"What?" hissed Sgolkr in shock as his sword stopped moving halfway through its descent.

Adam was in a position akin to a side plank, with his left hand pressed against the ground and his right hand grabbing the cross guard of Sgolkr's large sword. Both his arms were straight. His strength stat was at 1,555 thanks to the inheritance from Gregor. If that hadn't been enough, Adam was prepared at any moment to increase up to 80% of the [Grand Blood Berserker] strength, even knowing the power would burn through his just healed body. [Power Through] was also ready, though it would have been a last-last ditch effort since he didn't want to lose his intelligence in this situation. It was already difficult enough to fight the anger and corruption saturating his soul.

Fortunately, he didn't need to use additional pseudo-skills, which demonstrated to Adam where he compared to this tier in terms of just stats. Future Gregor reached the top of Tier 4, with still higher strength and agility than Adam currently had, but Adam was closing in on them when using [Soul and Body Shaping]. Continuing to conquer bases and evolve the class he had gotten would bring him there sooner or later.

"…but you were just weak!" screamed Sgolkr. "An infant compared to a true warrior! How do you create such aberrational trickery?!"

A grunt came from Adam as he put his feet solidly under himself while keeping the struggling Scyrric's blade at bay. Then he began pushing with his feet, bringing the previously supporting left hand onto the hilt. With a tight grip on the sword, he pushed himself to stand.

"Still…STILL you defy the mighty Scyrric?!" Sgolkr continued to screech. "Struggle all you want, the Scyrric will end your pitiful rebellion. All your people will fall. This planet belongs to our race's glory! Its resources will be ours and you will be ground to dust to nourish…"

"Shut. Up." ordered Adam calmly, while activating a rarely needed pseudo-skill that he had learned when living in Cruxannith's memories.

[Behemoth's Presence] was a more powerful area of effect version of [Intimidation]. It took the threat that Adam represented and projected it outwards, affecting people on a scale based on the difference between his strength compared to their wisdom. That meant it could have a significant effect on warrior classes.

And a significant effect it did have on everyone watching. From Sgolkr to the invaders watching from the hallways to his own Sentinel Army, and especially to the Unklarn who had signed the Sentinel Army employment contract but were already confused about the situation after speaking with Tom.

Everyone nearby felt like a mountain was pressing down on them. The weakest of them fainted while the strongest had their legs tremble. Many fell to their knees, covering their ears or head. All sound and noise stopped.

Adam was only average height for a human, about 5'9". Sgolkr was eight feet tall. But in this moment, no one could see Sgolkr as the bigger of the two combatants.

Wrapping both his hands around Sgolkr's fingers on the sword hilt, Adam squeezed. Sgolkr's face shifted from confusion to fear, and then to pain. His legs were already weakened from [Behemoth's Presence] and the pressure from Adam's hands on his own caused his legs to drop further. Adam tilted the hands that he was crushing, pivoting the sword tip towards the Scyrric.

"Weak?" asked Adam in an steady voice, though it echoed throughout the stone chamber for all to hear. "You saw me as weak even though you went after those below me?"

Sgolkr's left leg failed him and he dropped to one knee. His height was lowered as his face dropped to Adam's level.

"Yet another cheap shot. Every time you have attacked, it was only through surprise or against those weaker than you," said Adam thoughtfully, as a new truth clicked into his head. "You always say 'glorious Scyrric' this and 'mighty Scyrric' that. Even the Scyrric base overseer who almost beat me spoke of his personal abilities and strength. How he would defeat me, not how his race would."

Once more Adam increased his pressure on Sgolkr's hands. He looked upwards in remembrance, but the growing pain hit Sgolkr and his right leg folded, slamming that armored knee into the ground. The Scyrric finally had to look upwards to see Adam's face.

"You charged me when my own strength was sealed. You attacked Jackson when you thought there was no one who could defy you. Our fight only happened when I was barely able to stand. Then you ran away, twice. Once from Jackson while I was captured and once from me."

Gurgling and hissing came from Sgolkr and he continued to try and steady the sword, keeping it away from his face.

"…you…cannot…beat…"

"…the Scyrric," Adam finished. "So you've said."

Then Adam lowered his own head and looked Sgolkr in the eyes.

"But I see no Scyrric here. I see no army to support you. You are alone. Relying on weak creatures to make you feel strong."

"I…defeated…your…people…" panted the kneeling lizard.

