《Villain of my own》 Chapter 1 00. ?01/04/2022, the day a global ckout happened, resulting in many deaths; after a week of investigation into why the ckout urred, particr news spread that trees were growing faster and bing impossible to chop; and after another week, dramatic climate changes urred in daily life. Theck of electricity and the malfunction of all man-made items gave the impression that nature was taking control. All animals went insane and ughtered several people, which was so horrible that many people hesitated to leave their homes. HUMANITY FELL. People needed a glimmer of hope and that was ''STONE AGE'' As it was thought impossible to entirely chop down a tree, many people broke down the limbs of the trees and crafted tools needed for survival. Many used their knowledge of the ''stone age'' to hunt the monsters and started to survive by exploring, helping people, and creating groups. In less than six months, everything was destroyed, and when humanity started to rebuild and regain their footing, many fictional monsters as well as dinosaurs started to appear. The gen-z were thrilled and asserted that everything was happening because "mana," which they constantly read about in webtoons and novels, is now being introduced to Earth. While many people gave up, this exnation was enthusiastically supported by the gen-z. Individuals who were powerful enough tobat the monsters began to emerge after months had gone, and they began to exclude a red light. Many said that the red glow was strengthening their body, and peoples began to meditate and learn martial arts to manage the glow. However, approximately four monthster, all people over 50 years who had done so had perished; those who had been hopeful soon became hopeless and realized that the red glow consumed their life-force in order for them to be strong. After humanity had been halved over the past four months, individuals discovered sentient monsters employing magic. This led to the discovery of a blue power that was absorbed from the outside andpressed inside. As magic became more widely employed, people began to harness its elemental powers to safeguard humanity. The core of monsters were utilized to make a means ofmunication and projection, and those numerous creations were employed to amuse humanity. Gold, silver, and copper were used to mize civilization, and associations and governments were gradually developed. It took humanity five years in total to regain their lost equilibrium. Everybody had identified with the new government, which has been constructing cities gradually. As they began mapping, they discovered that all seven continents had been merged, a single, massive penins had formed, and everything had been built from the core. Based on the level of danger, that vast continent was divided into seven zones. *** asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 2 01. THE FALL. ?01/04/2022, the day a global ckout happened, resulting in many deaths; after a week of investigation into why the ckout urred, particr news spread that trees were growing faster and bing impossible to chop; and after another week, dramatic climate changes urred in daily life. Theck of electricity and the malfunction of all man-made items gave the impression that nature was taking control. All animals went insane and ughtered several people, which was so horrible that many people hesitated to leave their homes. HUMANITY FELL. People needed a glimmer of hope and that was ''STONE AGE'' As it was thought impossible to entirely chop down a tree, many people broke down the limbs of the trees and crafted tools needed for survival. Many used their knowledge of the ''stone age'' to hunt the monsters and started to survive by exploring, helping people, and creating groups. In less than six months, everything was destroyed, and when humanity started to rebuild and regain their footing, many fictional monsters as well as dinosaurs started to appear. The gen-z were thrilled and asserted that everything was happening because "mana," which they constantly read about in webtoons and novels, is now being introduced to Earth. While many people gave up, this exnation was enthusiastically supported by the gen-z. Individuals who were powerful enough tobat the monsters began to emerge after months had gone, and they began to exclude a red light. Many said that the red glow was strengthening their body, and peoples began to meditate and learn martial arts to manage the glow. However, approximately four monthster, all people over 50 years who had done so had perished; those who had been hopeful soon became hopeless and realized that the red glow consumed their life-force in order for them to be strong. After humanity had been halved over the past four months, individuals discovered sentient monsters employing magic. This led to the discovery of a blue power that was absorbed from the outside andpressed inside. As magic became more widely employed, people began to harness its elemental powers to safeguard humanity. The core of monsters were utilized to make a means ofmunication and projection, and those numerous creations were employed to amuse humanity. Gold, silver, and copper were used to mize civilization, and associations and governments were gradually developed. It took humanity five years in total to regain their lost equilibrium. Everybody had identified with the new government, which has been constructing cities gradually. As they began mapping, they discovered that all seven continents had been merged, a single, massive penins had formed, and everything had been built from the core. Based on the level of danger, that vast continent was divided into seven zones. *** Year 2035, The semi-lit, 20-meter-long room featured a desk with a name te, a ck book-like object projecting a hologram, and a man leaning on his chair behind the desk. The man appeared to be in his mid-30s, with dark brown hair and brown eyes with dark circles beneath them. The name te disyed, THE ASSOCIATION CHAIRMAN, PARK OH. ==== Park oh, the chairman of the association, has assigned a team to locate the remaining survivors, rumors are circting that the government has disregarded the plea for extra assistance. ==== He grinned at the news disyed on the hologram and leaned back in his armchair. "Stupid jerks. Why, in God''s name, would I look for survivors?" He expressed displeasure, as if he were waiting for something. He chuckled and licked his lips, thinking, ''I''m looking for new predators to cause a panic and seize control of the remaining power from the government of those imbecilic young people.'' "Those green horns who know nothing want to run the government," he grumbled. He was aware that they held more power than he did, which did not sit well with him. -Tzzz His thoughts were interrupted as his wristwatch vibrated. Leaning forward, he took the call. " Report." - "bzzzzt We discovered a new bzzt monster and suspect it to be a bzzt dragon." As he listened the report, his eyes arched and he smirked. ''PREFECT!'' - "No survivors bzzzt were located, but the dragon bzzt we did find appears to be bzzzzt intelligent and is a frost dragon." - "bzzzt estimated elements include bzzzzt water and bzzzzt ice" "Well done. Please try to kill it. I''ll deploy additional reinforcements." He nodded to the information, sat back in his chair, and started thinking. ''I''ll have to make it look like the mission was a failure and make those green horns take responsibility for it'' He had no intention of sending reinforcements, and if they failed, he would have the government take responsibility; if they seeded, he would take full credit. *** Year 2035. INDIA Earth seemed to have returned to the age of the ''DRAGONS''. An arch of clear crystal-like spikes protruded from the ground, and an ant-sized figure with snow white hair was seen striding majestically in the middle of the arch, at a region that was entirely white and covered in ocean blue crystals. Each crystal was the size of a boulder. *** DAY OF SURVIVAL X I eventually arrived at the cave that would be my haven from the icy winter and where I could store enough shattered dragon bones for crafting after much searching. The cave the man entered included a kitchen, a bedroom, a crafting room with numerous crafting tools, and a furnace area with a dying fire. To the right of the furnace, numerous shattered, cracked, twisted, bent, and uneven weapons could be found. I lit the flint I had set next to the furnace thest time I used it, ced the dragon bones inside of it to melt them, and took my sword, bow, and arrows from the subspace before exiting my cave and rushing towards Frostine ''the frost dragon.'' Hmmm... She may have nicknamed herself THE ICE QUEEN, but I don''t know... "Today will be the 100th challenge." We''ve fought a total of 99 times previously, and because I''ve learned everything from Frostine while battling, this will be our final battle. "I''ll definitely defeat her today...for sure." I went towards herir, doubting my own confidence and suddenly my instincts started screaming at me as if something horrible was unavoidably going to happen. I ran at full speed and utilizing mana since I had learnt to trust my instincts the hard way. Chapter 3 02. INTRUDERS. ?The area was entirely white and nketed in snow, with ss-like spikes protruding from the ground. I made my way towards ''THE ICY PEAKS,'' as I had termed it. I''m not sure why, but as I was looking at my surroundings, that name kept recurring in my mind and I decided to steal them. "Huff....Huff" I arrived at the cave''s entrance while gasping for air; I had run for approximately an hour at full pace and couldn''t help but pant for air. "HIC" From the cave, there was the sound ofmentation. I grimaced at the sound and exhaled in relief when I learned who and why there was crying. ''She didn''t notice me here?'' In disbelief, I tilted my head, and a question mark appeared on my face. "Ah....right," I muttered to myself as I ced my fist on my palm, masking my presence as it had be a habit as beasts would notice and attack me on my journey here. Hmmmm... I don''t know about other people, but those little Chibi like character drawings of myself run in my thoughts and act ording to the situation, including that question mark on face and action of realization like putting my fist on my palm. You might say it''s a small room of joy that keeps my thoughts away from all the things I don''t want to remember and generates a humorous tale in any strange situation, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME it creates a funny story in ANY situation. I made my presence known and said, "If you marry me, I promise to write you a new novel every day." "Heeikkkk" The young woman, ''Frostine,'' who had white hair and blue eyes, was reading a book while lying on her bed with a hair bun. When I entered the room, she was startled when she noticed me, which I found so cute that I wanted to annoy...kuhum, tease her. "Wh-what do you mean ''Heeikkkk'' can''t you just marry me?" "arg..... make your presence known when you enter" She grumbled while sitting on her bed with a pout and a flushed face. "Alright. Sorry, were you reading that novel again?" "Yea.... do you remember the scene where the viin died?" she asked in a depressing voice. ''Damnit,'' I can''t help but curse. That was my novel; there were two parts to it. I get angry every time I think about how everything changed; you could say that in order to finish the second part of the novel, I had to put my life on the line; I wrote the second part whenever I had free time aside from fighting. I really liked my novel; the first part was a triumph, but then all this nonsense happened, making it appear as if the world was ending, forcing me to put my novel on hold. Nheless, I persevered andpleted the second section of my novel, filling in all the gaps from the first section, which had previously been published. Which, although I finished it for my own satisfaction, turned out wlessly in the end. Although I was disappointed that no one could read this part, I gave both the first and second parts of my book to Frostine. Frostine had a stronger affection for the antagonist than for the protagonist, and as a result, she wept whenever he died. I was delighted by all of Frostine''s reactions about my book. She turned her head toward me, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. "Do you remember him saying, "I would have lived better if I knew things would turn out like this," as he passed away?" "Yeah" I said, my voice sounded mncholy, I nced at her, she seemed like she was about to cry again, I walked towards her, sat by her, and caressed her head. "But he didn''t even do anything wrong." "Alright alright. Calm down now" He was intended to die there, so even though I didn''t enjoy it, I felt sorry and grieved while I wrote about it. His death changed how the other main characters thought about everything. "Ah right" I was engrossed in the present and forgot why I came here running, "Frostine, can you check surroundings once?" "Why?" "Oh, nothing, we''re just about to spar, and if any monsters bother us, that''ll be a headache, so¡­." She furrowed her brows as she looked at me; she knew me as well as I knew her, and I knew that as long as she was in here, no monster would intrude; She sighed, shook her head and closed her eyes as she released her magic power to check the surroundings; thankfully, she didn''t ask me any questions. She concentrated but couldn''t find anything; however, after looking around a bit more, she discovered a group of eight people carrying magic scrolls moving slowly in the direction of herir. While still inside the cave, Frostine became a dragon when she noticed the group of people. "Wh-what''s going on?" She remained silent and changed into a white, majestic, and graceful frost dragon, standing tall and proud as the cave disintegrated. "GRAAAAOOOOOO" *** "Well done. Please try to kill it. I''ll deploy additional reinforcements." Group of people dressed in a fully padded, Dark Armour. Upon hearing the association chairman''s order, the group moved cautiously toward the frost dragonir. They reasoned that the chairman was acting in this manner because killing the dragon before disclosing its existence is preferable because the dragon posed a threat to humans as long as it was alive. Everyone in the association believed that the chairman would give his life in order to save others, so they wouldply with his requests without question. "Alright. You heard it right, guys: we need to y the dragon before it poses a danger to people." """YES, SIR""" Everyone present their agreed to the words. "Everyone prepare the ''meteor summon'' scrolls; we''ll be killing a dragon so we don''t have to worry about the people''s safety." The group moved cautiously in the direction of their with the intention of ripping off their scrolls once they were a little closer to it, as they moved closer to their, the ground shook and they saw a majestic white dragon emerge from the ground. They couldn''t help but stare in awe at the dragon. Chapter 4 03. INTRUDERS (2). ?Frostine didn''t answer my question before she changed into a dragon, so I knew instinctively that I was right. "Shit" A cuss slipped out of my mouth, and I was conflicted about my instincts. Should I be d that I can fight to keep it from happening, or should I be sad that my damned instincts came true? I don''t know about you, but I''m d I was there and can make an effort to stop any losses. I muttered to myself, "SNOWFLAKES," and leaped off the ground. I used a skill I developed while fighting Frostine; it does exactly what it says; it creates snowkes around me and I can manipte them. I used the snowkes beneath my feet to avoid the debris; from a distance, it appeared as though I was walking on air. I then stood on the snowkes in the air and took in my surroundings; as I did so, my body froze. I searched every nook and cranny of India to the point where you could say I was familiar with every part of it. Because I couldn''t find any humans anywhere in India. I naturally assumed that demons were attacking us because of their greed, as this was not an umon urrence. Humans! I had given up on ever meeting another human while I was still alive because I knew that some would survive but that it would be nearly impossible to meet them because I would have to search the entire earth for any clue about them. Frostine, who was flying in front of me, spoke as I continued to stare dazed. [I don''t believe they''vee with good intentions.] Frostine''s voice was transmitted in my head which snapped me out of my daze, [Right], I said with a bitter smile. I hadn''t seen another human in ten years, and since I myself am one of them, I was aware of their avarice. Demons and humans are only slightly different since a demon''s avarice is limitless. As a powerful magic power was constantly seeping out of the papers that they are attempting to rip off, I too was aware that they are not here with good intentions. They were a powerful group of people; I''m not sure how they used all that magic power, but they had a lot of it. I didn''t have as much magic power, but I knew that I had more control over it than they did. I was just feeling conflicted about the fact that my first human encounter in ten years turned out to be malicious. Frostine charged her breath, I sensed the magic power in Frostine''s charged breath, and I knew that she was merely trying to warn them to turn around. "Ha" I chuckled unintentionally as I realized that she was doing that for me. [What?] [Nothing. Pfft continue.] I struggled to contain myughter as I observed a massive lizard....kuhum dragon bing embarrassed. "Pfft, sorry, pfft hahahahahahahaha" I tried to contain myself, but I couldn''t help butugh out loud as I watched Frostine''s ear start to turn slightly red. *** The group moved cautiously in the direction of their with the intention of ripping off their scrolls once they were a little closer to it. Some of the scrolls were of "invisibility," which they intended to do together with the "meteor summon" scroll; the meteor would be invisible until it was close enough for the dragon to not escape. As they moved closer to their, the ground shook and they saw a majestic white dragon emerge from the ground. They couldn''t help but stare in awe at the dragon, and soon after the dragon soared to the air, they saw some human-like figure walking in the air and following the dragon. The group squinted their eyes to get a better view of the human-like figure. Everyone froze in shock when they saw a human with white long hair walking in air with the same majesty as the dragon. He calmly walked in air and stood next to the dragon. Both the group and the dragon stood motionless as they exchanged looks. When they noticed the dragon''s eyes turning to the human behind it, they realized that if they didn''t act now, they would never have a chance. The group leader slightly turned his head to look at his team as they turned to face him, then he nced at the scrolls as well. When they saw the meaning in their captain''s eyes, they nodded in agreement. "NOW," he said quietly, and the group ripped the scrolls in their hands without hesitation. "Pfft, sorry, pfft hahahahahahahaha" They turned to face theughter and saw a human-like figureughing; they all assumed he wasughing at them and red at him with the intent to kill. ''How dare a mere monsterugh at us'' They all thought the same thing because they had always fought on the frontlines to defend their homes and people, they all took pride in their work, and when they saw himughing, their pride as warriors defending their home was hurt. The leader bit his lip furiously, letting blood drip from it as he red at the human-like figure in the air. Despite having the urge to kill the figure this instance, the leader resisted because he knew that he would have thestugh. *** Frostine concentrated on her breath and suddenly felt a strong killing intent directed at them; this time she concentrated on her breath not to warn but to kill. I pulled out my bow to fire a warning shot at them after sensing a strong killing intent directed towards us. I didn''t understand why they suddenly intended to kill us, but that didn''t matter now. I pulled the string and began to use my magic to form an arrow when suddenly, the magical power that was oozing from the papers they were holding abruptly stopped. When the magic suddenly stopped, I winced and my instincts warned me to flee. "Frostine ru.." I was about to scream at her to run away. -RIIP I heard something ripping, and then an intense heat suddenly enveloped us before a meteor suddenly materialized above us and knocked us to the ground. I saw mud for the first time in a long time, though it was gradually turning into moltenva. My vision blurred, and before I knew it, tears were rolling down my cheeks and my body felt like it was melting. However, I had one question. I opened my mouth to ask it, but nothing came out. It felt like a lump was stuck in my throat. My lips trembled as I attempted to speak, but all I wanted to know was, "w-why?" A moment before the heat engulfed us Frostine drew me to her and hugged me, as she pulled me towards her, I saw her ripped-wing. As she hugged me, I could feel all the magic power leaving her body. My nose caught a strong whiff of burning flesh. I ignored it and tilted my head to look at her, she was smiling with her eyes closed, a tear rolled down from one of them, I felt my heart sank but suddenly fire lit near her heart and a rock fell on the ground burning its way through her heart, I felt my eyes wide open. All I could do from that point on was feel as my body moved on its own. My body moved to the side as my feet caught fire and felt as if they were melting, not burning, but melting. The pain was excruciating, but my body still moved. I don''t know why, but my body moved to the side until her entire body was in my line of sight. However, what I saw could not be described as her entire body; only the area where I was being protected remained intact; her back waspletely gone, and bones could be seen protruding from her body. My legs gave out as I knelt in front of this traumatic scene, and my knees immediately caught fire. "Ah." Unconsciously, I said in a mncholy tone, "Pfft, sorry pfft hahahaha" I turned to look at the source of theughter and saw a group of individuals holding their stomachs whileughing and pointing at us. "Do you find it funny?" Chapter 5 04. INTRUDERS (3). ?The leader bit his lip furiously, letting blood drip from it as he red at the human-like figure in the air. Despite having the urge to kill the figure this instance, the leader resisted because he knew that he would have thestugh. "Six seconds more." he mumbled. ''6,5,4,3,2,'' he began counting down the seconds until the scrolls activated. ''NOW,'' he thought, a grin on his face. "Frostine ru.." He flinched when he heard the roar, but he knew it was toote for them to avoid it, so his grin deepened. Soon after a meteor appeared above the dragon and the human-shaped monster and knocked them to the ground, they saw a wave of white snow rise from the impact and soon felt a hot wave steam hit them, which was so hot that it felt like their lungs were burning when they breathed. "Cast wind and water barriers" He wasn''t their leader for nothing, he quicklymanded his team to cast magic shields, and soon magic shields of water and wind manifested in front of the group, with a wind barrier createdyer above the water barrier. After a minute, they removed the barriers and discovered a thickyer of snow forming a tomb and blocking their view. They began digging their way through the snow, but the tomb copsed on them as soon as they began. Only their heads poked out of the snow, and they stared at each other, dumbfounded, trying to hold back theirughter. Soon, solemn expressions reced their smiling faces, as they realized the situation was dire and they couldn''t afford to make jokes. He walked towards the area where the meteor fell, the meteor turned into blobs of light and started to disappear, they saw the dragons backpletely burnt and bones poking out, a small smile appeared on the group members face, They started to imagined the praises of them being called the ''dragon hunters'' and rewards they would receive when they return. The smile on their faces soon faded when they saw the human figure walk to the side but as they saw his actions, they knew that he was devastated from his loss, they remembered the moment heughed at them and it enraged them, they all started to look at each and brief silence descended. "Pfft, sorry hahahahaha," The first to break the silence was their leader who was pointing andughing at the dead dragon and the human like figure who was on his knees, a trace of shock shed on the faces of the group members, they knew that their leader had a huge pride and was petty person but tough at a loss of another did not sit right with them. but, "Pfft." All the members turned towards the sound and saw a guy with his hands on his mouth and disgust washed the faces of the members who were looking at him. "Do you find it funny?" A hoarse voice was heard which sounded extremely cold, they turned stiff when they heard the voice but they soon regained theirposure and turned towards the voice. They flinched when they meet the hollow eyes of human-like figure whose legs were on fire, the figure looked like it was devoid of any emotions. *** He wasughing while holding his stomach and pointing at the direction of the dead, he knew what he was doing now was disgusting but as he was petty person, he thought what he was doing now was correct. ''How dare youugh at me?'' he thought as heughed. "Do you find it funny?" He stoppedughing when he heard the voice and let out a long sigh while looking at the ground and shook his head. "Haaaa, what did you expect?" he said with his head still facing below. "Well," the human-like figure answered, ''Fisssss'' sound of steam rising rang out. Splurt. "Nothing really." The voice came from behind this time. He turned his head to the back in an instant as chills ran down his spine. There stood apletely white humanoid figure with ck aura oozing out and blood dripping from his hands. He noticed that every member of his group was motionless in a pool of blood, each with a hole in their heart. When he saw the humanoid figure''s face, he froze in terror; its bright orange eyes with vertical ck pupils were emotionless, and it was smiling, which appeared traumatizing. He was confident that if he worked with his team, they would be able to defeat any enemies or monsters that stood in their way. Of course, he was confident in his team because he had fought alongside them on the frontlines with the belief that they were defending humanity as a whole, but now he stared at the seven cold bodies lying in a pool of blood. He raised his head slowly and looked at the human-like figure; he waspletely white, like a perfectly cut human-shaped crystal, and his arms and legs were clear ss-like crystals. "Y-you monster." he said while trembling. "Monster?" humanoid figure started to look around. "Me?" it asked while pointing at itself with a genuinely confused face. ''what''s with that reaction?'' he thought while shivering. "No. No, no, no, no, no." "I''m a human, or was until you guys showed up." The humanoid figure answered. ''WHAT?'' he thought. Is he a human? He seemed genuinely surprised because he had assumed that he was just a human-like monster, simr to how the dragon was an intelligent and arrogant monster. He then tried to recall why he hadn''t realized that he was a human right away. No. He simply told himself that the human figure he sawughing at him was a monster who had to be killed. He realized his error, but he was still furious that heughed at him when he arrived to rescue any survivors. ''I''m a human, or was until you guys showed up.'' He suddenly remembered what he had said and realized that the man in front of him is no longer human. What? How? How is he no longer a human? Many questions arose in his mind, and he turned to face the humanoid figure to ask them, but the way he was looking at him sent chills down his spine; as soon as their eyes met, many thoughts raced through his mind, ''I''m going to die.'' ''I have to kneel.'' ''I have to apologize.'' He had no idea why, but he knew what had to be done. The man standing in front of him had a majestic yet terrifying appearance, like an existence that shouldn''t be angered. He kneeled, his pride telling him that what he was doing was correct, no other thoughts crossed his mind, and he kneeled with his hands and head on the ground. His mind told him that everything that was happening right now was the way it had always been and would always be. "I-I''m s-sorry." "Pl-please spa-spare m-me." He didn''t know why he was apologizing, but he did, he didn''t know why he was pleading for his life, but he did, he didn''t know why he kneeled, but he did, he knew he''d die, but he needed to do it if he wanted to die painlessly. Step, step, step He felt the man''s gaze on him and began to tremble uncontrobly. He flinched and closed his eyes when he felt a hand on his head, picking him up. He slowly opened his eyes after feeling a breath near his face and instantly froze. He noticed that the man''s face was so close that it looked like their noses were in contact. He saw bright orange eyes with vertical ck pupils which were emotionless. "Don''t worry, I''ll kill you painlessly, but only after I''m done." Those were thest words he heard before passing out from pain. Chapter 6 05. INTRUDERS (4). ?I turned to look at the source of theughter and saw an individual holding his stomach whileughing and pointing at us. "Do you find it funny?" I asked while ring at them. "Haaaa, what did you expect?" He asked me while sighing as if he was disappointed from the situation. "Well," I stood on my feet. Frostine asked me not to use this technique until I hadplete control over it, but it''s not she can scold me now. ''Heh'' I chuckled with a bitter smile. ''Frost Devil'' I muttered inside my head. ''Fisssss'' steam rose from my legs blowing out the lit fire. Cold chilling mana ran through my entire body, my eyes felt hot, and my skin began to turn progressively paler, only stopping when my entire body turned white and crystalized, my hands and legs transformed into clear ss-like crystals. I felt a wave of excruciating pain wash over me. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. At the same time, the chilling mana was gradually moving closer and closer to my brain, and I could feel my mind and emotions numbing. I could see why Frostine asked me not to use it; my mind was consumed by a desire to destroy that only grew stronger and stronger. I felt omnipotent and omniscient. Everything that was going on inside my body stopped and I was facing towards the sky. I turned my head towards the group with an open mouth, which was soon reced with a wide smile, the guy who wasughing had his face down, staring at the ground, while the rest of his group were looking at guy behind them, the guy who wasughing felt stronger than the rest, so I left him for thest. I took a step and instantly appeared in the middle of the group. I punched a hole in their hearts before they could even react, and every time I moved, I saw mana and space twist. ''KILL'' I didn''t pay any attention to that sudden thought; SPLURT The sound came after I had already punched through the hearts of all seven people. "Nothing really." I said as I stood behind him. He turned his head towards me and shivered slightly, a grin appeared on my face as I looked at the guy who wasughing at Frostine''s death shiver, he looked at my bloodied hands and his dead teammates with holes in their hearts, he stood there silently trying to understand what happened, he slowly raised his head, saw my face, and froze before finally opening his mouth, "Y-you monster." He spoke. "Monster?" I was taken aback when he abruptly called me a monster, I nced around to make sure if he was calling me a monster, however I found nobody around us. "Me?" In disbelief, I pointed at myself. I saw my hands crystallized in clear ss like crystals and realized why he called me that, but "No. No, no, no, no, no." "I''m a human, or was until you guys showed up." ''KILL'' voice rang in my head. I have no intention of letting those who have hurt me live, and I''m not naive enough to let those who have attempted to kill me or kill what is mine get away with it. "WHAT?" he eximed, surprised, as if he hadn''t expected it. I frowned at him, but he was lost in thought, staring at the bodies. Just by looking at him, I could tell what he was thinking; he had dered me to be a monster on his own, and his expressions changed constantly as he was shocked, realized, and became angry. I was annoyed to see him lost in thought andpletely oblivious to the fact that I was there, and my frown deepened as I red at him. How insolent of him. ''KILL,'' the voice rang in my head again, and my eyes began to hurt, as if they were burning, I smiled with my eyes still locked on him, a sudden thought crossed my mind, Why did theye here? Which was soon followed by many other questions. Why did they try to kill us? How and why did theye here if they were with other humans? Is he really the one who targeted us? But why? An excruciating pain washed over from my heart; my face twisted even more. ''F**k it. It doesn''t matter anymore.'' I thought because I can''tst any more as the source for this technique has not been changed yet, I''ll die, I have an hour at Max. While I was lost in my own world, he lifted his head and looked at me; he froze and began to tremble uncontrobly; he kneeled and bowed with his hands and head on the ground. "I-I''m s-sorry." "Pl-please spa-spare m-me." When I heard a trembling voice pleading for his life, I snapped out of my thoughts and saw the man who had been in his own world until now was trembling and on his knees. I approached him and red at him for a brief moment, then crouched down and ced my hand on his head to lift him up to my line of sight; many thoughts were racing through my mind, but now everything else was dominated by a single thought, DESTROY. That single thought has been running in mind making it hard for me to think, "Don''t worry. I''ll kill you painlessly, but only after I''m done." I said with grin on my face. ''Brain storm'' I muttered in my head. Air around his head grew cold, turned visibly white and made its way to his brain from his ears, mouth and nostrils. ''Brain storm'' numbs the brain making it easier to extract information, and if a bit of magic power usage is increased it can be considered a best form of torcher as the mental torcher is different and pain is immeasurable. ''Extract and ess'' I muttered. Hmmmm.....you can say that it''s a magic I created from seeing how simple the name is, it has many other uses but let''s leave it at that for now, and all magic spells I created have very simple naming as I don''t have a higher naming sense, so don''t expect much. "We discovered a new monster and suspect it to be a dragon." "No survivors were located, but the dragon we did find appears to be intelligent and is a frost dragon." "Estimated elements include water and ice." "Well done. Please try to kill it. I''ll deploy additional reinforcements." "Alright. You heard it right, guys: we need to y the dragon before it poses a danger to people." """ YES, SIR.""" "Everyone prepare the ''meteor summon'' scrolls; we''ll be killing a dragon so we don''t have to worry about the people''s safety." I closed my eyes to read his memories, his memories and the most recent conversation flood into my mind, I got the location of the city and everything he saw, and there were things I didn''t want to see, my face cringed at the way he flirts, or should I say talks, anyway, I got the information on who ordered him. I cringed a little as I looked at him, this all happened as my urge to destroy was still acting up; it''s not like I can''t control it, but everything I look at seems to be begging for me to destroy it. I know that at any moment I could lose control, and by the time Ie to my senses, I''ll already be dead. "Guh." an almost inaudible voice came out from his mouth. Hmmm... I thought for a while if I should kill him more painfully or... "Oh well," I did say I''d kill him painlessly, so whatever. SPLURT. THUD. His head rolled down towards my leg, and no matter how hard I tried not to be disrespectful to the dead, his lustful way of speaking to women rang in my head, I shivered from the cringe and kicked his head. I turned to face the tallest mountain here, which I had always wanted to see from above; perhaps this was for the best. I took a step towards the mountain and disappeared from the ce I stood. "Oh wow, I''m faster than I thought." I found myself moving at an extremely fast speed and noticed that the pulling force was low, despite the fact that I was climbing the mountain very quickly and sensed that the mana in the air was making way for me, allowing me to move like that. I smiled as I suddenly remembered the phrase, ''I''m fast as f**k boi.'' "Hahahahaha," I ran joyfully towards the top, dodging many obstacles along the way, and found myself almost at the clouds. I didn''t stop and sped up even more, and soon I could feel myself in the clouds. I''m not sure if the clouds are normally this thick or if it became this thick due to mana, but I loved it. "Hahahahahaha," Iughed to hearts content. As I reached the top, the sun was shining brighter than ever, and nothing could be seen from above because everything was shrouded in thick clouds; if I had to describe what I was seeing in a single word, it would be, HEAVENLY. Yes, it was heavenly. "Wooaaahh" I eximed unconsciously. "Ha," I chuckled as I looked at the view; it was the most rxing view I''d ever seen in my life; everything I saw and felt came from social media; the view described in many social medias, which I thought was an exaggeration, was real. I sat at the top for a few moments, admiring the view before leaping off. I felt as if my consciousness faded away as soon as I leaped off, but I could still feel what was happening; only control over my body was lost; I thought I could enjoy the scenery a little more, but oh well, it can''t be helped. *** In a 20-meter-long semi-lit room. A man in his mid-thirties with dark brown hair and wrinkles on his temples and wide-open brown eyes with dark circles below them sat behind a desk with a namete, a ck book-like device that was showing news, and a stack of papers next to him. He appeared to be scribbling something, and the sound of him doing so reverberated throughout the room. The room was filled with the scent of ink and wood. SCRIBBLE. He stopped what he was doing and leaned back in his chair, lifting his right arm and cing it on his eyes, he seemed to be exhausted from his work. "Haa.... why is there no response yet?" He let out a long sigh and mumbled in a low tone. It had been nearly two hours since he issued the orders to eliminate the newly found dragon, and he was confident in the group because they were the most elite group in the association, so he should have heard the report from them by now. ''Were they killed?'' He thought and suddenly discarded the thought waving his hand in front of him. ''That is not possible.'' He reasoned that even he, an S-rank, wouldn''t be confident in defeating them if they worked together, and that a dragon shouldn''t pose much of a threat because the group had been sent in whole, but he had a very uneasy feeling. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. ''What?'' He jerked back and sat up straight, sensing something eerie. "Huuu." he ced his hand on his chest, exhaled and calmed down or at least he tried. In his ten years of fighting monsters, he had been saved many times by his instincts, and he was familiar with the sense of danger, but what he was feeling now was different. Whatever it was, he decided to trust it, so he pushed the desk forward, took a step back, and began to channel all of his mana around his entire body, creating six mana balls above him, while the pressure his body excluded, which seemed to be merged with his mana, created cracks beneath his feet. "..." He carefully examined every corner of the room, and cracks began to form on the ss windows. "Who goes there." he said in a hoarse voice. Ba-bump, Ba-bump, Ba-bump, Ba-bump. His heartbeat sped up; he was certain that something was wrong, but he had no idea what it was. "Who goes there, I said." he said in cold voice. "..." "I''ll count to three, and if you don''te out, I''ll destroy the entire room." "..." He was meet with silence, he was certain he would live, even if hepletely destroyed the space he was in, ''could it be the government sent them?'' he thought, he couldn''t cancel out the possibility of the government being involved. ''F**k it,'' he thought, and began counting, ready to destroy the room. "3.... 2....1" "Peekaboo." Chapter 7 06. THE NEW WORLD. ?"3.... 2....1" He started counting down, it was amusing I wanted him get scared even more. "Peekaboo." "What the f**k." he yelled. He ced his hand on his heart and looked at me in shook, his face was twisted from anger. "Hehehehe" A creepyugh escaped my mouth, the situation was amusing on its own now his scared face was like the cheery on top. ''More, more, more, more.'' "Hehehe" "This crazy bastard." He yelled on top of his lungs, veins started to bulge on his forehead. He channeled his mana and shot towards me with a low ''boom'', he appeared and stopped right in front of me with his left foot in front and his right fist iing to hit my face, it was a boxing jab, his actions were amusing to watch, I lifted my left palm towards my cheek and pointed my index finger at the iing punch. Splurt "Guh" "What?" he looked at his right fist which was bleeding, dumbfounded. My index finger had pierced his fist, it all happened in matter of a second, looking at his dumbfounded face a grin appeared on my face. ''More, more, more, more, ...more,'' I twisted my index finger which was piercing his fist, 180 degrees in lock opening manner. "Gaaaa" he held his fist and agonized in pain. My grin grew deeper looking at his face which was agonizing in pain, I punched his face with my right fist, a circr wind pressure formed, and I heard something crack when I punched his face, he flew to the other side of the room and hit his back to the wall, breaking it, and flew to the other building wall with a ''boom''. Slump My grin came to a halt as his body which slumped to the ground showed no moments, I walked up to him and red at him, he showed no signs of life. "What happened?" "Isn''t that the association chairman?" "Is he dead?" "What''s that? Is that a monster?" "Monster!" "Whaaaa" "Run! It''s a monster." Many people gathered at the scene and fled when they saw me, children were crying, panicked men and women ran left and right, brave people gathered magic power to attack, and others bought reinforcements. I grinned as I began to walk towards the group of people who had gathered enough magic power to attack. ''More, more, more, more, more, more'' ? My face grimaced in pain as my head began to hurt. ''More, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more'' "Hehehehehehehehe" *** Do you want to know what happened after that? For your pleasant surprise, I''m alive. I mean, I died once, but I was reborn. I remembered my past life when I was three years old, my name is max. ''Yes, only max.'' Why did I have to remember my past life when I was three? Why not from birth? Hmmmm..... I don''t know, maybe because my instincts are excellent? "Haha." I let out a dryugh. I remembered them when I was ying hide-and-seek with my father to which I got the best hider award. Why? Dundundundundun Because he never came back! Hahahahaha. Yes. Yes, I was abandoned. He said "Go hide anywhere I''ll bring your mother and we''ll find you together." I got my memories when he bought me out of the house, he took me to a forest and said that we are ying hide-and-seek, a thunderbolt struck in my head ''This pattern!'' I remembered this pattern, he patted my back towards the forest and turned back to leave, I just stood there in gape and looked at him leave. "Haha....I''m abandoned aren''t I" I let out dryugh, ''I''m f**ked'' I thought. ¡­...what do you want me to do? I was f**king three-year-old.... kuhum enough curses, maybe he wanted me to die, because the forest he left me in was filled with demons and poisonous gases, anyway, bad for him I survived. I remember being was told that I was getting a baby brother, well anyway, it''s none of my business now. Do I hate them? Of course, I do. What am I going to do them? Nothing, only if they don''t meddle in my life. *** EARTH, Year 2023. This world is divided into four continents: the elven domain near the north, ''Forlond.'' The dwarven domain in the east, ''Highalduhr.'' ''The demon realm'' near the west, and the human domain near the south. The human domain is thergest of all continents; the human domain is divided into seven different sectors based on its danger levels; though there is no safe ce, sector seven has a 5-10 percent spawn rate of dungeon F-D and monsters of grade 1-3 and sector one has been upied by monsters of grade-10 and rank S-SSS dungeons. Sectors seven, six, five, and four have a high poption density. The hero association is in sector seven, and many guilds are in sectors six, five, and four; however, the top ten guilds are in sectors three and two, where monster and gate spawn rates are higher, with monsters of grade 8-10 and gates of rank AA- S beingmon. Sectors three and two have a low poption density. Portals connect all sectors, making it easier to move from one to the other. Sector five ''ELOMORT'' has an academy which trains heroes, the academy is called ''SWITCH''. The human domain and the dwarven domain have a trading rtionship; the elven domain has yet to make any contact with the human domain. Magic has had a significant impact on this world. Those who have discovered their ''TRAIT'' can use magic more freely with the aid of their ''SYSTEM'' and can be stronger through training until they have reached the limit of their talent rank. People who have not awakened their ''TRAIT'' can only use basic magic of ''mana bullet'' and ''mana shield'' and their growth stops if they have not awakened their ''TRAIT'' by the age of 18. *** Sector five ''ELMORT'' is filled with sky scrapers, which are primarily amodations for those who attend the academy, though its lively, food, and other amenities are only for basic or urgent needs, and sectors seven and six are rmended for high quality necessities. In a 50-meter-long, well-furnished room. RIIIIING The rm sounded, which was a grey cylinder 15 centimeters long with a blue window hovering over it, next to the luxurious white king-sized bed with a figure curled up in the middle, a handsome man with white hair woke up and sat wiping his eyes, opened his eyes which were bright orange, they shone for a brief second. RIIIING "Tch" I looked at the rm in irritation, I just woke up and this damn rm is irritating me early in the morning. RIIIING "This damn..." I quickly picked up the rm and was about to swing it down to the floor and suddenly remembered that it wasn''t my rm, I bit my lip trying control my irritation. ''The hotel saved you.'' I thought as I turned off the rm and red at it for a moment. -DING I turned to face the table where I had left my smart watch, ced the rm clock on the table, and took my smart watch; a blue window appeared, disying the notification. Old geezer: [Make sure to visit me today at SWITCH.] "Ah, right." I remembered that I was the one who set the rm, I nced at the clock which was ced on the table. "..." "Ahem....mhmm." I turned around, embarrassed, and made my way to the shower, I took a shower and came back, took out my ck tuxedo suit and wore it. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself. "Gotta say, I''m damn handsome." I picked up all of my belongings and ced them on the bed, then waved my hand in the air, space twisted, and a small blue portal opened up in the air, it was my ''SUBSPACE'' magic, I put all my belongings I bought in it and walked towards the door. The only disadvantage of using the magic I invented was that it required a lot of mana. CLANK -DING My smart watch suddenly rang as I made my way out of the room, I checked the notification. Old geezer: [Where are you?] [I''m leaving now you damn geezer.] A blue keypad appeared and hovered in front of me; I replied as I entered the elevator and pressed the 1F> button, as I was in 31st floor. *** In the underground garage of the hotel, hmmmm, if I remember correctly my bike should be somewhere around here. "There." Instead of a headlight, it had a rectangr shape white led light, so I took out the key from the subspace and pressed the unlock button; if I need it, it can be summoned to where I am, but it''s more fun to park and unpark on its own. VROOOM The exhaust reverberated throughout the garage. "Hahaha." *** I noticed many things in this world after I came out side of the forest, hmmmm... I think he; I mean that old geezer ''Quinn Walker'' came to that forest, I was in, on a mission I think, I saved him from demons, unfortunate for him only he survived, I followed him out of the forest and learned many things about the world on our way out and parted ways, he gave me his spare smart watch with some money in it and said he would contact me time to time. Iter found out that he was the SWITCH academy''s chairman, he said that he would sponsor me if I wanted to study in switch but I refused, now that I''m 19, he is calling me to be a professor, I thought for a bit and agreed to it, mainly because I didn''t have anything else important to do. Oh yea, I was talking about the things I noticed in this world. To my surprise, this world turns out to be my own novel, though I have yet to confirm it because I haven''t met the main characters yet, so I''m not sure whether it''s the first or second part of my novel. Oh, and I''m the viin ''MAX,'' or middle boss, if you will. I have no intention of living as a viin because I love the world I created; I will live my life the way I want, and we''ll see how it turns out. As I rode towards SWITCH; I have to say, its huge not just huge, like HUGE, huge. You understand? SWITCH academy is a massive structure. it''s like taking a map of sector five and cing a donut in the middle of it. It can easily fit about a million people inside of it. I parked my bike nearby and walked towards the academy''s entrance when I noticed two strong men guarding it. Judging by the aura they give off; I believe they are both rank-A or AA. As expected of a switch, having a rank-A individual guard it must have cost at least 1000 golds, which is the same amount required for a family of two to livefortably for the next five years. "Stop. Please show us your ID." "Here you go." === Name: Eshwar Frost. Age: 19 Date of birth: 1-04-2004 Height: 5.9 [OR code] === I politely gave my ID card to them; the man took the ID to check and other man walked towards me with a ck rod like device which is a mana sensor, it reads and registers the mana of the individual in question, a blueser like light came out of the mana sensor and scanned me top to bottom and it blinked in green light once it was done. "Here you go, Sir Frost." "Thank you for your co-operation." The men politely bowed and returned my ID. Yes, I have registered my name as ''ESHWAR'', Eshwar was my name in my past life, so I used it, because I think the family who abandoned me wanted me dead so I used my past life''s name to register myself, and Frost to remember Frostine. "Thank you for your hard work." I thanked them with a smile and walked inside the entrance, it was a long walkway made with white marbles tiles, many students wearing the Switch academy uniform were walking around, some stood in a circle and some stood leaning towards their ssroom door ways. "Did you guys see the news about white swan?" "Yea, he''s so cool!" "But doesn''t he kill people?" "Yeah, he does, but he only kills bad people." "Really?" "Yeah, and he gives money to families of the bad guys he killed." "Woah, that''s so cool!" Many students were talking about something, I didn''t hear much and walked towards the end of the hallway. Guh, where is his damn office. "Ah, excuse me." I called out to the girl walking in front of me, she had dark brown hair which was pony tailed and hey, her body curves were pretty good from behind, if I have to say so myself. "Yes?" she asked. She turned around to face me, she had bright green eyes with pale white face with some baby fat in her cheeks and she was beautiful, I think she was startled by my sudden call, I politely smiled at her. "Sorry, but can you please show me the way to the chairman''s office?" "..." She just stood there in daze; I didn''t know what to do in this situation. I kept my smile and titled my head in confusion. "Hello?" "...so handsome." she mumbled. "Yes?" She said in a low voice but I heard her and was taken aback by the suddenpliment. I just realized that being handsome can be troublesome in its own way. "Ahem..... thank you?" ".....did you hear that, I''m so sorry." She bowed and apologized with a flushed face. "Ahem...can you please show me the way to the chairman''s office?" "Ah, yes. Yes, please follow me." "Thank you." I thanked her with a smile and followed her from behind to the chairman''s office. Chapter 8 07. ISHA WALKER. ?I followed the girl who said she would lead me to the chairman''s office. "Um, excuse me." "Yes?" she asked. She turned to face me looking confused as to why I called her. "I know it''ste, but what''s your name?" "Ah, I''m Katharine Glover." "I''m Eshwar Frost, nice to meet you, Ms Glover." "Nice to meet you too, Sir Frost." I nodded my head with a smile and we continued to walk towards the chairman''s office. Katharine Glover, one of the characters in my novel, second child of the Glover family which is one of the 7 big families, she is the muscle head.... Ahem hmmmm... She''s still a brute though, she''s a sword wilder,petitive, ignorant, cute and a bit clumsy type, and there''s your brief on her. Her steps came to a halt and turned to face me, I was tilted my head a bit in confusion, she pointed towards a room. "Here is the chairman''s office." She said with a smile on her face. "Ah, thank you." I scratched the back of my head and walked towards the door, I held the door handle and looked at her, she still stood near me, our eyes met, she nodded her head and walked away. I turned my head back towards the door. "Oi, I''ming in." CLANK I walked in without waiting for him to answer, he sat behind his desk which was piled up with papers and some other envelopes. The room was spacious, it gave off a very homely feel, like when we visit our grandparents house, with a ss window that covered half of the wall behind him, a sofa and table in front of his desk and a 5 by 5 shelf full of books to his right. The man with grey hair and obsidian ck eyes, rose from his seat and walked with a bright weing smile. He appears to be in his fifties, but he is actually 94 years old. "You are here Eshwar, sit, sit." He smiled brightly and approached me with open arms, hugged me, and led me to the sofa, where he sat next to me. "Haa." I sighed. "Hmm... what''s wrong?" he asked me with a confused look in his face. "You know why, you damn old geezer." He ces too much trust in others. I don''t want anything to happen to him anytime soon, and every time I tell him not to trust people so easily, he readily agrees, so I can''t even say anything to him. "Hahaha, don''t worry." "Haa." I sighed at his words once again, this why I can''t say anything to him. "So, why do want me to be a professor so suddenly?" I''ve been curious as to why he chose me as a professor; there are many people waiting in the wings to enter SWITCH, mostly for the fame and for their own reasons; there are many people he could choose from, so why me? "Hahaha, don''t worry about it." he said without answering to my question. "Haa, my head." I pressed my brows in frustration, he must have a reason for suddenly choosing me as a professor, I decided not pry about it, but he says it so innocently that I can''t even rebuke him. "...Ok then, from when?" "In a week''s time." "Is it because the freshmen will being in a week?" "Yup." He nodded at my words. "All right, give me some material to go over so that I can actually teach them something." "Wait a minute." He stood up and walked over to his desk, where he brought me some papers that he was writing when I walked in. He handed me the papers, which I read and concluded he was serious about choosing me as a professor. "These are the fundamental topics taught here; you can learn and teach them in your own way." He spoke in serious tone. "Hmm... So, who are the opponents I defeat?" To join SWITCH there are two ways. One, you canplete your training and be ced among the top 10,000 out of a million, and then you can join Switch. Two, defeat five cadets and steal one of their ranks; the cadet whose rank is stolen is expelled from the academy. "Ranks which don''t attract much attention are above rank-500. Hmm... Choose above 650-660." Defeating the ranks already draws too much attention; if I want to live in peace, I should do as he says and defeat ranks above 650-660. I don''t like being the center of attention as it gets too annoying. ''He knows me too well, dammit'' "All right, I''ll leave for the time being; is there anything else you want to say?" I stood up from the seat and looked at him, he pondered for a minute. "Oh, you can choose an assistant professor to help you with." He finally opened his mouth and spoke. "Hmmm... Then, I''ll choose one from my side so, look into it and grant me the permission." I ced my hand on the handle and was about to leave, but I stopped when I suddenly remembered that we haven''t talked about contract duration, ''first let''s work for a year and see how it goes.'' "Oh, make a contract of a year and send it to me please, I''ll be leaving, bye." I said as was about leave, if I stay longer he''ll say something about the duration. "Wait." His voice turned solemn. "You," he said, giving me a serious look. I titled my head, perplexed by his sudden change in behaviour, but his next words had me frozen. "When are nning on marrying my granddaughter?" "..." ''This goddamn old man!'' I pressed my lips together trying to control any ire. CLANK "Haa." I walked out without saying anything this time, and I noticed a beautiful woman with a fair pale white face, ck hair, and obsidian ck eyes, dressed in a ck turtle neck top that reached her thighs and ck tights, which entuated her figure beautifully, she approaching me, no, not me, but the office. She gave off a cold, indifferent vibe. ''Woah.'' She was so beautiful that I stood there dazed. I soon snapped out of it, shook my head, and looked at her again, this time to analyse her; she was talented, as talented as the main character in my novel. If she''s here then it means she''s maybe a cadet, and she''s talented. I''m not sure why, but it seems like she''s not aware of her talent because she''s only using half of it. How do I know this? I can see the mana veins and aura veins inside the individual''s body, which allows me to determine the flow of mana and the size of their mana veins. I believe she is a mage, but her body is built forbat; her mana flow is faster and easier, allowing her to move like a veteran if only taught some basic closebat techniques. If I can make her my assistant professor, it will make my life a lot easier, and I will be able to teach her a lot of things, allowing her to fully utilise her talent. "Excuse me." she shook in a cold tone. "Yes?" I awoke from my reverie when I heard a sweet voice and looked at her as she stood close to me. "Could you please move?" In confusion, I titled my head back and discovered that I was still standing near the office door. "Ah yes, yes." I made my way to the side in embarrassment. "Um, excuse me." "Yes?" She came to a halt and turned around to face me while holding the door handle; she titled her head, confused and surprised by my sudden call; to be honest, it was a little cute to see. "Ahem.... may I speak with you for a moment?" I did my best not to smile at her face. "..." suddenly her face twisted in disgust. "Eh?" My smile came to a halt as I looked at her; she was looking back at me in disgust; I had no idea why, but perhaps there had been some misunderstanding? She turned towards the door and started to walk away without answering me. ''NO. No, my assistant professor!'' No, no I can''t give up like this, I need an assistant professor. F**k it, at least I need to know the reason why her face suddenly twisted in disgust, I clenched my fist as I made up my mind that I WILL make her my assistant professor. "Um, I''ll be waiting outside, please talk to me for a moment after this is over." She walked inside without even looking at me. "The f**k was that?" I mumbled to myself. ''Did she perhaps think I was asking on a date? Or does she take me for a pervert'' I need to know why she looked at me in disgust. "Haa." I scratched the back of my head and walked back out of Switch in a sad mood, I didn''t even do anything. So unfair. *** The woman with ck hair up to her waist, ck obsidian eyes, and ck tights that perfectlyplement her curves. On her way to the chairman''s office, she noticed Katharine Glover happily humming her way back from the chairman''s office; she was perplexed as to why she was so happy and that too while returning from THAT chairman''s office. "Katharine, what happened?" "Sister Isha!" Katharine joyfully skipped towards Isha and jumped to hug her but she dodged her easily. Katharine began training with Quinn Walker when she was three years old, as Isha also trained with her, Katharine was familiar with Isha, she also knew that Isha doesn''t like toe in contact with anyone, so she didn''t feel bad as Isha has always been like that. "What are you so happy about?" "I saw a handsome man just a moment ago." Katharine responded joyfully. "A handsome man?" "Umm." "But why are youing from the chairman''s office?" "Oh, the handsome man, I mean Sir Frost, asked for directions to the chairman''s office, so I showed him the way." She responded cheerfully, smiling brightly. "But why did this Sir Frost ask YOU?" Katharine was thest person people would ask for directions from, with her being a bit dumb, people don''t ask her unless they want to fight her. Isha looked at Katharine with a sceptical expression, it''s that or... "..." Katharine stared at Isha''s face and understood what she was thinking. "Hahaha." Isha let out dryugh. "Hmph." Katharine started to walk away from Isha, brushed her hair back, scoffed and said, "Maybe because I''m pretty, who knows?" Katharine said with a pout on her face. Isha made a ''I knew it.'' face, Katharine stared at Isha''s face and walked off with a grumpy face. Isha scratched the back of her head and walked towards the chairman''s office, she noticed a handsome man with white hair and bright orange eyes wearing a ck tuxedo suit walking out of the office with a grumpy expression. ''She was right, he is handsome.'' she thought as she walked towards the office; their eyes met; she dazed for a second but quickly snapped out of it and looked at the man, he too was doing the same, she held her smile and walked towards him as she started to walk the man''s eyes shone of a second, she didn''t know why but she didn''t like that feeling, her face grimaced for a second and turned cold. She approached the man as he was lost in thought, and she called out, "Excuse me." "Yes?" he answered with a confused face. "Could you please move?" she asked, he looked back and made way, embarrassedly. "Ah yes, yes." As she walked towards the office and held the door handle, but her steps came to a halt when she heard the man''s voice. "Um, excuse me." "Yes?" she asked in an indifferent tone and she noticed his lips curl up slightly. "Ahem.... may I speak with you for a moment?" The man asked. "..." ''I had a feeling.'' She assumed he was attempting to create an opportunity to speak with women who look good, and she assumed that him asking Katharine for directions was also for the same reason; is he a pervert? She reflected as her face turned disgusted. "Eh?" He seemed to notice the changes in her face as well; ''If you have any sense, don''t talk to me,'' she thought as she turned and walked into the office. "Um, I''ll be waiting outside, please talk to me for a moment after this is over." he said. She walked in and sat on the sofa before Quinn Walker even began to speak. Quinn spoke for a while but she didn''t hear anything as she kept thinking about the man she had just seen, a few hours had passed as she left the office and the sun had already begun to set. ''He won''t wait right?'' ''Wait. What if he stalks me?'' ''No, no, no. It can be that bad right?'' while all of these thoughts were going through her head, she suddenly remembered his bright orange eyes that shone. She sighed, hoping he wouldn''t do anything. As she exited Switch, she noticed a man wearing a helmet, sitting and leaning forward on his bike with his zer resting on it. It was an attractive scene, with a man wearing a helmet, sitting and leaning forward on his bike with his zer resting on it, while light of the setting sun shone on him, it was supposed to be attractive, but to her it was terrifying scene. "Hahaha." She let out a dryugh. Chapter 9 08. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR. ?''NO. No, my assistant professor!'' No, no I can''t give up like this, I need an assistant professor. F**k it, I at least need to the reason why her face suddenly twisted in disgust, I clenched my fist as I made up my mind that I WILL make her my assistant professor. "Um, I''ll be waiting outside, please talk to me for a moment after this is over." She walked inside without even looking at me. "The f**k was that?" I mumbled to myself. ''Did she perhaps think I was asking on a date? Or does she take me for a pervert'' I need to know why she looked at me in disgust. "Haa." I scratched the back of my head and walked back out of Switch with a glum expression, I didn''t even do anything. So unfair. I walked out of Switch, determined to make her my assistant professor. I waited for her as I''m stubborn and persistent person. After a few hours, the sun began to set, so I removed my zer and leaned forward on my bike. An hour and a half passed, and she still did note out. "Haa." I sighed and thought maybe I should just leave for today. "Hahaha." I heard a dryugh, I turned to face the voice, and there stood a beautiful woman with ck hair and obsidian ck eyes, the sunlight shone on her, allowing her look breathtakingly beautiful. ''Woah'' I just stood there in a daze looking at her, sweat formed on her forehead. I snapped out of my daze when I noticed her sweating and realized she was terrified of me. "Eh?" I''m not sure why she was afraid of me; perhaps it was a misunderstanding, but I parked my bike, removed my helmet, and decided to go talk to her and clear things up. I turned to look back at her and noticed that she had disappeared from where she had been standing. I turned to look in the other direction and saw her hurryingly walking away. "Ah shit." I hurriedly sat on my bike and decided to go near her and talk. VROOOMMM "Um, excuse me!" "Please wait!" "There seems to be a misunderstanding!" I yelled on top of lungs and elerated. VROOOMMM I drove next to her as she was hurriedly walking away. "I wanted to hire you as my assistant professor!" I yelled, fortunately she stopped this time. "Oi, stop shouting." "Oi, go keep your love quarrels somewhere else." "Hahahaha." Some guys yelled from across the street and people around were looking at us weirdly. "Haha, sorry about that." I said it loudly. ''These bastards.'' And cursed at them inwardly. Hahaha.... you can''t yell at everyone you know, and it''s not because I''m afraid or anything, but because it gets too annoying. I ignored them and drove slowly towards her; her ears were a little red, so she must have heard what they said. "Ahem.... I can''t say it here, if you can say where you live," She turned to face me and red at me, I knew why but, "I can drop you.... ahem... only if you arefortable with it." "..." She didn''t say anything and just stared at me. She nced at my bike, looked at me, and put her arm out, palm up. "..." "..." We both didn''t say anything and looked at each other, I understood what she was doing. "Haa." I sighed, her eyes twinkled as I handed her my keys, I shook my head with a small smile, she walked towards my bike with a bright face, she looked like a kid looking at her favorite toy, she sat and started the bike. VROOOMM She flinched at the sound. "Hahahaha." I chuckled; her face turned red, I walked towards my bike ready to sit. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Eh?" I looked at her face; she was smiling mischievously at me; I paled as I realized what she was about to do. "NO. No, no, no, this is my bike though." "RUN." she said with a smile on her face, I was one terrified this time. "Hahaha." I let out a dryugh. Some women standing around us chuckled and gave her a thumbs up. *** VROOMMM HUFF HUFF "Is.....this...where you...live?" ''I live in this hotel too.'' I thought as I looked at the hotel where she stopped, while gasping for air, I ran about twenty kilometers without stopping, I don''t even know why I waspiling with everything she said but she said not to use mana, of course I was tired and was about to drop on the ground, if she doesn''t agree to be my assistant professor then see what I''ll do, I nced at her as calmly took off the helmet as she parked. "Y-you... demon!" She looked at me with a bright smile on her face; it was supposed to be a beautiful smile, but it terrified me, she walked towards me and held out my bike keys. "Here." she said. "Now go home; we''ll discuss what you wanted to say tomorrow." She said this while shaking the keys she was holding out. I snatched the keys from her hands, she turned around and began to walk away, towards the elevator. "Oi, what''s your name?" "¡­" She turned to face me with the ''You didn''t know?'' expression, and I shook my head as I realized what she was thinking. She approached me, stood in front of me. "Hello, I''m Isha Walker." "... I''m Eshwar Frost." We walked towards the elevator and I suddenly remembered that I have nothing to contact her, but I can call her from the hotel reception if she''s in this hotel or go to the academy to find her but still, I decided to ask once. "Can get something to contact you?" "¡­" We walked silently and stood next to each other while waiting for the elevator; she looked at me but said nothing. DING We entered the elevator, I pressed the <31F> button, turned to ask her which floor she was on, and noticed that she was looking at me strangely. I had no idea why but she was staring at me as if I were her stalker. "Haaa, which floor?" I sighed and asked her. "¡­" She didn''t respond and just stood there silently, and I sighed as I remembered running to the hotel where I was staying; if I had known she was in the same hotel, I would have contacted the hotel and asked them to pick me up instead of running all the way here. My suit is drenched in sweat. "Dammit." I mumbled as I looked at my shirt. "¡­" When the elevator began to move, I turned to face her, and she continued to stare at me strangely. "How do you know which floor I''m on?" she said in inaudible voice, as I was concerned about why she was staring at me weirdly I couldn''t hear her properly. "Huh?" I asked in confusion. ".... at least say which floor you are on." I asked helplessly. "Floor 31" she said. "¡­" I stared at her nkly, does she not understand mynguage or is she ying dumb? "No, I didn''t ask what I have pressed, I asked which floor you were staying on." "Same." She said in a low voice. DING We walked side by side, neither of us spoke, my room number was [607], I stopped at my room as she walked past me, she stood at the next room [608] and looked at me, our eyes met. ''Really?'' I thought and I noticed she had the same expression as if she were asking me the same question. ""Haa."" We both sighed together. CLANK, CLANK We walked in to our rooms without saying anything. A furnished white room with arge king-sized bed in the center and a bathroom to the right of the bed. I threw my zer on the bed, grabbed a towel, and went to the shower first. * I returned from the shower with my hair dripping, grabbed afy t-shirt and pants, put them on, and jumped on my bed while my hair was still wet., I quickly dozed off because I was exhausted from all of the running. *** Isha entered her furnished white room, which featured arge king-sized bed in the center and a bathroom to the right of the bed. Isha walked happily towards her bed and jumped on it. "The bike ride was nice." She thought. She recalled today''s events and realized she had misunderstood something about him; despite the fact that it was the first time they met, it didn''t feel ufortable; rather, it felt like she was meeting with someone she had known for a long time. ''To think he was in the same hotel.'' She thought as she remembered the things, she did to him. Her lips twitched and curled up into a smile. ''''What was his¡­... ah Eshwar Frost." She mumbled out. "I wanted to hire you as my assistant professor." She remembered something he said on the way back to the hotel. ''Why me?'' she pondered. She drew the pillow to her face and closed her eyes, knowing she could ask him for the detailster. *** Chapter 10 09. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (2). ?The next morning. KNOCK KNOCK A white-haired man in a baggie ck t-shirt and baggie ck pants was seen hugging the pillow in the middle of a king-sized bed. KNOCK KNOCK "Umm?" I woke up from my blissful sleep due to someone annoyingly knocking on my door. I had one of my eyes closed as I walked towards my room door. "..." ''Should I open it or not... hmmmm'' KNOCK KNOCK I don''t think he/she will leave if don''t answer.... hmmm. CLANK "Woah," I eximed unconsciously; that definitely woke me up, I nodded my head, but I''m d I opened my door because a literal goddess was standing in front of me with ck hair to her waist, obsidian ck eyes, and a knee-length ck tunic top. "Are you here to bless me?" With one eye closed, I mumbled unconsciously. "..." She was looking at me as if she was looking at a creep, Guh, I ced my hand on my heart and walked back to my bed with glum expression, so unfair. "..e in." "..." TAP TAP "So, why do you want to hire me as your assistant professor?" "... Straight to the point, huh." I turned to face her, clenched my right fist and jabbed at her face, which she perfectly dodged to the right. I threw a body blow with my left hand that was heading for her stomach, which she perfectly dodged again, but this time she twisted her body and kicked my head, which I guarded with my right hand, which was pretty strong to be honest. She did a backflip and made some distance between us. "What are you doing?" she asked while ring at me. "You''re a mage I presume?" "... Yes." "Don''t worry, I just did it to test you." "..." There was no response, but I wasn''t offended; I''m sure she''s thinking about what just happened. I walked to my bed and sat in the middle of nowhere, a chair of ice starting to form out of nowhere as I sat. I sat on the ice chair and pointed at the bed, she slowly walked towards the bed and sat on it, the bed was still a mess though. "It''s a mess." "Guh... just ignore it and sit down." ''I''m trying act cool; can''t you take a hint and just ignore that.'' "Anyway, you''re talented inbat too, so what I''m trying to say is..." "In exchange of me being your assistant professor, you''ll teach me closebat." She cut me off and continued what I wanted to say, but she missed something. "But, I''m doin...." "Right, and I''ll be teaching you, how to fight in close range as a mage." I cut her off and continued. ".... what?" She made a confused face. "Yup." "Wha... how?" "As you can see, I''m a mage too." I pointed at my chair. Yes, I''m a mage. Mages specialize in long range, but many high-ranking spells, hmmmm.... yes, take fire element as an example, if you specialize in fire element your resistance to fire is also very important, one of the fire element''s high-ranking spells is ''Fire Spear'' whose damage rate is high in close range rather than long range, the more one bes familiar with their element the more elemental materialization increases, if you master fire, you can materialize a ''ze Sword'' with the help of your Fire element, thus, many high ranking fire mages prefer fighting in close range, if you observe closely, you will understand it, as they are inefficient at closebat, they will stand a bit closer to their opponents. "..." Her expression indicated that she did not trust that I''m a mage, so I held my hand and a 12-sided snowke formed on my hand, as mana in the surroundings turned cold and the air around my hand turned visibly white. "...Ok, but what''s in it for you?" she asked. "Of course, my life will be easier." I said in an inaudible voice. "Huh?" "You will know soon enough." I smiled brightly. She pondered for a minute, meanwhile I ordered food for two in my smart watch and asked the staff if they could bring me a mana contract. Hotel staff. [Meal no.3 for two at Room (607) and can I get a mana contract?] DING Hotel staff: [Yes sir, it will be charged ordingly, bill will be brought to your room.] [Thank you.] Hotel staff: [Thank you for using our services.] I nced at her, she was looking at my smart watch, our eyes met. "What were you doing?" "I''m hungry, so I ordered some food." ".... Ok then." She got up and decided to leave. "For two." "Umm?" "I ordered for two, you can continue thinking." "..." She stared at me and turned around to properly face me. ".... which one?" she asked in a low tone. "... Pfft, meal 03." I tried hard not tough because she was so adorable, but I couldn''t help myself. She was an unknown girl only a day ago, but I feel like I''ve known her for years. Well, it doesn''t matter, and it''s not like I can stopughing while my face is revealing my true feelings. "Pfft.... pfft hahahahaha," She turned around and red at me, her ears were red. KNOCK KNOCK "Hahaha," I got up and walked towards the door, it seems like the food and mana contract has arrived. CLANK "Here you go, Sir." "Thank you." As I opened the door, a man bowed politely and entered the room, pushing the food trolley, removed the food tes from the trolley, set them on the bed, and then walked back to the door pushing the trolley, as he stood outside the door, he turned to face me and took out a scroll. "Here is your ''mana contract''." "Hmmm¡­" "That will be 350,000 C." C stands for ''COINS,'' which are used instead of money. Whenpared to my previous life''s money, 1 C is approximately 100 dors; however, the cost of everything has changed ordingly, there is no other currency in this world. "Here you go." He handed me a scroll, and as I handed him my card, which has a mana QR code embedded in it and is a single tap pay, he held out his hand and a blue window popped up from his smartwatch, he typed the amount and taped the card on it once, and a notification appeared on my smartwatch as it lit up in blue light. "Thank you for using our services." He bowed and walked away. CLANK I bought my hand towards my face and checked the notification. [Dear customer, your ount xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx 00666 has been debited with 350,000 C.] ''Hmmm, well it''s not much.'' I approached the bed, she stood looking at me, food was on the bed and will be hot until it is opened, as it has been covered with a lid made of dungeon materials. "Food or a contract first?" I asked sarcastically. Actually, a mana contract was not required; a simple contract would suffice; however, a mana contract is more trustworthy. "Why a mana contract?" she asked looking at the scroll in my hand as she ignored my question. "..... If you don''t want, we can write a simple contract." "..." I walked over to the bed and snapped my fingers as she pondered. SNAP A table and chairs made of ice appeared in front of the bed; it was a simple table for two; I took the tes and ced them on the table; I satfortably and gazed at her as she continued to ponder. "Eat first, thinkter; there are still 6 days until the freshmen arrive." "..." She walked slowly up to the chair and looked at it for a moment before sitting; she had a surprised expression on her face as soon as she sat. "¡­. it''s not cold." She mumbled and continued to ponder. I smiled, opened the lid, and began eating the Saffron Risotto with Forest Mushrooms and Chinese Chicken Sd. It was good, but I knew I could do better in the kitchen. "We can write a standard contract." She said this as she, too, began to eat. "Ok." I continued to eat my food after a brief retort, when my smartwatch lit up and a blue window appeared. DING ==== NINE KNIGHTS GUILD. Your request to find a dragon has beenpleted; please pay the fee for the information. 700,000 C. ==== Chapter 11 10. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (3). ?==== NINE KNIGHTS GUILD. Your request to find a dragon has beenpleted; please pay the fee for the information. 