The bandit boss, Kira, watched Caelan waltz in so effortlessly and immediately roared, “Where is everyone?!
Are you all dead?!” His younger brother, Kiel, quickly activated his Magic to check the situation outside.
Earlier, he had focused all his attention entirely on Caelan and completely neglected to monitor the rest of the stronghold.
Looking through the eyes of the surrounding animals, Kiel realized that the hundreds of men stationed around their camp were all lying completely motionless in the dirt.
“Impossible,” Kiel stammered.
“How…
how did he do that…?” Caelan casually dug a pinky into his ear.
“Hey big guy, keep it down.
I already took care of everyone outside.
You can scream your lungs out, but nobody’s coming to save you.” ‘Wait, why does saying that make me sound like the villain?’ he thought.
Hearing this, Kira didn’t look panicked at all.
Instead, he just looked deeply annoyed.
“Hmph!
Useless trash.
They couldn’t even stop one guy.” He cracked his massive knuckles.
“Fine.
That Man is currently short on corpses anyway.
Once I’m done crushing a little rat like you, I’ll just send your bodies over together.” Just as Kira prepared to attack, Kiel grabbed his arm.
“Brother, be careful.
Anyone who can silently wipe out that many men in such a short time is not simple.” Kira flashed a vicious grin.
“Relax, little brother.
It’s just a brat.
Go ahead and contact Him.” Kiel kept a grave eye on Caelan, covertly slipping a small object into his brother’s pocket before stepping back.
Caelan watched the two brothers acting all close and affectionate and couldn’t help but shiver.
‘Good lord, don’t tell me these two are crossing some boundaries here.’ “Little bug,” Kira sneered, noticing the guild mark on Caelan’s hand.
“So you’re from Fairy Tail?
Just a second-rate guild, yet you actually have the nerve to come after me.” Caelan gave a helpless shrug.
“What can I say?
The payout is great.
Two million Jewel is pretty hard to turn down.” “Hmph.
You’re completely out of your depth, kid.
Some money costs your life to earn!” Kira slammed his foot down.
“Rock Spike!” An earthy yellow Magic Circle flared to life right beneath Caelan’s feet.
Instantly, a jagged stone spear erupted from the ground.
Caelan leaped backward with effortless grace, easily dodging the lethal attack.
Golden light gathered at his fingertips, and a searing laser beam shot forward, blowing right through the stone pillar and hurtling straight toward Kira.
“Rock Flow!” Another Magic Circle appeared beneath Kira.
The solid stone floor suddenly liquefied into a rushing current, rapidly carrying the massive bandit out of the line of fire.
Boom!
Caelan’s laser completely obliterated the stone wall where Kira had just been standing.
Riding the liquefied rock, Kira swiftly flanked Caelan.
But just as he raised his heavy fists to strike, a blinding golden light completely filled his vision.
“Speed is weight.
Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?” Bam!
KABOOM!!
Kira was sent rocketing backward like a cannonball.
He smashed completely through the stronghold’s rear wall and crashed into the mountainside, carving out a massive crater nearly twenty meters across.
He lay completely limp at the bottom of the pit, his life force extinguished in an instant.
“Wow, he really was weak,” Caelan muttered, dusting his hands.
“Didn’t he have a little brother running around somewhere?” Just as Caelan turned to look for Kiel, a wisp of pitch-black smoke began seeping out of the pocket on Kira’s corpse.
The dark energy slithered straight up and shot directly into the dead man’s nostrils.
Suddenly, Kira’s lifeless body began to twitch and violently convulse.
Billowing clouds of black smoke erupted from the crater.
A moment later, a deafening, monstrous roar shook the mountain.
“ROOOOAR!!” Caelan just stood there, his lazy expression entirely unchanged as he watched the whole scene unfold.
“So scary~ He literally turned into a monster.” Bang!
Crash!
A massive, shadowy figure vaulted out of the crater, slamming heavily into the courtyard.
Pant…
pant…
The man who used to be Kira had completely mutated.
He was now a towering, grotesque beast entirely encased in jagged rock armor, his eyes glowing with a feral, blood-red light.
