THE LAST PARAGON IN THE APOCALYPSEC382 Sky Piercing Bow Art
Klaus glared at Knox for a full minute before sighing. There was no point in trying to make sense of all the weirdness in his life.
"So, if none of you managed to locate any of the Star Lights, does that mean I'm the one who has to do all the work?" Klaus asked.
"Among other things... yes," Knox replied with a smile.
"Among other things?" Klaus narrowed his eyes just enough to let Knox know he wasn't joking.
"Let's not dwell on that yet. The most important thing is you've managed to find a Star Light and even awakened the legendary Skybound. You've already completed at least 4% of the journey," Knox laughed.
"4%... Are you for real?" Klaus asked though he knew it was pointless. "Why am I here?" Klaus questioned.
"Isn't it obvious? You came here after unsealing the first seal on the bow, allowing you to unlock the Sky Piercing Bow Art," Knox said. As soon as he spoke, Klaus felt the technique enter his mind.
"Let me guess, you're the creator of this technique," Klaus asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"It was one of my masterpieces... our masterpiece," Knox answered with a cheerful smile.
"This works well for me. I guess I won't have to worry about finding the perfect technique for Hanna," Klaus muttered.
"That you don't have to worry about at all. After all, this is more than enough for the Star Light to protect herself and unleash the true power of the bow," Knox said.
"Her name is Hanna, and if you truly are the past me, then she is also your sister. Do you get that?" Klaus narrowed his gaze at Knox.
"I do," Knox nodded.
"Now, what can you tell me about the bow and why Hanna was the one who awakened it and not me?" Klaus asked.
"It's simple, actually. The bow is linked to the Paragon Star, and since she is now a carrier of a key to unlock one of such stars and is even in possession of a stolen Heavenly Lightning constitution, the bow deemed her worthy to summon her.
But fear not, you can summon her anytime you want," Knox explained.
"Her... is the bow a person?" Klaus was struggling to understand many of the things he had been hearing and seeing over the past few months.
"You've only unsealed the first of the Seven Seals, so you won't truly know what the bow is actually made of, but soon you will. And trust me, you wouldn't want to underestimate her, even now, in her dormant state. Don't underestimate her"
Klaus sighed and decided to take a step back while he was still sane. At least, as far as he was concerned, he was the one alive, not the others.
"You can send me away now, Knox. I think I've had my fill of you. Any more time I spent here, and I'm afraid I'll lose my mind," Klaus said with a sigh.
Knox laughed, shaking his head. "Just so you know, no matter what, never let anything happen to the Star Light. Her soul is now linked to Skybound, so soul attacks can't hurt her. But until she fully awakens her constitution, you have to make sure she stays safe.
Also, a part of my life is in the bow. When you feel like remembering, you know what to do."
"You don't have to tell me what to do. Hanna is my sister; naturally, it's my job to make sure she's okay," Klaus shrugged.
"I hope you remember that. Now, off you go..." Knox waved his hand, and Klaus opened his eyes to the outside world.
"Weird fellow," he muttered.
"Brother..."
"Klaus..."
Everyone moved toward him with worried expressions. Klaus's mother immediately cupped his cheeks, turning his head to check if he was alright.
"I'm fine, Mom, no need to be dramatic," Klaus said with a laugh.
"Thank the heavens," his mother said.
Klaus laughed, knowing full well the heavens would have been rejoicing by now if something bad had happened to him.
"What happened, brother? I can feel the bow is stronger now," Hanna said, looking at it.
"About that..." Klaus smiled. "Come closer," he gestured, and Hanna stepped closer. Klaus placed his thumb on her forehead and transmitted the Sky Piercing Bow Art technique to her.
"Is that..." Hanna began but couldn't finish her sentence.
"Yes, that is a technique made specifically for this bow," Klaus replied. "No need to think too much about it. Just master this technique, and your skills will become unrivaled."
Hanna looked at Klaus for a few more seconds and then reached in and hugged him, tears streaming down her face. "Thank you, brother," she muttered through her sobs.
"No need to cry, Hanna. It's just a technique," Klaus said, rubbing her back.
Although it was a normal thing for him, the others weren't exactly used to such advanced techniques. Even the academy wouldn't be able to provide them with half of what Klaus planned on giving them.
After a while, Hanna broke the hug. "Now that we're done crying, do you all want to team up and see if you can shake my foundation, or should we call it a day?" Klaus asked.