700,000 C. ==== "What?" ''Nine Knights Guild'' they are the best information guild, because the guild does not fight monsters they are not in the guild rankings but they are the number one guild when ites to information, their price is appropriate for the information they provide. I was the one who gave them amission to find the dragon but there should be no dragons until the second half of the nov... No, there is. "Ukh." Sharp pain swept through my mind, as if something long forgotten was suddenly reminded forcefully, and my mind became clear as if there had never been pain in the first ce, as if thest piece of the puzzle had finally fallen into ce. Every single word from my novel came flooding back to me in a sh, both parts of the novel were crystal clear. There is a Dragon in sector one of the snow ranges ''THE SOUNDLESS TAIGA.'' The Golden Dragon ''DRELDUIN'' is in a dungeon in Sector One, and the novel''s main character goes there to hunt the Dragon because he has a vendetta against Dragons, If I go there my two doubts will be confirmed. "What happened?" "...ah sorry, I was lost in thought." "..." I guess she not a cold-hearted person. I can go to that dungeonter to clear my doubts, and maybe I should start using my novel knowledge more now that I remember it so thoroughly, I only used the magic and fighting skills I learned from Frostine because I needed them to survive; I guess I saw the world normally rather than as a novel, but nothing will change now. Wait.... I don''t remember writing about her, if she is this talented there is no way I wouldn''t remember her, I don''t think she even a part in my novel. "...What are looking at?" ".... oh sorry." I didn''t even realize I was staring at her, ahem, anyway it doesn''t matter maybe my influence has caused a butterfly effect somewhere. But I''m sure this is my novel if I just look at my ''STATUS WINDOW'' I''ll know. "...Well anyway, are you sure a normal contract is, ok?" "Yeah." "You''ll have to show me your stats and traits." "..." Disying stats and traits means revealing your abilities; if your opponent has a rough estimate of your strength, it could be fatal. It is a different matter how they use their techniques; if I have a rough idea of my opponent''s strength, I will use any means to avoid getting in a dangerous situation and killing them. Though some heroes'' traits are too obvious, their purchased skills and martial arts can conceal them; however, if both stat ranks and traits are revealed, it will be a fatal w of the hero. ''TRAITS''e with their own skill set, so it is well hidden; traits can be passed down, so some families have their traits passed down to their children to increase their rank; traits of the 7 big families are kept a secret and passed down to the new generation as theyplete their training and have their own ground to stand on. "Ok then, stat ranks and skills." "...ok." "STATUS WINDOW" She said and started to tap in air, she is seems to be hiding her ''TRAITS''. ''STATUS WINDOW'' I mumbled in my head. ==== STATUS: MAX [ESHWAR FROST] CLASS: MAGE RANK: AA == STRENGTH: 8/10 (+10) [RANK- AA] CONSTITUTION: 9/10 (+10) [RANK- AA] AGILITY: 10/10 (+10) [RANK- AA] PERCEPTION: 9/10 (+10) [RANK- AA] ENDURANCE: 6/10 (+10) [RANK- A] INTELLIGENCE: 10/10 (+10) [RANK- S] MAGIC POINTS: 4/10 (+10) [RANK- S] WILL POWER: 10/10 (+10) [RANK- S] DEXTERITY: 7/10 (+10) [RANK- A] == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: -> Frost [RANK- ???]: User can control Frost [Mastered] [Skill: negative mana temperature control] (hidden) -> Creator''s Domain [RANK- SSS]: User''s Domain can be altered [Mastered] [Skill: Space maniption] [Skill: ???] (hidden) == TRAITS: -> Good with hands [RANK- E]: User''s skills which uses hands is enhanced [Mastered] [Dexterity increases by 10 percent] -> Hand to Handbat [RANK- C]: increasesbat sense [Mastered] [Good with hands has enhanced this trait by 10 percent] -> Human Hunter [RANK- ???]: increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or humanoid monsters [Mastered] [Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 103/110 to next stat increase)] (hidden) == SKILLS: -> Taboo (?) (hidden) ? -> Pause (D) -> Release (B) ==== ''Hmmm... I''m going to Sector One; I should go hunting when I get back.'' If I don''t try to break through soon, my talent may stagnate, and it may take half a year for me to break through. I should start intensifying my training. Oh right, I haven''t trained for the past few days. "Hmmm." "...here, I''ll be showing my skills and stat ranks." She looked at me and swiped her index finger to the right, and her status window appeared in my line of sight. ==== STATUS: ISHA WALKER CLASS: MAGE RANK: A == STRENGTH: [RANK- B] CONSTITUTION: [RANK- A] AGILITY: [RANK- AA] PERCEPTION: [RANK- A] ENDURANCE: [RANK- B] INTELLIGENCE: [RANK- S] MAGIC POINTS: [RANK- AA] WILL POWER: [RANK- A] DEXTERITY: [RANK- B] == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: (hidden) == TRAITS: (hidden) == SKILLS: -> Summon (A) -> Dark hands (S) -> Bone spear (AA) -> ck mirror (AA) -> (hidden) ==== "Ho.... good, good." Her stats impressed me; she hasn''t even used half of her talent yet and she is already at rank- A; if she had used all of her talent, she would have been at least rank- S by now. "You can also look at my stats right here." I swiped my index finger and saw my status window in front of her, and she gave me a puzzled look. "Do you see anything weird?" Can she possibly see (+10)? I assumed it would be hidden if I concealed its trait; should I have concealed it as well? When we show our stats to others, we don''t show numbers, right? Isn''t it true that only their rank is shown? Right? What should I do? I believe I have sweat all over my back; why is she silent? Could it possibly be.... "... you only have three skills?" "..." "If that''s the case, did you show me your trait?" "..." I looked at her, perplexed; what was she so puzzled about? If it''s not there then doesn''t it naturally mean that it''s my trait? "Are you okay with revealing your trait to me like that?" "Ah" So, you were concerned about me. I rubbed my nose with my finger and smiled a little. Isn''t this the second time someone has expressed concern about me? I''m slightly moved.... Looking at my expression she sat cross legged and spoke in a serious tone. "I''m not worrying about you." "Guh" "I just think you''re dumb." "Ahkk" ".... and I thought you were weaker than me." "Guhh" I clenched my fist near my heart, it hurt more because she lookedpletely serious as she spoke, and my mind said, ''EMOTIONAL DAMAGE,'' ''Shut up, you crazy bastard.'' I cursed at my mind, my own mind mocking me, and I nearly burst outughing when I suddenly remembered it. "So, if you agree to show me that technique too, then I''ll agree." "...which technique?" "That, how you act weaker." "Guh." My mind, with three Chibi-like characters, performed an act with her in front of me, and I coughed up blood every time she said those words, and another Chibi of myself with a moustache appeared every time she said something, and this time my mind said ''K.O.'' ".... alright, that shouldn''t be a problem as I n to teach this to the students too." "...Ok." I leaned back yawning, pulled my hands back and stretched my whole body maybe my t-shirt was pulled up a little as it felt cold near my stomach, cracks were heard and leaned back forward happily, that felt great. "Haa." "..." I opened my eyes and saw Isha staring at me, I tilted my head puzzled as to why she was staring at me, I too started to stare at her after a brief moment, I think she snapped out of her thoughts then suddenly a staring contest began between us, her eyes reddened a bit and she was about to blink... "What are you looking at?" she said. "Nah..... you cheated, I won." "Wha-what do mean I cheated?" "No. No way, I won." I stood up, and my chair vanished. She also stood up, and the chairs we were sitting on vanished. "When did I cheat?" "No, you spoke at thest second, so I won." "Wha-what?" "No, no, no, I won." I stuck out my tongue at her, she scoffed at me and walked towards the door. "What a child." she mumbled. "I heard that." "Tsk." she clicked at tongue and paced up at little, I suddenly remembered that I don''t know anything about her except for her name. "Wait." "..." she steps halted and she turned to face me, I walked towards her and noticed that she was bit taller than me. "Ahem... can I look at your ID and get your contact." "Contact is understandable, but why do you need my ID?" "Ahem... it''s only for a second." "..... here." she looked at me suspiciously. I handed her my smartwatch and took the ID she was holding out. === Name: Isha Walker. Age: 21 Date of birth: 16-12-2002 Height: 6.2 [QR code] === ''Height 6.2, Guh, dammit.'' Chapter 12 11. SECTOR ONE. ?The next day. I walked to the portal area, which was filled with portals connected to different sectors and heavily guarded, each sector portal is connected from a different room and is heavily armed, if any problem urs from the other city and a monster moves in to the portal before it is informed, the fire arms installed in the room activates and kills the monster, it also applies to unauthorized humans who decide to pass through, a single firearm installed inside can easily kill a grade 7 monster. I walked in through the door marked [SECTOR ONE], the interior was sleek and spotless, a man in a ck suit stood beneath the stairs leading to the portal, the portal was bluish purple with white treads sprawling allover it was ominously artistic. I walked towards the man standing below the portal, he was massive in size, his biceps were a size of my waist, goddamn, he looked huge. "Guild ID." he spoke in a hoarse voice. "...Here you go." You cannot enter sector one without a guild ID because it is extremely dangerous, and if anything happens to you, it will be the guild''s responsibility, though that is only on the outside, the government simply didn''t want to take responsibility for the f**kers who want to go and die in sector one, and I''m not asking them to do so either. it''s just.... meh, anyway. === GUILD ID [OR CODE] NAME: Henry Weber. AGE: 19 RANK: A GUILD NAME: Persona. GUILD RANK: Rank-10 === "This is the first time I''ve seen somebody from the guild PRESONA." "Yes, we are normally active in sector four and five." "Is that so?" "Haha, yes." ".... here you go, I''ve confirmed the guild ID, you can enter." He returned my ID with a business smile, and I walked up to the portal. If you breathe in while entering the gate, you can umte pure mana; why can''t everyone just umte pure mana while passing through? Because it requires intense concentration and our connection to our senses is lost when we enter a portal, it is a difficult and painful task. Nobody else is aware of this, so no one tries. Pure mana is denser than the mana present in the surroundings; pure mana is the essence of mana present within our bodies, simr to life force in simple terms. I entered the portal while breathing and found myself in an unknown location with a massive metallic door that appeared to be used by ogres. ''Ogres'' are a type of intelligent monster. They are warriors by blood and take great pride in their battles. Their bodies are dark green, with a minimum height of 12 feet, the width of three humans, and a muscr build that makes them appear to be mini-giants. WUONNG I pushed open the door, it made a weird sound and I found myself back to where it all started in this world, the same old ufortably familiar area. Huuuu..... no matter how many times I see it, it just doesn''t change. A single path with trees arched above it and hills, despite the fact that it is filled with nts and trees, the nature in this sector appears gloomy every time I look at it. [PI PIII PIE] "What?" [PI PII PIII] ".... Ok, but you''re not going back in there." [PI PIIII] ''SUMMON'' WOOONG I held out my right hand and a green magic circle with ancient writings appeared, ancient letters slowly began to manifest on both of my hands and glowed bright green, 1/4th of my mana was sucked and a foxlike green spirit with dragonfly-like wings that shone neon green appeared, the fur on its back was colored with all elemental colors that were pulchritudinous. My hands stopped glowing and spirit which was a size of my fist manifested before me. [PI PII PI] He flew to my cheek and snuggled a bit before sitting on top of my head, his name is ''PYRE,'' I found him here in sector one where I was abandoned, he is a forest spirit and can use all natural elements, I had him with me so I only used FROST element and if ever need to use other elements I can use them with his help and it''s also more efficient with his help. [PI PIPI PII] "NO. No, if you try to purify this you will need to use half off your life force, so don''t." [PIII] "NO, that won''t work this time." [PIII] "...." "Haaaa.... okay," [PI PIP PIIIPI] "But only after we grow stronger. Not now." He goes to purify everything rted to nature; I know nature is like a second home to him, but he doesn''t know his limits and has somehow learned to use his life force. "I don''t know who you leant such things from." [...] "What are you looking at?" He gave me a weird look and started to fly away somewhere, the audacity. "Hey, answer me first. Hey." A bow made of ice materialized in my hand, I sped up a bit to follow Pyre as he ran towards the forest and many monsters began to pour out on us, the bow in my hand detached into twin daggers, I shed of the neck of monster while spikes protruded out of the ground covering me as I continued to sh down monsters. SLASH (3x) SLIT (6x) ''15 percent'' I muttered inside my head, a light blue hue surrounded me, my muscles tensed, and I began to move more fluidly; there were many wolves, goblins, Ogres, and some of the demonized monsters. "Aooooo" "krieeek" "Gaaouuuuoo" ''Goblins'' are cowardly monsters that hunt in packs and attack the back of their prey; they are graded -1 when alone but graded 4-5 when in a pack; they are the lowest level of the food chain in sector one. ''Demonized'' monsters are those who work for demons or who begin to demonize when their negative emotions reach a certain threshold. Among monsters: Because it is an unnatural energy, those who are demonized are kicked out or killed by their own pack. I followed Pyre as I continued to sh down monsters, as for the monsters who are archers, Pyre took care of them. SLIT (5x) SPLURT (5x) RUMBLE, RUMBLE A huge horde of at least 2000 monsters above grade- 8 began to pour out in the distance, I reattached my daggers into a bow and pulled the string made of light blue mana, three arrows of ice formed as I pulled the string, at the same time spikes protruded out all around me. SHING Killing all the monsters around me, all the spikes were covered in blood, like a red sunflower, and a pool of dark red and green blood formed beneath my feet. SPLURT I, too, was covered in blood, but I smiled and released the arrows. SWISH (3x) One of which pierced the head of the ''NAGA'' who stood behind the horde, a grade- 9 monsters, and the other two arrows flew in opposite directions, struck to the ground and froze everything around, halting the moments of the horde, Pyre flew towards them, blue mes lit, spikes protruded out covering the whole horde and killed them, soon only a puddle of dark red and green blood remained. ''Naga'' are strong snake type monsters that act as themander most of the time. Their scales are very hard to pierce through, making them more of a defense type monster, and they breathe out poison if they think they are in danger, making it more difficult to kill one. It is best to kill one while its guard is down. RUMBLE Without giving us any time to rest, the monster horde of grade-9 began to pour out, and I grinned and activated my traits. ''Frost, good with hands'' I muttered in my head. Surroundings beneath my feet began to freeze; the air around me chilled and turned visibly white; the bow dissolved into nothingness; and I drew a katana from my subspace and took a stance with my left foot behind, some monsters snickered as they approached me. SNICKER (4x) "35 percent." I mumbled in a low tone; my muscles tensed and expanded as I shed and appeared behind the monsters, the monsters'' steps halted, there was no sound, but soon there was a bright light blue hue that arced the monster''s horde from one end to the other and froze them on spot with their necks shed and froze at the same time. I looked down at the katana in my hand, it waspletely cracked. When I lifted it to get a better look, it shattered into a million pieces. ''And that''s the 1,997th one¡­'' PING ==== Condition fulfilled all stats increase by 1. TRAIT: [Human hunter condition updated (condition: 112/120 to next stat increase)] ==== ".... how much is a 1?" *** Chapter 13 12. SECTOR ONE (2). ?''Were there any humans in the area where I was hunting the monsters just now?'' I thought as I continued to sh down monsters with the twin daggers. "...I believe there were humans in the area where I hunted." "Pyre." [PI!] "Check the area for any human traces." [PI PIPI] Pyre vanished from my sight, perhaps because he had already noticed the presence of humans in the area. If there are humans here then they must be¡­... [PII PI] I ran in the direction Pyre had disappeared, as there was a connection between us and I could easily pinpoint his location. Pyre was flying in circles while glowing in apletely dark cave, and a magic circle written in green monster blood was made visible on the ground by the glow Pyre was emitting. As I entered the cave, a strong smell of blood hit my nostrils. I soon found Pyre, who was glowing while circling above something, which I saw and froze in ce, it was a summoning magic circle, most likely of a demon. [PI PIIIPI PI] "Are you certain it''s the ''demon summoning ritual''?" [PI PIP PIIIPI] "Demonnguage? But how do humans know demonnguage?" How do humans know demonnguage if the letters written in the magic circle are in demonnguage? It''s not as simple as ''OK, they learned it.'' Learning a different race''snguage means it was passed down to them by that race, and no demon would pass down their knowledge. "Hmmm." ''I''ll need to look into it.'' I thought as I walked outside, smudging the magic circle with my foot. "Pyre." I called out to him, he looked at me, and the cave was sealed off from the inside, so perfectly that it appeared that there had never been a cave there in the first ce. RUMBLE An ogre appeared as it pushed down a boulder on us, Pyre controlled the boulder''s moments as he made small bumps in ground and the boulder arched around us a fell to the ground. BOOM ".....Haaa." I sighed, despite the fact that I was the one who taught him to be efficient and to use simple magic to avoid attacks, couldn''t he use a little of his brain? They say ''you reap what you sow'' it must be true, it''s my fault for not teaching him properly. All of the monsters on that hill began to surround us, so I closed my eyes and concentrated on my magic powers because the weapons I needed now had to be very heavy. A massive two-headed war axe made of ice manifested in my right hand, and three hatchets of ice manifested in my left hand, the hatchets were slightly curved. I stuck my war axe to the ground, handle facing up, bent to right and threw all three hatchets like a boomerang with full force, creating a circr wind pressure formed every time I threw a hatchet, which flew towards the monsters like missiles while cutting through the wind. I picked up my war axe, which was stuck in ground doing a front flip, using the momentum of the flip, I swung the axe to the ground which left behind a wheel of white trail as the air chilled considerably. BOOM A huge fissure formed before me, I grinned with my eyes wide open, locked on the monsters, andunched myself into the middle of the monster horde, Pyre formed spikes from where Inded and killed the monsters who were too close to me, I swung my axe 360 degrees, killing 20 monsters who were approaching me in one go. SLASH SWISH My hatchet returned like a boomerang, but there was only one. I crouched a little and leaped towards the direction I threw the hatchets, I continuously swung my axe through the monsters, leaving a trail of green and dark red blood, I found one of the hatchets stuck to a monster''s head after leaving an arc of dead monsters, I picked it up and leaped forward to find the other. I found the other stuck to the shoulder of a wolf, I don''t know if I can call it a wolf though, hmmmm..... what is it called... ah a ''werewolf.'' Yes, I found it stuck in the shoulder of a werewolf. "Eh?" a werewolf? I titled my head in confusion. ''Werewolf'' is exactly what the name implies, a human-like wolf, with its strong hide and thickyer of fur that cushion most of the attacks and with its agile moments, it can easily defeat a grade- 9 monster and is considered a high rank monster even among grade- 10 monsters, so what is it doing near the middle of sector one? They are said to be found deep in Sector One; They''re not sure how credible this information is yet, but it is true, as I know firsthand. Werewolf held a club and walked around looking for something. ''Is it looking for the hatchet''s owner?'' WHEEEEWEE I whistled at the werewolf and pointed at myself. "Oi.... it''s me, Senour." "It is me, Mari.... kuhum, I''m the owner." "....krrr" "What? You don''t understand?" "It. Is. Mine." I said as I pointed at the hatchet stuck in its shoulder and pointed back at myself. "Krrrr" "This dumb f.... fuuuu." I picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it at the werewolf''s head. "That is mine, you dumb f**k." I said as I yed with the other hatchets, each in one hand. KRAAWOOO The werewolf dashed towards me with a club in its right hand. "Yes, you understand now?" "But why are you fighting like a human?" "Kraaaa" the werewolf elerated considerably. "Pyre, make sure no monster interferes." [PI PIPIPIII PI] "Aye, but it''s been so long." [PI PIIPIPI] "..... where did you learn to talk like that?" [...] [¡­.... PI PIIIPI PI] Pyre flew towards my right and started to kill monsters that were approaching us. "C''mon, you can''t just me me for fighting like a beast." KRAAWWOOO Werewolf appeared in front of me, flung its club, I took a step forward, punched the hand in which it held the club, the club flew behind me and crashed somewhere, not caring, I kicked its stomach, a circr wind pressure formed from the impact and it flew back and fell on the ground, it woke up and looked at me with shocked expression, I grinned, ''as expected of a grade- 10 monster, it doesn''t fall easily.'' "... krrr" "Shut it, we''re talking here." "Oi, Pyre look here, a beast is part of nature so you can''t criticize me." [...] ".... what''re you looking at?" [...] He started to fly away to the opposite direction without answering me. ".....Hmph." I scoffed at Pyre and turned to face the werewolf who was ring at me. I grinned and a light blue hue enveloped my hands, forming ice ws, and I bent down with my hands on the ground and my left leg behind. Now that I was ready to attack the werewolf, I raised my head and looked at the werewolf, who stood there ring at me. "Let''s fight." I said as my grin deepened. Chapter 14 13. SECTOR ONE (3). ?"Let''s fight." I said as my grin deepened. KROOWOO We bothunched at each other, werewolf was faster than me but I could keep my eyes on him, werewolf ran at my opposite direction we were about to pass each other, werewolf suddenly changed course and appeared right in front of me. "Fuck." A curse involuntarily escaped my mouth, werewolf grinned and punched at my face I lifted up my hands and guarded the punch a circr wind pressure formed from the impact. It was heavy, the blow was heavy enough to make my hands shake, it felt like my bones where vibrating. Werewolves are not known for strength; they are known for their agility. Considering the blow just now it seems to be using its body weight with its speed, my grinned deepened as I realized a fact that the werewolf in front of me is experienced in fighting. ''If it hits me at full speed, it''ll be dangerous.'' I thought as I saw the werewolf punch at me again, I dodged to my right and kicked its hands which were heading to my face, it was caught off guard and was off bnce, I took the chance and wed at it, it tried to dodge but it was toote, it took its head back in that instant and jumped back. SPLURT It bled from its chest with four w marks, I grinned, but soon my grin faded as the werewolf vanished from where it stood and appeared right in front of me, punching at my head, I dodged the blow by a centimeter, I felt a wet sensation on my cheek, I lifted my hand to wipe it, and saw my hand, it was blood. SNICKER I raised my head at saw the werewolf snickering at me, I grinned, just now it used mana to appear before me, it covered its legs with mana and right after appearing before me the werewolf''s mana flow was concentrated on only some particr mana veins. "Your bad luck is that you''re a werewolf." I started to create new mana veins like the one''s it just used, as it was human type monster mana veins are simr. "Cough." I coughed up blood, I noticed that it wasughing at me, so I grinned at him as well. Perhaps because my mouth was bloody, it flinched. As we approached one another, I wondered if perhaps I now appeared more like a beast and the werewolf more like a human. The werewolf charged at me at full speed, and I did the same. "Hahahahaha." Iughed out loud, we were already in front of each other, and it wed down at me. "Pause." I muttered and I came to an abrupt stop. I took some damage and coughed up blood as I came to aplete stop while moving at full speed and saw the werewolf''s wing down just ahead of me, I wed down at him with my left hand, it took a step back to avoid him, and I grinned. "Pause." I muttered in a low voice as my left hand came to a halt in mid-air, I drew my right hand back and clenched into a fist, I had created the mana veins it used while punching at me, punching the werewolf''s stomach, as my hand came into contact with its stomach I muttered. "Release." Two-circr wind pressure formed around my hands as the werewolf''s stomach came into contact. SPLURT "Eh?" I titled my head in confusion. I was expecting it to fly off into a distance, what happened? I took a step back to see what had happened and noticed a hole twice the size of my fist in the werewolf''s stomach, which had broken through its spine. THUD ''Hmmmm..... shouldn''t its fur and hide help to cushion my punch?'' ''Did I take more damage than I expected?'' ''No, I don''t think so.'' "Aha... maybe I''m stronger than I think!" I nodded my head in understanding. [¡­.] [¡­.. PIII] "Hm? Oi, why do you sound disappointed?" I turned to face Pyre who was floating in air and asked him. He stared at me weirdly and turned his back at me, I followed his line of sight and saw a mountain of monster corpses, I stood there in gape with my mouth wide open. ''Today''s MVP Pyre.'' Chibi with a mustache appeared and announced in my head. "Ugh." Pyre healed me and flew into the forest; I followed him with glum expression. We shed through the monster hordes and began slowly making our way back to the road where we began when a thunderbolt struck my head and I remembered why we came to sector one. "Pyre!" [PIIIIII] Pyre jumped in surprise as I suddenly yelled his name. "..." [...] ".... Pffft, sorry, but can you pfft, search for dungeon of rank- SS?" [¡­...PI PIIIPIIPIPIIII PI] "Pfft, see I''m notughing pfft." [PI PIPIPI PIPI] "Okay, I''m notughing now, am I?" I somehow held myugher and said aplete sentence. [¡­. PI PIII] "Okay, sorry, now stop ring and please look for rank- SS dungeon." [¡­. PIII] He finally turned his back at me, my lips where trembling as I followed him from behind. "Pfft." [...] * [PI PIIIPI PI] "No, no, no, no, I defeated him because I''m stronger." [PIII PIPIPI PI] "That, that''s because my skill causes damage to me." [PI PI] "You too, will get damaged if you suddenly stop while going in full speed." ''mrrrrw'' I snapped my head towards the sound, the voice was so low that it seemed to be on a verge of death, Pyre rushed towards the sound I followed him from behind, soon a blooded fist-sized something came to sight near a rock in the open, I ran towards and very slowly picked it up and ran into the forest as Pyre guarded me. I found a small cave and entered it, slowly lowering the animal or beast and making my way out, standing guard as Pyre began to heal it. * [PI] ".... Done?" [PII] "Hahaha, what''re you so happy about?" I walked into the dark cave and found nothing, I turned to face Pyre. "... Pyre, what happened?" [PII] "Huh?" He said to look closely, and my eyes shone bright orange as I concentrated on them. I''m not sure if it was because my eyes were adjusting to the dark or what, but I noticed a ck lump at the corner of the cave, and as I approached it, I noticed a pair of blood red eyes with vertical pupils ring at me. "Hissss." It waspletely ck baby cat with blood red eyes, I liked it instantly, it was ring at me instead of shivering in fear. "Hello." I said in soft voice and smiled but what happened next had me froze in spot, this time the cat covered in fear, my mind told me why but I refused believe it. [PI PI PI] "Guh." what I refused to believe why confirmed by Pyre''s snickering. ''Why? Why me?'' I walked out of the cave with my back slumped forward and glum expression. Sniffle *** Chapter 15 14. EREBUS. ?"Hello." I said in soft voice and smiled but what happened next had me froze in spot, this time the cat covered in fear, my mind told me why but I refused believe it. [PI PI PI] "Guh." what I refused to believe why confirmed by Pyre''s snickering. ''Why? Why me?'' I walked out of the cave with my back slumped forward and glum expression. Sniffle * I sat outside the cave with a glum face, Pyre was making fun of me. [PI PI PI PIPIPIPI PI] "Guh." "Meow." I turned my head and saw that the cat was finallying out, so I smiled involuntarily, put my hands on my mouth, and backed off a little. Pyre flew slowly towards the cat, but what happened next surprised me. "Hissss." The cat ran towards me and hissed at Pyre this time; Pyre''s face dropped, and I grinned with my hands on my mouth, ''hahaha'' it was worth watching and satisfying as he teased me that the cat was scared because of me. I was so depressed that I almost gave up smiling. "Pfft." [PIIII] Pyre red at me, zoomed towards me, and began bumping into my head in attempt to hit me. "Pfft, sorry, pfft hahahahahaha." I rolled on the groundughing and noticed the cat, pyre seems have noticed as well because he stopped bumping into me. Pyre sat on my head as I satfortably facing the cat. "Hello." I said as I waved my hand. "meow" I think it responded, though it was still wary of us, I smiled and slowly dragged myself towards it. "I''m Eshwar Frost, and this is Pyre." I said as I pointed at myself and Pyre. "...meow." I leaned forward slowly and moved my hand towards the cat, caressing its head with my index finger. I caressed it for a moment before lifting it to my hands; Pyre flew off my head,nded on my hands, and slowly walked towards the cat, who seemed pretty happy. I looked at them, it seemed wholesome, so I decided to keep quiet, but then I noticed Pyre was a little smaller than the baby cat. "..... do you wante with us?" I asked the cat in a soft voice, hoping it woulde with us. [PI PIPI] "It''s a boy?" [PI PIPIPII] "Wait, you can understand him?" [PIII] "Hmmm.... then ask him if wants toe with us." Pyre has always been a mystery to me because he is a "forest spirit" rather than a "Dryad." I have many questions, including why letters form on me while he manifests. What do they imply? I''ve known him for a long time, so I knew if it was important, he''d tell me. Since he didn''t, I decided not to delve too deeply. He said he can understand what the cat is saying, so I trust him and have nothing to worry about because I know he trusts me as well. [PI PIPIP] "Oi, I can still hear you though." [PI PIPIPIII] "Eh? But why though, if I can''t understand him then it doesn''t matter now, does it?" [PI PIPIII] "NO." [PI] "No, don''t do that, if you feel what he feels then we don''t know what will happen." Feelings are dangerous; if you feel what others feel, you may lose yourself; feelings are not a simple matter; you could say feelings are a ''blessing'', you can enjoy different feelings, sometimes sad and sometimes happy; just consider what would happen if you didn''t feel anything. That was terrifying to think about. The cat was blooded when we found him and on the verge of death; we don''t know what happened, but I don''t think it''s a good idea. [...PI PIPIII] "Onlymunication between you two is sufficient; if he asionally Hisses or Purrs at me, that is enough for me." [PI PIPII] "Ok." Let''s leave them to it ande up with a name for him; we can''t just call him a cat, can we? ''Hellcat'' ''kat'' ''.... if this goes on, I might hurl in a bit.'' ''Cat, a ck cat, a dark cat who I found in the darkness. Darkness, abyss, hell,her, cat of the darkness, he looks like a demon too...'' ''Hmmmm... aher darkness... ah!'' "EREBUS!" [PI] "EREBUS, means ''Nether darkness.'' How is it?" "Meow?" He titled his head in confusion as he looked at me; he was so cute that I wanted to hold his head and squeeze it, but I restrained myself because I had just learned that ''I''M STRONGER'' than I thought. "EREBUS, I''ll call you ''Erebus.'' Do you like it? Do you like it, hmmmm?" I leaned my head forward towards ''Erebus,'' with my twinkling eyes, even if he doesn''te with us, I''ll call him that, Muhahahaha. [...PI] "Eh? Ahem... so, did you ask him?" I leaned back and sat straight as Pyre said that I looked really creepy. [PI PIPIPPII PIP] "That''s too bad." I''m not sure why, but it appears Erebus declined to apany us, but he will do soter. ''It''s a cat, right?'' I thought as I looked at the cat. He appears to be far too intelligent for a cat. Oh well, we can only help him if he asks. ".... Ok, Pyre." [PI] "Stay with him and teach him how to fight and defend himself," [PI PIIPIP] "And return in three months'' time." [¡­ PI PIPI PI] "If he wants to stay here, he should learn to look after himself." [.. PIII] ".... Say where is the rank- SS dungeon." I nced at Erebus as I asked Pyre about the location; Erebus'' blood red eyes seemed solemn as he sat with pride. ''The f**k, it this cat?'' * Pyre gave me the location, so I left him with Erebus and proceeded to the Rank-SS dungeon. It was in the snow-covered mountains. There were almost no trees and only snow-covered boulders; as I walked, the snow reached my knees. It wasn''t as cold as I expected, but that could be because I''m used to feeling cold. "So, this is ''THE SOUNDLESS TAIGA.''" It reminded me of my past; is it a coincidence that I''m here to meet with a dragon now too? "Hahaha." I let out a bitterugh, I climbed up and noticed two presences near the portal; they could be associated with those who drew the summoning circle, so I hid behind a boulder to gather information. I nced at the figures near the portal; one was wearing a robe, he had brown hair, dark brown eyes, and he was average looking, and the other was wearing light armor, he had pony-tailed his red hair that reached his waist, ck eyes, and he was almost as handsome as me. "Hey, you too." man with red hair asked the robed man. "Hey, me too." the robed man replied. "Wait, who are you?" robed man asked with a confused face, as he took a step back. "Pfft." Iughed; I recognized them. "This...," Chapter 16 15. MY NOVEL. ?I nced at the figures near the portal; one was wearing a robe, he had brown hair, dark brown eyes, and he was average looking, and the other was wearing light armor and had great sword on his back, he had pony-tailed his red hair that reached his waist, ck eyes, and he was almost as handsome as me. The guy with red hair is ''VINNY GROVER'' ''the main character'' of the second part of my novel, the guy with brown hair is ''GANG JIWOO'' ''the reader'' character who is from the first part of my novel. In first part of my novel ''the main character'' is a woman ''KATLINE ROMERO'' and the ''wife'' of Vinny Grover, and Gang Jiwoo is ''the extra'' and ''the reader.'' There are a total of three stories: 1) Story of a woman Katline Romero saving the world by sacrificing herself. 2) First part of my novel is the POV of ''Gang Jiwoo'', he helps ''Katline Romero'' in saving the world for his own survival at first,ter falls in love with her, story flows normally as she still gets wed to ''the male lead'' ''Vinny Grover'' but she still dies. 3) Second part of my novel is POV of ''the husband'' ''Vinny Grover'' who regressed to save his wife ''Katline Romero''. That is the summery of my novels, goddamn, it''s simple andplicated at the same time. Looking at how Vinny''s hair is red this must be second part of my novel. They are both too weak to be here; Jiwoo sneaks in to sector one by making as fake ID to steal the rewards, and Vinny also sneaks in here with a fake ID because he hates Dragons and wants ask a question to the Dragon inside the dungeon. They both know of the future. "Hey, you too." Vinny asked Jiwoo. "Hey, me too." Jiwoo replied. "Wait, who are you?" Jiwoo asked with a confused face, as he took a step back. "Pfft." Iughed; I recognized them. "They are the main characters of my novel." That dialogue is a Korean meme, and I wrote it in Vinny''s POV to introduce the character Gang Jiwoo in the second part, because Vinny doesn''t know Jiwoo is a ''READER,'' and everyone in the first part of the novel, including Vinny, thought Jiwoo was a ''REGRESSOR'' because he knew the future, and because Vinny thought Jiwoo was a regressor, and now that Vinny has also regressed, I used that meme while thinking from Vinny''s perspective. SWOOSH BAM CRACK (3x) The boulder I was hiding behind cracked, revealing me. Maybe I let my guard down while thinking about the novel, well, it''s not like I wasn''t going to reveal myself. "Who are you?" Vinny asked in a horse tone as he took out his great sword from his back, Jiwoo took out his sword and pointed at me, I walked out with my both hands in air. "Hello?" I said awkwardly. The world I created; I was very happy when I found out that this world was my novel but looking at the characters I created, I started to have mixed feelings, all the hardships they have to go through. "Haaa." I sighed as I massaged my nose bridge. "Who is he? Do you know him?" Vinny whispered at Jiwoo. My ears perked up as I heard his voice. "I don''t know. No, first, who the f**k are you?" Jiwoo whispered at Vinny. "Pfft." Iughed. Jiwoo doesn''t recognize Vinny at this point because his hair was short and ck before regressing; only after they spend a long time talking here will Jiwoo understand what''s going on. I couldn''t help butugh as I watched the scene unfold in front of me. "Oi, I''m Vinny." Vinny said out loud as he red at Jiwoo. "Huh? Vinny?" Jiwoo replied. "Pfft, pfft hahahaha." Iughed out loud. "Aye, what are youughing at?" Vinny asked as he red at me. "You!" Vinny said in surprised tone as he red at me, he seems to have realized who I am. "Are you MAX?" Vinny asked. "Yes and no." I calmly replied. Vinny started to dash at me with his great sword, I calmly pointed at Jiwoo who was staring at us nkly. "Are you sure? Don''t you want exin what''s going on to him?" I said calmly. Vinny''s steps came to a halt as he looked back at Jiwoo and turned back to face me. "I can wait." I said with a smile. * Three of us sat on the cold ground in front of a rank-SS dungeon, Gang Jiwoo sat above his robe, which he removed and ced on the ground before he sat because the ground was too cold for him, Vinny sat on the floor enduring the cold, his shoulders were shivering but he didn''t show it on his face, and I satfortably because I was used to cold. "So, you''re saying you are Vinny, and you regressed?" Jiwoo asked as he stared at Vinny. Yes, Vinny admits that he regressed in order to save his wife and make Jiwoo his ally. Jiwoo has only read the first part of the novel, so he believes that something different from the original novel has urred and begins to make ns for the future. Jiwoo is a smart and fearlessmander-like character. "Yes." Vinny answered with a solemn voice. "And this is ''MAX'' the viin?" Jiwoo asked Vinny as he pointed at me. "Guh." "Yes." Vinny answered without hesitation, his answer was bit faster this time. "I''m here too, you know?" I said with a hurt face. "..... Why are you here Max?" Vinny asked in a serious tone. "First, I''m not ''Max'', I''m Eshwar Frost," "Huh?" Jiwoo snapped his head to face me with a bewildered face. "Huh? What''s that supposed to mean?" Vinny asked, not minding Jiwoo. "And let''s just say, I have some business in this dungeon, more specifically with the Dragon." I said as I pointed at the dungeon. ".... How do you know there is a dragon in dungeon." Vinny asked as he nced at me. Vinny knows that the dungeon has a Dragon in it because he had heard it directly from the thief... ahem Jiwoo, who came here to steal the artifacts. ".... It''s just like how you know." I said with a bright smile on my face. Gang Jiwoo just sat there looking at the ground, pondering about something. "Okay, wanna join?" I asked as I nced at Vinny. "... Sure." Vinny answered back. We both stood up, Jiwoo was still lost in thought but still stood up with us, me and Vinny walked towards the portal, Jiwoo stood still where we sat. Vinny and I stood beside the portal and nced at Jiwoo who stood still, I don''t know what he was thinking so deeply, hmmm... maybe he is making future ns in order to survive here, as he has a new ally who knows the future now, he must be making new ns with Vinny as a new variable. "Ah!" Jiwoo eximed and nced at us with twinkling eyes. ''Oh, he must have thought of an amazing n.'' I thought and nodded my head in satisfaction. ''Yes, Jiwoo is smart, he must havee up with a better n considering some variables.'' I nced at Jiwoo, but then something unexpected happened: Jiwoo pointed at me and screamed in delight. "Sir Eshwar! The Author." Chapter 17 16. Rank- SS Dungeon. ?Vinny and Eshwar stood next to the portal; Vinny didn''t know who Eshwar was because Vinny used an artifact to trap Max''s soul before he regressed, and both Max''s soul and the artifact were destroyed in the final battle; Max shouldn''t have existed after he regressed, and the person before him is a different person even if they have the same body. Vinny came to this conclusion after observing Eshwar from the moment he appeared; even though he knew he wasn''t Max, he didn''t pry into it and was relieved that he didn''t have to kill Max again, Max''s face was filled with regret, but he also looked relieved when he was dying, Vinny thought as he looked at Eshwar beside him, who was looking at Jiwoo and nodding his head. "Ah!" Jiwoo eximed. Vinny turned to face Jiwoo, he was excited for some reason, and suddenly Jiwoo pointed at Eshwar, Vinny nced at Eshwar, and then turned his head back to Jiwoo. "Sir Eshwar! The Auth..." Jiwoo was about to say something, Eshwar appeared in front of him and covered his mouth. Vinny looked beside him and then back to where Eshwar was standing. ''Fast.'' That was all Vinny could think of as he stared at Eshwar, shocked. *** I used the mana veins I copied from the werewolf and appeared right before Jiwoo and covered his mouth. Jiwoo was smart so I expected him to figure out who I am someday but I didn''t expect he would figure it out so easily. "Aren''t you a bit too smart?" I whispered at Jiwoo. Jiwoo''s lips curled upwards I could feel it on my hands as I was coving his mouth to stop him from speaking. "Keep it a secret now, will you?" I whispered at Jiwoo and he nodded his head, I removed my hands from his mouth. "Ok, now, let''s raid the dungeon." I said as I turned towards the dungeon and saw Vinny staring at me nkly, I could feel Jiwoo''s stare at my back too. "Haa." I sighed and walked into the dungeon without waiting for them. Of course, while breathing in the mana from the portal, I couldn''t miss the pure mana now, could I? Muhahaha. * The cave had red sand and orange boulders on the sides and above, the boulders looked smooth like giant pebbles, there was no other way to move except forward, and the only light source was the glowing portal. I entered the cave, which was about 50 meters tall, and began analyzing the terrain to help me decide on a fighting style. I held out my hand, and ice began to form into what I desired. "Blergh." "Wha...." I turned to face the sound and saw Vinny throwing up and instantly turned my back at him. "Blergh." This time, I heard a different voice and assumed Jiwoo was throwing up as well, but that''s not the problem; the problem is that they''re making too much noise. THUMP (3x) I heard something huge approaching us because the ground shook slightly every time, I heard the ''THUMP'' sound again, and I was having difficulty finding them because my eyes couldn''t adjust to the dark because the portal was glowing. I lifted my hand up while using both fire and ice magic, a light shed from my hand as both opposing elementsbined, and I used frost magic to cover the glow in my hands, a glowing ball formed in my hands, and I threw it into the cave, it bounced twice, rolled a bit, and an ice pir which glowed from the center formed at the center of the cave, revealing many stone golems of various sizes marching towards us. ''Golems'' are elemental monsters capable of regenerating themselves through ''Elemental Regeneration.'' They can regenerate as long as they are in terrain that supports their elements, which is the worst-case scenario because we are in a cave now and every single stone golem in front of us is rank- SS. "How did you do that?" Vinny asked as he walked towards me, pointing to the ice pir that lit up the entire cave. "Huh? Oh, I used fire and ice magic." ".... It''s possible to use them like that?" Vinny asked. "Yea, I can teach you how to use magic." I said while looking at Vinny. "Ah!" Jiwoo made a strange sound, Vinny and I both turned our heads to face him. ".... I can''t use magic." Vinny said as he made a bitter smile. Yes, Vinny couldn''t use magic because his trait wasn''t revealed until a certain incident; he now only has one trait, which is his specialized trait [???]; only I know what that trait is and how to use it, and he should have received his first ''ss'' while regressing. "..... Activate your ''trait'' Vinny and I''ll teach you, how to use magic." I said in a serious tone. Of course, I was going to teach him how to use his traitpletely but, not yet. "Don''t activate itpletely," "Huh?" Vinny asked confusedly. THUMP (4x) I walked towards him while the stone golems were still marching toward us, I pulled his right hand near my heart and looked at right in his eyes. "... Concentrate on your hand and activate ''BUFF'' Vinny." "..." ".... hey, guys, I don''t think it''s the time y around." Jiwoo said while looking at the golems. I ignored him and stared a Vinny dead in the eye. "Huuu." Vinny took a breath, closed his eyes and concentrated on his hand. THUMP (5x) Vinny''s hand turned cold and pitch ck, and his pitch-ck hand began to grow ws, indicating that he was losing control. "Guh." Vinny groaned. "Concentrate." I said in a soft voice. ws stopped growing and began to shrink; this time, only his hand turned pitch ck and glowed golden. "Buff." Vinny said in a low tone as he breathed heavily. A golden hue enveloped my entire body, Vinny slowly opened his eyes and looked at his hand and me in disbelief, both Vinny and Jiwoo gaped with their mouths open wide. PING [You have received UNIQUE PRIEST''s first ''BUFF.''] [All stats increase by 1 star permanently.] [''BUFF'' takes effect, all stats increased by 10 percent temporarily.] I grinned and turned around to face the GOLEMS, who were 30 long steps away from us. I snapped my fingers as I slowly walked towards them. SNAP The ice pir in the middle of a swarm of golems cracked and exploded, freezing all the golems around it. The explosion echoed all the way around the cave and was deafening. BOOM "Let''s y." I said andunched myself towards the golems while I covered my whole body with mana because every golem in front of me were rank- SS, I couldn''t get careless while fighting them. The golem in front pulled its hand back a circr wind pressure formed behind its elbow joint as it punched at me. ''Fast.'' I thought and started to rethink my n on fighting them. I guarded the punch a circr wind pressure formed from the impact and flew back; I knew that if I crashed my back, I won''t be able to fight for a while and we are going to die. My eyes were still glued on the golems if I stop thinking things will get worse, a golem which fell down from the explosion of the ice pir earlier stood back up and I noticed its joints were moving more smoothly but it looked difficult to control at the same time. "Snowkes." I mumbled. Air surrounding chilled down and turned white forming 12-sided snowkes all-around me, dense air around me slowed me down as I was flying back, if I just turned around and decided to absorb the shock with my legs then they would have definitely been broken, so I used ''snowkes'' to dense the air around me to slow down. Now I bought my knees a bit close to my face and decided to change my trajectory, I did a flip in the air and ced my foot on the wall while snowkes below my feet absorbed some of the shock and pushed myself at the golems, I sped up while in air by stepping on the snowkes. I flew back twice as fast as I flew away from the golems, in an instant, I was close to the golem''s face and grinned at it, then punched its face, causing a circr wind pressure to form and a loud ''BOOM'' to reverberate throughout the cave. Chapter 18 17. Rank-SS Dungeon (2). ?I instantly appeared in front of the golem''s face and grinned at it, then punched its face, causing a circr wind pressure to form and a loud ''BOOM'' to reverberate throughout the cave. The golem I punched had its head a bit tuned to the opposite direction, a second golem came ahead and punched me from the side. "Ukh." I groaned in pain. BAM I hit the side wall and flopped down; my ribs were broken from the blow which was cushioned by the snowkes. "Hahahaha, Gap between AA and SS too big." I said as I smiled. The GAP between the rank-A and rank-S is enormous, it as big as the rank-D to rank-A, above rank-S there is not that much big difference, though it is big, it does not feel like a much. "Eshwar." Vinny yelled. "Sir Eshwar." Jiwoo yelled. "... Vinny, I need you to buy me time, about 2 minutes." As I stared at Vinny, who stood near the portal, I said without hesitation, believing he would be able to buy me some time. "...." "What?" Jiwoo screamed in shock. I slowly stood up as a golem approached, I waved my hand at the ground as I used Frost magic to make it fall forward, it fell about 10 meters in front of me, I red at it, and walked towards Vinny. THUD "Vinny, I need 2 minutes, if it finishes a bit faster, I''ll join you." "..." "What are you talking about? He''s going to die if he fights those rank- SS golems." Jiwoo yelled. "...." I stood in front of Vinny and looked at him in the eyes. "Huuuu.... Ok." Vinny took a breath and agreed. "What?" Jiwoo looked at Vinny in disbelief. I walked towards him, patted him on the shoulder as I walked past him, and sat on the ground, I felt like I could break through from the moment Vinny used his ''BUFF'' on me, I just now confirmed how useless it is to fight against a monster of rank-SS in my current state. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I entered my consciousness. I saw my magic power raging out, it was a core of light-blue, crimson red, and ck color that had been stable before but was now raging out of control, I appeared before the core, which was as big as a mountain, I held out my hand towards it and clenched into a fist, and the raging core came to a halt. I heard a muffled ''BOOM'' as it exploded from the inside, and an intense pain washed over me. The core exploded ten more times from the inside, and the pain intensified with each explosion. ck and red colors began to increase, while light blue began to shrink. ''NO.'' I thought and clenched my fist even harder, excruciating pain washed over me as I concentrated on the light blue, which slowly began to move towards the right as it grew, the other two colors also moved in the same way, and it soon looked like three fishes moving in circles. ''Hahahaha.'' I chuckled as I looked at the three colors moving in circles, and myugh echoed throughout my consciousness. I lifted my hands, covered my ears, and looked around until the echoes stopped. ''Do you hear it like this every time I think I''m talking to myself?'' As a wave of pity and guilt washed over me, I resolved to do something about the echoes. I turned around and noticed that my core was no longer raging; I was not sure how much time had passed, so I decided to open my eyes. I opened my eyes, saw blood in front of me, maybe I coughed it out while I was in consciousness, I thought because I tasted blood in my mouth and looked at my hands and they were bleeding too. ''Maybe I clenched my hands in real-life too.'' I thought as I was thinking, I felt something heavy pressing at me from the right side of my head and I flew to my left. "Guh." I groaned. "Ukh." ''That was Jiwoo, right?'' I rolled to my side and stood up and saw Jiwooy groaning in pain. "Jiwoo!" Vinny yelled. I looked at Vinny, who had defeated a golem, I thought he must have been the one who defeated the golem because I noticed a pile of debris in front of him. I decided to check my stats because Vinny appeared to be doing well for the time being. ''Status.'' I mumbled in my head. ==== STATUS: MAX [ESHWAR FROST] CLASS: MAGE RANK: S == STRENGTH: 1/10 (+11) [RANK- S] CONSTITUTION: 2/10 (+11) [RANK- S] AGILITY: 3/10 (+11) [RANK- S] PERCEPTION: 2/10 (+11) [RANK- S] ENDURANCE: 1/10 (+11) [RANK- AA] INTELLIGENCE: 3/10 (+11) [RANK- SS] MAGIC POINTS: 6/10 (+11) [RANK- S] WILL POWER: 5/10 (+11) [RANK- SS] DEXTERITY: 1/10 (+11) [RANK- AA] == "Rank- S.... hmmm, it''s not bad but... meh." I muttered. CLANK WHOOSH Vinny''s back flew towards me, his great sword still in his hands, I grinned because he hadn''t let go of his sword. I decided to catch him because he was flying back at such a high speed that if he hit his back against the wall at that speed, his spine might be damaged. As I activated frost, I opened my arms and braced myself for the impact. "Snowkes." I mumbled. BAM "Guh." I groaned in pain as I was pushed back against the wall and remembered my ribs were cracked. "Ukh." Vinny groaned. ".... You alright?" I asked. "Oh, yea, you alright?" Vinny asked as he saw me. "Yea, and you Jiwoo?" ".... I''m fine.... I think." Jiwoo answered and was meet with silence, he nced at us and we were looking at him weirdly. "...." "...." "Ok fine, I''m alright." Jiwoo said as he epted his defeat. He was unharmed, and I was only pushed back slightly as he bumped into me; he most likely flew all the way here due to the wind pressure created by the collision between Vinny and the golem. As I said earlier, he came here to steal the artifacts without attracting the attention of any monsters. "Hahaha." I chuckled as I walked forward. "I''ll borrow this." I said as I took the great sword from Vinny''s hands. I took the great sword, slung it over my shoulder, and approached the golems; they appeared to be on guard for some reason; I don''t know why, perhaps Vinny did something. "... It doesn''t matter now, does it?" I asked as I looked at the golems. I walked calmly towards it as one of the golems came forward and pulled back his hand. A circr wind pressure formed behind its elbow as it punched at me. "Snowkes." I muttered. The air chilled and turned white as I stepped out of the golem''s punch range and walked on its arm, its arm froze everywhere I stepped, I steeped on its joints, which froze its arm in ce, it took two long steps before I reached its head, and I stood on the golem with one foot on its shoulder and the other on its head. It stopped moving; maybe the cores are in the heads. I leaned forward and ced my right elbow on my right knee with the great sword still on my shoulder, looked at the golems for a brief moment, then jumped back as I shed the golem in half vertically and checked the location of the core, which was in the neck area. I looked back at the golems; I knew exactly how many there were because I counted them when I stood on top of the golem; there were a total of 34 golems in front of me. I grinned as my eyes glowed and arched. "Round 2." Chapter 19 18. Rank-SS Dungeon (3). ?Vinny looked at Eshwar who was recklessly charging towards the golems. "... maybe he has a n." Vinny mumbled. BOOM Eshwar flew past Vinny, glowing light blue; the air Vinny felt as Eshwar flew was cold and turning visibly white, and snow began to form; Vinny looked at Eshwar, who flew back from a single punch, dumbfounded. "...." ''He has a n... right?'' Vinny thought as he stared at Eshwar''s figure flying towards the wall. Eshwar turned in the air and was a bit slow, Eshwar ced his foot on the wall and pushed himself, he was somehow walking in air as his speed increased with every step he took, Eshwar flew past Vinny twice as fast as he flew back, Eshwar''s figure looked like a bullet fired at its target. ''Fast.'' Vinny thought. In an instant, Eshwar was in front of the golem that had punched him, and he punched the golem''s head, causing a circr wind pressure to form. BAM ''He got it.'' Vinny thought. A golem standing next to the golem who had been punched by Eshwar began to move and punched Eshwar''s side. "Ukh." Eshwar groaned. BAM Vinny was stunned as Eshwar flew towards him and crashed into the wall. He looked at the still-standing golem and noticed that Eshwar''s punch had done nothing to the golem. "Hahahaha, Gap between AA and SS too big." Eshwar said with a smile on his face. Vinny snapped out of his shock as he heard Eshwar''s voice and turned to face Eshwar, who was sitting with smile on his face. "Eshwar!" Vinny yelled. "Sir Eshwar!" Jiwoo yelled. ''Why is Jiwoo calling Eshwar with so much respect after he called him a Viin?'' Jiwoo has been overly respectful to Eshwar. Why is a regressor being so polite? Vinny reasoned that there had to be a reason. "Sir Eshwar, The Auth..." Vinny remembered what Jiwoo called Eshwar. ''Who is Eshwar?'' ''Is he someone Jiwoo knows?'' ''He had called me a ML in my past life.'' ''Does this have any connection with Eshwar?'' many thoughts and doubts crossed through Vinny''s mind. "... Vinny, I need you to buy me time, about 2 minutes." Eshwar spoke which woke Vinny out of his train of thoughts. ''He knows.'' Vinny thought as soon as he heard Eshwar''s voice. "What!" Jiwoo yelled in shock. ''.... Right, Jiwoo doesn''t know what I am right now.'' Vinny thought, ''but, Eshwar knows, he made me use PRIEST skill, whose skills even I don''t know of right now,'' ''and I got the ''PRIST'' ss after I regressed so nobody should know of it as I have yet to reveal it,'' ''which means Eshwar know about the future after I regressed, but how?'' ''And looking at how respectfully Jiwoo is speaking and how he came to meet a dragon...... Eshwar must be a HIGHER BEING!'' Vinny came to a conclusion. THUD "Vinny, I need 2 minutes, if it finishes a bit faster, I''ll join you." Eshwar said as he walked towards Vinny. "...." Vinny didn''t answer as he was thinking weather to trust Eshwar or not. "What are you talking about? He''s going to die if he fights those rank- SS golems." Jiwoo yelled. Eshwar stood before Vinny and looked at him dead in the eye, Vinny saw trust in Eshwar''s eyes, as if hepletely believed Vinny could hold off the golems. Vinny had many questions for Eshwar, but he didn''t want to betray Eshwar''s trust in him. "Huuuu.... Ok." Vinny took a breath and agreed. "What?" Jiwoo looked at Vinny in disbelief. Eshwar patted Vinny''s shoulder and walked past him, Vinny clenched his great sword and ran towards the golems without looking back. ''1min 58sec.'' Vinny thought and swung his great sword. TING A loud metallic sound rang out as his great sword rebounded back, loosening his grip on the sword; he clenched it, girt his teeth, held his great sword in both hands, and swung it horizontally. BOOM CRACK A small fissure appeared on the golem''s right leg; Vinny rushed to the opposite side and swung his sword to the golem''s knee joint; his sword became stuck in the knee joint, he clenched his left hand into a fist, leaned to the left, and punched the golem''s joint. BAM The golems joint cracked and it took a knee, and Vinny''s sword was set free. He jumped on the golem''s knee and climbed it; it tried to shake him off, but he stabbed his sword into the golem''s eye and held on. "How can a creator be so irresponsible?" Jiwoo mumbled in low voice. ''What? A creator? A creator of what?'' Vinny heard Jiwoo''s mumble and began to search his knowledge for any connections. "I don''t know anymore." Jiwoo said as he ran towards the golems. ''Whaaaaa.'' Jiwoo yelled. A golem standing behind the golem Vinny was dangling from began to move and punched out at Vinny, who was dangling while holding his sword. BOOM The golem''s head, on which Vinny was dangling, was destroyed, and the golem crumbled down. Vinny flew back by kicking off the golem''s shoulder before it was destroyed, and the air in the surrounding area became cold, and Vinny could see his breath lightly. The golems were all on high alert. Vinny turned around to see where Eshwar was sitting and noticed that his surroundings were frozen. "Waaaaa." Jiwoo yelled as he ran at the golems. Vinny turned his head towards Jiwoo and saw a golem prepare to punch out at Jiwoo, even Eshwar flew back from the blow and Eshwar was undeniably stronger, but only a little, Jiwoo can''t take the blow head on and survive. "Shit." Vinny cursed out loud unconsciously. Vinny ran towards Jiwoo and blocked the blow with his great sword, creating a wind pressure that pushed Jiwoo back. "Jiwoo!" Vinny yelled without looking back as he blocked the blow. The golem punched out from the other hand this time, and Vinny flew back. WHOOOSH He felt something behind his back, it wasn''t the wall, and he didn''t feel much pain from the crash, but he felt pain from the golem''s blow. "Ukh." Vinny groaned. "Guh." "You alright?" Vinny turned his head back when he heard a voice behind him. Eshwar, a semi-long white-haired handsome young man with bright orange eyes, blood from the corners of his lips, and a light blue hue covering him, was standing behind him, cushioning and absorbing the shock as he hit his back instead of Vinny. "Oh, yea, you alright?" Vinny asked with concern write on his face. "Yea, and you Jiwoo?" Eshwar answered half-heartedly and asked Jiwoo. ".... I''m fine.... I think." Jiwoo said. "Ok fine, I''m alright." Jiwoo said this as Vinny stared at him as if he were looking at something strange, and Eshwar had the same expression on his face. "Hahahaha." Eshwar chuckled. "I''ll borrow this." Eshwar said as he walked forward. Vinny looked at Eshwar with a surprised expression because he had heard Eshwar groan in pain as he caught Vinny, but now Eshwar was walking towards the golems as if nothing had happened, carrying Vinny''s great sword, and Vinny felt a little respect for Eshwar. ''I don''t know who he is, but I feel like I can trust him,'' ''But notpletely, and not yet.'' ''I don''tpletely trust him, but maybe we can be friends.'' ''Hmmmm.... that does sound like a good idea.'' Vinny thought as he looked Eshwar''s back. Vinny found Eshwar trustworthy for reasons he didn''t understand, but he had the impression they could be good friends. "It doesn''t matter now, does it?" Eshwar asked as he red at the golems. "... right." Vinny said in an inaudible voice as he nodded his head. Vinny noticed a golem punch at Eshwar who was calmly walking, the air around him turned visibly white as the ground around him froze, he jumped out of the golem''s punch range and ran on the golem''s arm freezing everywhere he stepped, Eshwar stood with his leg on the golem''s head, which froze the golem till its chest, Eshwar jumped back as he cut the golem in half vertically, something shone from the golem''s neck area, which seemed to be the core. Vinny was taken aback by the scene in which Eshwar found the golem''s core so easily that he cut it in half like butter. Eshwar took a step forward and vanished, appearing above the golem''s head height and seemingly floating in air. "Dawn of Frost" Eshwar said with his left hand held out. Vinny noticed the golems were freezing and began to form snowkes around them. "Huuuu." Eshwar took a deep breath. Eshwar made a sheathing action and leaned forward with his left foot back, he vanished from his spot as he shed and reappeared behind all the golems, a bright light blue arc appeared on the golems'' necks but nothing happened. "C''mon, let''s head inside!" Eshwar yelled as he stood behind the golems and waved his hand in the air. "... What about the golems?" Jiwoo yelled back. "..." "They are already dead c''mon now!" Eshwar yelled again urging them to follow him. "What?" Vinny asked dumbfounded. "What?" Jiwoo asked wearing the same expression. "We are yelling to talk right now, they are not moving, are they?" Eshwar asked. "..." Jiwoo looked at the golems and nced back at Eshwar with his mouth wide open. ".... right." Vinny said as he started to walk forward towards Eshwar. * Chapter 20 19. The Golden Dragon. ?We walked more inside the dungeon, golems came in a much smaller number, only 2-3 started to appear and then it came down to one. We arrived at a Grand door which was decorated with an eye in the middle and many gears surrounding it. I looked back at Vinny and Jiwoo to see if they are ready, once we set a foot inside, we have to run at extreme speeds or die, those are the only options for us, we will be risking our lives by trusting each other. It is extremely important to understand each other and fight together, where one will trust the other with their life. "Huuuuu.... You guys ready?" I said as I took a deep breath. "Do you have a n?" Jiwoo asked with nervousness written all over his face and I can''t me him because this is the first time, he would facing a high rank monster with his very low strength. "...." Vinny didn''t say anything and looked at Jiwoo weirdly because he was supposed be someone who knows the future and the difficulties that lie ahead, so he was thinking what happened to him. ".. I have a n but, I''ll be on my own if this works out." I said because I was nning on fighting the Dragon alone from the beginning. "Huh?" Vinny eximed. "... are you sure?" Jiwoo asked with a very worried expression. "If you guys want to fight then I have different n." "What''s the other n?" Vinny asked without hesitation, he looked absolutely resolute. "..." ".... first, I''ll confirm my doubts and for second, then...." * We crotched down on the ground I held an ice stick in my hand and drew on the sand as I exined the details of the n to them. "Clear?" I asked them for confirmation. "Clear." Vinny said with smirk on his face. "..... Clear." Jiwoo said with uneasiness in his tone. "Good." I said as I stood back up and nodded my head. I closed my eyes and concentrated, a giant bow and three spears manifested before me as it floated in air, I clenched both the bow and the spears in both hands, Vinny was looking at me amazed expression and Jiwoo was looking awe struck. "Jiwoo, can I look at your sword?" I asked Jiwoo. "Hmm? Yea, sure." Jiwoo passed me his katana which he held in his right hand. CLICK I unsheathed the katana and looked at it for a brief moment, I sword''s craftmanship was poor and the bnce of the sword was not good, you could notice it crafted unevenly if looked close enough. I traced my index and middle finger on the sword while channeling mana into the sword after three seconds of mana channeling the sword broke in half. ''I knew it.'' I thought while looking at the half-broken katana. I nced at Jiwoo who stood gape with his mouth wide open and I turned my head to face Vinny who stood there with a casual expression, I nced at his sword and nced back at Vinny with a guilty expression, Vinny seemed to understand my expression, he tilted his head as he made a confused face. "Vinny give me your sword for a moment." I asked. "Kekeke." Jiwooughed weirdly with a grin on his face as he looked at Vinny. "...." He passed his sword to me without hesitation which was crackedpletely because I used it to sh down the golems with my technique, seems like Vinny had yet to notice it I took the sword before he noticed and used Frost magic on it. Frost magic started from the middle and his cracked great sword started to split apart, a giant sword formed with chunks of de emphasized at the corners of the giant sword and clear light blue ice held all the sword pieces in it. "Whoa!" Vinny eximed. "Whoooooaaaaa!" Jiwoo eximed. Vinny''s cracked great sword turned into an ominously beautiful giant sword. "Hahahaha." I chuckled looked at their expressions. I felt a burdening gaze on me, I nced at the direction of the gaze and found Jiwoo looking at me with sparkling eyes. "Geh. Ahem." I coughed with guilt. I couldn''t do the same with Jiwoo as his basic sword art will get messed up so I waved my hand and katana appeared in my hand as I moved my faster, subspace magic appeared and disappeared in a blink, so they couldn''t understand how the katana appeared in my hands, they both looked at the katana dumbfounded. "This is for Jiwoo. Ahem, it''s the one I made myself, though it may look like a normal katana, it''ll suit your sword art.... Ahem your style perfectly, I''ll buy you a better one if you improve more." ''I almost revealed his main sword art! When even he doesn''t know yet.'' ''Eh? Why am I acting like his father?'' ''Well... it doesn''t matter I guess.'' I thought. ".... Ok." Jiwoo said in a low tone. I tossed them their swords and turned to face the Grand door behind me. "Do you guys remember the n?" I asked to confirm onest time before entering the door. "Yes." Vinny said without hesitation. "Yes." Jiwoo said with confidence. It surprised both me and Vinny but Vinny looked at Jiwoo with a smirk on his face, Vinny''s face said ''He is finally acting like himself.'' "Let''s see how long you guys will stay confident" I grinned as I spoke. I ced my hands on the door and pushed it open. RUMBLE WOOOUUNGGG "WELCOME, MORTALS." I heard a hoarse voice as soon as I opened the door and saw a majestic being sitting with its head high. In a semi lit dark room, A being was seen glowing golden with its two horns protruded from each side of its sharp head and its scales looked like they were made of pure gold and golden eyes with vertical ck pupils'', pride and omnipotence were clearly visible in its face, it was ''THE GOLDEN DRAGON.'' But... something was different, its right half of the body and tail were covered in gears and machines like a robot, its tail was glowing blue at its end, like a gun which was ready to fire a Lazer beam. "This..." Chapter 21 20. The Golden Dragon (2). ?In a semi lit dark room, A being was seen glowing golden with its two horns protruded from each side of its sharp head and its scales looked like they were made of pure gold and golden eyes with vertical ck pupils'', pride and omnipotence were clearly visible in its face, it was ''THE GOLDEN DRAGON.'' But... something was different, its right half of the body and tail were covered in gears and machines like a robot, its tail was glowing blue at its end, like a gun which was ready to fire a Lazer beam. "This..." ''I don''t remember writing something rted to machines or gears.'' Even if my influence has changed a bit of the world it shouldn''t have been able to affect neither the system not the monster. This is something out of novel, is this world only influenced by my novel? No, if that is so then it shouldn''t be this much, I too, have read many novels like mine but this..... magic, system and everything else doesn''t make sense, so I wouldn''t be surprised much if I find anything new. ''but, earth was also filled with magic before I died.'' Maybe because the novel''s information I recently remembered are still fresh so it may have been enough to shake up my mind and making me believe that this world is my novel. ''Ok, let''s calm down.'' This is not a novel this is a real world that is almost the same as my novel. ''That doesn''t make any f**king sense.'' "Fuuuu¡­" ''¡­.let''s m down, it doesn''t solve anything if I get angry.'' This¡­.. something is going on, I''ll need to be on high alert, but if I''m like that then I won''t be able to do anything except bing paranoid. "I greet the great being of Wisdom, I''m Eshwar Frost." I walked into the room, bowed politely and spoke with my head down. First let''s get out of here and think about thister, I can''t just ignore it and I can''t just be too focused on it. ''I.... I''ll have to get stronger so I don''t ¡­.. huuuu.'' "A MORTAL WHO KNOWS MANNERS, HUH¡­" The Dragon spoke in a hoarse voice, it waved it''s hand which made the room bright with light, it turned it''s back on us and began to walk towards the end of the room. Suddenly, The Dragon''s body glowed bright golden as it shrunk in size and turned into its human form, with long golden hair till his waist, bright golden eyes with vertical ck pupils and white suit with domineering aura from his body, he sat on the throne like a ''tyrant .'' "YOU MAY RAISE YOUR HEAD, MORTAL." I observed everything around with mana spread out, it felt as though I was seeing it with my own eyes, he may have realized that I was watching his every move. I lifted my head and looked at The Dragon, I noticed his right side of the body was filled with gears and many metals, as if it was prosthetic, but everything seemed to be his own body. "YOU SEEM INTRESTED IN MY CONDITION, ISN''T THAT SO, MORTAL?" "Yes, I would like to know what happened, if it''s not rude." ''I don''t know what condition Vinny and Jiwoo are in but I can''t check on them right now.'' The Dragon excluded a domineering pressure from his throne. "Guh." Vinny groaned. "Ukh." Jiwoo sounded as if he had copsed from the pressure. I stood there nonchnt with a calm gaze fixated on the dragon, I won''t be under pressure with his child like aura, I can feel that he has never been in a life and death situation, for a Dragon''s pressure to be only this much, howughable. "Haa¡­. " I couldn''t help but sigh at the sight of a ''pup'' ring at me. I think he tried to set up a mood before he talked or ''trying'' to kill us, acting all high and mighty, he is trying to show himself as tyrant, I think? "And, here I was making a ''n'' to kill you." "WHAT?" He asked as he increased the pressure he was releasing. I nced at The Dragon and looked at him for a brief moment. [Trait: Human hunter activated.] [Trait: Good with hands activated.] "Haa¡­" a sigh involuntarily escaped my mouth. "Y-YOU MORTAL, YOU DARE SIGH AT ME?" He sounded to be shaking in anger but I couldn''t help but feel disappointed, though I was disappointed in The Dragon I can''t over think of the fact that something is different from the information I have from my novel. "Vinny, Jiwoo, I will be enough to deal with him." I said as I nced behind me from the corner of my eye. "Huh?" Vinny looked dumbfounded. "¡­What do you khh¡­" Vinny was trying to ask something but he was lying down face t on the ground. "Anyway, it''s nothing much, I said, I''ll easily be able to handle this ''pup'' alone. Let''s ask our questionster." I said as I pointed at the dragon without looking at him. "Y-YOU DA-DARE." The Dragon sounded fuming in anger or maybe he was just too embarrassed, well, it''s not like I give two f**ks about it. "Wait here, I''ll be done soon." I grinned and red at the dragon while releasing my own pressure, The Dragon flinched when he felt my aura which was only concentrated on him, the others would feel but it won''t be that much stronger if I''m concentrating on my target. "I''m more of a tyrant than you''ll ever be." I said as I instantly appeared in front of the dragon with a grin on my face. I held his head, pulled back and mmed him to the back of the throne he sat on, breaking it and mming him to the wall. "UGH." "Oi, oi, where did the domineering Dragon go?" I mocked him as he groaned in pain. "I''ll give you a good deal. You''ll give me your knowledge and I will kill you painlessly, hmm? It''s pretty good deal, if I say so myself.'' I leaned forward to his ear and released a bit of killing intent as I red at him from the corner of my eyes. "GUH." "Look, it seems to be a good deal for you too, don''t you think so, hmmm?" "YOU MORTAL, HOW DARE¡­" I pulled his head back and mmed with bit more force than before. BAM "GUH." The ''pup'' coughed up blood. "You were saying something?" I leaned forward with a menacing grin while mocking him. "I personally prefer that you turn down the offer." I said while ring at him from the corner of my eyes. Chapter 22 21. Out Of Control. ?"I personally prefer you turn down the offer." I said while ring at him from the corner of my eyes. This Dragon has no actual battle experience nor any training for battle, almost like someone just..... "You..... How old are you?" "KUH, 200 HUMAN YEARS OLD." "Did you already have your slumber?" "HOW? UGH, NO." The Dragon spoke in shocked tone. A Dragon''s slumbersts at least 10 human years before it reaches adulthood, but to not even have basicbat sense. Just because it''s not an adult yet we can''t underestimate a Dragon''s prowess, but this Dragon in front of me is far too weak. He is still a child ifpared to those who have already went through their slumber, the stronger the Dragon the longer the slumbersts. ''The Slumber'' brings many changes in their martial body,bat and magic sense, so Dragons train more while in early years to be stronger while in their adulthood. A Dragon''s time sense is 10 times slower than human years so they live many years, after thousand years they are know as an ''ELDER DRAGON.'' Though thousand years is not much for magical beings it is indeed high for humans. Human in this world can live up to 200 years while still known as ''lesser'' magical beings. The situation now should have never urred in the first ce, where a Dragon would lose to a human so one sided. I know about Dragons because of Frostine, we had talked to each other, I told her about humans while she told he about Dragons, Frostine was a 3000 year old Dragon herself. "Haa..... " I couldn''t help but sigh. ''I had high hopes to fight a Dragon again.'' I held his neck and threw him towards Vinny and Jiwoo, this Dragon has greatly disappointed me and I don''t even know when I would get to fight a stronger Dragon again. "If you try anything funny, I''ll double the amount of pain I had nned before, so think twice before you act." "..." I walked towards Vinny and Jiwoo who were clearly bewildered by the situation as they stared at me with their mouth was wide open. ''Che, I thought I would feel refreshed if I fought with everything I had, and I hoped a dragon would be a great opponent.'' I clicked my tongue and approached the dragon who was lying on ground, I nced at Vinny. "Vinny. Do you want to confirm before or after." "Huh?" Vinny asked perplexed by the situation. "... What''re you talking about?" Jiwoo asked as he nced at Vinny. "I mean, If you want to ask anything you can ask him, because I too have questions about a certain someone." "..." Before his regression Vinny and his wife were killed by a ck Dragon in a dungeon, he came to this dungeon so he could ask some questions about that ck Dragon. "Do.." Vinny spoke. "What''s your name, pup?" I interrupted and asked the Golden Dragon before Vinny speak. "... MY NAME IS NHIFR..." "Don''t take so much pride in your name..... At least in this situation." I nced at the dragon who was on the floor as I interrupted him, I didn''t understand if he was fuming in anger or embarrassment but he was trembling. "... I AM NHIFROGR." "Now, it''s a bit easier to call you, you can continue Vinny, Sorry, for interrupting." "No, it''s nothing." Vinny shook his head as he stood up. "..." Jiwoo sat cross legged with a dazed expression. "Um...Nhigorfr." Vinny spoke. "Pfft." I held back myughter. "IT''S NHIFROGR." He said while fuming in anger. "Ah, yes, Nihifrog." Vinny tried to correct himself while making it worse. "Pfft." I closed my mouth with my hand as I tried to hold back myughter. "NHIFROGR." He said while ring at Vinny. "Yes, yes, Nihi, Nhi, Nihifrogr." Vinny tried to correct himself again while making it harder for me to hold back fromughing. "Pfft." Jiwooughed as he also closed his mouth trying to hold back hisughter. "Pfft, hahahahaha." I held I my stomach andughed out loud as I couldn''t hold back. ROOOOAAAAARRRRRR PING [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 1] "What?" Nhifrogr roared while releasing his ''DRAGON FEAR'' and opened his mouth wide, mana surrounding trembled as he concentrated mana in his mouth for a breath attack which was aimed at Vinny. I kicked his mouth close, but some of the mana concentrated in his mouth wasunched like a bullet before I could even react to his attack, Vinny wasunched back from the slight release of mana, if Jiwoo was the one getting attacked he would have died instantly from the slightest mana bullet. "KUH." Nhifrogr groaned. Nhifrogr jumped a bit because I kicked his mouth, he jumped exactlying in range of my hands, I noticed it, took advantage of the small jump and punched his face with full force. ''Perfect shot.'' I felt my blow connect to Nhifrogr''s face perfectly. BAM Nhifrogr flew out of the door like broken kite, he bounced like a ball before he flopped on the ground without showing any moment. I nced at Nhifrogr who had flopped on the ground and nced back at the new system notification. [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 1] "What is happening?" ''This not something I wrote in the novel.'' "Jiwoo!" "...Huh? Yea?" Jiwoo who was in daze, snapped out of it and answered me. "Did you get a notification saying, ''system influence increased by 1.'' ?" "Yea..... But, what does it mean?" Jiwoo answered while in daze by the situation. "You Vinny?" "Ukh, .... Can''t you ask if I''m okay, first?" Vinny got back up and asked while groaning in pain. "Not now, if we don''t know what is going on then,... It''ll be toote." "Yea, I got the notification too." Vinny understood the situation and answered. PING (4x) [SYNCRONIZING...] [PEOPLE WHO KNOW OF THE FUTURE ''4.''] [SYNCRONIZATION COMPLETE.] [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED COMPLETELY IN....] [4Y: 49D: 24H: 30M: 59S.] "Did you get new notifications?" "Yea, what''s this about the time?" Vinny asked perplexed by the situation. "What is going on?" Jiwoo asked in panic. "F**k, what is going on?" Something is going on which is out of the novel, I thought we could have advantage on the future, but now it''s f**ked, system influence, gears and machines something about this is giving me ominous feeling. "This is getting out of control." ''Something is going on, but what? Wait... People who know the future 4?'' Chapter 23 22. The Prophecy. ?''Something is going on, but what? Wait... People who know future 4?'' "What? 4?" I yelled. "What is happening? what is going on?" Jiwoo yelled in panic. "...." Vinny stood there nonchnt or at least that''s what it seemed on the outside. "Okay. Hmmmmm." I walked towards Nhifrogr in a calm manner, I can currently only think of only one solution for the unexpected situation and the future. ''GET STRONGER.'' ''It finallyes back to the same solution as always huh?'' "Hahahahaha." "..." "Oi, wake up, I know you''re conscious." "..." "This mother.... Fuuuu..." ''Hmm... Maybe I should just kill him afterall.'' I girt my teeth to control my temper, though I couldn''t careless about this pup''s life, I still need information on what''s happening and why this weak bi**h appeared in this dungeon where the novel''s MC and the Dragon were supposed to fight to death in this dungeon. I stepped on the pup''s head and put some weight on it as if I was trying to crush his head, not that I will mind if he dies from so little pressure. "UKH." I increased the weight on his head to seriously crush it this time. "GAAAAHHH." ''.... Fuuuu, control..... Calm down.'' "Feel like talking now? Hm?" "..." "Hahaha." I let out a dryugh and released my killing intent a bit stronger this time, the pup started to tremble I could feel it below my foot and could literally see his body shaking. "GUH." "Let''s not make it hard for each other. Hmm?" "...." "I''m currently trying my best to hold back the urge to kill you this instant, so be good." I smiled while releasing my killing intent. "UKH...." "..." "..." ''Does he really think I''m joking?'' I was genuinely surprised by his unmoving will, I''m sure he is scared beyond belief, because killing intent can damage the mind of a weaker person by installing permanent fear in them, I can feel that this pup has never even tried to trained, so he should not be able to defend his mind much. "Oi, this is thest time I''m warning you." "ASK WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW MORTAL, OR ARE YOU WAITING FOR ME BEG OR PLEAD YOU BY CALLING YOU MASTER?" He suddenly burst out in anger. "...." ''I didn''t ask him anything yet, have I?'' I remembered that I have not asked him anything yet and because of the system notification I was too angry about the things not being under my control. I had almost killed him without even asking him anything, at least I calmed down thanks to his sudden out burst. ''Thank you, boi.'' "Ahem..... You should at least say, Yes! You son of....." "..." "Anyway, Do you know someone called ''Frostine?''" Nhifrogr opened his eyes wide in shock, he tried to turn and look at me, but as his head was pinned down he looked at me from the corner of his eye, I noticed his surprised expression and became a bit happy inwardly but didn''t show it on my face. "Do you kn.." "HOW DO YOU KNOW ''THE FROST QUEEN'' MORTAL?" He cut me off and asked me a question without answering my question. ''Frost queen, huh....'' a bitter smile appeared on my face, I felt a sharp pain in my heart when he mentioned Frostine''s title, I was going to exin to him that she was a Dragon and specializes in Frost magic if he didn''t recognize her, but he did. "Hahaha. Frost queen huh..." I chuckled bitterly as I dully remembered the moments I spent with her. "Anyway, is she alive?" This was the question I wanted to ask if I ever meet any Dragon because it is currently 2023 and the year I died was 2035, so we are in the past and I had a bit of hope that she would be alive, at least in my logic. I know that it''s just selfish and wishful thinking, but I still hoped that she would be alive. ".... SHE.... DIED ABOUT 20,000 YEARS AGO,..... AS SHE ONE DAY WENT MISSING IN SOME WEIRD PORTAL AND NEVER RETURNED, THAT''S WHAT I READ ABOUT HER IN SOME BOOK." I don''t know what he was worried about and why he was being so careful, but when he said that she died, I felt my heart sink and I felt like something had shattered in me, soon by vision became blurry and I felt a wet sensation on my cheeks, I touched my cheek. "Eh?" I knew why he took some time to continue after he mentioned about Frostine''s death, before I even knew it I was already crying. "I see, so she died, huh... Okay.... Fuuu, so she is really dead... Ok." I removed my leg from Nhifrogr''s face and walked around wiping my tears while trying to digest the news of her death. It felt weird, I knew about Frostine''s death but hearing from someone else... Just felt too painful. SNIFFLE "..." "Anyway, Vinny, you ask him about that ck Dragon." I walked back into the dungeon room as I got the answer for my doubt. "..." Vinny stared at me for a brief moment before walking towards Nhifrogr. "... What ck dragon?" Jiwoo mumbled in a very low tone. "..... And, Vinny, kill him after you''re done with him." I spoke without turning around, walked towards the broken throne and sat on it to fully collect myself. * I sat on the broken throne in apletely silent room, I rested both my elbows on the armrest, sped my hands together as I leaned forward and rested my head on my thumbs which were pressuring my temples as I faced down with my eyes closed. I don''t even know if it was simply because I didn''t concentrate, but there was pin drop silence, until... PING [Trait: Creator''s domain skill:??? Activated.] I ignored the system notification or just didn''t care to look at it now. FLUTTER (3) PLAP "Hmm?" I raised my head and noticed Nhifrogr flopped in front of me. "What''s the meaning of this?" I frowned. ".... You can kill him, since, you were the one defeated him." Vinny said. "..." Jiwoo simply stood there with a nervous expression. I stood back up and walked towards Nhifrogr whose face was beaten ck and blue, it was almost not recognizable. I calmly walked and stood in front of him and looked at him for a brief moment. "UKH, MORTAL, I CAME HERE TO DELIVER A PROPHESY ''A demon stronger than the demon king will bring destruction to earth.'' I WAS SELECTED TO DELIVER IT BECAUSE I WAS THE WEAKEST DRAGON." "HAHAHAHA. THOUGH IT''S LAUGHABLE, HAHA. YOU CAN KILL ME, MORTAL, YOU ARE STRONGER, SO I WOULDN''T .... I.... I DIDN''T WANT TO DIE, MORTAL." "YOU WANTED MY KNOWLEDGE, DIDN''T YOU?" Mana in surroundings trembled and Nhifrogr''s body glowed golden, Vinny and Jiwoo stood on guard, but I stood nonchnt because I didn''t feel any killing intent from Nhifrogr, so I stared at him and let him do his thing. WHOOSH "NOW, KILL ME, MORTAL AND I''LL GIVE YOU MY KNOWLEDGE, THOUGH I''M NOT STRONG LIKE THE OTHER DRAGONS, MY KNOWLEDGE IS THE BEST THAN ANYONE ELSE." He smiled bitterly. "I''M GIVING YOU MY KNOWLEDGE ON A HUMAN BODY, SO KILL ME IN AN INSTANT AND PAINLESSLY." CRACK I snapped his neck with my leg in an instant, which was almost a painless death, I know it is disrespectful but I felt too numb to care. WHOOSH "GUH." I felt a sharp pain in my head which increased in the matter of seconds and continued until I lost consciousness. [NEW TRAIT ACHIEVED.] [TRAIT: Machine Parasite.] [Skill:??? Activated.] [Skill:??? Proficiency increased by ??.] [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 1.] **** Sector five. In a dark room, a silhouette of man whose lower half was visible with the red light from the System window, a new system notification popped up before him. [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 1] He grinned showing his Vampire fangs. "Finally. Finally something different from my pasts is happening." "Hahahahaha." Heughed like a maniac in the dark room celebrating a new scenario, which he has yet to experience. * Chapter 24 23. Out Of Control (2). ?* In a 20 meter long room, a bathroom room and a small kitchen which was connected to the hall without much space, the hall had some workout equipment and a single bed on which a handsome white haired young man was seen curled up like a baby. Vinny walked in to the room and noticed Eshwar has yet to wake up, it has been 3 days since they came back from the dungeon. Eshwar, who fell unconscious at end of the raid has not woken up. Vinny carried Eshwar to his home because he didn''t know where Eshwar lived. He stood beside the bed and stared Eshwar for a brief moment before remembering that day, he released his killing intent while beating Nhifrogr without giving him a chance to fight back. "¡­" Vinny suddenly shuddered remembering that moment, though he knew why Eshwar did that it still scared him, he suddenly remembered his hollow eyes while he killed Nhifrogr. "Haaa¡­." Vinny sighed and walked towards the kitchen to cook himself some food. Eshwar slowly opened his eyes, suddenly snapped his eyes open, jumped out of the bed and got ready to attack anything that moved. "Hmm?" "m down." Vinny spoke as he stood on guard with the kitchen utensils in his hand. "Huh? What''re you doing here?" Eshwar asked with a perplexed expression on his face. "¡­. What do mean, what I''m doing here? This is my house.. " Vinny said in panic. "¡­. Huh? Why am I in your house?" Eshwar asked while scratching the back of his head. "¡­." "Guh." Eshwar groaned in pain and fell on his knees while holding his head. * "You okay?" Vinny asked Eshwar. "haa¡­.haa..haaa." Eshwar stared at Vinny as he gasped for air. "Do I look okay to you?" Eshwar asked Vinny. GRUMBLE "¡­. You hungry?" Vinny asked as cold sweat formed on his forehead. "¡­." "¡­." "What''re you making?" Eshwar asked after a moment of awkwardness. * "Vinny, will you be joining Switch, in a week?" I asked him as I stuffed my mouth with a sandwich. "¡­.. you mean, the day after tomorrow." Vinny said as he stared at me. "Huh? No, in a week." "Yes, day after tomorrow!" "Huh?" "¡­" "¡­. What day is it today?" "Saturday." Vinny answered with serious face, but it felt like he was trying to tease me. "... okay." I said with a nonchnt look on my face. ''hehehe, like I''ll let you tease me.'' I stared at Vinny whose face broke with a slight frown. ''So, I slept for 3 whole days huh¡­.'' I now have a clear understanding on the human body, like after a bio ss. ''why did he have to give me something I know.'' Though it still refreshed my memory, why did he give me something everybody knows? I grumbled inwardly and I think something in me has changed? I feel something different but I don''t know what. "¡­." "What were the rewards?" "¡­.. check your system window, you''ll get the idea." Vinny said as he took a sandwich from his te. "¡­" ''status.'' ==== STATUS: MAX [ESHWAR FROST] CLASS: MAGE RANK: S == STRENGTH: 1/10 (+11) [RANK- S] CONSTITUTION: 2/10 (+11) [RANK- S] AGILITY: 3/10 (+11) [RANK- S] PERCEPTION: 4/10 (+11) [RANK- S] (NEW) ENDURANCE: 4/10 (+11) [RANK- AA] (NEW) INTELLIGENCE: 2/10 (+11) [RANK- SSS] (NEW) MAGIC POINTS: 8/10 (+11) [RANK- S] (NEW) WILL POWER: 9/10 (+11) [RANK- SS] (NEW) DEXTERITY: 4/10 (+11) [RANK- AA] (NEW) == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ?tFrost [RANK- ???]: User can control Frost [Mastered] [Skill: negative mana temperature control] (hidden) ?tCreator''s Domain [RANK- SSS]: User''s Domain can be altered [Mastered] [Skill: Space maniption] [Skill: ???(NEW)] (hidden) ?tMachine Parasite [RANK- ???] (NEW) : Take contro????? Of the user?????? ??? ?????? ???. [Skill: ??? Is activated on this specific Trait, time untilpletion 1h: 02m: 34s.] == TRAITS: ?tGood with hands [RANK- D] (NEW) : User''s skills which uses hands is enhanced [Mastered] [Dexterity increases by 12 percent] (NEW) ?tHand to Handbat [RANK- C]: increasesbat sense [Mastered] [Good with hands has enhanced this trait by 10 percent] ?tHuman Hunter [RANK- ???] (NEW) : increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or human-type monsters [Mastered] [Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 113/120 to next stat increase)] (hidden) == SKILLS: ?tTaboo (?) (hidden) ?tPause (D) ?tRelease (B) ==== PING [NEW! CONTRIBUTION SYSTEM ADDED.] [REWARDS WILL BE DISTRUBUTED ACCORDING TO THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE PLAYER.] PING [NEW! INVENTORY SYSTEM ADDED.] [YOU HAVE RECEIVED A REWARD OF 5 SLOTS FOR CLEARING THE DUNGEON.] [CURRENT INVENTORY SLOTS 6.] PING [OTHER REWARDS WILL BE IN THE INVENTORY, IF THE INVENTORY IS FULL, REWARDS WILL BE DROPPED AUTOMATICALLY.] "What?!!" ''What is going on?'' I don''t remember writing any of these in the novel. ''I don''t remember ying any games.'' I thought my mind was ying games on me because I have been sleeping for 3 days straight, so decided to check it once. SLAP "Ow." I pped myself to know weather I''m wake or not. It hurt like hell, like seriously. "Pfft." "¡­" "Ahem. I also don''t know what''s going on." Vinny said as tried to remain calm. PING ''What now?'' [WARNING! SUBSPACE DETECTED.] [LINKING SUBSPACE TO INVENTORY!] "What?!!" ''That''s mine! You son of a bi**h.'' ''on whose permission are you linking?'' "F**k!" I cursed out involuntarily. [Trait: Creator''s Domain is activated.] [Skill: ??? Activated.] BIZZZZT [ERROR.] [LINKING INVENTORY.] [ERROR.] BIZZZZT [Skill: ??? Activated.] [DO YOU WANT TO LINK YOUR SUBSPACE TO THE SYSTEM INVENTORY: Y/N] Apletely glitched system notification popped up before me, this was the first time it appeared in this manner. I looked at screen for a bit and pressed ''N'' without hesitation. If it helps me why should I hesitate? [WARNING!] [ERROR!] [ERROR!] [ERRO¡­..] BIZZZZT [HIGHEST CONTRIBUTOR: yer: MAX] [4 REWARDS TRANSFERRED TO THE USER''S INVENTORY.] [PLEASE CHECK YOUR REWARDS!] ''What is going on?'' I don''t know what is going, but it''s going too fast, if I''m trying to adjust to one, the other is popping out. If it goes on like this everything will end before we even get to figure out anything. "What were your rewards?" "hmm? Oh, I got something like a potion and a skill level increase scroll." "hmmm¡­" from my experience the skill with question marks has something to do over ''control,'' I don''t know what, why, how, when, but it activates whenever something is out of my control. And¡­. "Hm? What level?" there is no ''levels'' only ''ranks'' for everything. There was never any levels in my novel. ''fuck, my mind is still in the novel.'' Anyway, I don''t see anything rted to level. "Can I look at the scroll?" "here¡­" Vinny handed a scroll, it looked like something directly out of it game. An old paper roll with tied red ribbon. "how do you know that it''s a level rted scroll?" "Take a look at it first." "¡­" [ITEM: SKILL LEVEL INCREASE SCROLL.] "Huh?" I rubbed my eyes and looked back at the scroll, this process continued for 1 minute before I understood that I wasn''t dreaming. "Huuu¡­. Vinny call Jiwoo, we need to talk about the future before we go to the academy." I need to discuss with them about the future to check if they know something different. Chapter 25 24. Individual X. ?"Huuu¡­. Vinny call Jiwoo, we need to talk about the future before we go to the academy." I need to discuss with them about the future to check if they know something different. "I''ll check rewards for the time being." I open the new ''inventory'' function, as it said that rewards will be in my inventory. ''INVENTORY'' INVENTORY: [Trishul [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: TRIDENT]: Skills: Cresent moon, Third eye.] [Training Wooden Sword [Rank: D] [Type: BROAD SWORD]: Skill: Weight adjustment.] [Ice Blood Katana [Rank: S] [Type: SWORD]: Skill: Ice Blood.] [Devil''s Shotgun [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: GUN]: Skills: Quick reload, Burst.] "Hmm.." ''Everything is useful.'' Guns! Why didn''t I think of it first. Gun is the best weapon, if I somehow manage to increase its fire power, then it will be much easier to fight and I have toe up with a n for bullets. ''Wow, I would be unstoppable if I use a gun, wouldn''t I?'' I can deal damage in long range, mid range and if the enemy is too close I can just use the gun as a blunt weapon and use my skills ''Good with hands'' and ''hand to handbat!'' "Kekekeke." Iughed out involuntarily. I could literally imagine fighting a horde of monsters with a machine gun. Machine! CLUNK (3x) "Huh?" "What''s that sound?" Vinny asked with a frown. I frowned because of the sudden sound, but I couldn''t sense anything and it sounded from my left. "Kuh." I suddenly felt a sharp pain from the back of my palm. I held my wrist and groaned. "Arrrrgggg." Steam started to form from my hand and smell of burning flesh hit my nostrils. I wanted to rip off my palm because the pain I would feel after would feel better than the pain I''m feeling now. Vinny ran around the room trying to find something. Even he didn''t know what he was looking for but he ran aroundpletely messing up everything in the room. ''What is happening today, it must be my unlucky day today.'' "Hahahahaha, Guh." "Huff.... Huff..... Huff.." The pain stopped, mostly 30 seconds had passed but it felt like hours to me. I lifted my palm to look at what had just happened. A circr metal bump with a cavity which glowed blue had formed on the face of my palm. PING [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 1] [SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MET FOR TRAIT: MACHINE PARASITE.] [NEW SKILL UNLOCKED, Skill: LINK [Rank: ???]] "... From when did system give notifications on every new thing?" I mumbled. I stared at my left palm and observed on my body''s new changes. "Huh?" I feel everything in my body, like every single cell! I.... I''m under control of everything in my body. I felt my heart race from the shock and excitement, this is the best gift anybody could ever get and for me it''s the best weapon I could ever have! The technique I use which was only a bit under my control will now be under my control perfectly. "Hahahaha, isn''t this more like a blessing in disguise?" "What is this foul smell? Did you shit in your house or something?" Gang Jiwoo walked into the room, wearing casual t-shirt and shorts. "Jiwoo!" Vinny was pleased by Jiwoo''s appearance because he had a new pair of hands for help. Jiwoo nced at Vinny and looked at me.... My hand to be exact, suddenly his eyes light up and he pointed at my hand. "Whoa, what''s with this Iron man shit?!" Jiwoo eximed joyfully. * "System is acting weird?" Jiwoo asked with wide eyes. "Did you check the inventory function?" "Yea, did you check it? I think you''ll understand more." Vinny said with hopeful eyes. "I did, but I was just happy because I can hold my katana inside it." Jiwoo said with a bit dejected face. [Jiwoo, I haven''t written anything like this.] I spoke with Jiwoo telepathically. Jiwoo who was looking down suddenly opened his eyes wide, he understood what I meant and suddenly turned to face me with panic written all over his face. "What?! Then how?" Jiwoo asked while sweating profusely. ".... What''s going on?" Vinny asked as he stared at us, he seemed to looking at our souls. "..." "..." After a few minutes of silence I could feel Vinny getting impatient, he had almost somewhat figured out that something was wrong. "... Tell me!" Vinny yelled as he released his killing intent. "Ukh." Jiwoo groaned. " Haa..." I sighed as I started to think if I should tell him about anything or not. If I tell him, he most likely won''t sit still, who in god''s name would sit still if I say ''I yed with your life from the beginning and now, I somehow lost control over everything so you can die now.'' Well I have a regressor card but, regression will be a candy which anybody could get, as long as they wanted. Hmmm..... What should I do in this situation, it''s not like Vinny is dumb, he should have tried, no, maybe he already has, somewhat figured out who I am, though it is notpletely and it''s not like you can trust a person you know nothing about. And I can''t reveal that I''m the author of his life which is full of misery. Something is going on which I don''t know and somebody else knows of the future, we don''t know what kind of a person knows the future, if he/she is good, they will definitely be in spot light and if they are evil, it will be extremely difficult to dig them out if they are smart and if he/she is dumb they to will be in spotlight soon enough. ''Individual X, huh.'' I nced back at Vinny whose killing intent was starting to take shape, the aura a person gives off takes shape and changes colour, if the individual bes strong enough, Vinny''s aura was looking like a bull while the colour was green, it was very vague but I could make out what it was because I knew. "Ukh." Jiwoo groaned in pain. Jiwoo''s groan woke me up from my daze, I realised that he would literally die if Vinny released a bit more killing intent. "Oi." I frowned because Vinny was doing too much, a ripple formed from me, it wasn''t anything strong but it was enough to push back Vinny''s killing intent. SHATTER The tes we were eating sandwiches from shattered into pieces. "..." ".. Ukh." ".....Um, sorry?" Chapter 26 25. A Bland Shedule. ?"Oi." I frowned because Vinny was doing too much, a ripple formed from me, it wasn''t anything strong but it was enough to push back Vinny''s killing intent. SHATTER The tes we were eating sandwiches from shattered into pieces. "..." ".. Ukh." ".....Um, sorry?" ''Now, what should I say?'' This is a situation where I have to say the truth, if I say the truth then the situation will turn towards the gutter. I think the situation will get worsen if I lie and it won''t get any better even if I say the truth. ".... Sorry, I.... I know something is going on and you both know the truth..... I want to what it is.." Vinny said as he clenched his fists. "..." "...haa..... Vinny.... Let''s just say.... I..." I started to speak but now I''m having second thoughts. ''What do I say?'' "..." "..." ''Ah right!'' "let just say, I know the past." I said with a serious face. ''Kekeke, I''m good at lying, I think?'' I deliberately said the ''past'' not the future, Both, the past and the future are very different but at the same time they are veryparable to each other, if you think in different way. "... The past?" Vinny asked as he furrowed his brows. ''He took it!'' "Yes, the past, I know your past.... And Jiwoo''s past too." I said as I nodded my head. "..." "..." ".... I know, what happened in the past and the situation now is not the past I know of, so what I''m trying to say is, we should work together to figure out what happened." I held a solemn look on my face. "...Ahem.." Jiwoo cleared his throat. ".... Umm.." Vinny seemed a bit hesitant. "Eh?" " Umm... We know that too, but what''s the n?" Vinny said as his lips twitched. "..." Jiwoo looked at me from the corner of his eyes as his lips curled up. "Ahem... Anyway, their is no n," "Huh?" Jiwoo looked at me. ".... What do you mean?" Vinny asked as he furrowed his brows and stared at me. "... I mean, we don''t know who knows the future other than us and we have no idea as to what type of person are they. Now, in this situation, what will do with a n? For what are you nning? Who is involved in the n? Against whom are you nning? We have no information, so there will be no n until we any have some information." ''Wow, I spoke so much.'' Yes, we need information on the opponent to make a n, but we need to make two ns, one for the future and the other for the system. System''s influence is increasing, what for? We don''t know. We don''t know if it''s for the good or the worse, so nning for the worse is the best way. The n for the worst is the best because in the good case scenario, we will have no problem but at the worst case scenario we will at least have a n to struggle and survive. "...hmm." Jiwoo pondered. "..." Vinny also seemed to be thinking. "Jiwoo, I want you toe up with a n for at least three possibilities." "Ok." Jiwoo nodded his head vigorously. "..." Vinny looked like a puppy in rain. "Ahem.... I asked Jiwoo because I know, you have your own n." I said to Vinny as I stood up and decided to leave. "Vinny control bit by bit and join the academy, I''ll teach you how to fight efficiently with very low mana." I stared at Vinny dead in eye and said. CLANK CRACK (5x) "Hmmmmm~ ha" I walked out of Vinny''s room and stretched, his room looked like it was in the middle of nowhere, overgrown grass, a mud pathway to the gate and some flowers nts grown near the tree on my right, it was I came to the country side. We were in Sector seven. I stretched my hand above head and turned to my sides with legs fixed in ce, I noticed that as much as it looked like a good home, the neighbourhood and surroundings were gloomy. Tops of the skyscrapers were visible from where I stood, that was city, it was many kilometres away. Suddenly, pungent smell hit my nostrils. "Ukh...uuu" I looked around to find the source of it and found out where it wasing from. "... You guys,e out after a minute after I leave or else, you die. It''s on you if you die, because I have already warned you!" I stared to walk towards the gate. CLANK "Huh? What do you.... Blergh." Jiwoo came out and urge to puke took over him it seems. "R.I.P" I walked off without looking back. ''I should take a bath after I return home.'' That day Gang Jiwoo died. * "Haa.. that was good." I took a refreshing bath after I returned home. I took out the materials Quinn had given me, sat on the bed and started to review the materials. FLIP "Hm? Aren''t this a bit too simple?" FLIP (2x) "I mean, I understand that the students only have to know information on monsters and do physical training on their own, but only basics means.... Why the f**k are they paying money to only learn this shit?" FLIP (6x) "If you find someone who has been to a dungeon before, he would teach them better than the academy. Huh? What''s going on? Everything is the same, don''t the teacher teach something new to their students?" [SHEDULE.] [1. Morning Training.] [SHORT BREAK] [2. Monster Information ss.] [3. Monster Research ss.] [BREAK] [4. Magic Control ss.] [5. Combat Training ss.] [SHORT BREAK] [6. Training.] [Artificial Dungeon Raid Trainings are scheduled ording to the students program and activities after a month of training.] "I guess, there are different categories in them but isn''t it too nd?" "I guess this is why Quinn said, I can teach whatever I want." "I have a day and a half toe up with my own schedule to teach the kids." * Chapter 27 26. The Challenge. ?