blade Demon and was doing his dirty work, there was no way this would end peacefully.
If that was the case, it was better to just kill him right here and now.
As a veteran Reincarnator who had survived multiple plot worlds, Smoker was naturally not the type to be indecisive.
*Whoosh!* A thick cloud of white smoke erupted from Smoker's mouth, instantly engulfing Lexon's position. The smoke solidified in the blink of an eye.
A square smoke prison was formed in a flash.
*Interesting...*
Lexon stood his ground without any reaction, looking at the prison around him with a look of interest in his eyes.
*Crackling!*
A moment after the prison formed, the lightning released by the young man in the suit followed close behind.
It struck Lexon's body with a deafening roar.
"It worked!"
The young man in the suit looked jubilant.
His lightning... it was capable of instantly paralyzing even massive, powerful giants...
There was no way the target could withstand it!
"Power Woman!"
To be safe, the young man called out to Power Woman, the strongest offensive fighter among them.
"I'm on it," Power Woman replied, raising her hands and pressing her palms together.
The muscles in her thick arms bulged, veins popping as a dense concentration of energy gathered in front of her palms.
"Super Qigong!"
A high-density spherical energy projectile suddenly shot from her palms, booming toward Lexon.
*BOOM!*
The energy ball made contact and exploded violently, letting out a piercing roar.
Gale-force winds and clouds of dust expanded from the center of the explosion, sweeping through the entire factory floor!
"Is he dead...?" Smoker muttered, his eyes fixed on the center of the smoke.
"Not dead yet," a light, cheerful voice suddenly rang out from right beside him.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]