My Talent's Name Is Generator Chapter 1296: Deeply Buried

The restaurant was one of the more extravagant establishments on the planet, built on a floating terrace overlooking a vast city of shimmering towers and glowing avenues. Soft music drifted through the open hall while attendants moved silently between the tables, and the entire place carried the relaxed atmosphere of somewhere where people came to spend ridiculous amounts of money simply because they could.

I found Steve almost immediately.

He was sitting comfortably at one of the finest tables near the edge of the terrace, looking completely at ease with one arm resting over the back of his chair and a drink lazily held in his other hand.

Two women were sitting across from him, one a demon with smooth crimson skin and curved horns, the other a Feran whose fluffy ears occasionally twitched whenever Steve said something particularly outrageous.

I stopped behind a nearby pillar and watched him for a moment. Apparently, three years had done nothing to improve his modesty.

"So there I was," Steve said, leaning back with an exaggerated sigh, "surrounded by six Saint-level Eternals, a rift tearing the sky apart, and everyone was running around like the universe was ending."

The demon woman covered her mouth, already smiling.

"And what did you do?" she asked.

Steve took a slow sip from his glass.

"What else could I do? I handled it."

The Feran girl giggled. "All six?"

"Obviously."

He raised one finger with the solemnity of a scholar explaining something extremely important.

"Three were dealt with directly. Two realized they had made a terrible career decision and ran away. The last one was particularly stubborn, so I closed the rift while fighting him."

"That sounds incredibly dangerous," the demon said.

Steve shrugged.

"It wasn’t that bad."

I nearly laughed. I had known Steve long enough to recognize that tone. Whenever he said something wasn’t that bad, it usually meant he had either nearly died or done something completely ridiculous.

"And then," he continued, "I had to walk all the way back to the city because apparently nobody thought to send someone to pick me up."

The girls laughed again.

I watched him for another few seconds before deciding that I absolutely could not let this opportunity pass.

If Steve wanted to tell stories about himself, then I would give him a story worth remembering.

My appearance began changing beneath my concealment.

My body expanded until I stood nearly seven feet tall, my shoulders broadening and my muscles becoming thick and powerful. My skin turned a deep crimson, two enormous horns curved upward from my forehead, and I deliberately removed the clothing from my upper body so that I looked like some particularly violent demon who had wandered straight out of an ancient battlefield.

I stepped out from behind the pillar, allowing my shadow to fall across Steve. He paused halfway through his next sentence, and the two women immediately looked up as I lowered my head and stared at him.

"You."

Steve slowly turned around, and for several seconds, he simply stared at me before glancing at the demon woman, then back at me, and finally at the demon again.

"Do I know you?"

I crossed my arms and let my voice deepen. "You dare sit here with a demon woman while pretending you are worthy of her?"

Steve blinked, while the demon woman looked thoroughly confused. "I don’t think he’s pretending anything," she said.

Steve nodded appreciatively. "Thank you."

I ignored her and stepped closer, maintaining the threatening expression I had carefully prepared. "You humans are becoming increasingly arrogant."

Steve sighed and placed his glass down. "Listen, big guy, I’m having food."

"You will not leave this place alive."

Steve glanced toward the city below, his expression almost painfully indifferent. "That’s unfortunate."

He sounded so bored that I nearly broke character. Instead, I clenched my fist and stepped forward.

"You insult me?"

"No. I’m just tired."

"Then fight me."

"No."

My eyebrow twitched. "No?"

"I don’t feel like it."

The demon woman burst into laughter, while the Feran girl tried desperately to hide her smile behind her glass. I stared at Steve in disbelief. This was supposed to be my dramatic confrontation, yet somehow he was ruining the entire performance simply by refusing to cooperate.

With a sigh, I suddenly lunged forward and drove my fist toward his stomach.

Steve’s expression changed instantly. His hand moved almost faster than most eyes could follow as a sword appeared in his grasp, black lightning erupting around the blade as he swung it across my incoming fist.

The collision produced a thunderous boom that shook the entire restaurant, sending tables rattling and glasses jumping from their surfaces. Steve slid backward several meters, his chair scraping violently across the floor before he caught himself, and when he finally looked back at me, the laziness had disappeared from his eyes.

"You really want to do this here?"

I grinned.

"You’re afraid."

Steve looked at me as though I had just said something profoundly stupid.

"Fighting inside the city is prohibited."

I raised my chin.

"And?"

"The punishment is death."

"Then come and kill me."

Steve sighed.

"No thanks."

I stared at him.

"You call yourself a warrior?"

"No."

"A member of the Order of Absolute?"

"Yes."

"And yet you refuse to fight?"

Steve shrugged.

"I was going to finish my food."

I felt my patience disappearing.

"You people from the Order of Absolute are nothing but cowards."

That finally changed him. The laziness disappeared from his eyes.

His sword lowered slightly.

"What did you just call us?"

I smiled beneath my demonic features.

"I said I never knew the Order of Absolute was filled with such—"

"Fine."

His voice was suddenly much quieter.

"Let’s go."

Black lightning exploded beneath his feet. The next instant, he vanished. My perception caught him immediately. To me, his movement was almost leisurely, but I deliberately allowed his hand to seize my face.

"Got you."

Steve flashed a faint grin.

Then he accelerated.

The world blurred around us as he dragged me through the sky, leaving the city behind within moments. I allowed him to carry me farther before he released me.

My body plunged toward the ground, and a moment later I crashed into the earth outside the city with enough force to create a massive crater, sending dust and shattered stone rolling across the surrounding landscape.

Steve remained suspended above me, looking down with the same frustratingly calm expression he had worn throughout the fight.

"You done?"

I slowly pushed myself out of the crater and brushed the dust from my shoulders. "You’re stronger than I expected."

Steve stared at me for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I’m getting the feeling you aren’t taking this seriously either."

A grin spread across my face. He was right, but I had no intention of admitting it.

Before he could say anything else, I disappeared from where I stood and reappeared directly in front of him, my fist already driving toward his chest. Roaring flames wrapped around my arm, and the sheer temperature radiating from my fist became so intense that the surrounding Space began to ripple and distort.

Steve’s lazy expression finally vanished. "That’s not normal."

His sword flashed into existence, black lightning surging across its blade as he unleashed a single slash.

Yet within that single movement, a thousand sword strikes erupted in less than a second, each one layered perfectly over the others with terrifying precision. The storm of blades collided with my flaming fist, and for an instant the two forces remained locked together before my punch gradually tore through the barrage.

Steve’s eyes widened. "Seriously?"