* The day after tomorrow. Monday. I rode my bike towards the academy Switch, it was perfect cool temperature for a blissful sleep, it is nothing surprising as most of the time the temperature in sector five doesn''t change by much. I wore ck suit to make a good first impression, but I had second thoughts while leaving the hotel room because I will have to fight now, but I still decided to go in a suit. ''I''m confident that I can defeat them without breaking much sweat.'' I started to get a clear view of the academy and the two guards that stood guard thest time I came here were in sight. I rode directly towards them and stopped in front of them. VROOOM "Hello, here is my ID." I wasted no time and handed them my ID as soon as I arrived there. "Hello, Thank you, Sir." "Ah, Your Sir Frost?" the guy who took the card asked as looked at the bike and the ID. "Yes? Is there something wrong?" I asked as I took off the helmet. "No, Sir. I just remembered you fromst time, but I didn''t know your name, hahaha." He said as he scratched the back of his head. "Hm? Is that so? It was only brief moment before, so you don''t have to worry about it, and you will be seeing me more in the future." "Hm? Will Sir Frost also be joining Switch from today?" the other guard asked as he finished checking me with the mana sensor. "Yes, I''ll be a professor from today." I smiled brightly. "A professor?!!" The guards eximed in shock. "Eh?" "Eh?" the guards looked at me with a dumb expression on their faces. "Um, is there something wrong?" I asked, perplexed by the situation. ''What is going on? Why are looking at me like that?'' ''No. Was there a time limit for the challenge?'' "You are not a student?" they asked simultaneously. "Eh? No?" I titled my head. ''the f**k is going on?'' "Ahem. Please don''t misunderstand, we were just confused because you are a professor at your age." The guy who took my ID said as the other nodded his head. "Oh, is it really that surprising?" Switch should have, not many but some, young professors I think? "No, we have some and they are some typical people, we have one young professor who always has a ''don''te near me'' vibe and the other is a bit suspicious, if I have to say. Sir Frost will most likely be a new normal young professor." The guard exined while giving some information unknowingly. "You don''t have to worry, I''m not so normal myself." "Hahahahahaha." The guardughed out loud. "Hahaha." Iughed out, confused. ''Why are theyughing? Do they think I''m joking?'' * I walked in to the academy after feeling VERY awkward with the guards. "Haha, no matter how many times I see it, it never fails to surprise me." It was still as sleek and spotless as ever. A beautiful woman appeared from the opposite side of the hallway, seeming to look for something (?) as she was looking down, it was Isha Walker, my assistant professor. She had long ck hair, obsidian ck eyes and small ck dot like earrings, wore white turtle neck top, ck leather leggings and ck zer which came till her knees. ''Goddamn, she looks beautiful, but.....'' "Aren''t you hot in that? Ah, not that ''hot''.... I mean.... You are, but... Ah, warm! like sweating type?" I stuttered and tried to not cause any misunderstandings like thest time. "..." She looked at me. Her eyes said ''found it!'' "What were you looking for? Did you drop something?" I walked towards her while looking at the ground in hopes of finding something to help her. "I was looking for you." She said while smiling mischievously. I shuddered and suddenly remembered how she smiled at me as she made me run to hotel. "But, why were you looking dow...." A thunder bolt struck in my mind and understood what she was doing. "... Pfft. Ahem." She walked before me, clearing her throat. ''Ah goddamnit.'' "Hey, you can''t just disrespect me on the first day!" "What did I do?" she asked while feigning ignorance. ".... Anyway, where should I go to ''challenge?''" "You are challenging to join?" She asked with a surprised expression. "Yea, wannae watch me?" I asked with a teasing tone. ".... Sure, why not." She said with a nonchnt look. "Eh?" ''I was ready to get rejected though.'' * We arrived at the room which was named [Training Chamber] "Training chamber?" I mumbled. We walked in, the training chamber was white with blue circuit type shapes around and looked spotless. It''s size was about 3 football stadiums. It had many training dummies, tools and protective gears, to my left there were many doors named [Private training room] which where were mostly likely installed with gravity, illusion, temperature and many other settings, it required a key card to ess and permission was granted from the teachers, to my right was a clear see through wall named [Sparring ground] and it looked like Colosseum. There were many people flocking in the sparring ground with murmurs about who knows what were heard. "Hm, Quinn must have warned the staff about my arrival." I mumbled. "... Did you say something?" Isha asked as she looked at me. "hm? Nothing." I shook my head in response and walked towards the sparring ground. * Five professors were standing beside the sparring ground, one was a middle aged man with a moustache, one guy with goat beard who seemed to pregnant, one ''don''te near me'' guy, one guy in his twenties with sses, giving off a innocent guy vibe and the other with a rich young master vibe. ''there are two annoying guys here.'' I hate two types of people and these two people in front of me are the exact image of that type. "Hahaha, this will be fun." Chapter 28 27. The Challenge (2). ?Five professors were standing beside the sparring ground, one was a middle aged man with a moustache, one guy with goat beard who seemed to pregnant, one ''don''te near me'' guy, one guy in his twenties with sses, giving off a innocent guy vibe and the other with a rich young master vibe. ''there are two annoying guys here.'' I hate two types of people and these two people in front of me are the exact image of that type. "Hahaha, this will be fun." "Ah! If I defeat them without moving will it attract too much attention?" I leaned a bit towards Isha''s side and asked, just to make sure because I really wanted to humiliate those two guys. The innocent guy and the rich young master, I want them both to bepletely humiliated. For me, innocence is a facade, it can either be fake or pure naivety. As for the rich young masterdy, they don''t know or understand reality and will always be unting their family name, without anything else to them. "Yea, obviously." Isha scoffed at my question. "Then? What do I do to humiliate them?" "Why do want to humiliate any of them?" Isha asked as she furrowed her brows. "Well..... I hate innocent and young master type of people, so i can''t help it." I said as I started to remove my zer. "Excuse me, are you the challenger?" A guy wearing maroon colour shirt and dark brown pants approached us and asked. "Yes, I''ll be the challenger." I said as a took step forward. "Can you hold on to it?" I said as I held out my zer towards Isha. "Don''t do anything stupid and leave them be...." Isha said as she took the zer with two fingers. "... At least for now." She mumbled in a mosquito like voice. I only heard the ''for now'' part and smiled, but... ''Do you really have to hold my zer like that?'' "haa.." I sighed, shook my head and walked towards the challenging ground as I rolled my shirt''s sleeve back. * I arrived and the guy with the moustache stood in front of. "There will be no rules but killing is not allowed." The guy who called me here said with solemn look on his face. ''hmmm.. let''s see, they will be moushi, goatee, chuuni, fake andstly young master.'' ''Good! I''m getting good at naming.'' I nodded my head, impressed by my improvement. The guy looked at me and thought I was nodding at him, he nced at moushi, he too nodded. "Begin!" the guy said. "Oh! Do they always start by surprise?" I mumbled as I grinned. BOOM Moushiunched himself at me, he seemed to physical type. He appeared right before me and jabbed at me. ''Oh, I remember this situation, but I don''t know from when.'' I''m pretty sure I killed the guy who punched at him, who was that, I pondered as I leaned to my right, dodging the attack. ''Anyway, what should I do with him, he is full of openings.'' I looked at him and instantly noticed his mana and aura veins, he didn''t seem to have any talent nor some real experience in fighting, because I didn''t even need to look for openings because he was so full of it. I dodged about ten more attacks heunched, every single blow was either aimed at the body or the head. If I defeat him to easily then I''ll attract too much attention and if I don''t do anything our precious moushi will explode out of anger as he face was already flushed red with anger. He was releasing his killing intent unconsciously, or if you could even call it that, our moushi''s killing intent was like a soft feather tickling my face. This time I crossed my arms and seriously started to think what I should do in this predicament. I was still dodging our moushi''s attacks to give him a ''if I can connect a single blow, it''ll be the end'' kind of feeling. I had dodged about 50 of his blows, if he actually hit me I think his knuckles will break. "Stop dodging and fight me seriously." Moushi said as he fumed in ire. ? He stopped attacking and red at me with malice, he had attacked me exactly 78 times before stopping and I noticed his breathing was a mess, so I suddenly had an idea. "Oh! Huff.... Huff... Good one." I decided to fake as if I was tired from all the dodging, I gave him a thumbs up while I faked panting. "You basta*d" Moushi cursed at me. ''I seriously want to pose like a anime girl getting shocked.'' I calmed my urge to pose like that because I am currently acting like I''m tried from dodging. I decided to look at Isha and see her expression to assess my acting. My zer rested on her left arm and she was face palming with her right hand while shaking her head. "Eh? That bad?" I mumbled. BOOM Moushiunched at me with the same attack he used at the start. This time I decided to not dodge and that doesn''t mean I''ll take the blow, I punched his forearm with not much force. "Arg." Moushi groaned, his forearm turned blue at the spot I punched. He jabbed with his left, again I punched his forearm. "Arg." He groaned and took a step back. I walked towards him, leaned and whispered in his ear. "If you don''t surrender, I pluck out your moustache!" It was a threat I didn''t expect to work but our precious Moushi''s moustache turned out to be more important than I had expected. "I.... I su-surrender." Moushi said as he staggered back. "Heh." Goatee scoffed at moushi. "Again, no killing." The guy said and backed off. Goatee pulled out a sword and took a stance, red at me with grim face. "I challenge you to a duel!" Goatee yelled gathering all the attention in the sparring ground. ''Goddamnit, why?'' He gathered all the attention which I didn''t want, suddenly a thunder bolt struck in my mind as I remembered something. I snapped my head towards the goatee. ''Does he think he is the ''GOAT?'''' Chapter 29 28. The Challenge (3). ?"I challenge you to a duel!" Goatee yelled gathering all the attention in the sparring ground. ''Goddamnit, why?'' He gathered all the attention which I didn''t want, suddenly a thunder bolt struck in my mind as I remembered something. I snapped my head towards the goatee. I got so angry at the goatee, I had the urge to p the sh*t out of him. I tried to control it but suddenly his belly which was almost touching his knees came into sight. I grinned deeply because a nasty idea popped up in my mind. "Ok. I ept the duel." I nodded and walked to my left where many different weapons were ced. I took out the sword, it was good but that''s it. It wasn''t anything special, it was perfect for ''sparring.'' I held the sword in my left hand and nodded. Goatee nodded too. "Begin!" Goatee took two steps forward and shed diagonally, I took a step back because he was channelling mana to the sword, creating ayer of mana around it which could potentially leave a bruise if connected to someone of his own level. His mana control was good because it would leave a bruise not a cut. Goatee''s next swing suddenly got faster, he shed three times and it took the same amount of time when he swung his sword diagonally once, the strength behind them didn''t change by much but definitely did get sharper. ''Hmm... Maybe his sword art has something to do with the number of swings.'' I was dodging all his attacks by an inch. In about a matter of 10 seconds, he had swung his sword 43 times and it had gotten to a level where he could easily defeat a grade- 6 monster. They are all weaklings if you look from my eyes, but grade- 6 monster could easily give a rank-A hero a hard time. That is why heroes below rank-S don''t go to sector one. "Ho! Interesting." I was surprised to notice that some of the fat in his body was gone. "You have some pretty interesting skills." I mumbled, smirking. I dodged all of his, he seemed to have gotten impatient and decided to end it with one strike. He slowed down and held his hand above his head to sh diagonally which created a big opening for me, I grinned and took a step, that was the first time I took a step forward while fighting him. I disappeared and appeared right in front of him, from the sudden appearance his stance ttered, that was enough to end him but I remained still for a second with a smile on my face, ours faces were only 7 inches apart. I took a long step to my left, leaned to my right, pulled my right hand back and pped his stomach. PATT The p echoed throughout arena and silenced all the whispers and murmurs. I could feel the waves forming on his stomach, some of the sweat were gathered on his body from all that fat burning. ''Ouuu... It must have hurt.'' I squinted my eyes just from imagining the pain of that ''perfect'' p. "..." Pin drop silence enveloped the arena and after some time, soft and muffled giggles filled the surroundings. "Nice!" I mumbled and took a step back, I really wanted to p his belly once and it definitely felt like what I thought it you would. I smiled brightly and walked away. I didn''t even think about looking at the goatee''s face cause I satisfied the idea which came to me. I suddenly remembered that I was in a dual. "Ah! Eh?" I noticed my surroundings which was filled with giggles andughter. I now understood what I just did, turned to look at Isha for help, she was in the worst condition from trying to hold back fromughing. Her brows were wiggling like crazy, her lips were curled up and were trembling, she avoided my eye contact and continued to hold herughed. She suddenly stopped and furrowed her brows. "Ha.. so it came to this huh.." I mumbled as shook my head and noticed the goatee gaining in on me. "You!" Goatee roared. I turned to notice a ''tomato goatee'' approaching me, he was almost at the boiling temperature. He skipped a step and shed at me diagonally, I shed in reverse, vertically which cut his sword in the middle. I raised my right arm a bit and used ''telekinesis,'' which was just simple ''mana maniption'' to catch the broken sword pieces from hitting the audience who had already prepared to guard it. "Mmm..." ''what should I say?'' If I say ''m down'' then, it will be a joke. If I say ''I was just joking,'' it would only be rubbing salt on the wound, I think shutting up is the best option, but..... "Surrender! Or I''ll cut your shirt into pieces." I said in a cold tone, but... ''Why do I sound like a pervert?'' "F**k that! You basta*d!" Goatee reced his sword and shed down vertically. I shed 20 times with 1/4th of my strength, the sword cut through the wind, slowly and beautifully, de like wind pressures formed which cut the goatee''s shirt into 20 pieces, revealing my perfect, red and blue hand print on his stomach. Goatee stopped moving from the shock because his shirt was cut into pieces before he could even sh down, slowly paper cuts formed all over his body and very little drops of blood was visible from the cuts. "Low- Frost." I held out my right hand and froze all the sweat beads on his body. Not because I felt anything for him, it''s just that if I see him in pain in front of me, my mind would definitely imagine that pain. ''Ah, fuck... I just imagined that pain of a paper cut in salt water.'' "And, that is why imagination is both curse and a blessing." I said out loud because I heard some ''brrr'' soundsing from the audience. "Oi, I''ll take that win." I called out to the guy overseeing our fight as a judge and a referee. "Um? Ah, yes." Goatee just stood there and looked at me nkly. Chapter 30 29. A Ranked Vampire. ?Goatee was dragged out of the challenge ground and the innocent guy, wearing sses walked in, he gave off a ''everybody is my friend'' vibe and walked in with a kind smile, the way he kept that smile on his face gave me creeps. ''Guh, he looks like a kidnapper offering candies to kids.'' "Creepy basta*d." I mumbled in low tone. He stood before me. "Let''s have a good match." ''fake'' said. ".... You know why you are here, don''t you?" I asked sarcastically. "Yes, because you have challenged us." He still had his kind smile. He looked like a doll which is stitched to smile, you look at the doll for 5 minutes and it gives you creeps. Now, I was in exactly that situation, the more I look at him the more eerie feeling I got. ''If it was not for Quinn, I would have instantly erased the existence of this son of a bit*h.'' "If I win, I''ll take your rank, so be careful and don''t talk to me, creepy basta*d." I said making it loud and clear for him. His smile ttered for an instant but soon returned to his creepy smile. I noticed how his smile ttered, I grinned and decided to f**k him up without giving him any chance. "Oi, start it." I said to referee. He nodded and began the fight. "Begin." I just stood there nonchntly. ''Fake'' appeared in front of me and jabbed with his right, halted in the middle and punched my stomach from his left which formed a circr wind pressure. BOOM I held he left hand with my right, clenched it and lifted my left arm, he flinched from my actions and made a pitiful expression. I bought my left hand near my mouth and yawned. His face muscles rxed after looking at my action, I grinned inwardly and pped his cheek instantly. PATT "..." "..." The p reverberated throughout the arena, no one dared to make a single sound. I red at him, he frowned and his smiling face was no where to be seen, but suddenly, he put back his creepy smile on his face and turned to face me. PATT I pped him again, he cheek had turned blue and a bead of blood trickled down his nose, but he still kept his smile. I don''t feel any sympathy for him, not even a bit, I have no clue why he is acting all innocent when he clearly frowned after the first p, but I was set on unmasking him today. "Oi, don''t you think it''s enough?" "Yea, stop that, you son of a bit*h." "Get out of here, you basta*d" The audience started to boo me, not that I give a f**k, but I was surprised to a entirely different reason. "You tamed quiet a few, huh?" I said, smirking. "..." he smiled at me. PATT ''What are you smiling at, son of a bit*h'' I pped him again and released my grip on his left hand, he jumped back and rxed his left hand. There were 5 red marks on his left hand, it looked like my fingers had dug into it. BOOM Thick red hue poured out of his body, hue surrounding him looked very close to a loose cape. "This!!" "Is that aura?" "No, it just mana pressure." Audience rejoiced looking at a young mage who can control his mana pressure. But truth was too far from it. "..... It''s blood." I mumbled. Yes, it was blood. He had controlled the blood so perfectly and made it appear like a hue. He spread the blood in air and controlled the spread blood to make it appear like a vile and concentrated the blood around him to make it look like aura or very close to hue. ''He is a goddamn vampire!'' ''If you have high sensitivity of all senses then you could clearly smell blooding out of him, you goddamn fools.'' "F**k!" I disappeared from my spot, appeared before him and punched his stomach with full force. BOOM SPLURT Blood flew everywhere and a clear hole appeared in his stomach, blood started to leak from his mouth. The Shirt turned red around the hole in his stomach but it didn''t stop and itpletely enveloped him. He becamepletely blooded and he turned into thick goo of dark red blood and it flopped to the ground creating a puddle of blood. "Kyaaaa." "Run!!" "Help! Please!" The audience were startled and started screaming for help. "Shit, shit, shit!" ''it is a bad sign!'' It means he is a ranked Vampire!. ''Vampires'' they are a bunch of blood sucking undead. Their are ''Ranks'' among them. There are total of six ''ranks'': King, Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount and baron. With ''King'' being the highest and ''Baron'' being the lowest. The ranked Vampires can walk around sunlight like any other normal human being which makes it hard to find the ranks. "If he was a ''Thrall'' I would have killed him with a flick of my finger, these f**king ranked Vampires all start from above rank-S!" ''Thralls'' they are the ves or ''ex- humans'' who decided to follow vampires by throwing away everything, they be devotees of the vampires in hopes of climbing Vampire ''ranks.'' Though it is just a futile dream of the weak. I was in panic not because I can''t fight, but because there are people around and the more people die the more stronger he''ll be. "I didn''t think, I would be figured out so early, that to withoutpleting any n pletely.''" He mumbled and I heard him because I was on high alert in hopes of finds him, there was a puddle of blood below me, so if he wanted to materialize the puddle in front me is the best choice, but he had spread his blood and made it look like aura, so I can''t let my guard down. He could just intrude anybody in here and kill him from the inside to materialize, so I could only hope he would just materialize in front of me, but..... My hopes were for naught. PAP (5) Suddenly 5 random people exploded in the arena which was filled in panic and chaos. "KAYAAAA." "Help!" "Run!" "You guys are f**king HEROES, at least act like one!" I roared which caused fear for some and calmed some. Chapter 31 30. A Ranked Vampire (2). ?"You guys are f**king HEROES, at least act like one!" I roared which caused fear for some and calmed some. "And, what use will that make?" The vampire asked in a hoarse tone. ''I definitely wanted a strong opponent but not in this situation!'' "Oi! Let''s fight." "Hahahaha, what makes you think you are worth it?" He asked. "Hahaha. Ha, I''m the one who thought you were worth something, sorry, if you misunderstood." "..." "Hmm? Oh! You scared?" I snickered. ".... me your arrogance." A dust devil of blood formed in front of me and ''fake'' manifested but much with palerplexion and wore a vintage butler type suit but a bit stylish version of it. It looked good to me. "Good suit." ".... You have good taste human." He said with a slight bashful and proud face. "I know." "Hahaha." Heughed. "Hahahaha." Iughed too. ''Hmm? What with this friendly atmosphere?'' "Ahem. Anyway." I grinned. ''my grin must have spread from ear to ear.'' "Let''s fight." BOOM I activated ''Frost'' because his power ''blood'' was a liquid and I can damage him if I freeze it. I punched his stomach with full strength he pierced my first with his index finger. SPLURT "Hahahaha." I remembered who was one who started a fight with a jab and I did the same to him too. ''They say ''what goes aroundes around'' it must be true.'' I pulled out my arm and jumped back to distance myself. His index finger froze. "You have something interesting, human." He said while looking at his finger. "Thank you. Now, let''s get a bit serious, shall we?" "..." he smirked. "I''ll take that as a yes." I froze the wound, took a step ahead and disappeared from the spot. BOOM BAM BOOM (6x) We only had 7 exchanges at full strength, blood trickled down my mouth which I licked and gulped back down while he dusted off his suit''s left elbow. "What rank are you?" I asked as Iunched myself at him. BOOM (4x) He was faster than me only by a bit, he seemed to be going easy on me, but I wasn''tining because I knew that he was too strong for me at my current state. It felt like he could defeat me any second he wants but I was not simply fighting him either, some of his insides must be frozen. Though he is a undead, being cold and being frozen are different, but he wouldn''t feel much difference until it''s toote. It''s a battle of attrition, if he decides to y around he''ll regret it but I could use it to my full advantage, though the damage taken is more than the damage I have done. "... That''s a secret." He said with a kind smile. "Creepy basta*d." He punched at me, his moments were stiff. He opened his eyes wide as he noticed what was actually happening, I noticed his surprised expression and took full advantage of his stiff moments. "25 percent!" I mumbled out. COUGH SPLAT I coughed out a ck pile of tar, looking thing(?). Pain, excruciating pain swept through my whole body, I clenched my teeth and took a step forward, the pain doubled. My body joints felt like they were all old and rusty, every single step I took would increased the amount of pain I was feeling but I couldn''t stop now. I held out my left palm facing towards the vampire who was looking at me with a dumbfounded face. I needed only one chance to finish him, I activated the veins I copied from wolf of the sector one. Cold mana cruised through the veins which increased the amount of pain by a bit. I appeared in front of the Vampire leaving behind an after image of me and jabbed with my palm facing at him and caught his head. "I don''t know, what it is and how strong it is but this will most likely best attack." I said as I red at him through the gaps of my fingers while he was doing same. I emptied all my mana into the new ''iron man shit'' I got on my left palm and released it. A strong light blue beam appeared which was freezing everything in range, the vampire barely dodged his head but his right ear, right shoulder and half of his right arm waspletely frozen. And, I was barely holding on to my consciousness. ''F**k, I missed him and that to, by a lot!'' "... Tsk." The vampire clicked his tongue and reached for something in his zer. He took out an artifact which was overloaded with mana and was on the verge of exploding. ''F**k, if it explodes half of the academy will be blown away, what the fuck is with that artifact?'' "Arg." I moved my right hand and weakly punched his right shoulder. "Release!" I yelled very weakly. BOOM The Vampires other shoulder exploded and the remains of his arm fell down, I had frozen some of body parts while fighting him which help in blowing almost half of his body. A giant hole formed on him while half of his neck and the left side of his upper body was blown away but he was alive and his eyes were still very calm. The artifact fell on the ground, cracked a bit and the vampire flopped and turned into a puddle of blood before disappearing. I fell face first on ground and noticed two familiar presence. "Crazy basta*d, always arriving at thest." I mumbled and lost consciousness. * Chapter 32 31. A Vision. ?* "Eshwar, why are you.....?" I heard a man''s voice, sobbing. ''Huh?'' I snapped open my eyes or at least I tried, but something was blocking me from opening my eyes. My eyes slowly opened while my eyes was stinging and my right vision was red. "Hahahahahaha." Iughed, covering my eyes. I raised my index finger and peeked at a demon(?), he was kneeling in front of me, had long red hair, half of his hair from left was cut, a horn protruded from the left side of his forehead, he was bleeding from sword strikes all-over his body and was crying while looking down. "Why can''t you just protect someone, Vinny?" my mouth moved and I spoke in a hoarse tone. ''Vinny!?'' "I.... I was tote, Eshwar." He sobbed while kneeling. "Tsk, tsk, tsk..... If once, I probably would have agreed with you, but not the second time. Nah, nah, nah..... Cause, I clearly begged you to protect her, didn''t I?" I shook my index finger side to side while speaking in a cold tone, I was feeling nothing but rage at his ipetence. ''What''s going on?'' "..... So, you''re just killing everyone?" He asked as he red at me while tears still flowing. "Yes." I felt satisfied as I said those words. ''Why am I feeling satisfied?'' "I definitely warned you that I''ll kill everybody, if something happened to her." I giggled. "So, look, I killed everyone involved." I turned towards my left, I opened my arms like I was disying something grand. The sun was up and the wall of the room we were in was broken and everything beyond the broken wall was blooded. ''Wh-what?'' There were vehicles crashed, some exploded but every vehicle was blooded, many icicles were seen piercing the head and vitals of every human in view, it looked like a mass massacre had just took ce. "They were innocent people, Eshwar! And you killed them all mercilessly!" Vinny yelled, coughing out blood. "Hahahaha, of course, didn''t they all want her dead?" I said as I looked at him from the corner of my eye,ughing. "..." Vinny turned silent. "What''s wrong? Don''t want to defend them anymore?" I mocked him with a smirk on my face while looking at him from the corner of my eye. ".... Kill me." Vinny said in resolute tone. "Pfft.... You.... Pfft, hahahahaha..... Did you seriously think I was going keep YOU alive?" I asked him whileughing to my heart content. "...." "Sorry, if you expected something, but I didn''t say this to keep you alive..... I said this just in case, you regress again, you will keep that in mind." I walked towards him. "And, to why I killed them is because, I''m not naive enough to keep those who try to take or touch what''s mine live." I pointed my index and middle finger at him. "Choose." "What?" Vinny asked. "Because, I once considered you my friend, I''ll give you a choice, so choose." I said in cold tone. "..." he chose the index finger. "Luckyyyyy. Okay, I''ll kill you painlessly because I gave you an option." SPLURT I slit his head in half horizontally. I walked towards the broken wall and sat down and looked down, I was about 20 floor above. "Ah! I now remembered why this was all feeling like Deja Vu." I mumbled. "Hello Eshwar, Eshwar here, I know you are confused to what''s happening but just try to do things right. I don''t even know why and what I''m rabbling about, I had a vision of this before, so just to be on the safe side I''m giving myself a warning." After that my consciousness started to fade. "It''s not like you''ll remember this after you wake up anyway." * I slowly opened my eyes and felt a wet sensation near my ear, I touched it and realized I was crying. I stared at the ceiling, it was unfamiliar and ufortable. I turned my head and noticed I was in Quinn''s office and wasying down on the sofa. "What happened? I felt like I forgot something very important." I mumbled. "I remember, but not all of it ''just do it right!''" ''but what should I do right?'' "Hmm... There is no need to rack my brain. I just have do it right." I rxed my arms and noticed the ''Machine Parasite'' had turned invisible again. After the [Skill: ???] conditionpleted, the description of the trait was gone and I was able to turn it visible or invisible at my will. [Trait: MACHINE PARASITE. [Skill: link,....]] ''I even brought a new glove to hide it.'' CLANK "Oh, you''re awake." Quinn walked in, smiling brightly. "..." I now remembered what had happened before I lost consciousness, I noticed Quinn''s and Isha''s presence when the artifact fell on the ground. "Hm? What happened?" he asked with puzzled expression. "That''s why I say not to trust people so easily." I roared. "Ok, m down for now." He said while smiling. "Calm down my a**, what do you think would have happened if that artifact exploded? Huh?" I yelled. "..." "And, why the f**k have hired those ipetent fools? They were running instead of fighting." "..." "F**k." "You done?" He asked with a calm smile on his face. "Che." I clicked my tongue, stood up and started to walk away. "ss- 5-1." He said. "..." CLANK I walked out of the office angrily, feeling a cool breeze near my cor bones and walked in the hallway while mumbling the room number repeatedly in my mind. ''5-1, 5-1, 1-5 , no, no, 5-1, 5-1....'' I noticed Isha standing near a ssroom, tapping her toes and waiting impatiently. "Hey! You okay?" I asked while jogging towards her. "..." She looked at me and tapped the right corner of her lips. "Hm?" I noticed she was indicating something and wiped the right corner of my lips with my thumb and saw a smudge of blood on my thumb. "..." Her ears were a little red and her face had turned a bit rosy. "Done?" I was puzzled why she had that face. "..." she nodded bashfully, turned back and opened the ssroom door. "Is this 5-1?" I asked but she walked in without answering. I entered the room, it was sleek and spotless as ever, it was a semi-circr room and six rows of benches cascading up. I smiled brightly and walked towards the podium. Chapter 33 32. Professor Frost. ?* She was surprised to learn that he was going to challenge to join switch which doesn''t usually happen, almost never happened before, so when people of academy heard that some was challenging to join the academy they were all curious to see who was crazy enough to challenge the academy''s professors. Switch academy professors are all heroes who are ranked in top thousand in the human domain. hence, ''Sparring room'' was soon flooded with curious people. She took the zer he handed her with a ''Why are you giving it to me?'' face. * She looked at Eshwar fight the guy with a moustache, he was aggressively punching from the start and on the other side Eshwar was dodging all the attacks with ease. ''You don''t want to draw attention like this?'' she titled her and started to rethink the meaning of not drawing attention. Eshwar was rxed at the start, suddenly turned serious, pondered and crossed his arms. ''No matter how much you try....'' "It''s no use like this." She mumbled. "Isn''t he so handsome." "That''s what I was saying." "Hahaha." Isha furrowed her brows as she heard the murmurs of the girl group beside her. ''See, your existence is enough to draw attention.'' She thought. "Stop dodging and fight me seriously." Said the guy with the moustache, he seemed tired because his breathing was uneven. "Oh!" Eshwar eximed. ''What''s he going to do now?'' Isha felt uneasy. "Huff.... Huff..... Good one." He said as he faked panting and showed thumbs up to the guy with the moustache. "You basta*d." ''You idiot. Who is going to get fooled by that?'' Isha face palmed and shook her head. She looked at Eshwar from the corner of her eye. ''Hm?'' she tried to read his lips. "That bad..... Of course, what did you expect?" she grumbled with a slight smile on her face. He turned serious and the fight started again, this time he didn''t dodge but punched ''moustache''s'' forearm. "Oh!" she was surprised because those kind of attacks are dodged most of the time, she had never seen anybody fight like that. She was now starting to pay attention to the fight closely, but the fight ended after the next blow. "Eh?" ''I''ll just pay attention to the next one!'' she resolved herself. "I challenge you to a dual!" the next opponent announced. ''Just don''t kill him.'' She thought as she felt uneasy thinking Eshwar might do something to the goatee for drawing all the attention. "Ok, I ept the dual." Said Eshwar, picked a random sword and held with his left hand. ''Why is he using left hand? I''m pretty sure he is right handed.'' She thought and next 10 seconds passed instantly with Eshwar mumbling something in between. The guy with a goatee stopped and raised his sword. ''He is open!...'' "Now!" she mumbled to herself and as if Eshwar had heard her, he disappeared and appeared right in front of the goatee, the only thing that kept them apart was the goatee''s stomach. ''Why is he standing still?....'' PATT ''Ah! That''s why.'' She pressed her lips holding back herughter. "Nice!" said Eshwar, looking at the goatee''s stomach. "Pfft." She pressed her lips harder but her lips curled up either way and it was much harder for her hold backughter after hearing him say ''Nice!'' but, suddenly she furrowed as she red at the goatee closing in on Eshwar as he was facing backwards. Eshwar turned around and stood calmly. "Surrender! Or I''ll cut your shirt into pieces!" he said. ''Why does it sound so perverted?'' "F**k that, you bastard!" "Haa.." Isha sighed. "Hm?" Isha looked at Eshwar swordsmanship and was surprised. ''It''s slow?'' His swordsmanship was so slow that Isha''s eyes could clearly follow the sword path even though he was stronger than her. Everything felt very slow to her, goatee was moving slowly, Eshwar was moving slowly but everything seemed to be in the normal pace. Eshwar''s swordsmanship was slow, beautiful and deadly at the same time. His sword moved very fluidly, like he was fighting in water but it held a very strong destructive power behind every strike. "Water!!?" she mumbled. ''Right, water! It seems like he is fighting inside water!'' She concluded. Goatee''s shirt was cut into pieces, Eshwar held out his hand and used magic and paper cuts appeared on the goatee''s body with his sweat beads frozen. She shivered slightly imagining the pain and she walked out of the ''Sparring ground.'' * She wasing back to the ''Sparring ground'' and suddenly Quinn flew past her at an rming speed. WHOOSH ''Why is he...'' BOOM "Shit" she cursed and ran towards the arena. She arrived at the entrance and saw Eshwar lying on ground with a overloaded artifact in front of his face while a puddle of blood disappeared below him. Artifact suddenly stopped reacting, a blob of mana formed around it and flew towards Quinn. Eshwar also floated in air as Quinn bought him back to his office followed by Isha. * She was walking in the corridor after talking with Quinn about everything she needs to know. She easily found ssroom 5-1 because she too had studied in the same academy. She leaned on the side of the ssroom and remembered all the incidents of today. Her mood brightened up when she remembered how she joked with him when she saw him at the entrance. Her lips curled up before she even notice. "Hehe." She giggled remembering the time of challenge and suddenly frowned as he remembered Eshwarying on ground unconscious. "Hey! You okay?" she turned towards the voice and found Eshwar jogging towards her with his shirt''s top two buttons unbuttoned. She noticed blood on the corner of his lips and pointed it out. He wiped the blood off with his thumb. He looked very erotic when he wiped his lips, she looked at him dazed and blushed when she snapped out of the daze. "Done?" he asked with a puzzled face, Isha turned around and simply walked in to ssroom. She drew all the attention instantly, mostly of the boys. "Woaahh." "Is she a student?" "She is so beautiful." "Hey, isn''t she the ''Ice Queen?''" She furrowed her brows at the remark and the ss suddenly turned silent, she walked up and sat on thest bench. Katharine Glover walked, sat next to Isha and chatted. Eshwar walked in and this time it was girls turn. "Kyaa!!" "He''s so handsome." "He looks so hot!" Isha frowned, but Eshwar smiled brightly and walked towards the podium. "He''s a professor?" everybody eximed simultaneously. * Chapter 34 33. Professor Frost (2) (Introductions). ?I entered the room, it was sleek and spotless as ever, it could easily fit 200 students in the room with six rows of benches cascading up. I smiled brightly and walked towards the podium, suddenly the ss was filled with gasps and murmurs. "Now!" I yelled a bit loudly, ss turned silent. I smiled, satisfied by the reaction. I walked in front of the podium and leaned on it. "Hello, I''m Eshwar Frost, nice to meet you all and from today this ss is officially ''MINE.''" I said emphasizing ''mine.'' "Hm? Oh, I see some familiar faces." I smiled and looked at Vinny, Jiwoo and Katharine everybody had surprised expressions on their faces. "Before I do anything, if you guys have any questions you can ask me." I could see some curious face. A dozen of students raised their hands. "You, what''s your name?" I pointed at the girl who had short brte hair, dark green eyes with a fit body and wide shoulder. ''hm.. she could be great tanker.'' "I''m Thea Ma, Prof. Frost." "Hm, Prof. Frost has nice ring to it, but it doesn''t matter what you call me, only if you keep it appropriate. Sir Frost or Eshwar, Prof. Frost or Eshwar, or simply Eshwar and Frost is fine too. Now, should I call you Miss Ma or is Thea fine?" "Thea is fine sir." "Yes, Thea, what''s your question?" "What do you mean by this is ''YOUR'' ss Sir Eshwar?" She asked with a nervous expression. "Don''t be so stressed, it natural that you will question someone if he/she ims the whole ss to themselves." I smiled at her, she avoided my eyes and started to fidgeting her fingers. "Now, as for your question, it means that you all are my responsibility and I''ll teach you all ordingly." I said in serious expression. I continued. "As for why? Because I looked at the academy''s schedule and it was sh*t, if I''m being honest." The whole ss turned silent. "Who are the top 10 of this ss?" 10 students raised raised their hands including Vinny and Katharine. "Please, introduce yourself with your ranks." "I''m Katline Romero, rank-1" She was the main character who fought till the end and sacrificed herself to save the world without any other choice, she was one of my best character I have ever created. She was six feet in height, well developed body with perfect curves and muscles, she had ck hair, crimson red eyes, she wore a switch cadet uniform and gave off a ''main character'' aura. "I''m Vinny Grover, rank-2" I smiled at him. He was the lucky basta*d who married my daught..... Ahem I mean her, Katline Romero. "I''m Cole Quinn, rank-3" He was the side character, friend of Vinny and betrayed him at the second part. He had Auburn hair, and grey cat eyes with a medium build. "I''m Katharine Glover, rank-4" I smiled and she returned a pretty smile. She is also one of the main characters, she had bright green eyes with pale white face with some baby fat in her cheeks, dark brown ponytailed hair, she too had good curves. ''Ahem.... Everyone is pretty in my novel.'' "I''m Elmer Knight, rank-5" "Ho!!" ''he is brother, isn''t he?'' ''Knight.... So he must be my brother.'' He had chocte brown hair like his father and deep blue eyes like his mother, he had pretty good build. ''Hm? He isn''t much talented. He has already reached his limit at this young age.'' "..." "Hm? What''s wrong? Why did you guys stop?" I was puzzled by the sudden pause. "Nothing Sir, I''m Violet Tyler, rank-6" She is also one of the main characters, she had sunflower blonde short hair, bright hazel eyes, she had best curves after Katline and pearl pinkplexion. "I''m Stan Walton, rank-7" He was the perfect example for a average looking guys, he had caramel hair, amber eyes and normal built. "I''m Toby Dunn, rank-8" He was good looking like Gang Jiwoo, tannedplexion, light blonde, deep blue ocean eyes and tanker type build. ''he seems like a muscle head.'' "I''m Homer Knight, rank-9" he smiled at Elmer which confirmed that he was his brother, he looked exactly like Elmer except for a bit long hair. ''a twin huh...'' "I''m Luke Tenny, rank-10" He had jet ck hair, ck eyes and pretty well built body. "Hmm.. now, do you guys know about monsters?" I asked after their introduction. "Yes, Sir." Everyone of the top 10 answered simultaneously. Of course, they would because most of them are from the seven big families. They hold the most influence in sectors three and four with help of their guilds. WALKER family, GLOVER family, TYLER family, ROMERO family, GROVER family, KNIGHT family, QUINN family. They are seven big families. Though some of them don''t have any guild they hold almost same power as the guilds. Romero family, Walker family and Grover families don''t have any guild but they have an individual who is equally respected and important as the top guilds because they fought in the first war and sessfully defended against the monster wave. ''As for the Grover family, They disowned Vinny because he didn''t have any mana.'' "Hm..." ''that was all the new information avable in switch, about monsters.'' ''Why did you even join switch when you can train and get information on monsters in your home?'' "Ok, you guys can sit." I waved my hand. "..... What rank have they assigned me to?" I looked at Isha who sat at the end of the ss. "Rank- 666." She answered. ''Ho, what a perfect number, a number of a ''demon king.'''' "And, she is Isha Walker and she is my assistant professor." I introduced Isha to the ss. Murmurs filled the ss. "Now. I see some faces from the ''Sparring ground'', how many of you were present at the arena?" I looked around and noticed Isha''s interest was piqued, I imagined cat''s perked up ears on her and it was a perfect fit. "Hahaha." I chuckled. Almost all of ss raised their hands high with nervous expressions. I remembered that a ranked Vampire was present among the professors, so I can''t me them for being nervous. "... If you have any questions about the fight you can ask, I''ll do my best to fulfil your curiosity." I smiled. Isha raised her hand instantly, I was surprised and chuckled. Slowly everybody raised their hands, some faces filled with confusion, nervousness and eager to learn. "What do you want to know Isha?" I asked her because she would have observed me more clearly. "Eh? Oh, why didn''t you dodge the attacks? Why did it seem like time had slowed down when you attacked with your swordsmanship?" she had a surprised expression at first but was soon switched to curiosity. "If you have the same questions, please put your hands down." I said and everybody put their hands down except for Katline Romero. "I''ll answer your question after I have done with their questions, okay?" I asked with a smile while looking at Katline. She nodded bashfully and pulled her hand back. Chapter 35 34. Offence Is The Best Defence. ?"Now, as for why I didn''t dodge. It is simply because it''s a waste of effort." I answered with a serious face which left everybody speechless. "Eh?" Isha too was one of them. "Hahahaha." Iughed while holding my stomach. "Think about it, if you can see the attack, why dodge it?" I raised my brows and looked at everyone who were dumbfounded. "Hmm.... Ah! Any of you want to volunteer for a test?" I got a great idea while thinking about how to exin it. Isha, Vinny and Katline raised their hands, Vinny only raised his hand because Katline raised her hand. "You cane here." I said to Katline. She nodded and walked towards me. "You are rank-D, right?" "Yes, Sir." She said with a surprised expression. "I''ll jab at you now with agility of rank- D, you can do what you always do." I said as looked at her straight in the eye, she averted her eyes and nodded. I jabbed at her face using rank-D agility. She dodged my fist and countered it instantly with a body blow, I didn''t dodge it, but bent my elbow to strike her head using rank-D strength. It could be a deadly blow if not dodged or guarded. She instantly moved her hand to guard and jumped back to take less damage but the blow never reached her. "... Why did you stop, Sir?" she asked, breathing unevenly. "Haha, we are not fighting to the death, it''s just a test." I smiled brightly. "Oh..." She looked around, embarrassed. "Now, could you follow my moments?" "Yes." She nodded. "Could your body react to it?" "Yes." She nodded again. "Then why not just attack the arm before it reached you?" "..." "If your eyes and body could react to it, then why not just attack?" "..." I turned to face the students, they all had pondering expression all-over their faces. "In battle if you attacked my arm with a de, I would have lost my arm which would have given you a very big advantage in the battle." I said as looked at Katline. "Now, Katline, why did you jump back before your attack connected?" I asked as I stared at Katline. "I felt a sudden pressure on me and my instincts told me to dodge." Katline answer wiping off the sweat on her forehead. "If you have fighting experience then your body will scream to dodge any attack that is dangerous. That means that my attack is more lethal than yours." "I know that my fighting style isn''t suited for everyone but I think ''Offence is the best defence.''" I continued. "If you can follow the attack and you can react to it, then it means you are faster than the enemy. Example: If your enemy is trying to disable your moments by attacking your legs and you can react to it, then attack the iing blow and disable the enemy''s attack, if your attack is sessful then they would be disabled which will give you an upper hand in the battle. I know the ws of this technique but it''s a ''high risk high return.''" This is a technique which is best suited for me because I survived fighting like this in the wild where only the strongest can survive. "This is a world where only the strong survive! Nothing is more useful than strength to protect yourself and to protect what''s yours." I said in a cold tone. "You can return to your seat Katline." I said smiling brightly. "I prefer efficiency. I fight a battle with a mind-set of ''a long battle'' so, I prefer small energy usage with good results." ''Because I fought with hoards, my mind-set was forced to be like that, always thinking about the next move and preserving energy for the next move.'' If it ispared to ''Chess,'' my favourite game, then I''ll always be the ''ck'' because I never considered myself to be a step ahead. If I consider my opponent is a step ahead of me then I could make them move in a way I want. But this type of maniption ruins the game chess, so I could never yed with an opponent aftering to this world. I would y both white and ck by myself whenever I felt like ying, every time the ck would win because being a step doesn''t always give you an advantage. ''I haven''t yed Chess in a while.'' "Haa.." I sighed. "Ahem... As I was saying, can anybody here make a simple sturdy mana shield?" I asked. Some raised their hands, Isha included. "Isha,e here." Isha walked down towards me. "Make it as sturdy as possible." She nodded and formed a wall like, thick 2 inch sturdy mana shield, I whistled. "Good. I''ll attack with mana bullets, okay?" She looked confused but nodded anyway. I pointed my index finger at the mana shield and fired rapidly in a single spot near shoulder level. CRACK "Huuu..." I stopped firing mana bullets, breathed out cold air and posed like a cowboy when cracks started to form on the mana shield. ssroom was filled with giggles. "Can you move this shield around?" I walked towards her and tapped on the shield which healed almost instantly. "..." She was surprised and stood dazed because of the cracks formed on the 2 inch sturdy mana shield with normal mana bullets. "Huh? Is it possible to move around a mana shield?" every body eximed in shock, Isha included. "Hm? You can''t?" I was surprised that nobody was curious and they never even tried to do something with their mana. What are this book worms? Aren''t they curious about their own mana? Don''t they experiment the limits of their mana? Am I dumb one? What in the actual f**k? Do they only do something that they are taught? I did all kinds of shit with my mana when I was bored, I even yed chess with mana without moving a muscle. One day I did everything using mana, including sh*t, I mean, I burned every impurities in my body, but still.... "You dumb.... Book worms. Weren''t you guys ever curious?" I asked them in disbelief. I held out my left hand with my fingers spread out, a octagon shaped mana shield formed before my hand, big enough to perfectly cover my upper body. I pointed my index at the shield and moved my finger in all directions, mana shield followed my will and moved everywhere I wanted it to. "Woaahh.." everybody eximed in awe. "..." I stared at them dumbfounded. ''Bruh..'' Chapter 36 35. Ice Queen. ?"You damn book worms." I mumbled in disbelief. "Ahem..... You guys need to learn to control mana the way you want." I said in solemn voice. "Yes, Sir." "And, the answer for the second question is a secret." I held a cheeky smile on my face. "Eh" "Huh?" "Nooo!!!" The students reacted as such and some acted as if the world was ending. DING (2x) "So, see you tomor..Ukh.... Tomorrow." A sharp pain washed over my head, it felt like my head was splitting apart. ''It''s too early!!!'' I screamed inwardly... "You okay?" Isha asked as she furrowed her brows. "...." "Hm?" Isha tilted her head. ''Is it because it still too early?'' the pain stopped much to my confusion this has happened only few times before..... I think. "Yes, I''m okay." I smiled brightly. "Um.. professor!" Katline called out. "Hm?" I titled my head, puzzled by the sudden call. "..." Isha just stared at her coldly.... I felt like it, but Isha remained expressionless. "Do we get to learn to fight efficiently like that?" Asked Katline. "Huh? You mean my fighting style?" ''Right, my daught.... Katline is eager to learn.'' I remembered her character which was eager to learn, curious and righteous not naive. "Yes." She nodded her head vigorously. "Haha, Yes, of course. I''ll teach anyone who wants to learn it." I said making it loud enough for everybody to hear it. "Shall we go?" I asked Isha who was still staring at Katline coldly. "Umm." She nodded and walked towards the door, I followed her form behind. "I''m hungry. Care to rmend something?" I asked Isha who walked ahead of me. "Sure, let''s go." She paced up, I was a bit baffled because every time I think she will refuse, she''ll agree. * "Hey, isn''t she the ''Ice queen?''" "Yes, what she doing back in the academy?" "Didn''t they say she dropped out after second year?" The cafeteria was filled with murmurs as soon as we entered. I heard about some ''book worms'' of my ss calling her that and looking at her reaction I think, I shouldn''t pry into it. She walked towards a food court and ordered food for two, I was looking for seats and felt someone staring at me, I looked around and found Vinny, Jiwoo staring at me demanding an exnation, while sitting together with Katline, Katharine, Violet. They only sat together because they are of the top 10 and Katharine and Violet knew each other since they were children. "Isha, can we sit with them?" I looked at Isha over my shoulder, pointing at the table where Vinny and everybody else sat. Vinny and Jiwoo flinched, looking at me pointing at them. "... Sure..." Isha answered with a long break which made me rethink what I just said to check if I said anything wrong, but she walked towards the table leaving me behind. "Huh? Oii!!" I followed her. "Can we sit here?" she asked politely with calm and expressionless face. "Sister Isha!" Katharine eximed. "Hello, sister." Violet greeted Isha with a smile. "Hello." Isha smiled and sat down next to Violet, leaving a seat empty next to her. "Eh? Sister?" I was perplexed by the new find. "Hello, Sir Frost. I never expected you to be a professor, much less in our ss." Katharine said with a bright smile. "Neither did we..." Vinny and Jiwoo mumbled. "Nice to see you again, Miss Katharine." I smiled and sat down next to Isha. Katharine''s eyes twinkled when I sat down, I didn''t know why she was looking at me like that, I didn''t care much and turned towards Vinny and Jiwoo. They stared back at me. "Care to exin?" they asked with hoarse tone. "What? I did say I''ll teach how to fight efficiently with very little mana, didn''t I?" I asked with a grin on my face. "You didn''t say you were a professor." Vinny said in a pissed off expression. "Um, sorry to ruin your reunion, but do you guys know the professor?" Violet asked trying to make heads and tails of the situation. "Yes, this bast-" Vinny was saying. "Ahem.." I intervened, cutting of the curse word. "I mean Eshwar, we fought together with him." Vinny said as he corrected himself, though he didn''t sound any less rude. "Hahaha." I chuckled. "Do you know these?" Isha asked pointing at Vinny and Jiwoo. "Pfft, Yeah, hmm... Do you know I went out for some time?" she has no reason to know about it, but I still asked her because if she knew it would make it a bit easier to exin. I didn''t expect her to know..... "Yes." Isha nodded. "Huh?" I was taken aback for a second. "How do know?" ".... I just need to knock on the next door, isn''t it?" she asked. ''I mean, I guess, but I was gone for days though....'' "Ahem, we fought monsters together at that time." I said with a grin, knowing what going toe... "What were you students doing in at ce where monsters spawn?" Isha asked as furrowed her brows at Vinny and Jiwoo. ''Hahahaha.'' Iughed inwardly. "Stop grinning, why did you go to the monster zone when you are bing a professor the next day?" Isha red at me, forcing me stop grinning and sit straight. "Don'' t do anything stupid just because you are strong." Isha roared. "Yes, ma''am." All three of us answered simultaneously. The girls giggled while looking at us. "I can''t believe you.. haaa." Isha sighed and food came. Pasta, vegetable stew and water was the order she made. ''Geh...'' "Um..." I pushed the vegetable stew towards Isha. "What?" Isha asked with a calm face but I felt like she was really pissed off at me, I didn''t know why, what and how I should respond or react to that. "..... I don''t like vegetables." I said in a whisper which was heard by everyone for my bad luck, soon the table was filled with snickers and giggles. "... Ahem, eat them." She said while her lips twitched. Chapter 37 36. Uncharted. ?Isha left after eating food leaving me behind with Vinny, Jiwoo, Katharine and Violet. "Hello, I''m Eshwar Frost. I''ll be your professor from today, it''s nice to meet you guys." I introduced again, smiling brightly. "Che." Vinny scoffed. "..." Jiwoo remained silent. "Hmm~ hello Eshwar." Katharine hummed happily. "Hello Sir, I''m Violet Tyler." Violet introduced herself again and offered a hand shake. I shook her hand and nced at the others. "Uhk.." the pain appeared again. "Are you okay?" Violet asked. "Yes, yes." I smiled brightly. ''Why again?'' "Anyway, I''ll leave now, bye, see you guys tomorrow." I said and walked away from the table. ''Maybe.... Hmmm ..... the days I was unconscious counts too..... that''s a new unfortunate find.'' * I walked to the office room allocated to me as a professor, texting Isha. Isha: [Staff room number 203.] [Thank you, but do you get a separate room?] Isha: [No, I went back to the hotel room.] [You can use this office, I don''t think I would be using it much.] Isha: [No, that''s not it, I will get a room for myself but it will in the cadets quarters.] Isha: [And, you will be there too, the office room is called a ''office room'' for a reason.] [Can''t you just say it at once. Do you really have pick on me like this?] Isha: [...] [What''s that supposed to mean?] Isha: [Anyway....] [Don''t send a [...] If you don''t want to answer, it''s a chat and I took it as you wanted ridicule me.] ''I just imagined what it would have been like if she was in front of me and her mischievous smile.'' Isha: [.... So you do understand. (Good job)] "really?" I blurred out. [Anyway I reached the room, bye.] Isha: [Bye. (good boy)] [I mean, I''m supposed to be your superior and not a pet...] Isha: [Ho, how smart! Good, good.] [.....] ''I think not replying would be better.'' Isha: [I take as you agreeing to be a pet. Good boy.] "Guh, god dammit." CLANK The room was as big as my hotel room but filled with a book shelf, a desk, sofa, table and ss wall which disyed the outside. The sun was already setting, Light turned on as soon as I walked in, there were many defence safety artifacts installed the walls. "Oh, this is literally a office ''office.''" I was surprised because a certain someone put a armchair in front of leg rest and said that it was office, not that I hated it, it''s just that the feeling of a personal office is different. "Ukh..." I groaned in pain because this time painpletely enveloped my body not just my head and mana started to seep out of me. "Uhk, calm down." I took deep breaths and calmed down a bit. "The f**k?" [Urgent!!] I sent a message, sat down on chair, closed my eyes and fully focused on controlling the mana which was seeping out of me. * "Guh." Pain crucified with time, I did''t know how much time had passed since I closed my eyes. DING My smartwatch rang, I grabbed it and quickly checked the notification. [Come out.] I calmed down just by looking at the notification. I noticed that the sun was already down, pain washed over me again. "Gaaa." I groaned in pain, held my head. I started to get dizzy, ced my hand on the wall to stop myself from falling on my knees, I just need to get out of here and I''ll be fine. CRACK "Huh?" I turned towards the wall, it was starting to crack behind my palm and noticed that the mana seeping out of me was now visible to a certain degree. "I just hope nobody gets scared while I walk out of here." Mana was oozing out like killing intent, it started to increase in pressure. ''Oh, f**k!!'' I cursed my bad luck and ran out of the academy. I quickly passed through the corridors, lucky for me, nobody was in the corridors or they would have been scared beyond belief. I was almost out of the academy when I noticed a shady looking man across the street wearing a cap, mask, sses, ck hoodie and ck track pants. "What''s that crazy basta*d doing?" I mumbled. The guards were on guard while looking at him. I took out my keys and clicked on the summon button as I walked out of academy. The guards flinched at my arrival, I ignored them and walked towards the shady guy. VROOOM My bike drove itself towards me. I sat on it and drove towards him. "Why are you dressed like that?" I asked him while cringing. "Eh? Is it that bad?" he asked. "Yea, you could easily be misjudged as a smuggler." "Eh? Che, that phycho told me to dress like this." He grumbled and removed his hat, mask and sses. He was 6 feet tall with wide shoulders, he had messy dark green hair, grey cat with sharp facial features, he was a good looking guy and his name was Henry Hale. He is the left brain of our group of 5 which is ''UNCHARTED,'' he is not suited for head on battles. He is the information expert, assassin and my friend, simple word for him would be smarta*s. ''UNCHARTED'' name, simply because we are not registered heroes and when I suggested it everybody happily agreed because they were toozy to pick another cringey a*s name. He brought his hand towards my body and opened subspace while making it not visible to the other people around us. "Well, here is your cigar, what the f**k have you been doing for your mana to oozing out like that?" he raised his brows and handed me a cigar. I held the cigar in my mouth and lit it with magic, I puffed it twice and mana leaking out started to calm down. "Haa, I don''t know what happened too." I said as I puffed again. "The rest of''em is with them, I only bought one because you said it was urgent." He continued. "Anyway, let''s go, those crazy basta*ds will be going to the arena now." He said he hoped on the bike. VROOOM "I think they will join us on the way." He said as he leaned on my shoulder from behind. "Wear your helmet, your hair..... Nevermind." I remembered his messy hair and decided that it wouldn''t make much difference because he too didn''t care for his hair, just like me. Chapter 38 37. The Obituary Colosseum. ?VROOOM "I think they will join us on the way." He said as he leaned on my shoulder from behind. "Wear your helmet, your hair..... Nevermind." I remembered his messy hair and decided that it wouldn''t make much difference because he too didn''t care for his hair, just like me. VROM- VROOOM We rode towards ''THE OBITUARY COLOSSEUM'' which is an underground arena, it is as shady as it sounds and is illegal and that arena is owned by us. All heroes registered or unregistered, anybody who is willing to bet their life on the line can participate. They can choose if they want to put their life on line or only half dead is their choice, if they choose half dead, then they will stop their fight while they are on the death''s door. If they are on the verge of death the system we have created as an experiment will alert the rescue team, if the opponent didn''t stop even after the rm sounded they will killed on spot, so no one ever dared to discard the rules after seeing what happened to those who did. Every hero has heard of the Obituary Colosseum at least once. PUFF "Haa..." I calmed down after taking the cigar. This cigar is like a sedative to me, it is the creation of our group''s alchemist. He idently created a form which eats mana while experimenting on different types of bloods of the monsters. I have a ''mana overload'' condition which releases excess mana from the body, I think the condition developed because of fighting continuously. Sometimes I release enough mana to destroy my surroundings from the pressure it excludes. He dosed down, created a new form and created these cigars for me which eats all mana I exclude. Yes, it only eats those I exclude, it registers the users mana when it''s lit and eats the mana surrounding them. If the cigar is lit by a normal lighter it will burn like any other cigar. I too, don''t know how it works, but it works perfectly. "We''ll reach the Colosseum before they even join us." I said as I leaned back. "Aye, the Colosseum is still kilometres away." He grumbled. "Hm? Oi, grab a helmet." I said. "What? Why?" he asked as he took out a helmet from his subspace. VROOOM I stopped the bike at side of the street, got out and took the helmet from Henry''s hand. "Hold it." I said as I walked towards the guy who had pinned a woman to the wall and was caressing the woman''s cheek while talking something. I puffed once, took out my cigar using my index finger and thumb as I walked towards them with the helmet in my other hand. "Hey!" SLAM CRACK "Kyaaa!!" the woman screamed. I mmed the helmet to his head which broke the helmet. The guy fell down unconscious, I checked his pockets and took out everything which seemed valuable and tore his pockets in process and walked towards my bike, nonchntly. "Pfft, hahahahaha." A guy who sat on a bullet bike which stood next to our bike started tough his a*s off. "Hello Sensei." The guy in front of him greeted me. "Crazy bastards." I smiled and paced up. The guy driving the bullet bike was ''Louie Robbins'' bulky man with wide shoulders, copper coloured hair and deep blue eyes. He is a cksmith, wields sword and a shield. He is a tank and a damage dealer. He was the 26 years old and the big brother of our group. The guy sitting behind Louie is ''Arngrim,'' he had a normal build, Light golden blonde hair, hazel eyes and is 5''11. He is the alchemist and support, he supports in fights using different kinds of ssh potions. His nickname is the Phycho. "Where''s Core?" I asked. "Hahahahaha." He pointed behind me whileughing. "Hm?" I turned my head and looked at a little girl leaning at the unconscious guy, ring at him. She was Core Oliver. She was a petite beauty with purple hair and purple eyes. She wore a headphone and held a tablet in hand, she was 20 years old and was a bit above 5 foot. She is a hacker, close range damage dealer and Henry''s lover. "Sh*t" I ran and picked her up with a single arm as put the cigar back in my mouth. "Ai, let go, let go, you crazy basta*d" she wiggled in my arms. "Shut it, you would have killed him." I muttered while cigar still in my mouth. PUFF "Of course." She confirmed as she bit my arm. "Aaa. You crazy woman! Aaaa" I handed her to Henry and sat in the back seat. "Crazy basta*d" she tried to p me while sitting in front of Henry, which I dodged without effort, grinning. VROOOM DUDUDUDUD Henry rode my bike while I sat behind him, quickly followed by the bullet bike rode by Louie. PUFF "Why did you knock out that guy anyway?" Arngrim asked. "Hm? Oh, that woman looked scared so....." PUFF "Oh, right, Core, look into this basta*d." I handed her his ID which was with everything I picked up. "Why now?" Core grumbled, she was sitting with her legs on the handle and leaning on Henry while looking at her tablet. She took the ID and started tapping on her tablet like crazy. "Why did you mob him though?" Arngrim asked. "Well, I didn''t want him to think I was someone that, that woman knew..." I said. PUFF "Ho, a Casanova huh...." Henry, Louie and Arngrim ridiculed simultaneously,ughing. "... she looked too weak, than him to free her self." I said. "Hahahaha.." everybodyughed. Louie and Arngrim looked at me with a ''that''s we said'' face. "If I treat all woman like I treat Core then I''ll be safe, no?" I said. "Hahahahahaha." Theughter became louder, this time Core joined in. "Hm? Why?" I asked them, they justughed at me drove faster. VROOOM DUDUDUDUD Chapter 39 38. The Obituary Colosseum (2). ?We arrived on a hilltop in sector five, on the academy''s northern east side. A whole of sector five could be seen clearly from there. PUFF I puffed and flicked my cigar, burning itpletely before it fell down, and walked towards the abandoned wood building that stood alone, looking like a ghost house. We entered and went down into the basement. CREEK (5x) A guard appeared out of nowhere. We all opened our subspaces and took out our masks. I used a white make with silver borders that resembled a monster''s mouth; it was an artifact that increased my mana. Masks we used were unique, everybody had their own made by Louie. Everyone participating had to wear a mask for obvious reasons. I channelled mana into my eyes, which glowed bright orange and had vertical ck pupils like that of a snake''s. "Wee back, boss." The guard greeted us, looking at our masks. Henry who was at the front nodded and opened the door. "Yeaaaaahhh!" "WHOOOOHHH!!" "Kill that son of a bit*h!!" The arena was half the size of a football stadium, with two people inside who were half blooded and channelling their mana. Drinks were spilled everywhere, men and women walked around giving drinks to everyone who ordered them, and people who were too close to the arena threw their drinks on the fighters. The arena is surrounded by a system that protects it from both inside and outside threats. This system was created with the help of Core, Louie, Arngrim, and me, while Henry assisted in the selection of strong and talented individuals for the arena. Arngrim approached a woman serving a guest, grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, whispered something in her ear, and took her to the nearest room after waving us goodbye with a smirk. There were numerous private rooms in the arena. Arngrim came up with the idea for private rooms, and he is the only one who uses it among us. Henry shook his head and sighed. The arena was divided into three sections: one for everyone, two for those who paid more, and three for VIPs. We made our way to the VIP section. A drunk guy bumped into me with a bottle in his hand. "Watch it." I said in a cold tone. The guy turned to face me and shuddered, his eyes were out of focus and he seemed to be high on something else too. "Hey, move it." A guard came forward and pushed back the drunk guy before things got worse. ".... Hey, he was the one who bumped into me." The drunkard said while pointing his finger at me. "..." I looked at Henry because he was good at handling this kinds of situations. "Leave him." Core dragged him by arm and walked away. "It''s the arena!" Henry said as he shrugged his shoulders and walked away with Core. ".... You should know what he meant by that." Louie said, patted my back and followed them. "Seriously?" I stood there and looked at them walking away in disbelief. I was still wearing formals. "..." the guard looked at me like he was tired. I really wanted to hug him and console him for his hard work. "Haa..." I sighed. ''I can''t believe I''m even considering this.'' "Will you seriously fight this nobody, boss?" He asked while looking the drunkard with pity. "Well.... Bet on me." I said as I patted his shoulder. "Oh, easy money, hahaha." He hugged the drunkard and walked to the counter with stars in his eyes. "Wanna go in there?" I asked the drunkard, coldly while pointing at the arena. He grinned, finished his drink, and proceeded to the arena. I didn''t even check to see if he was stronger because only people with rank-B or higher are allowed in, and everyonees to pick a fight. "We''ll do a death match." He spoke to the guard stationed near the arena''s gates. He gaped for a brief moment before pointing his finger at the drunkard and me in disbelief, and I nodded. The guard asked the drunken man for his name, typed it into his smartwatch, and sent it to the control room, which will disy the names on the arena''s system and notify the fighters when the current fight is over. "Hahahaha, greenhorn, get your neck ready!" the drunkard said with a nasty grin on his face. ''Guh, the cringe!'' * DING [Match in 0m : 59s.] "It''s finally time to kill somebody." I mumbled. Two gorgeous women entered the arena, one holding a microphone to announce and the other releasing blue hue and replenishing the security system to be on a rtively safe side. [NOW PRESENTING THE 33rd MATCH OF THE NIGHT.] [TO MY LEFT, TODAY''S 33rd CHALLENGER!!] [DIEMOS!!] [TO MY RIGHT, TODAY''S 33rd FIGHTER!!] [WHITE SW.....] She looked at the other girl woman in disbelief, ran over to her and looked at the list of participants. She quickly looked around and found Henry, who raised his hand with a thumbs up, quickly changing it to a peace symbol. [SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.] [TO MY RIGHT, TODAY''S FIGHTER!!!] [THE SNAKE!!] I understood why Henry showed the peace symbol. He changed my alias to ''the snake.'' "Haha." I chuckled and entered the arena. Obviously, while wearing a mask. Everyone who had been here before gasped in surprise, and murmurs filled the arena before being reced by cheers and excitement. "I''ll apud you for not running away." The drunkard said. ''God, he''s definitely new here.'' "Who let this third rate viin in?" I mocked him with a grin which was covered by my mask. "Hahaha, we''ll see who''s the third rate viin." He said with a smirk. ''I mean, I''m literally the VILLAIN, so you''re DEFINITELY the third rate viin.'' I thought inwardly. "You!" I eximed, coldly. "..... Didn''t have anye back, did you?" I mocked him, arena was filled with giggles and snickers. "...." he turned red from anger or embarrassment, maybe both. ''He is definitely new to this.'' "Kid, surrender, I''ll let you live even if it''s a death match, but...." He wore a mask over his eyes, but when he smiled, he didn''t have any wrinkles. He was about 5''5, with ck hair and ck eyes, which I''m not sure if they''re urate because artifacts can change them. "But?" he asked. "But..... Only after taking off your mask." I grinned while releasing bit of ''mana pressure.'' Chapter 40 39. The Obituary Colosseum (3). ?''Hmm..... I can''t use Frost because I''ll be giving away my identity.... Let''s go with fire.'' WHOOM Green mespletely engulfed my hands. This is a personal skill I developed prior to rebirth, which I refer to as the torch of emotions. It brings the target''s emotions back to their peak, causing them to lose their mind over it. Green mes indicate jealousy. "Yes!" The drunkard mumbled in joy. BOOM He pushed towards me, each step increasing his speed, and he was in front of me in a split second. In his hand, a dagger appeared and shed at my arms and legs at least ten times each. His face was open, while he did flips, switched the dagger from one hand to the other with extreme precision and without making any unnecessary movements. I simply grabbed his face with my right hand as green mes engulfed him. "Graaa." He screamed like a beast and backed off without delivering a single strike. "Stop, overreacting the mes don''t hurt much." I spoke in hoarse voice. Yes, the mes do not burn anything on the outside, but they entice the specific emotion based on the colour of the me, driving them to the limits of their sanity. "Grr." He growled. ''Oh, he literally turned into a beast.'' The drunkard''s mouth was dripping with saliva, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was leaning forward with his hands dangling down. "I''ll kill you! Goddamnit, I''m the stronger one!" he growled. "Ho! Another one with a inferiorityplex." I mumbled in amazement, grinning. He charged at me with a low ''boom,'' his movements sloppy but quick. I grinned as the mes on my arm turned red. The colour red represented rage. "Let''s add some spice, shall we!" I grinned and leapt towards him, grabbing his head as his body floated behind me. This time, when red mes engulfed his head, he bit my hand without even batting an eye. "Good!" I looked at him from the corner of my eye, grinning. BAM I mmed his head to the ground and pulled back, but he continued to bite my hand as if he was a mindless beast. BAM (2x) I drew back and mmed his head twice, the ground trembling with each m. After the first m, his body was still in the air and only flopped down after the second. He coughed up blood and let go of my hand, releasing it from his bite. "I''ll kill you! And prove that I''m the strongest and that, you are just a worthless bit*h!" he grumbled. "Che, Oii!" I clicked my tongue and called out to the woman who had announced our arrival. "Anybody, throw this shit out, he''s not worth it." I said aloud and began to walk away from the arena, but I abruptly came to a halt. "Grrr." I turned to face the drunkard who was biting my right leg. I clenched my fist and punched the side of his head. BANG The ground shook, and his head bounced back from the blow, causing him to bleed profusely. I walked away nonchntly, picking up a towel to rub the blood off my knuckles. "Heal him and kick him out!" I said as I threw the towel. "Yes, boss!" The guard at the gate responded and dashed to pick up the drunkard. ''Bunch of kids who think it''s a game.'' * Henry waved his hand in the air as I walked towards him. Core charged at me, like a cat with her mouth wide open. I grabbed her head as she swung her hands and legs at me while dangling. ''She''s 20 years old..... Isn''t she?'' "What''s wrong?" Henry asked. "The fight left a bad taste in my mouth." I grumbled. "where''s Arngrim?" I asked Henry. "He''s still in the room, did you think you were in there for hours?" Henry asked with his brows raised. "I think, minutes?" I titled my head. "It''s been a total of 15 minutes, since we came into the Colosseum." Louie answered. "Can''t you go find a woman too?" I asked mockingly. "You are here with me, what''s there to worry about?" Louie asked with smug grin on his face. "Hahahaha." Henry and Coreughed as one. "Anyway, when did you break through?" Core asked with her eyebrows raised. "4 days ago.. I think." I said while trying to remember when I broke through from rank AA. "You monster!" Core grumbled because she and I had broken through to rank-B a year ago, and only I had grown stronger since then. "Well, your stats are still monstrous for rank-A" I reminded her, all her stats are rank-AA or above, except for strength. Stats that are higher than rank are considered cheats, and that was the only thing I left for the novel''s main characters. For example, a rank-A agility must run at their maximum speed for a year without stopping in order to advance to rank-AA. All of the main characters had at least one stat that was stronger than the other, but only by going through those difficulties, and I have no ns to make it any easier for them. If they ask for my help, I''ll think about it, but... I live my life while they live theirs, even if I was the one who messed it up for them. "I need my cigars, and I bought a gift for Arngrim and Louie from sector one." I said with a grin. "Sector one!" Louie stood up from his seat. "What sector one?" Arngrim walked towards us while fixing his pants. "Done already?" I was surprised because once he entered a room with a woman, he would not return for at least several hours. "She had to return early, it seems." He spoke in a dejected tone. "YOU left her alone?" Core asked, surprised, and we all nodded in agreement because him leaving a woman alone was nearly impossible. "Anyway, what sector one?" Arngrim asked with stars in his eyes. "Yea, he says he brought presents from sector one for you and Louie." Henry said. "You goddamn monster, did you go back to sector one again?" Arngrim asked with twinkling eyes. "Are you..... Worried or excited?" I was bbergasted. "Of course, I''m worried." His face said otherwise. "Anyway, hand me the cigars." I said. "Let''s go out, I made itst for years, even if you smoke twice a day." Arngrim walked out of Colosseum, we followed behind. * He handed me over 1,460 boxes of cigars with five each. "Make some space." I said and everybody moved back by ten steps. CRACK WHOOM Arge subspace opened up about 2.5 metres above our heads, dumping thousands of monster corpses, including wolves, goblins, trolls, Ogres, Nagas, and demonised monsters, whose blood began to leak profusely. "Whhhoooaaa!" Arngrim eximed and swooped them into a different subspace without leaving a drop of blood behind. "I have about 70 ''earth elemental crystals''... As well as a dragon core. I''m sorry, but I couldn''t obtain its blood or corpse." I said in apologetic tone. "No worries, we could get another if we have another chance." Henry said and everybody nodded in union. "Well, wanna go back in or go home?" Henry asked looking at me. "I''ll stay in the academy for about a week and return afterwards." I sighed and shook my head. "..... Okay." They nodded. "I have a present for you too... More likely your request but nheless." Louie said while smiling brightly. Chapter 41 40. Girlfriend? ?"I have a present for you too... More likely your request but nheless." Louie said while smiling brightly. "Oh!" I eximed in joy, knowing what wasing. "Hahaha, like a child." Louie mumbled, and everyone nodded in agreement. I didn''t mind them because ''the big brother'' was the one whopleted the request and every piece of equipment he made for us has been a master piece. Everyone in the group is famous in their field, and we admire and respect each other for it. For example, Louie is known as the best cksmith in the new generation, Arngrim for his alchemy, and Henry and Core for their informationwork and assassination. Because no one has ever seen them fight, everyone believes they are nonbatant geniuses. Louie opened the subspace and took out four pitch ck briefcases, one normal size, two 2-meter-long cases, and one 3 meter in both length and width. "Here.... Everybody worked hard on this!" Louie said with proud smile on his face. "Hahahaha." Iughed heartily and opened them; inside were dual pistols, an assault rifle, a sniper, and a Gatling gun. Every gun was equipped with a digital screen. "Here is the ammunition for them... As you requested it is attributed and fire power has been changed." Louie took out three military cases containing ammunition. "And this is your gift." Louie pulled out a silver revolver and a different ammo case, which he handed to me. "Hehehe." I could barely contain my joy. They all giggled looking at me. "Let me show you guys something!" I said joyfully. "LINK" [Skill: Link activated.] [Searching for near by devices.] [New Links created. Connecting....] [9 New devices connected sessfully.] [Total devices connected: 10.] "Ho! Ammunition got connected too.." I mumbled at the new pleasant finding. "Where did they go!?" everybody eximed in shock. "Hmm~" I hummed joyfully. I held out my hand and continuously switched between guns, the [Link] skill holding every linked device in a different space and spawning the guns into my hands at mymand. I abruptly switched to the shotgun. "Ho! What''s that?" Louie asked in excitement. "The Devil''s Shotgun." It was pitch ck with blood red designs and bat wings engraved on it and gave off a very ominous aura. "Reward for killing a dragon...." I said. ''Though, he was weakling, but still...'' I added inwardly. "Now, I understand why you asked for so many shotgun shells and pellets." Louie mumbled as he rubbed his chin. "Come on, let''s go back, I need to be in the academy tomorrow." I removed my mask and took out a cigar, which I ced in my mouth and lit with magic. PUFF *** Next to the switch academy, on the lower level of the cadet quarters. Switch''s cadet quarters were located outside of the academy, though they were just close by. Isha had just finished moving into the cadet quarters, and her next-door neighbour should have been Eshwar, who had yet to move in. "Don''t tell me he is still in his office room." She mumbled. ''It''s already 11:30!'' she sighed and made her way towards his office. * Inside, Room 206 was wide open andpletely dark. When she walked in, the lights turned on and she noticed that Eshwar was not there. ''Did he go somewhere?'' she thought and saw the crack on the wall. ".... Why is it cracked?" She mumbled. ''These walls should be able to stand firm even if rank-SS punched them with full force...'' ''Did somebody do something to him?'' she got really worried at that thought. "No, no way, he is strong, so he should have put some resistance. Things wouldn''t be as clean if that were the case." Despite her reasoning, she found herself at the academy''s entrance. "Eh?" she was surprised at her own actions. ''Why am I so worried about someone I barely know?'' "If hees back, I''m going to give him a piece of my mind." She grumbled as she stood at the academy''s entrance, waiting for Eshwar. VROOOM DUDUDUDUD "See, I knew he had gone somewher...." She mumbled and noticed Eshwar was not the one riding the bike, but someone else with a little girl in front of him. "Hello!" Eshwar smiled and waved his hand in the air while smoking a cigar. "..." she waved back her hand with a nonchnt face, but she was very surprised inside. VROOM DIDIDUD The bikes came to a stop near her, and everyone looked at her puzzledly, but Eshwar ran towards her, a cigar in his mouth. PUFF "Hello! Why are you here?" Eshwar asked with a bit pleased smile. "I was going somewhere, I heard your bike sound and stopped." She looked behind him and saw that the little girl who had sat in front was now standing right beside Eshwar. ''Hiek.'' Isha flinched when she suddenly noticed Core next to Eshwar. "Who is she?" Isha asked looking at Eshwar. "Oh, right... Um, these are my friends." Eshwar held out his arms like he was disying something grand and showed his friends. "This is Core and she is 20 years old." Eshwar ced his hand on her head and introduced Core to Isha. "Hello, eh? 20 years old?" Isha asked in disbelief. "1 second!" Eshwar turned away from Isha, puffed his cigar twice, flicked it, and burned it before it hit the ground. He turned to face her, waving his hand near his mouth. "Um, that''s Henry her boyfriend on my bike, and that''s Louie and Arngrim on the bullet bike from the front." Eshwar introduced Isha to his friends. "And, this here is Isha, my assistant professor." And introduced Isha to his friends. Eshwar''s friends stepped off the bike and approached Isha, greeting her one by one. "Hello, I''m Henry Hale." Henry introduced himself and offered a handshake, which Isha politely declined. "Hello, I''m Louie Robbins." Louie introduced himself with a warm smile. "Hello, I''m Arngrim." Arngrim approached Isha only to be stopped by Eshwar, who had a stiff smile on his face. When they saw Eshwar''s actions, all of his friends had surprised expressions on their faces. "I''m Core Oliver." Core introduced herself with a nonchnt look. "Um, Hello, I''m Isha Walker." Isha introduced herself to Eshwar''s friends and noticed Eshwar, who appeared surprised but shook his head, as if dismissing his thoughts. "... Girlfriend?" Core asked Eshwar while tilting her head. "Not yet." Eshwar answered, making Isha blush. "Wh-wha-what?" Isha stuttered. Chapter 42 41. Curiosity. ?"... Girlfriend?" Core asked Eshwar while tilting her head. "Not yet." Eshwar answered, making Isha turn red. "Wh-wha-what?" Isha stuttered. "Ahem, anyway, can I join you?" Eshwar asked with a innocent expression which made his friends giggle. "Hahaha. Okay, bye, see you again Miss Isha." Henry bowed to her like a gentleman and turned back. "Oii." He halted his steps and threw the bike keys at Eshwar. CLICK- CLANK "Um, shall we go?" Eshwar asked, smiling brightly. "... what about the bike?" Isha asked, ignoring Eshwar''s previous response, while her cheeks and ear were still red. "1 minute." He jogged towards the bike, parked it nearby, and returned to Isha. "..." Isha nodded and began walking away from the academy. "Here is the key to your room." She took out a key and handed it to Eshwar. "Um, where are we going?" Eshwar asked, leaned forward and looked at Isha. "Back to our rooms." Isha averted his gaze and responded, recalling his earlier words. ''Not yet.'' ''What did he mean by that? He doesn''t even know anything about me.'' She got a bit angry at that thought. "You smoke?" Isha asked abruptly and regretted it the next second, thinking how hypocritical her thoughts were right now. "Yes." Eshwar answered promptly. "..." Isha wanted to ask why, but she restrained herself because she felt it was none of her business.... "May ask why?" However, her curiosity got the best of her. She couldn''t help but bite her tongue for not stopping. "Haha." Eshwar chuckled noticing Isha bite her tongue. "I have a condition and it helps me to keep it control." He answered. "..." Isha noticed him not mentioning what type of condition he had and decided to not pry any further. "Anyway, didn''t you say, you were going somewhere?" Eshwar asked. "Yes, but it''s tomorrow after ss; you''re wee to join me." Isha responded while looking at Eshwar, who smiled and nodded. * The next morning. Isha walked towards the ss room and noticed Eshwar had already arrived. ".... By doing so, one can increase their poison resistance. Any questions?" Eshwar asked after exining. Arge number of students raised their hands. Isha also raised her hand despite having heard nothing about the topic because this was the first time she had heard of a method to increase poison resistance. "Yes, Violet." Eshwar pointed at Violet. "How do you know and why has nobody found out that method?" Violet asked. "I know because I did it myself, and you haven''t discovered that method because you''re not curious enough." Eshwar answered. "What have I been calling you guys from the start?" he asked. "Book worms." Everybody answered as one with a dejected tone. "Exactly. And they haven''t found a new method because they are not curious enough! They believe that if they awaken their system, they will be stronger." ..... What Eshwar just said left everybody dumbfounded because that''s what everyone believed including Isha, ever since the system came into existence. "The system, in my opinion, is just a tool like any other weapon in existence." Eshwar said. "...." nobody uttered a single word. "..... Think about it, everyone alive has the ability to use magic, even if it is only mana shield and mana bullet. Every awakened can use every element there is, but they are only proficient in those elements the system helps, is it not?" Eshwar had everyone present thinking. "Yes..." some students answered after a minute of pause "If so, what is the system now?" Eshwar asked. "A sword aids in killing the opponent and is a tool, just as the system aids in your growth and is a tool too." "Why don''t the people use different elements? Because after not even trying to do anything out of the system. And it has been continued like that ever since, after the system came into existence humanities curiosity has halted to a certain extent." "It''s as if it snatched away something that made us human! Because humans are inherently curious beings. A child eats mud before realizing it shouldn''t and does everything an adult doesn''t do until it is forcibly stopped! And that is exactly what the system is doing right now: stealing our curiosity." "And I''m not finding the system trustworthy anymore because of the new changes." "After the system came into existence, monsters started to spawn and have been bing stronger along with us humans!" "Now, the sudden changes are urring, why do think so?" DING (2x) "Think about it and answer me in the next ss, ss dismissed." Eshwar said as he walked towards Isha, who stared nkly at Eshwar approaching her. "Hello, shall we go?" Asked Eshwar waking up Isha from her trance... "..." Isha nodded and turned to leave the ss; she hadn''t even sat down on seat from the moment she entered the ss and carefully listened to every single word Eshwar said. "... Do you seriously not trust the system?" Isha asked while thinking about everything Eshwar said. "Of course, I trust it" said Eshwar leaving Isha bbergasted. "Huh?" "I trust it as a tool, and it''s my tool for growth, so of course I''d trust it," he exined to Isha, who understood what he was saying. "Like trusting your sword, that it wouldn''t break until the fight is over...." Isha mumbled. "Exactly." Eshwar said. "So, where are we going?" Eshwar asked only to have shrugged off. ''That makes sense if you think it like that.'' Isha thought while walking in the corridor. * "Mind if I smoke?" asked Eshwar. "After we leave the academy." Isha answered. "Where did you think we are?" Isha was perplexed by Eshwar''s question until she noticed that they had already left the academy. "Ah." Isha flushed red in embarrassment. "Hahaha." Eshwar chuckled and took out a box of cigars out of nowhere. "You kept ''that'' in your inventory, instead of a weapon?" Isha asked dumbfounded. "Hm? Inventory?" Eshwar tilted his head in confusion. "Ah! The new system function, right." He mumbled. "This not a inventory though, it''s my subspace magic." He answered with a smile, leaving Isha more puzzled than she ever been in her life. "Huh?" Chapter 43 42. The Sunshine Orphanage. ?"This not a inventory though, it''s my subspace magic." He answered with a smile, leaving Isha more puzzled than she ever been in her life. "Huh?" "Subspace magic, hmm... Like a part of dimensional magic." Eshwar answered only to find question marks all over Isha''s face. "Pfft, hahahahaha." Eshwarughed out loud. "What?" Isha''s ears turned red. "Pfft, hahaha, don''t worry, I''ll teach it in one of my sses." He said and walked ahead of her. "It''s this way." Said Isha pointing at the other direction Eshwar was walking. "..." Eshwar turned around with stiff movements and walked towards Isha. *** I walked with Isha until we came to an orphanage known as ''the Sunshine Orphanage.'' It appears to berger than Vinny''s house. It has a garden in the front and slides, yhouses, and toys all over the ce in the backyard, with many kids running around and only one kid walking around like she''s the boss of the ce, taking care of all the other kids like an adult. "Why?" I mumbled while looking at the kids in disbelief. "What do mean why?" Isha walked into the orphanage, peering over her shoulder at me. ''I mean, they are going to...'' I stopped my thoughts there, furrowed my brows and followed Isha. "Hello, Melissa." Isha greeted the woman who was intervening between two children who were fighting. ''No, punch him from below, an uppercut!'' I clenched my hand and encouraged the kids fight. "Oh!" I eximed unconsciously because the other kid used a dirty trick and grabbed the kid''s hair. "Sister Isha!" a kid eximed in joy after noticing Isha standing near the door. "Oh!" I eximed in a dejected tone because those kids stopped fight and ran towards Isha. The woman who stopped the fight looked at Isha as if she were a long-lost sister but didn''t even try to hug her, but the kids were a different story, pounced on her from all directions. "Sister!" all eximed as one. There were a total of 13 kids living in that orphanage. "You arete." A cute girl with short brown hair and dark brown eyes crossed her hands and looked at Isha as if she were a teacher looking at a tardy student. "Oh my, Anuke! You have grown a lot." Isha eximed and walked towards the kid. ''Anuke? Ah! Doesn''t it mean ''a war goddess?'''' I remembered and nodded in agreement because that name was perfect for the child in front of me. "I haven''t. ttering won''t work, you''rete!" She spoke to Isha calmly, as if she were speaking to a spoiled brat. "Yes, ma''am." Said Isha. "Pfft. Ahem." I unconsciouslyughed out. "Yes? Who are you Sir?" The woman asked, tilting her head. She had jet ck hair, bright blue eyes, wore casual clothing, and looked lovely. And her name was... "Melissa, he came with me." Isha replied, her brow furrowed and her gaze fixed on me. "Hello, Miss Melissa. I''m Eshwar Frost, nice to meet you." I introduced myself with a polite bow. "Eh? Ah, yes! I''m Melissa, nice to meet you too." She too introduced herself with a polite bow. "..." I smiled brightly, but the mood quickly became awkward, and I found myself standing still and sweating from the awkwardness. "..." Melissa just stood there staring at me, dazed. "Ahem-mm." Isha abruptly cleared her throat, breaking the awkward silence. "Ah, excuse me, pleasee in." Melissa invited me by pointing to the sofa next to Isha. "Pardon, my intrusion." I walked in and sat down on the sofa, determined not to move. "You!" Anuke ignored Isha and walked towards me, pointing her index finger. "Yes?" I titled my head, puzzled. "..." Anuke waved her hand near her face as Isha walked past her and sat at the opposite end of the sofa. "Yes?" I leaned in towards Anuke after noticing what she was indicating. "You don''t like kids, do you?" she whispered in my ear with a smug grin. "Pfft, Ahem." Isha cleared throat trying cover herugh. "Ho! Aren''t you a smart kid." I said with smug grin too. ''Like I''ll let you win! Muhahahahaha.'' "Don''t worry, I like smart kids like you." Anuke grinned as I said this, and the next words she said had me frozen... "Ew, pervert." Said Anuke, grinning. "Pfft, hahahahaha." Ishaughed heartily. "Anuke! Don''t talk to big brother like that." Melissa came and apologized instead of Anuke. ''Yay, Melissa for the rescue.'' I thought before epting the apology. ''Look what you did.'' I looked at Anuke. Like she had heard my thoughts, she looked at me with a ''It was your fault'' face, shrugging. "What are we doing her?" I asked she in a low tone. "Shees here at least once a day to show her face." Melissa spoke up. "Oh, I see." I mumbled. "..... um, can ''big brother'' use magic too?" Anuke asked emphasizing the big brother, grinning. "Of course." I grinned and waved my hand, creating wisps of bright light blue colour. *That''s it?" Anuke asked in a mocking tone. Wisps flitted around the orphanage, capturing the attention of the children, including Melissa. Everyone surrounded us and stared at the wisps that transformed into snowkes andnded on their noses. They transformed into a horse running around in mid-air, leaving snowkes wherever it went. Every kid was staring at the horse in awe while I grinned at Anuke, but she was staring at the horse as well. I looked at her and directed the horse to walk behind all of the children present. When everyone''s attention was focused on the horse, I directed it to look at the children and shook its head back and forth, signalling them to follow it, and the horse slowly walked in mid-air towards the backyard, followed by me and Isha. After going to the backyard, the horse popped, causing tonnes of snowkes to fall, and every kid turned to look at me with puppy eyes. I chuckled and pointed to where the horse had just popped; Isha and Melissa looked perplexed but still looked in the direction I indicated. Soon, a whirlwind of snowkes formed and dispersed, leaving behind a light blue unicorn that walked slowly towards the children, allowing them to touch it. Squeals and giggles filled the backyard. Finally, it approached Anuke and leaned down, indicating that she should hop on; Anuke turned to look at me, and I nodded. She sat on the unicorn, which spread its wings and began to run around in the air. "Kyaa." Anuke squealed at first, but soon found herselfughing and enjoying the ride. Chapter 44 43. The Artificial Dungeon. ?In an unknown location. A man with sharp facial features, dark red hair, crimson red eyes and a chiseled body like that of the Greek gods walked naked with a white towel covering his lower half towards the door which resembled the door of royal pce''s crown room, humming. "Hmm~hmm." A woman appeared out of nowhere, wrapped in a thinyer of long white cloth from head to toe. "Your bath has been prepared, your majesty." She bowed politely. He ignored her and proceeded to the door, which was elegantly opened by the woman. The 40-meter room had a 3-foot-deep circr pit in the middle that was filled with blood. 