BLEEDING UNIVERSE (The warrior in two worlds)

Chapter 3

The air on Earth right now was almost completely dry of spiritual energy. He knew that.

The strongest martial artists hiding in the shadows of this planet were probably just basic Grandmasters—weaklings compared to what he used to be.

But Baron didn't need Earth's energy. He was carrying a hundred years of supreme cosmic secrets right inside his brain.

He knew every perfect way to train, every secret medicine recipe, and the exact locations of every hidden treasure that would ever appear on Earth.

He wasn't going to rush his training this time.

He would build a power base so heavy, so solid, and so incredibly perfect that no storm in the universe would ever be able to shake it.

But the absolute best part?

None of the bad things had happened yet.

Right now, this year, his father wasn't sitting behind prison glass. His mother wasn't buried in a cold grave. His little sister Malica was still safe and happy at home. And Juliana... Juliana didn't even know who he was yet.

Everything could be fixed. Everyone could be saved.

The plane’s tires hit the runway with a loud screech, shaking the cabin for a brief second before the aircraft slowed down to a smooth, steady glide toward the terminal.

Baron looked down at his phone one more time as the seat belt sign clicked off.

He remembered this exact arrival from his past life.

He had stepped off the plane feeling small, poor, and terrified of the giant city. He had let the rich kids and the elite families bully him and step all over him because he didn't know any better.

A tiny, razor-sharp smirk slowly crept onto the corners of Baron’s lips.

For just a split second, the terrifying, icy glare of the Void Sovereign flashed deep inside his young eyes, making them look like two bottomless oceans.

He unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up into the aisle, and casually straightened the collar of his cheap t-shirt.

"Matt Windgate," Baron whispered softly to himself, his voice completely calm and smooth. "The show is starting. You better get ready."

The automatic glass doors of the arrival terminal slid open, and Baron Colgate stepped out into the thick, humid air of the airport.

He carried a single, faded blue backpack slung over one shoulder.

He looked like any other eighteen-year-old kid arriving in the big city for college—thin, lacking any real manly muscle, and dressed in a cheap, washed-out t-shirt.

But his posture was entirely different.

Baron walked with a straight back and eyes that locked onto the horizon like a general marching toward a war zone.

He looked incredibly charged, his spirit burning with a dangerous vitality. He wasn't walking like a student; he was walking like a man on a deadly mission.

"First, the bus," Baron muttered to himself, his eyes scanning the signs overhead. "The city transit bus should be right outside the main gates to take me straight to Tuntadel City University."

He was so deeply caught up in his own thoughts, tracking his anticipation and mapping out the future timelines of his memory, that his vision blurred for a split second.

Images from his past life flashed behind his eyelids like jagged bolts of lightning. The memories were returning in heavy, unorganized pieces—the faces of enemies, the smells of blood, the burning of his old soul.

Thud!

Lost in thought, Baron didn't notice the burly man deliberately striding toward him with a mocking sneer.

The next second, a broad, rock-hard chest crashed into him with enough force to shove him half a step backward.

The impact jarred him back to reality.

Standing right in front of him was a massive, towering wall of a man.

The guy was easily six feet four inches tall, built like a brick wall, and wearing a tight leather jacket that strained against his bulky shoulders.

His thick neck, broken nose, and scarred knuckles screamed street thug.

The brute slowly rolled his shoulders before looking Baron up and down with naked contempt, as though examining a piece of trash.

"Tch."

He spat near Baron's shoes.

"Watch where you're going, country bumpkin."

His lips curled into a sneer.

"First day in the city and you're already bumping into people? Didn't your parents teach you how to walk? Or are all you village rats this blind?"

Several nearby pedestrians instinctively quickened their pace after sensing trouble.

The giant purposely raised his voice even louder.

"Look at those cheap clothes. Fresh off the farm, huh? Didn't your village teach you how airports work? Farm animals like you should stay where you belong!"

A few people frowned in sympathy, but not a single person stepped forward.

