As the cloud monster swelled and swelled with its own power, they realized that Kingsley wanted to drag them down with her!
The build-up came extremely quickly and before they knew it, it was already ready to blow within a few seconds.
At this point, they couldn't even run as the resulting blast would probably encompass too wide an area to escape from.
So, they did the only sensible thing to do in that situation:
They all cowered behind Ann's back, and strangely enough, they all seemed to fit too. She could smirk in slight disdain with pride growing within her once again as she controlled the lion to stand in front of them.
Her face was now solemn, for she didn't know of what magnitude it would be nor did she have time to contemplate it. She could only control the lion to spit out its internal structure that was made of soul juice.
Once spat out, it reformed itself into a tower shield big enough to cover everyone and then some, and afterwards, the external youth serum reformed around the shield. The serum covered the shield in a layer of its orange fluid, as well as stuck a lion's head to the front.
The tower shield, once fully formed, slammed itself into the ground, firmly embedding itself as everyone prepared.
Thereafter, not even a second later, the cloud humanoid finally erupted in an electric explosion. The discharge from the rampant lightning heated up the cloud's ice crystals so much that they melted, evaporated, and their elements separated. The separated hydrogen and oxygen gas was so hot, the only logical conclusion was that it became a plasma that then expanded outwards.
It was like a star had descended as it soon threw itself to where the group was.
The explosion crashed into the shield, but was surprising was that the lion on the front sucked in a portion of the blast around them, which was strange in and of itself. However, soon enough, once they absorbed too much, it directly splattered into a bunch of liquid that caked the ground.
Since that wasn't enough to get rid of all the chaotic energy in front of them, they were left to deal with the rest. Once it caught up, the shield bore the blast, though not without being pushed back a few dozen meters. It also had holes corroded into it by the end.
When it was all said and done, their cowering and lowered heads were raised as they looked around anxiously.
However, they didn't see anything.
Everything within two miles was completely decimated, all of it turning to blackened ash. The only spot left with solid ground on the surface was the very one everyone stood on, and even that was scorched. The next second, though, even that began to crumble before it collapsed on itself and everyone fell.
With multiple thuds, their butts all landed on the ashy ground that was now deep under the surface.
How deep?
Well, seeing the distance they were from the epicenter, the height of the original blast, as well as the scale of the blast, how does a bit over a hundred feet (thirty meters) sound?
Ah, I don't know much about explosions, I'm just saying random numbers at this point to be honest, so don't mind them too much.
But putting that aside, they were extremely frightened with what just happened. Only now, especially Ann and Ran, were they realizing the scales of power they were dipping their toes into.
And as kids that were still wet behind the ears, whatever that phrase means, they were beginning to crave power. They were largely saved by one person today, but who knew about next time.
Ran, too, felt this way.
He already had enough on his plate. Finding his father, and probably his mother as well, was just one of them.
He also, according to Brother Pride before he left, had some three families to worry about. Pridicus didn't explain for shit in any detail, so beside their surnames, he knew nothing about them. Well, that and some connection they had to the Kesh Empire; all of this was obscured to him right now.
Then… then there was whoever caused all of this. This current situation I mean. Someone was tracking him, and seemingly controlling his surroundings. This and indirectly or even directly, his actions as well.
Now, this mastermind could be someone from those three families, but he couldn't recall something he did to cause such a reaction from one person.
But, this train of thought was beginning to falsify itself as there was something the families couldn't have played a part in. And that was his fetal organ, his sword thing. More specifically, his name.
How could they, whoever they were, play a part in that? There only seemed to be one answer. His parents would be the only ones it seems that would hold some knowledge on the matter. Hell, they could technically be behind all of this in an effort to keep track of and steer him in a certain direction.
All of this was to say:
He had to hurry up and get stronger.
He promised Brother Pride to be at least rank-5 when they meet in what is now about five months.
Luckily, before this fight, he was already really close to breaking through to rank-6. While he didn't do too much here, the mental pressure it provided served some purpose after all. It would probably only be a day or two before he ranked up.
All of these were his thoughts, and not only that, they were his goals.
And as if to attest to that, a loud thud suddenly sent the ground around them shaking. A cloud of dust rose up from the epicenter of the explosion; everyone only thought of one thing that could do this:
It was Kingsley—his corpse rather.
And so, with caution thrown into the wind, they all congregated there and saw for themselves the mess of a human he was.
He was completely charred black; he was missing part of an arm as well as an entire leg; most importantly, his hair had all but turned to ash. Oh, and his fetal organ, his scepter, had also been snapped in half as he clutched the shaft with his remaining arm.
His eyes were shut tight, but as everyone thought that he had died, something incredible happened. The runes that were on his body, which were covered by a layer of carbonized flesh, seemed to flash once again with a shock of black sparks.
And, like that of a miracle, Kingsley began coughing out black lumps as he grasped for his breath. His body felt both pain and numbness all over and he opened his eyes to see the horror that he had become. However, just like that, his renewed vision once again became blurry; he was too weak to sustain himself once more.
He began to close his eyes again, no longer concerned about anything, but before he could finally rest, a crisp slap rang out.
A balc tear came out of his eye as he stared at his aggressor.
"Shit! You really thought you could check out of this hotel without paying?"
Kingsley didn't take kindly to people belittling him, especially if he was the loser in the situation. Indeed, Ann had slapped him back to reality, and luckily, his body didn't immediately crumble from the hit.
"W‐what do you want," he asked with a whole bunch of coughing in between.
To that, Ann simply hooked her arm around Rans shoulder, who was next to her, and the both of them leaned in.
"We… want to know who sent you here, and why?"
Hearing such a simple and obvious question, Kingsleys eyes flew wide open. He stared at them like they were idiots as he spoke.
"You mean to tell me, cough, that you don't even know who you're up against?"
At first, he merely cringed, but the more he thought about it, the more incredulous it sounded. At a certain point, he couldn't contain it anymore and laughed his ass off… literally. He coughed heavily as he laughed, but the message was clear.
"Oh… oh man, please don't play with me like that on my deathbed. Phew, calm down, breathe Kingsley, breathe."
He calmed himself down, but upon seeing the dark faces of these two individuals, he laughed again.
"Alright, alright, I get it, you were being serious. But, you can't really expect me to say who it is, right? Not just that; it's quite obvious as well. That's why it's so funny."
"So, you won't tell us then?"
"What? No, when did I say that? I just meant that you don't know me enough to expect that."
"Then…"
"Alright, fine. I'm about to die anyway, so I don't really care."
"Her name is… Frank."
"Frank?"
Ran and Ann both looked at each other in confusion. Wasn't this name too… inauspicious? Too ordinary?
"Well, do you know where she is… or how she can achieve all of the things she has?"
To that, once Kingsley's eyes went wide open.
"Fuck, you really are clueless huh? She's right h—"
However, before he could finish, his eyes once again turned black as it rolled back. His mouth then frothed with his body spamming a little before… silence. He no longer moved or spoke—he was dead.
They poked him a few times, but there was no response.
They could only sigh as another random puzzle piece was added to the picture. In the end, they probably got the most seemingly irrelevant piece of information possible from someone who was directly linked to the conspirator.
Indeed, who the fuck was Frank? And why did she have such a grudge against Ran?
Ran repeatedly went through his memories and not a single person named Frank showed up.
However, none of that mattered anymore. In front of them, Queenie had come to the forefront and looked at her brother's corpse. She sighed too, but it wasn't a simple one. It was one of regret, frustration, anger, and even relief. She merely closed his eyelids and took his body into her amulet to be buried back home.
After that, the entire group left quite quickly; this ruined place was very likely to attract unwanted attention soon.