"Do you know the transgression you committed?" The leader looked at the Immortal whose head he was holding.
"I know!" The Immortal quickly replied to his leader.
"Good, and do you know its punishment?!" The now-aged leader spoke coldly.
"It is death!" replied the Immortal.
"Look at that man's location! I want you to go and bind him with your power while I prepare the final attack and finish him. This will be a holy sacrifice for the Supreme Ruler!" The aged leader pointed towards James Beyond's location!
"Understood! I will sacrifice myself for the Supreme Ruler!" The Immortal replied in a strange manner, placing his hand over his heart.
"May you receive His blessings!" The leader spoke and added, "Amen."
"Amen!" The Immortal replied, as if brainwashed, caring about nothing but sacrificing his life for the Supreme Ruler!
...
"Where did that Immortal go?!" James was astonished because he saw his attack hadn't hit the Immortal; it was as if he had disappeared before it reached him.
James activated his energy sensing and searched for him but found no energy emanating from the surroundings.
'This is very strange, where did he go? Did he move to another dimension?'
James Beyond wondered to himself before sensing an energy approaching him. He turned and saw it was that Immortal, but his behavior was very strange. He was attacking, but not with the intent to kill, rather to grab hold of James Beyond.
James Beyond felt something was wrong. He tried to escape the man's grasp but gave up because he was still gathering energy after using half of it in that last attack!
"What are you aiming for?!" James Beyond spoke while the man held him tightly from behind.
The Immortal was extremely tall, seeming like a giant hugging a tree branch as he held James.
'Something's wrong, no, there's something suspicious about his actions; he wasn't acting like this moments ago!' James thought to himself, feeling something strange.
"I will sacrifice myself for the Sacred and Supreme Ruler!" The man spoke irrationally, holding James.
"Huh! Sacrifice yourself? What in hell are you talking about?" James spoke, shocked, and tried to free himself from the Immortal's grip. He punched the man in the stomach, but it showed no sign of loosening. So, he pushed his head forward then slammed it backward, hitting the man forcefully several times, but it was useless.
"Let me go, you lunatic!" James was shouting at the man, but it was like talking to a wall!
The Immortal remained statue-like, unmoving, but he was muttering phrases like: "Holy sacrifice." "Supreme Ruler." and other incomprehensible phrases.
"What's wrong with him?!" James was muttering to himself when he felt another energy emerging in front of him.
At that moment, a person tore a rift in space and stepped out.
"You!" James Beyond shouted, recognizing the person, but he had become very aged. His face was heavily wrinkled, his eyebrows thick, but the coldness hadn't disappeared; it was now mixed with a wisdom he displayed.
"What happened to your face?" James spoke more rationally this time.
"It is the price one pays to possess power!" replied the aged Leader, pulling out that black scythe with its deadly purple aura.
Several changes had occurred to the scythe; things like dragon scales had appeared, gripping the Leader's hand. It was taking energy from him and storing it in the crescent-moon-shaped blade at the top!
Seeing that scythe, James sensed its danger even from about 20 meters away. The energy emanating from it was incredibly powerful, all concentrated into a single point—the tip of the crescent blade!
"Price? Power? Cost? Hehehehehe, perhaps you're joking now! Power is something you earn through long, arduous training and breaking through levels!" James spoke, mocking the aged Leader's comment.
"That is only what the weak say when they are in utter despair before real power! Like the man holding you now!" The old man paused and continued, "He threw away the kindness the Organization had shown him all this time and gave you misleading information!" Having said that, he fell silent, waiting for James's response.
"What real power are you talking about! All I see is a fool who paid his entire lifespan to gain some temporary power." He sighed and added, "I'm sorry! I don't know what you're talking about, this person didn't disclose anything to me!" James's words were like an arrow hitting mud.
"It doesn't matter! If the Supreme Ruler says he is wrong, then he is wrong, hence he was sentenced to death!" His reply held no sympathy.
"So that's what happened. He was muttering the name of the Supreme and Sacred Ruler and other clumsy things!" James held no sympathy for the Immortal holding him from the beginning, so he didn't attempt to intervene in the beliefs of this mysterious Organization.
"This person isn't normal anymore, right?!" James asked the aged Leader.
"Yes, he has been cleansed of all the impurities and sins of the world and will ascend to meet the Supreme Ruler after this sacrifice!" The aged Leader replied coldly to James's question.
...
On top of one of the shops on the street, a black-furred cat was looking up at the sky towards the three figures floating in the air, with an annoyed expression.
"Damn these human power-bearers!" He was very annoyed because his nap had been disturbed.
"I'm going to beat the hell out of you, you cursed fools!" The cat cursed before leaning its body back and then propelling itself upward at high speed.
...
"So, this will be the end of our fight!" The old man spoke while raising the scythe high, intending to strike with it and release all that energy to kill both James Beyond and the Immortal holding him.
"Yes, as you said, this is the end of our fight!" James's expression was cold, contrary to how one would expect him to act in this situation.
"Die!" The man roared as energy gradually manifested from the scythe, releasing a suffocating pressure.
At that moment, a gigantic mouth appeared beneath the aged Leader and swallowed him whole. Simultaneously, the scythe fell from his hand.
"You're late!" James spoke, looking at the giant cat in front of him which wore an angry expression.
"Oh, James, what are you doing here?" When the cat saw James, the angry expression was replaced by a surprised one.
"I was fighting someone, as you can see!" James's reply held no coldness, rather an amused expression. Before continuing: "And, uh, could you help me a little?!" James Beyond was unable to free himself from this person because before he was grabbed, the man had said: "Bind." He had linked his body to James's, showing you the depth of his devotion to this mysterious Ruler.
"Sorry about that!" The cat said this while grabbing the scythe with its giant claws and approaching James Beyond and the Immortal. Upon reaching them, it bent its claws and thrust them towards the Immortal's head, after saying "Hold on tight!".
The moment those claws struck the Immortal's head, a powerful gust of wind burst forth, forming a massive whirlwind above the street for a moment before disappearing, followed by the sound of a tremendous explosion on the ground.
James, who had held onto the cat's fur tightly before the strike, shouted angrily, "You damn cat, why didn't you use a safer method?!"
"This was the easiest method I found to get rid of that bastard! Or do you want to stay in his embrace for the rest of your life!?" The giant cat looked at James with a strange gaze.
"What are you saying, you perverted cat?!" James shouted at the cat and sighed before saying, "Return to your original size now!"
"You're really boring." The cat spoke with disappointment and shrank in size until it returned to its normal form, holding the scythe's handle in its mouth but feeling as if something was draining its energy.
"Give it to me now." James spoke, gesturing for the cat named Sticky to give him the scythe.
"Take it. I don't need a weapon to look strong!" .'If he hadn't taken it, I would have thrown it away. I felt like my energy was constantly being drained by this scythe.'
"Here you are!" James Beyond's voice carried joy because he had obtained this powerful and unique scythe!
But he soon felt his energy being drained, so he opened a void and threw the scythe inside.
...
End of Chapter ~ To Be Continued