"That's true," agreed Adam. "You took them by surprise. You attacked when they were waiting for you and I to fight. They were waiting. Thus, you ran from me again! For that, you will die in your cowardice."

Pushing on the sword, Adam saw Sgolkr flash red with a skill. Suddenly the sword that Adam had slowly been turning resisted him. It moved away, as it added an unseen strength to Sgolkr's own.

"I still control my bonded weapons," whispered the Scyrric, meaning it as a threat.

Adam looked concerned for less than a second, and then he relaxed. He even smiled while ceasing [Behemoth's Presence]. It was a cruel smile, one of a monster about to devour its prey.

His expression was enough to cause a commotion as every single invader that had been watching tried to escape from the chamber. They pushed and shoved, stabbed and bludgeoned their allies through the halls to flee. The Sentinel Army didn't seem inclined to allow it though. Lucas took charge, ordering units to gather and chase those in the hallways. They intended to let no invader survive this encounter.

Splitting his attention, Adam watched the activity in the real world and his soul as he selected the pseudo-skill he intended to use. With his new understanding and command of shaping their energy, he knew the perfect way to punish Sgolkr.

Stolen story; please report.

Sgolkr couldn't see the energy, but he felt something enter him as Adam used [Soul Lock], the ability that had forced him to change his class path. A shiver overtook the Scyrric, never suspecting while Adam watched his pseudo-skill enter Sgolkr's soul and target the skill that allowed him to control and strengthen bonded metal.

As the energy coming from Adam tried to envelope Sgolkr's skill, Adam changed the energy's shape. Instead of wrapping the skill to block its effect, Adam formed the energy into two blades that closed on the skill, snipping Sgolkr's skill in half, life fabric cut by scissors.

A shriek rose from the kneeling enemy. Adam watched through his [Soul Vision] as not only that one skill was damaged beyond use, but the other skills that connected to it and combined with it were affected by the backlash. The precise shape of Sgolkr's class and the associated skills were snapped out of place. Their shapes and densities were thrown into chaos, rendering them unusable without abilities to reshape them.

Sgolkr's eyes rolled backwards as both his own strength and the sword bond stopped resisting Adam. He snatched the blade away from his enemy as the reptilian body collapsed to the ground. Foam and spittle formed around Sgolkr's mouth as he gurgled and choked on whatever he was feeling, convulsions ripping through his body.

Taking the large sword, Adam ignored all the movement of soldiers rushing through the room. Only Brittney had come to stand nearby to witness what was about to happen, though she kept some distance.

Thump!

The river raged and hate swirled throughout it.

Adam slowly walked around Sgolkr until he was standing over his head.

Thump!

Heat pulses saturated Adam, filling every part of him with rage at the subdued enemy.

The tip of the sword slowly lowered to give Adam as much satisfaction from this as he could receive. It passed the ridge of Sgolkr's helmet and stopped a hair above the invader's eye. One quick thrust was all it would take to put an end to this part of the invasions. Even gravity by itself would end this foe and the misery he could cause if Adam simply let go of the sword.

CONQUER! shouted Adam's soul.

As Adam panted, overwhelmed by the corruption, he heard Sgolkr's breath become shallow. The Scyrric weakened, even as Adam became stronger from his emotions. The reptilian eyes opened and focused on his oncoming death. A deserved death.

Now Lucas and Brittney were on either side of the downed foe. They stood there, waiting, not wanting to miss this. Lucas had an even greater grievance against this Scyrric than Adam.

Adam realized he was growling, even as he heaved with fury. One more invader would fall by his hands…but potentially millions more would be left. Whole planets of these foes would want their own vengeance even if Adam managed to defend his world this time.

There would always be more. Always be revenge seekers. Powerful enemies that would want to challenge him and Earth to prove that they could win against an unexplainable aberration.

Even if Adam and his army managed to repel all the invaders on Earth now, that wouldn't be the end of it. More would come. Stronger would challenge them. Earth would pay the price. It was why none of the races used their own worlds for wars. The damage would be more than the planet could take.

Adam prepared to thrust the blade. He heaved in anger as he raised the blade to ensure this action could contain all the rage he felt.

Then Adam paused, wrestling for control of his emotions. The sword hilt rose higher than his head with both hands.

"What's wrong, Adam?" asked Brittney, fully alright with this execution.

Adam's growl increased in volume.

This wasn't about this moment. It wasn't about this fight, or the next. This was about Earth. For Adam, it should always be about the Earth, regardless of what his soul demanded.

