Ken opened his eyes in the shade of the Narra tree in his yard. He felt sore at the back of his neck, he tried to remember what had happened before he passed out. He remembered that the old man was laughing loudly and that he approached him before he passed out.
He sighed when he realize that he still lost when he already give his all in that fight.
The world tree said. "Don't be dejected, the old man isn't stronger than you. You only lost because of his technique."
Ken nods his head in agreement with the world tree. He had only fought once in his entire life and that was when the fairy looking creature attacked him, although he claimed that he was an Eskrima expert, that was just nonsense, he only said that to boost his courage, in fact he only knew the basics of the martial art.
He sat up and looked around his surroundings after gaining his bearing. His eyes focused on a figure sitting a few meters away, their eyes locked on each other, the former having a confused look while the latter were staring daggers at him. He remember the face of the figure staring at him, because he had seen that from the portrait of the old couple, in fact it was probably the most unforgettable face he would ever see, the lady sitting in the middle of Albert and Catherine.
"Umm, are you April?" he asked with confusion laced in his tone. He had assumed that she had passed away considering the statement of the old man, but here she was standing in front of him with hostility radiating in her eyes, hence his confusion.
"Don't you dare utter my name! you ungrateful scoundrel! my pops saved your life yet you dared to attack him!" April shouted at him with righteous indignation.
Ken hung his head low, ashamed that he attacked the old man without clarifying the situation first. Boisterous laughter suddenly sounded out and a figure could be seen walking in there direction.
Albert said with a large grin on his lips. "Don't be too hard on him April, if I was in his situation I would have done the same."
April just rolled her eyes at the old man.
Ken stared at the old man seriously, he was still not certain of the old man's intention, and didn't dare to let his guard down.
The world tree's voice sounded in his head. "If that old man has intentions of harming you, then run away, he won't be able to catch up to you."
The old man said. "Relax kid, I don't have any intention of harming you, I was just checking out whether you were alright."
"Then what's up with that killing intent?" rembembering the horrifying killing intent caused Ken to shiver in fear.
"I did that to scare you, most people would be overcome with intense fear upon sensing that killing intent, but who knew it would trigger you instead."
He stared at old man in the eyes, trying to determine if their is any falsehood in his words. He couldn't be sure whether the old man is saying the truth and just agreed with the old man until he could confirm his story.
When April saw the doubt in his eyes, she shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you! my pops was kind enough not to let you die miserably on that woods and you still doubted him, is it so hard to give a little gratitude for saving your life!" April was fuming, she couldn't stand the sight of her father being viewed as someone suspicious, especially when he had gone out of trouble just to help the ungrateful brat.
"Miss April, I'm sorry if it's offensive for you but if you were the one standing in my shoe, I'm sure you would have reacted the same as me." Ken said seriously, he couldn't be blamed for being supicious of the two, especially without confirming whether they were really the good guys and not the bad guys. He had seen a lot of movie where the seemingly good guys turned out to be sadistic people who realish in others suffering.
Albert chucled at the two's quarel. "Anyways, it sems you have obtained the extreme opposite of my power." He said with a faint smile in his lips.
"What do you mean by extreme opposite?"
Albert looked at him with a faint smile on his face. "Do you remember what is the result of your fight against that monster?"
Ken clenched his fist. "Of course, how could I forget."
"After you lost consiousness, April fed you with a rare fruit called Mutya. Once you eat the fruit you would obtain a certain power that is very suitable for you, and from the explosive power you displayed earlier I assumed you are my exact opposite. You possessed the 'Ultimate Offense' as oppose to my 'Ultimate Defence'."
Ken stayed silent and looked down on his hands. Although he seemed calm on the surface but inside his head his thoughts were racing, the old man might have thought that the ability he obtained were the so called 'Ultimate Offense' but he knew that he didn't possess such ability, instead the ability he obtained were very different.
He raised his head and asked. "Does people only obtained one power after eating this Mutya?"
Albert squinted his eyes hearing his question. "Why? did you obtain two ability?"
Being the focus of the old man cause him to broke out in cold sweat, he still couldn't forget the pressure the old man gave him. He hurriedly shook his head and made some excuse. "No, nothing of the sort happend, I'm just curious what would happen when something like an 'Ultimate Offense' and 'Ultimate Defence' appeared on a single person."
The old man continued to stare at him before laughing out loud."That's a good question but do you even know what those two meant?"
Ken looked at the old man with an absurd look on his face. "Aren't they called 'Ultimate Offense' and 'Ultimate Defence', so I just took them at face value."
The old man turned silent, April turned silent. The three people on the room stayed silent and started a staring contest among themselves.
Coughing to dispell the awkwardness. "Well, the name says it all but just to give a simple explanation-"
"I don't think I really need an explanation for this." Ken interupted the old man with a cheeky smile on his face.
With a frustated look on his face, the old man said. "Fine, if you don't need any then I won't say anything else." After saying that the old man stood up and leave. When he was about 10 meters away he stop and said. "By the way you should take your car from the car repair shop, it's been sitting there for a week already."
Ken watched as the old man walk away, when he finally couldn't see the old man, he heaved a sigh of relief. He couldn't looked at the old man in the same as they first met when he discovered how powerful the old man is, he constantly felt pressure in his presence so when he finally left, Ken felt as if a heavy load had been lifted off his shoulder. He was about to stand up when he suddenly remembered something. He hurriedly looked at his right and gasped.
"Why are you still here?!"