Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 288: A Second

4 men rushed toward Stanley as fast as they could, but to Stanley they were sitting ducks, waiting to be killed.

He spun the arrow around in his hand and threw it flying in the direction of one of the men. The arrow flew at what Stanley could only imagine was an incredibly fast speed and pierced through the right shoulder of the closest man.

He had been going for the head, but it seemed his aim was slightly off this time.

The man slowly showed a reaction to the damage he had taken and his face changed while he stumbled to the ground.

Stanley switched his attention to another silhouette that was running at him with a wooden staff. Stanley was about to attack him, but he stopped as his eyes went wide.

As the man came closer to the light, Stanley could see his face more clearly now.

It was White.

’How...’ Stanley questioned his eyes. He wasn’t sure he was seeing correctly.

The person in front of him could not have been White, for he had seen White die just yesterday. Just then, Stanley remembered the other corpse that looked like White too.

’Triplets?’ Stanley thought. But the possibility of three brothers joining the same death match where only a single winner was produced was unlikely.

What was more likely was that White had lied to them about not having powers. That had bothered Stanley for a while when he first met White.

Why would anyone want to fight in this place to get a chance to earn money, when there was little to no chance for a person without powers to win anything?

It was much more likely that White indeed did have powers, and he had been just lying about it.

Stanley immediately rushed forward and swept White’s leg, causing him to fall to the ground. At the same time, he grabbed his staff and pulled it away to strike at the next person that he saw.

The next person that came into the light was a man in his late 20s whom Stanley recognized as the person that had attacked him today. The man with the energy threads that fell from the trees.

Stanley could see a thin wooden stake in his hand, intended to be used like a spear.

Stanley had no mercy for someone who was trying to kill him. He struck the side of the man’s skull so hard that the staff broke off into splinters even before the damage registered on the man’s skull.

The man went flying away with a broken skull, falling unconscious as soon as he was hit, dying no later than that.

Stanley could start to feel the heaviness in his chest. The lack of oxygen was causing his lungs to burn with pain and he needed to take a breath quickly.

Still, there was one last man to deal with.

He turned around and saw the man heading toward the small camp they had formed, going for a kill on the two women.

Stanley took the last remaining bit of the staff in his hand and threw it at the man. The piece of wood curved a little in the wind and hit the man in the biceps.

The wood exploded and the man was sent flying away, his survival completely unclear.

Stanley let go of his powers and time moved again, and every sound seemed to come out at once.

The sound of the arrow being stopped, the sound of the arrow hitting the other man, the sound of that man falling, the sound of White falling, the sound of the staff breaking on the other man’s skull, and finally the sound of the wood throwing the man away, everything erupted at once in a cacophony.

Red and the old woman screamed at once with all the deafening sounds around them.

Sounds of grunts and pain followed afterward, and Stanley looked toward White, who had been the only person he hadn’t attacked at all.

He grabbed White by the hair and pulled him closer to the light. His sight caused both the women to stand quiet in shock.

"How..."

"Is that White?"

"Speak!" Stanley ordered. "Who are you?" There was a roughness to his voice, a staggering rhythm as he tried his best to hide the fact that he needed to quickly breathe as much as he could.

He hadn’t yet forgotten the person who had shot the arrow. That arrow had been strong, so the person had to have been close by as well.

If he was to guess, he would say they were in one of the trees, but Stanley wasn’t sure which one.

"Kill me, bastard!" White shouted. The voice was exactly his, causing the others to have an uncanny feeling.

"Do you not know who we are?" Stanley asked. "So you guys must be clones then."

White stopped speaking and looked up in surprise. Then, he started laughing. "Hahaha, did I travel with you guys?" he asked.

Red nodded. "You... are not the White we know?" she asked.

"White? What’s that?" he asked. "My name is Damon."

"They are clones, but they don’t share memories," the old woman quickly said. "Tell me, how many clones do you have?"

"What’s that to you? Just kill me, you bitch!" He spat on the ground next to the old woman.

"Fine," Stanley said. "There’s nothing more to ask him."

Stanley grabbed White by the collar and dragged him out. Then, without missing a beat, he threw him into the sky, sending him flying dozens if not hundreds of meters in the sky, somewhere into the distance.

At the speed and height that White flew, he would die upon landing.

"Aah!" Red screamed.

"Why did you do that?" the old woman asked.

"He clearly has more clones around," Stanley said. "There’s a reason he wasn’t so worried about dying after all."

Stanley turned around and saw the man he had shot with the arrow standing up. "And besides, we have other things to worry about right now."