Chapter 41: Five Dynasty King

'What happened?" Zalick, standing in Exland Empire's Headquarters wiped off the sweat on his head and stared in disbelief at the undisturbed Montgomery Coffee Shop.

The rocket had flown into the window and not exploded. Expecting to see an explosion, Zalick stared at the screen intensely, causing it to crack from the Ki Vibrations emitting from his body. He'd spent weeks planning for this operation, and it was supposed to end with a bang!

'This can't be! Their heads should be rolling on the ground!' Zalick tried to break apart his anger by quenching his fist. "How-how did the explosion not go off?"

"It could be Indell," Vernos trembled feeling the frequencies coming from his leader. "He-he did breach the system. Maybe-maybe he hacked into the rocket's mainframe!"

"Are you kidding me!" Zalick reached down for the remote control dangling in front of him, pressing the button and causing the receiver to nearly break. "All hundred of you, go in! I'm not paying you to just step on bloody glass! Hurry in!"

"Sir, your message isn't sending! Technician! Fix it!"

"We're jammed!" A beautiful brunette dashed to the back of the machine, checking to make sure the wires hadn't been disconnected. Seeing all them in place, she felt her life hanging from a string. "I-I don't know what happened!"

"We-we've been betrayed!" Zalick crunched his hand, causing plastic from the receiver in his hands to break and scatter through the room. Once slashed through the beautiful peach skin of the female technician pleading with her eyes to live a day longer. "I-I can't believe this! I'm supposed to always be happy! The doctor said I have to always stay calm!"

Looking over at the monitor to his side, Zalick slammed his feet into the ground, a smile returning to his face. The footage coming from his two Exland Generals remained on his screen.

"Heh, well, clearly, not everything is compromised. Vernos! Haha! Come watch! Howard is coming through the door. I can feel it!"

"Keep smiling, boss." Vernos looked down at the technician, waving her out of the room. "It will go well! Howard will die, and this will all be over."

"I know. However, who is that man? I thought the Aresoul sold us everything. With the Furnance opening up soon, we need all the details. How much are we paying them? How hard is to find out about some old man!"

"Relax," Vernos passed him a sheathed grey sword called the Five Dynasty King Blade, and bowed in front of him with terrified eyes. "Here, take your sword and go into the other room. We got a special present waiting for you?"

"Is it-is it someone with horns or wings? I don't want to kill anything besides someone with horns or wings!"

"Sir, it's better. I'll send word after the Exland Generals break apart their hope." Vernos gulped and lowered his head. "Now, please?"

"Thank you. You're father was a good man Vernos. It's a shame unlike those horned things we can only live a 100 years. He made a lot of children," Zalick laughed, his grey beard floating in the air before he seemed to disappear through the wall, heading towards a room full of pleading screams.

Zalick, watching the door on the roof open, could only pray that things went well. Seeing Howard appear, Zalick rubbed his hands together.

"Please-please don't fail. We're counting on you…"

###

Kellen opened the door to the rough, wiping the sweat from her head as blinding rays of light blasted into her awareness.

Unlike the Furnace, the surface had a much brighter day time, so it was nearly impossible to see for the entire group behind her. Rushing forward, Kellen looked back and smiled at Howard, pulling his hand as she walked through the door.

"Come on! I'll sing you a song later if you hurry up!" Kellen took a single step out the door, her voice beautiful and mellifluous, like every word she created could be considered a song. Smiling at Howard, she tried to look at the bright side, putting her other foot down as she smiled. "You-you and Monica can have some alone time after we get out of he--"

Boom!

A powerful force connected with Kellen's skull, ripping her off the ground and sending her flying out of Howard's hand. Two swords crashed into the very nature of her being, crushing it instantly before she darted into the wall!

Boom!

The wall in front of her shattered, sending her body flying towards the ground below. Seeing this, Howard looked to the side in disbelief, finding two massive objects inches from his face.

"Wha-what" Howard ducked, spinning onto the floor as two gigantic men jumped into the sky. Looking at one man disappearing into the sun, Howard instinctively rolled to the side, a blade barely missing his neck, as he trembled.

"You-you hit her," Howard stood up, his horns beginning to grow in his head as a ring of fire grew up his arm like a burgeoning snake. "My melody. You crushed it."

"Heh, nice dodge. Clap! Clap!" The man fawned clapping and slowly stepped forward. "Heh, we could have crushed two at once, but look. Harley, Howard, and Monica both avoided our ambush."