Kiel, who had slipped away earlier, sprinted back out into the open.
He stopped right beside the monstrous Kira, his face twisted in absolute, fanatical joy.
“It worked!!
It actually worked!!” Kiel screamed in ecstasy.
“Ah!
What a beautiful, perfect form, my dear brother!” Caelan stared at the crazed man, utterly speechless.
“Hey…
you absolute psycho.
That’s your flesh and blood!
Your actual brother!
He just mutated into a hideous rock monster, and you’re getting excited about it?” “Shut up!!” Kiel shrieked, throwing his arms wide.
“This is biological evolution!
True resurrection from the dead!
A peasant like you could never underst—” Squash.
Before Kiel could even finish his psychotic speech, the mutated Kira raised a massive stone hand and swatted him flat into a bloody pulp.
The monster casually scooped up the remains, tossed them into its maw, and began loudly chewing.
“ROOOOOAR!!” “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Caelan sighed.
“‘Evolution.’ ‘Resurrection.’ Looks to me like you just got returned to the earth, buddy.” Having tasted fresh meat, the beast seemed to realize just how hungry it was.
Its monstrous snout sniffed the air frantically before its glowing red eyes locked dead onto Caelan.
Pure, unadulterated hunger consumed the monster.
Thick, viscous drool dripped from its rocky jaws as it let out a deafening roar.
With a massive leap, it hurled itself through the air, crashing down toward Caelan like a falling meteor.
Caelan dissolved into golden light, vanishing from the impact zone in a flash.
He rematerialized a full hundred meters behind the beast.
Just as the monster turned around, a volley of blinding golden lasers tore through the air.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Four beams of solid light detonated directly against the creature’s rocky hide.
The sheer force of the explosions tore through its armor, causing the beast to thrash and screech in agony.
“RROOOOOOAR!!” Sensing that the monster was somehow still alive, Caelan raised his hand again.
This time, an immense cross-shaped cluster of radiant light gathered at his fingertips.
Fwip—!
KABOOM!!!
Caelan slowly walked over to the blast crater.
The monster was completely gone, leaving nothing behind but scattered pebbles and chunks of charred green flesh.
“Man, what a pitiful guy,” Caelan muttered.
“Betrayed by your own brother, turned into some horrific mutant freak.
At least you got to kill the guy who did it to you.
Fate sure is funny like that.” With the immediate threat neutralized, Caelan practically skipped through the bandit stronghold, completely looting the place dry.
His grin was so wide it was physically impossible to wipe off his face.
“System, unlock the next stage.” [Ding!
1,000,000 J deducted.
Borsalino Template unlocked by 20%.] Brilliant golden light instantly erupted from Caelan’s body, swirling around him for a few moments before pulling back under his skin.
He clenched his fists, feeling the immense surge of power.
“Oh man.
So this is what forty percent of Kizaru’s power feels like.
That is one hell of an upgrade.” “System, open panel.” [Ding!
System Panel opened successfully.] [Host: Caelan] [Age: 13] [Template: Borsalino (40%)] [Abilities: Armament Haki (Intermediate), Observation Haki (Intermediate), Glint-Glint Fruit (Advanced), Marine Rokushiki (Intermediate), Master Swordsman.] [Wealth: 1,300,000 J] [Cost to unlock next Borsalino Template stage: 20,000,000 J] [Inventory: Evolution Fruit x1 (Automatically consumed when Template reaches 100%)] “Twenty million?!” Caelan choked.
“You absolute garbage System, shouldn’t it be ten million?!
Everyone else’s system scales by a factor of ten, why the hell is yours twenty?!
System!
Hey, System!” He groaned, rubbing his temples.
“Right.
I keep forgetting this bootleg piece of trash doesn’t even have a dialogue function.” “I need to hit S-Class as soon as possible,” he sighed heavily, turning to walk back down the mountain.
“If I keep taking these tiny subjugation quests, it’s going to take me a lifetime to upgrade.
Oh well.
Once I turn in this bounty, I’m going straight to buy my first property.
Landlord Caelan, here I come.”