Shortly after Charlotte Linlin left.
Heavy footsteps came from outside the hall, revealing urgency.
Harald pushed the door open and entered, fatigue from the journey still on his face. His gaze swept over the empty hall and focused on Loki, who was still injured.
He opened his mouth with three questions in a row.
"Where is Rocks?"
"Did you fight Rocks?"
"Did you ally with him?"
Loki's tone was flat as he answered one by one: "Left. Sparred a bit, neither lost nor won. Allied."
"..." Harald's face was complicated, his brows furrowed tightly. His lips moved, and after a long while, he squeezed out a few words, his tone carrying dissuasion and heaviness: "He is a villain with blood on his hands and no bottom line in his actions. Loki, even if you want to take a different path, you shouldn't associate with him. This will only plunge Elbaf into more..."
"Correction, he is a useful villain." Loki interrupted: "The alliance is only to oppose the World Government. As for after the World Government is destroyed, I'll just get rid of him."
Before Harald could answer, Loki changed the subject and asked: "What about you? How was the tracking of the dark industrial chain of slave trafficking?"
"Just as you foresaw, there were indeed World Government personnel involved. They claimed that people from countries like ours that haven't joined the World Government have no human rights and should exist as slaves. Even the Marines were involved."
Recalling everything he had experienced, Harald couldn't help clenching his fists, his tone full of suppressed anger and powerlessness: "I stopped several transactions, and now Elbaf's reputation in the outside world is even worse."
"Hehe." Loki couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.
This was exactly the result he wanted to see.
Only by letting Harald completely see the futility of gentle means can his unrealistic fantasies be shattered.
Harald's face turned dark: "Loki."
"Don't be so serious, old man." Loki lifted a barrel of Aqua Vitae and handed it over: "At least you should have completely realized by now that the World Government is an ugly thing that upholds slavery. You can't change it through words."
"...." Harald took the wooden barrel, silently unscrewed the lid, and took a big gulp.
The alcohol failed to dispel the confusion in his heart; instead, it made his soul, unsure of how to act, even more hesitant.
"My father, why don't you think about yourself properly?" Loki walked slowly forward, circling Harald slowly, his tone playful, "When you were young, weren't you also a bastard who acted recklessly relying on brute force and regarded rules as nothing?"
Harald emphasized: "That was then. I had just become an adult at that time and wasn't very mature. Later, when I met your mother, I changed and put away that hurtful arrogance."
"That's right, that's right." Loki nodded repeatedly:
"This is love. It taught you empathy and made you put down your pride and arrogance. But the World Government is home to the Celestial Dragons of thirteen clans, and behind the scenes, there is a big rat who has lived for who knows how many years. You can't expect every one of them to learn from you and meet their true love to [love] once, right? Please, there isn't that much love in this world. You should know how lucky you are."
Harald opened his mouth but couldn't say a word. He could only silently grip the wooden barrel in his hand tighter, the confusion in his eyes deepening.
"Moreover, do these people who act recklessly with other people's lives just need to change, and their past sins will be written off?"
The mockery on Loki's face became cold: "Reform has never been achieved by preaching and influence. It is about burning those vested interests of the old era, along with their rotten rules, into ashes!"
"Are you going out to sea?" Although it was a question, Harald used an affirmative sentence.
"That's right, I'm going out to sea." Loki nodded affirmatively, shouldered Iron Thunder, and strode out of the hall: "You just watch here, watch how I achieve what you haven't been able to do in decades!"
"Loki, a huge organization is bound to have scum, but the Marines are an excellent army helping humans every day. Most of them are innocent. Don't be too cruel." Harald dissuaded.
"Sigh... you are always so naive. Those who step onto the battlefield must have the awareness of losing their lives. Mercy is the privilege of the victor." Loki stopped, removing the honorifics from his tone, his patience for his biological father completely gone.
Fifteen years.
Harald's thoughts.
Are like Conan Edogawa's stagnant age.
Like the mentality of three generations of guinea pigs growing up.
Not much progress!!!
In the next instant, Loki turned around, exerted force with both arms, and Iron Thunder smashed down towards Harald with a whistling sound breaking through the air!
The hesitation and indecision in Harald's heart were instantly replaced by a sense of crisis. Without time to think, he raised his hand to draw his sword, blocking horizontally with his combat instinct honed over many years.
Thump!!
The loud noise of metal collision made the candlelight in the hall sway wildly.
Harald's perception of Loki was still stuck at what he looked like before going out to sea.
The moment the blade touched Iron Thunder, an irresistible immense force spread along the blade to his arm, numbing it.
Caught off guard, the long sword in Harald's hand was forcibly knocked away. His tall body was like a boulder swept by a gale, retreating several steps back with thumping sounds. His soles ploughed deep gullies on the floor made of Adam wood, and he barely stabilized his figure until he retreated out of the hall door.
He looked up at Loki, who had the heavy hammer on his shoulder and a increasingly upright figure, his state of mind complicated to the extreme.
He didn't know since when, but he actually needed to look up slightly to see Loki's posture.
Not only the difference in height, but also the comprehensive transcendence in strength.
"Loki, you've become stronger again. Your strength has surpassed mine."
Harald said in a low voice, hiding gratification in his eyes, but more of it was indescribable loneliness.
He looked down at the slightly trembling long sword in his hand, then at the giant hammer on Loki's shoulder, and asked: "This weapon is Iron Thunder, right?"
"Shut up! Old thing, so naggy." Loki looked down at Harald. Iron Thunder sensed Loki's emotions and also began to change the wind and clouds.
Harald's face turned dark, veins bulging on his face.
No matter what Ida says, he is going to beat Loki up properly this time.
Crack!!!
A purple thunderbolt as thick as a bucket crashed down from the clouds, accurately hitting Iron Thunder.
Violent thunder light instantly enveloped the giant hammer, spreading along the hammer body to Loki's whole body, turning into a thunder armor flashing with electric arcs.
Loki raised Iron Thunder high, accumulating power:
"You clearly possess unparalleled strength in the world, yet you don't beat this world up to make it your ideal kingdom. It is truly extremely foolish.
And now, beaten into this desolate, shameful, and ugly appearance by the dark side of the world, you still intend to stop the path I am going to practice.
Old thing, I've wanted to beat you up for a long time!!!"
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