No one wanted to get involved with a thug twice their size.

The giant cracked his neck loudly, enjoying every second of the attention.

"Since nobody taught you any manners," he sneered, flexing his fist, "I'll teach you myself."

The moment Baron looked into the thug’s sneering face, a violent sense of déjà vu exploded inside his mind.

A long forgotten memory resurfaced.

His pupils narrowed.

“Yeah, right, how could I have forgotten? Wasn’t this their first trick?”

Everything came flooding back.

In his previous life, this exact thug had deliberately crashed into him the moment he walked out of the terminal.

Terrified of causing trouble, Baron had apologized over and over again, only to be beaten unconscious in front of hundreds of strangers.

He had then entered Tuntadel City University with a swollen face, two cracked ribs, and what little confidence he had left completely shattered.

Back then, he had believed it was simply terrible luck.

Now, he knew this had never been an accident.

It had been carefully arranged from the very beginning.

His gaze drifted calmly toward the terminal exit.

Soon, two young woman would arrive to receive him.

One was Margret Grant, the daughter of a family that had always tried to curry favor with the Colgate main family.

Her mother had repeatedly instructed her to get closer to Baron, hoping the two of them might eventually become a couple and strengthen the Grant family's ties with the Colgates.

Unfortunately, Margret had never hidden her disdain for him.

To her, Baron was nothing more than a poor relative from an insignificant branch family—someone utterly unworthy of standing beside her.

The other was her inseparable best friend, Kate.

Kate despised Baron even more.

She believed Margret deserved someone from one of the city's true elite families, not some country boy from a declining branch of the Colgates.

And this thug was Kate’s little welcoming gift.

A carefully arranged humiliation.

Let the poor country boy get beaten the moment he arrived, crush his confidence, remind him of his place, and make sure he understood that he would never belong among the elites.

And Margret...

She hadn't stopped it.

She had simply let it be.

Just as she always had.

'How childish,' Baron thought, amusement flickering in his eyes. 'After becoming the Void Sovereign, I almost forgot how fond these so-called noble families are of these petty little games.'

Baron's lips slowly curved upward as he looked coldly at the thug.

"Last life, I never got the chance to settle the score with you."

"This time... you're not walking away too easily."

Meanwhile, the thug didn't know what nightmare was waiting for him.

Taking full advantage of his massive size and seeing that Baron looked like a weak, helpless kid, the giant balled his right hand into a massive fist.

He pulled his arm back, aiming a heavy, brutal punch directly at Baron’s face. There wasn't the slightest hesitation in his movement. From the very beginning, beating the gut out of this skinny country boy had always been the plan.

But Baron wasn't a helpless kid.

Not anymore.

He didn't speak. He didn't yell. Instead, a slow, dark smile crept onto Baron’s lips. It was the thrill of the hunt.

As the massive fist came flying through the air with the speed of a charging bull, Baron’s mind worked on an entirely higher dimension.

To his ancient, trained eyes, the giant's movement was laughably slow—like watching a turtle crawl through thick mud.

Right before the fist could connect with his nose, Baron smoothly bent his knees, dropping his weight low to the ground.

Whoosh!

The giant’s heavy punch sliced through empty air, passing directly over Baron’s head in a perfect duck. The sheer force of the missed swing threw the big man slightly off balance.

Moving with the fluid grace of water, Baron stepped sharply to the right, slipping right into the giant's blind spot. He didn't have his cosmic Qi energy right now, but he knew the exact structural weak points of the human body.

He clenched his small, smooth fist, tightened his core, and drove a powerful, lightning-fast punch straight into the giant's exposed left ribs.

Crack!

A sharp, sickening thud echoed through the air.

"ARGH!" the giant screamed.

The massive man doubled over instantly, the air completely blasting out of his lungs. His face turned a deep, bright shade of purple as he clutched his left side, stumbling backward into a row of metal luggage carts.

The carts rattled loudly as the giant slid down to his knees, coughing and gasping for air, completely unable to stand back up.