Time passed even more quickly. By the time Max and Ed grew up to be bulky, bald guys, it had already been twenty years.
Shane finally sighed after seeing a familiar Ed in front of him. It was just that this Ed was far more inexperienced than his master.
The man was ruthless and strict with himself, but Ed still knew how to drink and sometimes became lazy.
He wasn't a timid guy anymore who only knew how to be afraid of everything. Ed had grown up under Hope's strict routine, which turned him from a timid guy into someone who didn't give a f*ck about anything else.
Such a great transformation in someone was beyond expectations. He had to praise Hope for this.
As if knowing what Shane was thinking, Hope smiled, "No need to praise me, dear system. I'm just doing my job."
"But still," said Shane as he looked at the brothers training on the ground nonstop for two hours. "I had no idea Ed, my master who taught me everything, had been taught by you." Sigh. "How things get complicated when you start time traveling."
"Can you speak properly?" Hope got a headache when she heard Shane's blabbering words. "You're really Shane, right?"
Shane didn't reply after that. He didn't want to continue talking nonsense with this girl.
When the brothers were done with their training, they stood on the ground facing Hope, who was still wearing a hood over her head.
Max was the first among them to walk out and say, "What's next? I think we have finished our training."
"Oh really?" Hope's voice was filled with anticipation. "Then fight."
"Uh? What?" Ed spoke in a low tone as a frown crossed his forehead. "Fight whom?"
"Fight one another, of course," said Hope in a cheerful tone. "I want to see who's more powerful among you both."
The brothers exchanged glances as Max coughed and said, "Are you sure you want me to fight him?"
He pointed his finger at the bald man standing next to him.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHope nodded. "What's wrong? This will be a friendly fight, but with real weapons. No killing, understood?"
The brothers nodded.
Hope smiled in satisfaction as he pulled out two weapons from her inventory, presenting them in front of them brothers. "Go on. Pick yours and stand apart. When I say, start fighting. Oh, by the way, no magic, okay?"
The two of them said nothing as they followed her orders. They picked one of the similar-looking swords and stood at a distance. Currently, they were in a training dungeon that Hope had purchased at some point and handed over to them for training. The ground was surrounded by trees on all sides.
When the brothers finally settled, Hope smiled and said, "Three, two, one, start!"
As soon as she spoke, she saw Max's body moving toward the other person at the speed of light.
Ed gripped the sword tightly as he looked at the shadow that flashed toward him. When the shadow reached him, he dodged the attack without even bothering to attack.
Max chuckled, "Brother, can't you fight properly?"
Ed refused to reply as he focused on fighting. Unlike his brother, he didn't have a habit of diverting his attention between fight and talking.
Max sighed and attacked again, making Ed dodge. Their action was so fast that within the span of five minutes, the two of them had already repeated the scene a hundred times already.
In the end, neither of them looked tired. Not even a drop of sweat dropped from their necks.
When Shane watched this scene, he was suddenly reminded of when he fought with Ed for the first time. Back then, Ed had also beautifully dodged the attack.
But he could clearly see the difference between that Ed and Ed standing here.
There was a hint of confidence leaking from that Ed's body as if he was oozing with power. But the current Ed lacked that aura of power because of his inexperience.
Even though there was such a small difference, the man was still Ed. He could do anything he wanted as long as he had a good grasp of the enemy's powers.
But his opponent was his brother. Over the years, Max had become a powerhouse of dark powers so much that he could do anything he desired. He could even attack people with an army of dead people he had summoned. Or he could create shadows with his power without allowing the opponent to do anything.
But at this time, neither of them was allowed to use their powers. So they had to fight with their brute strength.
The scene repeated for quite a while until Max felt tired. His forehead was covered with sweat drops, as he had used too much of his strength to attack. He glared at his brother.
"Hey, Ed, this isn't fair!" Max said, "You can't use that tactic on me every time we fight."
"Says who?" asked Ed coldly as he continued to dodge the attacks. "I can do anything I want. This is my body."
"Tsk. I want my timid brother back! How did you change into the cold and aloof one?"
Ed refused to reply.
The fight continued on for a while until Max couldn't lift his hand anymore. Then Shane attacked his brother and delivered a finishing blow. In the end, his sword was at the man's neck. He turned toward Hope.
"Did I win?"
Hope chuckled. "Of course! Not only have you won, but you'll also get to fight me. How about it?"
Then she turned to Shane and said, "This is my gift for you. You have always wanted to fight with your master again, right? So here's the chance!"
Shane: "...."
He was really speechless. He indeed wanted to fight with his master, but not right now. Weren't they supposed to finish the mission at this time? What were they doing fighting with one another?
As if reading his thoughts, Hope said, "Don't worry about the mission. We're half done already. The major part of it was to create a weapon. Here we are!"
Shane rolled his eyes. "Fine. switch. Oh yeah, can I use my power?"
"Of course! Go and get lost!" Hope sounded so excited that it was clear from her tone.
Shane made a weird face before he agreed.
So now Ed and Shane were confronted with each other.
Even though Shane was inside a woman's body, he didn't care. He was already used to changing into Hope by now. He stared at Ed's familiar face as a hint of nostalgia filled his heart.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHow long had it been since he fought this man?
Even though he thought he had overcome the death of his master, he clearly felt a little nostalgic right now. He squinted his eyes as he pulled out a weapon.
It wasn't anything different. As he raised his head and looked at Ed, it was just a regular sword.
"I'm ready. I'm gonna use dark arts."
Ed said nothing as he turned to him and asked, "Then I'll also not hold back."
Shane felt a little bit of excitement flooding his veins as he said, "Go ahead. I want you to use all of your powers."
Neither of them talked anymore.
No one could tell who attacked first, but by the time a minute had passed, the fight had turned insane. Two colors, one electrical and another demonic, burst into two ends whenever their swords collided. It almost looked like a place filled with two colors on both sides.
Max stared at the scene in front of him in a daze. He knew that his brother was powerful, but he didn't think Ed was this powerful.
For some reason, he felt a sense of crisis in his heart. He wanted to become a system god, but how could he become one when he couldn't overpower his own brother?
He pursed his lips and watched the scene until the fight ended in a tie.
It was almost half an hour, and they ended the fight not because they were tired but because Hope poked Shane as he forced himself to stop fighting with his master.
It turned out that fighting with someone worthwhile could make him feel so amazing! He should have asked Hope to fight him in the training arena!
When he reached the mind space, he was utterly satisfied as he looked at the screen.
Hope smiled and said, "You two pass, especially you Ed. Now, I have a job for you."
She finally pulled out the list of so-called evidence she had created over the years. She handed the copies to both brothers and said, "This is a list of corrupt officials. If you want to kill the king, we should get rid of these people first."
Ed hesitated before asking, "Are they all corrupt? Are you sure?"
"Didn't you read what they did in the past few years? They caused havoc in the system world." Hope continued to speak nonsense. "We'll first start with lower officials. But remember, don't reveal your identities, alright?"
Ed and Max nodded, knowing well how important their real identities were. All these years, they managed to enter politics, becoming officials at high posts. So if anyone knew they were the ones killing their colleagues, they would become traitors.