After leaving the Howlett estate, Aron and James mounted their horses and headed straight toward the Blackwood estate.
The musketeers rode behind the two of them, nervously watching both sides of the road.
Although James had been sent to sleep and had not heard the conversation between his grandfather and foster father, from the expressions of the musketeers, completely different from when they had arrived, he could tell that the situation had changed.
At sixteen years old, he already considered himself an adult, but his grandfather and foster father still treated him like an ignorant child.
However, who had ever seen a child who could fight tigers and leopards with his bare hands?
Who had seen a child capable of lifting more than half a ton?
Thinking about it, James touched the family crest on his chest.
On the front, made of pure gold, there was a lone wolf howling with its head raised, and beneath it the letter H was clearly engraved.
On the back was a pin used to fasten the crest to clothing.
Clop, clop, clop!
The horses’ hooves struck the road, raising a large cloud of sand and dust.
The group moved quickly in silence, while Aron constantly urged the horse beneath him to go faster with his whip.
The news he had received from old Howlett had awakened his caution.
The Church, which he had always considered merely a worldly force, actually possessed supernatural power.
He was not worried about his own safety.
Thanks to years of practicing the Yi Jin Jing, his physical strength had increased considerably, while the miniature star in his brain released more and more energy.
He could now casually throw an energy sphere and effortlessly blow apart a rock weighing several tons.
If he released his full strength, a mountain a hundred meters high would be flattened in the blink of an eye.
Aron’s deep intuition told him that this was still nowhere near his ultimate limit.
As his body became stronger and capable of withstanding even more powerful energy, his mutant ability would continue to grow.
He could not even imagine how powerful it would eventually become.
After all, he had not yet fully explored even the miniature star inside his brain.
When he had previously practiced the Yi Jin Jing and tried to open the energy points, he had sensed faint energy inside them that was very similar to that miniature star.
If each of those points truly contained a star, and the human body according to that technique contained a total of 129,600 energy points, then the power hidden in his body was not much different from the energy of more than a million stars.
Such strength would be comparable to Sentry’s.
Possessing ever-increasing power and potential whose limits could not yet be seen, Aron personally was not afraid of conflict with the Church.
However, most of his women and children were ordinary people.
Even a small bomb could take their lives.
When facing an enemy who threatened the safety of his loved ones, even if it was only a possible threat, he had to act first and eliminate the opponent.
Aron had never been a man who waited for a crisis to arrive at his doorstep before standing up and resisting.
What he had to do was very simple: physically eliminate the source of the threat—the Governor General Edmund and the demon hunter!
…
Victor’s life during the past several years had not differed much from the life he had led on the Howlett estate.
He took care of the large animals in the stables and carried the food used to feed them.
Aron had once suggested that Marcus Hale teach him and James so that they could learn the Blackwood family’s martial arts and, once they became capable enough, serve the family.
However, Victor refused.
He wanted to follow only the strongest.
As James’s half-brother, Victor also possessed a mutant ability, but his power awakened very slowly.
That spared him many problems.
Unlike James, he did not become weak and sickly during childhood because of sudden changes in his physical constitution.
Even so, everything had its advantages and disadvantages.
The long and slow awakening left a deep influence on Victor.
This was most clearly seen in his character and way of thinking.
He had a violent, beast-like nature and viewed problems through the instincts of a wild animal.
Among all animal species that lived in packs, the leader was chosen through combat, and the other members then submitted to him and followed his orders.
Victor lived according to that way of thinking, which was why he refused to learn from Marcus Hale.
He submitted only to the strongest king and was unwilling to lower his head to anyone else.
That was also the reason Aron had previously been unwilling to accept him into the Blackwood family.
What he needed was a warrior who would unconditionally carry out every order, not a lone wolf incapable of fitting in.
However, the circumstances had now changed.
Victor was perfectly suited to the task Aron intended to entrust to him.
His brutal and cold-blooded character, unburdened by humanity and morality, made him a perfect killing machine.
After returning to the estate, Aron ordered Victor to be summoned.
More than one meter ninety tall, with a body covered in powerful muscles, Victor looked like a brown bear dressed in human skin.
His shoulders were almost half again as wide as those of an ordinary man.
His arms were incredibly thick and unusually long, almost reaching his knees, while his thighs were thicker than logs.
“Victor, you’re here. I have a task for you!”
“And one more thing—I don’t like looking up at others.”
Aron said this calmly and lightly pressed the empty space in front of him with his left hand.
Before Victor could react, he felt as though an entire mountain had crashed down onto his shoulders.
Even his exceptionally powerful body could not offer any resistance.
Thud!
He collapsed onto the floor, completely pressed against the ground, arms and legs spread out.
He could not move even a single finger.
“I know you possess an unusual ability. It is precisely because of it that you are so disobedient and look down on Marcus Hale and the others.”
A blazing white flame appeared in Aron’s right hand as he looked down at the motionless Sabretooth.
“Now tell me, do you choose death or obedience?”
“The temperature of the flame in my hand reaches ten thousand degrees. I don’t know whether your Accelerated Healing Factor, which has not yet fully awakened, can withstand such a temperature and keep you alive.”
The expected anger and fear did not appear on Victor’s face.
He opened his eyes wide, his entire body began trembling with excitement, and then he shouted enthusiastically:
“Victor is willing to serve you! My king’s orders will be the purpose of my life!”
Aron looked at him strangely.
He truly could not understand the way Victor’s mind worked.
He had been humiliated and faced with a mortal threat, yet instead of anger, he felt excitement.
Was Sabretooth a masochist?
Damn, what a terrifying thought!
Aron shook his head to throw the meaningless thoughts out of his mind, then stopped the Gravity Manipulation.
Victor felt the mountain-like pressure disappear from his body, but he did not get up.
He continued lying obediently on the ground.
“Get up and remember well what you just said!”
“Never question my orders. Your only task is to carry them out. Do you understand?”
Victor rose from the floor, trying to make his enormous body appear as small as possible.
He lowered his head and bowed submissively.
“I submit to my king!”
Telepathy silently enveloped him, and Aron nodded with satisfaction.
That disobedient beast had sincerely submitted to him from the bottom of his heart.
He signaled Victor to come closer, then leaned in and quietly whispered several words into his ear.
…
When James arrived in front of the study, he was just about to open the door.
Creak!
The door had already opened, and a tall, powerful figure with his head lowered walked through it.
“Victor? Why are you here?”
Victor raised his head, glanced at him briefly, and walked past him without a word.
James stretched out his hand to stop him, but his foster father’s voice came from the study:
“I sent Victor to carry out a task. If he succeeds, from that moment onward he will become a member of the Blackwood family.”
“James, why did you come to see me?”