"We want to team up," Lily was the first to answer. Klaus just smiled and waited for them to get ready. After a few minutes, all seven of them stood before him, ready for a combat session that lasted only 20 minutes.
In the end, Klaus defeated them, ensuring they felt the pain deep in their bones. By the time he was done, none of them were able to move their fingers.
Luna and Nuna used their shadow abilities to move the others to their rooms to recover.
"That was brutal, Klaus. Not even your girlfriends were spared," Nuna said to Klaus, who was munching on an apple.
"The monsters and zombies won't make it easy on them, so I'm just drilling the pain into them before they face the real thing," Klaus replied, showing no hint of sympathy for what he had done to his friends.
"Still, you could have gone easier on them, especially, your girlfriends and your sister" Luna commented. However, they all knew Klaus was right—no monster would show them mercy.
The rest of the day was spent talking about random things. That night, Klaus spent time with Miriam, who had missed him dearly, even though it had only been a few weeks since they last saw each other.
They spent the entire night embracing each other, only stopping when the sun rose. They eventually fell asleep, and Klaus woke up three hours later to hold a meeting with the twins.
It was time to make his move against the Dark Order. He had only seven weeks before it would be time to go to the Academy.
He wants to speed-run things before leaving.
Luna and Nuna were more than happy to help him take down their mother and her organization. After all, just a few months ago, she had been their slave master. No slave would ever wish goodwill upon their master.
REMOVE ADS FROM $1
Report chapter CommentsContact - ToS
THE LAST PARAGON IN THE APOCALYPSEC383 Aya Middlestone
In the suburbs of Hilton City, located in the eastern region of the Northern Union, Aya Middlestone is known as a single mother, a loving parent, and a devoted family woman.
She is the ideal image of a perfect woman—the type who wakes up early in the morning and drives to her job as a cashier at a large mall owned by one of the influential figures in Hilton City.
Aya is a mother of two, who sent her daughters to the capital to receive the best warrior training available in the Northern Union.
Because of this, she has become known as a hard-working mom, dedicated to earning more money to support her children's needs.
Everyone admires her. Mothers praise her tenacity and work ethic; children wish she were their own mother. However, her own daughters wish the earth would split open and swallow her whole.
While Aya may seem like the most caring and hard-working mom on the surface, in reality, she is one of the most ruthless assassins in the world.
Her code name is Lady Death. She has carried out some of the most daring assassinations, earning numerous accolades from the organization she works for—the Dark Order.
She had risen through the ranks and become one of the strongest assassins in the Dark Order, particularly when it came to operations in the Northern Union. Aya was in charge of their unit in the Eastern region.
For years, everything had been going smoothly. She had issued countless hits and executed many of them herself. However, everything changed one day when she received a high-priority target: a young rising star named Klaus Hanson.
The assignment was marked as a priority kill, meaning failure was not an option. She delegated the task to her most capable subordinate to ensure swift execution.
Initially, the mission was deemed successful. But after about 70 days, the unimaginable happened—Klaus, who was supposed to be dead, rose from the grave, and that was when her troubles began.
Klaus made sure the Dark Order felt his wrath. His first move was to humiliate them, and he succeeded in doing so to an unprecedented degree. In response, Aya issued another hit order on him, but from then on, all she received were reports of failure.
Weeks passed, and frustration took root. Desperation drove her to send Sages and even Great Sages after Klaus, but no matter what strategy she employed, Klaus was always one step ahead.
The pressure from her organization grew unbearable. They threatened to strip her of her position if she did not put an end to Klaus Hanson.
This ultimatum did not sit well with her, so she resorted to tapping into her private network of elite assassins which consisted of 12 Great Sage assassins, including her two twin daughters.
The same daughters who were believed to be away at a warrior training academy were, in fact, under her seal, serving as her weapons.
She sent her own daughter to pursue the elusive Klaus, but even after months, all she heard were reports of obstacles her daughter encountered when making her moves. Her daughter even messaged her, saying she was seeking help from her sister.
This situation puzzled her greatly. She had expected her daughters to complete the task easily, but it seemed she had underestimated Klaus's supposed hidden protector.
For months now, she had deployed all 12 of her personal assassins, along with some from the Dark Order, yet Klaus was still alive. Every week or so, she would receive reports of the deaths of her assassins.
She had become frustrated, but with her two daughters out there, she kept assuring her superiors that she would get the job done.
Since Klaus was set to leave for the Celestial Mountain Academy, they wanted him eliminated before then, as it would be difficult to infiltrate the academy.
