Beyond the Bloodline

The two went back and forth with a very questionable conversation while Jamie absorbed the energy from the knowledge law crystal.

“You should have awakened your Space Pseudo Authority first, that one is more combat-centric. Knowledge is good but it does not really suit your preferred fighting style. You use more skills and techniques than Magic, after all.”

Miranda who had now returned to Jamie’s side, spoke as she used her magic power to create a spatial bubble around the entire area they were in, preventing the energy fluctuations Jamie was giving off from leaking out.

The ambient grey knowledge law energy began to stir, and Jamie’s body slowly levitated above the ground, wrapped around with the surrounding law energy.

It clung to him like a second skin, tendrils of knowledge energy spiralling around his body before gradually transforming into his signature azure-blue hue.

Jamie's aura expanded with each passing moment, his presence growing more profound as the energy coursed through him, equally distributing itself amongst his major existential aspects.

More nodes on his soul opened up and the quantity of law energy he could control increased greatly.

Within his energy core, there was a brilliant flash of light and one of his dormant energy nodes activated, making the core surge with newfound vigour.

His energy core began pumping out another form of energy into his energy circuits that stretched across his body and soul like a river unleashed from its dam.

“Magic, Aura, and now, Ether.”

His voice rang out as his body slowly descended to the ground, the knowledge law crystal falling to the ground and rolling to his feet.

Upon picking it up, Jamie looked the crystal over and saw that cracks had begun to spread across its surface.

“Law Crystals are meant for Law comprehension, not to have their energy drained out like you are doing.

This is only even working because you’re the one who created the crystal in the first place.”

Miranda chipped in before activating a partial appraisal on Jamie and checking his basic data.

|Name- Jamie Westley

Race- Ancient Breed AlphaHybrid

Gender- Male

Age- [Error...Interference Detected]

Level- 770

Existence Level - Legendary (Intermediate) [Computing...] |

“…just what did you do to the system to make it end up like that?”

“Don’t look at me like I committed some crime, I only stopped it from viewing some things.”

“Like your age?”

“Nahh, I didn’t do that on purpose.”

Jamie waved his hand and dismissed the diaphanous board that was floating in between him and Miranda, before continuing.

“I was trying to block something else and it ended up getting blocked too.”

He shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, showing he didn’t really care much about whether it was visible or not.

“Also, regarding what you were saying earlier. With my Pseudo Authority of knowledge, I can prevent some higher existences appraising me and finding out I’ve lost power.

Though it would not work if I meet someone on the level of a Race King in person.”

After saying that, the man proceeded to do some stretches before kicking off the ground and dashing forward, breaking through the spatial bubble Miranda created and speeding down the mountain they were on.

Left behind, Miranda only shook her head slightly before warping herself to the bottom of the 5000-metre-tall mountain, something Jamie could also do but simply chose not to in favour of testing out his new speed.

After leaving a trail of sonic booms that clearly attracted the attention Miranda created the spatial bubble to divert, Jamie reached the bottom of the mountain in somewhere between 8 and 9 seconds.

“Roughly 550+ metres in a second, good for you.”

Miranda who was already at the bottom of the mountain by the time he arrived, spoke with a flat tone before pointing in the direction of the city nearby and continuing.

“Can we go now?”

“Yup.”

Jamie grabbed her hand and entwined it with his before moving towards the city gates along with her.

Using their map, they found the hotel they had been booked in earlier and checked in, had a late lunch and then exited once more to head towards the meeting point with the informant.

Their destination apparently lay in the forest estate at the mountain foot, filled with semi-detached duplexes on each side of the road, with a few larger mansion roofs peeking above the trees in the distance.

“He said he’s in House 13A, but how are we supposed to find that? The buildings are not numbered serially.”

Miranda’s question had Jamie looking around the area they were in, catching sight of an old woman holding a walking stick standing in front of compound 10A.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed she was breathing heavily, and there was a big box on the floor on the floor in front of her, right before the open boot of a small sedan car.

“We can try asking questions.”

Jamie turned to Miranda as he said that, but the purple-silver-haired woman was busy speaking to someone on the phone, presumably the informant and was not looking in his direction.

‘Oh well.’

Shrugging his shoulders, Jamie walked up to the old woman with a friendly smile on his face and asked her if she needed help with the box.

“Yes, please.

I dragged it all the way here, but I cannot lift it up and into the car as it’s too heavy.”

He helped her lift the box into the car and closed the boot for her, after which she thanked him repeatedly.

‘A normal human, huh? I guess that’d be too heavy for her. What’s in it anyway?’

Jamie was curious, but he quickly remembered that he and Miranda were looking for a particular house and tossed his curiosity aside in favour of asking this woman since she appeared to live in the area.

“13A? I know that one. An old friend of mine used to live there.”

She locked the gate of her house and then put the keys in her pocket before pointing in another direction and answering his question.

“13A’s down that lane. You go right after that tree with red leaves.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“I should be the one saying that to you, young man.”

Jamie only gave her a polite smile and turned around, walking towards Miranda who was tapping the screen of her phone with an impatient expression on her face.

“Where the hell are you?!”

She suddenly held up the device to her ear and screamed into it, and with Jamie’s superhuman hearing, he heard the sound that came from the small earpiece speaker at the top.

[Lady Miranda, something’s wrong! I just found out that one of Ikerth’s Lieutenants went towards that location for some reason! It’s been compromised!!]

In that same moment, the old woman whom Jamie had just asked for directions, wordlessly closed the car door she had just opened and pointed her walking stick in Jamie’s direction.

In an instant, the seemingly ordinary walking stick underwent a miraculous transformation, shifting and elongating into a gleaming railgun, its metal surface humming with ominous energy.

Without hesitation, the railgun unleashed a searing beam of crimson energy that tore through the air, aimed directly at Jamie’s chest.

The beam struck with brutal force, punching a gaping 20-centimetre-wide hole through the left side of his chest. Blood erupted from the wound, painting the floor in a vivid gruesome display of red.

Meanwhile, the railgun bullet continued its deadly trajectory towards Miranda, however, the other Hybrid’s eyes narrowed as she reacted quickly, coating her palm in energy and swiping her hand to deflect the speeding projectile.

**CRACK!

**WHOOOSHH!!

The short instant it collided with her hand, part of the law energy surrounding it detonated, causing her hand to recoil and singeing her the back of her palm, leaving behind painful burns.

‘?!’

Miranda’s shock at the fact that she was actually injured was drowned out by the explosion that erupted right after.

***KAABOOOMM!!!!!

The tranquil sea of trees was turned into a raging sea of flames in the blink of an eye. The railgun’s bullet collided with the ground and exploded, causing an inferno to roar to life and devour everything in its path as an ominous mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

A roaring sound rang out as the flames consumed everything beyond the point of collision.

Despite the devastating injury that had just been inflicted on Jamie, he was eerily composed.

Though initially half-fallen, he gradually rose to his feet, heaving a sigh and wiping the blood from his lips with a steady hand.

“Wow, I decide to be nice and this happens.”

Jamie’s confidence stemmed from the certainty that his regenerative abilities would swiftly mend the grievous wound in his chest, after all, they had mended an even worse injury dealt to him by Glox just a bit over a week ago.

“…”

However, as seconds ticked by, Jamie’s calm demeanour began waning. The gaping hole in his chest, remained, despite what both he and Miranda had expected.

Five seconds.

It was a short period of time.

The Railgun that had shot him hadn’t even finished cooling down yet.

But for Jamie, it was more than enough for a grim realisation to set in.

His regeneration wasn’t working.