CHAPTER 466: VENGEFUL PRINCE

Henry said his goodbyes to Vicky and leapt down from Old Dawn’s upper deck.

His fiancée didn’t question or hold him back. She knew something was bothering him, and he needed to achieve whatever goal he set for himself before returning to normal.

However, both of them knew she would watch the fight below through her spatial perception. This way she could help and rescue him if necessary... But she doubted her presence would be needed...

The Prince grew much stronger since that past timeline. So, fighting against a few normal Transcended shouldn’t be an issue... Vicky believed this at least...

However, Henry held back all information about Slayer. For killing Vicky in the past timeline, he wanted revenge, and didn’t want anyone else getting to his prey.

He would rather carry that burden alone. Until the need for vengeance, which marred his soul, felt sated. Until then, the past’s experience will continue haunting him.

Henry fell through the air fast, but not fast enough. With quick thinking, he summoned a bunch of time spheres in a line. His fall speed didn’t accelerate, but since everything else slowed down, he seemed to move faster towards the ground.

It took him less than a second to fall through hundreds of meters. He landed close to the fighting between Xinya and her past comrades, but nobody felt his presence yet.

His midnight-black armor with white glowing lines appeared around Henry’s body. The armor changed a bit, with more protrusions and a generally more aggressive design.

The helmet also felt different, but he didn’t have time to check himself out in detail. His warscythe looked pretty much the same, and he hoped its abilities hadn’t changed either.

With more time spheres, he arrived at Xinya’s side, just when the bullets nearly pierced her body. The sphere slowed the bullets and everyone outside to a crawl, which saved Xinya’s life.

"You did a good job, Xinya. Your son will be proud... However, let me take care of Slayer. You just rest and be safe!"

Xinya couldn’t even react to the Prince’s words before he turned away, towards the approaching bullets, and turned off the time sphere.

They shot forward immediately, but before they could reach Xinya, Henry’s warscythe cut them to pieces. Just touching the bullets with his blade rapidly aged them, turning each into subatomic particles.

Chang’s eyes widened at the new assailant’s presence. He tried shooting more bullets at the Prince. However, when he pulled the triggers, nothing came out of his revolvers.

He glanced down in confusion. Both revolvers had one tiny cut near their barrels, which seemed to fester and make the weapons brittle.

After a few more pulls, both revolvers crumbled into metal fragments, then dust, which the heavy winds blew away.

The Cowboy’s blood-red eyes gradually moved up from his trembling hands to the Prince standing before him.

"Uh... I think this is a misunderstanding... I didn’t try to shoot you... I-I was just practicing how the triggers worked..."

Henry felt unsure about the cowering man’s fate. He wanted to kill him, but he looked too pathetic for such harsh treatment.

While he stared at Chang with indecision, Xinya’s dao slashed through the air. A portal opened below Chang, sending him back to Asia.

Xinya didn’t care about her goofy underling’s fate, but she also didn’t want him to die.

The Prince glanced at her for a moment, then shrugged and walked towards his real prey... Slayer!

The scary-looking man fell partially down the hilltop, so it took him a few seconds to climb back up. His blood-red robe made of flayed skin flapped around his scarred body.

The curved bone sword seemed to glint as lightning struck high above, illuminating everything for a moment.

He straightened up and glanced around, searching for Xinya. However, only the Prince stood there; everybody else either died or escaped.

"Well, this is certainly unexpected. Who are you?"

Slayer didn’t recognize the Prince, since his screaming skull helmet hid his face. But it’s not like he needed to recognize him to understand why he stood there, with weapons drawn, clad in heavy armor.

Henry’s hands trembled with rage, yet he swallowed down every ounce of pride and thirst for vengeance, and waited for his opponent’s next move.

His prey also noticed the tremble. A grin spread across his face as he took a few steps closer to Henry.

"I see. Did I kill someone you loved? I fought a couple of righteous people like you. People who’re blinded by revenge and think they’ll be the one to fell me!... They always taste so nice, with adrenaline still fresh in their veins!"

The Prince gulped down the vomit, which approached his throat. Just imagining Slayer eating other humans... Imagining him eating Vicky... It sent Henry’s blood boiling with even more hatred!

