Chapter 58: Mafia uncle?
Jorghan could sense the mana coming from the suit the young man was wearing.
Such an advanced technology made Jorghan wonder if the boy was a high-ranking noble.
In this world, Matlneite mana stones are costly items to acquire. Not everybody can afford them.
The suit the boy was wearing was made from stone. It was giving off so much mana energy that Jorghan could sense it clearly. And it was a lot more effective than using it directly.
They exchanged blows, moving so quickly that the girl watching couldn’t follow their movements.
Jorghan wasn’t even sweating and he wanted to see just how powerful the suit was.
To her eyes, they were just blurs of motion punctuated by thunderous impacts. Fists and kicks flew through the air. Jorghan created barriers of crystallized energy, and the young man shattered them with contemptuous ease. The young man shot beams of concentrated light from his hands, and Jorghan deflected them with shields of crimson force.
The street around them bore the marks of their battle. Cracks spider-webbed across the pavement. Windows in nearby buildings shattered from the shockwaves.
A parked vehicle was caught in the crossfire and crumpled like paper.
That young man felt like he was winning. If anyone saw them, they would have probably thought the same.
Jorghan then acted, moving more swiftly; he knocked the boy down to the ground by kicking him, and then he punched him straight in his face. Jorghan pulled his hand, and a fire shard struck where the boy had crashed.
That young man crashed into a wall, breaking it as he observed the attack with the suit.
Right then, Jorghan moved faster, not giving him a thought to process.
Energy crackled around his fist like lightning, red and black intertwined in impossible patterns. He pulled back, muscles coiling with supernatural strength, and aimed straight for the young man’s chest.
One strike, properly placed, and this annoying kid would be down.
"LUKAS!"
The shout cut through the air like a knife through silk.
It was filled with panic, with fear, and with a desperate love that transcended the chaos of battle.
A parent’s cry for their child in danger.
His fist stopped inches from the young man’s chest, the gathered energy dissipating into nothing, fading like morning mist.
Lukas—the young man—blinked in surprise at the sudden reprieve, stumbling backwards and looking up at the ship in confusion.
Jorghan turned his gaze from the boy to the ship, and he saw the figure standing there, and then he froze.
Standing on the edge of the ship, leaning over the railing with an expression of pure worry etched into every line of his face, was a man Jorghan recognized.
A man he had never expected to see again.
A man he had tried very hard to forget, to bury in the deepest recesses of his memory where the painful things lived.
Jamie Moorne.
His uncle.
The man who had been responsible for his death in his previous world.
"What in the fuck..." Jorghan whispered.
The words came out strangled, barely audible over his own thundering heartbeat.
"Jamie Moorne. What the fuck!"
His mind couldn’t process what he was seeing.
It felt like reality itself had fractured, like he had stepped into some nightmare version of his life where past and present collided in impossible ways. His senses, his thoughts, and his mind—everything seemed to stop working, and he completely took in the sight before him.
Jamie looked older, more worn, with lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before and grey threading through his dark hair.
But it was definitely him.
The same face that had looked down at him with false sympathy after the betrayal.
The same face that had said, "I’m sorry, but this is necessary," before everything went dark.
The same face that had haunted Jorghan’s nightmares for years after his reincarnation.
After the convergence, he had thought of his home world many times.
In the back of his mind, Jorghan supposed he had always known this day might come.
He knew his old world was out there somewhere in this vast multiverse, just millions of kilometres away across space.
He had pushed it down, buried it deep beneath years of survival and training and rebuilding himself. He had convinced himself that he would never have to deal with it, never have to face these people again. That they belonged to a past life, literally and figuratively, and would stay there.
Now here they were.
His past had caught up with him in the worst possible way, at the worst possible time.
"Lukas," Jamie called out, his voice shaking with emotion. "Are you alright?"
His throat felt tight, his chest compressed as if a great weight sat upon it.
All the rage, all the pain, and all the betrayal came flooding back in an instant like a dam breaking. Memories he had locked away surged forward—the voices of his mother and uncle, the smell of blood, the feeling of dying cold while they stared at him.
He had spent years building a new life, becoming stronger, and trying to move past what had happened. And now it was all crashing down around him like the walls of his ancestral home had crashed down that terrible night.
The young man—Lukas, apparently Jamie’s son—had backed away, looking between Jorghan and Jamie.
"Son, I told you to be careful." Jamie was so focused on his son that he never really looked at Jorghan. Even if he did, Jamie wouldn’t recognize him anyway.
Jorghan snapped out of his shock.
[Emotional Distress Detected]
[Host’s mental state unstable]
Jorghan quickly came out of his emotional distress, hearing the system. He looked at them and then at the girl. After a quick thought, he turned on his heel.
He turned away from them sharply, moving quickly to where the girl still sat on the ground, her eyes wide as she watched the drama unfold.
He scooped her up carefully, cradling her in his arms as gently as if she were made of glass.
"We’re leaving," he said flatly, his voice devoid of emotion.
It was the only way he could speak without screaming.
"Wait!" Jamie shouted, leaning further over the railing.
"NO!"
Jorghan didn’t stop, as he wanted to get away from here. He was breathing rapidly.
The girl in his arms stirred slightly.
"Are you okay?" she asked softly, looking up at his face with concern that surprised him, given her own condition.
"No," Jorghan said honestly.