Today, Aya woke up like any other day and prepared to head to work. She took some time to perfect her persona as Aya Middlestone before leaving the house.
As expected, the neighbors greeted her with smiles, and she responded with the same smile.
One had to admire her acting skills.
She went to work as usual, striving to work harder so that the Employee of the Month award wouldn't slip through her grasp. She had been so dedicated to her job that she couldn't afford to let this side of her make a mistake.
However, today, she did slip up. In the middle of her work, she received a text from the last person she would have wanted.
The text came from Klaus and read:
"Sorry you had to hear this from me, but Nuna and Luna said they loved you before I severed their heads from their bodies... Lol.
"By the way, when are you sending the next wave of assassins to bless me with EXP points? I'll be waiting. Oh, and I don't know what you did to your daughters, but they screamed rather loudly when I was torturing them for your contact."
Experience new tales on empire
That's all...
From your very best assassination target, Klaus Hanson."
A murderous look appeared in Aya's eyes, making her, for the first time since she started working at John and Jameson Mall, ask for a sick day. Naturally, it wasn't denied.
She left work and headed straight home. When she arrived, she went to her room and accessed a hidden section that housed her office as the infamous Lady Death.
She began checking through some information on her system, but a few minutes later, she felt her eyelids grow heavy.
She shook her head and returned to her task, but it didn't take long for the same dizziness to come over her again.
"What is happening to me?" she muttered.
"You've been poisoned, dummy." Suddenly, a voice came from the inside of her bedroom. In her haste, she had forgotten to close the door.
She stood up and walked back to her room. There, on the bed, Klaus was lying with a drink in his hand.
"Surprise..." Klaus said with a mocking smile.
Aya's primal instinct kicked in as she retrieved a dagger and lunged at Klaus. However, she only managed to take a step before feeling her strength vanish.
"Oh... Performance issues?" Klaus asked, tilting his head.
"What did you do to me?" Aya shouted, but her voice wasn't as loud as she intended.
"What do you think?" Klaus said, still maintaining his smile as he sipped his tea. "I had to level the playing field somehow, Lady Death," he added.
"You..." Aya tried to move, but her legs gave out. She couldn't move or even shout. She wanted to clench her jaw, which meant only one thing: to kill herself.
But before she could bite down on the poison hidden in her tooth, a kick landed on her jaw, sending the poison capsule and some teeth flying.
"Hi, Mom," Luna said, stepping out of the shadows.
Another kick landed on her ribs, breaking a few. "Long time no see, Mom," Nuna also said, appearing with an angry yet satisfied smile.
Klaus looked at the twins and smiled. Then, with a snap of his fingers, a lightning bolt moved and paralyzed Aya completely. Nuna delivered another kick, knocking her out cold.
REMOVE ADS FROM $1
Report chapter CommentsContact - ToS
THE LAST PARAGON IN THE APOCALYPSEC384 Torture
"So, what are you going to do?" Nuna asked Klaus after knocking her mother out cold. Two days ago, Klaus had sat down with them and asked for every detail about their mother, who was also their slavemaster.
Naturally, they were more than happy to sing like birds, giving Klaus all the information he wanted. With that, he devised a strategy involving the creation of a potent poison meant to strip someone of their cultivation base for a few minutes.
This poison had been taught to him by Yuying during their time—or rather, during his time as Fruity with her—in the Tormented World.
He had asked Madam Fei for help in gathering the ingredients a few months back. As promised, he didn't require the twins to do anything other than escort him to their home, where he would lie in wait for his target to return.
The twins, however, requested a few moments to vent their frustration, which he allowed. He knew that, given the chance, they would want to kill their mother themselves.
Not that she deserved any better. She had exploited them and stripped them of their freedom, so it was only natural they would seek revenge.
But because of the deal they had with Klaus, they stepped aside and let him take the lead.
"Nothing too severe; I will just send her mind and soul down the deepest, darkest abyss filled with pain and terror. Then, once she is broken, I will extract her memories. The rest, well, you will see later," Klaus replied with a cold smile.
This made the twins stiffen slightly. However, they did not panic, knowing Klaus would do them no harm.
"Then make it very painful, and make sure she cries blood," Luna said, tears streaming down her face. Finally, they were free from their mother's dominance.
They had suffered for nearly 34 years under her tyranny, and for the first time in their lives, they felt true freedom.
Nuna held her sister back from doing anything drastic, but her own tears fell as well. Klaus looked at them and sighed.
