Why is his holy light red?

Mercury's understanding of chess was limited to knowing the rules, and he played chess no more than five times in his life.

Since awakening, he has devoted all his energy to developing his superpowers.

But this was clearly not a test of his chess skills.

The old man's movements as he smelted the metal were so effortless, like an ordinary person casually grabbing a handful of wet sand on the beach.

Mercury understood his meaning: if he couldn't even create a set of pieces, he would be unable to make any progress in the heart of the Black Olive.

Since the world's second strongest being had extended an invitation, Mercury had no choice but to accept the challenge.

He walked to the metal table riddled with holes, where the volcanic stone had already been sculpted into a row of exquisite chess pieces.

This nonchalant demeanor perfectly demonstrated his mastery of superpowers.

Mercury could only concentrate the red holy light between his fingers and reach out to grip the edge of the stainless steel tabletop.

The force exerted by the finger bones produced a piercing metallic tearing sound that echoed throughout the hall.

His strength is enough to break steel bars, but that doesn't mean he can do fine work. It's not difficult to twist a piece of metal off a table, but to then use brute force to shape it into a complex chess piece is a bit like trying to carve something with eighty sledgehammers.

Although he couldn't be as nonchalant as Mercury, he wasn't in a hurry. Since the old man wanted him to make the pieces himself, he would just let him wait.

The sickening sound of steel scraping against steel rang out, tormenting everyone's ears.

Metal has extremely strong toughness and resilience; if you apply too little force, you can't press it down, and if you apply too much force, you can crush it into a piece of scrap iron.

It took Mercury a good half day to finally manage to knead two metal lumps of different sizes, which could barely be made up of the outlines of a king and queen, and were so crude that they were quite comical.

Volcanic Rock leaned back in his chair, offering no urging, and simply said, "Our abilities are instincts etched into our genes. Just like the heart beats normally while breathing, and the lungs work while the heart beats. If you deliberately hold your breath to control your abilities in order to squeeze out more power, this deliberate effort will actually hinder your performance."

Mercury paused, his eyes wary. "Are you teaching me how to use superpowers?"

Volcanic Rock said calmly, "I just don't want you to lose too badly."

Mercury couldn't figure out what the old man meant. Was he some kind of perverted person who wanted to toy with his prey a little longer?

Mercury wasn't in a hurry; he treated it as a way to hone his superpowers.

He tried to follow the advice of the volcanic rock and stop holding his breath, instead using his superpowers more naturally.

At first, I wasn't used to it. My breathing would cause subtle fluctuations in Mercury's red holy light, making the chess pieces I made even uglier.

But after a few tries, the sluggishness began to subside. His heartbeat, breathing, and the energy field on his body gradually separated, each operating independently. He had torn most of the table to shreds, and fine beads of sweat appeared on Mercury's forehead, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

After a long time, he finally collected a complete set of incredibly ugly chess pieces, and he felt that his control over the Holy Light had also improved significantly.

"Good talent," Volcanic Rock commented.

"Thank you. But why?"

Mercury stared into the old man's cloudy eyes, trying to see through his thoughts.

Logically, Volcanic Rock was captured by the Holy Light Angel, while Mercury was someone connected to the Holy Light Angel. Even if Volcanic Rock didn't kill him outright, he should have tortured him severely to establish his authority.

Otherwise, what will others think?

They might think that the volcanic rock was defeated by the Holy Light Angel and that even children who have some connection with the Holy Light Angel wouldn't dare to touch it.

Reputation is a very important thing.

Just like Mercury himself, he felt that his superpowers far surpassed those of most superheroes in the world, but because he had no reputation, the prisoners in the Black Olive Center dared to gang up on him.

If it were a volcanic rock, even if it were a blood feud that killed an entire family, probably few would dare to stand up.

That's the use of reputation; it can often reduce trouble. Otherwise, no matter how strong you are, being harassed every day is very annoying.

So Mercury couldn't understand what Volcanic Rock was up to.

But instead of answering, the volcanic rock asked, "In your eyes, should I kill you?"

"It's at least more reasonable than it is now," Mercury said.

The volcanic rock laughed silently.

He raised his finger and tapped it twice casually on the broken tabletop.

Several dark red rays of intense heat instantly burned through the metal surface, cutting out a grid of straight lines resembling a chessboard. Then, the old man pushed his chess pieces onto the board.

The moment the bottom of the chess pieces touches the table, all the pieces emit a dark red, high-heat luster from the inside out.

Mercury, not to be outdone, gripped his ugly pawn and pressed it onto the corresponding square.

"hiss--"

The moment the metal chess piece touched the board, the extreme, terrifying heat instantly pierced through Mercury's holy light defenses. The instant of contact cooked the protein in his fingertip, causing his skin and flesh to curl.

This is illogical; even if metal conducts heat quickly, it shouldn't be this terrifying.

However, superpowers defy common sense, so Mercury could only grit his teeth and immediately activate his healing abilities, causing new flesh to quickly grow from his fingertips that had just been burned.

He took a deep breath, continuously gathering holy light energy at his fingertips, picked up the second chess piece, and pressed it down.

However, the high temperature penetrated the defenses again, and although it was better than before, it still made his fingers sizzle and smoke.

A burnt smell of flesh filled the air.

Mercury was sweating profusely, but he didn't stop. He frantically activated the healing and repair function on his fingertips while enduring the excruciating pain of being repeatedly scalded, and stiffly smashed his broken pieces of metal onto the chessboard one by one.

As Mercury placed the last piece, a strange light flashed in Volcanic Rock's eyes: "Not bad talent and willpower. You clearly have the ability to resist; there's absolutely no need for you to be captured and brought to a place like this."

"I am innocent." Mercury shook his hands, which were still steaming. "I will be released without charge next month."

"Haha." Volcanic Rock chuckled. "I used to be just as naive."

"The news says you slaughtered two hundred people." Mercury looked directly at him.

Volcanic Rock looked at the chessboard, offering no explanation, but instead posed another question: "If someone in your community owned a vicious dog that bit your family, would you kill the dog?"

"Of course," Mercury replied without hesitation.

If his sister or mother were injured, he would absolutely crush that beast's bones to pieces.

“Me too.” The wrinkles on Volcanic Rock’s face seemed to deepen. “But what’s even more disgusting is that there are dozens of dogs in that community, all off-leash, and you can’t find out which one bit your family member. Tell me, what’s wrong with killing all the off-leash dogs?”

Mercury fell silent. He knew that the "dog" Volcanic Rock was referring to was not a real dog.

"I used to have a son, a few years older than you. Unfortunately, he inherited my genes, but he couldn't perfectly control his abilities, which resulted in his face being covered in a rock-like hard crust."

The volcanic rock's voice was devoid of emotion, as if stating some physical phenomenon: "Back then, there was no Hero Act, and superpowered individuals were still rare. He was bullied at school every day. He was very well-behaved, afraid of worrying me, so he didn't tell me anything. But he had no idea how terrible the malice of taking down the dog was. In the end, he died at school."

"However, no one confesses, and the real killer can't be found. What can I do?"

Volcanic Stone picked up the piece in front of him and pushed it two squares forward on the chessboard, where dark red molten iron flowed between the squares.

"All I can do is get rid of all the dogs that aren't leashed in the school." The old man raised his eyelids, staring at Mercury. "Your abilities are severely underestimated in this era. You should join us. This world should belong to 'humans,' not dogs. Mortals should be kept like pets, collared and kept in captivity, only allowed to go for a walk. What makes them think they can sit at the same table and have an equal conversation with us?"