"Should I, Adam?" asked Lucas, drawing his own sword, unsure why Adam was hesitating.

Sgolkr was only one enemy. Not a strong one other than his level or a clever one. This invader never even truly mattered to Adam, even with the things he had done. If Adam never thought to test his strength, he wouldn't have even considered Sgolkr until he showed up at Jackson once more. This moment was about Adam's rage, his corruption, and what he needed to do to protect the Earth. In the present…and in the future.

Struggling against all his feelings, instincts, and soul, Adam screamed. It was so loud that it shook the chamber as it echoed from every wall, corner, and through the hallways.

The sword came down.

Brittney and Lucas gasped.

Sgolkr's eyes widened as the sword descended and embedded itself into the floor next to him.

Adam panted. He turned in a circle as he expressed his rage into the air. He screamed and punched out with his arms, fighting for control of his body. For minutes he just flailed and shouted. His friends grew concerned, while his enemy's fear became more obvious.

After releasing the rage and becoming calm, or calmer, Adam composed himself and took several deep breaths. The color of his skin had been bright red before, but now it was only tinted.

Once in control of himself, Adam bent down close to Sgolkr. He knelt and took off the Scyrric's helmet. He lowered his mouth so that it was right next to where he thought the lizard man's tympanic membrane would be. Then he whispered.

"You'll live past this moment, but your future just became a lot worse. You'll wish I had killed you," said Adam. Then to commit to his promise, he informed his enemy, "this fight also made me stronger, made me more of an aberration against you invaders. Thanks for that."

Sgolkr's eyes opened in shock. His muzzle began to open and close, trying to form a sentence, a word, or even a question, but nothing came out.

Adam stood. He reached down and lifted Sgolkr by his chest armor. Then he began ripping off pieces of the invader's armor, from his pauldrons, down to his greaves, not ignoring the tail plates. He manhandled the Scyrric, whose attempts at struggling were pathetically weak.

Once all the armor was off, in an exceptionally fast motion Adam ripped the sword out of the floor and lopped off Sgolkr's tail. The pain and shame of losing his tail did cause the Scyrric to scream, to wail in anger while spewing curses. Adam ignored them.

Once the creature was without armor and tail, Adam handed him to Lucas.

"Bind him and make sure he can't kill himself. We'll need a Scyrric in the future. He will be placed in my prison base."

"What about his skills?" asked Lucas. "Any I should know about?"

"I've severed his class and most of his skills," explained Adam. "He might be able to use a few weaker skills, but the primary ones are gone, and his stats have fallen with the way I corrupted his class."

"You can do that?" asked Lucas, partly in awe and partly in shock.

[Soul Lock] was a skill that came from future Adam's [Soul Forger] class. Unlike with the [Grand Blood Berserker] class that came from Gregor, where the skills were memories resembling blood splotches, the pseudo-skills inherited from the [Soul Forger] class didn't have visible impressions in Adam's memory space. At least that he had found yet.

Instead of checking his memory space, Adam took a moment and opened his status, splitting it into the three people's displays. He checked future Adam's sheet, looking at the skill list. Skills that he hadn't unlocked or learned were blacked out. Only the ones that he knew showed up.

Unfortunately, when he read through the skills, [Soul Lock] was no longer on it. It had proven very powerful but limited in usage. He had used it once when chasing Sgolkr off from Jackson. Now he had reshaped it, turning it completely different than the [System] skill.

Maybe Adam would figure out how to unlock it again. Or maybe he had mangled it beyond what his memory could use, much like what he had done to Sgolkr's skill and class. Either way, it wasn't something he would be able to use in an upcoming fight.

"Looks like I can't do that again, at least for now," Adam answered Lucas.

"Why didn't you kill him?" asked Brittney. "You always struggle to resist killing invaders, but now you seem fine with him alive."

Adam nodded at her.

"I can't tell you how difficult it was to go against my soul's desire to execute him, but as I told Sgolkr, I have something worse planned for him. I think that to protect Earth after we reclaim it, we'll need to go to other worlds. To fight on their terf before they can come to ours. According to the Drathan I fought, to open a portal, there needs to be an unconquered base belonging to that race. Only someone from that race who controls it can open the portal."

"That means we'll need a base originally owned by the Scyrric as well as a Scyrric in control of it to willingly open the portal?" questioned Lucas.

"That's right. And I can think of no one better to make betray their race than our buddy here. My corruption seems to agree."

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