30 human bodies were hung upside down with their heads and hands severed and hung above the pool, filling the pool with dripping blood, and their heads, which were filled with horror, were used as a disy around the pool. "Hmm~" The man hummed as he entered the room, followed by the woman. "''He'' is enjoying his life it seems." The man spoke in cold tone making the woman flinch. "Ye-yes, your majesty." The woman stuttered. "I have been so bored without ''him'' making any effort to find me." The man said in a dejected tone, like he was missing his lover. "Your pawn awaits your order, your majesty." The woman bowed deeply with lewd expression. "Order the pawns to start to poke around ''him''." The man eximed excitedly. Dropped the towel and dipped himself in the pool of blood as the woman disappeared from the spot. "Hehehehahahahaha." The manughed maniacally. "I can''t wait to wait to see the expressions on your face." The man grinned menacingly and chortled. *** A weekter. My days have be increasingly upied by new activities such as the orphanage, teaching, and observing training sessions. Today is the first artificial Dungeon raid for the students. Near the sector five border. The academy''s northern west side. 200 students in switch cadet uniform stood at attention, staring at a white-haired handsome young man, a gorgeous ck-haired young woman, and around 20 robed people who gave off a ''magician to the bones'' vibe. "Today will be your first dungeon raid." Said Isha in low tone. "You should raise your voice, I think." I said sarcastically. "That won''t be a problem at all, professor." The average-looking man with dark brown eyes and hair, dressed in a purple robe with golden borders. who is ''apparently'' the mages'' representative said ''This guy¡­.. has been trying to hit on Isha from the start.'' Every time he spoke, I had a very uneasy feeling because he was giving off the same ''innocent'' vibe that I felt when I saw the ranked Vampire. He waved his hand in the air, creating a small magical ripple. I was channeling mana to my eyes when I noticed that half of his mana had been depleted to create a small ripple that didn''t even have any pressure. "Whoooaa!!" students eximed. "Pfft." I closed my mouth with my hand and stared at the clown''s y. "¡­.. you can speak nowdy Isha." The guy said this while forming a small grey wisp in front of Isha''s mouth, which normally wouldn''t require more than 0.1 percent mana. "Ahem¡­" Isha simply cleared her throat, which was very loud and clear. She was taken aback by how loud it sounded, but this time she spoke clearly. "Today will be your first dungeon raid; this is the representative of mages, Stuart Pelletier, and his team, who will be creating an artificial low rank dungeon." Announced Isha. Creating an artificial Dungeon requires nothing more than a concentrated concentration of mana in one location. A dungeon is formed when the concentration of mana is high and unequally distributed. A simple highly concentrated mana whirlwind and an undistributed mana in the middle of a four-way crossroads can create a lower-level dungeon. So, to avoid the unnecessary traffic and panic caused by the sudden appearance of a gate, four-way crossroads are usually guarded with at least one guard or surveilled at least once a week. "We will have them create a lower-level dungeon, but keep in mind that the monsters you will encounter are still monsters who would dly kill or cripple you on sight." Isha mentioned scaring some students while others smiled smugly. "Remember that an artificial dungeon, even if it is a newly created one, can change due to mana interference or mana overload. We have no idea what will happen inside a dungeon after all." I said it out loud, grinning. Scaring almost everyone present. Mana overload urs when the amount of mana inside the dungeon exceeds what the gate can handle. Monsters are spat out of the dungeon in this case, or the dungeon rank rises abnormally. Mana interference is caused in the same way. The stronger a hero, the more powerful their aura, which is why they avoid low level dungeons unless absolutely necessary. Natural mana and awakened mana can sometimes interfere with mana inside or outside the gate, causing it to react violently at times. "..... so I''lle with you to keep an eye on you, but I won''t help if I don''t think it''s necessary, even if you''re crippled." Isha said, pausing for a moment to allow everyone to process what she had just said. "We''ll go in groups of ten, and I''ll stop you if I think you can''t go any further." Isha kept a casual expression on her face, but she was enraged when I suggested taking the students into a dungeon for some real-life experience. While she may not like it, it will be an invaluable experience for the students who are still green and too naive, especially those in the first year. "You can proceed.." I ''ordered'' the mages representative in a hoarse voice. "¡­." Stuart frowned when he heard me ''order'' him butpiled. Eight mages walked behind us and began concentrating on their mana; four mages-controlled wind elemental magic, while the other four concentrated entirely on their mana. CRACK (2x) WHOOM "Isha. Get ready and help them only when they are half dead or crippled." "¡­. Why''re you¡­?" Isha mumbled. "Ho, nice improvement." I said out loud because she showed a bit of anger and spoke in a casual speech. "¡­.." Isha flushed red. "Hm? Why? Is it that odd to speak casually?" I asked noticed her acting odd. "¡­.. it''s my first time¡­." She mumbled. "Pfft¡­.Cute." I mumbled involuntarily which made Isha blush violently. "¡­." "Katline, Vinny, Katharine and Violet." I called out loud and they ran towards me. "Yes Eshwar?" Katharine asked while Katline looked at her with a surprised expression. "I want you guys to go with Isha and don''t help anybody until they are crippled or half dead." I looked at them from the corner of my eye. "Huh?" they all mumbled in shock as one, Isha included. "¡­.. okay." Said Vinny after pondering for a moment. "Why me?" Violet asked. She is stronger than Katharine but doesn''t like to fight because it''s too bothersome and maintains her rank in top- 10. If she ever ranked above rank-5 she would curse at them for being so ipetent. "¡­. Because I know how to recognize ''the strong'' and ''the talented''." I furrowed my brows and looked at her. Chapter 45 44. Curse In Disguise. ?Isha blushed for being called cute because it was genuine. Isha has a curse-like blessing which made her be wary of every human. When she awakened her so-called "blessing" at the age of three, she told everyone around her about it. It was a good blessing at first, but it didn''t take long for it to be considered a curse, because she could see people''s emotions like colours around them, which caused her to iste herself from people. She didn''t know what all those colours meant at first, but it didn''t take long for her to understand each one and what it meant. The more she learned, the more she started to close herself off. The colour of everyone''s emotions around her became increasingly darker and more apparent to her. The more conspicuous it became, the more cynical and indifferent she became. Soon, every human she came into contact with made her feel nauseated, further isting her until she discovered that the colours of children were bright, and the children became her safe haven. After enrolling in the academy, her colours darkened and she ignored everyone coldly without even batting an eye, earning her the moniker ''the ice queen''. Slowly but steadily, the more isted she felt, the more colours she couldn''t see, which made no sense to her at first because it didn''t make much of a difference, until she realised that getting hurt by knowing how everyone else felt is harder than getting hurt by not knowing andpletely closed her off... Or so she thought. She met Eshwar, a white-haired handsome young man whose colours were visible very clearly and very brightly in a world where everything appeared dark to her and where emotion''s colour had turned darker for everyone except children. She was surprised at first, but she assumed it would fade quickly, but that theory was quickly proven incorrect. For the first time since she was three, she was wrong, which made her extremely happy. Eshwar''s emotions were always visible on his face, even if he tried to hide them; something in his face gave it away very easily, and Isha found it even easier because even after the colour darkened, she could read what the other was thinking simply by looking at their face. She was curious as to why he was different, so she agreed to a one-year contract with him. Her curiosity was satisfied the very next day, when she realized he was simply too simple-minded and didn''t even try to hide his thoughts. She would feel better and more herself just by being near Eshwar. He''d say what he was thinking or just show it on his face, but she didn''t make any physical contact with him because she was afraid her nausea would ruin everything, and Eshwar didn''t try to make any physical contact with her either, which made her happy and bitter at the same time. After meeting Eshwar, she experienced many emotions she had never experienced before; each emotion felt like a new colour was added to her cold and grey heart. Recently, when Core had asked if Isha was Eshwar''s girlfriend and he answered with a ''not yet,'' her feelings which were starting to develop had be a bit more apparent, and that emotion was the most precious and annoying emotion she had ever felt because it made her feel besotted, insecure, and afraid all at the same time. Now that he had called her cute, which seemed to havee out of nowhere, she blushed violently. "Katline, Vinny, Katharine and Violet." Eshwar called out. Eshwar seemed to like Katline differently than he seemed to like Isha, which made her feel insecure and jealous of Katline. She couldn''t figure out what was different, and the difference that she couldn''t figure out made her feel more insecure. "I want you guys to go with Isha and don''t help anybody until they are crippled or half dead." Eshwar said as he looked them over his shoulder. ".... Huh?" Isha asked in disbelief, thought if he found her unreliable. "¡­. Because I know how to recognize ''the strong'' and ''the talented''." Said Eshwar looking Violet. His voice jolted Isha awake from her reverie, she turned to face Eshwar whose eyes were brimming with mana and seemed to be a bit annoyed. ''Light red....'' "...." no one dared to utter a single word looking at his eyes. "Eshwar... Your eyes." Isha pointed out. "Huh? Oh, sorry....." he said as he calmed down. "Am I unreliable?" Isha mumbled in reverie. "Huh? You? Why did think so?" Eshwar asked, puzzled. ''Light yellow, he is seriously surprised...'' "...." Isha didn''t say anything and looked at Katline from the corner of her eyes. "Oh! Them? No, I mean...." He leaned in towards Isha, which surprised her, but she didn''t run away from him. ".... It gets annoying to bring out someone who is crippled." Eshwar whispered near her ear. When she felt Eshwar''s breath near her ear, she got butterflies in her stomach. She blushed in embarrassment because that was all it took to give her butterflies, but she didn''t hate it. "Ahem...." Katharine cleared her throat and grinned at Isha who was blushing. "Uhm-mm." Isha cleared her throat and pondered about what Eshwar said. ''I didn''t even consider how I would react if something happened and others were too afraid to move.'' "...." Isha nodded. Eshwar approached Vinny, who was standing behind him, and his eyes gradually began to glow bright orange, brimming with mana. He ced his hand on Vinny''s shoulder, who flinched, and Eshwar leaned in close to Vinny''s ear, whispering something that only Isha could hear.... "Look after them....." Eshwar whispered to Vinny who nodded slightly. Eshwar walked back with a bright smile. ''dark orange with strokes of dark pink, he is worried and irritated...'' "... What''s wrong?" Isha asked, curiously. "Hm? Nothing.... I''m getting a bad feeling about something..... I don''t know what but I didn''t like it, not even a bit of it...." Eshwar grumbled looking at somebody behind Isha. Isha followed his line of sight and noticed Stuart looked at Isha lustfully, but the colours around everyone else had darkened, but she still understood what he was thinking, but she couldn''t give a f**k what he thought... Isha turned back to face Eshwar, noticing him ring at Stuart and his pupils were slowly but surely turning into small vertical slits.... She wasn''t scared even for a second, and everything about Eshwar felt normal to her; she felt very happy andfortable when looking into his eyes, and in the back of her mind, she was missing those eyes, but... "Eshwar...." Isha called out calmly and stopped it frompleting. "Huh? Oh...." Eshwar''s eyes returned to normal. "It ispleted! Miss Isha." Stuart called out with a smile. "You, you, you,........ and finally you." Eshwar pointed at 10 students who came forward after they have been pointed at. "You guys will be protected but I want you guys to look after yourselves, so you will have to get stronger by yourselves and that''s the reason why I''m bringing you guys into a gate, so good luck!" Eshwar gave an encouraging speech to all the students with a bright smile. Chapter 46 45. The Artificial Dungeon (2). ?"You guys will be protected but I want you guys to look after yourselves, so you will have to get stronger by yourselves and that''s the reason why I''m bringing you guys into a gate, so good luck!" Eshwar gave an encouraging speech to all the students with a bright smile. "Good luck." Eshwar walked back to Isha and said. ''Dark yellow with light orange strokes, he is worried and nervous...'' "....." Isha furrowed her brows and stared at Eshwar. "Let''s go..." She said to the students and walked towards the dungeon. "..." Eshwar stood, silently. "Dungeon rank is E, it''s the lowest level dungeon we can create because, we are strong..." Stuart gave a brief before starting to bragging. Isha ignored him, walked towards the gate, and then came to a halt because she had an uneasy feeling she shouldn''t enter... ''Ho, don''t be nervous students are here, though I couldn''t care less....'' "Ok, we''ll be entering the dungeon." Isha announced to the students before going in. ".... You''ll decide your roles on your own, and I''ll be waiting for you to call me when you''re finished." Isha said as she walked to the back of the team and stood cross-armed. * Inside the dungeon. The dungeon was semi-lit, with small wisps of light flitting around. Students chose a formation of four tanks, three damage dealers behind the tankers, two supporters behind the damage dealers, and a damage dealer in the rear, though a supporter and a damage dealer on the right have been grumbling. Tankers consisted of a girl and three men. Damage dealers were all men, while supporters included a girl and a boy. Finally, the rear damage dealer was a female. GROWL (3x) "GET READY." A tankers yelled. ''Hmm... I need names for them, but..... Meh, they''ll be T1, T2, T3, and T4 from the right for the tankers, left, middle, and right for damage dealers, S1 and S2 for supporters, and this girl will be ''rear''.... Ho, perfect.'' Isha named all of the students in their current positions and was pleased with the oue. ROOOOAAAAARRRRRR CLANK (4x) Wolf type monsters charged at the tankers with their pack. ''Around 20 huh...'' Isha thought. "Now!" T2 a girl tanker yelled. BOOM "We know! Goddamnit." Right grumbled. THUMP He struck the wolf''s head with his sword, which didn''t even cut through, he blushed red in embarrassment, and struck it again, getting the same result. THUMP "Che, What the f**k are you guys standing for, f**king attack!!!" T2 yelled at the other damage dealers, who were lost in their own thoughts. "N-no...." S1 trembled. "We''re going to die..." S2 said, destroying any hope the students had. "Che..." Isha clicked her tongue. ".... professor is here, so don''t worry. Fighting!!" Vinny tried to calm them down. "Fighting?" Katharine titled her head, puzzled. "Che." Violet clicked her tongue. "Ah! Right, guys fighting!!" Katharine appeared to have realised something when she joined Vinny. ''Imbeciles.'' Isha thought as she stood cross armed. "Yea, so, f**king fight!!" T2 rage was at peaks. RAAAWWWRR SPLURT "Gaaaa." T1 let down his guard and was wed on his left arm while holding his shield in his right hand; the wolf had attacked him from the gap between the two shields. "Ipetent fools..." Isha muttered. ''Dark hands.'' Isha mumbled in her head. Shadowed arms emerged from wolves'' shadows, restraining and immobilising them on the spot. "Let''s get out of here, you guys are a waste of time!" Isha spoke in hushed tones that were clearly heard by all. "B-bu-but ma''am..." everyone said in union. "Hm?" Isha red at them, expecting Eshwar to be disappointed. "..." Without knowing what to say, everyone just stared at the ground. "Let''s go out if you have nothing else to say." Isha said and started walking out. * Isha and the others walked out of the dungeon, their faces dejected. Eshwar jogged towards them, ring at the supporters. "Oii." Eshwar called out to the team. "Y-yes sir?" everybody except T2 asked. "Are you dumb? You f**king idiots, heal your f**king friend... or at the very least your ssmate." He yelled, pointing to T1, who was bleeding. "Ah!" supporters dashed over to T1 and began healing his arm with their light green mana. "... You! Come here." He called T2. "Y-yes sir?" She stutteringly approached Eshwar. "Your name was Thea, right?" he asked. "Y-yes sir." Thea nodded her head. "You can join again if you want." He said, looking at the shield. "Eh?" everyone looked at Eshwar in disbelief. "What? Isha?" he asked and looked at Isha who nodded. "Yes, at least she tried unlike everybody else." Isha said, nonchntly. "Now, next group will be you, you, you,... and you." Eshwar pointed at the other ten students including Thea. *** After four batches of ten students returned, only the second batch made any progress with Thea, and the third batch returned with a guy who pissed himself, which relieved tension among students whoughed heartily at him. Elmer Knight, who is supposedly my younger brother, pissed himself and became aughingstock. ''I mean, it wasn''t my fault he became aughingstock, and I, too,ughed at him, so I can''t me the students forughing.'' "Pfft." I remembered his expression when he came out of the gate with his hands covering his crotch. I took out a cigar and lit it with a regr lighter because I wasn''t experiencing any mana bacsh at the time and wanted to smoke. PUFF ? "Hahahaha." Iughed as I stared at Elmer Knight, my cigar in my mouth and between my thumb and index finger. ''She should have realised at least something by now.'' *** In the dungeon. Katline was hard time standing still and not helping her fellow ssmates. ''I know why Sir Eshwar wanted them toe into a dungeon, but this....'' Her ssmates were struggling against a pack of wolves. Some were bleeding and being treated by supporters, while others defended them. Three people had been attacked: a damage dealer and two tanks. They were leaning against a wall while others defended them; there were some issues and grumblings from the rich kids at first, but they worked together as a team from the second wolf pack. All of the rich kids'' egos were destroyed in front of the monsters, and they were now working as a team, which made Katline happy and bitter at the same time because she couldn''t help when she was only a few inches away from them. ''Sir Eshwar must have sent me her to test my patience and self control....'' Katline thought. *** Chapter 47 46. The Artificial Dungeon (3). ?Isha was looking at the students with contempt as they bleed and struggled to fend off a pack of wolves. ''It''s not even worth the time.'' Isha thought. "Hm?" Isha squinted her eyes, trying to determine if she had seen something incorrectly. GROWWL A low growl could be heard from a distance, and Isha saw a ck wolf three metres tall, with a bright pair of yellow bloodshot eyes on its face and dripping saliva, but that was not what drew her attention; it had other eyes following the corner of the eyes on its head. It had ten eyes in total, five on each side. It appeared to be a chain connecting its shoulder to its face, as if it were a mutated wolf of some kind. All of its eyes shone bright yellow as it shot towards Isha like a bullet, leaving a trail of yellow light in its midst. ''Fast.'' That was all she could think of before it appeared in front of her, pounced, and kicked her on all fours. THUMP Isha flew back from the impact and hit her back to the wall. BAM "Kha." As the blow knocked out all the air in her lungs and cracked a few ribs, Isha coughed up blood. "Grrr." The mutated wolf circled around ce Isha stood and red at her, while the others looked at the mutated wolf, perplexed. "Sh*t." Katline cursed out and held out her hand. "Rise." Katline roared. CRUMBLE (4x) Four skeleton wolves protruded from the ground, their eyes lit up with bright blue mes, while the others snapped out of their reverie and took their weapons from their inventory: Violet took out a staff, Katharine a sword, Vinny his giant sword made by Eshwar, and Katline took out her bow after summoning her skeletal wolves. Vinny was the first to react, dashed in front of Katline, and attacked the mutated wolf. BOOM "How?" Isha clutched her stomach and mumbled in a daze as blood trickled down from her mouth. *** Vinny pulled out Eshwar''s giant sword and swung it down, aiming for the mutated wolf''s neck. BOOM "Katharine!" Vinny called out while keeping an eye on the mutated wolf. "..... On it." Katharine jumped and shed down at the wolf while still in mid-air, which it easily avoided. Vinny looked at Katline out of the corner of his eye, and Katline locked her gaze on Vinny and nodded. "Need time..." Katline mumbled. ''Still the same, I see...'' Vinny smiled at her and charged full speed at the wolf. BOOM A crater formed below his foot as he dashed at the wolf at the same speed the mutated wolf had appeared in front of Isha before and shed down at it vertically, tensing all his muscles. "Hap." BOOM The force of Vinny''s sword caused a foot-deep sh on the ground, but itpletely missed the wolf as it pushed out to its left, where Katharine appeared and shed at it. *** Katherine was taken aback by Vinny''s speed, but she didn''t let it distract her as she tried to catch up from behind, following Vinny''s trail while hiding behind Vinny. SWISH "Not bad." She mumbled, grinning and glowing neon from Violet''s buff. "Hap." Vinny roared, swinging his giant sword vertically with all his force. BOOM When she noticed the wolf leaping to her right, she grabbed Vinny''s shoulder and pushed herself to the right, shing diagonally at the wolf. "Grrr." The mutated wolf growled as blood trickled down near its stomach, where a small diagonal cut appeared. WHOOM A fireball the size of a blowing ball flew towards the Wolf''s face, jumping high to its right where it was greeted by a wind de. *** Violet was furious at Eshwar for sending her into the dungeon, and was excited as she faced the mutated wolf, she fired wind des at the group of students, instantly killing the pack of wolves they were fighting. Violet''s eyes moved swiftly as she kept everyone in the field of her sight. "Recovery." She cast a buff spell on Isha which helped her recover faster. "Haste, Greater strength." She casted buff on Katharine how was having a hard time following Vinny. ? ''Monster...'' she thought while looking at Vinny. "Stealth." She mumbled, buffing Katline who was looking for a higher ground. "Fireball, Wind des." She casted attack spells though they were only basic spells which was now enough to make a difference. A fireball was fired at the mutated wolf''s head first, followed by a pair of wind des fired at her head level on both the left and right. She calcted, reasoned, and predicted that the wolf would try to avoid the fireball by leaping into the air, because if it simply dodged to the sides, Vinny and Katharine would be able to take care of it. *** Katline dispatched two skeletal wolves to Isha and others to the mutated wolf, and they were having a hard time keeping up. When she looked Vinny in the eyes, she knew what she had to do. She took out her bow and began searching for higher ground, knowing she would be safe. ''What''s this feeling?'' Katline thought. SWISH "..." Katline smiled noticing Violet''s buff, glowed grey and dashed at a stone ridge which had enough space to stand on. She didn''t like having to rely on others, but seeing Vinny''s back made her feel less alone. BOOM "Hm?" When she turned around to face the battle, she noticed a foot-deep hole caused by Vinny''s vertical sh. ''Strong..'' she thought before focusing back on climbing. She jumped and crouched down on the stone ridge. "Huu.." Katline breathed out and pulled back the bow string with a arrow. ''Luckily it stored both bow and arrows in a single slot...'' she thought. "...." She held the pull and focused her attention entirely on the mutated wolf, trying finding an opening. The mutated wolf moved its head to the left to avoid Violet''s wind de, but in order to avoid being hit in the face, its other eyes near the right shoulder were sacrificed, and it lost three of them. SWING Katline took advantage of the situation and fired the arrow, which struck its shoulder eye and dug deep inside, rendering the mutated Wolf''s right forefeet limp. AAWWWOOOOO The mutated wolf roared alerting it''s pack, if there was any. "Sh*t!" Katline cursed at her bad luck because she had aimed at its head, hoping it would at least pierce through its neck. Chapter 48 47. The Artificial Dungeon (4). ?Isha looked at the skeletal wolves in disbelief. ''How is she .... No, who is she?'' Isha asked inwardly. She shook her head, dismissing her thoughts, recovered from the blow, and resolved to focus on the battle first. "First, the abnormality!" Isha remembered the mutated wolf and walked towards the Violet. ''They are quite good....'' she thought looking at Vinny, Katline, Katharine, Violet and the damage on the mutated Wolf. AAWWWOOOOO "Sh*t, it was not alone?" She mumbled and took out the katana which Eshwar gave her as a gift. "Ice blood katana huh...." Isha mumbled with a slight smile. SWISH (4x) To test the handle pressure and movements, she shed down diagonally twice, horizontally once, and vertically once. GROOOWWWLLLL A loud growl was heard from a distance, where mutated wolf was spotted at first. RUMBLE It was a narrow space that could easily fit two fully armed bulky men side by side. Hundreds of mutated wolves poured out of the gap, growling and roaring loudly, echoing throughout the cave. AAWWWOOOOO (5x) ROOOAARRRR (4x) GROWWL (4x) "Well, I believe retreating is the best option, but I''m not sure I can outrun them..." Isha mumbled because she had seen how fast the previous wolf was and that one appeared to be the weakest. "Grr..." a five meter tall mutated wolf stepped forward. "..." nobody spoke a single word and stood guard. "Grrr.... Humans grrr.... Which ''God'' do you worship grr?" In a respectful tone, the mutated wolf spoke in a human-like, hoarse, and half-low roar voice. "...." Everyone in the room was taken aback when they saw the mutated wolf speak. "Grrr....my name is Kvasir... Grrr.." Kvasir introduced himself. "..... I''m Nihi- Nhifrogr, which ''God'' do you serve Kvasir?" first to speak was Vinny. ''And, who is this Nhifrogr exactly?'' Isha asked inwardly, knowing that if no one came from the outside to help, they would most likely die horribly because she didn''t feel anything from Kvasir while all the other mutated wolves gave off a menacing aura. ''He is far too powerful for any of us to confront. And because the strongest wolf in a wolf pack bes the alpha, this Kvasir is the strongest among the hundreds of wolves.'' Isha pondered. "Grr.... You! How dare ''you'' speak with a servent of a ''God'' Grrrraaaa." Kvasir roared at Vinny and red at him. "What do you... Ah! Hahaha, f**k....." Vinny mumbled and turned his head to look at everyone present with a guilty expression. "..... I''m sorry guys, but.... we''re f**ked..." Vinny announced. "Grrrraaaaa, I''ll kill you human!" Kvasir red at Vinny and poured out a powerful killing intent that was dark red in colour and flowed like water from a burst dam. WHOOSH Isha stepped back in fear as cold sweat trickled down her brows, while others fell to their knees as their knees became weak or fainted. Only Isha and Vinny remained standing and trembling, while Violet, Katharine, and Katline went limp and other students fainted with a puddle of discharge below them. "Grrr.... Your very existence is a disgrace to the gods, human..." Kvasir red at Vinny, then appeared in front of him and kicked with its hind leg. BAM Vinny flew back like a broken kite and hit the wall with a loud bang. BANG "Ukh.." Vinny coughed out a mouth full of blood and slumped on the ground. "...." Isha, who had witnessed everything, was at a loss for words. "..... Recovery..." Violet mumbled as she buffed Vinny with a nk face as tears streamed down her cheeks non stop. ''F**king... This dumb bit*h.'' Isha cursed at Violet inwardly. "Grrr.... Humans... Are you with that ''disgrace''?" Kvasir red at everyone in the room before returning his gaze to Isha. ".....Grrr.." Kvasir took a step back and looked at Isha, terrified. ? DING The system sounded, but she wasn''t paying attention because she was too focused on Kvasir. He came to a halt when he noticed Isha''s trembling hands and grinned. "Grrr... You haven''t grrrr.... realized yet? Even grrrr..... when you''re soul is almost healed?" Kvasir snickered at Isha, mockingly. ''What happened to my soul? What have I not realized? Does it have something to do with my curse? Curses are rted to souls, aren''t they?'' Isha racked her brain trying to find a connection, so that she can finally be free from her curse and try to leave a normal life..... "If it is something rted to the curse...." Isha mumbled involuntarily. ''I- I can''t afford to waste this opportunity to learn about my curse or soul.....'' She had finally found a way to be happy for once, she had researched everything rted to curses in order to cure herself, she had grown stronger and reached rank-A on her own without the assistance of anyone else. She dropped out of the academy in her second year because she had discovered a herb that could cure curses, so she went to Sector One alone to find that herb, which turned out to be a dud. "You! Will answer my questions!" Isha roared, stopped shivering and gripped the katana. "Arise!" Isha roared again. Ten shadowy creatures protruded from her shadow, each wielding a sword simr to her own and charged at Kvasir. "How?" Katline mumbled in disbelief. Isha cast a nce at Katline, who was dazedly staring at the shadows. It was the same trait Katline had, but much more advanced. ''Now, you understand how shocked I was?'' Isha asked inwardly and dashed at Kvasir. "B... Guh... B-Buff." Vinny mumbled while groaning in pain. Isha was enveloped in a bright golden hue, which temporarily increased all physical and magical abilities by a full rank. Isha felt a surge of strength from her core, but she dashed with her newfound strength without pausing. "Grr.... You are disgrace to the gods, grr... Receiving help from humans...." Kvasir sneered at Isha in a low tone. "For a being, who was even respected by gods...." Kvasir scoffed at Isha in a buzz like tone. CLANK Isha appeared in front of Kvasir and shed down vertically. Kvasir pped the katana to his left like a bug, knocking Isha off of her bnce. "You''re pathetic!" Kvasir said with a smug grin and punched out at Isha''s abdomen. ''If your body can react, why dodge?'' She recalled Eshwar''s ss and the demonstration with Katline. She clenched her teeth, gripped the sword, and shed horizontally at Kvasir''s neck. Kvasir jumped back immediately, but Isha only cut air and fell back butt first from a loss of bnce. "Maybe it really works that way... only for the strong though.." Isha mumbled in disbelief. "Grrrr.... How dare you insignificant...." Kvasir roared, appeared right in front of Isha and punched her stomach. BAM "Ukh.." Isha flew mid-air before getting punched in her face. BAM "Guh.." Isha coughed out blood and flew back towards the wall while spinning like a top. THUMP PUFF Chapter 49 48. The Artificial Dungeon (5). ?"Grrrr.... How dare you insignificant...." Kvasir roared, appeared right in front of Isha and punched her stomach. BAM "Ukh.." Isha flew mid-air before getting punched in her face. BAM "Guh.." Isha coughed out blood and flew back towards the wall while spinning like a top. "Snowkes." THUMP PUFF CRA-CRACK An unpleasant smell that had be painfully familiar to her over the previous week hit her nostrils, and she immediately recognized who had caught her and smiled slightly. "You''re Ukh... Late..." Isha turned to face Eshwar, who was holding her waist and shoulder and ring at Kvasir. Eshwar''s eyes were a bright golden colour, his pupils had turned into vertical ck slits, and he had clenched his teeth so tightly that they would shatter with just a little more force. Veins appeared near his neck, jawline, and eyes. "..." Isha looked Eshwar with yearning gaze when she felt his warmth on her cheek, shoulder and waist.... ''Waist?'' She blushed violently and got a nosebleed all of a sudden. "Cough, cough..." Isha coughed out blood. "Ar-are you okay? F**k, there is no way you''ll be okay..... You!" he mumbled and roared at Kvasir, ring. ''... Let''s go with the flow for now.'' She thought and blushed again in embarrassment. *** A few moments earlier. PUFF DING "Hm?" I checked the system notification while holding the cigar between my thumb and index finger. [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 30.] [TIME HAS REDUCED BY 6 MONTHS] [3Y: 220D: 09H: 23S.] "What?" I yelled in disbelief. "Aye, f**k you! Don''t change the time when ever you want!" I roared at the system window. [....] "F**k!" I didn''t look at the new notification and turned to face the dungeon. WOOOMMM "F**k, dungeon rank rose to AA, Goddamnit." Gate expanded by a meter. "Huh? This!" I mumbled involuntarily. A tiny vertical glitched line had appeared on the gate, it was same type of glitch that had appeared from my skill [???]. ''I should have trusted my instincts! Goddamnit. If I don''t go in, they''ll die!'' "F**k it!" I jumped into the gate while breathing in the pure mana out of habit. "G-grrraaaaa" I yelled in pain. I felt excruciating pain, as if my body had been turned inside out, everything hurt and it hurt like hell. It felt like billions of acupuncture needles were stuck in every pore on my skin, my mana core hurt, and the pain I was experiencing was multiplied tenfold. ''That Goddamn dragon''s knowledge is perfect, which is unfortunate for me right now because I didn''t need every painful detail of my f**king body!'' [Skill: ??? Activated.] [Searching for a appropriate name for [Skill:???] from skill holders memory.] [ERROR] [Memor... ERROR.] [ERROR] [Private Skill: Control has been created.] [You have created a Private Skill.] [You are the first to create a Private Skill.] [Skill: Break has been created.] [Skill: Break (2 uses) [user can break anything user wishes to.]] [Private skill: Control activated.] [Searching for Skills ording to users mentality and knowledge.] [Private Skill: Author?? Created.] "Graaaaaa." I could only hear system notifications, but I couldn''t open my eyes because the pain got worse every time I tried to do something. "Like hell, .... I''ll be..... here like this!!" I mumbled out, I think. [Skill: Control activated.] I slowly opened my eyes and saw a space full of 0''s, 1''s, and a glitchy background everywhere. The pain became unbearable, and I began to cry and sweat profusely. My eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and throat were all burning. Only my eyeball moved as I slowly looked down, and I noticed something red was flowing out of my eyes, which I assumed was blood. "This is coding!" Everything was moving up and down in a systematic manner, and I tried to focus on something else, hoping that it would distract me from the pain. I was terribly wrong. "Fffffff** kkkk!!" ''Am I speaking in my mind? Am I stuck in this f**king ce? No! No, naughty thoughts! F**k, I''m in pain and my own mind is mocking me!'' Because I couldn''t do anything else and I sensed something happening to my mana core, I began to wonder if pure mana was still filling by itself. I have no idea. My body isn''t responding and I don''t feel any time passing... ''time isn''t passing?'' ''F**k, how do I get out of here?'' [Private Skills creationpleted.] [User''s modificationpleted.] WOOOM ''the f**k are you modifying, at least have some respect for me, won''t you? Ask first! F**k!'' "Huh?" I suddenly found myself in a cave. I looked back and saw the gate, then down at my cigar, which was exactly as it was when I held it in my hand before entering the gate and the pain had disappeared like it was never there in the first ce. "I''m 100 percent sure that I''m not high on anything!" I mumbled, put my cigar in my mouth, and remembered why I had entered the gate in the first ce. I dashed at full speed and noticed a lot of rank-D wolf type monster corpses; it didn''t feel out of ce, but I need to make sure everyone is okay. BAM "Ukh.." Isha groaned. BAM "Guh.." Isha flew towards the wall, spinning like a top. I instantly appeared behind Isha, ready to catch her. "Snowkes." I mumbled to slow her down. ''Good with hands.'' I activated a skill just to be extra safe. THUMP PUFF Despite her height, her facended on my chest as I hugged her, left hand on her waist and right hand on her shoulder to support her; I wanted to rip apart every wolf in the room right then and there, to care about where my hands were, and I was confident that ''Good with hands'' would have helped regardless. "You''re Ukh...te...." Isha mumbled. '' I- I want to rip apart every wolf present here!'' I thought, channelling mana to every inch of my body, and the mana in my body immediately obeyed my will. "...." I felt Isha''s body warming up on my hands. "Cough, cough...." Isha coughed up blood while also bleeding from the nose. I knelt down and supported her with my left knee, while Isha leaned on my knee and took a breath. "Ar-are you okay? F**k, there is no way you''ll be okay..... You!" Because she was bleeding from her nose, I was concerned about what might have happen to her lungs. ''How dare this f**king thing hit her..!'' I red at the wolf type monster(?). ".... Um, I know..... It''s a bad timing but.... What the f**k is that thing?" I was bewildered because I had never seen a monster with ten f**king eyes in my two lives. ''Damn, that''s a lot of eyes!'' Chapter 50 49. The Artificial Dungeon (6). ?".... Um, I know..... It''s a bad timing but.... What the f**k is that thing?" I was bewildered because I had never seen a monster with ten f**king eyes in my two lives. ''Damn, that''s a lot of eyes!'' "Pfft." I heardughter behind me, I turned to face the source of the sound and noticed Vinny approaching me as if we were on a walk in the park. "You!...We''ll talkter." I red at Vinny, who flinched and came to a halt. "You! Grrr..... Who are you?" The thing asked. "Oh! My name is Eshwar....... this thing talks?" I was introducing myself..... I came to a halt and asked, my eyes wide with disbelief as I looked at Isha on my knee. ''Is it rank- SSS or upper grade monster? But, this is a rank-AA dungeon though.'' ''Upper grade monsters,'' as I call them, because their intelligence isparable to that of humans and they have yet to leave sector one''s inner zone. I was the only one who was aware of their existence.... until now that is. "Grrrr.... I am no ''thing'' I''m Kvasir!" Kvasir roared and released his killing intent. "Yea? Whatever, why are you in this gate? How did you get here? Why the f**k do you have 10 eyes? Disgusting, and how can you talk?" I asked all the questions I need answers for. "Grrrraaa." Heunched himself at me. "Ho! If you don''t answer.... I''ll just have to make you...." I looked back at Isha. "I''ll be back, you can close your eyes if you want." I smiled brightly and stood back up. "..... What do you...." Isha asked. "You''ll know." I cut her off and disappeared from the spot. "Hello!" I appeared right in front of Kvasir''s face and pped his face. PAAT Kvasir flew towards the wolves and collided with them. I pointed my index finger at Kvasir, a pistol appeared in my hand. "Hm... Let''s put my new candy-shooting toy to the test, shall we? Hm?" I grinned and released my killing... "Violet! Can you teach me how to create a barrier?" I asked Violet while pointing my gun at Kvasir. "Huh? Now?" Violet asked in disbelief, trembling. "Yea, of course." I answered, smiling brightly. "... Just like mana shield but bigger and better!" Violet exined. "Huh?" Vinny, Katharine, Katline, Isha turned to face Violet and asked in unison. I held out my left palm, imagining a massive mana shield made of wind and water. A thread of water and air magic formed around my palm and moved fluidly without colliding. "Hm... Like this?" I formed a massive light blue barrier covering the whole cave in between them and me with the wolves. "Exactly!" Violet said smiling brightly. "Damn, geniuses... Ugh... So annoying!" Katharine yelled in annoyance and ruffled her hair violently. "Thank you, Violet. Now, enjoy the show." I said as I released my killing intent without holding back. RUMBLE "Hehehe, where were we?" I asked Kvasir as Iughed menacingly. *** Isha sent a shadow solider to attack the barrier. BONG Its sword bounced back, making a strange sound, which surprised Isha because each summon she summoned now is as strong as she is, but even that wasn''t enough to leave a scratch on the barrier. RUMBLE As she looked down to ponder, a sudden chill ran down her spine; she didn''t even have the strength to lift her head and look at the fight as heavy pressure wore on her. "Ukh.." Vinny fell on his knees. "...." Katharine and Violet had turned pale from fear. The barrier protected them from getting squashed from the pressure, Isha slowly lifted her head and saw a giant snake behind Eshwar, it had bright orange eyes with vertical ck pupils and its scales merged in unison with ck, crimson red, and white colours but seemed to be slowly turning into dark purple, and a white snake with silver eyes had slithered around Eshwar''s neck. Eshwar''s killing intent was causing ripples near his feet, as if he were standing on water; his killing intent was shaped like a cape, and thousands of snakes appeared to crawl out of his cape. "Hehehe,where were we?" Eshwar asked Kvasir, whose entire fur had turned grey with fear as a result of Eshwar''s killing intent being focused on him. All of the mutated wolves were kneeling in front of Eshwar as if they were in front of a God. "...." Isha gulped down loudly, looking at horrifying scene in front of her. BANG (2x) WHIMPER (3x) Eshwar shot at Kvasir''s hind legs, piercing through and killing the wolves behind him. "Ho! If I use this, you guys will die instantly.... Hm..." Eshwar stood cross-armed and pondered with his head rested on the gun point. *** ''I should go to sector one to test out my guns.'' After the pistol vanished from my grasp, I took the trident ''The Trishul'' from my subspace to test its abilities. ''I don''t get to ughter hundreds of monsters daily now, do I?'' [Trishul [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: TRIDENT]: Skills: Cresent moon, Third eye.] "Hmm..." I checked the skill set of the artifact. "Third eye." I mumbled. My vision instantly widened, and my field of vision increased from 150 to 180 degrees. I looked at the wolf next to Kvasir. WHOOM WHIMPER (5x) The wolf witheredpletely before being set aze with ck mes and burned until nothing remained. "Ouuu, it''s kinda cruel, isn''t it?" I asked Kvasir who had turned grey. ''I think my vitality increased and its mana consumption is low... Isn''t this aplete cheat? Hmm.... Let''s see...'' I set 25 wolves on fire at random, and they withered and burned until nothing remained. "Ukh! Wow, my head hurts! Is it because I''m new to this Third Eye thing?" While a sharp pain cruised through my mind, I held my head, leaned forward, and mumbled. "Haaa..." I sighed and stood up straight, stopped releasing my killing intent. "Cresent moon." I muttered. [Time: 15: 29. Partial skill activation increases 25 percent of all stats.] "Ho! F**k this is so broken, and aren''t the skill names rted to ''God Shiva''?" I realised that God Shiva''s weapon is a trident called ''The Trishul,'' as well as the third eye and the Crescent Moon. ".... Are you a replica?" I looked at the Trishul in my hand and mumbled. When I loosened my grip on the trident, it floated and stood straight next to me. I became perplexed and extended my right hand, index finger pointing out, and the trident floated in the direction of my finger. "Whoa!" I was so excited to find out its abilities. "Grrr...." Kvasir roared and wed at me. SPLURT Chapter 51 50. Planet Antino眉s. ?SPLURT "... So you can do that, too?" I mumbled as I looked at Kvasir, who had the Trishul impaled on his stomach. "Wait! How the f**k do you heal?" I stared at Kvasir''s hind legs in disbelief. "Grr.... Human, I''ll kill you!" Kvasir red at me. "I mean, f**k you too!" I said pointing my middle finger at him. ''Right, I need answers..... F**k my mood swings!'' I pped my forehead. "Huuu.." I crouched down and red at Kvasir, concentrating my killing intent on him. WHOOM "NOW! SPEAK!" I roared. "Gr..." He made a low growl. "Where dide from?" I red at him. "Grr.." "..... You... Don''t want to end up like them, do you?" I pointed to the areas where the other wolves had been pulverised. "Grr... we are from Antino¨¹s, one of the oldests in existence and I realized that this is not our after meeting the monsters here." Kvasir seemed pleased when he spoke about his. "And?" I asked ignoring his boastful attitude. "Grr.... I don''t know much about this ce, but... We''re known as the weakest ''beasts'' on our...." Kvasir lowered his head. "Not ''weak'' but ''weakest''? And ''beasts'' not ''monsters''?" I asked for confirmation. "Yes...." Kvasir made a hurtful face. ''Goddamn, this wolf is too smart!'' "Like trash eating?" I asked, puzzled. "..... Human! Grrr... Yes, < F**KING HUMANS, THEY''RE THE SAME EVERYWHERE!>" Kvasir roared. I couldn''t understand what he just said, but it sounded like an insult to me. PAAT "Don''t talk in your ''beast''nguage." I pped him to concentrate on me, assuming that he just spoke in his beastnguage. SWISH "Do you know what this is?" I showed him the Machine Parasite. "Grr.... It''s a tool ''God Hunter''s modifiers'' use.....Wait! How do you have that human?" Kvasir seemed worried. ''God Hunters.. huh.. and this ''modifiers'' seems to be rted to the system.'' "What''s this ''God Hunter''? And, what''s modifiers?" I asked. "How are you rted to GH association, human?" Kvasir asked. ''Now, what the f**k is this GH association?... No, don''t tell me he shortened the God Hunters into GH.....'' "You mean God Hunters association?" I tried to bait him. "You speak like them too, how are you rted to them human?" Kvasir red at me. ''Stupid basta*d, kekeke...'' PAAT "I''m the one asking the questions." I pped him, his fangs flew off. "They hunt ''Gods'' and ''God servants'', Human!" Kvasir roared on top of his lungs. I lifted his right forefeet. ''Third eye.'' I muttered in my head. "Grraa." Kvasir screamed in agony as his right forefeet withered and turned to nothingness. I was able to limit the skill to only burning off his forefeet. ''I can control it!'' "Now, why would people hunt ''Gods'' and these ''God servants''?" I grinned. "... Grr.... .... Kuh.." Kvasir bit off his tongue and swallowed it. "Hmm.... A easy way out huh...." I nodded my head and stood back up. SPLURT I pulled out the trident, held it in the middle, and spun it continuously in the middle of my fingers. SWISH (6x) "Anyone else wanna talk?" I started at every wolf present. "No?" I asked mockingly. ''These are the time I miss Pyre.'' "Let the ughter, BEGIN!" I grinned and swung the spinning trident left and right. *** Vinny looked at Eshwar, who was grinning while ughtering and bathing in the blood of hundreds of wolves; wolves were being turned into mince meat simply bying into contact with the ends of Eshwar''s trident. The wolves were exploding from the force with which the trident spun, and Vinny almost felt sorry for the wolves if it weren''t for the overwhelming fear that gripped him. With his grin and blooded appearance, Eshwar appeared more like a demon who delighted in mowing everything in his path. ''Am I going to end up like that after he''s finished with them? .....If I make it through today, I''ll tell Katline that I''m from the future and that I genuinely love her....'' Vinny pondered as he nced at Eshwar. ''Status'' ==== STATUS: VINNY GROVER CLASS: PRIEST RANK: ? == STRENGTH: ??/10 [RANK- ?] CONSTITUTION: ??/10 [RANK- ?] AGILITY: ??/10 [RANK- ?] PERCEPTION: ??/10 [RANK- ?] ENDURANCE: ??/10 [RANK- ?] INTELLIGENCE: ??/10 [RANK- ?] MAGIC POINTS: ??/10 [RANK- ?] WILL POWER: ??/10 [RANK- ?] DEXTERITY: ??/10 [RANK- ?] == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ->??? [RANK- ???]: ??? ?? ???? [Skill: ???] ->God Hater [RANK- ???]: [Skill: ???(NEW)] ->Unique priest [RANK- S]: [Skill: BUFF] [Skill: HEAL(NEW)] == SKILLS: ->Stab (D) ->sh (C) ==== ''f**k this, f**king system!'' Vinny grumbled. ''''Can''t this just get repaired by itself?" Vinny yelled in annoyance. ''I almost had everyone killed because of this f**king TRAIT'' Vinny''s broken system had two new traits after his regression that didn''t help him at all, and his stats, which were at maxed rank-S, had now turned into question marks but he still had a strength of an S-rank. ''Without my five years of fighting experience, I have nothing useful.... At the very least, I was able to meet Katline again without her sword and burn scars.'' Vinny stood there dazed, staring at Katline with longing eyes. *** ''Is he done?'' Isha thought to herself as she watched Eshwar stop spinning his trident. "..." Isha was concerned while looking at Eshwar''s bloodied face. When Eshwar turned to face Isha and their eyes met, he smiled brightly, making Isha blush. "Hm?" Isha remembered his warmth and suddenly realised that his touch was neither unpleasant nor nauseating. ''Wh-what? Why? Am I cured of nausea?'' WHOOM "You okay?" The barrier disappeared, Eshwar asked while offering her a hand to help her stand up again. "Ye- yes." Isha answered and took his hand unconsciously. "That''s good." After she stood up, he let go of her hand and walked towards Violet, who had stopped trembling and was staring at Eshwar nkly. "Hello? You okay?" Eshwar asked. "Hieekk!!" Violet eximed in shock. "Um..." Eshwar scratched the back of his head, puzzled. "Ye-yes? Yes! I''m okay!" Violet answered with a loud tone. Isha looked at Eshwar, who was perplexed, and her lips curled into a small smile. "Eshwar!" Isha called out and waved her hand up and down. "Hm?" Eshwar turned to face her and jogged towards her. "What? Are you hurt? Oii! Heal her." Eshwar asked Isha worriedly and yelled at Vinny, who was staring at Katline with a dazed expression. "Eh? Ah, sorry." Vinny scratched the back of his head and walked towards Isha, embarrassed. Isha abruptly leaned forward towards Eshwar''s ear, giving him the same treatment he had given her when they entered the gate. "Huu." Isha teased Eshwar by breathing in his ear and looking at him from the corner of her eye, she noticed that his ears had flushed red, almost matching the blood on his face. "Pfft... They are scared of you as...pffft... your killing intent leaked out of the barrier." She held back herughter and whispered in his ear. "..." Eshwar just stood there dazed with his earspletely red. "Pfft." Isha''s lips curled up into a smile. ''How Cute!'' She thought. "..... Um... Oh! Ok." Eshwar held his ear and moved back towards Violet with stiff movements. "Ahem, I''m here too, you know?" Katharine grumbled with a pout. Chapter 52 51. F**Ked Up. ?I helped Violet and Katharine stand back up, Katline was helped back up by Vinny, I looked around and noticed the students who were unconscious, waved my hand, and lifted them up using magic. "Is it telekinesis?" Katline looked at the floating students and asked with her brows raised. "No, it''s manakinesis...." I smiled and looked at them over my shoulder. "Huh?" Everybody asked in unison, Isha included. ".... I''m simply manipting my mana to lift them, I can do telekinesis if you want..." I said looking at Isha from the corner of my eye. "Hm? Is it different?" Isha asked. "Of course it''s different.." I turned to face them. "Mana maniption requires mana sensitivity, mana control and concentration, whereas telekinesis uses ''Will power''." I exined. "Huh?" Everyone''s expressions implied that they didn''t understand a word I said. "Can you guys feel mana?" I asked trying to exin in a simpler manner. "Yes." They said and nodded in union. I formed a small wisp of mana flitted around, circling over them. "Feel it''s mana." I said, pointing at the wisp. They closed their eyes and concentrated on the wisp as Vinny approached me, stood next to me, and focused on them. ''Right.... He has no mana...yet.'' "I can feel it." Isha was first to speak up while the others simply nodded. "Then..." I released my mana towards Isha to lift her up. "Eiiip." Isha made a weird sound and opened her eyes to find herself floating. "Can you feel the mana?" I asked, grinning. ''You reap what you sow.... Hehehe.'' "Yes, it''s around Miss Isha." Katline replied, opened her eyes, and realised everyone was staring at her because she was the only one who had her eyes closed despite hearing Isha''s low cry. "Pfft.. yes, good. Now, again feel the mana." I lifted Katline with telekinesis. "Eiiip." Katline made the same sound as Isha when she realised her feet weren''t touching the ground. "Do you still feel mana." I asked Katline, smiling. "..... No." Katline shook her head. DING "I''ll teach about ''Will power'' in a different ss." I said and checked the system notification. [New! Quest System has been added!] [ERROR] [Private skill: Control activated. Revealing the ERROR.] A glitched system notification popped up. [Tutorial Questmencing....] ''A Tutorial?'' [New Quest! Survive!] [Selection quest started.] [Mission: Lower the number of ''living'' on ''Earth.''] [Time Limit: 3Y: 220D: 08H: 47M: 02S.] [Reward: Qualification.] [Failure: ---] [Number of living: 4,507,653,468] [Number of living lowered by user: 95,987] [New! Level up function added!] [Private skill: Author?? Activated.] [ERROR] [ERROR] [Private skill: Control activated.] [ERROR] [Private skill....] [Private skill.....] [User has been cursed by an unknown god!] [Private skill: Control activated.] [ERR..] BZZZTZZTZTZT ''the f**k, why is my system going crazy?'' [Specialized Trait: ??? (Cursed) [Skill: Party, can locate party members (added party member can not be removed.)]] ''.... Are you sure it''s a curse? Oh! A blessing in disguise?'' BZZZTZZTZTZZ ''f**k, I think it''ll blow up in my face!'' [Private Skill: Author?? Activated.] [Level: 0 (early ess)] [Calcting exp...] "Huh?" ''Tutorial? Qualification? Selection? Survival? Rewards? Lower the number of living? Level up? Curse? Unknown god?'' ''..... One thing is for sure... I mean, it''s clear as the day but monsters lives count.... And I''m... No, close to get f**ked!'' "If monsters survival instincts kick in... Humanity will be f**ked!" I mumbled out involuntarily, pondering. "..." everybody''s expression turned pale after hearing my words, except for Isha. "..... Let''s get out of here!" I walked towards the gate without looking back. ''Humans are a messed up race almost same as the monsters... A ughter with rewards is almost an..... Opportunity for the messed up people!'' "And... Everything is going on too fast!" I cursed out loud. Sector one''s inner core is swarming with powerful monsters. Some I can''t win easily, but I can win nheless. Winning will be easy if I use my experience from both lives, and humans aren''t quite strong enough... yet. While it certainly true that it is ''the survival of the fittest,'' those monsters have learned from me just as much as I have learned from them without their knowledge... I know they have learned from me, but I''m not sure what and how they''ll use it. ''.... This.... Let''s just hope for the best..'' We arrived near the gate and entered it instantly. *** RI-RING (4x) "He- hello... This is Stuart Pelletier.... Th-this... Please Help! I- I''m mage representative of ''Hell Fury Guild.'' We are currently near the sector five border. The academy''s northern west side. Please help...." "What in the actual f**k?" A woman sat in her office chair stood up abruptly when she heard a sudden call for help. She had ck hair, purple eyes, was 5.5 feet tall, appeared to be in her twenties, and wore a red suit with white pants, almost appeared to be a royal guard. The office room was furnished with a desk, a couch, extra chairs, books on the bookshelf, arge ss window behind her desk, a bonsai on the desk, and some nts near the window. BAM "What''s up Seo Hana?" A woman abruptly opened the office door and leaned on it with a wide grin. She had red hair, ck eyes, was 6 feet tall, appeared to be in her early twenties, and wore a blue suit with white pants simr to Seo Hana. "Oh! Elise! Let''s go... We have a emergency!" Seo Hana walked towards the door and dragged Elise Ryan along with her. "Squad?" Elise asked with her brows raised. "Yeah!" Seo Hana answered without looked at her. BE-BEEP "Squad Blue! Emergency!" Elise said with her smartwatch near her mouth. "... Why not ''Squad Blue! Assemble!'' ?" Seo Hana asked. "If you call your squad like that I''ll do so next time." Elise said with a grin. BE-BEEP "..... Squad Red! Assemble!" Seo Hana said in her smartwatch with a flushed face. "Pfft.... You really did!.... Pfft hahaha, so, what''s the emergency?" Elise asked. "I don''t know, but rted to one of the top 10 Guild ''Hell Fury Guild.''" Seo Hana said with a solemn look. "..... huh? That bast*rd''s guild called us for help? Now, that''s something fun!" Elise Ryan said, cracking her knuckles with a savage grin. "Where to?" Elise paced up and asked. "Academy''s Northwest, near border.." Seo Hana said. "I''ll order them to join us, let''s move first!" Elise said with a savage grin. ''You really want to see his expression don''t you?.... Well...'' "... it''s not like I''m one to talk." Seo Hana mumbled and returned Elise''s savage grin. Chapter 53 52. The Association. ?Both Seo Hana and Elise Ryan arrived at the site. "Goddamn!" Elise eximed looking at the scene. They could not have predicted the scene in front of them, even in their wildest dreams. More than 50 switch cadet bodies were discovered ughtered, the field had turned red from blood, and a single body of a guy wearing a mage robe with severed limbs and head was discovered next to the gate, which appeared to be of rank-AA. The hero association only had three squadrons, but each squad was powerful enough to wipe out an entire sector in a single day; the squad captains of each squad are as powerful as the Hero Association Chairmen, yet they are only squad captains because they are under a mana contract with the association, which took them in even though they werebelled as rouge heroes. A single Hero Association squad''s movement is bound to cause amotion in the media field, but now two entire squads have gathered in front of the scene, causing panic andmotion. There were several media teams following them; each media team had followed them in search of a scoop but found themselves in the middle of a full course meal. ".... Who was crazy enough to mess with the academy?" Elise mumbled out involuntarily. The chairman of Switch Academy was a force to be reckoned with, slightly more powerful than the chairman of the Association. There is an unwritten rule that the association and the academy should not be messed with; there are many who despise both the association and the academy but are powerless to act because this world operates on the rules of the strong. "..... It is not the work of ''The Graveyard.''" Elise said as she looked at Seo Hana, who was standing cross-armed and resting her head on her right fist, pondering. The vampire association is known as ''The Graveyard.'' The Vampire Association is named after the Hero Association, who unanimously dered themselves to be a new race. ".... Because of the blood?" Hana asked looking at the blooded field. "They don''t feed on the blood of the weak, and even thralls are stronger than them; they don''t feed on people who are too weak, even if they go insane over blood." Elise exined. CLI- CLICK (5x) ".... I know the value of life has been scaled back, but... At the very least, show them some damn respect." Seo Hana grumbled in disgust as she watched the media photograph the dead while walking on them in the process. "..... Damn, people are getting more and more disgusting." Elise joined. "Did you see the system notification on our way here?" Elise asked. "No, what''s up?" Hana answered. "Take a look at it. I think this will be moremon starting today." Elise exined while pointing to the deceased cadets. "Hm?" Hana started to move her index finger in air. "..." Elise stared at her face expecting a worst expression. "What the f**k!??" Seo Hana yelled in rage and unintentionally released her mana pressure. "Ukh! Hey, snap out of it!" Elise yelled, releasing her mana to defend herself, squad members and protect the media. "Huh? Sorry!" Hana eximed in surprise, looking at what she had done. Almost everyone present, including members of the association squad, was on their knees. Some members of the media had fallen face first on the ground, and Elise had held her ground while covering herself with mana. ".... Keep in mind! You are an SS- rank hero! You''ll be the one who pays if you lose control every time." Elise reminded her. Even Elise, a S rank hero, struggled to remain unaffected by SS rank mana pressure. It''s not that she''s weak; it''s just that they haven''t faced off against someone more powerful. They would be on equal footing if they sparred while controlling their mana pressure. Mana pressure causes stress both physically and mentally, so mana control bes increasingly important after reaching rank B. People frequently overlook mana control because it is useless if you are weak. "Captain Elise." A man jogged towards Elise and Hana with his hand on the sword hilt slung around his waist. He had mean eyes, dark brown hair and eyes, appeared to be in his mid-thirties, and wore a blue suit that was almost identical to Elise''s. ''Vere Conner'' was imprinted on his badge. "Yes, ''vice-captain'' Conner?" Elise asked as she turned to face the man. Man''s steps came to a halt for a split second when he heard Elise emphasize the vice-captain part. ".... Stuart Pelletier is a Hell Fury Guild''s mage. He had returned to his guild for an emergency meeting after leaving hispanion behind to check on the students, and when he returned, his magepanion was found dead alongside the students. Students im that they were unconscious at the time of the incident, waking up to the scene and falling unconscious after witnessing the gore scene in front of them." Vere Conner red at Elise as he reported his findings. "Excellent work, ''vice captain'' Conner." Elise said with a grin. ".... Thank you ''Captain.''" Conner said with a stiff smile and turned his back at Elise. "...Tsk." Conner clicked his tongue and jogged back to the spot he came from. "Is he still acting up? Even after you beat his a*s in a duel in front of everyone?" Seo Hana asked out loud enough for everyone to hear. Elise realised what Hana was doing and decided to y along with it. ".... Yeah! He can''t be under a female captain it seems." Elise grinned and said out loud. "Oh my!" Seo Hana gasped loudly, causing all female media personnel to look at Vere Conner with contempt. "Pfft. Yeah, even I can''t believe it!" Elise said holding back herughter. "Oh my, oh my!" Hana stood cross-armed and shook her head, tapping her feet on the ground incessantly. "Gate is pulsating!" A media guy yelled out loud, gathering everybody''s attention. "Let''s go." Elise said looking at Hana. WHO-WHOOM A handsome white-haired young man with orange eyes and covered in blood from head to toe walked out of the gate with five unconscious students floating in the air. followed by beautiful ck-haired women with obsidian ck eyes and a blood smudge on her pink lips. "Huh? Who are you?" Chapter 54 53. Emergency. ?CLI-CLICK (5x) I walked out the gate only to find myself in the middle of a swarm of media taking pictures of us and some goons in red and blue suits..... ''the association?'' "Huh? Who are you?" I asked to confirm. "What''s going on?" Isha asked. CLI-CLICK (4x) "....fuu.... Who are you?" I asked again. CLI-CLICK (5x) I raised my right hand, clenched it, and smashed all of the cameras. CRACK (6x) "Now, care to answer?" I smiled brightly. "We are squads from Hero Association." A woman responded as she approached me; she had red hair, ck eyes, was 6 feet tall, appeared to be in her early twenties, and was dressed in a blue suit with white pants. "..." I stared at her silently. "..... I''m Elise Ryan, second squad captain and this is Seo Hana, first squad captain." Elise introduced herself and Seo Hana. Seo Hana had ck hair, purple eyes, was 5.5 feet tall, appeared to be in her twenties, and wore a red suit with white pants. ".... And? What''s the deal with the sh*t behind you?" I asked pointing at the media team, quickly losing my patience. "...." Elise frowned and took a step forward only to be stopped by Seo Hana. "..... This is Stuart Pelletier, he had called us because of an emergency." Seo Hana exined. "Hm? What emergency? And why here?" I tilted my head, puzzled. "Huh?" Elise looked at me with wide eyes. "This basta*d..." Seo Hana grumbled with her teeth clenched and red at me. "This bit*h...." Isha mumbled. "Huh? Pfft." I looked at Isha, surprised by the sudden outburst. "Ahem, hmm...." I looked around for Stuart and discovered a man dressed in a mage''s robe dead beside the gate, his limbs and head severed. "Huh? What?" I gasped, turned to look at the dead man, and realized what was going on. ".... look for the students!" I said to Isha without looking at her. ''f**k, I couldn''t smell blood because I, myself am covered in it!'' I jumped high to get a better look at the scene. "Ha. Hahahaha." I looked at the cadets'' dead bodies and the bloodied field. Every student''s limbs and head were severed from one another, and their expressions were filled with shock and horror. "F**k! What do you mean ''this ss is ''mine''? When I can''t even look after them for long?" I roared while in the air. ''F**k responsibility! I pretended to be all high and mighty on the first day, saying I''d take responsibility for them, and now... It hasn''t even been a week and I''m finding them dead.'' Every single word that came to mind pricked me. "Hahaha. You!" I noticed Stuart Pelletier standing next to Seo Hana. ''Snowkes.'' I muttered to myself as the air around me chilled and became visibly white. I leaned forward, facing the ground, stepped on the snowkes tounch myself towards the ground, and shot towards Stuart like a bullet. BAM As Inded, a crater formed beneath my foot. I lifted Stuart into the air by grabbing him by the neck. ".... What were you doing?" I asked as I stared at him, dead in the eye. "... Sir, if you don''t release him right this instant w...." Seo Hanamanded while holding my arm, attempting to force me to release my grip on Stuart''s neck before it snapped. "Or what?" I asked calmly and looked at her purple eyes. "...." Seo Hana let go of my hand and took a step back as her eyes opened wide. "If you don''t have anything to say then shut it!" I roared at Seo Hana and turned to face Stuart, who had turned pale. "Now, answer me." I said calmly. "W-we wer-were cal-called fu-fu- for a emer-em-emergency me-me-me-meeting b-by our gi-gi-guild mu-master." Stuart managed to finish the sentence despite his severe stuttering. "Your guild master?" I asked. "Ye-yes." Stuart answered pissing his pants in the process. "Hell Fury Guild.. huh..." I mumbled and let him go. He flopped down on his piss puddle before passing out. "You!" I walked towards Seo Hana, ring. She, too, had turned pale and was only able to stand on her own with the assistance of Elise, who was only holding Seo Hana''s hand to support herself. They were both trembling as they held each other. ".... Who did it?" I asked, staring Seo Hana dead in the eyes because she was shorter than me, I had to lean forward a little. Her face was only a few inches away from mine, as I red at her. "They were ''my'' students. It seems you were here before I came out of the gate, weren''t you?" I asked. "Ye-yes." Seo Hana answered, trembling. "Then, who did it?" I said as I tilted my head a bit. "W-we just c-cu-came here, we..." Seo Hana gulped loudly and calmed down a bit. "H-he investigated every single student present, so he should know more than me." She said this after pointing to a man who had a wide grin and mean eyes, dark brown hair and eyes, who appeared to be in his mid-thirties and wore a blue suit simr to Elise''s. ''Vere Conner'' was imprinted on his badge. "Hm." I looked at Conner and walked towards him. "..." Conner made a gulping sound as his smile ceased. "... What''s so funny? Hm?" I asked, ring at him. ''he daresugh at someone''s death?'' I held his cor with my right, clenched it and raised my left hand above my head. ''I still need answers.'' "..." Conner looked at my palm and my face simultaneously. "You see this? I need answers." I asked calmly. "..." Conner started to sweat profusely. PAT "I. Need. Answers. Hm?" I repeated after pping him once. "I-it-it''s it''s it''s..." Conner stuttered as his right cheek turned bright red. PAT "I-I-I, I, I...." He pointed at himself, his sword, sword''s hilt, handle, mage''s body near the gate, the guy next to him, at the students dead bodies and their decapitated limbs and heads while stuttering. PAT "I... Need.... Answers!" I said before pping him again. PAT Conner got a cut on his lip while his cheek had turned ck and blue. Blood wasing out of his mouth mixed with saliva. "Thath ghuildh mhashtar..." Conner spoke with swollen cheek. "Speak. Properly!" I said in amanding tone. "Yelsh, Th-the guild master of Hell Fury Guild, ''Matthew Smith,'' had called them for an emergency meeting, it seems, and students were all unconscious when it happened, so we have no i-idea," Conner responded without stuttering much, despite his swollen cheek, which was understandable. "What''s going on here?" A bulky man with huge build walked towards me. Chapter 55 54. Two Options. ?"What''s going on here?" A bulky man with huge build walked towards me. He had maroon hair, ck eyes, was about 7 feet tall, appeared to be in his mid-twenties, and was dressed in a ck zer, ck pant, and red shirt with the top four buttons unbuttoned. "... Who are you?" I asked calmly. ''how did he get here?'' "He is the guild master of the Hell Fury Guild!" Elise answered, ring at Matthew Smith. "Ho! If it isn''t weakli.." Matthew smiled smugly at Elise and began to say something... which was Irrelevant to me. ''Why? Why is he acting like he did something great? And what''s with that face in front of a merciless ughter?'' "Why? This weakling?" I looked at Matthew and then turned to face Elise and asked her calmly. When our gazes met, Elise staggered back. "Huh? Who are you? Stuart?" Matthew turned to face me, then abruptly turned to face Stuart, who was lying on the ground with a puddle of his own piss beneath him. "You! Did you do that?" Matthew clenched his fist and red at me while channelling mana in his body. I looked up, exhausted from the day''s events. I wasn''t physically tired, but I was mentally exhausted. "fu... What was the emergency?" I asked looking up. "You! How dare you do that to our..." Matthew began to bber but abruptly stopped when my head dropped in his direction. "What. Was. The. Emergency?" I repeated myself and red at him. "T-that..." Matthew stuttered and took a step back. *** Matthew Smith, son of ''Paul Smith'' who is a billionaire. Paul wanted to enter the hero business for security reasons, and Matthew Smith, his first son, who was smart and talented from birth, was a perfect fit for the role of guild master. Matthew Smith was a pampered first child who was gifted even as a hero and was rated as a S rank talent. His talent as a hero and his background wasn''t something to scoff at. This soon brought more malice upon their family, so Paul Smith wanted to establish a guild to increase the security around their family. His talent as a hero and his mature attitude made Matthew the guild master of the Hell Fury Guild which was something Matthew was proud of. He was envious of talented mages after seeing them perform magic that he couldn''t do. The Hell Fury Guild quickly became known as the guild for magic and a haven for mages, not because of the number of mages, but because of the security, privacy, and support the guild provided them. ''Why is ''Elise'' backing out?'' Matthew thought, he knew Elise''s fiery nature which he found funny and her strength was something he respected as a rank-AA hero. He considered the association squad captains to be his rivals, but he would not hesitate to seek assistance from them if he needed it. Though they appear to want to kill each other on the outside, they are simply too prideful to agree with each other. ''A mage of my guild was humiliated... that to in front of the media?'' Matthew thought which was just outrageous. "fu.. What? Was the emergency?" The white-haired man, covered in blood from head to toe, asked, looking up at the sky. "You! How dare you do that to our..." Matthew expressed his outrage until... The white-haired man''s head dropped, as if it had been severed, towards Matthew. The man''s orange eyes, with vertical ck pupils, werepletely calm, and he looked at Matthew as if he were just another annoying bug. "What. Was. The. Emergency?" the man asked. Matthew felt a sudden chill run down his spine, as if he were in the presence of a massive snake that could swallow him whole in an instant. ''I- I need to answer.'' Matthew noticed the man''s face was gradually turning scaly, transforming into a massive snake that he felt he was in front of. "T-that..." Matthew started to talk but abruptly stopped and shook his head. ''Wh-what was that?'' Matthew shook off what he thought was an illusion of the man in front of him or his own delusion. ''And, what is he talking about? Is it about the emergency about the dungeon our guild manages? Mage... Stuart, the emergency meeting about the new system change? which an unknown guy informed us?'' Matthew began to draw connections between the incident and the unexpected call from an unknown man. "No!" Matthew connected the dots and turned pale. ''Did I unknowingly cause this merciless ughter of the cadets?'' he thought. "What no?" The white-haired man abruptly appeared in front of Matthew and asked. Matthew took a step back instinctively. ''This.... If I speak, the whole of Hell Fury Guild will be put on the line...'' "No..." Matthew mumbled and shook his head involuntarily. Unknowingly, his actions led to a misunderstanding. ''I should speak before it''s toote.... But'' Matthew thought and shook his head again but... BAM "Ukh!" Matthew groaned in pain. ''What happened?'' Matthew noticed the white-haired man''s hand on his face and realized he had been mmed to the ground. "What. No?" The man repeated the question slowly, as if Matthew was stupid enough not to understand the simplenguage he was speaking. ''.... I understand the problem but this is... '' Matthew thought. "Uneptable!" Matthew yelled and punched at the man who stood above him. BAM The man simply grabbed Matthew''s fist and tightened his grip slowly. "So what?" the man asked with a calm face. "You are nothing. I''ll give you two and only. Two. Options." The man said and pointed his index and middle finger at Matthew. "You, either answer my questions or... You die." He said. "Now, choose." The white haired man pointed his fingers at Matthew''s face. ''Choose? Is this a child''s y?'' Matthew thought understanding there will be no other choice or chance. "You''re taking too long. You have exactly 10 seconds to choose." The white haired man said. Chapter 56 55. Unidentified Caller. ?"You''re taking too long. You have exactly 10 seconds to choose." The white-haired man said. "7." the white-haired man started counting. "Huh? What happened to 10,9 and 8?" Matthew asked, dumbfounded. "It took three seconds in my mind toplete that sentence." He said leaving everybody present dumbfounded. ''Is that how it works?'' Matthew thought. CLICK A pistol appeared out of nowhere in the man''s hand, with a disy screen that disyed a metre ranging from 0 to 10 and the number of bullets below it. As the man pointed the gun at Matthew''s head, a small line began to light up as mana was used in the gun and stopped when the metre read 2.5. "3." ''What? Is he mocking me? How would a gun do any damage to me an AA rank?'' Even after they have been modified to work with mana, guns still are treated as trash. Even those who were unable to awaken their trait tend to use various weapons and attempt to use mana with them. Guns are made to amplify mana with a bit more destructive power, but that doesn''t change people''s opinions on them because the limitations are very clear. The destructiveness of a gun has limits, and artifacts with ''ranks,'' even a rank-E artifact, have far greater destructive power than a gun. As a result, people prefer historical weapons over modern ones, trusting in their own abilities rather than magic bullets because they are mon.'' Their limitations can be easily overlooked if they use their artifacts'' skills or amplification. "2." "1." ''MOVE!'' Matthew thought. BANG Matthew jerked his head to the right, instinctively avoiding the bullet aimed at his head. He noticed, from the corner of his eye, that a small crater had formed where the bullet had hit. "Do you know why you are alive?" The man approached Matthew, sat on his stomach, pointed his gun at his head, and asked. ''That.... Bullet could have damaged me if I don''t infuse myself with mana armour.'' Matthew thought. ''Mana armour'' is a naturally developed skill that allows you to create an invisible mana armour around your body. Despite the fact that it is a naturally developed skill, it requires concentration, and only those who are unable to use long range magic skills concentrate on it... Those who are unable to use long range magic are ssified as ''warriors.'' Warriors who are strong enough can use long range skills, and the warrior ss ismon. Warrior, Mage, Support, and Warrior Mage are the avable sses. Katline is a Warrior Mage who uses both magic and archery... Mage can use weapons, but it is less effective than that ss and costs twice as much mana just to imitate the same skill. "..... Because I dodged?" Matthew answered questioningly, after a second look at the crater and a brief pause, deciding not to underestimate the power of the gun ''he'' is wielding. "No...." the man shook his head in disapproval. ".... Because I let you dodge it..." he said looking at Matthew dead in the eye. "..." Matthew didn''t want to underestimate his opponent again, so he nodded slightly. "Now, answer. Why did you call an emergency meeting?" he asked. "..." Matthew stared at him without talking. ".... You have 3 seconds.... This time I won''t miss." He said. ''This crazy basta*d''s time! He''ll shot instantly!'' Matthew thought. "Because we received an unidentified call warning us that the system would behave strangely and that only a mage could prevent this or people would end up dead! We didn''t believe the information at first, but we called an emergency meeting as soon as the system notifications appeared!" Matthew said out loud instantly. ".... Who?" Matthew noticed the man''s eyes began to glow golden as he asked with a bit of anger in his tone. "W-we don''t know.... W-we are trying to track the call.." Matthew said fearfully. ".... Hmm.." he hummed and stood back up. VROOOM "Eshwar!" Another man with messy dark green hair and a grey cat with sharp facial features riding a bike approached the white-haired man who was pondering and stopped near him. ''Eshwar?!'' Matthew realized that the white haired man''s name is Eshwar. "Huh? What happened Henry?" Eshwar asked with a surprised look. "''He'' made a move." The guy named Henry said with azy expression. *** In an unknown location. In a room filled with monitors, snacks, and drinks in a subterranean facility. A petite woman sat on an armchair, her knees on the seat, her eyes darting across all the monitors as her hands flitting on the keyboard without pausing. "Oh! Hehehe, ''he'' finally started to make a move." Core mumbled happily, her eyes twinkling with stars. ''Our whole mercenary group was bored because he wasn''t trying to poke around us.'' Core thought. "Hehehahaha!" Coreughed in delight. "Gotta deliver the good news to Eshwar." She mumbled. CLANK Henry entered the room, scratching his head and dressed in a white t-shirt and grey shorts. "Hyam.. What''re you so happy about?" Henry asked, yawning. Core jumped out of her chair, jumped on Henry, and hugged him while her legs were locked around his hip. ".... Good news! ''He'' started to move!" She said and kissed him without giving him a chance to speak. "Mmm~ hah.... Really? That''s great news! We''ll be able to have some fun after a month of boredom." He said and kissed her back. "Hey, hey! Stop making out in the middle of the door and move it!" Arngrim scratched his stomach as he walked down the stairs to Core''s room. "Che, why''re you here? Can''t you see we''re busy?" Core clicked her tongue and grumbled. "Yea right. Add my new potion to the ck market list, only five avable." Arngrim scoffed and ced a volumetric sk containing bright red liquid. "..... What''s that?" Core asked curiously after hopping off from Henry. "My new invention! It can regenerate any limb from scratch, though it can''t regenerate if they are born like that.... Yet!" Arngrim introduced the potion with enthusiasm. "... Ho! Really.... How much do you want sell each for?" Core asked and jumped back on her armchair. "Hmm.... Meh, I''ll leave it to you, since you are the one managing our funds." Arngrim mumbledzily and walked out of the room. ''This potion will turn the potion business upside down.... Meh, let''s sell each for a price of a mana contract.... Or more.'' Core thought with a mischievous grin. "Poor people..." Henry mumbled and shook his head. "What?" Core asked as she furrowed her brows at Henry. "... Nothing." He said. Henry approached Core, lifted her out of her seat, sat on it, and hugged her from behind. "I''m just feeling sorry for those who want to buy the potion." Henry said and started to doze off. Chapter 57 56. Eshwars Curiosity. ?Core sat on Henry''sp, flitting her fingers across the keyboard. "Scan." Core mumbled. [Skill: Scan activated.] [Name: Melioration potion. Type: Potion. Rank: A. Effect: Restoration. Value: 700,000 C.] "Ho! It''s worth more than I thought." She mumbled and added the potion on the ck market. Core leaned back afterpleting the potion registration and noticed Henry dozing off on the chair. She turned to face him for a brief moment before pinching his nose. "Errm." Henry woke up. ".... Eshwar needs to know the good news too." She said in a cute tone. ".... Yeah, that basta*d will probably flip in joy." Henry mumbled. *** "''He'' made a move." Henry said with azy expression. "Really!" Eshwar eximed in joy. "..... What''s going on?" Henry asked, pointing at the dead students. "..... I need information Henry." Eshwar said to Henry. ''.... Someone is going to die. If he asks ''me'' for information, it means he needs this information even if it means sacrificing someone''s life.'' Henry reminded himself. "... Do you think ''they'' did it?" Henry asked. "No, I don''t ''smell'' them....and they would prefer making it seem like a missing case rather than a ughter case." Eshwar said. ''Yeah, he would have probably ''smelled'' them if they had been here even for a second,'' Henry reasoned. "Hello, Sir Henry." Isha walked towards them and greeted Henry. ''Ho! This.... I think this is the longest time he has spent with another girl....'' he thought. Eshwar''s curiosity usually fades after he spends some time with a girl he begins to like. He was curious about a girl for a month before he stopped spending time with her and that was the longest time he has ever been with a girl. He had dated Core after forming the mercenary group, and she was the only one whosted a month before they stopped seeing each other. Even after dating them, he doesn''t treat them any differently... It''s just that if he doesn''t enjoy theirpany, his curiosity fades and he stops seeing them. "Oh! Hello, Miss Isha. Were you here on a dungeon date with Eshwar?" Henry teased Isha with a bright smile. ''This.... Is a big deal! He is talking with another woman for weeks without getting bored of her....'' Henry thought, rooting for his friend''s sess. The problem with Eshwar is that, he.... Just honestly says what he feels with a ''I don''t give a f**k'' attitude..... And he once said to a woman he started dating after two weeks ''You''repany is getting boring to me.'' And that.... was him trying to sound as polite as possible about his feelings after considering about hers. "Eh? N-no, we''re here to test the students until this happened..." Isha blushed and said with a dejected expressions. "I''m sorry, I was just joking." Henry admitted. "Want to join us at home anytime soon?" Henry asked Eshwar, formally. The Uncharted groups code for something important is ''formalnguage'' they would use formalnguage with each other when their presence is required to begin the ''fun.'' They use it in the open when they don''t want others to hear about it. "Yea, I think I''ll be suspended..... At least until this case is solved..." Eshwar nodded and nced at the cadets dead bodies from the corner of his eyes. "Eh? You guys live together?" Isha asked with a surprised expression. "Yes, everybody you metst time." Eshwar said nodding his head. "Really? That woman.. Core too?" Isha asked. "Pfft. Yes, her too." Henry answered. ".. you can call me if you want...." Eshwar mumbled scratching the back of his head. ''Damn, do.... They even realize they like each other?'' Henry thought. ".... Elise was it?" Eshwar mumbled and turned to look at two women from the association. ".... Miss Elise, you can ask the academy if you need anything from me. We''ll be leaving for now... Thank you for your hard work." Eshwar said and called all the cadets with a wave of his hand above his head. "Let''s go back for now. And you guys have to get stronger to not be like them." Eshwar pointed to the dead and spoke to his cadets. All of them were drenched in sweat, tears, and snot. "Henry.... Come with me and we''ll leave together." He called out Henry. Henry nodded his head and started his bike. VROOOM *** "Damn, that guy was scary...." Elise said and everybody agreed unanimously. "Ah! No. F**k! My camera, aaaaa.." A guy snapped out of reverie and screamed in disbelief, looking at his shattered camera. "Noooo!!" Every camera people started to exim and cry, looking at their cameras. ".... What happened to Hana?" Elise asked, ignoring the media peoples cries. ''This....will be the start of the ughter spree...'' Elise thought looking at the dead cadets. We need to conduct a thorough investigation to figure out what is going on so that authorities can at least punish the perpetrators and use them as a warning to anyone who might be tempted to follow in the footsteps of a murderer or a psychopath. ''Goddamn, I can already see myself drowning in a mountain of paper work..'' Elise thought. "You guys collect a list of the deceased from the academy, so we can match their limbs and heads to return them to their families. Be careful of how you treat the bodies, if I catch anybody tossing, cking off or moving them carelessly, I. Will. Have. You. Punished, by the guy who left just now...." Elisemanded and warned the squad members. "..... Like them." Elise finished her sentence by pointing to Vene Conner and Matthew Smith, who were dazedly lying on the ground. When the squad members imagined themselves in their position, they shuddered as they remembered him hitting them. "I-I might die from a single hit." A guy mumbled in the middle of squad and everybody agreed silently. ''Damn, that guy is a good influence..... In a bad way...'' Elise thought. "Oi, why are you still in daze? And why the hell did you even back out after looking at his face?" Elise held Seo Hana''s shoulders and asked while shaking her back and forth. "Waaaayyiitttt.... Ssttttooooppp...." Seo Hana tried to speak while Elise shook her back and forth non stop. "IIII''mmmm gooonnn toooo ppppuuuukkkkkeee..." Seo Hana pleaded. "Huh?" Elise stopped shaking her and asked. "I think, I''m going to puke.." Seo Hana said while covering her mouth with her hand. "Anyway... Why did you back off?" Elise asked ignoring Hana''s grunts. "First, he ''is'' scary.." Hana said emphasizing ''is.'' "Right, and?" Elise nodded in agreement and asked. ".... Few years ago..... He stopped dating me after saying that he finds me boring...." Seo Hana said leaving everybody who heard her dumbfounded. Chapter 58 57. [Level.] ?In the chairman''s office of switch academy. "...and when I came out of the dungeon, I found the association and media cornering us, so I destroyed their cameras and spoke to the people who investigated the students, as well as mage''s representative Stuart Pelletier from the Hell Fury Guild. And after a while, the Hell Fury Guild''s master arrived, and I questioned him about why he called the emergency meeting, as I previously stated..." I detailed everything to Quinn. "..... I believe there are spies in the academy, which we are aware of... But I''d appreciate it if you could find out who they are working for or which organization they belong to..." Quinn stated after hearing my report on the events of today. ".... then, I want you to find out.... If you can, about the system changes." I said. "Something is going on.... We can change and adapt ourselves but everything is going on too fast for the people to adapt to it....." I continued. "Keep an eye on every student in the academy because we don''t want them to kill each other..... Because of the system." I said looking at Quinn dead in the eye. "...I" Quinn tried to say something only to be stopped by me. "Don''t say you can''t .... I know you can easily keep everyone in academy under your