"ROAR!"
William was still saying his goodbyes to Laura when he forgot about King Kong, who had been cooling off downstream at the waterfall.
Seeing a massive spaceship, far larger than itself, descending with blue flames trailing behind, the great ape panicked.
It grabbed a giant boulder from the river and hurled it at the ship.
Hearing the roar, William instantly sensed King Kong's movement.
Without even looking, he tightened his hold on the anxious Laura.
"It's fine," he reassured her.
Sure enough, the boulder slammed into the spaceship with a loud boom! but was effortlessly repelled by the ship's energy shield—just as William had expected.
Raising his hand, he sent a bolt of lightning crackling toward King Kong.
Electricity surged through the ape's massive body, and within seconds, the once-energetic King Kong collapsed to the ground, twitching.
"William…!"
Laura huffed in frustration.
"You can't just keep electrocuting him like that!"
"This big guy is too aggressive," William replied with a shrug.
"If the ship hadn't been designed to withstand meteor impacts, that boulder would've destroyed it.
I need to teach him some discipline—otherwise, bringing him to Earth will be a disaster."
"You're planning to take King Kong back to Earth?!"
Laura looked up at him in shock, before quickly growing concerned.
"No… No, that would be a terrible idea! It would only bring trouble, and in the end, it would just get him killed."
That was a fair point.
William thought for a moment before asking, "In all the time you've been here, have you ever seen another one like him?"
"No," Laura shook her head.
"I've only seen the bones of his parents."
"Alright," William nodded.
"After you leave, I'll search the area for any other King Kongs.
If there are more, I'll leave him here.
But if he's the last of his kind, then it doesn't really matter if he dies here or on Earth—at least if he's with us, he'll have company."
Laura stared at him suspiciously.
She wasn't some naïve girl—she knew William well enough to not believe he was being entirely selfless.
"You have to promise that you won't let anything happen to him."
"Alright, alright," William waved her off. "We'll discuss this later."
At that moment, Sunday's voice came through both their earpieces.
"SIR, a flock of Thunderbirds—approximately a dozen strong—is approaching your location."
William kissed Laura briefly before nudging her toward the spaceship.
"You heard Sunday.
Either get on the ship now, or stay and spend one more night with me."
"You bastard," Laura huffed.
She shot him a glare before turning and marching onto the ship.
Watching her leave, William hovered in midair and glanced at King Kong.
The great ape had instinctively reached out toward Laura but hesitated, too afraid to make a sound.
That only confirmed William's suspicions—King Kong was far more intelligent than an ordinary gorilla.
He was at least as smart as a seven- or eight-year-old child.
"SCREEEEEEE!"
A series of piercing cries echoed from the sky.
Using his psychic senses, William locked onto the flock of Thunderbirds a kilometer away.
With a single thought, his casual wear morphed into his full-body Sentinel Armor, the golden plating gleaming under the fading sunlight.
His massive, dark-red cape billowed in the wind.
King Kong, who had been silent up until now, instinctively stood up and prepared to roar back at the Thunderbirds.
But then it saw them—over a dozen of them.
Without hesitation, the ape dropped onto all fours and bolted toward the forest.
Before disappearing into the trees, it turned back and gave William a few urgent grunts.
It was trying to warn him to run, too.
William's opinion of King Kong immediately improved.
Removing his helmet, he waved the great ape away.
King Kong hesitated, looking at him uncertainly.
But when it saw the dark clouds gathering overhead and lightning crackling in the sky, it turned and ran without looking back.
However, instead of fleeing far away, it hid on a mountainside, peeking out to watch William face the Thunderbird flock.
—
"BOOOOM! BOOOOM!"
Thunder rumbled across the sky.
The largest Thunderbird emerged from the storm clouds and screeched at William.
It was challenging him—almost as if demanding his surrender.
But these birds had the worst luck imaginable.
They had run into someone who wanted nothing more than to absorb lightning.
As the storm intensified, William floated higher into the air, welcoming the approaching bolts of lightning.
He wanted to show the Thunderbirds that their power was useless against him.
Once they exhausted their energy, taming them would be much easier.
"SCREEEEE!"
The lead Thunderbird, seemingly enraged by William's defiance, screeched loudly.
The rest of the flock began circling rapidly through the storm clouds, generating even more lightning.
Finally, as the rain began to pour, a massive lightning bolt crashed down onto William.
"CRACK!"
Electricity surged across his golden armor, illuminating the night sky with dazzling blue arcs.
But to King Kong's horror, the powerful lightning did absolutely nothing.
In mere seconds, it was completely absorbed by William's suit.
Even William was a bit disappointed.
The bolt had only 30% of the power of the ones on Storm Island.
Still, for organic creatures to generate that level of lightning was impressive.
It was more than enough to instantly kill a regular British wizard.
But when the Thunderbirds saw their attack fail, their bodies began crackling with electricity.
Moments later, over a dozen bolts of lightning rained down on William in quick succession.
"BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!"
For several seconds, he was completely enveloped in a web of blue lightning.
But then, just like before, the storm faded.
And William remained unharmed.
He smirked.
"Come on, keep going," he taunted.
He wasn't sure if they understood, but the largest Thunderbird seemed to be the smartest one of the group.
"If you understand me, nod your head."
He repeated the command several times.
But none of them reacted.
They just continued hurling wave after wave of lightning at him.
"Tsk."
Just as he was about to change tactics, a mysterious voice echoed in his mind.
"Leave our territory, outsider."
"Huh?"
William, who had been getting bored, immediately snapped to attention.
He scanned the ground below, searching for the source of the voice.
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