Hitman with a Badass System

Michael moved his hands as several boulders lined up before him. They formed a long pillar almost the size of a five-story building. Michael picked up Victoria, shot toward the sky, and banged her against the pillar formation. Soon, golden chains appeared around her, pinning her in a t-pose on the pillar. From this position, Victoria could see the entire city.

"I wish I had taken your head," Victoria groaned.

"Good. I want you to regret every decision you've made," Michael snickered. He slowly turned around. Dark clouds slowly gathered in the sky, darkening the place. It wasn't Michael's doing but the result of energy fluctuation in the air. An outside force messed up the balance between Celestial energy and Arch energy around the world. Suddenly, the sky started to rumble. Purple lightning streaks struck across the sky.

The heavy rain became worse by the second. Coupled with the howling wind, the heavy rain put out the fire in the city. As a result, darkness took over the place. Their only light source was the streaks of lightning in the sky. Everyone, including Xanali, could feel the pressure in the atmosphere. Out of the blue, a thick purple lightning bolt hit the forest north of the castle. Unlike a typical bolt of lightning, it didn't disappear. Instead, the lightning bolt lingered in the air as though it was frozen. They all looked at the bolt of lightning with bewildered faces. Michael's lips curved upwards, revealing a devilish grin.

"It seems like your father has begun his heavenly tribulation," said Michael.

Victoria struggled against the chains to escape. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape. First, she was too tired and exhausted her energy fighting Michael. Second, there were runes engraved on the chains to keep her weak. Michael wanted her to watch the death of her father. At that moment, Victoria only had her father, and Michael wanted to take that away from her.

Michael patiently waited for Maxim Barnes to trigger the heavenly tribulation. He knew the first lightning bolt was just a phenomenon before the actual tribulation. As Michael expected, the sky was lit with hundreds of lightning flashes. The lightning bolts formed a web in the sky as thunder kept rumbling louder and louder.

Michael still didn't lift a finger. He watched the heavenly tribulation begin with Xanali and Evan.

"Is that heavenly tribulation?" Evan mumbled.

"Hmm. The elders would sense it in a few minutes," said Xanali with a heavy sigh. She knew even if the elders appeared here, there was nothing to achieve here. Ghost had decimated the kingdom, and it would only take a spell from him to disrupt the heavenly tribulations. The damage had already been done. To be honest, Xanali didn't think the guardians would be able to stop Ghost. He didn't even give a damn about the Council of Immortals.

"The guardians will kill you if you do something to my father," Victoria growled.

Michael slowly turned around.

"Why? Because they want another human to be a Half Immortal?" Michael tilted his head.

"You and I both know your father doesn't give a shit about the guardians. All he wants is power and control,"

"You can't stop him. He has the Cosmic stream," said Victoria, only to receive a tight slap to her face. Michael leaned closer to her ears,

"Not for long. The Cosmic stream will be mine,"

Xanali, who had heard the word Cosmic twice, wondered what the hell was that. She had no idea what they were talking about. However, she had a feeling it was connected to whatever happened between Ghost and Thusia.

"What? You want to protect the stream so no one can benefit from it. Your people could have ruled this world and led it to a golden age. You are just a dog that doesn't eat and let others eat,"

"Oh, darling. I am going to use the shit out of it. You think this is only about revenge? Well it's mostly about vengeance, but the Cosmic energy is a cherry on top," Michael ran his fingers through her face as she growled.

Finally, an ear-piercing thunder rumbled in the sky. Following the thunderclap, a strange buzzing noise resonated throughout the city. At that moment, another lightning bolt hit the forest several meters away from the first lightning bolt. Like the one earlier, the second lightning bolt froze in the air. Electricity crackled around the two bolts. Several smaller streaks of lightning bolts branched out from each, forming a net in between.

Michael cracked his knuckles. Unlike everyone expected and hoped in Thusia, Maxim's fate would be a bit anticlimactic. Michael waited for the lightning to strike from the sky. Victoria noticed golden bolts of lightning crackling around Michael's fist. She shivered. A single bolt of lightning from his hand could disrupt the entire heavenly tribulation and make his father a cripple.

"No. Kill me…no no….please don't do anything…Abras please…" Victoria panicked. Her fear and panic only made him happier.

"Beg me more…it feels so refreshing,"

Finally, Michael sensed Maxim's presence in his Environmental Scanning. But Michael didn't go after him. Instead, he just raised his hand. He looked at Victoria with an amused smile.