"Well, let's just kill em then," His partner patted his shoulder. "Come on, Elock. You take Howard. The two girls are mine."

"Oh hoh. You get the girls? You lecherous freak." The large man patted his Asian friend on the back and walked towards Howard. "Heh, little Howard. We let you escape to the Furnace, and you come back where we can kill you. How dumb are you?"

"You-you're going down. With every inch of my body. I'll strike you into dust!" Howard created ten fireballs that spun around his body. At the same time, two trinkets appeared in his left and right hand, turning into two shimmering silver swords.

One of them he'd gotten from Kellen and Reece after he awoke from fighting Necrolith.

When he was a child, his parents always bought him expensive gifts for the holidays. He once even got a ten foot tall carving made by a famous statue with him and his parents together. However, even with the statue in the corner of his room growing up, his father, always stayed so far away.

The first gift he ever cherished was the gift he got from Reece and Kellen. The two girls had sung to him together. Reece's voiced crackled and popped but even now he could hear the song in his head.

'Kellen… Why? Why would they hurt you," Howards horns grew nearly a foot out of his head as he began to float in the air. "If i kill them, will you sing to me again?"

"He's flying?" Elock said, scratching his head. "That's not normal. Hey, leave the girls for seconds!"

"Stay there!" Howard said, the fire balls growing larger around him. "I-I'll take care of them, and then we can all go check on Kellen."

"You really want to fight us alone?" Elock shook his head, "Fine then. You're deathbed will pay for our kids colleges."

"Really? So this is about money." Howard felt the fury inside him explode like a burgeoning beast as he held his hand. Suddenly, the fire ball in front of him grew to 5 times its normal size. "Heh, well then, rest in peace."

"Elock. That-that's not normal." One of the two men gulped, adjusting his camera. "Someone-someone on the team! Shoot for his horns!"

"Bye!" Howard laughed and suddenly flickered, appearing in front of Elock and kicking him square in the jaw. Turning into a line of light, Elock crashed into a building across the street, rolling into a bedroom, and hitting his head against the wall.

Three women, preparing for a dancing class in robes, jumped in fright as blood came out of his skull.

"That-that's not possible," the Asian man, Xavier, swung his sword forward at Howard, hoping to hit him just once with the Ki Suppressing Sword. The Ki Suppressing sword would instantly drain the Ki in Howard's body, making the damage done to him hundreds of times worse.

Of course, even at a distance, Howard could feel the sword, feeling his arms grow heavy as his horns grew a tiny bit larger. Seeing this, Howard dodged a dozen more attacks, watching them pass him like blurry lines of shadow, before he gently turned his body in the air.

It seemed incredibly bizarre yet the same time really simple. With a simple movement, he paused to everyone watching before his foot blasted into the cheekbone of the Asianic man.

A fire spread across Xavier's body before he seemed to bounce of the ledge and spun dozens of times in the ledge.

In the room where Elock rose, he looked in front of him only to find a blur going towards him at an unbelievable speed.

"Are you kidding me?" Elock watched his partner's head bash through the window and strike into him like a fast beam of light.

From the distance, Howard watched a cloud arise in the air, crossing his arms as a giant flame birthed in his fist. Flying higher and higher, Howard's flame grew so large that it seemed a small sun had been created. From the streets, it looked like a powerful entity had taken to the sky, holding the planet in the palm of his hands!

"Howard, stop!" Monica screamed, "You won already! Don't hurt anyone that doesn't deserve it."

"What about Kellen? Did she deserve it?" Howard crushed his fist together, shaking his head. "There is nothing wrong with being special. This is just a little payback!"

"Howard, she's fine!" Reece ran through the door, wiping the sweat off her head. "Don't you dare do it! If-if word gets out a Horned killed civilians, you'll cause chaos! Please!"

"Hmmm, she's fine. That's great," Howard suddenly dropped down from the sky, feeling an intense weariness as his body crashed into the roofs concrete floor.

Monica, holding out her hand, created a bridge of ice, that caused Howard to slide gently onto the surface.

"I know what he just did. I don't believe it," Harley said, her teeth chattering. "He-he looked like he was in the Furnace. Reece? Why did you stop him?"

"Why? Because we need new students!" Harley crossed her arms, "Do you remember the agreement Teacher Annibell told us about! Now come on! Let's go downstairs! Barabin is almost as bad as Howard! Indell will be here in just a second."