watch if you tried..." I said after cutting him off. ''Damn geezer, who are you trying to fool? Huh? I know how strong you are... for a supporter ss.'' "Anyway..... Suspend me until it''s over..... I think it''s better if I stop being a teacher.....'' I said while walking out of office. "I will suspend you but.... You are going to be a teacher..." Quinn said in a serious tone. * In the academy''s room assigned to Eshwar. "It''s your first time in this room isn''t it?" Isha asked. I had been staying in the office room or the previous hotel room before and Henry went back to home without waiting for me. Isha was waiting for me near the room that had been assigned to me. I invited her inside for dinner because I didn''t think it was polite to send off someone who was waiting for me in that manner. "Yes, but it is the same as the one I was staying before." I responded. The room measured 50 square metres and included a hall and a bathroom. It was a nicely furnished room with a couch, a beanbag, two chairs, a table, and a luxurious king-sized bed. "Yea, because it is technically a hotel too." Isha answered. "Right..." I nodded and walked towards the bed. "I''ll order the food." Isha said and ordered from her smartwatch. "Hmm.. " I sat on the bed. ''Let''s check the system.. Status.'' ==== STATUS: MAX [ESHWAR FROST] Level: 5 (early ess) CLASS: MAGE RANK: S == STRENGTH: 3/10 (+11) [RANK- S] (NEW) CONSTITUTION: 4/10 (+11) [RANK- S] (NEW) AGILITY: 5/10 (+11) [RANK- S] (NEW) PERCEPTION: 6/10 (+11) [RANK- S] (NEW) ENDURANCE: 5/10 (+11) [RANK- AA] (NEW) INTELLIGENCE: 4/10 (+11) [RANK- SSS] (NEW) MAGIC POINTS: 9/10 (+11) [RANK- S] (NEW) WILL POWER: 9/10 (+11) [RANK- SS] DEXTERITY: 5/10 (+11) [RANK- AA] (NEW) == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ->Frost [RANK- ???]: User can control Frost [Mastered] [Skill: negative mana temperature control] ->Creator''s Domain [RANK- SSS]: User''s Domain can be altered [Mastered] [Skill: Space maniption] ->Machine Parasite [RANK- ???]: [Skill: Link.] [Skills locked.] ->Specialized Trait: ??? (Cursed) [Skill: Party, can locate party members (added party member can not be removed.)] (NEW) == TRAITS: ->Good with hands [RANK- D] (NEW) : User''s skills which uses hands is enhanced [Mastered] [Dexterity increases by 12 percent] ->Hand to Handbat [RANK- C]: increasesbat sense [Mastered] [Good with hands has enhanced this trait by 10 percent] ->Human Hunter [RANK- ???] (NEW) : increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or human-type monsters [Mastered] [Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 113/120 to next stat increase)] == SKILLS: ->Taboo (?) ->Pause (D) ->Release (B) == Private Skills: ? ->Control (?) ->Break (2 uses) [user can break anything user wishes to.] ->Author?? (?) ==== DING [User''s contribution in the recent dungeon is 94 percent, rewards will be given.] [You have cleared the first ''Rift'', rewards will be given.] [You have hoarded 100x ''ck'' tokens.] I clicked on the [Level: 5 (early ess)] and a new window popped up. [22,000/24,000 exp.] [2,000 exp required for the next level up.] "What use does this [Level] have?" I mumbled out. "Holy sh*t! What''s with the changes of the stats?" I jumped out of the bed and eximed out in shock, involuntarily. "What? What happened?" Isha closed in on me with worried look on her face. "Huh?" She was in front of my face before I realized it, looking down at my status window. "Huh?" She looked up and met my eyes, only then did she notice how close our face was. At that moment the temperature in the room rose by degrees. ''I think if I lean a forward bit, I''ll kiss her.'' I thought and shook my head inwardly, dismissing that thought. "Um...." I turned my head to my left and covered my lips with my left wrist. "Eh? Huh?" Isha snapped out of her daze, pushed me away and jumped back with a flushed face. "S-sorry....." She said while looking down and covering her lips with her fingers before rushing out of the room. CLUNK BAM "Haaa..." I leaned back on my bed and took a deep breath. BAM "She seems to have entered her room next door...." I mumbled out involuntarily. * When the food arrived, I went to personally deliver it to her. I thought I could keep my emotions under control, but when our eyes met, my ears became hot and her face flushed red before she mmed her door and I ran back to my room without looking back. CLUNK BAM "Damn....." I mumbled out. "I seriously thought of... No, no..." I shook my head dismissing all thoughts on my mind. "Haaa.." I sighed and walked to the bathroom to take a cold shower to cool myself down both physically and mentally. * KNOCK, KNOCK (4x) "Hmm?" I woke up at the knocks on my room door. KNOCK, KNOCK. "Who is... It''s middle of the night..." I groaned and got out of the bed with my right eye open, scratching my stomach. KNOCK, KNOCK. "Coming,ing..." CLANK "Who in god''s..." I snapped out of my trance when I noticed the figure in front of me, who was drenched in cold sweat and had tears in the corners of their eyes. "Isha?" Chapter 59 58. Broken Reminiscence. ?Isha went straight to bed after receiving her food from Eshwar, without even tasting it. "Haaa.." she sighed while curling up in her bed. "..... I seriously thought of kissing him...." She mumbled before blushing. "..... Haaa..." She sighed again. ".... Right, now that I remember it, his touch wasn''t ufortable....." She mumbled looking at her hand. ''Is it cured? Or is it only his tou....'' she thought before blushing again. "Let''s sleep first!" She clenched her hand and resolved herself to sleep. *** In an unknown ce. "Huh? What''s this fluctuation and an.... unknown presence?" A gorgeous women with ck hair and obsidian ck eyes wearing a night gown mumbled before getting out of the bed. CREAK (5x) The woman walked down the stairs to the lower floor, which had a couch on a mat, a leg rest in front of the couch, a credence table next to the couch with amp on it, a firece, and a dinning table in the corner of the room with a single person''s utensils on it. The house was builtpletely of wood and gave off a cozy feeling. CLUNK CREAK She opened the door and walked out of the house, the smell of mud and grass hit her nostrils. The moon shone beautifully on the trees, grass and small farm the woman had built for herself. There was a mud pathway in front of her house, and next to it was beautifully maintained grass and trees, the smallest of which was about 3 metres long, and on the right side of the house was a self-sufficient farm with well-grown vegetables waiting to be picked. WHOOSH A strong gust of wind hit the woman as her silky ck hair fluttered in the moonlight. She was wrapped in a knitted rug that she clutched tightly. "Haa.... What am I even doing? Acting like a human? Haaa." She sighed and walked out in search of the sudden fluctuation. * She found herself in front of a massive crater with a cold breeze blowing out of it. She waved her hand and cleared the smoke from the crater, revealing a white humanoid figure sitting in the centre. ''Is it the cause of this mess?'' she thought. "Hehe... Hehehe." The humanoid figureughed menacingly. ".... Are you the cause of it?" the woman instantly appeared in front of the humanoid figure and asked. "..... What.....''re you?" the humanoid figure askedzily, which sounded like a low growl. "Me? I''m a Demigod who can be a god anytime soon." The woman answered. ''this..... No, he didn''t even flinch or give a second nce at my presence..... what is he? Why is he in so much pain?'' she thought. "What are you?" she asked the humanoid figure. He seemed like he was wearing a white jumpsuit, his hair waspletely white with no shadows, his sclera was ck, his eyes shone bright golden with vertical ck pupils, and he had sharp facial features. His forearms were light blue and transparent, with nothing inside, and everything above it waspletely white. The same was true for his legs, which were light blue and transparent below the knees. His abdomen was transparent, with no organs, and everything above and below waspletely white. His fingers had turned into ws, as had his feet, which had turned into demon like ws. "I''m..... Maybe a demon? Now..... I don''t know, but I''m Eshwar with no surname because I forgot..." the humanoid figure introduced himself and offered a hand shake which she took.... * ''Huh? What happened? I''m sure I was in front of a humanoid figure who called himself Eshwar.'' The woman thought. ''Huh? Why can''t I speak?'' she thought after trying to speak. "Oi, What are you doing? Come here!" the same humanoid figure appeared but he had no face and called somebody..... "Coming.." the woman said and walked towards the humanoid figure. ''Huh? What? Why am I moving? And why is that humanoid happy?'' "! You are bingzy these days..." he said. ''Who? What? Who is ...? Huh? What is he calling me? Why can''t I understand it?'' "''Those who respect me, sent messages'' .... Isn''t that what you said yesterday?" he said. ''What? Who? What''s going on? Who am I?'' She started to question herself. "Yea, they said your ascension is near because recently a seat of a God got empty." The woman said joyfully. ''Why? Please. Please help me. Who am I? Who are you? Eshwar! Help me!'' she started to beg for help of someone she saw just a moment ago. "Huh?" Eshwar turned around and looked at the woman. "What''s wrong? You scared?" the woman asked teasingly. "No, I just heard your voice but it was pleading for help." He said with a serious look. ''!'' "Huh? What''re you talking about when I''m right in front of you?" the woman said. "Am I simply nervous?" he mumbled and started walking, scratching the back of his head. * They arrived in front of the crater they first meet. ''Huh? What? Why am I having this ominous feeling?'' she thought. "I''ll start my ascension." He said, walked towards the middle and sat in the middle of it. "Ok, if you feel anything wrong tell me." The woman said and backed off a bit. "Huuuu..." he breathed out as he sat in lotus position. ''No! No, please stop! Don''t do that!!! Please, please.'' She started to plead to stop. She didn''t know why but she instinctively knew she had to stop whatever he was doing. WOOONNNGGGG A ck light descended from the skies as if it came out of heaven tearing apart everything in its way and stopped on Eshwar. ''Nooo! Please stop! Please.'' She begged. "..." He started to sweat profusely. WOOONNNGGGG WOOONNNGGGG WOOONNNGGGG (3x) ''Nooooo! Please, at least don''t let me see it! Please!'' she started to beg and tried to close her eyes but it was impossible for her. The ck light descended on him six times each time a bit bigger and thicker. Eshwar''s body started to crack but nothing came out of it, he had no face but it seemed to be in a lot of pain. "No! What''s happening? Why?" the woman teared up. She knew what was happening but just refused to ept it. She cried as Eshwar''s body started to crumble bit by bit. "" she mustered up every ounce of courage she had and cast a spell on Eshwar which did nothing while tears flowed down from her eyes. She looked up, as if she could see everything with her eyes, and red at whatever she was looking at as tears streamed down her cheeks, quickly turning to blood as her eyes became bloodshot and her hair fluttered around in air. She now resembled a demon hungry for the blood of those who stood in her way. "... With all my divinity, I curse you all!" she growled. Sky turned dark and ground trembled as she red at the sky. "All of you shall " she roared. *** "Gasp!" Isha sat up straight, sweating profusely and her breathing became heavy as tears streamed down her cheeks. Chapter 60 59. [Skill: Party.] ?"Gasp!" Isha sat up straight, sweating profusely, and her breathing became heavy as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Eshwar!" She eximed before running to the door. CLUNK KNOCK, KNOCK (4x) ''H-he is safe! Ye-yeah....'' she reminded herself. KNOCK, KNOCK (3x) "Coming,ing...." "Haa..." She sighed in relief after hearing Eshwar''s voice. CLANK "Who in God''s....." Eshwar opened the door. He was scratching his stomach under the baggy ck t-shirt, and his hair was all unkempt, with a horn shaped hair in the middle of his head. His expression instantly turned to that of a shook and worried. "Isha?" he said in low voice. "Huh?" She awoke from her trance when she heard her name and burst into tears. "Eh? Um.. pleasee in first..." He invited Isha, who epted without giving it a second thought. "Sniffle..." *** I invited her inside and forced her to sit on the untidy bed, offering her a ss of water and sitting in front of her. ''Wh-what should I do?'' I thought looking at Isha cry like a child. Her eyes were swollen from all the crying; I''m not sure where all those tears came from, but she cried out like it was the first time in years, and her swollen eyes made it even worse for me.... ''She looks so cute, I don''t know whether tough or be worried about her....'' "Um.... Are you alright?" I asked her. ''Does she look alright? What the f**k am I even asking when she clearly doesn''t look alright!!!!'' I screamed inwardly. "Pfft... Yes, I''m alright, thank you." Isha said with slight smile. ''... Her... No, no... Yes, Buddha! Only pure thoughts... Do not remember the previous thoughts....'' "Goddamn.... it''s dangerous..." I mumbled out, involuntarily. "Huh?" "No, nothing. Hahaha." Iughed trying cover up my blunder. "Umm..." she fidgeted. "Yes!?" I eximed too fast for my ownfort. ".... Can I touch your hand.... once." Isha asked. "Huh?" *** "Um.... Ah! Don''t misunderstand! I''m just ufortable with physical contact...." Isha justified herself. "Ah! Hahaha, is that so...." Eshwar eximed, embarrassed. "Eh?" Which turned to shook after he understood what Isha just said. "Yes, so if you''re not ufortable, then..." She asked, fidgeting. "No! Not at all, if I can be of any help." Eshwar offered his hand without much thought behind it, until... "Then, excuse me.." Isha said. She drew his hand closer to herself and began to poke like a cat at a fur ball. ''... its not ufortable nor nauseating.... its warm...'' "Whoa!" she eximed in low tone. "Pfft." Eshwar held back hisughter before Isha furrowed her brows at him. "I''m really sorry.." he bowed a bit and apologized. "Hmph." She snorted and continued to poke. ''Mm.. I''m certainly not feeling nauseating....'' she thought. She began to poke his hand around every corner while slowly holding his hand above hers. She didn''t miss his hand shivering for a split second and grinned mischievously before poking again. She noticed his hand getting warmer and lifted her head to look at Eshwar''s face. "Eh?" Eshwar''s eyes were wide open, his ears werepletely red, and his cheeks were a little rosy; it wasn''t until she noticed his colour had turned ''orange,'' which meant he was anxious. She looked down at his and back at his face with a wide mischievous grin before poking again,pletely ignoring his anxiety, but his hand gradually turned cold, slightly steam rose from his hand but did nothing to her. She was taken aback when she returned her gaze to Eshwar''s face; he had turned to face the ground, covering his mouth with his hand while resting it on his thigh, and his ears and cheeks had turned rosy as steam began to rise from his body. "Eshwar!" Isha eximed in shock, pointing at the steam rising from him. "Huh?" he turned to face Isha and noticed that mana was leaking out of his body. *** "Sh*t! F**k!" I cursed and took out a cigar from the subspace. I ced it in my mouth and lit it with magic to calm down. "1 second, I''ll be back." I ran to the nearest window which was next to the table and smoked out of the window. PUFF "Haaa...." I sighed. PUFF "Are you alright?" Isha walked towards me and asked with a concerned face. "Yes, everything is alright." I said with a slight smile. ''Only on the outside though...'' I added inwardly as pain slowly started to engulf in me. ''Though somehow her presence rxes it a bit.... Wait, it was like this thest time too, wasn''t it?..... I didn''t notice the symptoms until it suddenly got worse....'' I realised. "Can I ask what''s wrong?" Isha title her head slightly. ".... Just the condition I mentionedst time, don''t worry about it... It''s nothing new." I said, trying my best to smile brightly. ''Wow, I think it''s worse than I thought..... Because of fluctuation of my emotions?.... or did I slightly let go of my control over mana or something like that? Why though? I''m suddenly feeling many emotions which I don''t understand..'' "Hm? Right! Isha check your system once..." "Huh? Ok." She said and looked down on her status window. PUFF ''Party.'' I muttered in my mind. [Skill: Party activated.] [Added ''Isha Walker'' as a party member.] [Location of a party member is visible on a map.] [New! Skill: Map [Rank: E] unlocked.] [Map shows every area user has been to.] "Hmm... good." I mumbled as I looked at the map, nearly 75 percent of which was visible. PUFF "Did anything change in your system?" I asked Isha. "No, nothing." She said and shook her head. "Really... Okay." I nodded and added few more people to party list. [Added ''Quinn Walker'' as a party member.] [Added ''Henry Hale'' as a party member.] [Added ''Core Oliver'' as a party member.] [Added ''Louie Robbins'' as a party member.] [Added ''Arngrim'' as a party member.] [Added ''Anuke'' as a party member.] [Added ''Katline Romero'' as a party member.] [Added ''Vinny Grover'' as a party member.] [Added ''Katharine Glover'' as a party member.] [Added ''Violet Tyler'' as a party member.] [Added ''Gang Jiwoo'' as a party member.] PUFF "If I need I can just put my enemies names to find them...." I mumbled. ''Wait!'' [Added ''Nhifrogr'' as a party....] [Error.... Deceased can''t be added and Deceased will be removed from the Party list.] ''Ok, good.'' PUFF [12 party members are added to the user''s party list.] "Thank you for your help, Isha." I smiled brightly ignoring the pain. "No, no.... But what for?" she asked pointing at her system. "I wanted to test something, don''t worry it''s not a big deal." DING "Hm?" my smartwatch rang and I checked what it was. Katline: [Sir, can I meet you now? It''s kind of urgent. I''m near the training room.] Chapter 61 60. Cant Keep A Secret. ?*** In the academy''s training grounds. In the 80-meter-long private training room, near the room''s entrance was a tablet with numerous illusion, temperature, and gravity settings. Many different types of weapons, including swords, spears, axes, hammers, bows, and gauntlets, were arranged next to the tablet. Vinny and Katline stood in front of each other, while Jiwoo stood in the corner, giving them some space to talk. Vinny told her about his regression and proposed to her. Katline stood cross-armed, irritated, her feet tapping on the ground incessantly. ".... So, you called me here to propose me with a fairy-tale like bullsh*t?" Katline asked Vinny with a pissed off face. "... Its not bull..." Vinny attempted to justify himself, but Katline raised her hand and gestured for him to stop speaking for a moment. "..... Hmm... I guess its believable if you consider the impossible possibilities." Katline said. "..." Vinny stood silently. ''That exins a lot of the different feelings I had when I was near him and didn''t know what to call them.... But to think I married someone.'' She reasoned about her conflicting emotions. "...So, what? Do you want me jump into your arms and kiss you?" Katline asked with a mischievous grin. "Yea, but not yet." Vinny said with ''I know you'' face. "... Well, make me fall for you again then." She said as her grin widened. "Yea? Sure." Vinny said without hesitation and waved at Jiwoo. "Done?" Jiwoo asked while walking towards them. ".... Do you believe him?" Katline asked, her brow furrowed at Jiwoo, observing every detail of his face "..... Yea, I know everything... But without me in it, and I believe him because he has no reason to lie, and even if he does, I have nothing to lose..." Jiwoo answered promptly with a nod. ".... And, I''m certain that Eshwar knows about you guys more than.... Yourselves!" Jiwoo said, looking straight in their eyes. "Huh? What''s that supposed to mean?" Vinny asked. "...." Katline had the same question but didn''t ask it; instead, she messaged Eshwar and called him from there. ''I don''t know why but Sir Eshwar gives off a fatherly feel whenever our eyes meet. Like a father who genuinely cares for...'' Katline thought. * "I''m pretty sure she ... me....." A muffled voice could be heard outside the private training room. "..... Why th... gh?" another muffled voice was heard. "It seems Sir Eshwar is here..." Katline said and walked towards the door. She opened the door and saw that Eshwar was not alone; he had brought Isha with him. Eshwar wore a baggy ck t-shirt and ck shorts, with his left hand in the shorts pocket, with a cigar in his mouth and unkempt hair. Isha''s eyes were red, as if she had just stopped crying, but she was brightly smiling as she walked next to Eshwar, who was smoking without regard for his surroundings. ''I haven''t seen sister Isha smile so genuinely until today....'' Katline thought. "Sir! Here." Katline called out while waving her hand above her head. "... Hmm. What''s wrong?" Eshwar asked while walkingzily. PUFF ''..... He has his own charm, but I had no idea he smokes.'' Katline thought without any sense of shame or feelings. ".... It''s a bit crazy but important situation." Katline said with a smile. "Is that so..." Eshwar nodded and walked towards her. She walked into the room, leaving the door open, and stood next to Vinny and Jiwoo, observing Eshwar''s expressions. ".... You guys are here too?" Eshwar asked, noticing Vinny and Jiwoo standing next to each other. PUFF ".... Well, I think, I get the gist of it... You told her about it, didn''t you?" Eshwar asked, furrowed his brows at Vinny. ''So, it was true that Sir Eshwar knows about it...'' Katline confirmed. "About what?" Isha asked while looking at Eshwar with a puzzled expression. ".... Haaa, what a headache. This almost as f**ked up as the system..." Eshwar shook his head and removed his cigar from his mouth, holding it in his right hand. CLUNK With a wave of his hand, Eshwar closed the door behind him, and a table and four chairs materialised in front of them. They recognized the gesture and took a seat. "For you?" Vinny asked noticing there was no seat for him. "....." Eshwar approached them, sat in mid-air, crossed his legs, and ced the cigar back in his mouth, appearing to make himselffortable. PUFF ".... Now, speak." He spoke in low tone, creating a cold atmosphere in the room. "... V-vinny revealed everything about his regression and proposed to Katline...." Jiwoo spoke up after gulping down loudly. ".... He just can''t keep a secret, can he?" Eshwar spoke in a cold tone, causing the temperature to drop. ''Wow... Now that''s what setting an atmosphere looks like..'' Katline thought. PUFF "... Well, I''m the one to me anyway...." Eshwar mumbled in a low tone that everyone could hear. ".... What do you mean?" Vinny asked, his brow furrowed at Eshwar, who had his eyes closed. Katline had the same question, but Vinny asked it first. "... Nothing, unlike a certain someone, I prefer to keep a secret if I know it will cause more harm than good." Eshwar answered making it clear that he will not speak about what he just said. ''Yea, I would have probably preferred not hearing, but I like it that he''s at least honest... and..'' her train of thoughts was stopped by Eshwar''s voice. PUFF "..... Anyway, Katline. I want you to live a life like I love to live mine, I''m selfish. I only care about myself and what''s mine..... I only give a f**k if it involves me.... I want you to get stronger to protect yourself from anything Vinny has mentioned... And not to make stupid decisions about yourself." Eshwar said with his eyes closed and Katline imprinted everything into her mind. "I have two images of you in my mind; if you want, I can show you how you looked." Eshwar said, his left eye open, as he looked at Katline. ''!'' ".... Can I?" Katline asked, a bit scared about looking her future, almost broken self. ''I realized from Vinny''s words that I was certainly broken inside....'' she thought. "1st one is my imagination and 2nd one is you." Eshwar said. He waved his hand, and a beastly woman''s figure materialised in front of them, wearing a sleeveless shirt and pants, with many sword scars on her arms and a small cut near her lift cheek, her right-side face was covered with her short shoulder length hair covering the burn below them, her eyes were filled with regret and contempt, and she looked like she was in the middle of a battlefield, holding a bow as big as her in her left hand. ''This... fits perfectly of what Vinny just described but the face is.... giving off a ''not me'' feeling to me...'' she thought. Eshwar waved his hand once more, and another figure appeared in front of her. It was the same figure, but her eyes were filled with a bit of regret rather than contempt. ''This looks like me from Vinny''s story...'' she thought. "Thank you, Eshwar." She gave a deep bow, realizing why Eshwar said what he said before and imprinting his words in her mind while fuelling her desire to be stronger. ".... So, what''s up?" Jiwoo asked, deciding to lighten the gloomy mood by pointing to Isha and Eshwar with a wide grin. "Yea, you guys dating yet?" Vinny asked without any tact. ''God, I think I''ll have to teach him some tact, if I marry him again....'' she blushed a bit at that thought. "Ahak, ahem... Kuhum... What the f**k?" Eshwar choked on the smoke of the cigar and mumbled in disbelief while Isha blushed. ".... Not yet." Eshwar said in a low tone. "Eh?" Isha looked at Eshwar in disbelief before lowering her head in embarrassment. Chapter 62 61. Assessment. ?"Why did you use magic instead of making another chair for yourself?" Isha asked while returning. "Because, in that type of situations, we have to show who''ll do the talking while others can only listen without voicing their questions much..." I answered. ''And spending magic eases the symptoms though I''ll be in pain in the process... two birds with one stone.'' I added inwardly. *** The next day. I got a news from Quinn that I''ll be suspended for three weeks and that I''ll have to get my talent assessed, so I''ll be going to the association for the assessment. ''F**k the association! Why the hell do they need to assess me? Can''t they shut it and do their damn investigation?'' I grumbled inwardly all the way to the association. ''..... I''ll just refuse it, it''s not like they can force me. If they do, I''ll just beat them until they are half dead or kill them... Killing them would be the ideal, because there will be no loose ends.'' I nodded and drove towards the association. I wore light pink baggy t-shirt, ck trousers and ruffled my hair until it seemed alright. VROOOM From a distance, the association building appeared to be a white, grey, and blue coloured t coin. Well, that was just my imagination... but the building was asrge as, if notrger than, the academy. "They have money. Well, I got it too! Muhahahaha." Iughed hysterically and drove towards the association. VROOOM * "Hmm~" I hummed as I entered the association. ''Damn, I think, it''s my first time here? Why are you guys registering as an awakened? When you can simply do what you want instead of following their orders?'' I shook my head and noticed Seo Hana was staring at me from a distance. ''Hm? What is she looking at?'' I looked down at my outfit. "Is there something wrong with my outfit?" I mumbled, only my fists, head and corbones were visible. ''I have two theories: one, I look weird and the next one which I find quite possible, she is a perv....'' I shook my head and dismissed the thought. ".... Hello?" I greeted her, puzzled. "Hello." Seo Hana nodded her head and greeted me. ''.... Is there something wrong?'' I thought but didn''t say it because she seemed familiar from somewhere and answering that would have made things awkward. I flexed my shoulders, adjusted my t-shirt, and noticed her ears had turned a little red.... which stood out due to her light skin tone "Well, anyway. I refuse to get assessed, so bye. You can call me if it''s about the investigation." I turned around and started to walk away. "Huh?" Seo Hana stood there and looked at me in disbelief. "Hmm~mm~." I hummed joyfully and walked away. ".... Ah! Aii, wait!" Seo Hana spoke up, attracting the majority of the crowd''s attention. ".... Hm? Yes?" I tilted head feigning ignorance. ".. you can''t reject it! It''s an order from the association chairman." She said as if it exined everything. "And? What does that have anything to do with me? The order is for you, isn''t it?" I asked. "..... I-I mean, yes. But, you can''t refuse it." She said in firm tone. "Then go back to the one, who ordered you and say that ''Eshwar'' didn''t give a sh*t about it." I smiled brightly. ''Why the f**k would I be ordered by some ipetent fool? And that basta*d probably remembers me...'' ".... Huh?" Seo Hana seemed bbergasted. "Hm? What else do you want?" I couldn''t hide the annoyance in my voice, not that I tried. ".... You''ll have to take responsibility for the massacre of the cadets..... and the me...." Seo Hana face frowned but said thest part in a low tone. "Hm? I mean they are my responsibility, are they not?" I asked her. "And as for the me..." I closed in on her, looked down at her and red. "If I seriously wanted to kill them.... " I leaned forward to her ear. "I would leave no witness behind and....if you started an investigation on it.... you wouldn''t be standing here..." I whispered. "...." she turned pale. "Good. Bye now and peace." I turned around and walked out with hand in air with a peace sign. ''.... That was good. Now, I won''t have to deal with changing the group name from ''UNCHARTED''.'' *** Seo Hana did as she was asked and told the Association chairman about Eshwar''s rejection. The man in front of her was 6''5" foot tall, with dark brown hair and eyes, dressed in a ck suit, and appeared to be in his mid-fifties. Stan Walton was his name. He frowned when he heard Eshwar''s name, but he let Seo Hana continue with the report. In case of ''emergencies,'' the awakened ID had a tracker, which is naturally kept secret. She knew what it meant to be registered as an awakened in the Hero association, and it was not about the safety nor the support, as they say on the outside. It is about leaving all of their information with them. Even if she didn''t like it, she had to work for the association and do her job. She knew they wouldn''t care about other people''s lives if it meant saving their own a*s and they would simply sell an awakener''s information in the name of the ''greater good.'' The association does favours in the name of ''support.'' They support the talented ones until they are strong enough to su*k them to the bone in the name of repaying the ''support'' they received for their growth. If they are not repaid for their ''support,'' they simplybel the awakened as a rogue hero, ce a bounty on their heads, orunch a manhunt for them. Nobody will listen to the words of a hero who has gone ''rogue.'' In the name of defending humanity, the association sometimes issues orders without disclosing why they are acting; if anyone questions them, they make up a story in their favour and issue the orders, which are usually epted unanimously, and those who defy the orders are dered to have gone rogue. ''... That guy was definitely stronger than me, a rank-S hero. One of the current strongest ten.'' Seo Hana thought while reporting about the rejection. "... He still dares...." the man in front of her mumbled. Chapter 63 62. Finding A Connection. ?*** Stan Walton had met Eshwar by chance when Quinn had brought him back to human civilization when Eshwar was 14 years old. When they first met, Eshwar resembled a beast, rather than a human. He recognized Eshwar''s talent at first nce and tried to ''support'' his growth, which was coldly turned down by Eshwar, and when Stan Walton thought it was just a kid''s tantrum about being all grown up, he was greeted with a cold re that was brimming with power, causing his legs to buckle and fall on his knees. He had been publicly humiliated that day, that incident had scarred him and sometimes just thinking about Eshwar was enough to send shivers down his spine. ''Goddamn, child! I''ll make sure to make you kneel in front me someday, I just need a chan..... Wait! Didn''t this incident happen in his presence?'' a cruel grin appeared on his face. "You can leave, Miss Hana." He said and sat straight. Seo Hana bowed politely and walked walked out of the room. "Hahaha.... You goddamn child! I''ll make you perpetrator of the cadets massacre incident!" he mumbled andughed maniacally. *** Jiwoo travelled to Sector Seven to find a ''lost'' martial art based on the information he had obtained from the novel he had read. ''Am I really alive or am I just a charact.... No. Am I also just one of the people of this world he created?'' Jiwoo''s brain, which had repeatedly proven him correct, was now slowly bing a burden he didn''t want to bear. That thought urred to him immediately after his meeting with Eshwar. First, Vinny''s regression made no sense, and he had never considered the possibility of the ''second'' male lead, ''Vinny Grover,'' regressing. Even if the first male lead and viin ''Max Knight'' had regressed, he wouldn''t believe it even if he was supposed to be the original male lead. In the story he knew, the female lead, ''Katline Romero,'' was the main character and a hero; Katline dies at the end of the story, and Max is killed after being caught for murdering his brother in the academy and being exposed for all the crimes he hadmitted; finally, Vinny simply disappeared after the death of his wife Katline. The story concludes with a demon ughtering all of the heroes, with the dialogue ''These people were not worth your sacrifice!'' When Vinny exined ''the Jiwoo,'' he knew everything seemed like something Jiwoo would do for survival, and Jiwoo was taken aback. He would notice Eshwar''s expressions from time to time and noticed that Eshwar''s face disyed no surprise to the story, which seemed absurd to him. Eshwar remained calm throughout the entire story, as if he knew what was going on. He wasn''t in the least bit surprised by Vinny''s absurd strength, and Eshwar, a supposed author with no experience with monsters, treated rank-SS monsters like toys. Even if he was born here, it doesn''t make sense for him to be absurdly strong in such a short period of time, and in the story Eshwar... No, Max is supposed to be a student who is bullied because he is two years older than the average age for academy admission and is an orphan. He begins to plot against his own family but fails miserably; the rage from the failure and the constant bullying breaks him from within and without, leading him to murder his own brother and that incident got Max killed. All of his thoughts and Eshwar''s calm expression about Vinny''s story made him wonder if he, too, was created by the author ''Eshwar.'' WHOOSH A strong gust of wind hit Jiwoo''s face, jolting him awake from his trance. Jiwoo''s nostrils were filled with the salty scent of the sea, mud, and grass. He was dressed in a ck padded military jacket and pants with numerous bulging pockets. "Damn, I already reached my destination before even realizing....." Jiwoo thought out loud. He was on the outskirts of Sector Seven. He stood on a cliff and looked down at the sea, which was crashing against the cliff, sometimes so violently that water nearly reached Jiwoo. ''I''ll definitely connect the dots and make some damn sense of the situation and my existence....'' he thought. "And, I need a strong enough skill which could help me nullify negative status effects..... so, that I can avoid situations like the recent incident and stop it from happening at least in my presence...." he mumbled. He took out his katana, which Eshwar had given him from his inventory slot. With a bitter smile, he stared at the katana. "Oh, well..." He took out two grey potions from his thigh pockets and noticed that the volumetric sk was engraved with the name ''UNCHARTED A.'' "It makes me lighter, doesn''t it..." he asked himself and gulped down a potion in one shot. "Hooo.... Looks like it works." He mumbled after testing it by jumping and flying back from the strong sea breeze. "Wait.... How the f**k do I get down there?" he yelled realizing his blunder. "And, what is the point of a potion that makes me lighter?" Doesn''t that make things more difficult for me? I just flew back from a strong gust of f**king wind..." he yelled angrily, cursing himself. "God! Do I have to wait until it the potion effect wears off?" Jiwoo yelled again, and the strongest wave collided with the cliff again, pushing Jiwoo back. "..... Sorry." He bowed at sea politely and back off. He sat on the ground and began to pluck the grass in front of him out of boredom. * After a few minutes. ''The potion effect seems to have worn off.... Good.'' Jiwoo thought. When he stood back up, he noticed he had plucked grass from the ground in a circr pattern around where he sat. DING [Skill: Grass plucking created.] [User has uprooted 1000 strands of grass.] [Skill: Grass plucking makes the user pluck grass efficiently.] [A orange token has been rewarded.] "....." Jiwoo stared at the system notification. "..." ''Somehow it seems like the system is happy and looks like it''s sparkling... Is it just me?'' Jiwoo thought. ''F**k.'' Chapter 64 63. Training. ?''Is that what Eshwar said when he mentioned something going on outside of the story and he has no involvement in it?'' "And, why are skills being created uselessly?" He mumbled out. DING [System ERROR.] [Newly system created skills are being deleted.] [System influence increased by 10.] [Tokens are being rewarded for the users who helped in lowering the number of living.] [Number of living lowered by the user: 59.] [A orange token has already been awarded to the user.] "This.... Nothing is from the novel I know anymore, huh..." Jiwoo mumbled. ''How the hell did the system know about the exact number of the monsters.... I mean the living.... '' the ''living'' sounded way worse than he thought. "God! I mean the monsters! How does it know the exact number?" he yelled, irritated. He yanked an orange potion from his pockets near his calf and gulped it down in one gulp. His body tensed as he jumped down, grabbed a rock that appeared to be holdable, and began to descend the cliff. * He was soaked from the sea water, his body screamed in pain, and he had almost gone numb from the strong sshes of the sea water. He was almost at the bottom of the cliff when he realised there was nothing beneath his feet to stand on. He moved to the sides to feel for something to keep his feet on, but he found nothing, so he returned to where he started, to climb back up. CRACK "F**k..." he cursed at his bad luck, knowing what was going to happen. ''I''ll definitely die at the next collision if I don''t swim away...'' he thought. CRACK (3x) "Good bye... World.." he mumbled as the rock he held on cracked. *** KNOCK, KNOCK I walked towards Isha''s room and knocked on it. "Yes..." Isha''s voice sounded. CLUNK "You ready yet?" I asked looking at her wearing ck training outfit. Her ck hair was ponytailed, and her eyes sparkled with delight. Her outfit was stuck to her skin, emphasizing her perfect curves even more. "Yes, let''s go." Isha said. "It''s supposed to be a tr-training outfit, isn''t it?" I covered my mouth, avoided her eye contact and mumbled out loud after another nce at her. "Yes, is it bad?" she said in a dejected expression as her shoulders slouched forward. "It is bad for me, cause we''ll be going on a bike..." I mumbled in hushed tones, hoping she wouldn''t hear me. Which was quickly proven to just be a wishful thinking. "Eh?" she stared at with a nk face, seemed to unable to process what I just said. "W-what do you mean???" she asked while avoiding eye contact and ncing all around me. "W-well..." I stuttered. ''If shees out like that everybody will stare at her, if she wears something else, she''ll not be able to train....'' "Ah! Isha...." I called her out. "Y-yes?" she asked. "Stands up!" I said in stern voice. She raised her hands before realizing what had just happened, so I took out my ck baggy t-shirt from my subspace, slipped it on her, and pulled it down so perfectly that I, too, wondered how it was possible. ''Damn, isn''t she taller than me? Or maybe it''s just her legs that are long...'' She was wearing my t-shirt over her training outfit now, my baggy t-shirt that woulde down until my thighs looked the same length on her as it did on me. "Um.." She started fidgeting around. ''... She''s so adorable... No, what did I do? She could have worn one of her own...'' I was stunned by my own actions as I stared at her nkly. "It-its lu-looking good.." I gave her a thumbs up and walked away with stiff movements. * VROOOM I drove to the location where I nned to train her. She was wearing a helmet and sitting in the back seat, clutching my t-shirt. ''Drive slowly.... Slow down.... She is cautious about physical contact.... So, I have to be careful not to make her feel too ufortable..." I half-thought, half-mumbled, and suddenly realised that she was apprehensive about physical contact. "Ah!" I realised my blunder but did not regret forgetting about it... because if I remembered, I would unintentionally treat her differently. "Y-you can drive a little faster... the bicycle next to us going faster than us..." Isha mumbled. "I mean, are going to be alright?" I asked to confirm. "... Yes..." Isha said. I extended my right arm slightly and wrapped a visible light blue mana strap around us, allowing her to sitfortably without fear of falling off. VRO-VROOOM * We arrived at the boundary between sectors one and two, where monster density is low enough for training. Sector two, ''The Kalgar,'' is a dense forest with only one small city near the portal area. The city is teeming with residents from the guilds and a branch of the hero association. Non-awakened people do not live in sector two because break outs ur frequently; The guilds and the association help to keep this ce safe by reducing the number of monsters in the area. Sector two is also known as the rookie training ground because the city is frequently raided by the monsters who live there for food or simply because they are bored to death. Only the weak... Lower intelligence monsters attack the city as all of the strong monsters of grade 8-10, with grade 10 being rare, are inhabited near the opposite border where we were now. "You can remove the t-shirt if you want or if you think it''ll hinder your movements." I said to Isha who was staring at me in disbelief. "We are going hunt here?" she asked. "No, ''you'' are going to hunt here." I smiled at her. ".... B-bu-but the monsters here attack in hordes." She said. "And?" I asked, smiling brightly which made her flinch. "... Don''t worry I''ll help you if I think it''s too much and.." I looked at her in the eye. "No, magical attacks." I said firmly. "Huh? I''m a mage though..." Isha rebuked. "Yes, and I brought you here to train you in physicalbat rather than magical one... And I brought you here to train you not to kill you, so don''t worry, and let out all of your pent-up stress, because I know from experience that only physical exhaustion can help with stress relief." I said, brightly smiling. KRRIEEKKK "Excellent timing!" I mumbled. *** Chapter 65 64. Connecting Dots. ?SPLASH "Hm? I''m alive?" Jiwoo mumbled in disbelief. Jiwoo was flopped on the muddy water near a cave entrance after a 3-meter drop. The cave was 2.5 metres tall and 14 feet wide, with almost no light inside. The cave gave off a very eerie feeling, with very low growls heard from the inside. SPLASH "Heiikk." Jiwoo yelped in surprise as a sudden ssh drenched him from head to toe. "Goddamn..." He mumbled and walked in with his katana unsheathed. He walked into the cave until the entrance was the size of his fist, and his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He took another potion from his pocket near his hip; it was a light neon-coloured liquid in a volumetric sk. ''a night vision potion...'' he thought and gulped down the potion. His eyes glowed neon from the potion''s effects, and he could now see his surroundings more clearly. At the end of the pathway, there were three way forked roads with coloured boards bolted above them in light green, green, and bright green. "ording to the novel''s information, those boards indicate monster strength ranges... with infant, child, and kid levels..... Eshwar, your ranking selection su*ks!" He mumbled and walked into the bright green cave entrance. "I have to be careful of the monsters because even if his ranking and naming sense su*ks, monsters are still a bit strong..." he mumbled. "Kekeke... Krru..krik..krerire.. kekeke." A weird voices andughter was heard which Jiwoo instantly recognized them to be goblins. They were meter-long dark green monsters who hunted in packs. Because of their almost human-like appearance, many heroes are hesitant to strike them, resulting in their deaths. "Huu.." he gripped the katana and dashed forward. "Kriii!" a goblin which seemed to be a pack leader screeched, pointing at Jiwoo. "Come!" Jiwoo eximed as he dashed at them. ''Now that they are clearly visible.... There seems to around ten of them...'' He counted the goblins and began to imagine all of the possible attack patterns as well as the possibility of his death. All goblins dashed at Jiwoo, two in the middle, three on each side, and two behind them who appeared to be ready to jump the moment they engaged. Jiwoo smirked at the goblins, moved to his left, increased his speed by a notch, and shed horizontally, killing the monsters in front and to his right, and instantly splitting five goblins in half. THUD (5x) He took advantage of their surprise to attack the ones in the back, turned his body right to face the right wall, leaned back, aimed his katana at the two goblins who were standing back to back, and pierced both of their heads with a single thrust, like skewers. WHOOSH SWISH He drew back his katana, held it loosely to make a curved downward motion, held it in reverse with de behind him, and turned around to face the three goblins who were still dazed. He leaned forward and dashed at them, taking advantage of theirck of mobility to sever their necks. SPLURT (3x) "Hooo.." he breathed out as the three goblins behind him wiggled and tumbled around as tears flowed down from their eyes. ".... I''m d that I bought potions from a high rated ount..... They''re all of good quality.." Jiwoo mumbled as the as the goblins behind him died. "I better finish this before I run out of the potions..." he said and walked in to the cave. The deeper he went into the cave, the more goblins he discovered. He suddenly recalled his previous thoughts. ''I only know that ording to the novel, Vinny was not supposed to be higher ranked than a rank-S because his limit is that of a rank-S. He has somehow regressed and is now stronger than he was supposed to be.'' He thought. He shed down another four goblins in the middle of his train of thought and found the cave or trail to be very annoying because he couldn''tpletely sh down on them nor could he do aplete horizontal sh due to the limited space. ''And, Eshwar somehow knew that, so if I consider that the author who wrote the story is here in it....'' ''And, Eshwar''s said that something was happening which he didn''t write.....'' ''If I consider that I, too, am a character he wrote..... then it''s too cruel to abandon a person into another ce or world as he did, without anything or anyone to rely on.'' ''I have no parents nor a guardian.... not that I needed it... if he made me so that I can live without relying on anyone... I guess me being a character will not be that surprising....'' ''I guess I, too, am a part of his creation, looking at all the people around having their own life, me being one with them isn''t that .....'' "Hahaha.... F**k!" he cursed as heughed bitterly. * He was sweating profusely and his breathing wasboured as the potion effects wore off and his body ached, warning him that if he moved any more, it would break. He found an open space to rest for a while and checked the system notification of the reduction in the number of living. [Number of living lowered by the user: 205.] "So I''ve hunter about 140 goblins huh..." he mumbled. He rested until his sweating and breathing returned to normal, then resumed his activity. He arrived at a double door about 2 metres tall, with a goblin-like face wearing a crown with various types of feathers in it. WOOONGG He pushed the door open and found himself in a 3 metre long and 50-foot-wide space. At the far end of the room stood a goblin about the size of a normal human, his face identical to the one on the door, and he held a staff as long as him, so Jiwoo assumed him to be a goblin mage. There were 25 lightly armed goblins in front of him. The horde in front of him didn''t scare him as much as the thought that he might not be a ''real'' person did. He took out orange and light neon potions, gulped them down in one go, and charged at the goblin horde. ''He must have created me as an ''Extra'' and after hearing Vinny''s exnation, I may have be a main character in my past life trying to survive among the original main characters, like one''s I have read...'' ''.... ''read'' may not be a right word, more like added or acted ording to the author''s wishes.....'' he thought, depressed from the thoughts as they connected the dots he wanted. "Let''s keep ''added'' for now..." he mumbled after shing down 10 more goblins. ''from my added memories, I might have been an extra who became a main character trying to survive among them, like from the stories I have in my added memories... '' he thought after dealing a final blow to the goblin mage boss. Chapter 66 65. Guidance. ?''From my added memories, I might have been an extra who became a main character trying to survive among them, like from the stories I have in my added memories... '' he thought after dealing a final blow to the goblin mage boss. The goblin mage has insufficient mana and can only cast fist-sized fireballs ten times maximum. What gives them the title of ''mage'' is their intelligence in controlling andmanding the goblins. "It should be somewhere around here..." Jiwoo mumbled looking around. "Guh!" He looked down and noticed several cuts on his body, including four near his stomach, two on his right arm, and six around his legs. Every cut was shallow, and his deep thought and the strengthening potion that boosted his powers allowed him to resist some of the pain he felt. He''ll feel the pain of both the aftereffects and the damage he received now that the potion effects are gradually wearing off. "Fast! Fast before the potion effectpletely wear off!" He mumbled and paced around. He paced around and found a book which waspletely worn out and dusted. [Lost martial art ''Dintingaa'' found.] [Trait: Dintingaa created.] [Trait: Dintingaa [TYPE: Martial Art.] [Rank: A]] [Description: Dintingaa is a defensive and offensive martial art that focuses on defeating the user''s opponent by exploiting every weakness in their defence and body. The primary emphasis is on kicks and agility, and it frequently depends on user''s own and the opponent''s strength and flexibility.] [Dintingaa''s greatest strength is its versatility and speed, which allows the user to perform a wide range of tricks. Taking advantage of the opponents sidesteps will likely exhaust them, allowing the user to maintain control of the fight.] [Dintingaa''s main weakness, on the other hand, is that it requires the user to react extremely quickly. So, unless the user train their reflexes, their strengths will quickly be obsolete.] [User''s martial skill level is too low.] [Trait rank decreased to rank-D.] [Trait: Dintingaa growth type created. 25 percent of the Trait can be used.] "...." Jiwoo stared at the pop ups. "Hmm... Ok, it''ll be enou UKH!" Jiwoo groaned in agony and fell on the ground with a low ''THUD.'' *** In Sector Two ''The Kalgar.'' A man stood at the edge of a skyscraper rooftop and slowly leaned forward, bracing himself for a free fall. He had dark green hair with grey cat eyes and sharp facial features. He wore a grey t-shirt, white trouser with his hands in his pockets. ".... Hmm~" Henry hummed, suddenly snapped his head to his left and smiled. ''Why is he here?'' Henry asked himself when he felt a familiar presence. "Well, let''s go visit him." He mumbled and disappeared from the spot. From the middle of the city, he dashed towards the forest area, and everyone around him saw only a blur and felt as if something had just passed them by. *** Isha stood with the Ice Blood Katana in her hand as monsters surrounded her. ''Do I really have to fight them on my own?'' she asked herself, puzzled by the sudden turn of situation. [Don''t worry, I''ll help you if it seems like you can''t handle it.] Eshwar''s voice rang inside her head, causing her to flinch as he telepathically tried to reassure Isha. ''.... He can use telepathy too...'' she thought without an ounce of surprise. "Huu.." Isha took a deep breath to calm down. ''... I have to do this if I want to get stronger...'' She paused and took a stance as the monsters surrounding her closed in on her. ''.... I have a feeling something is wrong...'' Isha thought looking at monsters movements as it was somewhat intelligent. [Don''t worry, it''s normal for intelligent monsters to be on guard against someone with a strong magical aura and they don''t know about your ''non existent'' physical abilities... at least until you sh with them.] Eshwar said, telepathically emphasising non-existent, which irked Isha. "Hmph." Isha snorted and dashed at the orc, which appeared to be the strongest of the horde. Orcs are 3-metre-long pale brown monsters. They not only look like humans, but they also possess intelligence simr to that of humans, they are hostile, cannibals, fight instinctively and are warriors by nature. ''... If I take out the strongest first th.'' Isha''s thoughts were cut short by Eshwar. [It''s no long-range battle, for you to aim at the strongest first. Remember this is your first physicalbat, and the Orc is clearly more experienced in closebat.] He said. GROWWU The Orc punched at her before she could focus on the attack; she raised her katana and blocked the Orc''s fist, drifted back, and felt her bones shake from the impact. "Ukh!" she groaned in pain, clenched her teeth and dashed at it again. [Behind you...] Eshwar said telepathically which sounded kindazy. ''!'' [Crouch down, spin and sh diagonally, upward.] He guided. SWISH SLASH Shepiled Eshwar''s words and shed a wolf monster in mid-air as it pounced on her from behind. She stared at the dead wolf in daze. [Now, strike down to the left, turn around and sh vertically, upward.] Eshwar said. Shepiled, gathered her strength and struck down a wolf at her left, turned around and shed vertically upward, missing but deterring the Orc from attacking her again. After attacking she slowed a bit waiting for the next guidance. [Fight, I''m not going to guide you every time.] He said which sounded like a sneer. She noticed two wolves on each side, ready to pounce. A wolf from each side moved in and surrounded her again, leaving her with no way out. She stood there contemting the best way to defend herself if she was attacked from all four sides. [Move! You can move and attack them... It''s not like they''re holding you captive.] His voice woke her up from her reverie and made her realize a very simple thing. [Move forward towards any wolf and strike it down.] He said. She dashed at a wolf and struck it down vertically; the wolf jumped back and dodged her strike as the other three dashed at her. [sh towards your right and move to the right!] he said. She shed horizontally to her right, where a wolf had appeared with an open mouth, and her sh severed the wolf''s lower jaw, tongue, and forelegs. The wolf whimpered in agony as blood flowed down from its severed mouth and legs. She ignored the wolf''s whimpering and moved to her right as guided, but it was a second toote. The Orc struck her with the intent to finish the fight, If the Orc''s punch had made contact with Isha, she would have been blown to bits. BAM Orc''s punch caused a circr wind pressure and gazed Isha''s shoulder by a bit, like a tap on her shoulder which caused it to dislocate. "Guh!" She wailed in agony as the Orc prepared to strike again. "Kneel!" Eshwar''s voice resounded. Chapter 67 66. Guidance (2). ?"Kneel!" Eshwar''s voice resounded. THUMP The Orc immediately knelt, and all the monsters around him were forced to do the same as an unknown pressure bore down on them. Isha turned her head towards Eshwar, forgetting about her pain for a moment as she stared at him as he approached her. ".... You got careless listening only to my guidance... If I keep giving you guidance you''ll not grow." He said, walking towards her. "..." "Do you remember, how you dodged my punch instinctively that day?" He asked, staring at Isha in the eye. ".... Yes." Isha recalled the day he asked her to be his assistant professor in exchange for teaching her how to fight effectively. ".... Maybe I should leave you alone... Okay, I''ll leave you here and return to check on how you are doing after sometime... Drink this." He said this while tossing a volumetric sk containing green liquid. She grabbed the potion and drank it while still in a daze as her shoulder healed itself. "... Wha.." She tried question about what she just heard only to notice that he had vanished from the spot, leaving her alone, and she noticed that he had left two extra green potions in the spot where he stood. "....." She closed her eyes and concentrated on feeling Eshwar''s presence, but she couldn''t find it. GROWWUUU All of the immobile monsters began to move and dashed at her in rage. "Sh*t!" she cursed and stood guard again. *** A white-haired, handsome young man stood on a branch of a three-meter-long tree, watching a ck-haired woman fight a horde of frenzy monsters. "Hmm~" I hummed, leaning against the tree while standing on a tree branch, hidden among the trees and their leaves. ''I only left to make her learn...'' I tried to justify myself in order to keep myself from leaping out of here and ughtering all the monsters. ''Make her strong!'' I heard a voice in my head that sounded exactly like my own. I jerked my head around, looking for any other human presence. "...." I squinted my eyes and nced around in search of another presence, again. "Why so suddenly? I mean, I''m trying to do that right now, aren''t I?" I mumbled and asked myself. ''Answer! My goddamn voice!'' SWISH "Ho! Good, good!" I muttered, looking at Isha sh and dodge monster''s attacks. She was surrounded by a Orc, wolves and a new horde of goblins with a hob goblin as a leader. Hob goblins are the same lifeform as goblins. They are 5-foot tall, dark brown monsters with bald heads. They are simr to an elder or a leader of a group of goblins. Isha had dealt damage on the Orc, which was now bleeding profusely and she had managed to strike down more than six wolves but the horde wasn''t getting any smaller. ''Good.'' She shed to the left, right, and front of her while backing up to a tree to cover her back. Bodies of wolves and goblins began to pile up around her as she attempted to repel the Orc and hob goblin before they took a proper stance to attack her. ''One strike at the tree from the Orc and you''ll be surrounded from every where..'' The Orc stepped back, took a stance behind the hobgoblin, and punched her. The tree in front of which Isha stood was blown to pieces, but she avoided the blow by hiding in front of the hob goblin while her sword pierced its head. She pierced its head from the bottom, the sword had passed through the jaw and had emerged from the top of the skull. ''She''s fighting well for someone who depends on her instincts.'' She used the hob goblin''s body as a meat shield, shing at other monsters that came at her. When the Orc saw her, it grinned and punched her meat shield. The hobgoblin''s body was blown to bits, and the Orc let down its guard, expecting Isha to be blown to bits as well. Isha took advantage of the situation, dashed, appeared from beneath the Orc''s hand, leaped, and shed its neck. ''Good!'' She didn''t have time to take a breather because the other monsters kept attacking her. She yed every monster that came at her, all while fighting and relying solely on her instincts for guidance. ''Though a bit clumsy and full of openings, it was a good fight.'' CRUNCH (3x) WHOOSH "Hu... Why are you here?" a guy appeared beside me and asked. "I''m trying to train her." I answered back without taking my eyes off of the fight. "I thought you would take her to sector one?" Henry asked. "... That''s why I''m training her." I said. "New assassination request?" I asked. "Nah, I''m keeping an eye on the guilds, coz I was bored at home." He answered. "Well, you guys should have gone to sector one, at least until the middle part..." I answered and turned to face him because the horde number had decreased and they didn''t appear to be strong enough to harm her. "And because of the new level up function, you could have gotten stronger much faster than before." I said looking at him in eye. "Really?" he asked with twinkling stars in his eyes. "You didn''t know?" I asked while staring at him in disbelief. "... No." He answered while shaking his head. "Crazy a*shole. Go and hunt monsters, youzy basta*ds." I kicked his a*s. "Ack. We didn''t know, what do want us to do?" he asked, dusting off at his a*s. "Well, now you do! Go." I kicked his a*s again in attempts to kick him off of the tree branch. "Aaa, I''ll fall off, you crazy basta*d!" he grumbled while dodging all of my kicks. "... We don''t know until when it''llst.... so, take advantage of it and get stronger and if you can wipe out sector one''s monsters until the middle area while hoarding exp points it''ll help you guys in that ''selection'' process.... I''ll join you guys when I can." I said. "Will do." He nodded with azy expression and crouched down, ready to jump off. ".... Pyre is in sector one, you know.." I said. Henry paused, turned to face me with a bright smile and twinkling stars in his eyes. "Really?" he asked with a delightful expression. "Pfft. Yea." I said and Henry instantly disappeared. DING My smartwatch sounded. "... Tell me it''s good news.." I mumbled and checked the notification. Old geezer: [I have bad news.] "F**k." Chapter 68 67. Theory. ?Old geezer: [I have bad news.] "F**k." I cursed at myself for jinxing it. Old geezer: [You are named as the prime suspect for the recent cadet massacre incident.] Old geezer: [Stan seemed to have pulled some strings to make you the prime suspect.] Old geezer: [To make matters worse, the word about it is already being spread like a wildfire and all media teams are asking your whereabouts from the ''academy''.] ''Too obvious..'' Old geezer: [What do you want to do?] Old geezer: [I can fend''em off if want to.] ''I knew Stan would pull something like this but... oh well, I''ll just have to answer them and shove a middle finger at their face, if they want it that much...'' I grinned and replied back. [What do you mean ''fend''em'' off.. you old geezer! Talking like a gangster huh?] Old geezer: [...] ''...this reminds of someone.'' Old geezer: [.... What do you want to do?] [Call a press conference, I want to show them my middle finger.] Old geezer: [Sigh...] [Why''re you sighing in a chat?] Old geezer: [...] [.... Who taught you that?] Old geezer: [Your wife... Ahem, I mean my granddaughter.] "He seriously..... and what do mean ''ahem'' in a chat?!" I grunted in outrage. I nced at Isha to check if she is okay..... "Sh*t!" *** Sector five ''Elmore.'' RING (4x) In the academy. Quinn sat in his office chair and texted Eshwar to deliver the news, while the academy''s smartphone disyed a blue window above it with caller ID on it. "Haa..." Quinn sighed and leaned back on his chair. ''Stan..... Why did have to mess with him? Didn''t you already learn your lesson when he was like 14?'' he thought and felt pity for the association chairman. ".... His gaze was enough to bring you to your knees, do you think now would be any different? Hahaha." He mumbled and let out a dryugh. "That day it was only a street, now it''ll be telecasted every where... In a way, you bought your own demise." He mumbled with his eyes closed. ''It has already been 5 years huh....'' he thought. "Do want to make a deal with me?" He suddenly remembered what Eshwar said to him during their first meeting in the forest near ''The Soundless Taiga'' in Sector One. "Heh... A mini beast!" Quinn chuckled. "I wonder how my granddaughter is faring...." he muttered. "I hope I can at least apologize to her once... If she gives me a chance, that is..." he mumbled and dozed off. *** A average looking guy was seen practicing his martial art at the edge of the training ground, wearing only his trousers and a ck cloth that was his t-shirt flopped next to him. He had a well-built body with sweat beads racing down on it. "Hey Jiwoo!" Vinny yelled from a distance as he jogged towards Jiwoo. "..." Jiwoo nced at Vinny from the corner of his eyes and continued to master his martial art technique. "... Hey! Don''t ignore me." Vinny grumbled. "...." Jiwoo ignored his whining and continued. "This son of a.... gun." He mumbled and walked towards Jiwoo. ''I seriously want to ignore everybody and everything rted to the nov....'' Jiwoo thought but ended it there and shook his head. ".... How did your date go?" Jiwoo asked while panting and continued to practice. "Well, it went wonderfully! I''m nning on taking you guys out for drinking." Vinny said while brimming with joy. ".... Who ''you guys''?" Jiwoo asked and suddenly started to dash at full speed. "Haa..." Vinny sighed and joined him. "You, me, Katline, Katherine, Violet, Eshwar and Miss Isha, if they want toe with each other..." Vinny said and silently stared at Jiwoo who flinched at the mention of Eshwar. ''I know that Eshwar is not at fault but I just....: Jiwoo thought when suddenly a thought shed through his mind. "He is technically my parent, isn''t he?" Jiwoo suddenly halted and eximed out, involuntarily. "Who? Wait, you have a parent?" Vinny looked at Jiwoo in disbelief. "...." Jiwoo squinted and furrowed his brows at Vinny. "I-I me-mean, it''s not, I me-mean, I just didn''t know and ording to the future ''you,'' he didn''t have any parents... S-so I just blurred out, my bad." Vinny stuttered and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. ".... I don''t have any." Jiwoo said. ''Well, he is ''technically'' though, but he see''s me like a little brother..... I think? Well at least I can think of him like a big brother...'' Jiwoo thought, and his mood improved as a result, which helped him get over the ''novel'' and see Eshwar as one of them. Even though he only narrowly beat the novel, it was still a step forward for him. "Say, should I get a girlfriend too? I mean, I was a loner in the past or future you mentioned, wasn''t I?" Jiwoo asked. "Pfft, yea dude, pfft you totally should! Pfft hahaha..." Vinny said as heughed his a*s off. "Heh." Jiwoo chuckled. ''Yea, I should change and stop being so naive...thinking about them like they are just something to manipte.... It''s not that I can change instantly, but it''s a start.'' Jiwoo thought. "..... Right! Vinny, here''s my theory." Jiwoo said and started to jog. "About?" Vinny asked after joining him again. "The system." Jiwoo said. "Ok, let''s here it." Vinny nodded and let him continue. "... You, me, Eshwar and this ''individual X'' as Eshwar named, everybody.... We know the future." Jiwoo choose his words carefully trying to dumb it down so that Vinny can easily understand. "Right..." Vinny said trying to understand Jiwoo point. "We know nothing about what is happening, I mean, the three of us when I said we.... What if this individual X is the one behind the system changes..." Jiwoo said. "..... I thought that too, what your point?" Vinny asked with a confused expression. "I mean, What if this individual X knows about the future we don''t? Let''s say that this individual X somehow managed to damage the system and it is increasing its influence here, on earth, to heal or repair itself." Jiwoo said. Chapter 69 68. The Orc Warrior. ?AN: I didn''t upload any chapters yesterday because the voting function had stopped working due to the previous chapter''s use of Chinese or Korean characters. I had no idea what to do, so I searched Google and Discord for solutions while sweating beads. I apologize for not uploading the chapters. *** "I mean, What if this individual X knows about the future we don''t? Let''s say that this individual X somehow managed to damage the system and it is increasing its influence here, on earth, to heal or repair back itself?" Jiwoo asked. "Hmm.." Vinny, too, started to ponder. "Damn, you really do think a lot..." Vinny said after pondering for a bit. ''If this individual X guy did something to the system then we have to make ns about how to deal with him, if he turns out to be a bad guy... a individual strong enough to damage the system..... Which is nigh impossible!'' Vinny thought. ''The system has almost every human depending on it, such a thing or being can''t simply be damaged and if a being strong enough to damage the system exists then some kind of defence or warning from the system would have arrived!'' Vinny reasoned with mixture of thoughts. "..... Anyway, I''ll call Eshwar and ask him to join us." Vinny said after he stopped racking his mind. "Yea, alright." Jiwoo replied back and paced up. *** "Sh*t!" I cursed after looking at a new horde approach Isha. ''That''s a group of f**king Orc warriors!'' I thought and dashed at Isha. Orc warriors are a type of Orc that will fight to the death if they start a fight. To be considered a winner, they must survive in a death match. Orcs and Orc warriors are easily distinguished because they are tattooed for each match they win. Tattoos are typically a single red stripe for each fight they survive, and they create a maze-like pattern on their body with each stripe they add. As I paced up a notch, I held out my right hand with the devil''s shotgun manifesting in it. [Isha, run back!] I said telepathically. Isha turned to face me as I dashed towards her from behind, and she dashed towards me without hesitation. ''I''m not sure whether I shouldugh or cry...'' Looking at her, I realized she trusted me enough to move without hesitation. ''.... If someone took advantage of her trust in me...and, even if I try to make her understand that it''s not good to trust everyone, it''ll just be me rambling like an idiot, like it happened with Quinn....'' When we were almost in front of each other, I drifted forward, using the momentum I had built, and made myself a little slower so that Isha could easily dodge, who appeared to be pacing up instead of dodging. "Sh*t." I blurred out. I extended my left arm, caught her by the waist, and stopped the crash. Our foreheads lightly bumped against each other as I held her in my arm and moved forward, the devil''s shotgun in my right hand, towards the horde of Orc warriors. "What were you thinking when you paced up instead of dodging?" I asked her, staring at her in disbelief as our faces were only an inch apart. "... A Cyclops?" I blurred out while looking at her eyes, which seemed to merge into one because our faces were so close. "I''m sorry, Mr. Cyclops. I just remembered a scene from a novel I read when I was a kid." She answered while panting and sweating. I came to a halt 20 feet away from the Orc warriors, let go of the ''she cyclops,'' and looked at the Orc warriors who were staring at us. "Grr.... Gri ririri.... Growrigi... Rigririri." The Orc warrior with the least amount of tattoos came forward and said, pointing his club at Isha. "...." Isha looked at the Orc warriors horde with amazed expression. ".... Do you want to?" I looked at Isha over my shoulder and asked. "Huh? What?" she asked looking at me in disbelief. ".... He is challenging you to a death match with his pride as a warrior on the line." I exined. "You.... Understand them?" she asked with a surprised look. "Yeah well ....." I answered. ''I technically grew up among them.... How would I survive if couldn''t even learn theirnguage and culture?'' I added inwardly. ".... I can''t fight a whole horde by myself..." Isha mumbled while looking at me in daze. "Huh? What''re you talking about? You''ll only fight him in a death match while no one would help you." I exined. "Huh? Won''t they attack me in the middle?" she asked looking at the Orc warriors in disbelief. "Why would they? He is fighting you with his ''pride'' as a warrior on the line which is almost the same as saying ''I''ll die if I lose the match against you''..... well, he''ll still die because it''s a death match, but he''ll die with honour." I exined. "How would I know that?" she grunted. ''Oh! Right, I''m the odd one... And here I was thinking what nonsense she was on about.'' "Right, sorry. If you ept the duel, no one will interfere in it even if you guys were dying." I exined in a simple way. "...." Isha pondered at my words. She stood cross armed while resting her chin on her left fist. "..... Then, I''ll ept a match but not a death match, so I can fight with them as long as the both of us agree for it, with that I''ll get used to fighting and experience fighting against stronger opponents." She thought out loud. "Yea, it''ll increase your endurance too, but they should ept your request first and you should prove yourself as a warrior to them." I exined. ''They are not that strong... ''Berra'' is hundred times stronger than them, in many ways.'' I thought as I remembered a Orc warrior chief from Sector one''s inner parts. ''Chief'' is a title given to those who rule a vige and Berra was an Orc warrior chief who ruled a vige of Orc warriors with about 100 of them living in it. ''I hope they''re all doing well...'' "How do I exin it to them?" Isha asked, snapping me out from my thoughts. "I''ll do that, instead heal and rest a bit while I try exin it to them..." I said and turned to face the Orc warriors. "Haa..." I sighed. ''I hope they''re a bit smarter and not a muscle head like Berra...'' I shook my head and walked towards the horde. Chapter 70 69. The Orc Warrior (2). ?"Griguri guri.... Griguri... Grir giriguri guri...." I said to the Orc warrior who had the most tattoos among the horde. ''It''s always embarrassing to talk in Orc-ishnguage, Dammit Isha!'' "Gr... Ggigu... Grigri." I exined to them that the fight would be a warrior''s match rather than a death match, and it was clear from their surprised expressions that they didn''t expect me to know about the warrior''s match. "Gri....Gruigriguru... rirugirui?" The horde leader asked. ''How do I know theirnguage? I have to exin to them from that? Weren''t they only surprised about the fact that I know about a warrior''s match?'' "..... Grigu... Gruigiru... Grigriruigi." I exined to them that I have a Orc warrior friend who taught me. ".... Girigi?" the Orc warrior with the most tattoos asked the Orc warrior who challenged Isha. ''Do you want to? The leader asked with a prideful aura around him.'' "Guruigu...." the Orc replied. ''Well okay... The challenger said in dejected tone.... Wait! Why am I creating a story in my head? That to with subtitles!??!'' I thought in outrage but did my best to keep a straight face. "Guruiri!" the Orc warrior said as he waved his hand as if he was dismissing his loyal subject. "This..... F**king noob dares?!!.... Even Berra would shudder and think twice before ordering me around, this infant dares to order me??" I mumbled in outrage. "F**king Grui!" I said and released my killing intent strong enough to make them kneel. ''Kneel! you f**king morons!'' THUMP "I''m the one in control, so watch it!" I said, looking around at the Orc warriors who were now on their knees, some with their faces nted in the ground, including the one who had challenged Isha. The Orc warriors nodded even without understanding what I just said. ''Fear, is the universalnguage. And it''s the best when I am the one they fear.'' I walked back to Isha who was staring at the scene unfold in disbelief and awe. "Isha?" I called out, puzzled. "Whoa, if you''re stronger than them why not just you fight me?" she asked looking at me with a puzzled face. "Because I don''t think I''ll fight you seriously." I replied. "Huh? Why?" she asked. "Well, cause it will be ''you'' getting hurt by ''me''.... which may leave a bitter taste in my mouth." I answered avoiding eye contact. "... Ahem, o-okay, I''m ready to fight!" she answered with a determined face while her ears turned red and cheeks turned rosy. ''Why is she.... blushing?? I don''t want to hurt the one''s I''m close with, that to with my own hands....'' I tilted my head, puzzled by her expression. "Well, anyway, they epted it." I answered casting a nce at the Orc warriors who were still kneeling. "Are you sure they ''epted'' it?" Isha asked emphasizing ''epted.'' "If you''re asking me, if I forcefully made them to ept it, then no, he acted like he owned the ce so, I showed who actually does." I answered never taking my eyes off of the Orc warriors. "... If ring would have killed, then they would have died ten times over...." Isha mumbled. "Huh?" I turned to face Isha, puzzled by what she meant. "Your eyes have turned again.... If you can''t keep Control over it, why not just leave them be like that?" she asked pointing at my eyes. "Oh! It''s not me keeping control over them, they just change ording to my emotions." I answered while calming down. "Hmm, I see. Then, why not just try to gain control over them?" she asked while walking towards the kneeling horde. "Because, it doesn''t matter and I don''t want to control my emotions." I answered, noticing her halt for a split second and started to move like it never happened. "...." she walked towards the Orc warriors, silently. "Good luck!" I wished her and didn''t pry into it. "... Thanks." She said. ''why do I get the feeling that she thanked me about something else? Is it just me?'' I stared at her back as she walked towards the horde. ''No, inappropriate thoughts..... Cancelled!'' *** Isha walked towards the horde while thinking about Eshwar''s words. ''Maybe I should stop holding back my feelings too....'' she thought and remembered back about everything that had happened to her since she was a three-year-old, and all of her thoughts only made her hold, on her feelings, much stronger. Her heart and head hurt as old and painful memories resurfaced; she felt as if her heart was being ripped apart slowly piece by piece with each beat, while ss shards pierced it with every other beat her heart made. "Huh?" she felt a cold sensation on her left cheek and noticed a lonely tear had rolled down from her left eye. "Hahaha, they say that the left eye tears up when in pain..... It must be true..." she mumbled in a low voice and wiped the tear off. "Isha!" Eshwar''s voice came from behind. "Huh?" Isha turned before her face returned to that of a calm one. Eshwar furrowed his brows at her as his emotion colours changed simultaneously. Blue and red colours shed while light blue, cyan, red, orange and yellow streaks filled the shing colours. Soon, blue was overwhelmed by dark blue and red whichbined and turned purple. ''Blue indicates sadness, red- anger, light blue- hurt, cyan- disbelief, orange- anxiety, yellow- afraid, dark blue- disappointment andstly, purple indicates pain...'' she thought because of her habit, she described all the colours she saw in her mind. "..... Why the emotional roller coaster?" she mumbled and smiled a bit. "I don''t know whether tough or to cry..." she said. ''Well, it''s good to know that at least someone cares about me....'' For the first time in her life, she was happy about the fact that she could see the colours of other people''s emotions. "Am I the bad guy for feeling happy that he is feeling sad for me?" she turned to face the Orc warriors and asked them with a shaking voice, as a tear rolled off from her right eye. ''Right eye tears up while feeling happy...'' she thought. "It really is true, hahaha." She chuckled and wiped off the tear from her right cheek. "I-I.... I''ll release the one that challenged you while freeing the others enough to spectate....." Eshwar said, stuttering. ''How cute...'' she thought and stood 20 feet apart from the horde. "Grigu... Gririri." The challenger Orc warrior said and stumbled across his way towards Isha. "I hope we have a good fight." She bowed politely at the Orc warrior. "Gruui." He said and bowed nervously before pointing his club at Isha in a prideful way. "Griugiri." He said pridefully as if he had forgotten about the previous humiliation. "...." Isha didn''t understand what it meant, but she nodded and took the same stance as the Orc warrior, signalling the start of the warrior''s challenge. BOOM He dashed at Isha, taking one long step to bring her into range of his club, swung it from behind him, tensing his back, shoulders, and arm muscles for that movement, and swung down the club. BOOM The impact shook the ground and created a crater twice the size of the club, while dust rose up to the Orc''s head level. WHOOSH Isha zoomed out of the dust unscathed, zoomed around the Orc shing anywhere and everywhere she could, jumped and kicked the Orc''s chin with her right in full force, causing a circr wind pressure from the impact. BAM ''He''s sturdy.'' She pushed herself back with a kick on the Orc''s face with her left before dodging the Orc''s wild swing. "Guruigi!" the Orc said with a grin on his face and pointed his club at Isha. [It was just a sh before deciding whether you are worth fighting or not and he just said ''Not bad!''] Eshwar exined about the situation to Isha, telepathically. ''So, now a monster is testing me if I''m worth it or not?'' she asked herself and looked at the Orc''s smug grin which irked her to no end. "Ha!" she scoffed and dashed at the Orc. "Gurui!" the Orc said while it got ready to do the same m it did in the beginning. ''I dodged that the first time, do you it''ll be any different now?'' she thought and gripped her katana. BOOM He mmed his club into the ground, and the same action repeated itself; she zoomed out of the dust dome, but the Orc jabbed at her when she came into his range. ''Sh*t!'' She cursed herself for underestimating her opponent and remembered why they are referred to as ''warriors.'' She did a full split and dodged the attack aimed at her head and jumped back as soon as the Orc retracted his hand. She shed diagonally at the Orc''s chest through the opening created by the jab. Or so she nned, but the Orc saw right through her and simply took a step back to avoid the sh while her sword only met the air. "Growoo!" The Orc yelled, clenching both of his fists, and emitted a blood-red aura, causing small ripples as his ''aura'' oozed out. "Sh*t!" Chapter 71 70. The Orc Warrior (3). ?"Growoo!" The Orc yelled, clenching both of his fists, and emitted a blood-red aura, causing small ripples as his ''aura'' oozed out. "Sh*t!" Isha cursed at her bad luck and jerked back instinctively. ''Aura'' is a power that can only be awakened when fighting to death with their life on line. To date, only 5 known aura users exist in the human domain, and they are the only people who have reached the Rank-SS, which is known to be the human limit. Humans can only release a small amount of aura along with their mana pressure, and that small amount of release is known as aura because they have not experienced or wielded that power, and those who can wield that power are known as ''Aura masters,'' and they are also known as people who have surpassed the limitations of being a human. "Grou!" the Orc yelled and dashed at Isha. He instantly appeared in front of Isha with a shoulder charge and pushed her back. "Ukh!" Isha groaned and coughed up a mouthful of blood. She became dizzy after taking the shoulder charge head on and was about to pass out as she flew back with her head bent back. With her blurred vision, she noticed a white-haired figure standing cross-armed and staring at her with a nonchnt expression. [What? Did you think it would be easy?] Eshwar scoffed at her. [Fight dammit!] Eshwar said in outrage, telepathically. Her blurred vision returned to normal as she spun mid-air andnded on her feet while supporting herself with her hands. She smiled slightly because she had noticed Eshwar''s hands were clenched and his knuckles had turned white while she spun. She stood back up and nced at Eshwar from the corner of her eyes, noticing his emotion had turned dark orange, indicating worry, while he sighed in relief. ''So much for acting all nonchnt...'' she thought as she dashed at the Orc, who did the same and swung his club horizontally, sending a blood red aura arc at her. WHIIISH She reacted by jumping in mid-air before realizing Eshwar was standing behind her and cursing herself for dodging rather than deflecting it by changing its trajectory. She shed at the Orc''s head both vertically and horizontally before turning back to face Eshwar. The Orc leaned to the left and bent his left knee to avoid Isha''s shes, then swung his club as his opponent turned back. "Focus!" Eshwar yelled. His voice echoed, causing the Orc to halt his swing, and all eyes were drawn to Eshwar, who was standing directly in front of the Orc''s blood red aura arc. Eshwar pped the arc downward, splitting it in half and causing it to crumble away before standing cross-armed again, furrowing his brows at Isha, who stared at him in disbelief. ''That''s Aura!'' Isha thought. Eshwar''s palm was covered in blood red me before he stood cross armed, which felt more denser than the oneunched by the Orc warrior. Isha is a mage who takes her pride in mana perception, that was also one of the reasons why she agreed to Eshwar''s nonsensical offer because mana around him was too weak for Rank- AA hero. Isha thought that there would be nothing she had to lose by epting a position as an assistant professor, which was... soon proved to be wrong, as she did almost all of his work of a professor except for teaching.... and she noticed that sometimes he had no mana around him at all. She only needed a nce to realize that what Eshwar had just used was unmistakably Aura. ''Then! Isn''t he the 6th Aura master in the human domain?'' she asked herself. "Focus! You''re in a fight! How dare you take your eyes off of your opponent? Do you know a split second is enough to end a life?" Eshwar snarled at Isha in outrage. ''.... He''s right..'' she thought and turned to face the Orc warrior she was fighting with. "Sh*t...." She mumbled, her gaze fixed on the Orc warrior''s club, which was only a foot away from her head, and stared at the Orc warrior, who looked at Eshwar with a mixture of disbelief, fear, and awe written all over his face. "Hello?" she asked and waved her hand at the Orc warrior. "Grr?" he turned to face Isha and looked bewildered for a brief moment before jumping back on his foot. "..... Grrirug." He said, bowed politely and pointed his club at her again. Isha followed the movements and resumed their fight. [He apologized and thanked you for not attacking him while he was in his trance..... Fight properly! Because your opponent is respecting your fight, which you will ''absolutely never'' find in human domain.] Eshwar exined, telepathically which sounded a bit disappointed. ''Wha.... Right.'' She imprinted that in her mind and fought her fight without underestimating or disrespecting her opponent, which cleared something off her heart and allowed her to fight more respectfully and calmly. * "Ha!" She eximed and shed at her opponent with her first heartfelt sh, which connected without any unnecessary movement, while her mana perception assisted her in noticing that her mana strength had slightly increased and was now, involuntarily surrounding her. [That was a good sh, the stress you have umted seems to be slowly leaving your body.] Eshwar said. ''Why?'' she thought, as if he had heard her thoughts. [Why you ask? Because of what you felt when you shed just now..... You enjoyed that didn''t you?] He replied and asked. ''Yes.'' She thought. [That''s it! Good! sh to your hearts content and enjoy what you want and do what you want!] He said. ''I just have to do that?'' she thought as if she was asking herself. [Do you recall what I told Katline? I told her that I want her to live her life the way I love to live mine. If you''ve seen me, you know that I do what I want and say what I want, but when I don''t have a choice, I do what I think is best....] He said. [However, my friends sometimes know what I''m thinking; I''m not sure how they do that... Maybe because I spent so much time with them?] He continued, as if he was talking to himself, and forgot that he was telepathicallymunicating with her. ''That''s because your face says it all!'' she thought. [.... Well, anyway. It doesn''t matter, live your life the way you want and f**k the others.... Not literally though.] He said. "Hahaha." Ishaughed out loud while panting and shed at the Orc warrior, who had several cuts all over his body and was slowly but steadily healing. She shed diagonally at the Orc''s chest and spun around, giving Eshwar a bright warm smile that changed his emotion''s colour from orange to light orange with streaks of lime green and green colours, while his ears and cheeks turned rosy. ''Light orange- surprised, lime green- mesmerized and green- happy huh...'' she thought amid her smile and pants. The Orc warrior healed all of his wounds while gasping for air as his eyes slowly began to roll back, the Orc warrior had used all of his stamina into healing so that he could continue fighting his opponent. She stopped fighting and respectfully bowed to her opponent; she, too, was tired of fighting and just wanted to flop on her bed while she was lost in her own reverie. Eshwar approached the Orc warrior, stared at him, and bowed politely. "Grirug." He said. "Rigurui." Eshwar said as he grabbed the club used by the Orc warrior, swung it a few times, and pulled out a 3-metre-long red rod. As a thank you, he formed a thickyer of axe head on the rod, creating a massive war axe, and offered it to the Orc warrior who fought Isha. "Grirug!" the Orc warrior epted the axe and bowed respectfully. "Grr rigrrui giri." Eshwar said to the Orc warrior, turned around, and walked towards Isha, his ears turning red as he met her gaze. "Want a potion?" he asked. "..." Isha stood there silently and noticed that the sun was almost down. ".... Did you just notice?" he asked. "Yea, that was fun." She mumbled. "Says the person with broken bones. Ribs, forearm and a dislocated shoulder..." he listed all the damage on her body. "Ack, Ukh!" she started to groan in pain after noticing all the damage, she contained. "Drink this!" he took out a green potion and made her drink it. "You reckless!" he scolded. "What''s that supposed to be? A scolding?" she asked looking at him, dumbfounded. "What am I supposed to do? I don''t know any healthy scolding!" he said with a flushed face. ''How cute'' she thought andughed out loud. "Ahem, I rmend you wearing the t-shirt you wore during the morning...." he said while staring at her forehead. "..... Why? And why are you looking at my forehead?" Isha asked. ".... Um, because I don''t know where else to look at!" He mumbled while staring at the sky, which had turned a bright orange almost the same colour as his eyes. "... You''ll know if you look at yourself." He responded by waving his hand, and an ice mirror appeared in front of her, while the air around it turned visibly white and oozed out of the mirror''s sides, giving it a majestic feel. "..." Isha looked in the mirror and noticed that her clothes were stuck to her skin due to all of her sweat. ".... You perv!" she said with a flushed face and took out the t-shirt she wore in the morning from her inventory. ".... I''ll take that as apliment..." he answered back while he walked off, whistling. Chapter 72 71. Let The Game Begin! ?