He raised the glowing white warscythe and pointed its blade towards Slayer. Henry’s voice turned deeper, nothing like the fifteen-year-old boy standing before Earth’s most dangerous serial killer.

"It doesn’t matter what you did to me or my loved ones. I believed I came here for revenge, and while that’s still true, I realized something else... The Universe will be a much better place without your filth contaminating it!"

Slayer chuckled at the threat, his scratchy voice echoing through the wind. It even cut through the constant echo of loud thunder.

The lightning illuminated Slayer’s face once, showing the disfigured, horrific being hiding below the disgusting hood. A pair of glowing blood-red eyes stared at Henry threateningly.

Strangely, Slayer didn’t look at the Prince with his usual hungry expression. Instead, he narrowed his eyes while looking at the tall boy with wariness.

He knew something was wrong with Henry. The Prince showed no signs of concern or fear, which either made him stupid and overconfident, or he had a hidden advantage.

For most fights, Slayer always pretended to be insane to catch his prey off guard, but he doubted this tactic would work against Henry.

The tall boy also seemed quite determined and proud, which means scaring him away wasn’t an option either, and talking him out of the fight wouldn’t have worked... Not like that idea even came across Slayer’s mind...

Slayer loved fighting. The stronger his opponent, the better, so while he would’ve preferred knowing his opponent’s ability beforehand, going in blind made him even more curious and excited.

With a wide, creepy grin spreading across his face, Slayer pointed his bone sword at the Prince.

"You might be right; I won’t deny that. However, since I don’t care about anyone in this Universe, I’ll happily contaminate everything! I live for my desires! I’m unshackled from other people’s expectations, wants and needs!... Ever wondered how it feels to live carefree?"

Behind his helmet, Henry smiled and shook his head. He judged the madman by his words and, after a few moments of analyzing, he realized Slayer wasn’t insane, at least not as much as Henry assumed.

This revelation made his revenge both harder and easier to achieve.

It would’ve been harder to fight against an insane opponent, since they could do anything illogical or suicidal. However, fighting against a rational person isn’t easy either, since they could plan ahead and set traps throughout a long fight.

With this newly gained knowledge, he needed a bit more time to reassess the situation, which meant he needed to keep Slayer talking.

"No, I never wanted a carefree life. I always wanted to help the people closest to me, to make their lives easier, and to defend the innocent from harm..."

"Acting upon desire is what beasts and monsters do. Us humans act with both rationality and emotion, while we strive to live for something more than satiating our basic needs!"

Slayer chuckled again, but Henry spotted the underlying anger beneath. While the Prince’s words didn’t make him lose control, he definitely hit a sore spot with his remark of comparing Slayer’s actions to a mere beast’s.

"You aren’t entirely wrong, I suppose. Humans are just animals with a bit more intelligence. We’re born into this world without a purpose, but most humans tend to lose themselves trying to find meaning in their lives... I’m just an honest person, and act as any animal would!"

While Slayer continued talking about philosophy, Henry smiled behind his helmet. He figured out the perfect way to kill Slayer. A very spectacular way, which will send him to the grave full of questions.

Henry took a deep breath, bringing Slayer’s full attention back to himself. He twirled his warscythe once before pointing the blade at his opponent.

"I won’t blame you for your animalistic tendencies, but I’ll put you down at any cost. In fact, it’ll only take a single move to kill you!"

For a moment, Slayer’s eyes widened before he burst into laughter. After hearing the Prince’s ridiculous words, he began reevaluating his assailant.

"I might’ve misjudged you..." Said Slayer, while also raising his weapon.

"I thought you had actual power and would put up a great fight before I ended your life. However, it seems you’re just another prideful person who wants revenge for one of the millions of crimes I committed!"

Henry didn’t react to Slayer’s provocation. Instead, he took on a fighting stance and prepared to attack the madman.

Slayer also did the same, his grin stretching wider than his blood-red eyes stared at the screaming skull on the Prince’s head.

"Fine, I’ll let you entertain me. I always love to see my enemies’ pride crumble!"

With that, both fighters burst into motion, ready to kill each other.