"This can't be happening!" Orion cried fearfully. He was regretful that he hadn't refined more golden cores, but he hadn't expected that one wouldn't be enough. He should have been able to resist the golden sword.
The other three men who were chasing after Maya finally started to pay attention to Alex, a native of Earth, and they eyed him warily.
Nate stepped forward. "I am Nate from the galaxy known as the Sea Star System," he said. "May I know your name?"
"The Sea Star System?" Alex asked hesitantly. He had never heard of that galaxy and didn't know where it was.
"It's fifteen light-years away from your galaxy," Maya said, noticing that Alex looked confused. "It took us a month to get here."
Alex suddenly understood, and he knew that with his current strength, it would only take him two weeks to go the same distance.
"You want to know my name?" he asked, not even bothering to look at Nate. "Why should I tell you? You have no right to know."
Then he turned to look tenderly at Maya, still stunned to see her standing there.
She gaped back at him in shock. Nate was a golden core warrior, and in their galaxy, he was considered to be almost a genius. As a result, he had gained the trust of a city lord and had become his confidant. A powerful warrior like Nate could have his own territory anywhere in the galaxy, and everyone in that territory would be his subordinate. He could do whatever he wanted, and everyone would have to serve him. She was shocked at Alex behaving so disrespectfully toward him.
Nate couldn't believe that this inferior human warrior actually had the audacity to say that he didn't have the right to even know his name. What exceptional arrogance. He had originally planned to test the human's strength to see if he was really as powerful as he seemed to want Nate to believe. Now he would have to try another tactic.
Before he could say anything, Tank spoke up, his lip curling with contempt. "Are you afraid to tell us your name? Are you scared we'll destroy you once you've told us?" He snorted. "We're going to hurt you regardless of what you're called."
Alex gave Tank a sideways glance. "Do you think you're better than me? Do you actually believe I'm going to allow you to leave this place?" he asked. "You think too highly of yourselves."
Tank was stunned for a moment, and then he smiled and asked, "Do you think you can keep the four of us here?" He laughed. "We're all veteran golden core warriors in our galaxy. Even some of the warriors from the golden core realm have fallen to us before, and you're just a human."
"Is that so?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow. "I guess they can't have been very good then. They were probably the weakest ones you could find."
Before the men could respond, a loud screeching noise came from the horizon.
They all turned abruptly to see what had caused the sound and spotted an enormous bird flying straight toward them. It looked very powerful, and its body was covered in glowing golden feathers. As it grew closer, Alex realized it was the giant eagle that had flown him out of the dark realm and had then mysteriously disappeared.
Since then, Alex had reached a mutual understanding with the creature. Whenever he wanted to summon it, he would just have to think about it, and it would miraculously appear.
As it got close to the group, it suddenly swooped down, and sharp talons ruthlessly and swiftly hooked into Tank's head.
Tank didn't even have time to react before the eagle ripped out his two golden cores. His body went limp and fell to the ground in a heap. He had been killed effortlessly by just one strike.
Orion's chest tightened as he watched in horror as his friend perished. It was hard to believe that an experienced warrior like Tank could be taken out so quickly.
"Tank!" Denny cried out in horror. The two brothers had trained together for hundreds of years, and they had reached the golden core level together.
Their powers had been such that when they worked together, they were even able to defeat much stronger golden core warriors. Denny was devastated to see his brother's golden core being stolen by a bird.
Despite this, he was able to stay calm. His experience allowed him to keep a clear head, which would be important when dealing with the stranger. He knew that he was no match for him alone, especially now that the man had a giant bird on his side. His only chance would be to team up with Nate. He looked over at him and said, "You have to help me avenge my brother."
Nate's face was solemn as he said, "Don't worry. We will."
Nate only dared to say this because he had concluded that Alex's only trump card, other than the golden sword, was the giant eagle. Surely, he couldn't have any more surprise tactics.
After all, the man was just a native of Earth, and it was unusual enough that he possessed a divine ability and a spiritual pet. He couldn't possibly have any other surprises up his sleeve.
"Revenge?" Alex asked, chuckling. "You should probably be planning your escape."
But before they could do that, Alex struck again. He raised his palm, stretching his hand forward toward Denny. Everyone heard a crisp sound at the same time, but they didn't know what the problem was until they saw that Denny's face had turned pale, and he was bent over, clutching his chest. A purple bridge of light extended from Alex's palm to Denny's chest.
The two golden cores that Denny had possessed followed the purple life bridge out of him and came to a stop in front of Alex, who reached down to pick them up and put them in his bag.
Although Nate and the others had plenty of combat experience and knowledge, they knew that they were no match for Alex. His attacks were fast and ruthless, and dodging them required more skill than they had attained.
Alex turned to Orion and smirked.
"This bastard wants to kill us all!" Orion cried out. "We have to work together. It's the only way."
Orion was slightly stronger than Denny had been, due to having three golden cores. When he unleashed his power on Alex, the protective shield that Alex had set up barely trembled.
"Do you think your golden cores are more powerful than mine?" Alex casually moved to grab them from Orion and pull them inside his shield.