*** We drove back to Sector five and walked to Isha''s room. "Why''re you following me?" Isha asked with a flushed face. ".... What do mean?" I titled my head, puzzled. "Huh? Why''re you following me back to my room?" Isha asked. "Ah! Ah? I mean we''re going to Vinny''s treat right?" I asked, puzzled by the turn of situation. "What Vinny''s treat?" She asked, puzzled. "Huh?" "Hm?" ".... Vinny messaged me, saying he has nned a treat to celebrate his sessful date with Katline, and he has invited us and the others. Katline appears to being to pick us up, so we''ll apany her." I exined. "... I haven''t checked my smartwatch." She mumbled and checked her smartwatch. "Hmm..." I stood cross armed and let her check her smartwatch. "..... He did send me an invitation and address to the ce reserved." She mumbled. "You wanna join?" ".... You''re going?" she asked looking at her smartwatch. "Yeah, I have nothing else to do..." I said scratching the back of head, embarrassed. "If you leave all your work to me, why would you have any other work?" she asked, furrowing her brows at me with a smile that reminded me of the day she made me run a marathon around Sector Five. "Hahaha." I shuddered and let out dryugh. "... I''ll join if you''re going.... It''s not like I can enjoy anything on my own." She mumbled with a bitter smile. "...." ''Why? I''m sure that I''ve never met her before and haven''t known her for long enough to understand why she''s making that face, but why does it hurt when she makes that face? It''s kinda pissing me off, not knowing the reason why and because I have nothing I can do to make her feel better...'' "... It''s kinda pissing me off.... real bad!" I mumbled out loud involuntarily. ".... What is?" Isha asked. "Just something I don''t know, and every time I try to think about it, it feels like I''m staring at a giant nk te..." I mumbled involuntarily as I pondered. I scratched my chin and jogged back on all of my memories. "Ukh!" I groaned. ''I remember my life from the moment I was born in this world and my life back in the other ''earth'' as ''Eshwar .....'' huh? Eshwar what? What was my surname? My.... I don''t remember my surname?....'' "Grrrraaaa!!" I growled, held my head and stumbled down on to my knees. My body started to feel cold, and my breathing becameboured. I felt every nerve in my body be cold, which quickly spread to every muscle fibre. "Hahahaha, f**k Nhifrogr and his curse like knowledge!" I growled in the midst of my pants and noticed that my breath had turned white as tears flowed down my cheeks and froze before hitting the ground. ''It''s nothing new, but it still hurts like hell, as it always does! '' "Eshwar!" Isha eximed in shock. "Grr-yes?" I attempted to speak, but all I got were growls and squeaks. "It-it''s.... Your magic is leaking out like that day!" she said and started paced around. Only then did I notice that the ground, too, had started to freeze. ''Why does my head feel like it''s splitting apart? Am I weird for thinking about an expression to exin my pain? It feels like my brain is being ripped apart, muscle by muscle, until it resembles a goddamn, intestine! I''m not sure if a brain is like that, but f**k logic! It hurts like hell! Goddamnit!'' "It hurts!" I growled out loud, involuntarily. "Wh-what? Ca-can I help?" Isha asked, stuttering. "Yes! Take me to sector one, please!" I said which sounded more like a beast growling. ''If I exhaust my magic! I''ll be.... No, I can lessen and increase the pain at the same time.... A f**king two in one package!'' "... It''ll be a goddamn massacre in sector one today..." I grinned and growled in a low tone, noticing that my teeth had returned to fangs, which woulde in handy if I ever wanted to rip off a thick monster meat again. "Y-yes? Y-yes!" She said and tried to pick me up like a princess. ''Huh? Why did it lessen?'' "Isha... Could you please step back for a second?" I asked, trying to be as polite as possible, and exhaled a puff of white cold air in her direction. I frowned because I didn''t like what had just happened, even though it was unintentional. "Huh? Ok?" She took a step back, not asking any questions and not caring about what had just happened. "Excuse me, can I borrow your shoulders for a bit?" I asked Isha, gasping and groaning. "Ok...huh? Okay!?!" Isha said with puzzled expression. "Ack!?" instantly the pain returned as soon as she released her hold on me. I stumbled but gathered enough strength to get back up, held her shoulders at arm''s length, and smiled slightly at Isha while gasping for air. I raised my arms in air, releasing my grip on her shoulders. "Ack!?" I groaned and ced my hands back on her shoulders. I repeated my theory several times before realising that Isha had somehow be a cure for my unknown condition. ''How does that make sense? I had this condition since I was a f**king three-year-old! How can she get rid of the pain? Even I discovered it by ident, that exhausting my mana lessens the pain.... How the f**k is she rted to my condition? '' "..... Who are you?" I mumbled in a low tone. ''..... Why? ..... No, who is she exactly?'' With one hand on her shoulder, I took out a cigar from my subspace. I put it in my mouth and lit it up with magic. PUFF When I puffed my cigar, I noticed that the smokebined with my cold breath resembled white foam. "... You!" I red at Isha for a split second before shaking my head and dismissing my thoughts. ''No, she is not rted to my condition.... It''s just a coincidence....'' "Yes?" she asked with a puzzled face. "She looks so cute, hahaha." I thought out loud. PUFF "huh?" she flushed red. "Pfft, what the hell is going on with my novel-like condition? As in a fantasy story where a cursed hero meets his significant other and his curse is neutralised by a kiss..." I thunder bolt struck in my head. PUFF "....." Isha heard my mumbles and was on the verge of bursting out of embarrassment. Standing on my toes, I raised my other hand towards her head, formed some snowkes, dropped them on top of her head, and noticed smoke rise above her head. ''Lol!'' I muttered in my head but kept a straight face. PUFF "Should I try it?" I asked, taking the cigar out of my mouth while trying not tough my a*s off as I watched the smoke rise on her head. "...." she stared at my face with a flushed face for a brief moment, maybe because she noticed that I was teasing her, she furrowed her brows at me and leaned forward towards my face. "..." I flinched and took a step back which she noticed and grinned with flushed face. "...." Isha turned to look at the ground while her face said ''I can''t believe it!'' "Wh-what''s wrong? Y-you kn-know I was just teasing right? Sorry?" I didn''t know why but I knew I was in trouble. "... Go ahead.... You should try everything you can.." she said with her flushed face while her lips trembled and brows twitched. ''I seriously want to take on that offer even if I know she is just joking....'' "Then, don''t mind if I do.." I said and leaned forward a bit. She gulped down loudly and stared at me with her eyes wide open. "How much longer do I have to wait? Are they even ready yet?" Katline voice sounded, grumbling. Isha''s eyes widened but she didn''t move; I, too, didn''t move because Katline''s voice sounded a little far away and I just wanted to know how long she would hold on as I slowly leaned forward and, much to my surprise, I titled my head to my right instinctively but.... "Oi, I''ll leav....." Katline instantly arrived and stopped in her tracks. "Tsk, bad timing, Katline." I clicked my tongue and nced at Katline from the corner of my eye, who had a flushed face and was turning around with stiff movements. She was dressed elegantly in a navy-blue cocktail dress, carried a clutch that matched her dress, and had her hair braided into a twisted crown. "I-I''ll be back in a minute, I forgot something and I didn''t see anything. Ha,hahaha." She said. "Huh? Eh?" Isha snapped out of her daze, looked at Katline with wide eyes and ran back to her room. CLANK BAM "So, what brings you here, dear k.a.t.l.i.n.e?" I asked Katline with a bright smile. "Haha,ha. It''s nothing ju-just a treat after a great date." She said. * "So, you two together now?" I''m sure he''s already told you about everything you''re about to go through." I was surprised, not because they were together, but because it happened a bit too quickly. "Yes, but no, I know I''ll be forced to experience what''sing, but I''m going to enjoy the process..." she replied, brightly smiling. "That''s it! Good!" I nodded in agreement. ".... So, are you guys together yet? I don''t want to intrude on your personal lives, but if I ever find out that you made sister Isha sad, I''m not going to let you go just like that." She said in a firm tone. CLANK "That.... I''ll just take that as a threat but not yet.... She tried to tease me while I did the same but...." I looked at Katline. "But?" she asked, titled her head slightly. "..... Your timing is bad." I said with a smile. "How would I know that you guys were about to kiss?" she said bluntly. "Eh? Ahem!" Isha walked out of her room, flushed, clearing her throat loudly. "Ready to go?" I asked Isha with a smile, causing her tum more red. Isha was dressed in a white turtleneck top, a ck Lenin jacket, ck leather leggings, and a ck chain clutch. ".... Yes." Isha said and walked in front of us. *** In an unknown ce. In a 100-meter-long room that looked like a fantasy novel''s crown room. A man with red hair, crimson red eyes, and sharp facial features sat atop the throne, exuding a menacing presence. "Your Majesty, all of Your Majesty''s pawns are ready to move." A woman with dark brown hair and eyes, dressed in a thinyer of white cloth, stood next to the man on the throne and said with a lustrous expression. "..... Hmm, we need to get rid of those three obstacles to the ''Master''s n.'' He said it was still early but he wanted to nip them off while they were still a bud." The man mumbled with a delighted expression. "Your majesty Azazel." She spoke up. "You may speak." Azazel answered. "Your Majesty, why kill the young bloods? Most of our thralls and some of your majesty''s pawns love them young bloods blood, it would be such a waste," She asked. "..." Azazel raised his brows and red at the woman like she was stupid. "My apologies, if I offended your majesty." She quivered and backed off a bit. ".... Those are the wishes of my master. I''m sending my pawns at them precisely because they love the young blood, they can feed all they want...and..." Azazel spoke with a delighted expression that quickly twisted into an ominous grin. "Somehow ''he'' is involved with them, so this will also help us enjoy the game we started, hehehehahahahahaha!!" he said and startedughing maniacally. "We''ll use the pawns to corner him and watch him break from the inside maybe.... just maybe, his blood mixed with pain and fear will taste like nothing else I''ve ever tasted!!" Haa." Azazel eximed with pleasure at the mere thought of it. "Haa... Mair¨¦ad...." he looked at the woman while sitting atop the throne and his hand raised at her direction. "Yes, Your majesty!" Mair¨¦ad eximed with a lustrous expression as she approached the throne. She ced his hand on her cheek, her hand above his hand, and walked sensually towards him, slowly leaned forward, sat on hisp, kissed him slowly, and offered her neck to him. He grabbed her neck, bit her neck slowly and released her after a bit. "Haa.... Everything.....everything will in my hands, I shall dominate and rule over the board! Hehehehahahahahaha, hahahahaha! Now!" Azazel said andughed menacingly. "Let the game begin!" Chapter 73 72. Attack. ?In sector five, Elmort. ''I feel like an assassin.'' The man sat down at the edge of the skyscraper, crouched, and stared down at his target. He waspletely dressed in ck, with only his eyes visible. They glowed crimson red, and ellipse-shaped red mana concentrated in front of his eyes, allowing him to see what was going on beneath the skyscraper as if he were standing right in front of skyscraper. He turned around and stared at five other assassins who were doing the same thing; they were all visible in almost the size of a pea, but they could see each other thanks to their enhanced mana senses, and when their gazes met, they all nodded in acknowledgment. [Move as soon as theye into view; if you seed, you''ll be rewarded; if not, you''ll be discarded.] A sweet woman''s voice rang out through the earpiece he was wearing. "Why discard us?" The man asked with a frown. [Why? Ha.] The woman scoffed. ''This bit*h still dares!!'' He thought and noticed that the other assassins had almost identical expressions. [Because if you don''t catch ''them'' by surprise, you''ll be discarded by ''him'', and they have already failed the ambush ''him'' once before. You won''t be around to tell the tale of what and how horrifying your encounter with ''him'' was.] She rified. ".... If the target is so strong, why not send the ''Puppeteers''?" He asked while knowing that he shouldn''t be asking many questions, and the consequence would have been that he would be disposed of before he could even do anything. WHOOSH A strong gust of wind hit his face, sending shivers down his spine, and a small cut appeared on his neck, which he only noticed when it stung from the cloth rubbing against it. [Know your ce ''Puppet.'' They sent you because, as I previously stated, ''You. Are. Disposable.'' Now shut it and concentrate on the mission; that was just a warning because you were new.] She rified and warned. "... Yes." He said and gulped down a lump of saliva. ''F**k! Even though I was the strongest of the trainees, I didn''t feel anything until it was over. I''ll die before I know it if I don''t su*k it up.'' He pondered. He leaned forward and focused his attention on his eyes, which appeared to be aze with crimson red mana. He looked down from a skyscraper and noticed that he could clearly read the licence te of a vehicle passing below. ''..... I was thinking about messing with the people who invented this technique?'' He cursed himself and looked at a average looking man with dark brown hair and eyes who stood cross-armed and appeared to be waiting for someone. "Target in sight." He said. [Affirmative, that is priority number three.] She confirmed as if she, too, could see through the man''s eyes. ''If I survive, I''ll never talk back again.'' When he realised that ''they'' were watching his every move, he cursed his own stupidity. "Puppets, take your positions and prepare to attack at my mark." He said it through his earpiece, which was linked to everyone else on the mission. ''Let''s debut, shall we?'' he asked himself and jumped off of skyscraper. "Commencing confrontation!" He said as he began to run down the skyscraper, waved his hand, formed an orange ''Gate'' in front of him, and vanished in it. [If you seed in the mission, reward will be the ''Royal blood.''] she said and giggled. *** Eshwar, Isha, and Katline arrived and stared at Vinny and Jiwoo, who were standing next to each other outside the casino, waiting for them. The casino they were standing in front of was called ''The Trillium.'' It was one of most famous and the only casino which included the use of magic. It was difficult to get a reservation in it, and it was stocked with all of the famous booze that could get a Hero or an awakened drunk. "..... Why''re we here?" Eshwar asked. ''Why do you think?'' Isha thought looking at Eshwar who took a step back. "Why? What''s wrong?" Jiwoo asked with a smug grin. "Haa... Nothing lets go in." Eshwar sighed and walked in to the Casino. "Don''t worry, we''ll be going to the connected hotel." Vinny reassured Eshwar, who looked at Vinny with a face that said, ''that''s exactly the problem!'' ''Why would that be a problem? He won''t lose money by gambling.... He''ll simply drink, eat and talk... I think?'' Isha tried to reason. * The room was fancy, 20 feet long, filled with couches and a single refectory table in the middle, and many old and strong alcohols were shelved in the right corner. Katharine and Violet were already drinking and appeared to be making themselvesfortable. Violet was drinking wine, whereas Katharine appeared to have already chugged a bottle of alcohol. "Hmm..." Eshwar furrowed his brows and stared at the table where many strong drinks were ced, as if he were staring at a long-lost foe. "....Hm?" Vinny stared at Eshwar with a curious look. ''.... Why is he making that expression?'' Isha thought. ".... Pfft." Jiwooughed and broke the silence. "Ahem, mm." Eshwar cleared his throat and sat in one of the corner. * Eshwar had only asked for munching, but he had now drunk one of the strongest drinks, ''Peacon Blizzard,'' twice, which helped everyone present understand why he seemed to be on the edge. "I mean, why you get me drunk, unless you want a beating?" Eshwar asked. He was standing on the couch, holding Vinny''s cor with his left hand and raising his right hand in the air to p Vinny, who was desperately asking for help from everyone whileughing their a*s off at the scene. "That''s what I mean! I request a duel!" Katharine point her index finger at Jiwoo and eximed. "Jiwoo! Help me! Aaa, you crazy basta*d stop." Vinny pleaded and ran around the room while being chased by Eshwar. "Eshwar! I have a theory about what is causing all of the system changes!" Jiwoo said, desperately trying to change the subject because he knew he would be next, as Vinny pointed at Jiwoo several times and med him for getting Eshwar drunk. "Ho! Is this true? I was expecting you toe up with a theory with the new variables in mind." Eshwar came to a halt and turned to face Jiwoo, nodding his head. "I am proud of you my boy!" he said and sat next to Isha who was drinking her wine elegantly. ''... Don''tugh! Don''tugh! Don''tugh!...'' she repeated in her mind, trying her best to notugh at Eshwar. "Ok, let''s here it!" he said and took Isha''s wine ss. "Ah!" Isha eximed. "Hm? Were you licking it, like a cat you are, or what?" Eshwar asked. He looked at the half-empty wine ss, turned to face Isha, and leaned forward towards her face, which was one of the most unexpected and embarrassing moments for Isha. "Wh-what''re y-yu-you d-doing?" she asked, stuttering and leaned back a bit by the unexpected turn of events. ''What is trying to do? Why is he not stopping? Is he trying to kiss? Now? In front of everyone? Why? What? What do I do? Should I stop? Huh? Why am I even asking that question? Do I not want him to stop? Uuwaaa!!!'' Isha screamed inwardly, embarrassed. Isha gave up and tightened her eyes shut. ''OH MY GOD! I can feel his breath near mine!!!!'' Isha was on the verge of exploding from embarrassment. SNIFF, SNIFF "Hm? As expected you haven''t drunk, have you?" Eshwar asked. "Huh?" Isha opened her left eye and saw that Eshwar was still in front of her face, his eyes glowing bright orange with vertical ck pupils. "..." Eshwar looked back at her obsidian ck eyes. "..." Isha noticed that his eyes were off focus but his demeanour told otherwise. ''Where have I seen those eyes before? ''Why do I feel nostalgic every time I look at his eyes, which have turned this way?'' she wondered in her daze. "Ahem." Katline cleared her throat loudly. "Huh? What''s wrong Katline? Did you drink too much?" Eshwar turned to face Katline, leaning against the couch to keep himself from falling on Isha. "Eh?" Isha snapped out of her daze, looked around, and noticed that everyone was staring at them with their eyes wide open and their faces flushed. "Ah!" She pushed him back, forced him to sit back down on the couch, snatched her wine ss from his grasp, and sat up straight, her face flushed into a tomato. "Eh? What about me? Can''t I have that? I mean, you''re not even drinking the wine, Miss Cat." Eshwar said this while looking at Isha with big puppy eyes brimming with mana, while everyone else flinched at Eshwar''s eyes. ''Hm? Why does it look like they''re scared of him? He looks so innocent that I almost want to give him my wine ss....'' Isha thought while ncing at everyone from the corner of her eyes. "No! First listen to the theory, I''ll give this to you afterwards." She said. "Ok.." he said with a dejected tone while his shoulders slouched forward. ''Huhuhu, my experience in handling troublesome kids is finallying to use!'' she thought while the others looked at Isha with amazed expressions and suddenly gave her a round of apuse. * After an hour, everyone had grown ustomed to Eshwar''s predatory eyes as they talked and proposed different approaches to Jiwoo''s theory about the oddity of the system, leaving Eshwar to Isha because he listened to her words while asionally ring at others as if they were his prey. "I mean, What if this individual X knows about the future we don''t? Let''s say that this individual X somehow managed to damage the system and it is increasing its influence here, on earth, to heal or repair back itself?" Jiwoo asked after exining his theory to the others. "But that doesn''t exin why the system wants to lower the number of living, though it may sound normal, its just asking us to kill each other. The first thought that urs to you humans after hearing that is that, now killing will be rewarded." Eshwar answered while staring at the drink in Isha''s hands. ".... Right." Jiwoo muttered while the others nodded their heads in unison and pondered to make a sense out of the situation at hand and they didn''t miss how Eshwar said ''you humans'' as if he wasn''t one. "But we can still consider the theory that somebody has something to do with the system acting oddly." Eshwar said and nced back at everyone, one at a time. "Ok, I want you guys to hunt monsters and became stronger! System''s new function allows you to grow a bit faster, so use it while it''s still avable! Don''t waste your time on something you have no control over and get stronger for what''s toe!" Eshwar said pointing at everyone. "Violet! You too, you have no choice if you want to survive! I know you are strong so get more stronger, if you can''t I''ll be the one calling you ''ipetent'' like you call the others." He said. "...." Violet furrowed her brows at Eshwar. ''She has been silent the whole time like all of it doesn''t matter to her....'' Isha''s thoughts were cut short by Eshwar who abruptly stood up and punched at Violet''s face. "Eshwar!" Isha eximed in shock. "Stop!" Vinny tried to stop Eshwar but he seemed too slow. "...." Katline bound Eshwar with magic while drawing her bow and arrow and aiming it at Eshwar''s head. Eshwar''s legs were tightly gripped by bone hands that protruded from the ground. Katherine and Vinny followed her, drew their weapons, and pointed at Eshwar, but Isha used magic to bind the others, not to stop them, but to keep them safe. "...." Violet''s eyes were wide open as she stared at Eshwar''s fist in front of her face. ''I can, kind of sympathise with her because it appeared to me as a giant''s fist the first time as well.'' Isha pondered. Violet''s eyes welled up with tears as she dropped her wine ss, while everyone else kept their weapons aimed at Eshwar. Katline''s bow was aimed at his eye, Vinny''s giant sword at his neck, and Katharine''s sword at his stomach, while Jiwoo looked around in a daze because everything happened too quickly for him to keep up, his mouth wide open as the alcohol he drank flowed out. Eshwar ignored everyone pointing their weapons at him and leaned in closer to Violet, who was having hups. "You are the ipetent one..." Eshwar said while staring at Violet in her eyes. Chapter 74 73. Violet Tyler. ?Violet Tyler, who is smart, talented, spoiled, and the only heir to one of the top ten guilds, has always thought others were ipetent because they don''t fight the way she wanted. She had Quinn Walker, the academy''s chairman, as her master when she was a child, and though there were others with her, she had always considered herself to be their superior. Her master had also left her alone, which encouraged her to do whatever she wanted; she had always believed that she could do anything as long as her father''s guide was the one who funded the training camp more than the others. She had pictured herself as a guild master, the growth of the guild while under her control, and ordering around her ipetent subordinates to do the work properly while she enjoyed her life. She had pictured and nned all of this while she was still young. Her reason for leaving her house is either the guild or the search for talents. She maintained her contact with Katherine and Isha, intending to have them join her guild once she became guild master. Even in the academy, she kept in touch with all of the top ten who were not from a guild bloodline in order to recruit them to her guild. The new academy professor, ''Eshwar Frost,'' piqued her interest. She had done a background check on him through her contacts and discovered that he was an orphan with great talent, but there was no information on him prior to the age of 15. She was drawn to the idea of having him in her guild because of all the knowledge he possessed about magic and cures for the mostmon problems encountered by active heroes. She discovered that Isha had been appointed as his assistant professor, and she intended to use her to get closer to him. After many meetings, she had resolved to get him to join her guild, even if it meant some losses, and he was one of the people she considered to be petent,'' and she was ready to invest in him if she ever had the opportunity. She epted the invitation to the party because she saw it as an opportunity to meet and get closer to her future guild members. But... "Violet! You too, you have no choice if you want to survive! I know you are strong so get more stronger, if you can''t I''ll be the one calling you ''ipetent'' like you call the others." He said. ''Huh? Who are you tobel me as such? Who are you to tell me what I should do? Know your ce; you''re just one of the people I''m considering hiring, nothing more and nothing less. Why would a supporter ss want to grow stronger? If the people other sses can''t fight, it''s due to their own ipetence!'' she scoffed inwardly, furrowing her brows at Eshwar. ''Did I make a mistake in judging him?'' Is he one of those people who shine on the outside but have nothing on the inside?'' She thought. SWISH Suddenly, she saw a giant''s fistunch at her face, as if it just wanted to crush her. ''I''ll die.'' She thought. WHOOSH A strong gust of wind hit her face as she looked at Eshwar''s fist halt right in front of her face. "You are the ipetent one...." Eshwar said while staring at her in the eye. ".... If you don''t even try to get stronger, that is." Violet didn''t take her gaze away from him for a second as he looked around, but she did follow his line of sight and noticed everyone else pointing their weapons at him. "See? You couldn''t even blink while the others nned and executed their next course of action." He said before turning to face Violet. "...." Violet opened her mouth but only hups came out. ''If he didn''t stop, I would have died without even knowing what happened.'' She realized and shuddered. "Now, Miss Violet, please ept my apologies, but I need you to admit your ipetence and grow stronger, or..." Eshwar said while standing on top of the table, before crouching down and staring into Violet''s eyes. While he was doing so, Katherine''s sword tip bent, Katline''s magic broke like small twigs, and Vinny''s giant sword, which was aimed at his neck, reformed and shrank back into a cracked two-handed sword, giving Eshwar enough space to act freely. "What the ffff..." Jiwoo mumbled in daze. Eshwar leaned in close to Violet''s ear and whispered, causing her to turn pale and shiver. "I apologise for attacking your friend out of nowhere, but it was her fault she couldn''t react to it and I moved using rank-D agility like I did to Katline that day in ss." Eshwar shrugged and turned to face Isha, who sighed and shook her head. Violet lowered her head as tears streamed down her cheeks, bit her lower lip in rage, but did nothing, not that she could in the first ce. ''I''ll kill you the moment I think you are a liability.'' She remembered Eshwar''s words and bit her lower lip until it bled. ? *** After Violet calmed down, we walked out of the casino after I gave Vinny the training sword I got after clearing the Rank- SS dungeon. [Training Wooden Sword [Rank: D] [Type: BROAD SWORD]: Skill: Weight adjustment.] ''It was necessary. A weak person is only motivated to be strong when they have their a*s handed to them.'' I justified myself, trying to shake the bitter feeling I had after doing that to Violet. I wrote her as a strong enough character to rival the main characters, but looking at her now, I can only see her as a waste of talent. Violet is one of the people who improves and get stronger after losing to a ranked vampire once while losing her most valuable guild recruits in the process, and after Max, aka the ''Me'' now, dies in the novel, since I had no ns of dying anytime soon, I had toe up with a way to make her useful. "Oh my!" I gasped, causing everybody to flinch. "What''s wrong?" Isha asked and everybody else stared at me with a dumbfounded face. "... Hm? Nothing?" I dismissed the misunderstanding by waving my hand in front of my face. "Well, should I leave it to them or.... Should I enjoy myself?" I thought and grinned causing ''everybody'' to shudder. (AN: ''thought'' is intentional as Eshwar is drunk and thinking out loud.) "The night is dark, and some street lights are intentionally turned off.... maybe we''ll have ''fun'' there?" I tilted my head and continued to think. "What nonsense? Are you talking to yourself?" Vinny said with a snarl. "Hm? I''m talking out loud? Not in my head?" I asked, puzzled. "Yeah!" he yelled, irritated. "Really? I should be drunk!" I eximed in surprise, recalling drinking something that appeared to be the same colour as my own mana. ".... Was that alcohol?" I looked at Isha, surprised by the realization. "Haaa... Yes, and one of the strongest one at that..." she sighed and mumbled, nodding in agreement. "Well, I can''t do anything if I already drank it.... and if I don''t want to waste it." I thought. "You are talking out loud again.." Isha mumbled and walked towards me, holding my hand and shooing the others away. ".... Hm? I am not getting sober when I''m with her? Then why does it work on my condition?" I pondered. CRASH "Hm?" When I looked across the street and saw that a child had been hit by a truck, Vinny and the others dashed to the rescue while apprehending the truck driver. Isha gripped my hand tightly, her face contorted with rage and concern. ".... Truck-kun strikes again!" I mumbled. Chapter 75 74. Attack (2). ?"Huh?" Isha asked. "Oh? Right! What is your ''Specialized TRAIT''?" I asked, changing the topic. "...''Necromancer.''" she furrowed her brows at me and said in a whisper. "Cure for my unknown condition, somehow I sense myself longing for her and now a ''necromancer''? I only gave that trait to Katline though?" I thought. "Even if she.... No, that should be impossible, maybe she doesn''t want to answer, so she should have lied..." I thought and nodded my head in understanding. "Don''t worry, if don''t want to answer it, don''t answer it, as simple as that." I shrugged. "...." Isha simply furrowed her brows with a slightly flushed face. ".... This dumb... They''ll simply die! Should I give them a warning or should I leave them be and let them experience it?" I thought. "Let''s give them a warning, they''re still kids, except Vinny of course." I mumbled. [Hm? Mic testing. Hello, 1. 2. 3. Check?] I checked to see if everyone could hear me, and they turned around to face me with surprised expressions, confirming the test. [Looks like everybody can hear me... Um, kids take out your weapons, there are enemies waiting for ambush.] I said telepathically. "Isha, I want you to learn how to fight and ''kill'' humans too." I said looking at Isha. "..." Isha frowned for a split second and nodded. Isha, Vinny and Jiwoo did as I told but the others simply looked at each other as if I was making a sick joke before scoffing. "Yeah, right! They told you about their ambush so that only you would be aware of it? Huh?" Kathrine scoffed. "Huh? What bullsh*t is she spouting?" I mumbled and furrowed my brows at her. "Anyway, don''t get in the way of my ''fun.'' If you do... I''ll rip you apart first, then deal with the others." I said. BOOM I charged at Katline, who appeared to be pondering and calcting something. I instantly appeared in front of Katline and locked my gaze on her. "I''ll be disappointed in you if you simply die at the start after I put in so much work and effort to crea-" I was cut short by the sudden appearance of a de which was aimed at my neck. "Ha!" A man in ck eximed while shing with everything he had. I raised my left hand to block the de. "Denied!" I thought. CLUNCK A dull metallic sound reverberated in my ear, which irked me to no end. "Ai." I grabbed the man''s neck and pulled his face close to mine. "Akh!" He began kicking and punching at me while wiggling. "Can''t you see that there''s a ''father-daughter'' like conversation going on? Or are you simply stupid enough to not understand? And..." I asked, my gaze fixed on the man''s. I felt him gulp down in my hand as I held his neck, while the other four ''friends'' surrounded the others in a square shape, while the so-called main characters took my warning seriously and took out their weapons, I ignored them and turned the man''s face to the side, his ear in my direction. "AAAAA!" I screamed in his ear, amplifying it with mana to create light blue ripples aimed at the man''s head. POP The man''s ear drums popped and blood flowed out killing him on the spot. "Tsk, do you understand now how it feels when someone does something loud near your ear?" I clicked my tongue and asked the dead man''s body as his neck slumped down lifelessly, I took that as him agreeing and released him from my hands and the body flopped down like a wet rag. "Damn, I should try my hand at opera." I thought. "Now, bring out your thralls." I said and stretched my arms out, eliciting four surprised expressions from the ck-d men. "I can smell them." I answered their silent question while pointing at my nose. TOOOOT (4x) The four men in ck whistled at a frequency too low for humans to hear but loud enough for me to want to scream in the ears of the rest of them. ''Hmm... A hundred of''em? That''s it?" I half thought, half mumbled as I watched demons, demonised monsters, and mindless humans walk out of four orange gates. ''Demons'' are humanoid humans(?) Anyway, they''re inhumane humans? What the f**k are they? The only difference between them and humans is that they act based on emotions, which are their ''everything.'' Hmm... The more I think about it, the more human they appear, whereas the so-called human behave like demons. Other characteristics that set them apart from humans include their ''aura,'' ''ck'' mana colour, crimson red eyes, frenzy nature, and natural desire to destroy. ''Mindless humans'' are those who have lost consciousness as a result of bing ''Thralls'' of vampires or as a result of the invasion of ''ck'' or ''corrupt'' mana into their mana core. "Hmm.... They don''t look like they''re ''made'' into those, they simply took control? No. No, sane being would want be a mindless human or they could be ''the fiends''!" I concluded. ''The Fiends'' are a Demi-human organization that kidnaps humans and injects them with ''corrupt'' mana, forcing or willingly causing them to be ''demonized'' humans who, like demonised monsters, have no control over themselves and are most likely in a state of frenzy. Those who are able to control the ''corrupt'' mana be Demi-humans; they are an underground ''mole'' organization, the majority of whom are controlled by ''The Graveyard,'' the vampire association. (AN: ''thought'' is intentional as Eshwar is drunk and mumbling everything he thinks.) "Poor people, even after they dered themselves to be ''Demi-humans,'' no one calls them that. Well, even the name ''the fiends'' is wasted on them..." I thought. "Crazy basta*ds, who threw away their sanity for power..." I mumbled. "Hey! You dumbf**ks attack! What the hell are you looking at?" I yelled at Vinny, Jiwoo, Katharine, Katline and Violet who stood in daze. "I''m more disappointed in Vinny though, that dumbf**k literally returned from the battlefield, now is standing in daze in front of the enemies." I thought. "If it was me, I would have killed everyone here, at least, hundred times over." I thought. ? "Hyyaaammm~mm." I yawned as my shoulder slouched forward. "I''m bored..." I mumbled and grinned. "Please, stay alive and scream to your hearts content; I''ll kill anyone who manages to hit me once, p.a.i.n.l.e.s.s.l.y." I said and dashed at the small army of ''The fiends.'' A pistol materialized in my left and the devil''s shotgun in my right. "It''s my shotguns debut today." Chapter 76 75. Attack (3). ?Katharine, who had overheard Eshwar''s ramblings, learned about her enemies, so did Vinny, Jiwoo, Violet, and Katline, but only Jiwoo and Vinny moved first. ''This idiots, didn''t they hear Eshwar? They are ''the fiends!'' they don''t know pain! They have only one thought and that is to destroy!'' Despite her words, she smiled as she gripped her sword and dashed at her enemies. "Well, we just have to kill them!" She yelled. SWISH SSHUPP "Huh?" In disbelief, Katharine watched her sword be stuck at the enemy''s neck where she attempted to sh. BOOM PLAT Her sword was drawn as the fiend''s head exploded from the bullet Eshwar fired from his pistol as he dashed to the location where Isha was surrounded by ten fiends. ''At least he is helping us...'' She thought and was immediately proven wrong. Eshwar dashed towards Isha and halted, standing cross-armed with his head resting on the barrel end of the shotgun and yawning. "Isha is not fighting properly, I wonder why..." Eshwar said with azy look on his face. ''Oh,e on!'' she squinted her eyes at Eshwar who seemed really bored. ''I thought he was joking!'' she grumbled inwardly, until.. BAM A demonized goblin appeared out of nowhere and headbutted her in the abdomen. "Ukh." She leaned forward in reflex and drifted back. When she raised her head to look at the goblin, she discovered its fist next to her face. BAM "Ugh!" she groaned. ''BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP'' Her mind went nk as her vision got blurry. She stumbled around, trying to regain her vision and bnce, but the goblin abruptly appeared in front of her and head-butted her abdomen again, which helped her regain her vision due to the pain while coughing up a mouthful of blood. ''I think, my ribs are broken...'' she thought, trying to regain her footing. She stared at a meter-long monster, the stomach and legs of which had turned ck due to the corrupt mana. It demonstrates where the corrupt mana is used more frequently. ''Why are it''s legs ck and why is it so fas-'' Her thoughts were cut short when the demonised goblin appeared in front of her and punched at her jaw. ''I''ll lose my consciousness if I get hi-'' her thoughts were cut short, again. BOOM (4x) PLAT The demonized goblin''s head exploded once more, sttering goblin flesh and blood on her face, and she knew what caused it. ''I want to puke my guts out!'' she thought, turned around and looked at the others, who were also covered in the flesh and blood of the demonised monsters they were fighting, with only Vinny doing better than the others. "Hyyyaamm, alright, listen here!" Eshwar yawned and waved his hand, indicating that they should look at him. "Lesson 1, the ck spots here indicate that this monster is an agility type. Because of the location of the mana core, ''corrupt'' mana is usually stationed ording to the monster''s characteristics and starts from the stomach." Eshwar grabbed the demonised goblin''s body, which Katharine had been fighting until a moment ago, and exined while pointing to the ckened areas. "Questions?" he asked after hepleted his exnation. ''That''s it? it''s too simple though?'' Katharine thought. "Yes, even it''s too simple, that''s all there is to it, what else do you want to know? The anatomy of the goblin?" Eshwar asked with sneer. "Hmph." Katharine snorted and crossed her arms. "Now, get back to work." He shooed them, turned to face a man covered in ck clothes. "The adults will talk in the meantime." He said and walked towards the man, he flinched and took a step back. ''..... Kinda cool, I guess?'' she thought and dashed at the other demonized who had only ckened at the stomach areas. *** Isha, who was dealing with ten fiends at the same time, found them easy to handle because she fended off most of their attacks while tanking some that were not aimed at her vitals. [You have to get hurt to get stronger!] Eshwar said telepathically. ''I know.'' She thought. "they are easier than the Orc warrior, I fought." She said which was barely a whisper but she said that to Eshwar. [.... You are taking damage, exactly because of your naive thinking. How long can youst like that? If you were fighting a vampire thrall, you would have died the movement you bleed!] Eshwar said. ''... He''s right '' she realized and shuddered. She had no prior experience fighting a vampire or a thrall, but she was aware that a vampire uses blood rather than magic and that a simple paper cut could make a difference in a fight between a human and a vampire. [Now, I want to you to stop defending and start dodging instead.] Eshwar said, and it was almost certain that Eshwar was asking her to do the impossible. [Its not impossible.] He said in azy tone. BOOM (5x) PLAT (5x) 5 fiend heads with human faces exploded in front of Isha, but a light blue shield shielded her from being covered in the fiends flesh and blood. ''Why?'' she thought, until... SSIIISSSS "Huh?" She looked down at the ground and noticed that it had begun to sizzle due to the blood of the fiends. ''Note to self: Be careful of the blood of a fiend.'' She thought. She turned around to face the other fiends who never left her range, sheathed the Ice Blood Katana, and ced it back in her inventory. BAM (2x) "Ukh." she was punched in the shoulder and abdomen, she clenched her teeth and took a step back to avoid the fiends attacks. [I''m pretty sure, I didn''t say you shouldn''t move... Now, that''s something impossible.] Eshwar said. ''I''m an idiot!'' Isha cursed herself for being so stupid and began to take single steps to avoid the attacks. [Exactly!] Eshwar said. "What for? For my stupidity or for doing an excellent job of dodging?" she mumbled. [The former, of course. What else did you think?] He said while chuckling. ''You! Let''s see who get thestugh next ti-'' Isha''s thoughts were cut short by Eshwar. [I''ll be back in a minute.....] Eshwar said. "....So, I''ll have to look after the baggage." She mumbled to herself, thinking he had left and nced at Vinny, Jiwoo, Katharine, Katline and Violet. [Exactly.] Eshwar said with a chuckle. "..... Erase that from your memory." She said. [Imprint? Ok, I''ve imprinted it in my mind as per yourmand.] Eshwar said and giggled. "You!" she turned red from embarrassment. ''I''ll get you back, for this and the k-ki-ki....'' she turned into a red tomato. [Oh my! Someone is having a naughty thought, I wonder who it is? Do you know Isha?] Eshwar said in a glee. Chapter 77 76. Rainfall. ?A while after Eshwar left. Katline, Vinny, Jiwoo, Katharine, and Violet had banded together and battled both fiends and demonised monsters. ''Where did Eshwar go?'' It''s already been ten minutes!! And why is sister Isha only dodging?'' Katline mulled. SWISH (2x) Katline fired two arrows which bounced off of the fiends heads while Vinny quickly followed Katline and shed the fiends heads off while retrieving the arrows she fired. ''Good!'' she thought. Her job was to alert her friends if the fiends and demonized monsters came forward, escaping the range of the others, because after a few tries, she discovered that her arrows could not pierce through the hardened muscles of, neither the monsters nor the fiends. Katline and Violet stood at the end with their backs to a wall, while the others fought the fiends and demonized monsters, keeping them at bay. Violet had buffs on her friends, and Katline fired arrows at monsters that got past the others, hoping that her friends would be able to sh them if they had the chance. If they are unaware that the monsters have gotten past them, she would then fire at the monsters they are fighting in order to alert them to the presence of the monsters. Jiwoo shed off the heads and limbs of the monsters charging him, Vinny shed violently, at times strong enough to cause the monsters to explode or create a crater on the ground, and Katharine was a mix of both Jiwoo''s and Vinny''s attacks, some blunt, crude, but enough to keep them in check before shing again. ''Around 20 of them are killed, approximately.'' Katline thought after giving up on the perfect count of the monster''s dead bodies. ''Goddamnit! Where did Eshwar go when you need him?'' Katline thought as slowly monsters swarmed them. "Sister Isha! A bit of your help here, please!" Katline yelled loud enough for Isha to hear. BOOM (2x) PLAT (2x) ''Thank god!'' Katline eximed inwardly as she rolled her eyes. "Hello, I''m back?" Eshwar''s voice came from in between of two high buildings. ''!'' ''Wh-what? What''s with that blood? Why is it sttered on him?'' *** After teasing Isha for a while, I followed the men as they dashed into the shadowy space between the two tall buildings. "Do they believe they''ll have an advantage in the dark because they''re dressed in ck?" I mumbled and followed them, my shotgun rested on my shoulder. I walked into the gap with a yawn, walked inzily until only one of them was in front of me, he turned and looked at me as his mask stretched a little and his eyes arched. "Look, considering the circumstances, I''d say you''re wearing a smug grin, but I rmend you stop because your face looks like you''re struggling to get a big sh*t out..." I said, pointing to his face. "You!" he roared. "Hhhyyyaammm~mm.... I''ll ask the same question as I asked thest batch..." I said. "Well, too bad for you; we won''t say who sent us, but I''ll say they sent us to kill yo-" He was cut short. "Hmm... I know this dialogue, ''I gave you the reason because you''re going to die anyway!'' Well, reverse uno for you; my question is, did they warn you before you came here?" I asked. "...." He squinted his eyes, making the same expression he had made before, and the same expression that everyone else had made before him. "... Do they teach you that or what?" I asked, taken aback by the repetition of the same expression on everyone''s face from before. "....." He red at me while his eyes glowed crimson red. "A fiend, huh?" I thought. "Give me the earpiece for a bit...." I said. The man flinched and took a step back, tensing his hand''s muscles as ck ws grew from his fingertips, blending in with his ck outfit. "Hm? I''ll take that as you refusing to hand it over voluntarily." I said and took a step forward, I grabbed the earpiece and slit his neck below his ear with my pinky finger and I stood back at the previous location. "Huh?" The man eximed in shock and looked around to see what had just happened. I ignored him, ced the earpiece in my ear and heard a woman sigh. "Hello, darling! It''s you again! What a pleasant surprise." I said with a smile. [Haa..] the woman sighed again. "How many times does this make?" I asked because everything an ambush took ce, I did the same thing every time and heard her voice giving orders to the assassins. [... About the 10th? I think so...] She answered. Her answer left the other men bbergasted. "You have to improvise their training methods! How will I enjoy if you only send weakling? Huh?" I asked. [.....] She didn''t say anything. "Did you warn them before sending?" I asked. [... Yes, that they wouldn''t leave another day if they don''t take you by surprise.] She answered. "Lol, how could you every take me by surprise? Anyway, can you see me? At least this time?" I said in a dejected tone. [Yes, we can!] She abruptly roared. "Don''t be so angry. Even if I was the one who gave you the idea, it was for your own good!" I said, leaving everybody bbergasted. [.... How so?] She asked. "Haa.... You''re dying my shotgun''s debut, you know?" I sighed. I could feel that she was doing her best to hold her anger back. "What do you mean, how?" I''ll make you feel the pain just by looking at them scream; the moment you close your eyes, you''ll remember the sensation and improve your tactics, at least the next time, and send at least a hundred rank- A''s." I grinned the thought. (AN: WARNING!) "Now, a note of warning: I''m sorry if you have a vivid imagination. As an example, consider a skin peel near the nail!" I warned ''everyone.'' "Now, it''s your turn to feel it." I grinned and approached the man, who was staring at me in bewilderment and fear. "Do you know..." I asked loudly, snapping him out of his trance. "Y-yes? You!" After snapping out of his trance, he asked, took a step forward, andunched himself at me. Others who hid in the shadows slithered out and wed at me; they had formed a star around me; I released my right arm and the shotgun vanished from it; I kicked the ground and jumped high, doing a spun flip as the wind around me turned white and spun around me, which was mesmerizing even to me. ".... I should try my hand at dancing too." I mumbled. "I''ll ask again, do you know... how they tame an elephant?" I asked, grinning. They wed at me without even responding; I noticed w marks on their hands and realised they have no teamwork and have done everything on their own up to this point. "Trash, trash, trash, trash and finally, trash." Every time they got close to wing at me, I flicked my index finger on their forehead while taking a step back to avoid them all. [.... He is ying with them!] The woman whispered in rage, which wasn''t much of a whisper because of her rage. The first three were the first to uptake and move in a coordinated manner, after a while the two behind them began to move in unison and moved behind me, leaving me with no way out. I jumped up and did a front flip in mid-air,nding behind them, turned around, and raised my brows at them. They weren''t dazed for long this time and dashed at me, wing while moving in unison. "Good, good! Now, answer my question before I fall asleep, please." I yawned, taunting them. "... We f**king don''t know!" a man roared while wing. I grinned. [....] ".... You''ll get to know then!" I came to a halt, raised my hand above my head, they all followed my hand and noticed a wave of white cloud-like smoke hovering over them, with small ss-like needles visible if they looked closely. "...." I waved my forward and unleashed the spell. The needles vanished from view as the cloud moved up, piercing all of them but only by half, all of the needles were stuck on them and had turned them into human porcupines. "Agr?!" "Uck!?" "Gaa!" They groaned and realised they weren''t in much pain but couldn''t move because their bodies were numb from the cold needles. "Oh! I''m supposed to announce the name! Teehee." I did a anime girl action. "Ahem, Rainfall!" I said firm demeanour, ignoring what happened before, leaving everybody bbergasted. ".... I''ll be teaching you only once because you''ll be choosing death instead. And that, I assure you." I red and crouched down at them. "... You too, will close your eyes once you see this." I mumbled, pointed my index finger at them with my palm facing upward and closed it back, their hands raised into the air because I manipted mana and lifted their hands up. "Rainfall." I mumbled it aloud this time, and five needles appeared in front of their index fingers; they gasped and began to wiggle out of it, but nothing else moved except their heads. [Ugh, No!] The woman muffled yell was heard from the earpiece. "... You guys understood! Hehehehahaha." Iughed maniacally. "Yes." I said and slowly needles descended in between their nails. "Graaaa!!" they yelled in unison. [... Stop, please stop!] She said, sounded like she had clenched everything that could curl. "No." I said, and more needles appeared, 5 pairs of hands raised in the air, three needles aimed at each finger, and they descended even more slowly this time. "Graaaaaaaaa!!!!" They screamed, their faces filled with horror as veins popped up, tears, snot, and saliva streamed out, covering their faces. [ZZZT] the call ended. "And, that''s how an elephant is tamed my folks." My shotgun materialised in my right hand as I spoke. I approached them, pointed my shotgun at them, and saw relief in their eyes. "You dare mess with me?...." I asked because I knew they would still be watching. "I''ll soon send your higher ups to you, don''t worry." I said and fired my shotgun. "Grrraaa!" "Huh?" Chapter 78 77. The Devils Shotgun. ?"I''ll soon send your higher ups to you, don''t worry." I said and fired my shotgun. "Grrraaa!" The shotgun suddenly growled, and its handle sprouted thin ck tentacles thatpletely covered my right arm, and small thorns pricked as they grew on the tentacles, which resembled the thorns of a rose. "Huh?" I eximed in disbelief, as white smoke rose from the gaps between the tentacles. ''My arm is turning cold? It''s not transforming, what''s going on? Devil''s shotgun or what not, this shouldn''t be happening?" half thought, half mumbled and red at the shotgun. "You dare prick on your master?" I released my mana pressure and focused on my right arm. "Grrraura?!" it grumbled and I felt it''s feelings. "No, you''re not going to prick on me even if act cute and your tone is making it creepy rather than cute." I said, continued to focus on my right arm and it slowly released with a pout. ".... Why are all sentient beings with me behaving this way? And why do I have the impression that this shotgun was always mine to begin with? Why am I even thinking of it as a ''being'' rather than a ''thing'' or a ''tool'' in simple terms..." I pondered. ".....Ai rascal, focus on the enemies first, I''ll figure out what you areter...." I said to the shotgun. "Gruu." Its tentacles spiralled out, all ends aimed at and piercing the enemies, blood sttered everywhere, and I had an ufortable blood bath. "Well, f**k you too! Why''re you feeling happy about it?" I grumbled. "Aren''t you supposed to be a shotgun? I don''t know any shotgun that would be able to do that." I asked while pointing at the.... "Hmm.... What is that though? It definitely looks like something that should be censored but what the heck is that? Too gruesome and gore.... Damn, it''s too much even to my standards." I mumbled and turned back. "Ah! Ai, work like a shotgun once in a while, will you?" I snorted at my shotgun, receiving a joyful growl which almost sounded like a cat''s purr. "What''s with me and the cats? First, Erebus, next Isha and now a shotgun?" I mumbled while counting it down on my fingers. "Well, at least, act like a shotgun in front of witnesses." I mumbled and walked out of the gap. "Sister Isha! A bit of your help here, please!" Katline''s voice was heard as soon as neared the end. "Damn, too weak!" I mumbled as the pistol materialized in my left. BOOM (2x) "Hello, I''m back?" I began enthusiastically and ended in disbelief as I looked at exactly 31 fiends and 43 demonized monsters still alive, everyone flinched as they looked at me, but Isha shed off the heads of the fiends whose attacks she had been dodging up until now, she nced at me as soon as I walked out then, snapped her head in my direction, and looked at me with a worried look. "..... Are you alright?" Isha asked. "Whoa! That''s definitely new. Goddamn! I didn''t know that someday there would someone worrying about me!?" I thought and stared at her in pure disbelief. "...." Isha just stared at me after her twitched once. "Yes, of course I''m alright." I said with a wave of my hand. "And you, you damn weakling!" I red at Vinny who was ''fending off'' the monsters. "Huh?" he looked at me with a puzzled expression. Iunched myself at Vinny without making a sound, appeared in front of his face, and snatched the training sword from his grasp. The others flinched and looked at me in disbelief. "You dumbf**k, this how you use it." I red at him as I raised the training sword behind my back. I turned to face the monsters, poured mana into the sword, and shed it horizontally before changing its weight to a ton. SWISH SLASH SPLURT (74x) A light blue arc wasunched at the monsters, cutting them in half, and those who were not in the range of the light blue arc were cut off by the wind de produced by the sword''s weight after the sh before the light blue arc even disappeared. BAM Following the sh, I did a 360 with the sword''s weight, gradually lowering the force until the sword''s tip fell to the ground with a loud ''bam'' and a small web-like crater appeared beneath it. "The training sword''s skill is ''weight adjustment,'' which means you can change the weight of the sword when you swing it! This also means that depending on how you use it, it may be nearly impossible to block this sword! You f**king retard! You''re a rank-S hero, aren''t you?" While ring at him, I exined and asked. "..... I am an S rank, but I don''t have any mana!" he yelled in outrage which almost matched mine. Almost though. "Oh please, you ''know'' that you ''can'' use mana. ''You'' are just a retard who just can''t control it and someone who just doesn''t want to, at least, try and control it just because you are ustomed to ''your way of a retard.''" I said. "...." he stood silently while ring at me. "Why don''t you deny what I just said? Huh?" I asked with a smirk. "Because, it is a ''fact'' and you know it." Ipleted my words. ".... You..." he said ring at me. "Haaa.... I''m just tooooooo disappointed in you, I definitely showed you that you can use mana, did I not?" I asked, staring at Jiwoo. ".... Y-yes." He answered, stuttering. ".... If you don''t know where to start, just ask me dammit, I your goddamn professor and a ''professor'' for a goddamn reason!" I said in outrage. "F**kin basta*ds, can''t even ask something to someone before ignoring the problem...." I grumbled as I handed back the training sword to him, turned around, and smiled brightly as I walked towards Isha. "..... Done?" she asked. "Yes, of course." I said. "Yes, I taught him how to use mana, if he continues to ignore the problem after all this, I''m thinking that I should just ignore him and leave him out of it while looking for someone else to y his role for me." I thought. ".... I don''t need to find somebody, do I? I just have to get stronger myself!" I mumbled and suddenly felt something warm on my left palm. I flinched and pulled out my hand before turning back to look at what was it. "...." Isha stared at me with nonchnt look but her brows which were twitching told me otherwise. "Haha, ha, hahaha." I let out dry while scratching the back of my head, embarrassed and rxed my arms after my shotgun disappeared into my right arm. DING [Warning!] [The devil''s shotgun has been forcibly cut off from the skill: Link.] "This...! Haa." I sighed, waved my hand and dismissed the notification pop up. Chapter 79 78. Broken Reminiscence (2). ?"This....! Haa..." I sighed, waved my hand and dismissed the notification pop up. I looked up at the night sky as a cold breeze blew around me, perhaps because of the strong mana around me, the sky looked simply breath-taking, stars were visible, and the crescent moonplimented each other..... "..... ''Strong'' mana?" I mumbled and furrowed my brows at the night sky. "What''s....? Huh? Why is mana so strong around here?" Isha asked in a suspicious tone. BOOOOOUUUUUUNNNNNNGGGGGHH A strange sound erupted from nowhere, and ripples appeared in the night sky, pushing the clouds aside. "Gaaa!!" I screamed in agony as sharp pangs ripped through my body and ripples formed on my skin. Each ripple was a light blue wave that revealed my other form, my hands began to crystallize, and the air around me chilled, turning visibly white while causing ripples all around from my body. The light blue gradually began to turn pale pink and continued to do so until it became bright neon pink, causing the ripples to be stronger. DING [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 10.] [SYSTEM INFLUENCE IS: 55.] [NEW!] [MANA DENSITY INCREASED!] [MONSTER''S [LEVEL] INCREASE BY 2.] Then they abruptly stopped, and ripples moved back into my body in reverse, causing pain beyond my ability to express. "Gaa, God.... Dammit... I was.... proud of... my pain tolerance... It hurts!" I screamed in pain amid groaning, panting and sweating. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes to deal with the pain, but it only got worse with each passing millisecond, and the pain suddenly doubled. "Guh..." I screamed but no sound came out, I felt everything hurt, and I noticed I was covered in something golden, like gold mes, and the golden hue was mixed with something pitch ck, but neither the golden hue nor the pitch ck lost its colour. The source of the golden hue gradually faded into the pitch ck that was thest thing I saw before passing out. *** Isha grabbed Eshwar''s hand as soon as he screamed, noticed his body spasming more by the second, and slowly light blue ripples appeared on his body and showed other his form which she saw in her memory which she considered to be lost. She became concerned and released her ck mana to shield them from the gaze of the others, while tightly gripping his hand but his hands were wide open due to the pain he was feeling, which hurt her because she couldn''t do anything but hope for the best. She also noticed that the ripples that were on his body before, began to form from his body. Ripples, too, began to increase by the second, gradually turning from pale to bright neon pink, then abruptly stopped and seeped back into his body, suddenly lighting him in a neon pink me that instantly turned golden. ''This!'' Isha thought as her lost memories began to sh in her head like images, Isha''s feelings and thoughts became imprinted in her mind and body. She recalled her love for the crystallised being and his cold yet warm emotions, her magical maniption techniques, her hatred for humans, her magical strength, her flow of divinity, her revulsion for divine beings, and finally the agony of losing her only hope and love right in front of her. "Aaa!!" she held her head and screamed, from all the emotions she suddenly remembered, those emotions broke her more than they helped, because her ''past'' life hadn''t been any different from this life, as everyone only wanted to use her for their own purposes, and all the lies of love the people around her showered her with, including her own parents. Her hatred for humanity grew with each day she spent in her father''s pce who was a ''Marquis,'' and the lust in the eyes of the servants who served in her mansion, and the lust in the eyes of the King as her father tried to sell her to the crown in the name of making her the ''Empress.'' All the truth her ''eyes'' revealed were far worse than she could ept. Herst day in the mansion and her pet who was also a maid, the maid had long white hair, bright blue eyes, and pale skin with soft curves, and the same woman who assisted her in fleeing the mansion and dying in the process. Her agony while dying, which she shared with Isha because of their bond. She remembered everything, and they only broke her more and more, to the point where her losses drove her insane. After her losses, she ignored contact with humans and concentrated solely on her magical research, eventually bing a God after meeting Eshwar, whom she loved and received love from the bottom of their hearts, and her hatred for divine beings who betrayed her after bing the most powerful and true Gods, by killing her loved one. All of her emotions, thoughts, and memories tore her apart, but they also made her stronger as she remembered her promise and the curse she inflicted on them. "This is divinity?" She mumbled in the midst of her headache, which was turning into lightheaded, back and forth from one second to the next. ''Did his body retain divinity during the final movement after the descent of the six heavenly pirs?'' ''She wondered as his divinity slowly began to cruise into her body. "Huh?" She observed her body healing and storing divinity around her heart. She felt light after the divinity healed all of the stress she had umted in her life and all of the damage in her body that couldn''t be healed. WHOOSH Suddenly, Eshwar''s body released his pitch-ck killing intent, shing with the divinity in his body and slowly bing the source of the divinity. ''.... His pain, anger and loathe is fuelling his divinity?'' she stared at the phenomenon take ce in awe and disbelief. "..... Maybe just like the divinity, only his other form and soul remembers his anger at the divine beings." She mumbled. "Guh...." Eshwar screamed for thest time before losing consciousness, but the killing intent his body released was increasing more by the passing second. ''Yes! Take me sector one, please!'' she suddenly remembered his request which he made while he was in pain. She remembered the moment they were about to kiss as well, but she knew that now was not the time to be flustered, so she lifted him like a princess and dashed towards sector two because she knew that if she didn''t gain control of the divinity that rested around her heart by tomorrow, she would die, and the same was true for Eshwar, but his body had already taken control of the divinity in some way. "I know it''s not the right time, but I can''t help but be flustered...." she mumbled with a flushed face while dashing towards the Switch academy to get his bike. Chapter 80 79. Reminiscence. ?After she found the bike. "Eshwar! Hold on(?)" She said and noticed he was just slumped on the back seat of the bike, his body oozed out killing intent and bright purple mana coated around him. BOOOOOUUUUNNNNGGGGGHH Another ripple formed in the night sky, and mana density began to rise noticeably, apanied by a slow but steady rise in pressure caused by all the dense mana in the air. ".... If it goes on like this, then normal people of this world will die!" She mumbled while her memories of the past and present were still forming a ce in her mind, which perplexed her to no end. Now, she only had Eshwar to rely on, and she knew him well enough to put her trust in him at all times. "Well, I don''t think this life is any better or worse than my previous one." She said as she sat on the bike. ".... This.... Haa...really?" She mumbled and jogged her memories in an attempt to find an alternative to her situation, but she came up empty-handed. VROOOM With a flushed face, she started the bike and returned her gaze to Eshwar, who was simply slumped on the seat, leaning against Isha''s back. She grabbed Eshwar''s hands, pulled forward, made him hug her, and checked to see if he was in an ufortable position before sitting down, cing her hands on the bike handle, and drove towards sector two before noticing that his hands had slid down and now rested near her belly button. "Ha!?" she eximed in surprise and nced back at Eshwar. VROOM "... E-Eshwar? A-are y-yu-you awake?" she asked stuttering but was met with silence as Eshwar''s head rested on her back with afortable look on his face. ".... Somebody, he-help me!" she mumbled and drove faster as her body heated up making Eshwar morefortable in the process. ''It''s gonna be a long night for me...'' she inwardly cried. ".... Guh!" Eshwar groaned in pain and his body started to turn cold. "Huh?" she dismissed her thoughts and drove faster. * Eshwar''s body had turned as cold as a block of ice, and his cold body had hurt and burned Isha''s skin; if it hadn''t been for the clothes she was wearing, the blood on her back would have frozen because he had rested on her back. "Ack!" Isha gritted her teeth and rode towards the spot she fought the Orc warrior. She needed sheer willpower to resist her bodily instincts and shake Eshwar off her back. VRO-VROOOM She came to a halt, got down, and noticed that a massive snake had formed from all the killing intent he had released; its scales were a mix of blood red, ck, deep blue, and deep purple, but the purple colour was more dominant than the other colours from the previous time. Last time, the colours appeared to be in harmony, but this time they appeared to have merged and formed a deep violet. However, a white snake that had slithered and wrapped itself around his neck was more dominant than the giant snake formed by his murderous intent. "Grr..." Eshwar let out a low growl. Isha now noticed that his fingers had turned into ws, but they were ck and twitched uncontrobly before abruptly halting, lit in bright golden me like hue and burned everything ck until his hands turned to clear light blue crystal-like ws and returned to normal, and his body released cold air as his body returned to normal from that of a cold one. "Eshwar!" Isha called out and held his hand. "Arg!?" Eshwar groaned, holding his head. "Are you alright? Do you need a potion? Does it hurt somewhere? Do I have to call someone? Sh*t, I brought you here thinking it would help you, it''s all my faul-" Isha began ming herself for being confused by her memories of the past and for not being able to protect him from the divine beings, for not asking him to stop when some things didn''t seem to be going right before Eshwar cut her short. "Frist, I''m alright. Second, ask one question at once. Third, no, I don''t need a potion. Fourth, no, it doesn''t hurt anywhere. Fifth, no, you don''t have to call someone. Sixth, I asked you to bring me to sector one not sector two. So now, how is that any of your fault?" Eshwar answered to all of her questions and asked. "Thank you! Thank you for being alive!" Isha hugged him tightly and started to sob. "Um, yes, thank you and your hug is.....fortable (?) but you didn''t answer my question yet." Eshwar said and returned the embrace with a flushed face. ''Huh? Why is his body getting hot?'' she thought and pushed herself back to look at Eshwar and noticed that his face had turned into a red tomato. ''Oh! That''s what he meant byfortab-'' Isha stopped her thoughts with a flushed face and understood why he returned her hug in a bit awkward manner. "S-sorry, I didn''t mea.... No, I didn''t realiz....W-well, s-sorry anyway." She said stuttering. "...." "...." ".... Anyway, my question''s answer?" Eshwar asked after a brief moment of awkwardness. "Huh? Yes, no, I mean no." She answered. "..... And now, here''s my next question." Eshwar said with serious face, looking at her in the eye. "Yes." She nodded and let him continue. "You..... Who are you?" Eshwar asked as he stared at her with a desperate and worried face. "Huh?" Isha stared at him, thinking of the worst possible oue as tears welled up in her eyes. ''Did he lose his memories as soon as I gained mine? Don''t I have another chance in this life? Did he forgot our, though insignificant, moments together? We haven''t even started dating and our ship started to sink? I swear, I''ll kill those divine beings! Can''t I help him? Can''t I hold on to him? Can''t I-" Isha''s thoughts were cut short by Eshwar who raised his hand to stop her. "..." Eshwar just stared at her in a puzzled expression. ".... Eshwar! It''s me Isha, don''t you remember m-" Isha started to ask confirmation but was cut short again. "Stop! What the heck are you talking about? I asked because you are somehow rted to my condition." Eshwar said perplexed by the situation. "Huh? Eh? Didn''t you forget who I am?" Isha asked and appeared to be more puzzled than Eshwar was. "What? Why the hell would I forget ''my interest''?" Eshwar asked, bit his tongue and blushed violently. "Eh? Thank you?" Isha thanked Eshwar and tilted her head. "Eh?" Isha eximed after understanding what he said and she, too, blushed violently. Chapter 81 80. Theory (2). ?*** Before night sky rippled. Jiwoo was still thinking about Eshwar''s words and found them quite convincing; he had been around Vinny and noticed that he had spent all of his time trying to get Katline back together with him but had never trained. ".... I, too, believe you are wasting time by not even attempting to get stronger because of how you lived prior to your regression." Jiwoo said, and Kathrine nodded in agreement. "Eshwar has already left; please exin your reasoning." Katharine said with a scoff. "I think you''re spending too much time and attention on me; I''m ttered by your concern, but if Eshwar truly taught you how to use mana, I have to agree with him..." Katline said to Vinny. ".... Though I had no idea you had no mana before..." Katline mumbled, her head down, pondering. ".... I have no excuse, I thought that if I could survive until today by simply pushing my life and luck forward, I could survive in the future as well..." he said quietly but audibly enough for everyone to hear. "..... I didn''t think you would be a rank-S hero!" Jiwoo said trying to change the gloomy atmosphere. "Yea, I didn''t think you would be a rank-S hero." Katline said with a smile. "What''s the point of having strength if you don''t know how to use it?" Katharine asked and Violet nodded her head. ''Can''t you get a hint!? And like you are one to talk...'' Jiwoo thought. ''Damn, me and my big mouth, I should have talked to him alone!'' Jiwoo reflected as he observed Vinny and Katline''s gloomy demeanour. ".... I have to say that Eshwar was strong as hell..." Katherine mumbled causing Violet to flinch. ".... Yes, even I get scared of him now and then, despite the fact that I have been in the middle of a battlefield while some of my own died right in front of my eyes.... I thought nothing could ever scare me in this life, but f**k that, Eshwar is one scary dude!" Vinny said while looking at everyone to show them how serious he was. ''.... is he serious? H-he is just an author though? I''ve read a lot of web novels and web toons to understand that the strong recognize the strong, but not where the strong are afraid of the strong....'' As silly as it sounded, he could only understand one thing from his silly concept, and that was... "Eshwar is strong...." Jiwoo mumbled out involuntarily which made the others flinch at how serious his voice sounded. DING (4x) [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 10.] [SYSTEM INFLUENCE IS: 55.] [NEW! MANA DENSITY INCREASED!] [MONSTER''S [LEVEL] INCREASE BY 2.] "Huh?" Jiwoo looked at the pop up with a puzzled expression that quickly twisted into disbelief. "Huh!?" Jiwoo eximed in shock and furrowed his brows at the notification pop up. "Graaaa!!" Eshwar''s scream resounded from a distance. "F**k! Do you think the assassins had an aplice?" Katline mumbled and dashed in the direction of Eshwar''s voice. "..... Sh*t! He is still a human even if he''s strong!" Vinny mumbled and dashed behind Katline as he pulled the training sword from his inventory. ".... Nobody said he wasn''t one..." Violet mumbled which was heard by everyone and a smile appeared on their faces as they held back fromughing at Vinny. "Pfft, Ahem!" Jiwooughed and dashed together with them. ''I think he, too, has read many web novels to say such cringey words out loud..'' Jiwoo inwardlyughed at Vinny. When they arrived at their destination, they couldn''t see Eshwar because he was hidden behind a ck mana veil, but after a minute of loud screams, including Isha''s, they saw her run out of the mana veil while carrying the unconscious Eshwar like a princess. ".... Did something happ-" Jiwoo asked but was cut short when he remembered the system notification. ''It must be rted him somehow.... But, if system changes affect Eshwar then isn''t there a possibility that he could be the individual X?'' Jiwoo thought and turned pale at it. *** In sector two. I bit my tongue as I said ''my interest'' instead of using a different word to exin and calm Isha down from her misapprehension. "Ahem, anyway how are you rted to m-" I was cut short by the system notification pop up. DING [User''s level increased by 2.] [Level: 7 (early ess)[NEW!]] "Huh?" I stared at notification, perplexed. "Huh? What''s wrong?" Isha asked with a worried look which was a flustered face just a second ago. "Nothing, nothing." I waved my hand and dismissed the notification. ".... Mana is stronger." I muttered as I looked around, noticing a slight increase in the mana thread in the air. ''It used to be the size of a hair, but now it''s the size of a thread....'' ".... Do you feel anything different?" Isha asked and tilted her head a bit. "No." I said and shook my head. "Why? Did something happen?" I asked Isha and recalled the golden hue that had enveloped me before I lost consciousness. I jumped off the bike and examined my body, closing my eyes and inspecting the inside of my body. ''F**k, this is the one and only time Nhifrogr''s knowledge hase in handy!'' No, it has aided my ''percent'' technique, but.... It is still a curse-like knowledge.'' I noticed that my mana was flowing more fluently and quickly than before, and that some golden streaks were mixed in with it, but there were no significant changes. I tried and focused on the golden coloured mana, followed it, and ended up noticing that it had covered my heart, like oil on water. ''This feels familiar for some reason?'' "Huuu..." I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. "I''m sober!" I said. ''.... There are many familiar feelings, many nostalgic feelings, and in the midst of them all is Isha. Only human, I asionally feel familiar and longing. A nk te where some of my memories should be.... Something happened because someone did something to me, and that someone is rted to my nk te. Isha is someone I long for, so now here''s my theory!'' ''Somebody did something and something happened to me, that somebody is somehow rted to me and Isha, considering Isha''s earlier outburst, she knows something about this someone but from the way she acted with me, I''m not included with this somebody but... the something that somebody did is rted to both of us and this something is rted to me as my condition about my pain that, that if I don''t use mana to the certain limit and is rted to her as her condition of untouchability!'' I concluded my theory but was still left with some how''s, something''s and somebody''s. ".... That''s the only thing you noticed? That you are sober?" Isha asked with a slight frown. "Eh?" "I-Isha?" I asked and took a step back, scared at the thought that I did something wrong. "You!" Isha said with a frown. *** "You!" Isha frowned at Eshwar. ''You got sober? Really? I thought you were going to die! But then you suddenly awaken your divinity, and I recall you dying in front of me as if it had happened just an hour ago! And then there''s that k-ki-ki... Ha! Goddammit! The k-word! Why am I getting worked up over a k-word? We did it in my previous life.... Wait! Why didn''t we do anything else? ... But still! I was worried sick here, and you say that you''re just sober? Sober!!!'' Isha snarled inwardly at Eshwar. "Y-you to-touched me he-" she realize that she was doing something dumb and stopped mid sentence. ''I can''t believe I became like this!!'' She thought, but her hand had moved faster than her mouth, and she was now pointing near her belly button. "Huh?" Eshwar looked at Isha with wide eyes. ''Waaaa!!'' Isha inwardly cried. "Really? Lucky basta*ds!" Eshwar looked at his hands and cursed at them with a re. "Ahem, I''m really sorry; I would have asked your permission before touching you because I''m aware of your condition, even if I don''t remember it all the time; I''ll ask your permission before touching.... Only if I remember!! Ok?" Eshwar spoke up and asked for confirmation. "O-ok!" Isha answered before she registered what he said in her mind. ''Huh? Huuhhhhh? Won''t that be even more embarrassing? How can I agree or disagree while looking at his face???'' she thought. "So! Isha!" Eshwar called her out with a solemn voice. "Yes!?" Isha asked. "Can I?" Eshwar asked with a straight face. "Huh? What?" Isha asked and tilted her head to the side slightly. "Can I touch you there again? Because I was unconscious, I didn''t know how it felt!" Eshwar said in a solemn voice with his chest puffed out and his hands in front of him. "... Y-you idiot!" she kicked him using divinity, unconsciously. "Ack!" *** The next morning in sector five. I sat on a bench in the side walk, leaned forward, my elbows resting on my knees, and stared at the ground. "Haaa..." I sighed. ''In the end, I didn''t get to touch her again, did I really have to lose my consciousness at that time?'' I raised my hands and red at them. "Lucky basta*ds!" I said and sighed again. PING My smartwatch rang. Old geezer: [Oi, do you remember you asked me call a press conference?] ''Did I ask him to call a press conference?'' "Huh? Oh! Of course I remember, if I said it, why wouldn''t I remember it?" I waved my hand and scoffed. [Of course I remember, why would I forget about it?] Old geezer: [.... So you forgot.] [No! No.] Old geezer: [Haaa.... Then you''re in luck boy.] [Huh? What do you mean?] Old geezer: [So much for someone who remembers.] "This damn geezer!" [So, what about it?] Old geezer: [Cause the press conference is now and people are starting to gather! You idiot.] "Huh? Now?" Old geezer: [Come to switch now!] Chapter 82 81. Press Conference. ?I quickly took off on my bike. I wore baggy ck wide neck t-shirt and ck tracks to the press conference because I was suspended for the time being, I didn''t feel the need to dress up properly for the press conference, and what I was going to do had nothing to do with appearance. VROOOM ''Hm... Though I have yet to figure out why I called the press conference in the first ce.'' "Goddamn, I forgot what I was thinking at that time and don''t even have anything prepared to speak in front of them!" I mumbled and drew my t-shirt closer to my neck as it continued to slide off. "If it slides down in the middle of the conference I would be a front page model...." I noticed from afar that the press conference was being held outside of the academy; there was a stage, desks, microphones, and chairs in front of the stage for the media, as well as some extra chairs for those who couldn''t keep their noses to themselves. VROOOM "Looks like Stan is going all out." I mumbled with a smirk and rode towards the crowd, taking my time to enjoy the pleasant morning. * VRO-VROOOM I parked my bike across the street and walked with my hands in my pockets towards the press conference. I noticed Stan Walton across the street, who was grinning from ear to ear. All of the seats were taken, and the seats on the stage were upied by Quinn, Seo Hana, Elise Ryan, and Matthew Smith, with two empty spots, Stan''s next to Seo Hana and mine in the middle. Quinn sat to my right, and Seo Hana sat to my left. "Ho!" I smirked and danced my brows up and down at him as I jogged across the street, hands still in my pockets. "What''s up Stan? Going all out?" I asked as I stared at him with a smirk. "Of course, of course, I have to go all out if I want to get what I want and I did this for the opening of the act." Stan Walton pointed at the stage with a grin. "Oh my, how thoughtful of you." I said and walked to the stage. "Hahaha, of course, I definitely have to put in some work, so I prepared the stage of your demise." He said with a grin that seemed to have been stered on his face. ".... I mean, who would say that without even knowing what I am going to say?" I asked as he walked alongside me, and from a distance, we''d appeared to be long-time friends. "Hm? Why would I need to know that? I have prepared the stage and they''ll ask you the questions I want which will definitely corner you in the way I want!" he said with victory written on his face. I rubbed my eyes and took a second nce at him. ''I literally saw ''Victory!'' written on his face!? .....'' "Well, thanks for the information anyway." I said walked up to the stage. ''Oh my, too noisy!'' I nodded at Quinn who got up and hurriedly walked towards me. "Eshwar! Don''t kill anybody, don''t threaten anybody and-" Quinn was saying something serious, and I raised my index finger with a bright face to say something, only to be stopped by Quinn. "No, no strangling either!" he said with a solemn voice and broke my wish. I walked with my shoulders slouched forward and slumped on my seatzily. "Now! Let''s start the conference!" Stan Walton said, making the crowd go crazy with questions. "Sir, Eshwar Fro-" A man with the loudest voice among the others yelled my name, raising his pen in one hand and holding a note book in the other. I slightly moved my finger below the table and used magic to cover my ears to not hear any nonsense. ''Nah, people are too bothersome.'' * A few minutester. I sat quietly as I observed and discovered that a human mouth is able to move that quickly while watching the media people move their mouth nonstop. "Hyyaamm~mm, Are they not done yet?" I mumbled out loud involuntarily with a yawn. I noticed their mouths slow down until theypletely stop. "You guys done?" I asked and moved my finger again and unplugged my ears. "...." they didn''t answer but definitely were fuming in ire. "I think Quinn called for the press conference because of my request, so indirectly I called you guys here." I leaned forward to the mic and said. "...." "Which also means..... You shut it and hear." I said and smiled brightly. "Now, as I said, don''t open your mouth, just raise your hand, and I''ll think about whether or not to answer you... But keep in mind that ''me'' answering your questions is nearly impossible." I continued, my gaze fixed on one of the people who attempted to speak. "Hm.... Let''s be honest, I didn''t even remember why I called for a press conference." "Hmm.... Ah! You!" I pointed at a guy. "Yes, you, why are we hear today?" I asked, leaving everybody dumbfounded. "..... We''vee to discuss whether it''s true that you were the one who massacred the switch cadets." He yelled in outrage. "Oh! Oh..." I remember and concentrated on keeping my rage in check. "Then what the f**k are you guys doing here without investigating?" I red at Seo Hana and Elise Ryan. "..... W-we were brought here to the press conference and also because you are our only lead!" Seo Hana exined. "..... That just proves the association''s ipetence." I snarled at them, almost forgetting about the press conference. "Well anyway, I am not the one who did it!" I said in a firm tone and left everybody bbergasted. "..... Ah! I remember why I called the press conference." I turned to face Stan Walton and grinned at him. I turned back to face the crowd, slightly raised my hand, and pointed my middle finger at them, causing everyone to grumble and curse in outrage. SWISH Everyone flinched and gasped in disbelief as a blood red tennis ball-sized blob formed above my middle finger. "Now, if I wanted to kill you guys right here and now, the association would consider it ''coteral damage'' and force me to work for them, but nothing else will happen to me, and you know it." "I am, what maybe sixth aura user in the human domain, and I can kill some of you here and can still simply walk away from here and the association won''t do sh*t." I repeated myself in different terms to make them understand it better. "Now, here''s my question: why in the f**k would I want to kill my own students, whom I wanted to teach? Well, everything I say will sound like an excuse so f**k it." I opened my subspace, retrieved a wolf''s head that I hunted in the artificial dungeon, and ced it on the table, sealing the blood in its head with frost magic. Its head was nearly a meter long, and its spine bone protruded slightly out of the head. "This is the wolf''s head I hunted; I kept it in my inventory because I forgot to discard it; you can see that this wolf has five pairs of eyes if you look here." I held its head in my right hand and pointed my left index finger at its eyes. "Recently, the system has received many new updates that none of us are aware of, and just yesterday, mana density increased by a notch. If you have even a smidgeon ofmon sense, you will notice that the monsters bing stronger can only mean one thing." I paused for a moment to allow them to process what I had just said. "It means we will get more stronger." A man answered with enthusiasm. "No, you retard, something is going on without our knowledge and if you think about the past you''ll see that the system came first! The system started first, and monsters appearedter; this means that something ''will'' happen, and we ''need'' to get stronger to face the monsters thate outter! What if this is just the beginning? And if you read the system notification carefully, you will notice that the System''s influence is at 55!" I snarled at them. "If we set a limit of 100, we''ll have much less time than you think! It hasn''t even been a month since the system began acting strangely, and it is already at 55! F**king 55! How many of the ''living'' have already died? Even without our knowledge? They were dying before as well, but now we have a count but no location for us even if we wanted to help the so-called ''living!'' And the thought of killing humans should only be thest resort because ''living'' are not only about humans!" ''I would kill any ''living'' if I have to.'' I added inwardly. "People will ughter anyone they have a grudge against if given the chance, and now that they have what they need, you dare think they''ll stay still?" I red at them and asked. Murmurs filled the so-called conference as I turned the entire focus away from me and towards the system, and it appeared as if Lady Luck smiled at me as.... [SYSTEM INFLUENCE INCREASED BY 3.] [SYSTEM INFLUENCE IS AT 57.] [SYSTEM REQUIRED INFLUENCE IS 42.] ''Good!'' "Huh?" I looked across the street in disbelief at a certain figure who was staring at conference with curiosity. He was a handsome young man who seemed to be in his early twenties, with dark grey hair and smooth facial features, dressed in a leather jacket over a grey t-shirt and ck trousers. SWOOSH I instantly appeared in front of the figure and looked at him with curiosity. "What is a ''Dark Elf'' doing here?" Chapter 83 82. Press Conference (2) (Legolin). ?I instantly appeared in front of the figure and looked at him with curiosity. "What is a ''Dark Elf'' doing here?" I asked him. Dark Elves are a type of elf; whereas ''elvish'' elves are strong magically, dark elves are strong physically and are warriors among the elves. They have long pointy ears and are nature lovers; they consider and love everything that is part of nature but despise anything that is not. They live long lives and iste themselves so that they do not harm themselves by bing even more close to nature than they already are; they despise demons only because they are not one of nature''s creations. They haven''t formed any alliances among the humans because if the bond deepens, they will be the ones who suffer in the end; they are not only strong, but they also live longer than most other races. Dwarves can live for up to 500 years, whereas elves can live for at least a thousand. They are afraid of interacting with humans so that they do not grow fond of them, which is why they help the dwarves in a give and take fashion while ignoring the humans. SWISH BAM He was startled and elbowed me in the face; I raised my right hand and defended myself with my left hand in my pocket. "Chill dude, I have no malicious intent and if I had any....." SWISH While my left hand was still in my pocket, I moved behind him and aimed a dagger made of ice at his neck before he could react. I looked up and leaned back near his ear; for some reason, the transformation magic on his ear had been undone and his ear moved up. "I would have done this." I said in his long a*s ear. He gulped down loudly and raised his hand in submission. The dagger in my hand vanished with a ''puff,'' and I turned around, put my hands across his shoulders, and dragged him to the press conference with a bright smile. "I am Eshwar Frost, nice to meet you." I released my arm around his shoulders and offered a hand shake which he took. "Legolin." He introduced himself and followed me. "What are you doing in the human domain Legolin?" I furrowed my brows and asked. I tapped on Seo Hana''s shoulder and made her stand up. "Mission, I need to speak with your king." Legolin replied with a firm tone. "No kings in the human domain. If you still want a king, you can talk with me." I sat back on my seat with a smirk, said in the microphone and pointed at the empty chair for him to sit. "If no kings, then leaders...." Legolin sat on the seat and said while staring at me. "Hm? You are in luck! We''re all leaders." I pointed at Quinn, Matthew, Seo Hana and Elise Ryan leaving Stan Walton out of it and making him girt his teeth in ire. "..... Before that, how did you recognize me, human?" he asked. "You have smell of blood and different magical elements on you." I pointed at my nose and at him. "Are you elf too!?" he looked at me in disbelief and rage for reasons unknown. "No." I shook my head leaving him more confused but his rage dulled. *** Legolin had arrived in the human domain to finish his mission and in the hopes to collect his rewards for his efforts after he was done. He was proud of his abilities as a warrior and a mage while respecting and learning from the strong, and after years of service to the elven domain, he decided to do something for himself for once and stop doing anything for the betterment of the elven domain by bing a free ''runner.'' He found it difficult at first, but grew ustomed to it quickly, and he began to work as an active ''runner'' to supplement his ie. Runners are warriors who hunt down beasts, monsters, and the demonised or ''the fallen,'' as they are known in the elven domain, and the runners are always on the frontlines of defending the domain. He had epted the mission solely because he knew ''lesser'' beings were weak and that he wouldn''t have to do much toplete the mission. He was asked to go to the sector five for his mission. When he arrived at the human domain, he found them amusing as the ''lesser'' being seemed happy with their short life and weak mana core, but when he felt and followed strong mana waves, he had arrived at the ''audience'' of the people and noticed that the people sitting above them were stronger. ''They must be the kings of different trib- No, was it sectors?'' Legolin thought while looking at the conference. ''Is he an elf? He is excluding strong magical aura and doesn''t have a ''human'' scent....'' Legolin was thinking while looking at a handsome white-haired young man who was ring at the people below him. SWOOSH ''Huh? Sh*t!'' He cursed and his first instinct was to attack the unknown, who could be an ally or an enemy. Legolin had never allowed an enemy to get so close to him before, so he attacked whoever it was. SWISH BAM "Chill dude, I have no malicious intent and if I had any....." he said and moved in a blur, abruptly appeared behind Legolin while pointing a weapon at his neck. "I would have done this." The man said. ''He is strong!'' Legolin thought and respected his strength. * CLICK (4x) "Are you an elf too?" Legolin asked. ''They sent me here and they sent another elf for the mission? They dare to send me here without trust? I swear on the mother tree, that I''ll kill them al-'' his thoughts were cut short by Eshwar. "No." Eshwar shook his head in response. "Huh?" Legolin looked at him, puzzled. ''Then, is he seriously a human? He''s stronger than me though? ''Lesser'' beings cannot transcend their limits! What is he?'' Legolin looked at Eshwar gawkily. "What mission were you talking about? If you speak here, the whole human domain will hear it and even the other leaders will listen to it." Eshwar asked. ''Mission!'' Legolin remembered why he was here and snapped out of his reverie. "Whole human domain will hear?" Legolin asked for confirmation. "Yes, I assure you." Eshwar said looking Legolin straight in the eyes, Legolin nodded, turned to face the media people and undid his transformation magic. "Whoa!!" excitement filled the crowd with gasps and looks of disbelief. CLICK (6x) He was now grey-skinned, with white hair that matched Eshwar''s and raised the question of whether he, too, was an elf. Legolin''s magic on his ear had alsoe undone, revealing his long pointy ears. He had charm of his own but looked more like a wild beast ready lunge at those who bares fangs at him. "Humans, I am the envoy of the Elven Domain and have came here to notify that the Elven King impetrates an alliance with the human-dwarves alliance." Legolin said in a solemn voice. "Huh?" "What?" "Is he serious?" "You idiot, write it down and you, take pictures!" "Really?!" "That''s big new!" "Whoa!! Elves!" CLI-CLICK (6x) The conference was filled with murmurs and gasps, and Quinn and the others jumped back and stared in disbelief at Legolin. "Why?" Eshwar asked and made everybody else stared at Legolin in silence. ''Maybe he really is the king of human domain.'' Legolin thought as he stared at Eshwar from the corner of his eyes and noticed that he was the only one sitting calmly. ''Indeed, strong and calm should be the qualities of a king.'' He thought. "We the Elven Domain have noticed that the Domain of the fallen or ''the Demons domain'' have started to amass their forces and are marching forward. We havee to conclusion that they are preparing for war!" Legolin announced and noticed Eshwar grin savagely for a split second which sent shivers down his spine. ''What? Did I see it wrong?'' he thought. "What?!" "Wtf?" "Are you serious!??" "What do mean War?" CLI-CLICK (6x) "Why and how have you came to that conclusion?" Eshwar asked. "..... From what we know, they have already infiltrated the human domain and now that they have gotten stronger, they will attack before the humans got stronger." He replied. *** In an unknown ce. A silhouette of guy could be seen, he was looking at a screen where live broadcasting of the Eshwar''s press conference was being disyed. "Oh? Tsk, too bad that it''s already been discovered." He clicked his tongue. "Those idiots, I ordered them to move slowly without doing anything!" he snarled. "..... They just had to ruin it at the start!!" He yelled in outrage, causing the ground to tremble. "Huu..." he breathed out and took a deep breath. "We''ll need to change the n for it to seed and those damn idiots, maybe I should just kill them before the humans do!" he mumbled and ground tremor halted. "An alliance between the three races, aye?" he mumbled and chuckled. "This to is new from the pasts, let''s see how this ys out." "Well, I just have to order them to hasten the n." He mumbled and two fiery bloody red eyes appeared. "We''ll take care ''brain'' first." He said and clenched his fist in triumph. Chapter 84 83. [Blink] ?"