Autophagy

Song Lei would be the key part of the plan in giving the slight advantage Aston needed. Of course, realizing this, Edward had no plans of letting Song Lei go. Dumping another attack on Aston's head, he turned and dashed towards Song Lei.

Song Lei smirked. Although what Edward did was relatively smart, he had made a very simple mistake. Song Lei wasn't just long-range support. He could handle himself in close-range combat pretty well. To think that it would be easy to take Song Lei out in one swoop and turn the situation into a one versus one was wishful thinking.

Before Edward could reach him, Song Lei bent his legs and jumped back, instantly doubling the distance between them. Now that the element of surprise was gone, Aston could catch up to Edward before he could even get anywhere near Song Lei.

"Not so easy!" Aston shouted as he released another wave of lightning energy. Having spent his small advantage on trying to attack Song Lei, Edward was left in an awkward position. He turned around and tried to block Aston's attack. Although he was able to stop some amount of it, he was still hit.

Wanting to put some space between him and Aston, he jumped back.

Unfortunately for him, this wasn't a very smart decision. He had completely disregarded Song Lei while doing this. It wasn't like Song Lei had no ability to fight back, he just opted to stay behind and let Aston do what he wanted. Of course, this didn't mean that he would reject such an opportunity. Seeing Edward's back wide open, Song Lei swung his sword vertically.

*Swish!

The noise made by the slick swing of Song Lei resounded throughout the place. With the inhuman amount of energy he put behind it, the sword was like a guillotine headed right towards Edward's back.

"AAHHH!!" Edward screamed in agony. The sword left a gashing wound on his back. Of course, being made from soulite, this wound made by the sword wasn't just a physical one. Being a monster of the dream space, Edward wouldn't be affected by such a wound. However, because the sword was made from soulite, it managed to shake his soul.

The wound left by Song Lei started patching back up. Instead of blood, a golden yellow liquid was pouring out of Edward's veins, making him look like an alien.

Not wanting to make the same mistake again, Edward threw himself to the side before Aston could finish him off.

Doing his best to calm down, Edward put an obviously fake smirk on his face.

"That was good..." He muttered. "You have made a good friend, my brother. And you have also given him some good toys. Unfortunately, this won't be useful against me!" Edward shouted as he launched forward once more. After getting hurt like that, he wanted to go on the offensive and never give them the chance to fight back.

"Too much bickering..." Aston complained. He had no intention of letting Edward take the lead. So he answered his attack by also going on the offensive.

Now that both sides had heated up enough, they stopped throwing balls of energy toward each other. Instead, they both channeled their energies into their bodies.

Aston's hair stood up because of all the electricity around him, making him look like a crazy scientist. Edward, on the other hand, shone brightly. All the veins in his body started glowing yellow alongside his eyes. The arrogance that was given to him by his royal bloodline, the haughtiness of being the crown prince, and the desire to win against his little brother. All these emotions swelled and burst out of him.

As their fists collided, a wave of energy traveled throughout the whole garden. Song Lei had to take a step back to get his balance back. As things kept going, the amount of pressure he felt continued to increase. After all, it was getting to a point that any stray attack could injure him. At least for now, he had to keep his energy.

As Aston and Edward kept trading blows back and forth, the whole place kept shaking. With time, the place started to get filled with guards. They weren't confused in any way by the battle going on in front of them. Considering that the battle between Aston and Edward looked like two angry deities duking it out, none of the guards being surprised was incredibly awkward.

Seeing that the guards were thinking of joining the hurdle, Song Lei figured out that he had to take things into his hands. Currently, Aston and Edward were in a relative stalemate. None of the two dared to make a careless full-on attack as they kept trading blows. Song Lei had to stop the forces from interfering and keep the status quo going. Considering this, Song Lei activated the 'Adrenal Rush' charged towards the soldiers with his gun in one of his hands and the sword in the other.

There stood 36 people in front of him, all equipped with state of art technology weapons. Fortunately, these types of weapons had no real effect on Song Lei. Because of the weak firepower, he could dodge the bullets with relative ease. Moreso, the guns that the guards were using had really bad accuracy.

Seeing that Song Lei wasn't getting shot anytime soon, the guards dropped their guns and pulled out their swords. As soon as they did so, a burst of energy left Edward and went towards the guards.

'Shit! Did he enhance them or something?!' Song Lei thought. Not wanting to give the guards any time, he kept charging forward. As he managed to reach the nearest guard, Song Lei swung the sword in his hands in a wide arc with all of his momenta. Accompanied by the bonus strength he had gained with the skill 'Adrenal Rush', Song Lei expected the guard in front of him to get decapitated in an instant.

"GRRR..." The guard grumbled. He raised the sword in his hand and tried to block Song Lei's attack.

*Crack!

Unfortunately for him, Song Lei's sword broke through his own and stabbed into his neck. What Song Lei didn't expect was that his sword didn't manage to cut the guard's neck all the way through, stopping only after reaching half of it. Normally, with the strength put behind it, any normal person would've turned into mincemeat.

'Just like I thought, that energy streak from Edward must've strengthened them...' Song Lei thought. He reached into his backpack and took out his other sword The Banisher from inside it. Holding the soulite sword forged by Aston in one of his hands and The Banisher in the other, Song Lei rushed towards the other nearest guard.

Seeing that Song Lei was doing well on his own, Aston turned his head back towards Edward.

"Do you know why I hate you so much?" Aston asked as the arcs of electricity discharged by his body blocked Edward's light spears.

"Tell me," Edward urged him.

"I hate you because of the way you act," Aston said. He charged once more towards Edward and swung his fist. After it was caught by Edward's palm, he pulled it back and evaded an oncoming attack from his right. "The way you think you're above everyone in this world, the way you act as if you are different..."

Hearing Aston's words, Edward's mouth twitched slightly. He increased the pace of his punches to make Aston shut up. Unfortunately, he couldn't achieve his goal.

"In the end, you're just another human! The only thing you have is your goddamn royal bloodline!" Aston shouted. "Would you be able to survive in the streets on your own as a nine-year-old? Would you be able to search a butcher's trash can just so that you could eat some meat?! Answer me, Edward!"

As Aston's words resounded throughout the place, the fake smile on Edward's face crumbled completely, leaving its place into a twisted, angry expression. If it was possible to poke holes through people's bodies by staring at them, Aston would've long disappeared from this world. The golden-hued energy that spread from Edward's body started becoming brighter and brighter, eventually turning pure white.

"You dare insult my bloodline! You're just a bastard! Nothing more!" Edward shouted. Gathering all the energy he could, he kicked the ground, leaving a huge crater behind. "Go return to the shithole you came from!"

Seeing Edward's crazed state, Aston smiled.

"Finally! Show your true face, you hypocrite!" He shouted with excitement. Seeing the brother who had pressed him all throughout his life lose his composure, Aston tensed all of his muscles and charged ahead.

Finishing off the last guard by stabbing him in his abdomen, Song Lei wiped the sweat that was rolling off of his head. Now that he had dealt with the enemy reinforcements, he could go back and help Aston. Turning his head, Song Lei saw a huge ball of light expanding from the middle of the garden....