"What? 'Mind tampering?'"
Kapel became dubious. It wasn't the first time he heard about this term. When he first did, it was also Jogrin who informed him of its existence, but Kapel never believed it, even after Jogrin proving to him that supernatural abilities do, in fact, exist.
Even before Jogrin's arrival at Zuta, he's heard about the Darkians. In fact, he was the one who told Proxer about them. Still, at that time, Kapel thought that "mind tampering" was something made up by Jogrin so he could be absolved of any crimes.
As he spent more time with Jogrin, he began to understand Jogrin more and more, and had been ruminating the authenticity of said ability. He hid it well, since not even Jogrin, nor Proxer noticed it.
"Yes, Kron was the one responsible for the bombardment, as well as those victims' frenzied states."
"Elaborate on the latter part."
Jogrin glanced at Fron, whose posture was drooped, but he was still trying his best to listen to anything related to the "twin brother" of his, although he more or less figured out that he never had a brother to begin with.
Fron took a deep breath and nodded at Jogrin. The other Knights were concerned about Fron, as some of the patted him on the back. Fron smiled at them, but even a child would know that the emotion behind that smile wasn't a happy one.
"Sure. Going back to before Kron and his victims returned, I could already perceive the abnormal presence, which was Kron, as well as disturbed emotions from the victims. Then I knew something was amiss."
It was when both Zanphia and Suzannia hugged him, and before Jogrin could tell them about what he felt, those people had already come back.
"Unlike the soldiers who had their fears amplified with 'mind tampering,' it was the opposite for the victims who were a part of the bullying. Their emotions were... hardly detectable. Because of that, they were all in a daze, doing nothing."
"If I were to query them about this..."
"Just like the soldiers, they remember none of what happened after they left."
"Then, pray tell, how would you explain their 'frenzied states?'"
"Wait, let me finish first."
Jogrin'd been interrupted again and again, but he understood that everyone here was dying to know the truth of what happened. Nonetheless, whether they took Jogrin's word as being truthful was a whole different matter. Despite that, it was imperative to let them know.
Jogrin explained according to the flow of everything that transpired.
"I questioned his real intentions, and exposed him."
Kron's presence appeared out of nowhere. That was the first thing that got Jogrin skeptical about. And it was only after being exposed did Kron show his face. When Zanphia, Zenover, Garty, and Suzannia recalled Kron's appearance, they immediately shuddered.
"After that, he used those bullies like they his puppets. Some blocked the only exit, while the others chased after us. As for Kron himself, he was flying and enjoyed the scene."
"... Flying, you say..."
"In the meantime, I attempted to draw him closer, which I succeeded, but I was caught off-guard when he told me he had information about the invasion on the Darkian planet, and struck me with laser beams while my attention went somewhere else."
Jogrin lifted up his right arm and showed it to the others.
"So, I absorbed them with this."
"Jogrin! Are you alright?!"
As soon as Proxer heard Jogrin being hit, he raised a voice of concern toward Jogrin, who nodded his head in return. While Proxer felt less tense, he still couldn't bring himself to be relieved. Besides Jogrin, there were also the four youngsters he was worried about.
"... And this is where he tricked me."
"What do you mean?"
"By catching me off-guard, he ambushed me with an attack in energy form."
"Which you could absorb..."
"Yes, and I also realized that he purposely let me absorb it by aiming at my right arm, when he could've aimed anywhere."
By anywhere, he didn't mean just any of his body parts, but also the four who were behind Jogrin at that time. Jogrin didn't say it directly for he knew it would drive those four, especially Garty crazy, at the possibility that they could've died at that moment.
Despite that, even if Kron actually did aim for one of them, he'd fly between the beam and its target and block it.
Kapel understood what Jogrin alluded to, and furrowed his eyebrows and looked to the ground, and returned his gaze to Jogrin when he spoke again.
"I believe he did that to show just how dangerous he was, and most of all, to rouse me to strike. He could tell my uncertainty to carrying out my plan... and even what I have strategized."
Kapel and the Maladins knew how shrewd Jogrin was, but Kron was able to figure him out like he was an idiot and toyed with him. This left them with bad tastes in their mouths, and speaking of which...
"I kind of knew he had me in his palms, but I was still forced to retaliate, since I couldn't give him another chance to fire off another laser beam. So, I charged up my power, flew at him, and struck him with my right palm with the intention to kill him. It was a direct hit on his chestplate... And I think it was partly because he let me."
Kapel cast his gaze downward again, and took a look at what he saw when he did it the first time.
"And this pile of dust was what remained of the armor."
"Armor?"
"Just the armor. When I broke through the armor and came into contact with Kron, I found out that his body was soft, consisting of no bones. It was as if his body was made entirely out of liquid filled within an elastic capsule."
"Stop. I believe you have skipped an important matter."
"... Something my right arm is capable of which I never told you."
Jogrin looked around again, followed by a light sigh. Kapel sent him a glare when Jogrin looked back him again.
"There's a second step to the energy absorption, which only applies to kinetic energy. When my right arm is struck by kinetic energy, the bones within it shatter, and instantly regenerate while returning ten-fold the force to what the arm strikes, or what strikes it, ultimately shattering it."
"That is an extremely deadly power..."
"Yes. This pile of dust is the result of that power. Honestly, I really despise it. I don't want to talk about it, let alone use it. Because of the fragile nature of the bones of mine, a Skeletal type, it's much easier to trigger."
"In other words, you cannot conscious control it?"
"Unfortunately so... Back to what I was saying, Kron's body has no bones, so the force wasn't transferred effectively, at all, which means this deadly power didn't work on him. As for where he went, I don't know. I can't detect him."
"How did he escape?"
"Through a portal which opened above him and he slipped right through."
"Without the use of a device?"
"Nope. It was the same case back on my planet. He abducted one of us Darkians with the very same portal."
"That is... not possible."
"But it did happen."
Kapel knew that all attempts at travelling to the Darkian planet via portals had been failures since the portals were always misdirected to someplace else, but Kron was able to do it on his own, and even without the use of portal devices. Kapel showed Jogrin an incredulous stare.
"There's a lot to talk about... But as for how he tricked me..."
Jogrin, not giving anyone here a break, continued.