As the battle between his clones and the remaining troops near Uncle Benjamin raged on around him, Erik descended towards the man’s lifeless body.

The chaos of the fight seemed to fade into the background when he set his eyes on the older man’s lifeless face from a distance, replaced by a hollow silence.

In truth, it wasn’t silent at all; it was just that Erik was overtaken by feelings and thoughts. After years of being hunted by the blackguards and organizations associated with them, he finally got rid of the root cause of all those problems-the same person who started it all by saying to the blackguards he likely had the biological supercomputer.

However, this proxy, Levium… Benjamin Kaminski, wasn’t by any means less responsible than the entire organization. On the contrary, he was responsible for his father’s capture; he was the one responsible for his imprisonment at the hands of Sinisa Volkov, which ultimately led to his death.

“There is still a lot to do.”

Notifications of mana absorption and level-ups flashed across his vision.

[LEVEL UP.]

[LEVEL UP.]

But Erik barely registered the notifications.

His feet touched the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Uncle Benjamin lay there, a gaping hole in his chest where Emily’s shot had found its mark.

The man who had once loomed so large in Erik’s life now looked small and fragile.

Erik kneeled beside the body. There would be no last-minute interrogation, no chance to extract information about the blackguards’ plans or the secrets of Maynard Island from him. That opportunity had died with the man known as Levium.

But it didn’t matter. The attack on Sleb Harbor told Erik everything he needed to know. The blackguards had come for him, which meant they knew he was here. And if they knew that, then they would have started preparing for an assault on Maynard Island months ago.

This meant that time was of the essence.

Erik reached for Uncle Benjamin’s head. He hesitated for a moment, his hand hovering over the man’s rapidly cooling skin.

A flood of memories washed over him. Uncle Benjamin had been many things to Erik: a support, a friend, and family.

Erik shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside. With grim resolve, he extracted the brain crystal from Uncle Benjamin’s skull. The small object pulsed as Erik stored it away.

Next, he turned his attention to collecting blood samples, but he felt uneasy. It was one thing to get the two materials from thaids and nameless corpses, even from those he knew but that he hated. But this… this was different.

The man lying before him had raised Erik for a long time. For better or worse, he had been a constant in Erik’s life for years. And now, here he was, treating the man’s remains like just another resource to be exploited.

Erik’s hands trembled slightly as he finished collecting the samples. He stood up, looking down at Uncle Benjamin’s body one last time.

The man’s face was relaxed in death, free from the tension that had defined him in life, but a complicated tangle of emotions came with Uncle Benjamin’s death.

Erik suppressed his feelings, locking them away in a corner of his mind, and tried to make determination surge. There were many blackguards around, and he had to free Sleb Harbour before leaving for Maynard Island.

As he prepared to take flight again, Erik’s communication device crackled to life.

“Erik? Are you alright? We’re heading your way,” Emily was on the other side.

The man hesitated before responding. “Stay where you are,” he said. “This isn’t over yet. There are still enemies here, and many more within the rest of the city.”

Amber chipped in. “Yes, but-”

Erik cut the connection before Amber could say anything else.

Right now, he needed to focus on the next steps.

Erik took to the air once more, surveying the battlefield below. His clones were making short work of the remaining blackguards, their superior abilities turning the tide of the fight. With each enemy that fell, Erik felt a surge of power as he absorbed their mana.

[LEVEL UP]

[LEVEL UP]

[LEVEL UP]

The notifications kept coming. Erik’s power was growing even more than it already had, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Not for what lay ahead.

Erik needed something more powerful if he wanted to fight the blackguards. Elemental powers were strong, but Levium just showed him they paled compared to weird brain crystal powers out there.

If any vindicator was as strong as Uncle Benjamin, Erik would have huge trouble on Maynard Island.

But then… it came the time.

Erik said.

>

The system cut Erik off.

blackguards…>

The system, though, didn’t immediately reply. It was making its calculation, trying to predict the outcome of Erik’s absorbing this modified brain crystal.

the biological supercomputer said. This time, its tone was uncharacteristically hesitant.

This was new, even for it.

the system said.

Erik frowned.

The system paused.

Erik thought hard about what to do. Getting more power could really help him face the tough challenges coming up. But there was also a chance it could hurt him. It was a tricky decision to

make.