"This is your father's end. Look closer,"

"NOOOOO!"

Victoria's scream echoed through the air as the lightning bolt shot out of Michael's finger. The bolt of lightning traveled in slow motion in Victoria's eyes.

Xanali immediately waved her hand, casting a defense spell around her and Evan. The bolt of lightning soared through the air and hit the frozen lightning bolts. As soon as they clashed, an explosion went off. This explosion made nuclear explosions look like mere candlelight. For a few moments, Xanali and Evan couldn't open their eyes. Moreover, they were blasted away by the explosion's effects. The temperature rose in the air to the point that the rain droplets evaporated before reaching the ground. It didn't even take a few minutes for the snow to melt down and vaporize.

A few long, brief moments later, Xanali opened her eyes. Her ears rang with a strange buzzing sound. To her shock, everything around her turned into ashes. She slowly moved her head upwards to see Ghost and Victoria floating in the air. Xxanali could barely see them through all the dark ashes in the air.

"FATHER!" Victoria screamed. She noticed the lightning strikes had disappeared from the sky, and the atmosphere had returned to normal.

Michael dashed forward into the forest with thousands of charcoaled trees. Although Michael wasn't a natural guardian, he hated destroying nature. This world's beauty was its forests, lakes, mountains, and every piece of nature.  However, it was a necessary sacrifice to stop Maxim Barnes from breaking through to the Half Immortal stage. Of course, Michael could defeat Maxim Barnes even if he had reached the Half Immortal stage, but Michael didn't want to complicate things. Why would Michael want to battle Maxim Barnes when he could cripple him with a single spell.

Xanali wanted to rescue Victoria and let her escape. That's the least she could do for Victoria as a guardian. However, before she could move toward her, Ghost returned to Victoria. This time, he had a bleeding man in his hand. Ghost held him by his neck like he was handling a rabbit.

"Father!" Victoria screamed. But Michael ignored her.

"Where am I?" Maxim Barnes slowly opened his eyes. Blood slowly trickled down from the corners of his mouth. One moment he was near the Cosmic stream, and the other, he felt excruciating pain from every corner of his body.

"Little puppy forgot its kingdom," Michael snickered. With a flick of his wrist, he took out a healing potion from his space ring. He forcefully poured the healing potion into Maxim Barnes's mouth. Otherwise, Maxim wouldn't survive the pain Michael was about to inflict on him. After the healing potion entered his body, all the wounds and pain in his body disappeared. The light of life glimmered brighter than before in Maxim's eyes.  Michael raised Maxim by his neck and stared at him from top to bottom. Although Maxim was Michael's nemesis, this was the first time he had seen Maxim with his own eyes.  With striking red hair, a muscular build, and a stubble beard, Maxim was quite a handsome king. More than that, Maxim really did have a kingly aura around him. Even when his meridians were broken, Maxim had an imposing aura. However, a king's aura was nothing compared to a God's aura.

"Victoria?" Maxim's eyes widened, seeing his daughter chained to a pillar. It took his mind a few moments to realize everything around him. Michael let King Maxim Barns soak the beautiful sight of his kingdom.

"This is your capital," said Michael. Tears gushed out of Victoria's eyes. She couldn't see her father so powerless and weak.

Maxim Barnes tried to reach out to his daughter. Michael squeezed the back of Maxim's neck. Maxim Barnes's eyes were blood red with uncontrollable rage. He punched and kicked Michael furiously.

"How does it feel to be a cripple?"

Initially, Michael planned to let Maxim Barnes fight him with the unstable cosmic energy that would turn Maxim into a ticking nuclear warhead. Michael wanted to use Maxim to destroy the kingdom. However, he recently learned from Elidyr that making Maxim explode would not only destroy Itholan but also mess up the energies in the atmosphere. As a result, the entire world could be littered with natural disasters such as storms, tsunamis, and droughts, to name a few.

Hence, Michael was forced to change his plan. He didn't feel right to sacrifice millions of people to destroy Thusia when he literally had many options. One of them was using Victoria to destroy the kingdom instead of Maxim Barnes. Since Victoria wasn't crippled by Ghost, he could force the Cosmic energy to become unstable to the point she turns into a sticking nuclear bomb. But first, Michael needed to vent his anger on Maxim Barnes.

Maxim Barnes's body shivered. His eyes were full of shock. He tried to conjure his energy, yet he simply couldn't.

"And one more thing," Michael grabbed Maxim's chin and turned his head to look him in the eyes.

"I am Ghost,"