“Who the hell are you?!” a sharp feminine voice demanded. It was one of the four cloaked individuals off to the side.


    “Are you with those cult bastards?!” a deeper and gruffer voice questioned. This cloaked individual was taller than the others and was holding onto a bastard like sword. “Or are you with them?”


    Liam didn’t respond as he and the other four kept staring at Jude and his team. They too were staring at them with puzzlement and curiosity in their eyes. All except Jude, who had a grin on his face.


    “So you were here on this island, Liam,” Jude stated. The tone in his voice told Liam that he had some inkling that he was, but he wasn’t too sure how he thought he was.


    “If you don’t answer us we will strike you where you stand!” A third person declared.


    “Stop!” The tattooed woman standing near Jude demanded. Her one worded command made the other cloaked individuals pause before looking at her. She looked at Jude while glancing at Liam and said with a thick accent that sounded a bit like a middle eastern accent from Earth, “I heard you say a name. Do you know these people?”


    Jude grinned wider as he stated while staring at Liam, “Yes. You can say they are friendlies in a way.”


    “In a way?” the woman repeated as she stared intently at Liam. Her gaze looked him up and down and the more she stared the more she felt something…familiar from him.


    Liam, feeling the gaze of the woman on him, finally looked at her and felt a mixture of two powers emanating off of her. One was the same power that had tried to impede him and his three companions, and the other was something he faintly recognized. He couldn’t remember exactly where he had felt the power from, but the more he stared at her the more the second power grew familiar.


    Liam activated Mana sight and saw a strange sight. Surrounding the woman was a cloak of translucent rainbow of colors. Liam wasn’t able to tell what exactly the colors were or what they represented due to them fading away, but there was a mixture of colors he did recognize that was moving away from her and back towards Jude. The colors were a mixture of dark blue and fiery orange.


    Piecing together what it was he had felt just moments before the other power had diminished and disappeared, Liam concluded that Jude had done something. He wasn’t entirely sure what he had done, but he was sure of two things. This woman was connected to that strange power and Jude helped either control it or made it disappear. Liam wasn’t sure Jude had the power to make another’s disappear, but he didn’t want to rule it out.


    Instead of playing the guessing game and assuming, he asked as he looked at Jude before pointing to the woman, “I take it she was the source of the strange power moments ago that has made all the plant life suddenly grow? And you were the cause of it suddenly disappearing Jude?”


    The cloaked group tensed up as they all shifted to face Liam. Mercer swiftly pulled out his bow and had an arrow ready as Blair gripped her axe. Avery readied her rapier as Roman balled his hands into fists as the three prepared for any fighting. Liam remained unfazed as he kept his eyes on Jude and the woman next to him, awaiting for an answer.


    Jude stood there, almost like he was waiting for something. The members of his party stood there behind him not doing anything as well. To Liam it felt like they were waiting for something to happen. Or maybe for someone to do something.


    The woman was about to step forward and say something, but Jude threw a hand out to stop her. With a confused look, she looked back at Jude who shook his head while staring at Liam. Liam watched this and thought about what was going on. Ideas, theories, possibilities ran through Liam’s mind as he tried to figure out Jude’s angle. However, every time he tried to think about what he was doing his thoughts went back to one thing. The type of man Jude was.


    Liam subtly glanced at the cloaked members and noticed how tense they were. He saw one of the members of the woman’s team look at the woman and Jude. Liam judged the person’s body language and concluded that he was creating some misunderstanding as to why Jude and the woman remained silent. As the person looked back at Liam and slightly lowered their stance, Liam understood what Jude was doing.


    This fucker wants to see how much I’ve grown. Liam thought as he looked past the man and towards his team. He could see it in their eyes as well. Each of them were curious. Well, I guess I could play along and indulge them a bit. Liam looked at the other four and whispered, “Step back a few and don’t engage.”


    Avery, Blair, Mercer, and Roman looked confused as they glanced at Liam. They didn’t lower their weapons and kept them in the ready just in case. Mercer, who was the closest asked back in a whisper, “What do you think you’re doing?”


    “Trust me,” Liam said. He was about to say more, but was stopped as the cloaked male with the bastard sword shouted, “What are you whispering about over there?”


    When Liam didn’t respond, one of the females questioned, “Are you deaf? We asked you a question?”


    Liam slowly turned his head to look at the group. With an irritated tone in his voice he said, “What does it matter to you? I asked them a question and they didn’t answer. Are you going to ask them if they’re deaf?”


    Avery, Blair, Mercer, and Roman looked confused as if they couldn’t figure out what Liam was doing. Mercer scanned each person to see if he could get a better idea and when he locked eyes with Henry, Mia, and Theodore he quickly understood. He let out a sigh as he lowered his bow and looked at Avery who was to his right.