..... From what we know, they have already infiltrated the human domain and now that they have gotten stronger, they will attack before the humans got stronger." Legolin said. ''A war!'' In delight, I clenched my hand beneath the table. "Demons living in the human domain is a well-known fact, but to think they were preparing for a war is a bit unexpected." I sighed but jumped in joy, inwardly. ''Ha, hahahahaha!! Control that sh*t, I should not be overjoyed at the news of a war... at least on the outside!'' "Thank you, Legolin, and regarding the alliance, we will dly ept.... but I believe you should discuss it further with those who were present in the human-dwarf allian-" I was about to say something, but..... BOOM (6x) The switch academy behind us suddenly imploded six times simultaneously, debris and a thick cloud of grey smoke shot out of the entrance hallway, killing two rank-A''s who were standing guard. Because of the force with which the debris flew out, their heads exploded, and many of the people in the conference would have died if Quinn hadn''t used barrier magic to shield them. WHOOSH Quinn used magic to cast a barrier and created a giant transparent blue thin wall in front of us to protect the people. Some debris that flew into the sky crashed down with the force of a mini meteor shower, killing the people Quinn tried to protect. I did nothing but stare as the phenomenon unfolded, blood sttering everywhere and covered the cameras in blood. ''Cameras!'' I remembered that I was standing in front of the cameras that were broadcasting us live and acted like I was panicked. ''Poor nning and poor execution, I wonder if they rushed it.'' I thought while pacing around. "Huu..." I exhaled and took a deep breath to appear to be calming myself down, then used magic to create a barrier above our heads to protect ourselves and the ''people'' from the debris shower but it was small and couldn''t cover everything, which was intended. "Legolin! Infuse magic into the barrier, I''ll go rescue those who are still alive!" I yelled at Legolin who was standing in guard innocently. "Quinn! Use ''mana armour''!" I snarled at his stupidity and took a step forward. ''Blink'' I muttered in my head. [Skill: Space maniption activated.] Everything around me came to a halt and turned ck and white, I dashed at the one who appeared to be alive, it took exactly 2 seconds to dodge the debris that was still falling and to check my way in and out, I stood in front of the man, blinked my eyes, and the world came back to life, took colour, and time began to move once more. "Huh? What the f-" he said as he noticed me but I stopped him by ring at him. "Shut it if you don''t want to die." I carried him like a princess. ''Blink.'' I muttered in my head, and the same thing repeated itself as I dashed back to the stage and blinked my eyes again to stop the skill. "Huh?!!" Legolin looked at me in disbelief. ''what''s wrong with hi- Oh! Right, he should have seen me next to him just now....'' ''I sometimes forget the effects of own skill by not using it for long, haaa...'' I inwardly sighed and shook my head. ''Blink'' is a skill I learned to imitate while messing around with the space maniption skill of my [Trait: Creator''s Domain], its effects are that it helps me move anywhere covering a distance of 10 metres and the time I take to reach the distance while under the effects of the skill is taken away from me. I attempted to imitate it as I had seen in web toons and read in web novels, but the process of why it takes time away from the user remained a mystery until I tried it myself. ''I thought it was a mini teleportation spell but this is just bullsh*t!'' Mana is consumed to open and close the split created between time and space; nothing is drained except mana while in the space split. Only the amount of time, I take to move to the location I want, is drained from me. I attempted to move a longer distance, but the mental and physical strain was too much, and mana consumption was too high, so I experimented and discovered the distance I could cover without strain, and settled on 10 metres. "It''s magic spell I created, it''s called ''Blink''." I said to Legolin and winked at him with a smirk. Again, everything halted around me. "......." I tried to speak but no sound came out. ''Right, I can''t speak too.....'' ''Hehe, see what I did there, I used blink with a wink!! Hehehe'' I inwardlyughed at my own joke and sighed. ''What''s wrong with me!!?'' I shook my head and dashed to rescue the others. * "That''s thest one?" Legolin asked me while Quinn healed the injured. "Yeah." I sighed and shook my head with a depressed face. ''F**king retard''s, can''t even save themselves.'' I turned to face Quinn, who had kneeled down to heal the recused and walked towards him while stomping my foot in frustration. ".... Ai, old geezer!" I tapped on Quinn''s shoulder, he looked up at my face with a smile. ''Don''t you dare smile at me! F**king..... I always ask him to put himself first and not to trust people so easily but, no, my words always fall on deaf ears!!'' I took a deep breath. "... What the hell were you thinking while protecting others and not even trying to protect yourself? Huh?" I yelled at Quinn in outrage. "Right, I forgot to, in the heat of the moment you know?" he said with a smile. "''heat of the moment'' my a*s!" I snarled at him. "You could have f**king died!! Mana armour is one of the simplest spell of yours and you forgot that? You ''forgot''??? Really?" I furrowed my brows at him in irritation. "Alright! Don''t nag me now, I''ll listen to what you have sayter." He raised his hands in surrender and went back to concentrating on healing. "WTF!?" I cursed out loud and stared at him disbelief. Chapter 85 84. Incident. ?"Alright! Don''t nag me now, I''ll listen to what you have sayter." He raised his hands in surrender and went back to concentrating on healing. "WTF!?" I cursed out loud and stared at him disbelief. "What do mean nag? I''m stating facts!" I snarled. Quinn abruptly stood up, smiled at me, and moved on to the next injured person without responding. "Hey! Hey, don''t ignore me! Hey!!" I called out but he just moved on while ignoring me. "Fine! Don''t take to me!" I grumbled and walked off of the stage. "Hey! Huma-" Legolin called out, I cut him short and replied with, "Eshwar." I turned around to face him, Legolin flinched and nodded. "Eshwar, were any of your parents an elf?" he asked while looking at me in the eyes. "Dude...." I stopped myself from taunting him into a fight. ''... He doesn''t know about me and he''s just curious.'' "I have none." I replied. "Huh?" Legolin stared at me with wide eyes. "Parents, I mean, I am an orphan. Though they are still alive and well, I don''t consider them my parents and they are not worth it." I answered with my hands in my pockets. "Oh, I am sorry." He said. "Huh?" ''Is he stupid?'' "I am really sorry, I didn''t know that and I unknowingly opened up your old wounds." He said and bowed politely. ''Where did learn to do that?'' "Um.... Which part of ''they are not worth it'' did you not understand?" I furrowed my brows and looked at his stupidity. "Huh?" he asked, dumbfounded. ''So, he is stupid.'' "I never said I needed any and I am hundred percent sure that none of the people who gave birth to me are elves." I scratched my chin with my right hand. "Anyway, enough about me. What do you want?" "Huh? Oh, no, I simply wanted to ask for a spar with you." Legolin said. "A spar huh? But a spar is not exciting though..." I looked up at sky and answered half-a*sedly. "That''s true." He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is. So, nothing else?" I looked at him with my brows raised. "....." Legolin turned silent and seemed to be pondering. ''A dark elf asking for a spar huh... I remember ''Legolin'' killing everyone in the tournament that took ce in the human domain, he hated every human because he was humiliated and was sold as a ''ve'' after getting scammed by humans, that was what I wrote about him in the ''novel''.'' ''Humans didn''t get the new about the war untilter in the story, when the ''Elven Domain'' dispatched another elf to deliver the news about the war and the alliance, believing that ''Legolin'' had failed or fled from the Elven Domain by abandoning the mission.'' ''Poor Legolin, he was duped because he thought humans were ''lesser'' beings and that he could do anything as long as he was the strong one.'' ''Though at that time, I intended to make a viin out of him, but now, I think he did the right thing, because he was the victim and he perfectly took revenge for it, though he overdid it died at the end...'' ''Now that I think about the ''novel,'' I thought about using its knowledge, but so many things are changing and the story is almost ''broken''... Well, the ''real'' life, on the other hand, should be unpredictable in order to enjoy and ''feel'' something.'' ''If I was obsessed with the novel and always nning on what my next move would be.... Oh my, just the thought of it sounds like a pain in the a*s.'' "What about a match between us? Only death or surrender will stop the match." Legolin suggested with a wild grin. "Oh! That''s good!" I returned the same energy and grinned savagely. "But you are too wea-" I was about to say that he was too weak, but... SWISH I saw an arrow fly past me, it seemed to cut through the wind as it and it hit its target. "Akh!" Quinn groaned in agony. The arrow hit Quinn''s right chest, almost near his shoulder because at thest movement, Quinn tried to dodge the arrow by moving to his left as it was aimed at the middle of his heart, but failed to do sopletely. "QUINNNNNN!!!" I yelled in a hoarse voice as my mind suddenly went nk. My hands shivered as I appeared in front of him before I could think of anything, my vision blurred as tears streamed down without my consent, and I lost control of my mana, which oozed and caused ripples beneath my feet. "Cough.... Ai, I''m... Cough... alright so stop!" he furrowed his brows at me and scolded after coughing out several mouthfuls of blood. "I''m alright my a*s!" I sighed in relief when I saw him alive and turned to look in the direction the arrow flew. I saw ten people in about 500 metres between us, but only one of them was holding a bow in his/her hand. "You!" I red at him/her. Turned around with my hands on the ground, used Frost magic to turn my fingers into ws, took a dash stance, and noticed saliva dripping from my mouth, which I couldn''t care less about. ''I''ll rip you to shreds!'' BANG As Iunched myself at them, the stage cracked beneath my feet, and I ran on all fours to give myself a strong push on every lunge. I created an ice prism in front of me to create a slipstream and took long lunges while moving at high speeds because everything around me was a blur unless I focused on it. ''I''ll rip you to shreds, I''ll rip you to shreds, I''ll rip you to shreds, I''ll rip you to shreds, I''ll rip you to shreds, I''ll rip you to shre....'' I repeated it in my head like a chant, never taking my gaze away from the person who held a bow. "Grr." As I licked my lips and red at him/her, a low growl escaped my mouth, and I could feel my grown fangs with my tongue. SWISH WHOOOOSH I came to an abrupt halt and drifted until I was behind them to cut off their escape route, prism dematerialized in front of my eyes as I stood back up on my feet, and a strong gust of wind blew past me, raising all the dust and hiding them from my view. "Gra!" I got irritated and wed at the dust cloud. Four w marks were visible for a split second before the cloud vanished from view. They were still looking at the location of the press conference, some on the trees and some behind them, but everyone had the same expression and that was of ''horror.'' "...Who sent you?" Chapter 86 85. Kensa Pawn. ?*** [Your mission is take care of the ''queen'' so our mission will seed.] A hoarse voice rang through the earpiece. [I am relinquishingmand to you! Make sure you seed and use the ''no names'' if you''re in danger, because you are the only one who still has their sanity intact, Kensa Pawn.] The man said through the earpiece. ''No names'' were called precisely because they had lost their sanity and were only used as disposables. "Yes sir. Thank you, Sir. Kensa Bishop." The woman who held a bow addressed the man who was speaking through the earpiece. Kensa Pawn was a woman with dark grey hair, dark brown hair, smooth facial features, and an hourss figure. She now wore a armour which made out of dungeon materials and was disguised as a t-shirt, which highly focused on defence and is better suited for someone who is a tank. [You cretin! Are you nning to sabotage the mission before it even began?!!!] Kensa Bishop yelled angrily through the earpiece. "Sorry sir! I was too grateful...." Kensa Pawn bit her tongue and apologized, embarrassed. [Look! Even if you retain your sanity, you, too, are a disposable along with them! So shut it and finish your damn mission!] He yelled and hung up in rage. "Tsk..." Kensa Pawn clicked her tongue in annoyance. ''Just wait till I get my hands on the royal blood! Let''s see who acts cocky after that.'' She thought and red at the ''no names'' around her. Nine people in front of her had the eyes of those who had lost hope in everything and had been turned into meat puppets, their eyes were hollow and were waiting for orders like an emotionless golem. ''They give me creeps! I can''t believe I survived before I turned into that.'' She shuddered at the thought. "You ''no names'' take cover and be on standby until their is a threat at hand." They turned around and hid behind the trees without even asking or making a sound, as shemanded. ''Kensa Pawn'' was a named thrall who had gotten a moniker because she managed to keep her sanity and proved her worth. She was one of the strongest of the ''pawns,'' and the only one with ''adaptability'' and ''attribute'' of bing a vampire, with the possibility of bing a ''Ranked'' one at that. She climbed on the tallest tree and took aim at her target who was ranked as a ''Queen.'' "Huu..." She took a deep breath and pulled the bow string. WOOOMM Crimson red blood coated the arrow in a thinyer of blood, which she used to strengthen, sharpen, and increase the mass of the arrow. Once the target was at sight, she aimed her bow higher for a more urate shot and checked three times before releasing the arrow. SWOOP SWISH The arrow moved forward while spinning at breakneck speed, leaving a nearly invisible trail behind it. Kensa Pawn grinned as she watched her arrow pierce through the wind, certain that it would kill the target. "QUINNNN!!!" A very low muffled voice was heard from a distance. WHOOSH A gentle breeze blew across her face, carrying the scent of mud and grass with it, sending shivers down her spine rather than calming her. She noticed a white-haired man vanish and reappear in front of her target out of thin air; she had kept an eye on him because he seemed to arouse her; at first, she was amazed and surprised by his prowess, but that onlysted a second because he appeared to be looking at her. ''W-what? H-he mu-must j-j- just be looking around, right, there is no way he can spot me.'' She thought while trembling which she had yet to notice. "Ha, haha, ha." Sheughed drily as her throat dried up before she gulped loudly. ''Ri-right! There is just no way, even that cocky basta*d Kensa Bishop can''t do that.'' She reasoned and assured herself before noticing that the white-haired man had turned to face them. Because of her enhanced vision and experience as an archer, she could clearly see him, who had once been a handsome white-haired man but now resembled a wounded savage beast. He didn''t even notice his slobber, suddenly a white hue covered him, which was just air that had turned cold enough to be visible, and heunched himself towards them, breaking 1/4th of the stage he was standing on in the process. She was in a daze as she stared at the man lunging towards them, leaving a white trail in his wake. Only after she awoke from her trance did she notice she was drenched in cold sweat and trembling. WHOOOOSH SKKKKIIIIIDDDDDD "Grr..." she heard a low growl which made her face twist in horror. She looked to the side in search of an escape route and noticed that the ''no names'' who had lost their sanity and couldn''t care less even in the presence of ''Lady Mair¨¦ad'' were now staring in horror at the dust cloud. "Gra!" a angry growl was heard. She snapped her head to face the white haired ''monster'' before the dust cloud was cut apart with four ws. ''That''s no human! That''s a monster in human clothing! I know what a monster is and I recognize one when I see it.'' Kensa Pawn justified herself while trembling in fear. "..... Who sent you?" the ''monster'' spoke. "A-attack!" shemanded the ''no names.'' "..... Who. Sent. You?" he asked while ring at her but half of it were reduced to growls. Only then did she notice that none of the ''no names'' had moved an inch from their original location, but were trembling in terror as they stared at him. ''I really didn''t want to use it here, but if I don''t, I''ll die!'' she thought. "Attack!" Kensa Pawn cursed at her bad luck andmanded them by using her skill. [Trait: Vampire''s blood resonance activated.] The eyes of every ''no name'' shone in crimson red while blood tears streamed down their eyes and they lunged themselves at him without a care for anything. ''Buy me time to escape you damn no names!'' she thought and jumped off the tree while dashing towards the opposite direction. * A few minutester. "I have to call for reinforcements!" she mumbled out involuntarily and took out a small button from her pocket before pressing it. "Who. Sent. You?" A hoarse voice rang from behind her. "Kyaaa!?" she yelped in surprise and turned back to face the white haired monster. ''H-how? How did he catch up? I am not even in the same ce anymore?'' she thought and took a quick nce at his back before noticing that the no ''no names'' in sight. She noticed that his right w hand was glowing with a pale pink hue with golden lines running through them. He threw a snowball at her, which sent shivers down her spine, and she instinctively dodged it to her left. SLOOP While running to her left, she noticed that the snowball he threw at her simply acted like a snowball, sttering and scattering on impact. "Huh?" Chapter 87 86. Kensa Pawn (2). ?While running to her left, she noticed that the snowball he threw at her simply acted like a snowball, sttering and scattering on impact. "Huh?" she stared at the scattered snowball, dumbfounded. ''Is he ying with me?'' she was outraged at the thought but didn''t stop running. * The same thing happened over and over again; they never stopped running, and he never tried to catch up with her. ''I know he is stronger than me, if he wanted to, he could catch me this instance but why-'' her though process of cut short when smell blood hit her nostrils. She grinned, drooled at the sweet scent of blood and dashed in the direction of blood, inhaling the pleasant scent of blood in one breath, until she arrived at the bloodied mess and froze in horror. The gore scene she arrived at was the beginning, where she left ''no names'' to die and shot an arrow at her target, who was ranked as a ''Queen.'' The sweet scent of blood that she inhaled came from the ''no names'' who had turned into a blood-covered meat lump. Their bodies had been decapitated piece by piece, their guts had been hung on the trees like Halloween decorations, some had exploded, some had been cut into pieces by his ws, some had their limbs cleanly cut from their bodies, and some had their bodies cut into five pieces by four ws. Even she was surprised and perplexed that there were that many people to cause such carnage, and she suddenly began to stare at them with wide eyes when she realized she was back where it all began. ''Why am I back here? Don''t tell me....'' she realized that he bought her back and shuddered in horror. She couldn''t care less about the heinous deaths of the ''no names,'' but when she realized that the same would happen to her, she began trembling uncontrobly. "Hik!!???" A weird sound escaped her mouth when she turned around to take a nce at the white-haired monster, she found him ring down at her from just a few inches away. "Who. Sent. You?" He asked as his cold white breath hit her face, which was cold enough that it started to burn her face. "K-Ken-sa, K-Kensa Bi-" She closed her mouth with her hands as she began to speak before her mind could process her situation. She girt her teeth, jabbed at his face and jumped back to which he offered no resistance. BAM "I may be an archer, but I also know how to fight at close range!" " She snarled at him but remained trembling; his face had turned to the left and was facing the sky as a result of the blow. ".... Good to know." He said while staring at her from the corner of his eyes without moving his head. She flinched and took a few steps back until she was forced toe to a halt by a severed limb at her leg. He slowly turned to face her and approached her slowly enough to intimidate her. The pale pink hue that covered him pulsed twice like a heartbeat, thickening and darkening as it slowly pulsated. "What are you?" she mumbled unconsciously. "...." He silently red at her as he walked towards her; she then realized he was walking on a puddle of blood and she was in the middle of a blooded field. "Ha, hahahahaha!!" sheughed hysterically with her eyes covered with her hand. "You''re too dumb! To think you would bring a vampire into a blooded field, hahahahaha!" she said whileughing like a maniac. Even though she had her hand over her eyes, she could see him and noticed that he didn''t flinch but instead grinned widely. "Good, fight me with everything you got." He said in a mncholy tone. "How naive." She said and activated all of her skills and her ''specialized'' trait. [Specialized Trait: Bloody Magus activated.] [Trait: Blood frenzy activated.] [Trait: Vampire''s Blood Resonance activated.] [Trait: Blood Maniption activated.] Right half of her face had turned crimson red covered in blood, and her right eye had turned bright yellow with vertical ck slits and a ''L'' shaped horn protruding out of her blooded half side of her face. SWISH WHOOSH A blood whirlwind of 8 feet tall formed in front of her, slowly drawing in all the blood on the ground. She punched the whirlwind with her left hand, her ''human'' side arm, and formed a crimson red gauntlet over her left arm, with a red spike on her elbow. "..... You done yet?" he asked with a dumb expression. "Um, yeah?" she answered. ''What''s with this son of a bit*h? I almost lost my will to fight.'' She thought while staring at his slobbering face. BOOM SWISH He appeared in front of her instantly, but at a speed she could easily follow now. She sidestepped and dodged before he could even do anything, expecting him to jab, but he just stood there staring at her with a wide grin on his face. "What are you doing woman? Is this all you have to offer after I wasted my time waiting for you to transformpletely?" he said and his face disyed that he was annoyed at her. "You only have one chance woman! If you disappoint me, I''ll kill you the next instance." He dted his nostrils in annoyance which blew out a chilled white smoke. "F**king hell! F**k you! You crazy basta*d!" she cursed in outrage and bombarded him with jabs. She infused her bombardment with blood, transforming the jabs into projectiles. She jabbed for a few seconds before using and manipting the blood like dagger des, she shed, stabbed, and finally leaned forward before piercing them into the ground, causing blood spikes to protrude from the ground. The 8-foot-tall blood whirlwind had shrunk to the size of a meter-tall mini-whirlwind, but she was content because she couldn''t see anything but blood in front of her, which made her grin. "Too bad, that not even a trace of that monster remained." She said while grinning ear to ear. "Don''t you think that dialogue is too old? Even for a third-rate viin? And doesn''t that just jinx your luck?" He asked while standing beside Kensa Pawn, causing her flinch and jerk back in horror. "Y-you!!! H-how?" she asked while staring at him and trembling uncontrobly. "What do you mean why? You''re just too proud of your skills and too dumb. I simply dodged the first attack and walked until I was behind you." He said. Chapter 88 87. Aftermath. ?"What do you mean why? You''re just too proud of your skills and too dumb. I simply dodged the first attack and walked until I was behind you." He said and stood cross armed. "Now, I''ll be merciful and gracious enough to give you two options." He said and let out a long, chilled white breath out of his mouth which seemed like he was trying to calm down. "....." She said nothing and stared at his white breath, which slowly started to freeze the ground in fear and awe as she realized that he was just ying around with her and that she never stood a chance against him. "Choose woman. You either answer my question and die painlessly or you die without answering, slowly and painfully." He said while pointing his index and middle finger in her direction. ''He knows I''m a vamp.... Wait! How did he kill the ''no names''? How and why did they not regenerate? And how- No, what? It doesn''t make any sense! How could he pull out their guts? A Vampire''s organ turns into blood up on contact!'' she thought. "What in the actual f**k?" she mumbled out unconsciously while trying to make sense of the situation. "Their is nothing to give a ''actual f**k'' about. So, shut it and choose woman, before my patience runs out. Know that my patience runs thin and I have heavy mood swings." He said. "I was sent-" She started to answer but was cut short when he abruptly leaned down, picked up a rock and threw it up in the direction of a skyscraper, all of this happened before a second could passed by. BOOM (3x) The throw caused circr wind pressures because it moved so fast that it seemed like it tore through the pulling force while leaving a wind trail, and because of her enhanced vision, she could see that there was somebody on the skyscraper, though it was only visible in the size of an ant to her, but the person''s head exploded from the rock which he threw. "What..... annoying things are getting in the way, damn." He said. ''I-I think that he was here to kill me after Ipleted my mission!'' she thought and gritted her teeth in ire. "I was sent here by Kensa Bishop from ''the graveyard.'' I was named as Kensa Pawn because I retained my sanity." She answered in firm tone. "You..... Know that Kensa means ''first'' right? Though I don''t remember whichnguage it is from." He asked with a puzzled expression. "Huh?" she looked at him in disbelief. ''Then, my name is the ''first Pawn''?'' the revtion hurt her more than she expected. "It doesn''t matter though." He said and a silver revolver materialized in his right hand. "Um, this is noic, if you think silver can kill Vampires." Kensa Pawn looked at him with a dumb expression. "Huh? Oh! You don''t need to worry about that." He answered with a smile. ''Well, at least he is smart-'' "I have silver bullets too." He said, pointed the revolver at her heart and stared at her for a brief moment. ''I take that back, he is dumb! At least he knows that a Vampire''s weakness is their heart-'' she was cut short. BANG *** A weekter. The only thing that happened in thest week was me bing infuriated by women relentlessly asking me out after learning that I can use ''Aura,'' and some guilds started stalking me with their granddaughters or daughters to set me up on a ''coincidental'' meeting, and I now have hundreds of new contacts of many unknown women whose faces I don''t even remember. When I went out to eat, I had to call Isha for assistance... Let''s be honest: I asked her out on a date. Because I was wandering from the academy to the association about the ''terror'' attack, we had about six dates in three days. The academy didn''t sustain enough damage to be called excessive, but that was only because the walls were reinforced with mana while being built. The only walls that blew up were those where more bombs were nted, but it wasn''t enough to bring the academy down, considering that''s what they aimed for. Sky had already turned dark. "Hmm~mm." I hummed while walking next to Isha. We were on our way to the academy to check on Quinn, who was still experiencing pain when moving his right arm. The weight and force of the arrow had twisted and torn his muscles and cracked his shoulder bone, because it had vampire blood on it, it caused the blood in his body to flow reverse, so even after healing it with tons of potions, it couldn''t healpletely. "So, why did you invite me, Mr. Aura Master?" Isha asked in a mocking tone with a slight smile. ''She.... She''s definitely doing it on purpose.'' "Well, don''t worry about it,dy Isha because we''re dating now." I grinned while looking at her walk next to me. "Th-that!" she eximed with a flushed face. ''How adorable, I just hope she will always be like this....'' I paused. ''What the f**k? Why am I thinking like I would be with her forever!!??'' I felt my heartbeat speed up while my ears turned hot. "Ah-Ahem...." I cleared my throat in embarrassment and we walked in silence until.... "Excuse me, are you Sir Eshwar?" A blonde with short hair approached me. She was dressed in a navy-blue silk party dress with her arms and legs exposed, and she was quite attractive.... if it weren''t for Isha, who was walking next to me and waspletely covered in ck but looked more stunning than the woman in front of me. I nced to Isha for assistance because I knew what was about to happen, but I was taken aback when I noticed Isha looking at the woman with a nonchnt expression that for some reason sent shivers down my spine. ''Goddamn that cold as f**k!'' I thought while staring at her cold obsidian ck eyes, which seemed to be ready to pounce on the woman in front of me. [Little help please? Do you have any idea on how to send her away?] I asked Isha telepathically. "Y-yes, wh-what can I help you with?" I asked while forcing myself to smile. "Oh my god! It really is you?" she asked with twinkling stars in her eyes. "May I know who I''m speaking with?" I asked, only to be polite. "Oh my god! You such a sweet voice, I thought you only how fight with a handsome face!" She eximed in a high-pitched voice, attracting the attention of arge number of people. "Ha, haha, ha." Iughed drily. ''I was just ignored, wasn''t I? How do I get rid of her? If could just-'' I shook my head and dismissed the thought. "Huuu..." I breathed out calm down. "Oh my! Thank you, I was feeling too hot!" she said while fanning herself with her hand and leaving me bbergasted. ''Do I really need to control myself?'' "You are so sweet can I get your number?" she asked with a bright smile. ''That''s it!'' "Hahaha, I know right? I''m so sweet and you know one more thing? I have my number unlike a certain someone. Hahaha ." "Pfft!" Chapter 89 88. Isha Walker (2). ?* "Pfft! Hahahaha, hahaha!!" Isha wasughing her a*s off. "Hahaha. Very funny! Couldn''t you help your date a bit?" Eshwar asked and walked in front of her and stared at her dead in the eye. "Oh my, you shouldn''t be like this...." She shook her head while holding back herughter. "Pfft, didn''t you know, you''re so sweet. Pfft! Hahahahaha." Sheughed out until she was out of breath and until tears rolled out of her eyes. "Oh my God, her face was hrious!" Isha said and wiped the tear off of her cheek. ''Well, at least he hasn''t changed much.'' Isha thought while looking at Eshwar, who was furrowing his brows at her, but his emotion was green, indicating ''happy.'' ''You can''t fool me, you know.... I can tell what you are feeling in a single nce even without this cursed eyes.'' She thought. "Well? Why did you invite me?" Isha asked after she stoppedughing but kept smiling. ''My cheeks hurt fromughing so hard! If I try to keep my face normal, it feels like my cheeks are pulling my lips up into a smile....'' she thought as she massaged her cheeks with both hands. "First, I was bored out of my mind. Second, we are now dating, so I have another reason to invite you to join me. Third, I don''t know how to ask someone if they''re alright without making it awkward because I don''t know how to continue the conversation, and finally, your date can flee under the guise of a ''date.'' He replied. "Wow, I can''t believe I''m being used after only 6 dates!!" Isha snorted and pouted. ''Though, I think the reasons are pretty urate.'' She thought inwardly. "Exactly like a cat." He said this while walking backwards and smiling at her. "I''m getting the urge to buy cat ears and gift it to you, you know?" he asked while smiling mischievously. "..... why a cat?" She furrowed her brows at him, pondering, and said after a while. "You know, a cat doesn''t give a sh*t about anyone else, except for the one it likes...." he said with a serious face. "I know that, but whypare me to a cat?" she asked. "You, too, don''t give a sh*t about others, except for the ones you like." He said while hopping back and staring at her face. "Hmm... That''s true..." she nodded in understanding and found it pretty urate. ''That is far too urate for someone who has only known the other for a month..... Maybe he remembers his emotions between us but doesn''t know how to name them without his memories of our past, which I should be thankful for because that pitch ck killing intent that fuelled his divinity... I''m not sure, but if he regains his memories, he''ll only be devoured by rage.'' She shuddered at the thought but continued to smile. ''I certainly don''t want another city to be destroyed! Not after three of them were razed to the ground in the past as a result of his rage!! Even though I was the reason for it, it doesn''t make me feel any better; I hope he learns to control his anger before remembering anything from our past..... The city in my previous world was muchrger, so... I believe two sectors will be easily razed to the ground if he gets really angry and doesn''t hold back...'' she remembered how cities were razed because they tried to frame and kill her. "If you think about it that way, I think you are more likely to be a cat than I am." She pointed at him and said. "How so?" he asked with a puzzled expression. "First, it''szy and only moves when it''s bored out of its mind!" she said while counting her fingers. "Ha, haha." He scratched the back of his head. "Second, it pounces on anything that irritates it!" She said in firm tone. "..... I mean, I ¨C" he tried to say something but was cut short by Isha. "And, finally, it has extreme mood swings!! It''ll be ying joyfully one second and then turns into a killer the next." Isha stated, staring and pointing at Eshwar, that no arguments will be tolerated. "Hey, that''s pretty urate!" he said while brightly smiling. He turned around and knocked once on the door next to him. KNOCK ''Huh? We''re already here?'' she thought while staring at chairman''s office room door. "Oi, old geezer I''ming in!" he said and opened the door without waiting for an answer from the inside. ''Old geezer?'' CLUNK "..... Shouldn''t you wait for an answer? What''s the point of knocking if you are just going to barge in?" Isha asked. "That''s exactly why, I knocked once. I''m letting him know that I''m barging in." He answered with a smile and opened the office door. "Eshwar, what brings you here?" Quinn asked as soon as Eshwar entered the room. "Sit down! And don''t hug me! Ack, help! Help!" Eshwar screamed for help from the inside. "Haaa..." Isha sighed, shook her head and walked in to the room. ''Let''s just hope he doesn''t talk anything unwanted.'' She thought and stepped into the office. Eshwar grumbled as he walked towards the couch, while Quinn walked back to his seat without looking back with a slight smile on his face. "Hello, gra-" Isha tried to greet Quinn but was cut short by Quinn. "So, when are you going to marry my granddaughter?" Quinn asked Eshwar without looking back. "Huh?" Isha''s mind went nk at those words. "This damn old geezer!" Eshwar came to a halt, bit his lower lip in frustration, and stomped his feet as he approached Isha, who was still in a daze. Quinn sat in his seat with a wide grin on his face while staring at Eshwar''s back, before his eyes widened and he looked at the couple in disbelief. Eshwar grabbed Isha''s right hand in his and pointed their hands towards Quinn, who was still trying to make sense of the situation. "Look! I''m dating her now!" Eshwar said proudly, leaving Isha even more flummoxed than she had ever been before. ".... You have my blessings." Quinn snapped out of his trance and said with a warm smile. "Right! Thank you old man! Now!" Eshwar thanked Quinn with a wide grin on his face. "Keep your princess in your own house! Muhahahaha!" Eshwar said andughed at Quinn, hysterically. ''What''s going on?'' Isha snapped out of her daze and looked at Eshwar, dumbfounded. "So, when are you going to marry my granddaughter?" Quinn leaned forward and asked with a smile while resting his head on his sped fists. "Huh? What nonsense are you talking about? I said that I would marry her.... No, that I was dating her." Eshwar asked while pointing at Isha and staring at Quinn with perplexed look on his face. "Have you gone senile old man?" Eshwar tilted his head to his right and stared at Quinn like he was stupid. "My name is Quinn Walker...." Quinn introduced himself. "I know that! I only said that I would marry her, if I ever marry, not your granddaughter." Eshwar snarled at Quinn who simply pointed at Isha who was trying to make sense of her situation. "She is Isha ''Walker''....." Quinn introduced Isha. "I know th..... Huh?" Eshwar looked at them like it was his first time they met. "Walker?" he asked with dumbfounded look on his face. "Yea, she ''is'' my granddaughter." Quinn said while smiling brightly at the couple. Chapter 90 89. Ishas Outburst. ?* "Huh?" I stared at them disbelief. Only then did I recall that she had introduced herself as ''Isha Walker.'' I simply didn''t care, and when she introduced herself to Core, I assumed she would simply have the same surname as Quinn had never mentioned his granddaughter''s name. Isha, too, had never mentioned anything about her family, so I didn''t pry into it nor did I try to connect the dots. "..... Was he the one you were talking about? I thought you were just talking nonsense to try and talk to me?" Isha''s voice jolted me out of my reverie when she asked, pointing at me and seething with anger. "..... Why would I talk nonsense about such a serious matter?" Quinn asked with a hurt face. "Well you know why!!" Isha snarled at him with a deep frown. "..... Please, don''t say that...." Quinn said with a guilty and sad expression. "Well, why shouldn''t I? After all the ''love'' and ''care'' your family has drowned me with? I did say not to call me here! But, shouldn''t Ie here every day to prove to you that I''m ''healthy?''" Isha snarled at him in outrage and annoyance. "..... And don''t you dare make that face as if I am the bad guy!" she snorted in absurdity. ''What''s going on? Where am I? Why am I here? Who am I?'' "...." Quinn clenched his shirt near his heart area. ''Damn, Quinn looks in a lot of pain! But I can''t help but be angry at him(?) Even though it hasn''t been long, I have never seen Isha so enraged. All she ever had on her face was a cold and indifferent expression, she shows most of her emotions when she is with me.....'' ''Let her vent it out.'' A voice rang in my head which I agreed to because I was nning to do that. "..... Even calling you ''grandfather'' is the most effort I can muster from my end; do you realise how difficult it is for me to make eye contact with anyone other than him and the kids? Why? All because of ''you,'' ''the people around you,'' ''your family,'' and, finally, my f**king parents! I''m holding back my urge to puke just by calling them that!" Isha pointed at Quinn, who was drowned in guilt, sadness and grief. ''Too sudden! What am I supposed to do now? If I had any idea, I would have step up and calm them down but, I don''t know anything.'' ".... What exactly do you want me to do?" I didn''t know anything about you..... No, I couldn''t care less about anything else in the world after your grandmothe-" Quinn attempted to justify himself but was cut off by Isha. "Your wife!" Isha snarled at him. "Ha... Yes, after my wife passed away, I just wanted to find peace in myself, so I left my son and daughter inw alone to take care of everything... I even thought of leaving behind the academy but it was your grandmo- my wife''s dream to make the kids learn and walk their own path-" Quinn said, but was cut short by Isha, again. "So, you left me behind when I asked you to take me away from your son and ''second'' daughter inw?" Isha scoffed. "You! Left! Behind! Your! Own! So-called granddaughter! So that! You! Can! Teach! A bunch of f**king retarded! Kids!?" Isha asked, her voice increasing with each word she spoke. "I..... Yes...." Quinn said as he looked down in shame. ''Am I even supposed to be here?'' "A 8 year old kid begged and pleaded for you to ''help'' her, you left her behind and now you say you wanted to teach other kids?" Isha seemed outraged, perplexed and bewildered. ".....Yes...." Quinn answered while tears poured out of his eyes which were not visible because he had his head down but I could clearly see he was weeping. ''You made a grown man cry.....'' ''Shut up!!!'' I scolded my mind for trying to make the situation funny. "After that, you abruptly returned to ''help'' me when I was already emotionally dead at the age of 15!!" Isha yelled as her eyes teared up. ''F**k!'' I felt a pang near my heart which increased by the second. "You ''knew'' that your ''second'' daughter inw was a greedy woman who would do anything to keep her a*s on a goldenmode and left me behind to be ''sold'' for a few coins for her?" Isha asked as a lonely tear streamed down her left cheek. "No!" Quinn mmed his desk and abruptly stood up while his face was twisted in hate. "I knew that she was a greedy woman! But how would I know that she would such absurd things?" he asked in outrage as tears streamed down his cheek. ''That. Woman. Is. Going. To. Die. By. My. Hands.'' I clenched my hands, felt a wet sensation in my fist but I couldn''t care less. ''Haha, ha, I really want to kill somebody (?)'' "Haa...." I let out low sigh and let the urge to kill flow through my body and my body trembled in excitement. ''I haven''t felt this feeling in a loooooonnnnnngggggg while....'' "So what? Why the f**k would I beg and plead you for help? Did you think a child would throw a tantrum while asking for help? I begged you on my knees, didn''t I?" Isha sneered at Quinn while tears streamed down from her eyes. "..... I-I didn''t know....." Quinn said while clenching his fists as mana poured out of his body which was filled with sadness. ''Ho? Adding a little spice huh..... Abination of rage and pain is the best!'' ''C-calm down!! Calm down! If I get angry what about them? Isha is more hurt than Quinn but that doesn''t mean he is not.... Calm down!'' I tried to calm down but when the thought of Isha came, I unknowingly calmed down. "So now, I need a favour from you, Quinn Walker." Isha said with a firm tone. "...." Quinn didn''t say anything and nodded his head continuously. "I want you to leave m-" Isha started to speak but was cut short by me. "Now! Darling, I want us to go on a ''date'' right now!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her close. ''I don''t want you to do anything that you mighte to regretter on.'' I grabbed her waist with my right hand, took her left hand in mine, lifted her up, spun her around, and led her out of the office while ying ''Waltz.'' I let go of her left hand once we were outside. "1 second!" I said with a bright smile and closed the office door, leaving both of them bbergasted. CLUNK I back off a bit, bowed politely and offered her my right hand. "May I have the honour to have a dance with you?" "Sniffle, no." Isha said. "Why?" I asked with dejected expression. "Because you are bleeding and.... we are not done with the date yet." She said and covered her face with both of her hands. "Haa... I''ll have to wait then." I sighed and removed her hands away from her face, wiped off her tears, wrapped my hands around her neck and pulled her a bit forward, forgetting that I was bleeding. She flinched and closed her eyes, I chuckled at the sight and leaned forward until our foreheads bumped and stared at her silently for a while, she opened one eye to look and opened both of her eyes wide in surprise. "Shall we go to our date now, Miss Cyclops?" I chuckled and asked her. "Y-yes!" Chapter 91 90. Stat Control. ?* They had dinner at a nearby restaurant because Isha was not in the mood for a date. They ate their dinner in silence, he held her left hand in his, without letting go even for a moment since they left the office room, his hands were still bleeding but most of it had dried up. She noticed that, despite being covered in calluses, his hands were unusually soft and firm; his hand couldpletely cover hers and had several lumps as if there was no flesh in them. When she noticed the lumps, she drew his hands closer and examined them closely; hisrge hands had clear skin, but when she traced her hands over the lumps, she discovered that they were all scars shaped from des and ws that were hidden beneath the perfectly healed skin. When she felt them, her mind went nk and an image of which all of the scars on his hand bing fresh and bled appeared in her mind, only his fingertips had any skin on them while everything else was covered in scars and was bleeding profusely, it scared her but she clenched his hands tightly instead of letting it go. He was always in his other form in their previous life, so he only had cold, transparent light blue hands, so she had never felt his hands of the human side until today, which made her happy and sad at the same time. * They returned to their rooms, which had been assigned by the academy, but Eshwar followed Isha to her room, which she didn''t mind but definitely was flustered about. She changed her clothes after kicking him out of the room and let him back in when she was finished. "Are you feeling better, Miss Cyclops?" Eshwar asked Isha while taking a seat on the couch which was in front of the bed. "Yes...." Isha replied, sat on the bed and nced at Eshwar who sat in front of her. ''Red- angry filled with streaks of light orange- confused, light green- giddy, blue- sad, light azure- hurt and though not as much as the others he is a bit happy.....'' Isha read the colours and their meanings due to her habit. ''Knowing him, he should be angry at himself, for reasons only he knows why...'' Isha inwardly sighed. ''Though, it was unlikely of me, I really had one damn outburst, maybe because I have been showing more emotions recently when I''m with him... '' Isha reasoned with herself. ''Quinn, when I looked at his warm smile, I-I just wanted to rip him to shreds! He dares to smile at me when he didn''t care about me years?!!!'' Isha abruptly got angry, inwardly. ''If I had a bit more divinity I would have cursed him to have nightmares about his wife refusing every opinion and love he offers to her!'' Isha thought in outrage. "Can I have the honour to have a dance with you, Miss Cyclops." Eshwar''s sweet voice jolted her out of her reverie when he stood back up and extended his right hand to her after ying waltz music on his smart watch. "It would be a pleasure." She smiled brightly forgetting about everything and took his hand to stand up. He took her left hand in his and raised his right hand above her waist to begin waltzing. He had a bright smile on his face as the colours of his emotions gradually changed until the only colour remaining was green (happy). She felt lumps on his back as well, but they were muchrger and deeper. In frustration, she bit the right corner of her lower lip, which looked too seductive, but she released it before Eshwar could take a proper look at it. She had memories of how she had learnt to waltz but her movements were awkward because she had never danced in this life because she was too busy running, escaping, hiding and getting stronger to make herself independent, whereas his movements were fluid and seemed to have been perfected over the years. "Where and when did you learn waltzing?" Isha asked with a bright face, enjoying both the pleasant dance andpany. "Hm? What do you think? I did everything I wanted after I returned to the human domain." He answered without much thinking and with a bright smile. ''!'' "Returned? Where were you before?" Isha asked, furrowed her brows at him and squinted her eyes, perplexed. "It''s a long and nonsensical story, so forget about it." He ttered for a moment and said with a sigh but kept his smile. ''He is still happy, but there are two streaks of red(anger) in it, which is slowly fading away.....'' Isha noticed that and didn''t pry into it any further. ".... Can I ask when you returned and how you got into learning to waltz? I only want hear the process." Isha asked, her curiosity got the better of her, but she managed to avoid the topic of what happened before he returned after connecting the scars with what he did before returning to the human domain. "Hm.... I returned when I was 13 or 14, I don''t remember that properly, but I just roamed around learning many different things and waltz was one of them." He answered. "Many different things are?" Isha asked. "Hm... Dancing, painting, abstract art, parkour, ''proper'' full body martial arts and after trying out full body martial arts I continued to focus on fighting and training my body to make it move like I want it to but I kept all the others as simple side habits." He replied with a smile. "''Proper?''" Isha asked. "Yeah, ''proper'' because I didn''t know anything about martial arts.... I just knew how to move how I want even if it meant sustaining damages, but after learning full body martial arts however,... how should I say this... Ah! My techniques got ''refined'' I think." He said. "By refining and understanding my body, I developed my own fighting technique which can used with any weapon, however and anywhere I want." He smiled brightly in excitement. "Which is?" Isha asked. "Ah! Right, I was going to teach you the same technique when I proposed a contract when we met the first time...." he said. "...." Isha stared at him with a slightly flushed face. ''I was so disgusted at him, thinking of him as a pervert an-'' Isha''s thoughts were cut short by Eshwar. "How you misunderstood me, how you made me run till the hotel, how we were living in same hotel and-" Eshwar said with a mischievous grin but was cut short by Isha who had the same mischievous grin. "How we had our room next to each other..." Isha said and giggled. They both chuckled at how awkwardly it started before returning back to the topic at hand. "What was the technique you created?" Isha asked with curious face. "... The technique I made is called ''Stat Control.''" Chapter 92 91. Stat Control (2). ?"... The technique I made is called ''Stat Control.''" He replied. "Huh? Stat Control? Like in System''s stats?" Isha asked in confusion. He created a technique for controlling stats? How could anyone have ''control'' over their stats? If anybody could, wouldn''t they be regarded as the most powerful? In this world, stats are the things that make humans strong enough to fight and defend themselves against monsters; can he control that? Shouldn''t it be considered aplete taboo? And he was thinking about teaching it to others? "Yeah, after studying the human body, I created it... though I don''t think cadets could learn it without learningpletely about their own bodies first...." Eshwar pondered at his words but still led the waltz. "Y-you want to teach me that? Can I have a demonstration?" Isha asked with puzzled but firm expression. ''I was a bit relieved that he didn''t do anything too crazy in this life but I guess it was just my wishful thinking.'' Isha thought. ''He created a ''Shotgun'' as a gift for me which was akin to a living being in the past life, though it didn''t ept me as its master... but now this? A taboo like martial art technique? I don''t think anybody other than him could use this technique.....'' Isha inwardly grumbled and sighed. "Right now?" he asked. "Yes!" Isha said with a firm tone and took a step back after finishing the waltz. "Ok. But do you remember you asked me ''how I act weaker'' when I proposed the contract?" he asked. "Yes." Isha nodded her head energetically. "Because of this technique of controlling stats." He answered. "Ohh!!" Isha was now more intrigued to learn about the technique. ".... Every ''Stat'' is just mana being condensed on a specific part of the body, it thickens, moves more fluently and flexibly." He exined. "Huh? Not muscles? But mana?" Isha asked. ''I always thought that muscles are the one being condensed!'' Isha thought. "Muscles be denser too, but they can only be until a certain point, henceforth it''s just mana bing denser in between the muscle fibres. The more denser the mana bes the more increase in stat points!" he exined. "Whoa...." Isha eximed in awe at the revtion. "Anybody can understand that stat points affect our bodies. Endurance- skin, strength- muscles, agility- nerve system and constitution- bones. Every time a stat increases, mana in the respective fields gets denser." He exined. "Now, what if I use them only on any particr part?" he asked. "Huh? Wouldn''t it be amazing?" Isha asked in amazement. ''''Mana gets denser, flexible and fluent at only one particr part?! Whoa!! It''ll create endless possibilities and create new fighting styles!" Isha repeated his words, imagined how it would be and eximed in excitement. "Yes, now look." He said and moved his right hand forward. "You know how to feel and control mana right?" Eshwar asked to which Isha nodded vigorously. "First 50 percent is everything internal and the other 50 is external." He said and clenched his right hand into a fist. "15 percent." He mumbled. There were no noticeable changes on the outside, but those with heightened mana perception can detect the changes in his hand. ''Grip strength, mana force, mana burst, mana released and finally mana flow is increased in his hand!'' Isha looked at the process with wide eyes and amazement. "This!" Isha jumped slightly in excitement, ''slightly'' only because she was able to control her excitement in time before embarrassing herself. "I would definitely cause more damage with this fist than the bombs which imploded in the academy." He said. "Huh?" she looked at him in disbelief. ''And that''s ''15 percent?'''' Isha thought. "25 percent." He mumbled. WOING His fist made an unusual sound. His fist and forearm had expanded slightly, and a new pale purple mana skin had enveloped them. "Hmm.... around 5-6 percent of the academy will be grazed to the ground." He said. Isha flinched at those words and looked at him dumbfounded. "Y-you want to teach this to the cadets?" Isha felt her throat go dry and stared at him like he was stupid. "I-I sh-shouldn''t?" Eshwar asked and took a slight step back. "You shouldn''t!" Isha furrowed her brows and said firmly. "O-ok!?" he said. "Then? What else?" Isha asked. "Ah! I demonstrate my strength ording to ranks if you remember." He said. "Yes, I do. Once, on me, next on Katline and finally on Violet." She answered and mentioned everybody''s name on who he used the ''Stat Control'' technique on. "...." He stared at her in silence. "What?" Isha asked with a slightly flushed face. "No, nothing. It just that I didn''t think you would observe me so closely." He mumbled. "Wh-what''s wrong with me looking at my date?" she asked, flustered. "Haha, yes, yes. There is nothing wrong with it." He chuckled and replied. "You!" she eximed because she felt like he was teasing her. "Ahem! I simply lower it to the rank I want." He said. "Huh? Simply lower it to any rank?" Isha asked, dumbfounded. Doesn''t that imply that the technique he employs allows him to raise and lower his rank as he pleases? How strong is his control over mana to make ''him'' appear frail? And what if a rank-S destroys 5-6 percent of the academy, whose walls are designed to withstand the strength of a rank-SS? Walls are built to withstand the strength of rank-SS because they are considered to be the strongest of humanity!!! And only at 25 percent of his maximum strength? What would happen if he used 100 percent? "Esh-Eshwar(?) Can you use it in your other form?" Isha asked without thinking. "....." Eshwar''s gaze instantly turned suspicious. "Ah!" Isha bit her tongue due to her blunder. How do I exin it to him? What if he bes suspicious of my intentions? F**k it, I think he''s already suspicious of me!! What should I do? How could I exin our past lives to him? Is he even going to believe it? Even I wouldn''t believe it if someone said something like that to me. ''Should I say that I know because he was in that form in our previous life?'' Oh no! What should I do? I didn''t think about how he would react because I got confused as the memories our past life became vivid just recently!! For a second I got t-'' When Eshwar''s smartwatch rang, Isha snapped out of her trance. DING TO TOU TOUTUOTU "Hello?" he answered the call but his gaze was fixated on Isha with a frown. "Eshwar help! Devil! ''BANG'' F**k! Jiwoo! Katharine! Hold him back for a second! ''BOOM'' SH*T! Eshwar help! At Academy''s training ground! BAM-" Katline had called but was cut short with a loud ''BAM.'' "Sh*t Vinny!!" Eshwar snarled in outrage and ran to the door. CLUNK He halted in between and turned to face Isha who face was twisted with anxiety. "We''ll talkter." BAM Chapter 93 92. Demonic Being. ?*** An hour before. In the Academy''s training chamber. Vinny sat cross-legged on the ground, and about 20 steps away from him stood Jiwoo, Katharine, Katline, and Violet. "Vinny, I seriously don''t know why you called us here, if you just want to train.... And that to in the middle of night!" Jiwoo furrowed his brows at Vinny. ''My blissful sleep got wasted!!'' Jiwoo grumbled inwardly. "Hhhhyyyyaaaammm...." Katharine yawned loudly. "Katline, do you know what''s wrong with him?" Jiwoo asked teasingly but got a cold shoulder as a response. "Um, I thin- no, I definitely know that what I''m about to do will be dangerous, so I called for help." Vinny replied in Katline''s stead. "Huh? I have never heard anything about mana training being dangerous (?)." Violet mumbled. ''Exactly!'' Jiwoo nodded in agreement. "Alright, I''ll buy you guys a meal, so stay here, at least, to satisfy my paranoia." Vinny sighed and shook his head. "Hmm... Alright." Jiwoo agreed and the others reluctantly agreed with a nod. "I''ll show you why I think it''s dangerous." Vinny held out his right hand and concentrated on his arm. His arm turned ck, as if it were devouring light, and his fingers gradually transformed into ws that grew to be 5 inches long. KRRK-KT-KRRRKT Suddenly, ck lightning cruised on his arm, snapping all over, and slowly, ck me lit on his arm, which seemed to drip with a dense jelly-like ck goo with ck me covering it. "Whoa!!! But e." Katharine eximed. ".....What are you?" Violet mumbled in a low tone which they could barely hear. "This is what Eshwar taught you that day?" Jiwoo asked. "Yeah....But when ever I try to do the same, this happens." Vinny nodded in confirmation and pointed at his ws. "Right, you didn''t have any of that, that day. Or else, Eshwar''s chest would have been pierced by those." Jiwoo remembered Vinny''s hands being near Eshwar''s heart area when he demonstrated how to use mana to Vinny. "I don''t know why Eshwar trusts you so much to offer his heart literally, but there is definitely mana cruising through your arm." Katline said. "Really?" Katharine asked in amazement and received a nod in reply. "I don''t know what kind of power this is, so I want you guys to help me master it." Vinny said firmly. "..... If anything goes wrong, call Eshwar immediately! Cause I have a ominous feeling every time I mess with this power." Vinny continued while looking at his demon like arm in fear. "Don''t worry!" Jiwoo patted Vinny''s shoulder to assure him. ''F**k! I''m scared sh*tless! How can I assure him when I''m this scared?'' Jiwoo asked himself. *** They talked for a while before Vinny began to feel the source of the ''demonic'' power he was experiencing. He took a deep breath and concentrated on his core, assuming it even existed in the first ce. ''I read in theory that it''s somewhere around my sacrum.'' Vinny thought and focused. "Ukh!?" Vinny groaned. Suddenly, his consciousness was dragged somewhere clouded. ''Why do I feel like I''m drowning? I, somehow, know I''m going down, deep down..... Like into the abyss(?)'' Vinny knew what he was thinking is just absurd, but it didn''t sound absurd to him in the least. He seemed like an ant in his(?) void like consciousness, he sunk and continued to do so, until he thought that something was wrong. ''Something is going wrong. Where am I? Where is this?'' Vinny started to doubt the process. "Hello!" He yelled out loud, and his voice echoed throughout the void before returning to him 10 times louder. "Ghaaa!!" He covered his ears and screamed in agony, but the reverberated voice abruptly stopped; instead, his scream travelled throughout the ck void and returned to him 10 times louder. ''F**k!!!'' he understood what was going on and clenched his teeth to not scream again. "Ukh." He groaned in muffled voices. He clenched his teeth and head so tightly that they began to bleed, and blood flowed from his mouth, ears, nose, and eyes as a result of the tremendous force he was exerting. Suddenly, he suddenly felt a strong pull on his hands, but the scream continued, so he tried to resist the pull, but when he couldn''t, he abruptly loosened his hands, and the pullpletely loosened, he used that opening to cover his ears again until the scream stopped. ''Huu.... It finally stopped!'' Vinny sighed in relief, inwardly. ''.... Is this really my consciousness? I''m in pain inside my mind?'' he asked himself as his head hurt as if it was splitting apart. He found himself in a ce where he felt veryfortable, but he shook it off and focused because he remembered that he was in his consciousness and was certain that he shouldn''t befortable there or he, too, would be stuck in his consciousness like in the novels he read. ''I won''t fall into the trap because I''m not dumb like the main characters from the novels I read!'' he snorted, proudly. WOOOMMMHH He soon found himself in front of a pitch-ck-like thing(?) that he considered to be his core; it appeared to be a ck, void-like neb covered in dense dark clouds (?). ''is this my core? If it is, then it''s goddamn huge!'' he thought. He made a swimming motion to move forward, but instead of moving forward, he spun in ce. ''the f**k!? What''s this, Interster?'' he grumbled. "You are here, my lovely and pitiful host." Vinny instinctively covered his ears as a hoarse demonic voice that was too sweet and soothing rang around him. ''Host?!!'' He furrowed his brows at the-sized void as the voice seemed to emanate from it. "Hahaha! Don''t worry my ''host!'' I am will never hurt what''s mine!" the demonic voice chuckled. ''His? What''s his? Me? Is it gay? If he speaks one more time then he definitely is one!'' Vinny furrowed his brows at the sized void. "Come here." The voice said. ''F**k!'' Suddenly, pitch ck hands erupted from every corner of the ck neb, shooting at Vinny at the speed of sound, wrapping around him and dragging him into the neb while he struggled to fight them off with everything he had. ''Ok! I''m sorry! I won''t think like that again!'' he thought. "We shall have a sweet talk after you wake up from your ''slumber'' hehehehahaha!!" the voiceughed hysterically and dragged Vinny deep into the ck void like neb. "If you ever manage to wake up again, that is!" *** Chapter 94 93. Demonic Being (2). ?"What do you think?" Katline asked Jiwoo. "About?" Jiwoo asked with puzzled expression. "Do you think it''s dangerous or it just his paranoia?" Katline asked. "I don''t know..." he shook his head. "But I don''t think he is just paranoid..... Should we just call Eshwar?" He continued and asked. ''Eshwar is stronger than Vinny, so if something goes wrong, he should be able to supress Vinny and we can get a second opinion, but I think Vinny has a reason not to ask him for help from the start, so I''ll respect his wishes for the time being.'' Katline thought and shook her head at Jiwoo''s question. "Well, damn." Jiwoo mumbled and furrowed his brows at the ck goo, which was still burning with a subtle sizzle. "..... I think we should call Eshwar." Violet suggested. "... Why?" Katline stood cross armed and furrowed her brows at Violet. "..... If something will go wrong we won''t be able to deal with it, if you don''t remember Vinny is S rank hero." Violet pointed out the obvious, but they reacted as if it were the first time they heard it. "Oh sh*t." Katharine mumbled. "He is with us most of the time that I forget that he is a rank-S hero, haha." Jiwoo chuckled. "Ukh!?" Vinny suddenly groaned. "Vinny?" Jiwoo called out. WHOOMMM Vinny''s body erupted with ck mana, causing ripples; with each ripple, the mana oozing from his body increased by a notch. "Hello!" Vinny eximed with his eyes closed. "Pft, Hello." Katharine said with a giggle. "Huh?" They stared at Vinny in disbelief. BOING (4x) Suddenly, ripples appeared to be bouncing, and after 6 bounces, it shot up, forming a transparent ck pir at least twice the size of Vinny. In the middle of it was Vinny, who was wincing from time to time and his face was twisted in grimace. "Ghaaa!!" Vinny covered his ears and screamed in agony. "F**k! Oi!" Jiwoo called out. "Vinny snap out of it, dammit!" Jiwoo rushed to Vinny, quickly followed by Katline and the others. ''What''s going on? Why is he in pain?'' Katline bit her lower lip and paced around, circling Vinny several times because she didn''t know what else to do. "Uck!" Vinny groaned in muffled voices. Vinny''s face turned bright red from the force he was exerting to cover his ears. He began to bleed from every hole in his face, which was almost terrifying for those who had never seen a human being die. "F**k! Stop him! He''ll crush his own head at this rate!" Jiwoo sat down next to Vinny, facing his right side, and began to pull Vinny''s hand towards him. "Sh*t! Okay!" Katline quickly followed and sat to Vinny''s left to pull his hand towards her, ced her feet on Jiwoo''s and pushed against them to pull Vinny''s hand. "I''ming too." Katharine said and joined Katline. Violet ran towards Jiwoo and pulled Vinny''s hand. ''What in god''s name is Vinny doing instead of snapping out of it?'' Katline thought looking at outrageous situation. SWISH Vinny then abruptly let go of his hands, Jiwoo and Katline copsed to the ground and bumped the back of their heads, and Katharine and Violet copsed butt first on the ground. "Uhk?!" "Guh!" "Ack!" "Gha!" Groans filled the room before the ck pir began to move, abruptly. The pir grew two arms while the top part shrunk into an oval forming a head, two twisted horns protruded from the forehead, and waist length red hair grew on top of the oval shaped head. "Asura." Katharine mumbled in daze while staring at the imposing demonic figure. The figure leaned back while its shoulder danced up and down, giving the impression that the demonic figure wasughing. WOOUUUUNNNGGGH A strange sound echoed throughout the training chamber as the figure twisted, leaned forward, and seeped back into Vinny''s body. "Grr...." Vinny began to breathe strangely, almost as if he were an angry bull. Vinny''s ponytail came loose and floated in the air, a bright red hue covering it as if it were under water. Suddenly, ck goo flowed down from the bottom of Vinny''s hair and didn''t stop until itpletely covered him. "GRAAAAA!!!!" Vinny screamed at the top of his lungs, causing ripples in the air and shattering circuit designs on the training chamber''s walls. "Guh!?" they covered their ears and crouched down in pain. Vinny''s body floated up into the air about a meter and a half above the ground, his entire body turned pitch ck, twisted horns and a pointy tail appeared, the corners of his mouth tore and turned dark bloody red, shaped as if the demonic figure was grinning widely. The figure''s left leg came loose as it leaned back, and the figure was now sitting cross-legged in the air, as if on the throne. "This!!??" Katline heard Jiwoo''s panicked voice and snapped out of her trance of agony. ''..... Whatever this is, it''s not Vinny!'' Katline thought. *** "This!!??" Jiwoo abruptly stood back up and eximed in shock. Jiwoo trembled at the sight of the demonic figure in front of him, his legs buckled up and he fell butt first to the ground, his face was twisted in horror as he sweat profusely. "How??!?" As the line from the novel resounded in his head, he trembled and appeared befuddled by the situation. ''These people were not worth your sacrifice!'' Jiwoo remembered the line at the novel''s ending. ''In the novel, the demon who ughters the heroes is described as ''The waist length red haired demon, with pitch ck skin that seemed to devour light, twisted horns, like that of a goat, protruded from his forehead and a pointy wipe like tail appeared and his torn mouth corners were dyed in dark blood red that formed a wide grin and was soon named as ''A Demon of ughter!'''' Jiwoo shuddered and crawled back in terror as he remembered the novel''s description. ".... ''These people were not worth your sacrifice!'' Yes, now it makes sense! The demon was you!" Jiwoo mumbled out loud, involuntarily. ''No! H-he is the demon of ughter? Why? How? It definitely makes sense considering the dialogue at end, but why? Why Vinny?'' Jiwoo thought. ''BBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP'' Jiwoo couldn''t understand what was going on as his mind suddeny went nk. STEP (6x) PAAT "Ow, huh?" Jiwoo snapped out his trance when Katline pped him with everything she had. "Are you alright?" Katline asked, nonchntly. "I don''t think so(?)" Katharine answered. "Yea, no sh*t, Miss Obvious! I just got pped the sh*t out of me and it''s hurting like hell!" Jiwoo snarled in annoyance and rubbed his cheek. "Do you what ''that'' is?" Katline asked. "Y-yes." Chapter 95 94. Readers Crook. ?"Do you know what ''that'' is?" Katline asked. "Y-yes." Jiwoo replied. "What is it?" Katline asked. "He is..." Jiwoo started to speak but stopped before he started to talk nonsense. ''I can''t tell them about the ''novel''..... A white lie or the truth.... She knows about the future because Vinny told her, so why not both? The truth but only half.'' Jiwoo thought. "In the future I know, he was named as the ''Demon of ughter,'' who killed several heroes after ''your'' death because he did not believe they were worth your sacrifice." Jiwoo said, gulping loudly. "Hm? Really?" Katline asked with a bit flustered and proud face. "F**k! Call Esh-" Jiwoo didn''t notice her reaction and cursed his bad luck before pulling a katana from his inventory and started to say something but was cut off by a hoarse demonic voice. "Is this a human''s pce?" the demonic figure spoke in hoarse mncholic voice. Jiwoo shuddered and so did the others, the demonic figure had a leisure smile on his face before he looked around and noticed there were others beside him. Because Jiwoo''s concentration broke, his katana remained in the inventory. "Hello, humans." The figurended on the ground before his magic power exploded violently. KRAT-KAT-TAKKRAT ck lightning followed the demonic figure''s every step, snapping everywhere and ck me lit on his body, forming a jacket of ck mes, the ck fire resembled faux. "Show me around... Please." With a wide grin, the demonic figure said, his eyes arched and his neck lowered forward, his gaze fixed on Jiwoo and the others. "F**king hell, seriously?" Jiwoo cursed out, involuntarily. "Not hell please, I have been there for too long and..... Yes, I am serious." The figure spoke. "And, now that I''m here..... Let''s do some stretching." The figure said, took a step back, leaned forward and disappeared. WHOOM The figure instantly appeared in front of Jiwoo and punched his stomach. BOOM "Guh!??" Jiwoo groaned, his body arched forward, and a circr wind pressure formed on his back as a result of the impact. WHOOSH BAM Jiwoo flew back, collided into the wall, and slumped down before he could even assess the situation he was in. His vision blurred and he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood while hearing his friends'' agonising groans. BAM BOOM ''F**k! I should havepelled them to contact Eshwar! He could have at the very least assisted us in holding our ground! I couldn''t even see that demon-like figure move!'' Jiwoo grumbled in frustration and attempted to get up, but his body refused to do as he wanted. "Aaaa!!" Violet''s weeping scream filled the training chamber. ''Move! Goddammit! F**king MOVE!!'' Jiwoo thought but his body didn''t even flinch. "Urg!!" This time it was Katharine''s voice, which was a scream filled with agony. "MOVE!" Jiwoo''s mouth moved abruptly, and his own voice sounded strange to him. The voice was a harsh growl that sounded far too cold and emotionless to be Jiwoo''s. [Specialized Trait: Reader''s Crook activated.] [Searching for the user with high favourability with the user ''Gang Jiwoo.''] [Copying a technique of the user ''Eshwar'' ''lowest'' ranked skill.] [Skill crook sessful.] [Crooked skill''s abilities are sealed at 50 percent.] [Crooked Skill: Will Power [NEW] activated.] WHOOSH [Warning!] [Due to forceful Skill Crook, the strongest emotion of the user ''Eshwar'' if overwhelming the user ''Gang Jiwoo.''] [New! Temporary Trait acquired!] [Trait: Eshwar''s Rage [NEW] (3 uses)] [Trait: Eshwar''s Rage activated.] WHOOOOMMM "Grr..." Jiwoo growled while standing back up. ''What exactly is going on? Eshwar''s rage? Rage is his strongest emotion? And that is high enough to qualify as a ''Trait''?'' Jiwoo opened his eyes wide in disbelief as his body moved carelessly, oblivious to the damage it contained. CRA-CRACK Jiwoo''s cracked ribs made a low cracking sound, but his body continued to move, causing further internal injuries. ''Trait'' is a very powerful ''set'' of powers; only the strongest of the skills are considered traits; even if a user knows many techniques, they are not even considered as skills. A skill''s strength could be equivalent to 100 techniques, whereas a trait''s strength is easily equivalent to 1000 skills. There are five skill levels: lowest, low, mid, high, and highest. While considering the low-ranked techniques, techniques are ssified as lowest-low, low-low, mid-low, high-low, and highest-low. ''Techniques are almost in the numbers of a billion, skills are in the numbers of millions while the Traits are only in the number of thousands!! And now, his rage... His rage??? His rage is a trait!!!!???'' Jiwoo''s thoughts were filled with disbelief and absurdity. [Trait: Eshwar''s Rage is synchronised with the [Crooked Skill: Will Power.]] Jiwoo''s hand moved forward, and the demonic figure who had dashed at Katline abruptly kneeled down, as if under duress. WOOONGG "Uck!?" The demonic figure appeared confused but was soon to recover; he released more magical power, vanished, and reappeared at the same location he had previously stood, but Jiwoo''s hand moved before Jiwoo could evenprehend what was happening. SWISH ''Did he just teleport?'' Jiwoo thought while his head abruptly snapped at the spot where the figure appeared. "Uck!!?" the figure groaned. Jiwoo''s body dashed forward, towards the figure, took out the katana from his inventory before shing horizontally at the figure''s neck. THUMP The sh connected but couldn''t sh through, but the movement Jiwoo''s body shed, the pressure that bore down on the figure disappeared, setting the figure free. "What a interesting human you are...." the figure spoke and jabbed at Jiwoo''s face. "Tsk." Jiwoo''s body clicked its tongue in annoyance. ''Who are you clicking your tongue at?'' Jiwoo asked because he could feel the emotions that were being overwhelmed by the rage and knew that his body clicked its tongue due to its weak-a*s body. His body leaned to left, where he was soon going to be greeted by the demonic figure''s fist. ''Hey! Hey, I''m sorry!'' Jiwoo apologized, his gaze fixed on the fist in front of him, but the trajectory of the fist shifted to the right, in the direction Jiwoo would have tried to avoid if he could. Jiwoo''s eyes followed the fist''s movements but suddenly.... BAM Jiwoo''s left fist hurt, his eyes moved to look at the figure from the corner of its eyes and noticed that his left fist had struck the figure''s face while his eyes were still following the figure''s fist. Jiwoo''s body grinned widely, grabbed the figure''s protruded horns, jumped and knee kicked his face. ''Daaayyyaaaammmm!!!!'' Jiwoo thought in awe as his attack punctured the figure''s nose. "Uck!" the figure groaned and took a step back, leaned forward. "GET UP!" Chapter 96 95. Readers Crook (2). ?"GET UP!" Jiwoo''s body roared at the demonic figure. "Kukuku.... Kuhahaha!!" The figureughed hysterically, wiped off his nose and red at Jiwoo in delight. "Yes! Yes, this is it! Hahaha!" Jiwoo''s bodyughed and grinned at the figure in joy. ''Oi, rescue the others!'' Jiwoomanded his body. "Che." His body clicked his tongue and ignored its owner. ''F**k! I can tell why the trait is named after Eshwar.'' Jiwoo thought. Jiwoo''s body leaned forward and dashed at the figure, while ncing at the sides where Katline, Katharine and Violet were and noticed that Violet had her left arm broken, Katharine had coughed out several mouthfuls of blood in front of her while Katline only had a drop of blood on the right corner of her lips, she held her stomach and was groaning, except that she didn''t seem to be any more damaged like Katharine nor Violet. ''It seems Vinny''s consciousness is trying to hold him back!'' Jiwoo thought as his right eyebrow twitched. "..... It seems you have noticed, but...." the figure grinned while ring at Jiwoo. "It won''tst long!" hepleted his sentence. "You too." Jiwoo''s body spoke before it threw the katana at him in full force. WHOOOSH "Don''t get cocky, human. In about 30 seconds, he''ll go into a sweet ''slumber'' which he would never want to wake up from." He spoke before swatting the katana as if it was a fly. "I could say the same to you. Don''t get too cocky demon." Jiwoo''s body spoke after it appeared right before the demonic figure. BAM Jiwoo''s body jabbed at the figure''s face; Jiwoo had no idea how much damage he was causing, but the figure''s face was covered in blood... Jiwoo''s blood, every time his body attacked, it was his body that would take more damage rather than dealing any more damage, but his body had no intention of stopping. "Re.....ry." a low muffled voice was sounded from behind. WHOOMMM "Ukh! I''ll help too!" Katharine appeared next to Jiwoo who felt his body slowly heal. ''It seems they are back in the game.'' Jiwoo thought. WHOOSH SWISH (2x) Two arrows passed by Jiwoo, but his body snorted and elerated by a notch; even though Jiwoo could feel his body falling apart, he didn''t want to stop because the rage he was feeling waspletely overwhelming his other emotions and numbing his feelings. THOOP (2x) The arrows struck the figure''s right shoulder, poking out as if asking to be struck, so that it would dig in deeper, and Jiwoo''s body did just that. He punched the end of the arrow with full force, and while one arrow broke in half, the other did not, but both pierced his right shoulder. "Ukh." He groaned. SNAP (5x) Jiwoo''s body took a step forward to deal more damage, but his body began to creak, unable to take it any longer. ''Sh*t! Not now!!'' "Grr..." Jiwoo''s body growled in frustration because it couldn''t take even a single step forward anymore. [Crooked Skill: Will Power activated.] [Trait: Eshwar''s Rage is taking control over the [Crooked Skill: Will Power.] temporarily.] WHOOMMM ''What!?'' Jiwoo thought as he felt his body being moved by something and that ''something'' was being controlled by him. "Grraaa...." Jiwoo''s body roared in agony. ''What is going on? Why is it so fixated on killing him?'' Jiwoo asked himself. ''Their is no-'' Jiwoo''s thoughts were cut short when suddenly his body was engulfed in pain. "Ghaaaaa!!!!!" Jiwoo screamed in agony. [Warning!] [Trait: Eshwar''s Rage is forcibly being stopped for user''s safety.] Jiwoo flopped to the ground like a wet rag, his bones cracked and broke, his muscles twisted and tore, his cracked ribs pierced his lungs, his broken knuckles hurt, his heart hurt, and finally his mana core began to hurt from mana abuse and mana overload. His mind went nk as a result of the pain, his body went numb, and the only thing he could feel was pain, an excruciating amount of pain cruising through his entire body. His body twitched and snapped uncontrobly, and the amount of pain he felt suddenly doubled, bing unbearable, and Jiwoo lost consciousness. *** "One down, three to go." The demonic figure mumbled while staring at the woman with blonde hair, who was casting a healing spell on her fallen friend. ''What is he? He just flopped down and started to scream in pain as if he had be a different person.....'' the figure thought. ''I, Vassago, the demon whomanded 26 demon legions, am being thrashed by these insignificant humans!!'' Vassago eximed in rage, inwardly. ''And why is my ''authority'' not working on him?'' Vassago was perplexed as he looked at the unconscious man in front of him. "F**king hell, did he seriously had to lose his consciousness now?" the woman with brown hair and bright green eyes snarled. "What in the god''s name just happened? He just acted like he was a different person!" Another woman with a bow said in disbelief. "I guess what Vinny said was true." She mumbled. "Haap!" WHOOOSH "You''re too weak to face me, human." Vassago said after dodging the vertical sword sh of the brown haired woman. SWISH (2x) Two arrows were shot at his head and stomach, respectively. Vassago attempted to swat the arrows away with his right hand, but the arrows piercing his right shoulder prevented him from doing so. "Uck." He groaned in pain, swerved to avoid the arrow aimed at his head, and simply grabbed the arrow aimed at his stomach. ''Damn, this human body!'' he snarled at his ''still'' mortal body. WHOOOMMM "I just won''t sh then!" the woman wielding a sword mumbled. DUM "Ack?!!" Vassago groaned, baffled by what just happened. The woman swung her sword sideways at his head. She held her sword vertically and struck his head horizontally, which left him bbergasted. Vassago raised his head and stared at the woman, perplexed. "What the f**k?" he mumbled. "You dare!??!" he roared with a deep frown. What she did just now was simply too disrespectful for Vassago to ept the oue. WHOOSH He abruptly raised his left hand, pointing at the woman wielding the sword. "Disappear!" he roared in outrage. KRAT-KAT-TAKKRAT ck lightning shed through his left arm, forming a small fist sized blob of lightning in front of his arm before it was released. KRAKATRAT-RAT-KATRAT WHOOSH For a brief moment, a ck hue formed by his lightning attack obscured his vision before dissipating. "Huh?" Vassago looked at the unscathed figures in front of him disbelief. A white-haired young man with bright orange eyes and vertical ck pupils stood in front of him; he had a strange demonic aura around him that Vassago could easily feel just because the figure in front of him didn''t bother hiding it. "You alright?" He asked the woman wielding the sword, who was in his arms with a flushed face. "Y-yes!?" She answered. "Okay then, continue." He said and then walked away, towards the unconscious man and the blonde-haired woman who was healing him, with azy expression on his face, leaving everyone bbergasted. Chapter 97 96. Strange Thoughts. ?