"You two are in no condition to witness this, so go out and get yourselves some ice cream. By the time you return, this will all be over," Klaus said. The two nodded and faded into the shadows.
Klaus turned to the unconscious woman and smiled. "You shouldn't have done that to your children. S
But since you did, I won't make your death simple or easy... You will wish you had never given birth."
With that, Klaus took her into her secret office and shut the door, cutting off all sound from the outside world.
Inside the room, Klaus sat down and stared at the face of the sleeping woman. A few minutes later, he sighed, and with a wave of his hand, ten Viper Piercing Needles shot out and punctured countless holes through her legs, instantly waking her up with a scream of pain.
She didn't even have time to process the pain before she felt the atmosphere in the room shift. Instantly, her soul was assaulted by a powerful and horrifying pain, forcing a guttural, agonized scream that instantly filled the room.
But it didn't stop there. Her mind was overwhelmed with a cascade of terrors, each one more harrowing than the last. She turned and looked at Klaus, but the gaze she met made her break into a cold sweat.
"Enjoy the ride," Klaus said with an evil smirk, looking down at her with eyes bloodshot red.
He had activated the Eye of Malevolence and linked it to the Eye of Despair, making it contain every conceivable horror imaginable.
But it wasn't just her soul and mind being assaulted—her body was enduring its own torment. Klaus manipulated the needles, slicing and puncturing non-vital areas of her body. He wasn't holding back.
Before using the technique the senior had taught him to extract her memories, he would first ensure she experienced a world of pain.
Klaus's mind and soul had grown immensely powerful. He activated all his soul and mind-torturing skills and was simultaneously using his mind to control the Viper Piercing Needles.
Of course, he had already used the Soul Hook to latch onto her soul, so all the soul energy being exerted came from her, making the process much easier.
Klaus knew that facing her head-on at full strength would have caused disturbances and drawn unwanted attention, so he chose the most logical route—poison.
And it worked spectacularly.
[Brat, her mind has lost all defenses. You can use the technique now,]" the senior said.
Although he had warned Klaus that these actions would add more karma to his stockpile, Klaus didn't care.
He wanted nothing more than to make her suffer, ensuring she felt every ounce of the pain her children had endured all these years.
"It's only been an hour; she can endure a few more. This way, her soul will imprint this agony so that when she reincarnates, she will never repeat this to her children again."
Klaus was taking the situation rather personally, considering this lady to be the opposite of his mother. Klaus's mom was loving and very supportive, unlike Aya Middlestone who was manipulative and cruel.
Even during their hard days in the slum, Klaus's mom was always supportive, making sure Klaus had enough to eat, even at the expense of her own meals. Sometimes, she would go an entire week with only water.
Klaus remembered the day he made the decision to drop out of school and start working so he could support his mom. That day, his mom cried her heart out, probably feeling like a failure who couldn't provide for her own child.
That day broke Klaus in many ways, so watching a woman who was the complete opposite of his mother caused the anger and pain he had buried deep to resurface.
Luna and Nuna had suffered at the hands of their own mother. This made Klaus want her to experience all the pain he could inflict, and right now, Aya Middlestone had even lost her voice.
Her body was twitching on the floor, her mind was broken, and her soul—well, let's just say that even after reincarnation, she would still remember the pain.
Four hours later, Klaus sighed and formed a couple of hand seals. A rune mark appeared and entered Aya's forehead.
Klaus formed another seal, causing the mark that had entered her head to glow faintly. At the same time, Klaus felt a wave of information pour into his mind.
Stay tuned with empire
Every last one of her memories, from when she learned to talk to her high school days, her first kiss, and even her intimate moments, poured into Klaus's mind, overwhelming him immediately.
He took a few minutes to settle his thoughts, making sure the foreign memories didn't interfere with his own. Once he had done that, Klaus looked at the lady who continued to twitch on the ground.
"I have changed my mind. You don't deserve a swift death. You can die this way." Now, with access to her memories, Klaus saw the worst of Aya Middlestone making him change his mind about ending her life that instant.
Twelve hours later, Klaus finally received confirmation of her death and the experience points that came with it.
He sighed.
"Now, I have to kill every last one of the assassins on this list," Klaus said, glancing at a list he had printed a few hours earlier after accessing Aya's memories.
"What a beautiful headache" He muttered, with a smile.
REMOVE ADS FROM $1
Report chapter CommentsContact - ToS