    Avery noticed Mercer’s movements and when she looked at him she saw him mouthed something. After understanding what he was saying she too gave an annoyed sigh before tapping Roman’s shoulder and pulling him backwards. Blair, who watched the exchange with the two, took a couple steps backwards, understanding something was going on.


    “Kala doesn’t have to answer you,” the man with the bastard sword growled before getting hit on the back of the head. He spun around and yelled, “What the fuck was that for?”


    “You are such a freaking moron,” the female behind him hissed. Before he could say anything she scolded, “Why would you freely give him her name like that? Now he knows her name.”


    “So what if he does,” the man scowled. “We just need to kill him before he tries to flee.” The man looked back at Liam. “Look at him. He’s a small guy. I could snap him in half if I want to.”


    Liam scoffed at the man’s words as he shook his head. “If you really think that then I welcome you to try to.”


    The man sneered as he questioned, “What was that?”


    “I’m sorry, you asked me earlier if I was deaf, but I think it turns out you’re the one who is,” Liam mocked. “I’ll repeat it once more for you. If you really think that then I welcome you to try it.” To help emphasize his words, he formed an Earth Hand and a moment later a Gravity Hand. With as much focus as he could, he motioned the two hands in a mocking way that Liam hoped egged on the man.


    To his luck, the man with the bastard sword snarled, “Gladly.” He then raced forward towards Liam. As he ran the cloak moved back enough for Liam to see the man was wearing a slightly damaged chest piece of armor. He quickly activated Spot Frailty and saw there were a few red spots before the cloak covered the armor once more. Liam made notes on wear the spots were as the man approached Liam.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    The mad lifted his bastard sword up in the air before swinging down with all of his might in a vertical angle. Liam pivoted his left foot to the other side of him, allowing him to dodge the attack. As he did this he had his Gravity Hand slap the weapon twice before having his Earth Hand slam into the man’s stomach. The power in the Earth Hand caused the man to slide backwards just a few inches.


    Kala reached out to try and stop her teammate and Liam from fighting, but was stopped by Jude. She turned her head to protest, but was interrupted as Jude said, “Let them go at it. He understood what I want. I want to see how much progress he’s made.”


    Confused by his words, Kala looked back at Liam and her swordsman before looking back at Jude and asking, “I thought you said they were friendlies?”


    “I said in a way,” Jude corrected.


    Kala gave an incredulous look as she said, “And what does that even mean?”


    “It means watch the show and enjoy what you’re about to see,” Jude stated. “He’s already shown us something within the first few seconds. I know he’ll show us something even more interesting soon.”


    Kala shook her head before looking back at Liam and her teammate. She didn’t know why it came to this, but she was also curious as to what Jude had meant. She didn’t see anything out of the norm as she watched. Her teammate was attacking like he normally would. He had powerful strikes and each time he swung his sword more power would pass through thanks to his racial benefits as a Goliath. The indents in the ground was proof of that with every miss he made.


    Her eyes narrowed at that. His attacks were powerful yes, but the size of the indents he made with each miss and strike colliding with the ground seemed more impactful than normal. She then noticed that his muscles looked to be more tense with each swing than usual. It was almost like he had to put more power just to swing the weapon. Not only that, but his attacks were getting slower with each swing.


    That was weird. This was not adding the fact that the young man was easily dodging and landing his own attacks on her teammate with ease. However, his attacks weren’t landing anywhere fatal, just on the armor. Why was he attacking the armor?


    Kala’s eyes stared at the Gravity Hand and the Earth Hand. Now that she was actually looking at them, she really handed seen anyone use these type of spells before. They looked like hands made out of mana, but the mana was based on different types. That indeed was interesting, but still not something worth being excited about.


    “Quit running away like a coward and fight me,” the man scowled, anger filling him as he started to pant.


    “I’m not running away. I am fighting you,” Liam said in a mocking tone.


    “Like hell you are. You are barely hurting me and just attacking my chest armor while you dodge my attacks and slap my sword. What do you hope to accomplish with that?” the man panted. When Liam dodged once more and had his Gravity Hand slap his sword as his Earth Hand slammed into his chest piece, he let out an annoyed breath before shouting to the other cloaked individuals, “Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me?”


    “Ugh,” one of the females said. “You were the one who said he could snap him. You also get angry when we help you.”


    “That’s because you always snipe my kills with your so called helping,” the man said as he enunciated the last word in a mocking way. “I actually need your help this time. He’s a slippery bastard and for some reason my swings are getting heavier and heavier. I don’t know if it’s because of something he did, but I don’t have any Debuffs so I can’t tell what’s going on here.”


    “Fine,” the female stated as she pulled out two clean looking daggers and raced over towards Liam.


