Chapter 262.

  The group of our heroes appears in a world that is not hospitable for life. The temperature of the planet is so high that even iron would melt. But given that they are immortals, they did not die after appearing on this planet.

  However, the temperature was not comfortable by any means. "Stop complaining." Said Samay. "You are immortal beings now. Act like it."

  "Yes, grandma." Replied Hatori.

  Samay would have said something in reply, but they were assaulted by fire mistles. The explosion was so violent that it would have killed anyone else. "That doesn't make sense. There is no oxygen on this planet." Said Josh.

  "Trifling immortals. Someone so great as I do not need such pesky elements to burn you into ashes." Another wave of fire comes their way, which was countered by the alchemic water which put it out. The water soon turned into vapor due to the natural temperature of the planet.

  The spirit prepared another attack, but it sensed one of these mortals appearing behind it. It turned around as quickly as it could, and the face of Hatori was the last thing it saw before it was blasted apart. The fragment of the spirit is then taken up by the group, adding another one to their tally.

  As they leave this planet, and appear on another reality on a different planet to track down their third fragment, a new discussion begins, which is about the alternate of Hatori.

  "Why is this other Hatori so strong?" Asked Josh. "That first alternate who did dine and dash wasn't that tough."

  "He was toying with us during that whole fight." Said James.

  "You guys worry too much." Said Raven. "As far as I'm concerned, that is just an example of where we need to be, now that we face immortals. That spirit might be weak, but we won't find weaklings all the time."

  "Was he truly a million years old?" Asked Shin in curiosity, unable to fathom living for such a long time.

  "He is." Confirmed Samay. "Though for most of his long existence, he has been stuck in a prison."

  They were waiting for Samay to say more, but she didn't. When they continued to look at her in expectation, she averted her gaze. They were annoyed with her evasiveness. They are going to face that alternate again, and they need all the info they can get on him so they can beat him. But if Samay refuses to talk, Hatori decides that he will have some entertainment at her expense.

  "Let him be a million years old. Clearly, he is not that wise, given he actually tried to get it on with her in the past, and tried again in front of us." Said Hatori. "Even if he lives for a billion years, he will never be as smart as me. I will never make such a mistake."

  "You!" Samay blasted Hatori into the sky, sending him flying with a twinkle in the sky.

  "Worth it!" He screamed while he was blasted away.

  Hatori the alternate appears in the reality from where he got the distressed call. Let's ignore the fact that this guy is communicating across realities, whereas my phone doesn't even work in my neighborhood for the time being.

  Upon his arrival, he found the broken pieces of his yantras, whom he calls his minions. "Boss," Said one of the magical machines which happens to be in a good enough condition to talk. "He went that way." With a fizzle, the Yantra stopped working.

  With a sigh, his sleeves expanded, and all the broken machines disappeared. "I'll fix you up, don't worry." He said to them. They are in no condition to listen to him or understand him. But it is a matter of principle. He is not heartless like those gods.

  He teleports and appears before the man who shattered all his yantras. He leveled a punch at him, which was blocked. "Oh?"

  He looked at this man. He is quite tall and has a regal appearance. He looks like one of those who were in the group of his own alternate.

  "Is there any chance we can resolve this peacefully? With me having that fragment?" He added the last part.

  "No." Replied the alternate.

  The struggle began, where they started to beat each other up like Shonen fighters, instead of mages. Their blows were hard enough to shake the nearby trees. Just one punch would be enough to wipe out entire families.

  Realizing that the physical combat was not going anywhere, the alternate made his distance from Hatori and quickly brought out some yantras.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "No wonder you beat them. You have an army of your own." Said Hatori.

  "They were quite a challenge." He said in reply.

  These yantras are not sentient like his own, but Hatori had to hit them quite hard to get them out of his way. Meanwhile, the alternate acquired the shard of reality. Just when he is about to leave reality, Hatori teleports in front of him, and their struggle starts anew. This time, it was a proper magical struggle. Their magic twisted the nearby forest. The trees came to life, and tried to strangle one of them, while other trees got in their ways. The rest of them were bathed in the glow of an unnatural fire.

  Hatori managed to take advantage of the distraction of his opponent and punched him from behind. He was surprised by the artificial body of his opponent.

  "What the hell?" The body turned sharp, and his hand was sliced off cleanly. This was not enough to make him scream, however. Compared to the pain he has suffered in the past; this is nothing but a dull ache that disappeared quickly when his hand grew back.

  He watched his shard disappear before he shrugged. 'I don't need to worry about it just yet. There are a few unaccounted ones. I'll gather the rest, and then hunt them down.' He smiled. "Or kill them one by one, if they come after me." He said out loud before he left the tainted forest.

  Getting summoned at the tender age of seven years and eleven months wasn't enough. After he arrived in this strange world, he was kidnapped right out of the castle. All the promises of the king turned out to be false.

  He was hoping to live long enough to escape from this helpless position he had ended up in. If he knew what was in his future, Hatori would have wished for death then and there.

  He was not a human being. He was a property: a weapon to be used against the king and other families, whenever his owners wished. For this purpose, they trained him. The training was brutal. There was no sympathy from the trainers. After crying many times, his tears dried up. Children in the same family, either of his own age or younger also treated him like their slave. Should he step out of the line, his entire body would suffer as if it was dumped in the scalding oil at the maximum temperature. It is truly a terrible thing that magic could heal this damage as if nothing happened to him.

  He never had any control over anything: what to eat, when to eat, when to wake up, when to go to sleep, what subjects should he study, what kind of potions he should be fed, everything was decided by his owners.

  Until he reached the Academy. There, to ensure that Corvus won't raise hell for them, his mind was not wiped. Therefore, he took all the chances he could to escape from this hell, fleeing into the grand forests and other habitats in the Magecraft and Sorcery Institute.

  Fortune did not favor him. It never favored him anyway. It made it clear that it hated him by giving him a curse which robbed him of his eyes when he was not even old enough to speak.

  His ritual to purge the runes which kept him at the mercy of his owners failed every time, and shortly afterward he was retrieved. What followed was more pain, during which he would scream his throat bloody raw. And still, it won't be enough to stop it. But every time, it would be worth it. Maybe they would get fed up with him, and kill him to end his suffering.

  Hatori wanted to apprentice under a mage who was the master of the lightning element. But he was denied. Instead, he ended up under the heel of some witless clerk, who had only one thing to keep him on line: the pain. So, he used and abused it as much as he could. The only reason why he actually survived Hatori's murder attempts was because the pain was so sudden and crippling that Hatori couldn't do anything while the runes were active.

  Still didn't save his wife from him. "Bitch should have known better." Was his only answer, before his world disappeared into pain once again.

  This doesn't last long. Some half-resurrected battle mage accidentally murdered that clerk. He was fighting, and one of the stray spells landed on the house of that clerk. Hatori survived. That cruel training finally pays off for something. But his master did not survive.

  "No. Not my master, my slaver." He concluded, after taking this golden chance and fleeing and disappearing underground.

  Hatori succeeded in purging the runes from him, though the ritual got out of control and destroyed the entire city for some reason. He didn't care for the people who died in the blast. What mattered to him was that he was now free.

  And it is now time for sweet, sweet revenge.

  here.