Chương 152: Chapter : 152

"You are a crazy old man making a massive mess," Ken corrected him smoothly, taking a slow step further into the room.

"I know exactly what you are doing down here. You are playing with raw Solurius radiation. You are dumping toxic waste into the water supply of the outer districts. Your illegal, horrific experiments are operating completely outside the Empire's oversight, and they are hurting innocent people." Augusto did not look guilty. He did not look ashamed. Instead, a twisted, incredibly proud smile spread across his wrinkled face. He slammed his hand down onto his metal briefcase.

"Outside of their oversight because the Upper Council is full of cowards!" Augusto shouted, his eyes burning with fanatical, crazy devotion.

"They banned my research because they were afraid of a little bit of collateral damage! They care more about good publicity than they care about true power!" Augusto stepped out from behind the desk, spreading his arms wide as if he were giving a speech to a massive crowd.

"My sacrifices are completely necessary!" the old scientist argued passionately.

"The people getting sick in the slums are a small price to pay for the future! With this Solurius technology, I am going to build a 'Greater Belmontia'! I am going to create biological and magical weapons so incredibly powerful that no other nation will ever dare to look at us twice! We will completely dominate the entire continent! We will be untouchable gods!" Ken stopped walking. He stood perfectly still in the middle of the control room.

He looked at the crazy old man who was entirely willing to sacrifice thousands of innocent lives just to build a bigger bomb. Ken slowly shook his head. When he spoke again, the lazy, casual tone was completely gone. His voice dropped into the terrifying, absolute, echoing tone of the Sovereign.

"You are completely delusional," Ken stated. The sheer weight of his voice made the air in the control room feel incredibly heavy and suffocating.

"You think building magical Weapons of Mass Destruction will make this Empire great. But you are entirely wrong." Augusto froze, suddenly feeling a cold shiver run down his spine. The boy standing in front of him no longer felt like a messy servant. He felt like a predator.

"Creating weapons of absolute destruction does not buy you peace," Ken countered, his cold eyes locking directly onto Augusto's panicked face.

"It only forces your neighboring nations into a state of absolute, terrified paranoia. If you build a toxic bomb, they will build a bigger one. It sparks an endless arms race." Ken took one more slow, quiet step forward.

"You aren't protecting this country," Ken declared with absolute, chilling certainty.

"You are just lighting a match in a room full of gasoline. Being an overly manipulative, toxic nation is a direct path to ruin. You aren't building a Greater Belmontia. You are going to start a war that will eventually burn this entire world to ash." This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The heavy, suffocating atmosphere in the control room was absolutely unbearable. Ken's cold, logical breakdown of the situation hit Augusto like a physical slap to the face. The old scientist's grand, beautiful vision of becoming a national hero was being completely dismantled by a boy in an untucked shirt. Augusto's face twisted from shock into pure, unfiltered rage. His manic pride simply could not handle being spoken down to.

"You know nothing!" Augusto screamed at the top of his lungs, spit flying from his mouth.

"You are just a foolish peasant! You have seen too much of my work! I will not let a little rat like you ruin ten years of my glorious research!" Augusto reached behind his desk and pulled out a long, deadly magical blade. The sword was highly advanced. The metal blade was glowing with a sickly, bright green energy, dripping with highly concentrated, toxic Solurius radiation. It was a weapon designed to melt human flesh on contact.

"Die!" Augusto roared. Despite his old age, the scientist moved with shocking, desperate speed. He lunged entirely across the control room, swinging the glowing, toxic blade directly at Ken's neck. It was a fast, lethal strike designed to take Ken's head clean off his shoulders. Ken didn't panic. He didn't summon a massive magical shield. In fact, Ken didn't even use a single drop of magic. Utilizing flawless, incredibly casual martial arts, Ken simply leaned his upper body backward just a fraction of an inch.

The deadly, glowing blade sliced through the empty air directly in front of his nose, missing him completely. Before Augusto could pull the sword back for a second swing, Ken moved. Ken stepped smoothly inside Augusto's guard. With a lazy, almost bored expression on his face, Ken reached out and grabbed Augusto's right wrist. Ken didn't use super strength; he just used the old man's own forward momentum against him. Ken twisted his hips and applied a perfect, precise joint lock. CRACK.

A loud, sickening snapping sound echoed through the control room. Augusto let out a high-pitched, agonizing scream. He dropped the toxic magical blade as his right arm was completely and utterly broken at the elbow. But Ken wasn't done. Moving with lazy, fluid precision, Ken released the right wrist, spun lightly on his heel, and delivered a swift, open-handed palm strike directly to Augusto's left shoulder. CRACK. Another sharp snapping sound rang out.

Augusto's left arm went completely limp, his shoulder joint totally dislocated and shattered. The entire physical confrontation lasted less than three seconds. Augusto stumbled backward, screaming in absolute agony. Both of his arms hung uselessly at his sides. He crashed back into his desk, knocking his encrypted hard drives and paperwork all over the metal floor. Ken stood casually in the middle of the room, brushing a tiny speck of dust off his suit jacket. He hadn't even broken a sweat.

He had effortlessly dodged and completely dismantled the aged researcher using nothing but basic hand-to-hand combat.

"You talk way too much," Ken noted lazily, looking at the crying scientist. Augusto was completely desperate. His arms were broken, his security was gone, and his grand plan was falling apart. He looked at the messy boy standing in front of him with absolute, terrified hatred.

"You... you will not stop me!" Augusto wheezed, spitting blood onto the floor.

"My vision will survive! I will crush you!" In a final, totally desperate act, Augusto leaned forward and used his teeth to grab a glowing glass vial from the desk. It was filled with pure, unfiltered, highly concentrated Solurius serum. With a violent jerk of his head, Augusto jammed the glass vial directly into his own chest, breaking the glass and forcing the toxic liquid straight into his bloodstream. Ken stopped brushing his jacket. He let out a long, heavy, incredibly annoyed sigh.

"Oh, come on," Ken complained out loud, rolling his eyes so hard it hurt.

"Are you seriously doing this right now?"