    The other two looked like they wanted to join them but stopped and looked at Kala before reacting. Kala shook her head no as she turned to them. This made them both confused, but they remained where they stood and watched as the female swiftly made her way over.


    Kala eyed the young man’s four teammates and noticed they remained where they stood. While they looked like they wanted to join the fight, none of them budged. Even when the second member of her team raced over. Kala thought this was strange and wanted to ask Jude more about this but remained silent and just watched the fight continue.


    Liam felt the presence of the dagger wielding female and readied himself. She quickly ran around until she was facing his back before sprinting right for him. The bastard sword wielding man saw her and decided to help set the stage by trying to have Liam focus all his attention on him. He raised his weapon up in the air again, he felt his muscles strain a bit as he did so but pushed through as he swung down with all his might.


    Liam side stepped away as the blade came down, dodging the attack. As he did this the dagger wielding female appeared right behind him and went to thrust both daggers right into his back. A grin grew on her face as she thought this was checkmate, but as soon as the tips of the blade pierced through Liam, they slide right through his body and was shocked as it turned into black smoke.


    The dagger wielding female hopped a couple of times as her weight followed through with her attack. After she regained her balance she looked to her left and then her right to see where he was. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck suddenly straightened as she heard the sound of crackling noises. Her eyes widened as she went to turn around to attack, but as she spun and sliced her daggers across the air she realized he wasn’t as close as she had believed him to be and connected with nothing but air.


    Sparks of lightning suddenly erupted across her skin as something punched her right in the gut. She slowly looked down to see a handmade of lighting had slammed into her stomach. One of the only areas not protected by her armor. One second later Liam’s Earth Hand traded places with his Lightning Hand and not only knocked the wind out of her, but also sent her flying right into the sword wielder.


    The man quickly dropped his sword to catch the girl, which proved to be a mistake, as soon as the girl landed in his arms, Liam appeared right in front of them with a hammer, which was slowly growing into its rightful size, being swung horizontally towards the man’s left cheek.


    The man didn’t have enough time to react as the strange weapon collided into him and sent him and the girl flying to the side. After rolling a few times, the man came to a halt and dropped the girl on the ground. Feeling the pain from the attack pounding against his cheek, the man let out an angered roar before running straight at Liam.


    Liam stepped his right foot back, bringing his hand holding his hammer along with it and waited for the bull rushing male to draw in closer. As soon as the man got within distance, he tried to reach out and grab Liam’s head and shoulder, but missed as Liam dropped his stance lower, took a step in and swung his hammer right at one of the dark red spots on the man’s chest piece armor.


    A loud crack, snap, and pop echoed in the air as the armor piece splintered, the cracks grew quickly and connected to the other cracks. As soon as the last crack connect, the armor piece broke into pieces, revealing a bare wide chest. Liam sent both his Lightning Hand and Earth Hand right into the man’s stomach.


    The blow was enough to knock the wind out of him and sent him to his knees. He lifted his head up and was about to try and attack Liam once more, but as he did, a clever meat was flying in his face. This shocked the man because he didn’t know where it came from. Then he was even more confused when he noticed the weapon wasn’t being held by Liam or any person. Instead the tool weapon was being held by the Lightning Hand. A dark shadow caught his attention right above him, causing him to look up. His eyes widened as he saw the Earth Hand held the hammer that had attacked him right above his head while the Gravity Hand gripped a hatchet like tool.


    “I think that should be enough,” Liam stated as he stared at the man. He then looked at Jude and said, “Next time you want to know, do it yourself. Don’t have someone else’s team members do it for you, you lazy bastard.”


    Jude let out a loud laugh as he clapped his hands. “Well done. It looks like you haven’t been idle since the last time we met.”


    “You think?” Liam sarcastically said. A sudden thought suddenly came back to his mind which caused him to frown. He then said with much complaint in his voice, “Speaking of the last time we met. Fuck you and the others for running off and leaving me to deal with that fucking Nalia bitch.”


    Jude let out another laugh. In the middle of his laughter he tried saying, “It’s your own damn fault for being the last one to leave.”


    “I was fucking knocked out and stuck in that bed. How the hell was I supposed to get out when you guys did when you didn’t even wait for me or let me know you were heading out,” Liam complained.


    Mercer made his way over to the Goliath man who remained on his knees staring at Liam and Jude with confusion. As he approached him, he pulled out a health and stamina potion and handed them to the man. Blair was already over by the dagger wielding girl doing the same.


    Kala, the two members of her team that didn’t rush in and fight, and even the two who did looked back and forth between Jude and Liam. Kala decided it was probably best if she was the one who asked the question they all were thinking, “What is the relationship between you two?”


    Jude looked at Kala with a grin and stated, “He’s my rival. A crafter who stands on the battlefield and also someone like you and I. A champion to a deity that isn’t supposed to still be around.”