*** "We''ll talkter." I mmed the door behind me which was not intended. BAM ''F**k! What was that for?'' I red at the door. "How did she know?" I mumbled belligerently as I made my way to the Academy''s training chamber. Yes, I ''walked.'' I knew they could hold their ground as I created them, and while granting them traits, I put in a lot of effort in creating those, thinking about when and where they''ll need it and how they''ll counter it, though I didn''t put much effort in naming them. I definitely researched (yed games, read other novels, read books to find and understand big words, and created many new ones myself...) when creating those, but naming it was a different story, and my naming sense was on a whole other level... in a bad way. "... Nobody in the human domain is aware of that, so how did she find out?" I tried to think of every possible scenario, but.... "She asked if I could use the power in my ''other form,'' not if I could use it with my traits, but in my ''other form,'' meaning she knows..." I mumbled in a daze as an unknown fury crept up my heart, speeding it up. ".... Should I kil...." PATT I stumbled to my right in a daze after pping my right cheek with enough force to get my head back in the right direction. ''What the f**k am I even thinking???? It''s not even such a big secret!!'' "Oww...." I rubbed my cheek and continued to walk. "F**k! Me and my bber mouth!" I pped my mouth. POP "Oh!" POP (3x) "Aii, that''s not it! Isha!" I got distracted by ''pop'' sound my mouth made when I pped it before re-reminding myself about the matter at hand. "Ok." ''Thanks to the distraction, I have calmed down a bit.'' "Ok, take a deep breath! Inhale! Exhale! Che, I feel like I''m pregnant, goddammit!" I kept bbering to distract my mind away, to stop thinking about how she found out and to stop myself from thinking things on a extreme level. "F**k! Please! I hope that what I''m thinking isn''t the case...." I looked down, mumbled and took a deep breath. "Ok! Let''s think properly!" I cupped my face between my hands. "It''s not like I wasn''t aware! I knew she was... No, we were a bit strange! Something was off from the beginning! When we first met, I felt like I was meeting someone I hadn''t seen and missed for a long time!" "Let''s start with all the strange things I feel, at least those that I''m aware of!" I eximed. "First and foremost, something was off from the start! Second, I don''t have a part my memories of who knows how long those are!" I started listing them one by one. ''''Memories'' are which I proimed about the ''nk memories'' or the ''nk te'' in my mind.'' "Third, I long for her for unknown reasons! Fourth, when Isha is rted, I hear my own voice, which I never thought nor spoke about! Fifth, she is somehow rted to my condition, which her presence alleviates!" "F**k! I wouldn''t even have understood this many problems if I hadn''t begun listing them!" I cursed myself for not even attempting toe to a conclusion. "Sixth, I think my feelings are too over grown after only being in a re-rtionship for a month..." I winced and stuttered at the word rtionship because I realised there was nothing between us other than going out for food in the name of a ''date,'' I didn''t know anything about her, and I don''t think she knows much about me either... ''I only invited her out for a treat because others were too annoying.... f**k! I''m the absolute worst! But I.... still didn''t want to be apart from her.'' "Huuu!" I flushed at the revtion. "I like her, don''t I?" I muttered as I felt my face heat up, but my heart began to hurt with a sharp pang that only grew stronger with each beat. "..... If she knew something, she should have talked to me about it." I furrowed my brows as I abruptly felt upset. "Does she find me unreliable?" I mumbled and I understood that ''maybe'' she did find me unreliable. ''Sixth, I think my feelings are too over grown after only being in a re-rtionship for a month.....'' my own words echoed in my head before making me feel like a hypocrite. ''Trust just doesn''t grow so easily, huh....'' "..... She knows about my other form..... though I ''know'' she doesn''t have any ill intent..... that doesn''t make me feel any better that she couldn''t talk to me....." "..... Even if she was aware of it, she would gain nothing from using me... But, given how she turned down the concept of me teaching her the ''Stat control'' technique, I don''t think there is anything else with me to offer to her other than that....." I found my own words heinous. KRAT-KAT-TAKKRAT A crackling sound of lightning jolted me awake from my trance. I raised my head to look for the source of the sound and discovered Vinny''s ''devil'' transformation at the end of the training chamber; he was the one who was using the ck lightning skill which was aimed at Katharine. Violet was tending Jiwoo with a broken left arm, Jiwoo had slumped down lifelessly in front of her, Katline was almost unharmed and was firing arrows at the ''Devil'' in front of them, not knowing what would happen if even a bit more time passed. ''Can''t they see that he is only fighting to buy time?'' I thought, coldly. KRAKATRAT-RAT-KATRAT WHOOSH Heunched his ck lightning charge, which had a massive amount of mana cruising through it. I stepped up with a sigh because Katharine could die if she takes the direct hit, and his attack wouldn''t stop after killing her because it was ''chain'' lightning. I appeared next to Katharine, ced my left hand across her shoulders and raised my right hand to block the chain lightning. "Frost Touch." I muttered. My right palm glowed pale purple as the temperature on my palm dropped to the freezing point in an instant. The lightning charge was dragged towards my hand, altering his aim; as soon as the lightning made contact with my palm, the mana cruising through it turned cold. "Frost Devil." "Partial Devilization." I muttered and transformed my pinky finger, which turned light blue and transparent before the lightning dispersed forcibly, while the pinky turned the mana cruising through the lightning into mine before assimting it. "Huh?" ''Vinny Devil'' looked at me in disbelief after the lightning dispersed. "Are you alright?" I asked Katharine after ignoring him. "Y-yes!?" Katharine answered with a flushed face. ''She must be angry because I intervened....'' "Okay then, continue." I said and walked towards Violet and Jiwoo to check on them. Chapter 98 97. Strange Thoughts (2). ?"Okay then, continue." I said and walked towards Violet and Jiwoo to check on them. ''Isha will think that I intentionally mmed the door behind me, knowing her.... knowing her ''for a month,'' I think she would be sad, I have talk to her calmly, so that we can be together.....'' "F**k, I seriously like her, don''t I? I am obsessed about being with her!" I mumbled out involuntarily. ''Is it like that? Where your partner keeps a secret from you for your own good..... Or, to keep you from getting hurt?'' ''Is she doing that because she doesn''t want me to get hurt? ..... Why would I get hurt? I think, I only think logically (?)'' ''The more I think about it, the more it hurts..... I have to calm down first, I''ll return to her after this and ask her if she wants to talk about it and ask for an answer if she can answer or wants to answer.....'' ''I have ask calmly so that neither me nor Isha will get hurt in the process.....'' "It still hurts a bit, goddammit!" I mumbled. WHOOSH I leaned to the left to avoid the attack from behind, took a step forward, and elbowed the fist that attempted to strike me. BAM CRACK "Uck!" I heard a groan from behind. I turned to face the figure who was attempting to punch me and discovered the devil who was residing in his host, Vinny. The devil is ''The Prince'' Vassago, also known as Usagoo. He is the third demon of the ''Lesser Key of Solomon.'' He is a prince ''of a good nature,'' and as a prince ''of a good nature,'' he rules twenty-six legions of spirits and is summoned to tell magicians about past and future events, as well as to find lost objects. He is one of the few spirits found in the Lesser Key of Solomon. He is also mentioned in many books, appearing as an angel who is ''just and true in all his doings,'' with the powers of inciting women''s love and revealing hidden treasures, as well as ruling twenty spirits. ''He finds Vinny''s soul when it is too broken and in too much pain to ''help'' the poor soul because he is a ''good natured'' ''demon'' but is still a ''demon'' nheless, I created him so that he would take over Vinny''s body to help him ''never suffer again''... I looked into it and discovered Vassago while creating a demonic character, and I changed him to suit my tastes and content....'' ''Vassago puts Vinny into a deep slumber from which he will never be able to awaken, just to keep his host safe... While creating a new character, I needed a ''kind'' and a ''demonic'' part, and.... Voil¨¤, Vassago was born!'' ''His character, influenced by Vinny''s emotions, transforms into a demonic one, who wishes to swap ces with Vinny in order to ''help'' him and keep him ''safe''...'' "..... What''re you doing?" I asked in a cold voice, because I had too many things on my mind that I needed to sort out and I ''definitely'' did not want to be distributed. ".... Don''t bother me do your thing...." I mumbled and walked forward. ''Whether she is sad or angry, I''ll have to be the first to speak up, so I have to choose my words carefully... Isha is the type who would keepplicated emotions to herself so that the other person would not be hurt.... So, I''ll start by saying, ''Please, take your time, but please answer my questions.'' Yes, that would be grea....'' "Oi!" Vassogo''s voice was heard in a whisper, just next to my right ear. "Ffffuuuuu" I halted in my steps and bit my lower lip in irritation before breathing out to calm down. ".... What do you want?" I asked without turning around. "How dare you ignore me?" Vassago roared. I raised my right arm up to his eye level, parted my index and thumb finger by a centimetre distance between them. "This much...." I replied and stood there. ''After taking her time for a while, she will start talking then I''ll have to listen what she has to say calmly....'' I thought in daze. "Y-you basta*d!!" Vassago suddenly roared in outrage. My mind was racing with ideas for what I would say, what questions I would ask, how I should console Isha, and how to clear up any misunderstandings.... If there were any, I was carefully analysing how our future conversation would take ce and how I should be careful not to hurt Isha in the process, and while all of these thoughts were cruising through my mind, I stood in a daze, nkly. BAM He bashed into my right waist with full force; his attack was too fast for me topletely avoid, so I was struck with a perfect blow. I spun to the right to reduce the damage, and after a 270-degree turn, I faced Vassogo, who was ring at me in fury. I simply extended my right arm forward to p him while spinning, but he sidestepped, dodged my iing hand, and punched me in the gut. BAM "Uck." I groaned and jumped a bit before flying back from the impact. BOOM I collided with the wall of the training chamber and slumped down, feeling something sting my thighs and palms. When I looked down, I saw shattered blue ss pieces. "... Who broke the academy''s property?" I mumbled while looking down at my bleeding palm with sharp ss pieces piercing it. THUMP (4x) BAM I felt a strong force hit me in the head, I flew to my left by a bit. BAM BAM (2x) He hit my chin, my body rose up to the air before I got jabbed straight in face. BAM (4x) He was relentlessly jabbing at my head while hitting and kicking my body like a punching bag, and I spat out blood involuntarily as I felt something irony in my mouth that I despised the taste of. I was getting stings all over my body, which were gradually turning into irritation. BAM He hooked my chin with a right hook while I was, somehow, still in the air, and I spun 4-5 times before copsing like a wet rag. THUMP I hit my head to the ground, the cold floor and my slightly lukewarm blood snapped me out of my reverie. "Huh?" Chapter 99 98. Thrashing. ?"Huh?" I snapped out of my reverie when I felt the cold floor and my slightly lukewarm blood on my right cheek. ''What.... What''s going on?'' I thought while in daze. I sat back up, looked around, and discovered Katharine, Violet, and Katline staring at me with their hands on their mouths, without making any noise, but there was someone who did. I raised my head at the sound of the steps and noticed Vinny who stood in his devil form, he now had pitch ck skin that seemed to devour light, 3 inches long ws, vampire like fangs, twisted horns protruding from his forehead and his crimson red hair was floating in air with bright red hue covering it, his sclera was ck and he had bright blood red eyes with vertical ck slits. ''His ck eyes have turned red.....which is almost simr to that of a ''fiend'' from the Demi-human organization.'' ? "Ow?!" I felt a sting on my lips, only then did I notice that I was battered. My left forearm was fractured, three right, lower ribs were broken, right shoulder was dislocated, 2 cuts on my lower lip, 1 cut on my right upper lip and finally a cut on my right brow. "Damn, I ''literally'' got hit ck and blue." I mumbled as I pulled cor neck of my t-shirt, looked down and noticed that was body was beaten up ck and blue. I clenched my right shoulder and re-adjusted my shoulder. POP "Haaa..." I sighed as I remembered what happened while I was in my own world. "Mm~mm~ puthui!" I cleaned my mouth with my tongue and spat out blood because I didn''t like the irony taste of blood. "I would have forced myself to swallow blood ''ONLY'' if I need it to survive....so not again! Why would I return to human domain if I wanted to continue eating monster''s flesh and drinking monster''s blood?" I mumbled and stood back up. POP (4x) "Haa..." I sighed in relief because everything seemed pop back into its ce. "Ahem!" I closed my eyes and loudly cleared my throat. ".... So, exin! Why you called me here....." I asked with my right eye open, but stopped mid-sentence. ".... That was a stupid question....." I mumbled and nced at Vassago. "Ahem, alright kids, move to a corner." I said loudly and got five reproachful gazes. "Five? Eh?" I looked around and noticed that Jiwoo, too, was staring at me. "Jiwoo! My boy, you woke up? Are you alright?" I asked him with a bright smile. "Yes and no, respectively." Jiwoo grumbled. "When did you wake up?" I asked while smiling brightly. "When you were getting beat..." Jiwoo replied but I cut him short. "Ahem!" I cleared my throat, embarrassedly and walked towards them. "Shoo, sho, sho now. Got to a corner, adults will fight now." I shooed them to the right most corner of the training chamber. Jiwoo was.... Hmm.... Should I say dragged? Anyway, Katline and Katharine supported him to walk and took him to the corner, made him sit down and they started to stare at me without blinking once. "Hm? How surprising. I thought you would pounce on me the moment I turned towards them." I said with a wide grin because I noticed Vassago flinch when he met my gaze. "Shall we start round two? Or do you need a break?" I asked while grinning. *** Jiwoo sat down and stared at Eshwar for a split second before moving his gaze elsewhere. He furrowed his brows at battered Eshwar, who stood straight and grinned at the enemy who had thrashed him ck and blue just a minute ago. "Say, he got his a*s handed to him just a moment ago, right?" Jiwoo asked the others who were still staring at Eshwar. "Yeah, he definitely did." Violet replied, groaning while healing her broken arm. "Am I imagining things, or did she sound cheerful when she said that?" Jiwoo leaned to the right where Katharine sat and whispered to her. "She definitely did." Katharine answered while snickering. "Ahem, anyway! Why is he so confident?" Jiwoo asked. "....." silence befell on them. "Violet!" suddenly, Eshwar called out, loudly. "Oh, it seems he heard you..." Jiwoo whispered to Violet who flinched and sat straight, Katharine and Katline giggled at Violet''s expense. "You did great!" Eshwar yelled from the other side of training chamber. "....huh?" they stared at Eshwar with their eyes wide open in disbelief. "..... Thank you...." Violet mumbled with a slightly flushed face and in a low tone which was barely audible, even to those who sat next to her. He didn''t seem to have heard her as he turned back to the demonic figure and grinned widely. "Anyway, what was that? You, suddenly, became so strong. How did you that?" Katharine asked in an amazed tone with twinkling stars in her eyes. ".... Hey, aren''t you too rxed?" Jiwoo grumbled to avoid talking about his specialized trait and his new temporary trait. "I don''t know, but I somehow feel rxed looking at Eshwar''s confidence, so answer me." Katharine said and asked for an answer, tactlessly. ''Take a hint, will you!'' Jiwoo grumbled, inwardly. ".... Vinny...." Katline mumbled in a dejected tone, attracting their attention. ".... Said to me that Jiwoo as stronger than him in his previous life." Katline tactfully changed the topic to a slightly better one. ''..... Why the hell would share a secret with the others, Katline!!!'' Jiwoo grunted, inwardly. After Vinny revealed that truth about his regression, Katharine and Violet were, somehow, aware of it by the next day. When Jiwoo and Vinny asked Katharine and Violet how they knew about Vinny''s regression, they said that Katline had told them about it, which was supposed to be a brag, but turned out that she had revealed what was supposed to be a secret without a second thought. ''When I found out what happened, I almostughed my a*s off while looking at Vinny''s lifeless expression, pfft! Just thinking about it makes meugh.'' Jiwoo thought. "Pfft!" Jiwooughed out loud, involuntarily. ".... What''s wrong?" Katline asked. "Pfft, nothing, nothing, I just remembered something." Jiwoo shook his head and dismissed the topic. "Hey, how did you do it? You seem too weak." Katharine said with a innocent face which hurt Jiwoo a bit more than it should have. "Ack." Jiwoo groaned and put on a hurtful face. "Hey, are you alright?" Katharine asked while the Violet and Katline giggled. BOOM BAM "Oh! It seems like they started!" Jiwoo said. Chapter 100 99. Thrashing (2). ?"Oh! It seems like they started!" Jiwoo said ignoring Katharine. * BANG BAM BOOM (2x) "Hinng." Katharine focused on the fight and strained her eyes to catch a proper glimpse of them, but there was no avail because they were moving too fast for her to follow. "Haa... I give up!" Katharine leaned back and sighed. "Hahaha." Jiwoo chuckled. "Want me to show you?" Jiwoo asked. ''I didn''t know that my [Crooked Skill: Will Power.] can be used this way and I unlocked a new stat too, but.....'' Jiwoo thought. ==== STATUS: Gang Jiwoo. Level: 1 (early ess) CLASS: WARRIOR RANK: D == STRENGTH: 3/10 [RANK- E] CONSTITUTION: 8/10 [RANK- E] AGILITY: 5/10 [RANK- D] PERCEPTION: 6/10 [RANK- D] ENDURANCE: 5/10 -> 7/10 [RANK- E] (NEW) INTELLIGENCE: 4/10 [RANK- C] MAGIC POINTS: 9/10 [RANK- F] WILL POWER: 9/10 [RANK- C] (NEW) DEXTERITY: 5/10 [RANK- D] === "You want to what?" They asked in unison. "Show. I can show it to you if you want." Jiwoo said. "How?" Violet asked. ''Will Power.'' Jiwoo muttered in his head and an invisible ripple formed from him, covering the whole training chamber. "Uck!" Jiwoo groaned in agony, as theplete information, to the smallest detail, of training chamber appeared in his mind. His eyes turned bloodshot as if he would cry blood the moment he blinked. KRIP-WHOOSH A static sound sounded in front of him, before a 6-inch tablet sized system window popped up in front of him which was visible to the others too. "Whoa! What was that? How did you do that?" Katharine asked, as if she took out the words from others mouths before they could voice theirs. "I don''t know (?) I just thought I could do it...." Jiwoo replied while groaning, without taking his eyes off of the screen. ''What will be her next questions?'' Jiwoo thought. "Ok, I''ll ask the otherster then." Katharine said while staring at Jiwoo''s eyes. "Huh?" Jiwoo''s concentration ttered a bit before he regained it back, he wouldn''t have been this surprised even if she said she knew this world was inside a novel. ''S-she didn''t ask more questions? And she is being considerate? My god! This....'' Jiwoo was amazed. "Are you alright, Katharine? Did he hit your head while fighti..." Jiwoo asked with genuine concern in his voice. "Hey! Shut up and focus!" Katharine grumbled with a flushed face while Katline giggled and Violet focused on the fight after ignoring them. In the static system window. "You''re good, human." The demonic figure said before extending his left hand outward. "I know." Eshwar answered while closing the distance between them. "I''ll get serious now that there is no obstacles." The demonic figure mumbled. "His name is Vassago, remember it." Eshwar suddenly said as if he knew that they are watching. KRAT-KAT-TAKKRAT Jiwoo and the others exchanged nces before returning their attention to the fight. Vassago charged his ck lightning attack, which was aimed at Eshwar, who would be in the attack''s direct line of fire if he moved another step forward, so Jiwoo and the others expected him to avoid it. WHOOSH And he did. Eshwar leaned to the right, dodged the attack, and when Vassago''s hand was above Eshwar''s shoulder, he raised his left hand and punched Vassago''s arm below the elbow, breaking it as it bent in an impossible angle, beforending a right hook at Vassago''s chin. BAM Vassago stumbled to his right and appeared to have lost focus after the blow, but Eshwar raised his right hand andnded another right hook with full force. Strong enough to create a circle of wind pressure. BOOM "Gak???" Vassago was falling to ground until.... BANG Eshwar kicked Vassago''s head like a football. Vassago''s body spun around 180 degrees before being kicked in the back near his left shoulder. BUM "Ack?" Vassago''s face disyed confusion but Eshwar didn''t stop. BOOM Eshwarunched himself with a low ''boom,'' appeared behind Vassago, leaned to the right, grabbed his hair, and forced him to stand back up, only to make him kneel again. THUMP Eshwar kicked the back of Vassago''s knee, forcing him to kneel, and then knee kicked his head before Vassago could make heads or tails of the situation he was in. Vassago was falling to his left before being kicked in the head for the second time. BAM "Ghuk!" Vassago coughed up blood, knee walked forward, stumbled to the before supporting himself with his right hand. Vassago clenched his teeth as Eshwar hopped towards him while humming leisurely. His right hand''s fingers flitted while pale purple mana snaked between them, gradually turning the air around his palm visibly white before forming beautiful 12 branched snowkes. "Y-You basta*d!" Vassago abruptly roared. "Stop stuttering." Eshwar said while a 12 branched snowkes, vertically, rested on his index finger while the others flitted around his wrist which seemed like a beautiful over sized bracelet. "Enough, human!" Vassago stood back on his feet after stumbling twice. "Are you sure about it?" Eshwar asked, only Vassago widened his eyes as if he understood something while Jiwoo and the others exchanged looks between them. "Let''s go all out now, shall we?" Eshwar asked with a bright smile. "Kukuku, kuhahaha! You! Hahaha!" Vassagoughed hysterically and red at Eshwar while chuckling. "Hehehehaha, ha." Eshwar suddenly chuckled which sent shivers down their spine. "I''ll make you regret those words, you damn monster!" Vassago said. "I''ll look forward to it... Because, nobody has ever had a ''third round'' against me." Eshwar said and grinned ear to ear, suddenly his eyes glowed bright golden with pitch ck as it''s source. 20 percent of his eyes were somehow ''glowing'' in pitch ck colour while the other 80 percent was glowing bright golden. WHOOMMM Eshwar released his killing intent which caused magical ripples near his foot, in an instant, the atmosphere around Eshwar changed, he didn''t seem like the person they saw a moment ago, now his grin caused the temperature to drop by several degrees and everybody was covered in cold sweat before the fight even began again. Vassago had already backed up against the training chamber''s wall, which was around 20 long steps from where he had previously stood, and before he even realised it, Vassago''s body was producing ''puffs'' of smokes, which were sweat that turned into smoke due to him being covered in ck mes, which seemed to be only there for decoration as it did not do any damage while Eshwar touched them while thrashing Vassago. "Good luck, cause you''ll need it." Chapter 101 100. An Impossible Existence. ?"Good luck, cause you''ll need it." The white haired man in front of Vassogo said. ''He isn''t getting damaged by my fire? He should! Why isn''t he? It no normal fire, it is the ''dragon'' fire! A fire of a higher being! How is he not burning? This fire should incinerate everything! It''s stronger than the ''authority of hellfire''!!!'' Vassago thought while seething in fear. ".... How are you not burning?" Vassago decided to sound his curiosity and mumbled. "Hm? Let''s just say...." He replied with his brows raised. [I''m making them mine.] He voice rang in Vassago''s mind as the man in front of him grinned savagely which sent shivers down his spine. ''Th-This is telepathy? This!!'' Vassago bit his lower lip in rage and red at him. S-NAP Suddenly, something snapped inside Vassogo, and he grinned widely as he realised what it was. Vinny, his host, had gone into a slumber that he would be unwilling to wake up from, setting Vassago free from the restraints of the void he rested in. Now that the restraints that bound him are restraining someone else (Vinny), he would be free to do whatever he wanted, and the body would bepletely his as time passed, but..... "My authority is back!" he mumbled out in delight, involuntarily. [Authority of Kindness.] WHOOOOMMM SHING A bright golden hue enveloped his body, an angel-like halo appeared behind his head, and a bright golden hue slowly spread throughout the training chamber, enveloping everything in it, with warmth while Vassago smiled so warmly that it could melt a block of ice in an instant. ''My authority causes one to lower their guard while their fighting spirit subsides as if it was never existed in the first ce.'' Vassago grinned inwardly. ''..... And, his soul....why is his soul is covered in pain and rage... somehow, something pitch ck is sealed inside him, by someone...'' Vassago looked at the man in front of him with curiosity and pity. "....." The man stared at Vassago with a nonchnt expression on his face, while his killing intent subsidedpletely. "Yes, no one should be able resist my ''kindness!''" Vassago said with a wide grin. Vassago slowly approached the man with kind smile as if that expression was stered on his face, halting in front of the man before cing his hands on his shoulders, which the man didn''t seem to reject. "Please, allow me to rip you apart." Vassago said with a kind smile. "Haha." The man chuckled before nodding his head. WHOOSH BOOM "Uck???" Vassago groaned and flew back from the impact. BAM "Ack??" He collided with the wall before slumping down on the ground, raised his head and stared at the man in disbelief. ''What? Why? I am sure my authority is in effect! Why did he attack me? Authority is not something, no can simply resist! His killing intent has subsidedpletely, I''m sure that he should be under the effects of my authority, then why?'' Vassago looked at the man in disbelief. CRA-CRACK The halo behind his head cracked, which released the man in front of him from the effects of the authority. "Sh*t!" Vassago cursed at his bad luck. The only weakness of his authority is his halo behind his head which is too frail and because of his authority of kindness, nobody had ever tried to break it or broke off from the effects of his authority, it was like a hypnosis spell that will affect anyone and everyone, because he was kind, everyone ''helped'' him with whatever he needed. He could ask anyone for anything and they would grant him that without a second thought, he was aware of the consequences and how the authority affected him; he couldn''t ask for everything and use it for himself because that would be manipting and using the other, which would result in the authority being sealed away. As a result, he would only ask for what is absolutely necessary. Now he asked if he could kill the man in front of him because he was a threat to his ''existence,'' which was acknowledged by the conditions for using his authority. ''Did he resist my authority? No, that should be impossible!'' Vassago thought before standing back up with a confused look on his face. "Hmm?" The man in front of him appeared too baffled to have countered his authority, which made Vassago even more perplexed. "You! What did you do?" The man red at Vassago who had a dumbfounded look on his face. The man released his killing intent once more, but this time it did not cause any ripples; instead, it shot up into a pir-like vortex of pale purple with streaks of dark red, light blue, and ck in it, which was slowly fading away while spinning at high speeds. DOOM Pir gradually transformed into a snake, a massive snake that coiled around the white-haired man, with scales that were a mix of pale purple, dark red, light blue, ck, and some with a mix of all, and eyes that were bright orange and blood red at the ends with vertical ck slits. It wasn''t just any snake; it was a ''King Cobra.'' Everything in front of Vassago was made of killing intent, but that was far too ''pure'' to be killing intent. ''Wh-what? What is this intent? Why and how is it so ''pure''? It''s like I angered ''nature''?'' Vassago was dumbfounded. ''It''s like apressed version of world''s mana(?)'' World''s mana refers to the massive amount of mana that surrounds any magical world; it can only be sensed, slightly, by those with high mana perception and efficiency. World''s mana or world''s energy are the small streaks of mana that humans feel when they concentrate on it or try to absorb into their core with their respective mana breathing techniques. They cannot feel the immense amount of mana that the world contains because they are incapable of handling, even the feeling of the overflowing world energy. Imagine ''air,'' what if all the air in the world condensed before a being, the being would have all the air in the world just before them but they couldn''t breathe, if they breathed it they would explode from the pressure, now imagine all the mana in the world being condensed in front of a person and that to inside of another person. THAT ''PERSON'' WOULD BE AN IMPOSSIBLE EXISTENCE. ''I-I cannot feel his killing intent! I can see it, right before my eyes, bu-b-but I cannot feel it....'' Vassago shuddered at the unknown. ''Fear,'' this feeling can only be properly ''understood'' in front of the unknown and the emptiness. CRA-CRACK (4x) Suddenly, an emerald-y coloured hue flickered on the man''s arms, gradually forming some strange letters on his arms that couldn''t be read properly because they were only flickering before disappearingpletely. "Answer me!" the man said. Chapter 102 101. Going All Out. ?*** "Answer me!" I said while ring at Vassago. ''I justpletely lost my will to fight.... I thought of him as a family, someone I ''should'' take care of and ''should'' help him unconditionally, I felt like I had someone, someone whom I could call a family, but... Vassago ruined it, the family I just had shattered in front of me....pletely....'' ''F**k! Why did I have to remember them now?'' I remembered of ''my,'' Eshwar''s family from before I transmigrated to this world, though I don''t remember their faces, I definitely remember how precious they were to me, though they are now only a memory... ''let''s take out the ''only'' because that memory is too precious to be called ''only''... Though, now the same precious memory hurts unimaginably....'' "Haa..." I sighed and looked up to hold back the tear that threatened to be shed. "Hahaha... A family my a*s." I chuckled at my own stupidity. ''Why would ''I'' have a family? Why would anyone...'' I tried to cut my thoughts off because I suddenly remembered their panicked faces which were frozen into a light blue crystal which I had to strike down and bury them with my own hands to give them a proper rest and..... how many times I did the ''same'' thing... Suddenly, a thunder bolt struck in my head, I snapped my head down to face Vassago who was trembling, slightly. "You! You used your authority." I red at him. ''The authority, I granted him, the authority of kindness!'' "Hahaha, f**k! I''m so sorry, I didn''t know it would feel like this..." I looked up, covered my eyes with left hand and apologized for the characters that had to go through this because I created it. Though nobody has been through that yet, I still felt guilty for creating that stupid authority. Because unlike traits and skills, authorities can''t be resisted by normal means. To resist an authority the other should also have an authority of the same level or higher. "If I could, I want to get rid of you right now, but one of my ''kids'' is your host, so I can''t even do that...." I mumbled with a sigh. "Hahaha, should I just get rid of him? I can''t believe you made me remember the memories I''m trying to forget...." I snapped my head down and red at him through the gap between my fingers. HISSSS The massive snake coiling around me hissed in response to my call, and my intent to kill had reached the halfway point because I hoped to keep my sanity and not go berserk. "Frosty skewers." I muttered. SHING (6x) Light blue ice spikes protruded from my feet, heading towards Vassago, who dodged by sidestepping. The only reason I muttered out loud is that the type of skill I''m going to use is to make it sturdy, work, and move the way I want it to. Because the greater the strength and rity of the imagination, the greater the skill produced. "Though, ughtering stronger opponents has its own fun, it doesn''t work for me when there is only one opponent, so you better go all out or the moment I get bored is the moment you die." I said while ring at Vassago. "Frosty step." I muttered and took a step, freezing the ground with every single step. [Good with hands activated.] [Dexterity increased by 12 percent.] [Hand to handbat activated.] [Combat sense mastery activated.] [Good with hands increased by 10 percent.] [Human Hunter activated.] [All stats increased by 10.] [Frost [Rank-???] Resonates with the activated traits.] [Machine Parasite synchronizes with Combat sense mastery.] [Combat sense mastery -> Machinery movements.] [Machinery movements activated.] SWOOSH (3x) With each step I took, a knee-length octagon-shaped foothold formed beneath my foot as I walked up. I opened my hands wide as pale purple mana flitted around them before dagger-like des materialised, which I clenched and threw at Vassago. With each release, they created a circle of wind pressure while leaving a wind and white trait behind them. "Ack! F**k!" Vassago grunted as one of my ice daggers pierced his right shoulder and another only left a cut on his cheek because he dodged it by jerking his head to the right. KRAT-KAT-TAKKRAT (2x) ck lightning flitted on both of Vassago''s arms before heunched them at me, I dodged the attack by jumping in air. ZKRAT-ZRAT (2x) WHOOSH "I guess not all strong people are smart! Because you can''t dodg...." Vassago started to talk with a wide grin, but I cut him short. "Because I can''t dodge in mid-air?" I scoffed at him. "You!" He red at me as six small portal-like disks of ck lightning formed around him, 2 above his head, 1 on each shoulder and one on each elbow. ZZZZING-ZZZZAP (6x) KRAT-RAT (6x) Six arrow heads appeared above the ck lightning discs and shot out at the speed of sound, with chains lengthening the attack''s range and speed increasing the damage caused by both weight of magic and materialization. ZZWWWOOOSHHH (6x) BAM- CRACK (6x) Air around me thickened and turned visibly white as I stepped on it and dodged while taking a step to dodge every single one of them, I was about tond and run on the ck lightning chains, but realized that they, too, were made off of his magic and I would be damaged if they touched me. I, abruptly, waved my left hand beforending on the chains, materialised snowkes beneath my foot, and jumped forward before making any contact with those chains. I red at Vassago while lunging towards him, but he suddenly grinned as he held out his left arm out and clenched it. "Boom." He mumbled. Only then did I notice that his left hand had healed; I definitely broke his left forearm, but he healed it? He was getting used to Vinny''s body and it would be dangerous if he gets toofortable with Vinny''s body, which means that his control and the void''s restraints on Vinny were getting stronger and that Vinny was gettingfortable in his slumber. CRA-CRACK (8x) I noticed that the mana cruising through the chains was overloading and would explode if I wasn''t quick enough, so I took a step, sidestepped, and turned around to run back, but before I knew it, I was already coiled in between the ck lightning chains. "Well sh*t!" KRATZ-ZRAT (5x) BOOM Chapter 103 102. Moving The Pawns. ?In an unknown ce. In a room of 50 square feet. A man sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, wearing a blood red zer, a ck shirt with the top four buttons unbuttoned, and ck trousers. He had red hair, crimson red eyes, and sharp facial features, with a leisure, ominous grin on his face. DRIP (3x) Something bright red dripped from the cuffs of his zer. Below his chair-like throne was a puddle of blood that rippled from the blood droplets dripping from his zer. "Hmm~" He hummed before raising his right arm and resting his right elbow on the armrest, with his head resting on his right fist. On the table in front of him was a chess board with 8 ck pawns and no soldiers on the opponent''s side and 13 white pawns and 5 soldiers on his side. White pawns had three of their soldiers taken away, the White''s right Bishop had moved and was aiming at the ck''s Queen, the White''s right Rook was also ready to strike at the ck''s Queen from the front, and the White''s left knight had moved and was now aiming at the ck''s Bishop next to its Queen. The ck''s King now had to decide whether to lose both or save one of the two, and the ck''s King only had two chances to move the pawns within the time limit set by the man ying white. "You will have two choices, from which you will be forced to pick one....." the man mumbled as his grin deepened. "though..... I will be the one to make a choice..... Whether to let them live or to let you taste despair!!" he roared, his eyes lit with crimson red hue as he red at the ck''s King. THUMP WOOOOMMM A loud sound came from behind him; it was the sound of something heavy being pushed. A woman entered the room through the massive door, which she effortlessly pushed open with her Vampire-y traits, her right palm glowing blood red as she moved forward gracefully before closing the door shut behind her. WUUUOOMMM THUMP She had dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a smooth facial feature. She waved her hand in front of her, and the casual baggy clothes she was wearing transformed into a thinyer of white cloth, revealing her smooth and perfect curves. She walked with elegance and grace towards the man before bowing as she appeared next to him, revealing her bosom. "Your majesty Azazel." She said in sweet voice while her cheeks had turned red due to her delightful expression. "You are here, Mair¨¦ad." Azazel nced to at her and raised his arm, inviting her to join. "Haa..." Mair¨¦ad sighed in delight as she walked and sat on hisp. "Is everything ready?" Azazel hugged her from behind before biting her neck. "Ah." A moan escaped Mair¨¦ad''s mouth before she could even answer, her eyes rolled back while face twisted in delight. * "Haaa..." she sighed in delight as she slumped back on Azazel''s chest. "..... Y-yes, Your majesty Azazel." She abruptly sat up straight and answered but her face still disyed delight as bit her lower lip sensually. "Good, two ns are in motion at the same time, so being extra careful won''t hurt." Azazel spoke in solemn voice but his face, too, was filled with pleasure at his thoughts. ''Hahaha, how delightful it would be! To see you being broken into pieces!!!'' Azazel shivered in delight while clenching her tightly from behind. "Ah, your majesty!" Mair¨¦ad eximed in delight rather than agony. Her upper body had turned red from the force with which Azazel was clenching her; if he slightly increased his force, her body would simply explode. "Hahahaha!!" Azazelughed maniacally. "Though, two ns failed because of ''him,'' it won''t be much of a problem now...." Azazel mumbled with a delightful expression. "Your majesty, Kensa Bishop has taken themand as his ''pawns'' are moving and almost all of his pawns are at the ''puppeteer'' rank, hence, this time your n will take the first step before taking the second, just the momentter." Mair¨¦ad said while staring at the chess board before her. "Yes, the n we devised a year ago is finallying to fruition, and..." Azazel said and nced at chess board. ".... it will end before ''he'' even knows what''s going on." Azazel grinned widely as he imagined ''his'' face of despair. "Does your majesty think he wille?" Mair¨¦ad asked while her eyes moved towards the ck''s King which sent shivers down her spine as she imagined ''his'' re which was aimed at her even though she was perfectly hidden, at that time. "Hahaha, he''ll definitelye and if I''m right.... he''lle before we take any more steps after thepletion of this n." Azazel said with a resolute tone while his grin ttered for a moment when he remembered ''him.'' ''This time, I''ll go all out, from the start, let''s see if you can handle it!'' Azazel red at the ck''s King. "I wish I could be there to look at the despair in his eyes while Iplete the ''master''s'' n." Azazel said with a dejected tone but his face was filled with delight just from his imagination. "Hehehehehahahahaha!" heughed menacingly which caused the room to tremble while Mair¨¦ad, too, joined hisughter as ''he'' had naturally be her enemy because of the White''s King she served..... *** In an unknown ce. In the subterranean facility. A man with unkempt dark green hair, grey cat eyes and sharp facial features looked around the armoury. It had many different types of weapons hung on the wall, swords, spears, shields, axes, hammers, bows, daggers and gauntlets. The man was checking out the daggers, with its tip pressed against his left index finger, he stared at the orange striped dagger with a satisfied smile. WHOOSH He held the dagger''s grip with his right index and thumb finger, dropped it and clenched it strongly before swinging around. SWISH (7x) He shed and stabbed as if there was a human body in front of him. He shed each shoulder three times diagonally, once vertically, and once horizontally before stabbing the heart, twisting and pulling it out. He nodded his head in satisfaction as he imagined all the spurting blood as he stabbed. "I''ll be taking this, Louie." He said. "Crazy basta*d! Test it in the sparring room!" Louie snarled at Henry while holding his shield to guard himself. Chapter 104 103. Moving The Pawns (2). ?"I''ll be taking this, Louie." He said. "Crazy basta*d! Test it in the sparring room!" Louie snarled at Henry while holding his shield to guard himself. "Hahaha." Henry chuckled mischievously and turned to face Louie whose face was flushed red in ire. "... Don''t you get any requests? I thought you would be busy now that the system has changed." Louie asked after cing his shield back into his subspace. "Yeah, I got a sh*t ton of requests, I''m just too busy rejecting those which seem insignificant." Henry answered while keeping his eyes on the dagger. Henry Hale, ''The Red Reaper'' and ''The Body'' of the mercenary group ''Uncharted,'' became so preupied with assassinating his targets that he had no time for his other half, so he, too, considered taking a break from his mercenary career, so that he could have all the time he wanted, and he made the decision on returning stronger than before, after speaking with the ''Crazed'' man of his team. "That crazy basta*d said that now that the system has changed, we will get stronger by hunting monsters, and I''ve already asked Core to make my vacation official, so we can focus on ourselves and grow stronger in the meantime." Henry said with a bright smile. "Yeah. But drag that basta*d here first, then we''ll go to sector one for a vacation." Louie smiled warmly and said. Louie Robbins ''The Orange Knight'' and ''The Heart'' of the mercenary group. "Yeah, he''s been gone on his vacation for a....." Henry said and raised his brows at Louie. "A month and a half." Louie answered. "Right, month and a half.... Huh? It''s only been a month?" Henry asked in disbelief. "And a half. Yes, it''s been thaaaaat long." Louie dragged ''that'' to emphasize how long he has been gone. "Whoa, that''s too short, I thought already half a year had passed. Damn, I miss that crazy basta*d!" Henry said and shook his head. "Yeah, if he was here, time would have flown by without us noticing; now that he''s gone, it feels like the days have grown longer." Louie shook his head with a bitter smile. "Damn, that''s what happens when you grow up togeth..." Henry was saying something but suddenly.... BANG The room''s door shot open and a petite woman appeared with a serious look on her face. "''His'' pawns are moving!" Core said. "Really~" Henry smiled brightly while Louie frowned. "..... But he is already a step ahead." Core said with slight nod and a savage grin. Core Oliver, ''The Purple Dipper'' and ''The Brain'' of the mercenary group. "Pfft, looks like we''re going to use that crazy basta*d''s tricks." Henry said and nced at Louie who was seething in ire. "Calm down, you guys. It''s not time yet and Core, contact him first." Arngrim appeared from behind Core and said. Arngrim ''The ck Psychopath'' and ''The Gut'' of the mercenary group. "Ho! Looks like somebody is using his brain today." Core said with a grin. "Shut up!" Arngrim grumbled and walked back. "So? Shall we start moving too?" Core asked with her brows raised. "Let''s give him a call first, I think we''ll be moving by ourselves for a while." Henry walked towards Core and said while caressing her cheeks with a smile on his face. "Aye, I''m here, so get out and make out." Louie grumbled. "Ehhh? Come on, why can''t we do it here?" Core stared at Louie with big puppy eyes and asked teasingly with a slight grin on her face which she couldn''t hide. "Get out!" Louie grumbled and kicked them out of his workce. BANG "...." "...." "Pfft, hahaha." Henryughed out loud and looked at Core who wasughing with him. "Shall we take on Louie''s advice?" Henry picked her up before kissing her. "Mm~ hah, of course, we should! That''s ''The Heart'' of our group, haha." Core chuckled before kissing him back. *** "Well sh*t." The man who was coiled by Vassago''s lightning chains mumbled. ZKRAT-ZRAT (5x) BOOM "Hahaha." Vassago chuckled while staring the ck and white sh in anticipation. WHOOOSH "Hm?" Vassago stared at a white-haired figure st out of the sh with his back facing Vassago. Half of his t-shirt had been ripped to shreds, but only the right side of his trousers had been damaged, and it had only been ripped up to his right knee. "Che, well at least I did some damag...." Vassago was mumbling something but stopped when he noticed the figure turn around to face him, mid-air while ring. Vassago shuddered when he noticed the figure''s palm, just, in front of his face. WHOOOSH THUMP His palm clenched Vassago''s face, Vassago''s eyes moved to his left where the man''s head was, and he flinched when he saw the man ring at him with blood on the right corner of his mouth. BAM BOOM "Ack!!" Vassago was mmed to the ground, strong enough to lift his legs in the air and create a mini crater beneath his head. "Cough...." a groan was heard next to Vassago. "Arrgg..." Vassago groaned and turned his head to the left, where he saw the man lying down on the ground ring at him, a small puddle of blood in front of his mouth. "Ack.....urg..." The man groaned and sat back up, his legs forming a ''4'' shape as he sat down, resting his left arm on his left knee and supporting himself with his right arm, slightly behind him. "Haa...." he sighed while ring at Vassago. "Hahaha, Got you!" Vassagoughed at the man in front of him without moving even an inch from the ce he was mmed to. "Knight of the ck me!" Vassago roared with his left hand on the ground which was lit in ck me. "Damn." The man mumbled. CRA-CRACK (4x) A white skeletal hand protruded from the ground, its arm was set aze with ck me, and a full skeleton slowly climbed up as if climbing adder. when the white skeletonpletely protruded out through the ground with its whole body was set aze with ck me, the ck me condensed into a sturdy armour that allowed the skeleton Knight to move as it pleased. Finally, a helmet appeared on the skull, with a white plus mark on its chest te and everything else covered in ck; the plus mark had white veins that connected every limb to it. "CRK...CRAK... CLAK." Chapter 105 104. Going All Out (2). ?"Hahaha." A dry chuckle escaped my mouth as I stared at a white skeleton soldier appear in front of me. It was 7-foot-tall figure, there is nothing else to say..... It was a white skeleton with ck armour made of ck mes and a white plus shape..... What is it? A core? Or perhaps a heart? No, because skeletons don''t have hearts, we''ll go with a core. "CRK....CRAK...KCR." The skeletal figure nked its teeth. ''The name is kinda cool (?) Though, it is just describing it....'' "Hello?" I waved my right hand while sitting down on the ground. ''Damn, the damage I took from the earlier lightning explosion is making me a bit, though it''s only by a bbbbbiiiiitttt, it is still making me sluggish.'' "This is not going all out, this is cheating!" I pointed my index finger at Vassago with re. ".....?" Vassago tilted his head and made a dumb face. "It is now, 2 v 1!" ''I should have been a bit careful of those, ck lightning chains.....'' "Hup!" I jumped back on my feet and dusted off my trousers. "Hm?" ''Should I just remove my t-shirt? It''s already battered, so it doesn''t make much of a difference.'' FIP- FUMP "Hm~mm~" I removed my t-shirt and dropped it on the ground. "....." Vassago stared at me with the dumb face to which I grinned and crossed arms to cover my chest. "Ew, pervert." I said and remembered Anuke''s face when she said that. "..... Attack!" Vassago said as he clenched his teeth in irritation. "Wa-wait! You crazy basta-d!" I said and took a step back. "CRAK....CLUNK...CAKT." "Frost touch." I mumbled as pale purple mana flitted around my palms before starting to pulsate. BOOM Iunched myself at the ''Knight of the ck me!'' ... In my standards it was a good name, I can''t help it..... With a loud ''boom,'' Iunched myself at the skeletal soldier, as a small crater appeared beneath my foot, I immediately appeared in front of the skeleton and elbowed its skull, its helmet rippled once after my elbownded, I felt like I was hitting a slime, I realised it could absorb and repel the kic energy behind my attacks. "Aren''t you apetent one... as a punching bag!" I said with a smug grin before pummelling it with jabs and kicks. After seconds of silent bombardment of blows. BOOM (25x) "Ho!" I noticed circr wind pressures forming behind the skeletal soldier. I wanted to continue pummelling it with blows until it broke, but..... "me arrows." I heard Vassago''s voice behind me and noticed mana concentration near him. ''me arrows, huh....'' "Frost spears." I mumbled with turning around. The air around me turned white as a sizzling sound rose as two opposing elements shed, exactly 11 spears formed around me, which I grabbed one from, aimed at the gap between the chest te and helmet before impaling the skeletal soldier to the ground, and turned to face Vassago, who had around fifty ck me arrows that were a third the size of the Frost spears around me. "Good sh*t, aye...." I mumbled and stared at 52 arrows aiming at me to which I responded by simply lifting my right arm. "Spin." I muttered and the ten spears around me started to spin while aiming at Vassago. WHOOOOOOMMMMM Frost spears were aimed at Vassago horizontally while spinning vertically. They began to spin violently, strong enough to create cracks in the air while spreading cold air all around me, over which I had control. "Snowkes." I added snowkes to the white cloud I was controlling and gained perfect control over it with less mana usage. 12 branched snowkes spread out and around the white cloud, I extended my arm forward and spread my fingers out, the cloud split and covered all 52 ck me arrows in a small sphere. "I won''t work! You can''t extinguish this m..." Vassago snarled at me but I cut him short. "Who said anything about extinguishing those?" I asked while grinning ear to ear. "Wh...." he looked at the spheres in fear when he understood what was happening. [I said to you, didn''t I? That I''m making them mine.] I said to Vassago telepathically and grinned savagely. BOOM Heunched himself at me with a loud ''boom,'' creating a crater beneath his feet, then appeared in front of me and punched me in my face. WHOOSH "Ho! How fast!" I mumbled and jerked my head to the right to avoid the attack, aimed a spinning spear at him with my index finger and lowered it by the next movement, thrusting the spear at him, for a moment the spear vanished from sight before reappearing above his left shoulder. SWISH "If you do that Vinny dies!" Vassago said with a smug grin which ttered the moment he saw me, grinning. "Who said anything about save him?" I asked while grinning widely and arching my eyes. SHING BOOM I spear thrust down on Vassago''s shoulder in an instant and pierced through the ground creating a spiral webbed cracks and a spear sized hole at the centre of it. "You dodged it? Pity...." I said with smirk and waved my hand to clear the white smoke covering my vision. WHOOOSH "Y-you! D-do you n-not care wha-what ha-happens to m-my host?" Vassago stuttered with a terrified face. "No." I smirked. "Y-You Basta*d!" Vassago yelled in outrage, but.....still stuttered. WOOOONGG "Yes! This is how it should be!" I mumbled looking at limitless pitch ck mana oozing out of Vinny''s body. WHOOOOIIINNNNNGGGHHH ZKRAT-ZRAT (4x) BOOSHHH, CRACKLE (6x) [AN: SFX of me with crackles.] Pitch ck mana began to take shape behind Vassago, who was screaming in anguish; the mana assumed the form of the devil''s upper body, materialized body''s protruding, curved ''L'' shaped horns which were touching the nearly 30-foot-tall ceiling of the training chamber, his ws were nearly a meter long, the materialized body''s face had a pair of bloody red eyes with pure white vertical slits, its back had a pair of pitch-ck feathered wings, and the body gave off a dark green aura. "Hahahaha! Yes! This is it! Vassago your maker is in awe!" I roared. "Human! I, Vassago, shall take your life, so that my host can be at ease!" "Nah, that''s impossible." Chapter 106 105. Going All Out (3). ?"Nah, that''s impossible." Eshwar said amidughing like a maniac. ZZZT-ZZT (4x) "...." Jiwoo, Violet, Katharine and Katline stared at the fight in silence while shivering uncontrobly. ZZZT-ZZT (3x) The system window that was disying their fight had already glitched, and they could only get a glimpse here and there, which nobodyined about because they were scared witless. ''Th-this is a ba-battle of m-m-monsters!!'' Katharine was shivering even in her thoughts as she gulped down air because her mouth waspletely dry. Katharine was drenched in cold sweat and quivered as she stared at two monsters, one of whom was her professor and the other was her friend. She knew they were both strong, but she didn''t know how strong they were. Despite the fact that they were both high rank heroes, one was a monster and the other was a monster among monsters. ''T-this? Is h-how rank-S hero fights? V-Vinny''s body is oozing out an uncontroble amount mana and he said that didn''t even have mana?'' Katharine thought, even though she was scared sh*tless, her thought process waspletely logical. ZZZT-ZZT She was relieved that the system window had malfunctioned because she didn''t want to see the battle up close and was quivering as she watched the battle take ce at the opposite end of the training chamber. She was surprised when she was able to hear Eshwar''s answer when Vassago dered that he would kill Eshwar, even though they couldn''t hear what he said before that, they were shocked to look at a human standing fearlessly in front of a, literal, Devil. And surprisingly enough, the devil hadn''t gone far from the corner when they began to fight, and Katharine noticed that every time Vassago tried to get close to them, Eshwar stopped him. BANG BOOM ZKRAT-ZRAT (3x) ''God!'' *** "How dare you try to kill my host!!?" Vassago roared. "Yes! This why I made ''Kind'' and ''Demonic!'' hahahaha!" Iughed out loud. "Lore!" Vassago raised his hand and devil behind did the same. "Frost spear!" I roared as a light blue 8 foot long spear materialized in my right arm which I threw like a javelin at the devil''s hand which had a giant ball of ck lightning. ZZZRT-ZRATAA!!! As the mana in my Frost spear came into contact with the mana cruising through the ck lightning, the charge of ck lightning sted. "Graa!" Vassago roared in outrage. "Lightning charge!" he yelled. "Oh sh*t." I mumbled because my magic was forming more clouds as time passed, and lightning was the best counter to my magic. "Ffff-ahhh..... uuuu-ahhhhh.... ck-ahhhhh!!!" Before I could think of a counter, ck lightning struck me and cruised through everything that carried my mana, stunning them. ''F**k! If I knew that someday I would be the one fighting Vinny, I would have kept a certain limit on his mana!!'' "Ignite!" Vassagomanded. A ball of ck mes with white mes in the centre shot towards me from the devil''s left arm and set me on fire, causing me excruciating pain. "Graa!!!" I screamed in pain. ''F**k! Sword of the dwarves!'' I muttered in my mind, but because my mana flow was stunned, not even a streak of mana flowed from my mana core. "Raise my Knight of the ck me!" He told the skeleton soldier who was struggling to break free from the spear that was impaling it, now that my mana flow was stunned, it could easily break free and re-join the fight. ''F**k! F**k, f**k, f**k, this is bad! This is bad, this is bad!!!'' "CRAK....CRULK...CRUNK." "Thunder Strom." Vassago said. WHOOOMMM "Heh!" I grinned as my mana flow returned before his attack reached me. "Sword of the dwarves!" I roared amid groaning in pain. Suddenly, a thunder storm appeared from above and below me, which I dly faced head-on because I had already summoned my attack, which was a little dangerous... Ahem, my skill requirements are as follows: one, an insane amount of mana, two, it is drawn to the mana signature of thest attack I received, and three, it takes mana from the opponent who attacked me. "Ahhh!!!!" I screamed in agony with a smirk. ''Pfft! No! This is not the time to beughing! I have to shield the kids!'' WHOOSH "Barr....ier! Barrier! Barrier! Barrier!" the attack stop and I instantly turned around and yelled but nothing happened. "F**k!" "Violet! Barrier! Create as many barriers as you can!" I yelled on top of my lungs. "Oh sh*t!" I stared at a giant light blue sword, 40 feet long and 2 meters wide, double-edged sword raised in the air breaking the training chamber''s ceiling in the process of being raised vertically. WHOOOOOOMMMMM CRA-CRACK (15x) BOOM- CRACK(10x) "Snowkes, Frosty steps! 25 percent!" I mumbled and nced at the gaint sword being swung down on Vassago and destroying everything around it in the process. WHOOOSH BOOM *** "Violet! Barrier! Create as many barriers as you can!" Eshwar''s voice sounded from the system window and from the other corner of the room. "Huh? B-barrier!" Violet snapped out of her trance and formed a single barrier, diagonally covering all four of them. ''As many as I can? I don''t know why, but I''ll trust him!'' Violet thought. "Barrier. Barrier. Barrier. Barrier. Barrier...... Bar... Uck! Barrier!" Violet used every drop of mana she could muster and formed 10 barriers until she couldn''t form another. "Guys, supply mana to the barriers." Violet mumbled as her vision blurred from mana abuse. "O-Ok!" Jiwoo, Katline and Katharine said in unison and started to supply mana to the barrier. "Move over!" Katharine''s voice was heard but Violet couldn''t see properly as her vision was too hazy and her head started to hurt. "Ok." Jiwoo''s voice sounded. "Hm? What''re you guys doing?" Violet asked but her voice was too low to be heard by the others but they still replied. "Shut up and don''t talk!" Katharine said. ''What''s wrong?'' Violet thought. "Hey, say it with at least a bit of concern in your voice." Jiwoo said and chuckled slightly. "Shut it." Katharine said, but her voice sounded like she was crying. ''!'' "Oi, you''re not in any pain right?" Katharine asked Violet. "It hurts like hell, what''s going on?" Violet decided to voice her pain and mumbled in a low tone. "W-we''ll get you a potion so hang in there for a bit!" Katharine said with teary voice. ''What''s going on?'' Violet started to get worried. WHHHOOOOMMMMM Chapter 107 106. Devils Domain. ?WHOOOOOOMMMMM "W-What is that? That''s a skill?" Jiwoo gazed up at the magnificent giant light blue sword as it rose into the sky. "Whoa!!" Violet''s eyes slightly regained its focus after she recovered a drop of mana and was immediately left in awe. "You! Don''t overexert yourself! Do even know how you look right now?" Katharine ced both of her hands on Violet''s shoulder and made her look into her eyes. "You are bleeding, Violet. From your nose and eyes." Katline said. "Huh? Oh!" Violet wiped her nose with her right hand, realising Katline was correct and realized why Katharine appeared to be on edge. "Right....." Violet nodded, slouched forward and sat inzy manner. WHOOOMMM ''I know that they''re worried about me, but I can''t miss the sight of such a majestic sword! It would naturally be crude, considering its size, but..... WOW!'' Violet stared at sword being swung down in awe. "Oh sh*t." Violet mumbled. BOOOMM A ear deafening ''BOOM'' rang, even though they had covered their ears. SSSWWWOOOSSSHHHH A thickyer of white cloud rose from the ground, and there was absolute silence for a brief moment before the cloud touching the ground moved before a strong ripple shot out from the cloud. BOOM CRACK (5x) "Cough!!" Violet coughed up a mouthful of blood as five of the barriers shattered in an instant with a single ripple and lost consciousness from pain. THUMP *** BOOM CRACK(8x) The impact created a thick cloud of smoke, strong enough to cause the ground to tremble, and ripples shot out the debris that formed from the sword''s sh like bullets. I extended my right arm and a three-foot-long sword materialized in my hand, which I shed at the debris that shot out in my direction. CLUNK (5x) BANG (3x) "Uck!" As the cut debris struck my body, I groaned in agony. I attempted to tank the big ones first, then strike down the small ones, because the small ones were piercing through my skin. However, the damage was a little more severe than expected. "F**k!" I mumbled, pointed my index and middle fingers out at the smoke cloud, and drew a ''C'' shape in the air. WHOOSH A horizontal vortex formed in front of me, blowing air in the opposite direction of me, which aided in slowing the debris and making it easier to follow and strike down. "F**king hell! It''s still not enough?" I grumbled as small and sharp pieces continued to fly out, causing numerous small cuts to appear on my body. "Mana armour, mana shields, Frost!" I muttered. A thinyer of pale purple mana coated my body, while three octagonal mana shields appeared in my shoulders, elbows, upper body, thighs, calves, and near my crotch. I waved my hand and added the ''Frost'' attribute to the horizontal vortex, which turned pure white, and the air that was being blown out thickened and held back the debris and its pieces. WHOOOSH Another ripple urred and shot out debris a bit stronger. "6th?" I mumbled as I stared at the approaching ripple, whose initial force had been broken by the interference of the horizontal vortex in front of me. ''I have contained more damage than I originally expected! It wasn''t that I was ignorant.... maybe a bit? Ahem, well I was getting bored by fights where I contained no damages at all, so I think it''s alright, even though I''m a bit battered, as long as I have fun it''s alright!'' I grinned and a yet another cut appeared on my cheek just below my left eye. "Whoa!? What the f**k was that? I have mana armour around me?" I mumbled in surprise. "Cough.... Y-you basta*d!!" Vassago''s muffled roar was heard inside the thickyer of smoke. "Hm? Hehehehahaha! I expected you to dodge, but I didn''t expect you to be standing..." I waved my hand to clear the smoke because that seemed to be thest ripple and the sword appeared to have dematerialized. "Oh! You''re not standing..." I mumbled while staring at Vassago who was lying down on ground with his head turned towards me with a re. "Ahem, you seem a bit too battered." With my brows dancing up and down and a smirk, I mocked him. "Y-You! I swear on my name, I''ll kill yo...." Vassago roared after coughing out several mouthfuls of blood and creating a small puddle of blood before him, I stopped him mid-sentence with a raise of my left hand. "Don''t. Do want to die? If you could have killed me, I would have already been dead by now. You already used your authority on me, remembered?" I stopped him from finishing that sentence because I sensed demonic energy rising around him as he spoke; he would have most likely made a ''Oath''... a ''demonic oath'' (?) because he''s a demon? I titled my head as I pondered before shaking them off and telling myself not to take everything literally. The ''demonic oath'' is not like any other ''oath'' in which the mana damages the body and causes excruciating pain to the one who made the ''oath,'' but it is a ''oath'' on their ''existence,'' which means they will be removed from existence and will never be reborn, ever again, and the soul that is supposed to go through the process of ''rebirth'' is imprisoned in the depths of the ''void,'' trapped in there for eternity. A void is an existence whose sole definition and purpose is to ''devour.'' Those who are ''devoured'' can never escape the void, and souls trapped in the void only feel pain as their ''memories,'' which their minds subconsciously trapped in the back of their heads, reappear, making them a thousand times more painful and sad. Every single regret or strong emotion they feel will resurface, making it even more painful for eternity. "You should know that, the movement you used your authority against me, you lost." I red at Vassago, who red back at me and clenched his fist tightly, trembling weakly before starting to bleed from his clenched fists, I don''t know what happened to him, but he abruptly raised his head to look at me with a wide grin on his face. "Hehehahahaha!" Vassago started tough maniacally. ''Hisugh sounds kinda like, ''that'' guy.....'' "Authority of kindness, ''Devil''s Domain.''" Vassago said. "Sh*t!" Chapter 108 107. A Peek At His Consciousness. ?"Sh*t!" The white haired man cursed with his eyes wide open in surprise. "You know what a ''Devil''s Domain'' is..... don''t you...." Vassago asked a question that wasn''t really a question because he got his answer from the man''s expression. WHOOMMM The pitch-ck mana from the void seeped out of Vassago''s body and rushed towards the man who was trying to find an escape route, but it was futile as Vassago''s mana moved and enveloped him in an instant. THUD Vassago saw the man''s body fall, lifelessly, face first on the ground with a low ''thud,'' and that was thest thing he saw before forcing his way into the man''s consciousness. * Vassago entered the man''s consciousness to learn about his deepest secrets and deepest memories that the man didn''t want to remember, or memories that his body subconsciously pushed to the back of his mind to keep the man safe. The scenery in front of him was ominously beautiful when he entered his consciousness. There were many high mountains that seemed to pierce through the clouds, and everything, absolutely everything was covered in a thick nket of snow. There were many light blue crystallized crystals protruding from the thickyer of white snow, and if examined closely, the crystals contained hundreds of humans who appeared to be frozen in time. Each crystal was at least 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide, and it was packed with humans, frozen inside. "Hm? Where is this?" Vassago mumbled. He expected to arrive at the location where the man imagined himself to be on top of the world, but... the sight in front of him, somehow seemed too pitiful. Vassago noticed a young man with white hair striding across a field covered in a thick nket of white snow. "Oh? He feels like the man I was fighting with..... though, he doesn''t look anything like him...." Vassago murmured out, involuntarily. Vassago looked around in hopes to find the man he was looking for, his vision which was limited to a few kilometres found no humans except for the young man who was striding and the humans trapped in the ice crystals. ''I''ll follow him for now.'' Vassago considered his options and flew behind the striding young man. Only then did he realize that he, too, had bright orange eyes with vertical ck slits, though his facial features weren''t exactly the same as they were now, but he seemed to be the same person, just a bit more childish. His stride continued until he reached the bottom of the mountain hill, almost out of Vassago''s sight, beforeing to an abrupt halt in front of a small ice crystal with only a single couple in it. "Who''re they?" Vassago became curious and descended from the air until he was next to the young man, who suddenly snapped his head towards Vassago, who shuddered and backed off. ''He saw me? How could....? I shouldn''t be visible to him? I will have to dominate his consciousness....'' Vassago''s thought process was cut short by the young man''s murmurs. "What was that? I thought somebody was behind me...." He mumbled, loudly. ''!'' "Heh, like hell anybody would be here.... F**king no one! No one is alive here, goddammit!" he snarled at himself and looked back at the crystals which had froze a pair containing a man and a woman. They both had terrified expressions on their faces, as if they were fleeing something terrifying, and there were two little legsing from behind which were held by the man, the white haired man walked to the side, leaned, and ced his forehead on the ice crystal as his eyes teared up but didn''t shed, he took a step back and smiled at the sky, his lips were curled down as he was about cry, but the corners were curled up forming a very sad smile. So sad that Vassago found himself wanting soothe the young man''s sadness by making him his host. "Hahaha..." he let out a dryugh while staring at the clouded blue sky. "How many times has it been?" he mumbled and blinked a few times which seemed as if he was trying get the tears back in. "Haaa...." he sighed and held out his right hand. SHWOOSH A beautiful light blue sword appeared in his hand, and he made a sheathing motion before taking a step forward and shing the ice crystals, which appeared to be a single fluid sword sh, but turned out to be more. SWISH (7x) "Shwish, shwish, shwish, shwish, shwish, shwish, shwish!" He made a ''swish'' sound with his mouth as seven sword shes cut down ice, leaving only the figures frozen inside of it; though there was still a thickyer of ice on them, the young man seemed pleased with the oue. "Heh, Plum blossom 7-sword strikes!" He said loudly with a smug grin on his face before flicking his right hand''s index and middle fingers to the right, which were pointed at his forehead. ''What is that?'' Vassago furrowed his brows at the young man''s strange actions. Suddenly, he put on a solemn expression before turning his back on ice crystal and cing his index and thumb fingers on his forehead with a troubled look on his face. "This is troublesome! Haaa...." he mumbled and sighed, Vassago got curious and leaned forward to properly hear what he was mumbling to himself. "I can''t believe, I have to use the ''World Splitter'' now, that too, in front of an insignificant opponent! Ha." He mumbled and scoffed. ''What? is their any humans? Even I couldn''t feel anybody''s presence! Is he stronger than me? The demon prince!'' Vassago furrowed his brows, spread his scenes and scanned every inch up to a kilometre distance. "Hahaha, be grateful, you insignificant insect!" heughed menacingly and red at nothing. "Take this!" he held the sword with both hands, raised it behind his back and jumped forward while channelling mana into his sword. "World! Splitter!" he roared and flung the sword forward. SWISH WHOOOSH ''What!?'' Vassago thought in shock. Everything, absolutely everything, slowed down..... in surprise, Vassago couldn''t help but stare at the sword being swung down in one fluid movement, without any unnecessary movements, the sword movement looked wless as all the elements present in the mana made way for his sword and he swung his sword without a single restraint on it. SWISH His sword appeared to move slowly, so slowly that Vassago could follow it, but he couldn''t move, not even his finger, he could only stare at the sword movement in awe and.... Fear. BOOM Chapter 109 108. Attack On Switch. ?Outside the Switch academy. A small army had surrounded the academy and everybody had a excited look on their faces, every single one of them were waiting for a single person''smand and the person who was supposed to give out themand was waiting for the order from the person speaking through his earpiece. "Lady Mair¨¦ad, Shall we proceed?" The man inmand asked, politely. [We''re waiting for the spy''s confirmation, so please wait, Sir Kensa Bishop.] A sweet woman''s voice sounded through the earpiece. "Understood." Kensa Bishop said with a wide grin as he started to lick his lips. ''Haa.... Lady Mair¨¦ad!!'' his eyes rolled back as his lustrous imagination ran wild. BOOOOMMM Suddenly, an ear deafening ''BOOM'' was heard in academy, everybody flinched at the sound while Kensa snapped out of his fantasy and furrowed his brows at the academy. "Was that the spy,dy Mair¨¦ad?" He spoke through his earpiece. [Certainly not! Please hold on a minute.] Mair¨¦ad said through the earpiece. ''What was that? If it was not the bomb..... then is there an rank-SS hero inside? What kind of predicament is this? His majesty didn''t say anything about there being an rank-SS hero in the academy....'' Kensa Bishop thought. [The spy sent us a confirmation, the next st will be your cue.] Mair¨¦ad said. BOOOOMMMM A more fierce st than the previous one erupted, causing 25 percent of the academy to copse, making Kensa''s and his ''pawns'' invasion easier. Kensa grinned savagely at the sight of cadets running into the academy from their droms. "What''s going on.. ack!?" A cadets voice was heard before he was struck down by Kensa''s pawn. "Kukuku! ughter at sight!" Kensa Bishop roared with a crazedughter and initiated the attack. And thus, the attack on the target, ranked ''Queen,'' began. *** In the switch academy. A lonely man sat on his armchair behind his office desk, leaning forward, his elbows resting on the desk and his head resting on his sped hands. He appeared to be in his fifties, with grey hair and obsidian ck eyes, but his expression was mncholy and lonely. "Haaa...." Quinn sighed and started thinking about how to mend his rtionship with his granddaughter. ''So now, I need a favour from you, Quinn Walker. I want you to leave m...'' Isha''s voice sounded in his head. "If Eshwar hadn''t stopped her, I would have even lost my granddaughter and be left alone with ''that guy''..... Haaa..." Quinn sighed as he remembered his granddaughter''s ''crying face,'' because she had stopped disying any emotions and maintained her cold and indifferent demeanour all the time, and he remembered how her hollow eyes were, which he saw when he went to pick her up when she was 15 years old, because his thoughts had changed after his meeting with Eshwar. "I would have killed that woman in an instant, if that would make things right....." he mumbled as his body oozed out mana filled with rage. "Hahaha..... If only things were that simple." Heughed drily and clenched his fist and teeth. BOOOMMM The academy trembled from the st that urred just now. "He really is going all out. I''ll have make him pay for the damage repairs, only then he''ll know how to control his powers." Quinn mumbled as his lips curled up into a slight smile. He sensed Eshwar''s presence, no, Eshwar made it so that Quinn could feel his presence, which was also a kind of reassurance from Eshwar that he would be the one wreaking havoc in the academy. Only because Quinn knew that he sat still, and for unknown predicaments in the academy, Quinn''s presence alone was a reassurance for others, and Eshwar''s presence in academy was a reassurance for Quinn, because it made him feel like he wasn''t alone. "Who is this? Isn''t it, madam Diti Raju? What is she doing in the academy at this time of the night?" Quinn slightly frowned as he had an ominous feeling. "Cadets are rushing into the academy..... Was it because they heard the loud ''boom'' ..." Quinn''s thoughts were cut short when suddenly.... BOOOOMMMM WHOOOOMMM The academy trembled and Quinn estimated that it had been demolished by about 20 percent. Quinn was bbergasted because he felt that a ''magical explosion'' was the cause of the academy''s walls copsing, despite the fact that the walls were built to withstand rank-SS magical strength, and he believed that nobody could ever damage the academy, let alone with ''mere magical bombs.'' "What?" he felt Diti Raju''s presence disappear at the ce where the ''boom'' reverberated from. ''She was a Spy?'' "The cadets!!!" Quinn roared and ced his hand on his desk before employing his mana into it. WHOOSH TOOOT- TOOOT (4x) A light blue circr light glowed beneath his palm; he tapped it three times, and another ring formed around it, which he dragged to the bottom right, tapped twice, dragged to the top left, and tapped once. ZLING Circuits began to form and move through everything in his office, and small circuits appeared on Quinn''s finger, sucking his mana and transforming the circuits with his mana signature, which connected to everything, every single rock of the academy to circuits on his desk. "The academy ain''t simply made to be sturdy." Quinn mumbled with a smirk. "Guess, I''m bing more and more like Eshwar." Quinn chuckled and remembered what Eshwar always used to say with a snarl. ''Don''t trust humans so easily, Quinn!'' Eshwar''s voice echoed through Quinn''s head. "It''s not that I trust ''humans'' so easily, it''s just ''you'' whom I trust." Quinn mumbled with a warm smile and clenched his fist tightly. ''There goes 1/4 of my mana.'' Quinn thought and drew back his arm. He felt unknown forces infiltrate the switch academy, many cadets were dying near the academy''s perimeters, many professors and assistant professors were fighting to protect the cadets, some Quinn knew personally while others were only fighting to save their own a*ses, but Quinn was thankful for every single one of them. ''Sorry, but you''ll have fight a bit longer!'' Quinn thought, nced back at his desk, tapped the ring twice, it blinked bright red, he ignored it and ced his palm on the circr light blue glow, pressed it tightly, and circuits began to climb on his arm until his entire forearm was covered in circuits. "Change!" Chapter 110 109. A Peek At His Consciousness (2). ?*** The office room was furnished with a desk, a couch, extra chairs, books on the bookshelf, arge ss window behind her desk, a bonsai on the desk, and some nts near the window. A woman sat behind the desk with tired expression, she had ck hair, purple eyes with dark circles, she was 5.5 feet tall, appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and wore a red suit with white pants, almost appeared to be a royal guard. "Haa..." Seo Hana sighed. "Being a 1st squad captain, sure is tiring...." She mumbled, leaned forward, rested her left elbow on the desk while resting her chin on her left fist, and rummaged through the reports on her desk. "..... There are no leads on my investigation. Haaa.... It''s getting nowhere...." She sighed and mumbled. She had worked day and night for almost a week due to the investigation of the cadet massacre incident, pulling all-nighters when she had to read an abundance of reports about training, budget management, budget usage, equipment requests, equipment managements, and many others while the investigation hadn''t moved a single step forward, their only lead was the cadets who still seemed devastated and one of them is traumatized from the incident. "What was that kid''s name? Someone from the ''Knight'' family....." she mumbled. "Hiiinnnng~ haaa..." She raised her hands above her head, stretched and slumped on the desk with a sigh. "..... I want to resign!" she mumbled. ''Then, what the f**k are you guys doing here without investigating?'' Eshwar''s voice echoed in her mind. "Haaa...." she sighed. "... He''s still handsome as ever." She mumbled with a pout. "..... I have definitely heard that I was tiring, but I never expected to be called boring." She abruptly sat straight and mumbled as she furrowed her brows. "Well anyway, let''s focus!" she cupped her face and mumbled. "I have to focus, if anybody dares to disturb me, I''ll beat them up to a brink of death." She mumbled with a bright smile and started to read the report, but..... WOING- WOING (4x) "This! It''s the backup request from switch?" Seo Hana frowned as her desk lit up with a sector map and bright red mark appeared on the switch academy''s location. "Sh*t!" She mumbled and dashed to the door. *** His sword appeared to move slowly, so slowly that Vassago could follow it, but he couldn''t move, not even his finger, he could only stare at the sword movement in awe and.... Fear. WHOOSH BOOOMMM "How was that! You insignificant insect!" The young man with white hair snarled at the thick white cloud that had formed as a result of his sword sh. ''Wh-What just happened?'' Vassago stared at the scene in horror. "S-should I be thankful that he didn''t use it again me or should I be angry because he didn''t find me significant enough." Vassago mumbled in daze. "... But there is still no one." Vassago stared at cloud but still failed to feel any other presence. "Heh!" the young man scoffed and waved his hand fiercely. WHOOSH After the cloud cleared, there was nothing different in thendscape and seemed like the name ''World Splitter'' was used insignificantly, but about 30 feet away, there was a strange looking creature, slowly turning visible as it bled drops of blood from a vertical paper cut from its head to its crotch. The strange creature appeared to be a cross between a Dragon and a lizard-man; it stood 8.5 meters tall and had a tail connected to it like that of a Dragon''s; its arms were short and ''V'' shaped, and it didn''t appear to have much use for those arms. (AN: It is a ''Dinosaur'' and a ''Allosaurus Fragilis'' to be specific, wrote it like that because character Vassago doesn''t know about dinosaurs.) It slowly fell face first on the thick nket of snow, and split apart in the middle, shocking Vassago, who had failed to detect its presence and didn''t understand why the creature, which only had a paper cut, suddenly split in half. He refused to ept it and instead used all of his power to spread his mana senses far and wide. "Wh-What?" Vassago suddenly took a step back and started to tremble in fear. "Th-This!!?? H-how is this possible?" He mumbled in fear. It wasn''t that nothing changed after the white-haired young man''s dramatic sh; it was just that everything was too perfect for anyone to notice. There was a 10-foot-deep vertical slit in the ground with only a mud grain distance between them, and the sh on the bizarre looking creature was a perfect sh for there to be anything different at first nce, it was cut in half too perfectly. ''H-how? It''s..... I have met and killed countless people who call themselves ''sword masters,'' but this.... I haven''t seen anyone of this skill level before! What is he? What is he?....'' Vassago thought. "What is he? What is he? What is he? What is he? What is he?..." Vassago''s mind went nk from fear, and he began to mumble the only thing whose answer would put his mind at ease. "I''ll have to get stronger... strong enough to kill...no, destroy everything!" The white-haired young man roared, and his words about bing stronger jolted Vassago out of his trance. "Y-yu-you!!" Vassago red at the young man but he re instantly turned upside down. "W-why??" Vassago furrowed his brows and stared at the young man with worry and fear written all over on his face. "I''ll have to bury them first, go met ''her'' again and spend my time with her before I lose myself again." The young man mumbled. "Y-you!" Vassago red at the man, his fear turned into worry, which turned into rage, which turned back to fear. "I-I wi-wi-will k-ki-ki-kill he-he-him!!!" Vassago stuttered in fear while oozing out his demonic mana, involuntarily. "Oh!? You were here?" Suddenly, a mncholy tone was heard in front of him. "!!" Vassago flinched and backed off. "Aren''t you a naughty boy." The young man slowly turned his head to face Vassago with a twisted grin on his face, but his grin abruptly stopped as he frowned and red at Vassago while releasing his killing intent. "Kucg!!??" Vassago''s felt his consciousness being dominated. "I don''t remember giving you the permission to peek into my consciousness." The white haired young man said in cold tone, which reverberated everywhere. "Uck!!" Vassago trembled in fear. Chapter 111 110. Void Energy. ?"Uck!!" Vassago trembled in fear, ignoring the excruciating pain he was feeling. ''I''ll die!'' ''I''ll have to kneel!'' ''I have to apologise!'' He had no idea why, but he knew what had to be done. The man standing in front of him had a majestic yet terrifying appearance, like an existence that shouldn''t be angered. Vassago had no idea, why? What? Or how? It was happening, but he knew he''d have to kneel and beg to die without much pain; everything about his existence seemed insignificant inparison to the being in front of him. Now, he wanted to kneel, he wanted to beg and he wanted to survive but felt like it was something impossible to achieve because his consciousness didn''t obey any of hismands and trembled uncontrobly. "Hehehehahahaha!" The being in front of him transformed into a thick ck gelid smoke that engulfed everything until there was nothing left, the white ominously beautiful world he saw was no longer there, everything was covered in ck, but the clouded blue sky remained as clear as ever. BOOM The ground began to tremble, and an unimaginable amount of pressure bore down on Vassago, who stood motionless. Why? Because his consciousness had gone numb and he couldn''t even feel the pressure that was bearing down on him, until.... A streak, there was only a streak of pressure he could feel, but it was enough to cause him to kneel in mid-air with his head down, his void mana was slowly slipping out of control and obeying someone else''smands. He knew who this ''somebody'' was, and he was gratefully relinquishing control of the void in the hope that the being would simply kill him painlessly; he had no hope of survival, and all he wanted was to die without much pain. "This is my consciousness." The being said coldly, and the entire world in front of Vassago trembled. Vassago felt ''fear'' of his existence disappearing and feared the ''unknown.'' "How dare someone as insignificant as you, try peek into my consciousness." Vassago''s pitch ck body, which seemed to devour light, had now turned pale, which was quite ironic to see. BOOOOOMMMM Suddenly, a thunderous ''boom'' rang from outside Vassago''s consciousness, snapping him out of his trance and fear. Though he still couldn''t do anything, he felt angry, and all of his pride of being a ''devil,'' ''demon-prince,'' and ''the third demon'' of the lesser key of Solomon seeped back into him, and his anger turned into outrage, blinding his thoughts and fear. "I am the devil!" Vassago roared out loud while kneeling mid-air with his head down, his rage dulling his senses to the point where he couldn''t even feel his body trembling uncontrobly. "Ho! Hahaha." The being sounded amused as he chuckled. [Your involvement has broken the restraints of the system on the user ''Eshwar,'' unlocked the seals ced by the ''world'' and has awoken the ''Authority.''] [You are the first to break the ''limits'' set by the world!] [New! TRAIT''s unlocked!] [Trait: Limit Breaker [RANK: SS] User can break past the limits of their ''lesser'' nature.] [Trait: Devilization [RANK: ???] Activation condition is as the user''s synchronisation with the devil ''Vassago'' increases. [Skill: Devil Transformation.]] Vassago''s host''s system notification popped up in front of him which he dismissed without even giving it a nce. *** In the middle of something unknown. A white-haired man stood, staring at many image-like screens that had encircled him in a cylinder, the images in front of him changing twice in a split second that he seemed to haveplete control over, his eyes moving to every single image as the images coiled around without stopping. Many ''earths'' appeared around him, hundreds formed in an instant after a single ''earth''pleted its day rotation once. There was no sun or moon, but the light that fell on the earths remained constant as they continued to spin in their respective directions. * Every memory I had of ''earth'' and the earth of the novel, everything, I remembered everything in an instant, and for a moment I forgot what was real and what was just a memory, but everything shing right in front of my eyes made me realize something I had been doing all this time after I was reborn..... I was wasting time. I was wasting time on insignificant things. I had developed the habit of keeping my thoughts to myself as if they were some kinds of big secret, my other form, which I had stopped using after returning to the ''human'' domain, it felt like I was rejecting myself. ''My form is just a part of me, my hidden card and just... ''me'''' DING [ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR] [WARNING!] [WARNING!] [WARNING!] .... Many glitched system notifications appeared in front of me; I''m not sure why the system had gone crazy all of a sudden, but I didn''t mind because it wasn''t the first time it had done so. "It''s been such a long time I have used my other form, I am sure I''m in my consciousness..." I grinned ear to ear as my eyes arched. "Why don''t I just go all out? Hmmm..... What if I destroy everything in the real world thinking I''m in my consciousness?" I pondered to myself with a smirk. "Ahem, I can''t help it, what will I do if I destroy everything like I did before....." I stared up at nothingness. I nced at all the earths one at a time, I could see everything taking ce inside of it, I nced through everything until I found the right one which... Didn''t take much time. "Oh!? You were here?" I asked as I found Vassago. * "This is my consciousness." I said as I took control over the void inside ''Vassago'' not the one inside ''Vinny,'' but Vassago''s. When Vassago chose Vinny as his host, his void and Vinny''s merged into one. Why? Even Vassago was unaware and assumed that theirpatibility of their ''demonic'' natures was high, but the real reason was me, the author, who caused their voids to merge. ''''Void'' is unimaginably strong power, don''t me me for being greedy, my goal has always been the same....'' Getting strong enough to destroy everything. [User has learned to control ''???''.....] ZZZT-ZZT The system notification glitched and a new glitched system notification popped up in front of me. [User has learned to control ''Void energy.''] [User has nowplete control over ''??? Energy.''] [User has taken control over ''The ck Dragon''s Fire.''] [The ck Dragon''s Fire: [Type: Attribute.] [Can be imbued into one Trait.]] "Ho!!! Finally! I haveplete control over ''that''!!!" I jumped in joy before snapping out of it. "Oh.... But I can''t use it..." I slouched forward with a glum expression. Chapter 112 111. A Perfect Devils Domain. ?"How dare someone as insignificant as you, try peek into my consciousness." I said keep him busy while thinking about the unexpected gain. "Ho!!! Finally! I haveplete control over ''that''!!!" I said to myself and jumped in joy before snapping out of it because of the loud ''boom.'' BOOOOMMMM "Oh.... But I can''t use it..." I slouched forward with a glum expression. ''I can only use it internally, for the time being...'' ''and it seems like something is going on out, in the academy.'' "Hmm.... But, what should I do about him?" I stared at Vassago who was trembling while kneeling with his head down. "I am the devil!" Vassago roared angrily, which couldn''t possibly reach my ears if I wasn''t the one hearing him, hmm... Our situation is analogous to an ant attempting tomunicate with an extra-terrestrial being. "Ho! Hahaha." I chuckled, enjoying myself at his utterly useless pride. "You, pfft, why do seem so proud when you are shivering so much? Hahaha." I chuckled after I made it so that he can''t hear me, which just required a thought to do so. "I''m not killing him just because Vinny, too, will die if I kill him now as they seemed to have merged..... Meh, who knows how and why." I pondered and stopped myself from thinking too much about it. "He used his authoritypletely, hmmm... Vinny is a good boy, I''ll feel bad if I had to kill my own boy, Katline and the others will be sad too...." "Should I show him what a ''Devil''s Domain'' is? If he could learn properly, Vassago will be helpful if I need him...." "How amusing! Let me show you how a ''Devil''s Domain'' really looks and how it feels to be insignificant." I said with a wide grin and reached out my arm, piercing through the sky to reach Vassago. "Partial Devilization." *** "How amusing! Let me show you how a ''Devil''s Domain'' really looks like and how it feels to be insignificant." The being said and his voice resounded from everywhere. "Uck!??" Vassago was dumbfounded when he heard about the domain. ''Devil''s Domain'' is only avable to higher-ranking ''Demons'' or ''Devils,'' and only after they have awakened their respective ''Authority.'' Inside their domains, devils are nearly invincible, and their domains could also be referred to as ''Devil''s World,'' which is created based on their nature, mind-set, and desires. "Urg!?" The pressure that had been pressing down on him suddenly dissipated, but the streak that Vassago could feel remained, which was caused by the being''s presence. "Gr, uckh!" Vassago groaned and somehow managed to lift his head to look at the being. He felt his presence above him, so he looked up at the sky and froze in horror when he saw a humongous crystallized light blue, almost transparent, hand descend while ripping apart the clouded blue sky. RUM-RUMBLE (2x) The hand had ws instead of fingers, and everything was almost transparent as it blended with the sky. Pale purple mana threads popped out from the tips of the ws, each as big as Vassago, and its mana usage would be massive, but the being didn''t seem to get fatigued or care how much mana was spent. SHWOOSH Vassago could feel apletely different type of mana in those threads, mana he had never felt before. A mana core contains the attributed mana, which is used when the core holder employs a magic of a specific attribute; the most frequently used attribute bes the nature of the mana core. As the basic attributes, fire is destructive, air and water are calming, and earth is strong. There are two more types of attributes: branch attributes and unique attributes. ck magic, which is also destructive, and light magic, which is creation magic, are both unique attributes. The being, too, had a unique attribute; it was cold and calm, which Vassago had never seen before, but now it had changed; it felt more destructive and calming at the same time, which baffled Vassago, because, while the ''colour'' of the mana core had yet to change, its nature had already changed. Each pale purple mana thread connected to the ck ground, which had previously been nketed in white snow. Vassago felt himself being dragged somewhere, his vision blurred before he could even figure out what was going on, he blinked once, and the world around him had already changed. * There was nothing, absolutely nothing. Vassago looked down at him to see if he could see himself, and he could, he could only see himself and nothing except that as there was nothing, he looked around and tried to move, but... "You are here." A hoarse voice rang from everywhere. Vassago halted in his steps and looked around in horror. "Come here." The voice rang again, but this time Vassago was being dragged somewhere, everything seemed ck, and he couldn''t sense anything, not even mana, except his own body. WHOOSH He looked down and noticed dark purple patches which increased in numbers and size the more closer he got, he raised his head and saw two different structures. One was a massive ring-like circr, still ticking golden clock with five hands: the first disyed seconds, the second disyed minutes, the third disyed hours, the fourth disyed days, and the fifth disyed years, with the time disyed as [06s: 29m: 11h: 296d: 1669y]. It had two dark purple core-like giant spheres, one in the centre and the other at the right bottom from the centre, and it had many gears installed in it, with at least a hundred gears turning before a second passed. It had a diagonal cut on it, which was shed through the dark purple core-like giant spheres, though it seemed like it would fall apart any movement, but it was still ticking and if observed properly there were giant ciers holding the clock in ce and a single gear around the dark purple sphere in the middle had frozen which had stopped something, but Vassago didn''t know what and he got curious about it before ncing at the next structure. When he gazed at the next structure, his mind froze for a split second; it was all too familiar to him, but it still seemed entirely different, and even though it had turned to face a different direction, he had just been there, it was..... EARTH. Chapter 113 112. Madness. ?When he gazed at the next structure, his mind froze for a split second; it was all too familiar to him, but it still seemed entirely different, and even though it had turned to face a different direction, he had just been there, it was..... EARTH. It had many golden rings around it that spun in different directions; sometimes the earth would turn ck and then change to crimson red, light blue, break apart, finally fix itself, and the process would repeat itself. The rings around it were always turning and spinning slowly...or so it seemed, because when he looked closely, he could see a thinyer of golden hue forming around the earth for each respective ring, and those thinyers were just after images of the rings spinning at extreme speeds. "...." Vassago could only stare at the majestic structures in awe. The dark purple patches grewrger andrger until there was a giant dark purple ground that resembled an ind. There were many pure white weapons, broken, shattered, bent, twisted, cracked, and uneven weapons on the dark purple ground, many ever pierced through, many were simply thrown away, many were sticking out, among them there were some that stood out, a six-foot-long sword, a giant broad sword, a twin headed battle axe, and a hammer. There was a ck throne in the centre, and on top of it sat a white-haired man with an ominous grin; he literally sat on top of the throne, his left leg on the armrest of the throne. He crossed his right leg over his left, rested his right elbow on his right knee, and rested his head on his right fist as he waved his hand at Vassago, who was being dragged towards him. "Hallo." He greeted Vassago, who winced at ominous feeling he was getting. "This..... Is what you call a Devil''s Domain." He raised both of his arms in air and said with smirk on his face. "... I..." Vassago mumbled with a feeble voice. "Hm?" "..... Who... are... you?" Vassago asked fearfully. "Hm? You haven''t essed Vinny''s memories of the present?" He asked with a surprised expression and received a slight shake of head from Vassago. "Hahahaha! Then why did youe out?" heughed amusingly which resounded from everywhere and asked. "..... I..." Vassago wanted to answer but was cut short as soon as he started, which fuelled his rage by a notch. He was feeling too tired to even keep his eyes on the being in front of him, but he couldn''t lose his consciousness, not because he didn''t want to, he just couldn''t. "I will introduce myself then....." "I am Eshwar." Eshwar introduced himself. ''.....Eshwar....'' Vassago imprinted that name in his mind and let his pride and rage take over. *** "I am Eshwar." I introduced myself simply with my name. ''Vassago..... I must have a lucky, bad luck...'' ''Lucky because I am seeing and feeling everything I created, and bad luck because I can ''feel'' everything and because I created them, it... I don''t know why, but I feel kinda bad, for making them go through so many things instead of having a peaceful life... though I don''t feel that bad, they should learn how to survive in ''this'' kind of world among ''that'' kind of people.'' I justified myself, but it still left a bitter taste in my mouth because I can''t always be there for them because I want to live my life as well, but I won''t turn my back on them if they need my help because I am somewhat responsible for them. ''I''ll be with them for as long as they will be with me, and if they turn their back on me.... I''ll kill them without remorse the next second.'' ''This is no novel; even if I consider myself to be the creator of this world, people are still living their own lives without my intervention; thus, as long as I live, I will live the way I want.'' ? WHOOSH "Hm? Oh!" I stared at Vassago who face twisted in madness. "Yousted longer than I expected you to." I grinned and weed the fight with open arms. "Hm? His... He is not.....he didn''tpletely go mad?" I stared at Vassago and understood that he was still sane; even though he won''t be in control over his actions, he''ll still be able toprehend what''s going on, but... ''this....is how Vinny would have been at the end of the ''original story''...'' I realized that this...was the exact scene at the end of the original story that, aside from me, only Jiwoo is aware of. "Hahaha! Let''s see how the others who fought you when you were like this!!" I roared in delight. The same scene in which I poured my heart and soul into creating the ''Demon of ughter'' and the ''Hero Hunter,'' my favourite scene from the original story I decided to write... Oh, how fortunate I am! To experience and witness what I created right in front of me!! "You better not disappoint your maker!" I grinned from ear to ear with my eyes wide open to imprint the scene in my mind. "Rage was the strongest emotion I gave you!" "Even though you are just a part of me, I have done everything I could to improve you, everything until I was satisfied with myself; I have poured every ounce of my emotion, ''rage'' into yours, making it stronger and better than the ''me'' at that time! I poured my rage, which I had on even the smallest of things, into your rage.... Scratch that! ''Madness!'' I poured the anger I had over every little thing, all the anger I had contained, all the things I wanted to do in some situations, ''everything'' into you! Creating a ''Madness'' named ''The Demon of ughter!''" "I made you like ''me,'' I have imparted you with everything I would do in the situations you face, in the name of ''your talent,'' hahahahaha!!!" "Your better not disappoint me!" Chapter 114 113. Helix Zeal. ?"You better not disappoint me." Eshwar said. "Rrrrr..." Vassago growled. ''What have you been rambling about? Why would I want to meet your expectations in the first ce? I just let my rage take over, and as soon as it''s over, I hear, ''You better not disappoint me,'' what does that even mean?'' Vassago was perplexed at Eshwar''s choice of words. SWOOSH WHOOMMM BAM Vassagounched himself at Eshwar and swung down his right fist, which Eshwar avoided by back stepping. Vassago''s fist struck the ground and a crater formed, which he ignored and punched out at Eshwar with his left fist. WHOOSH THUD "What''re you doing?" Eshwar grabbed Vassago''s punch without dodging and red. "Grra!" Vassago ignored Eshwar and kicked his head with his left foot, creating a ''C'' shaped wind arc in the process. BAM Eshwar shielded his head with his right hand, clenched Vassago''s left leg with his right hand, lifted him above his head, and mmed him to the ground. BOOM "Grr..." Vassago was mmed to the ground face first, his twisted horns and nose hurting as he began to bleed. "Grr!" Vassago donkey kicked Eshwar in the chest with his right leg, lunged forward, turned to face Eshwar and lunged himself with all fours. "Like a rabid dog." Eshwar said with a smirk. SWOOSH Vassago grabbed a pure white sword that had pierced through the ground because it had left a mark on the ground, which even his fist strike, that had formed a crater at first, had healed; with that logic in mind, Vassago choose that sword so he could do some damage. SWISH Vertical, horizontal, diagonal and a stab, Vassago swung the sword in every way he could move it, connecting one sh with the other a performed a sword dance with fluid movement, though every sh was dodged before he swung again. SLASH (23x) His sword swings only left wind trails, doing no real damage to his opponent, who was staring at him with a sharp gaze. Vassago, who had lost control of his void, couldn''t use the void energy and had to rely on his demonic mana, which his ''existence'' had contained since the time he was born tens of thousands of years ago. He would have to use that or use his host''s mana who unfortunately had none, but his host, too, had a void filled with void energy to the brim..... ''He has void energy!!????'' Vassago realized just now. ''But.... How can a human have void energy? It''s not even mana; it is just a poison that would kill the user in an instant if used!! How? What?'' Vassago was dumbfounded at the discovery. "Grr..." Vassago let out a low growl in joy, involuntarily. "....looks like you figured out." Eshwar mumbled. ''If I gain control of the void, it will be beneficial to both my host and me, and I will be able to use my powers to their full potential! My host will grow stronger, and if things go well, he may even be a demon himself!!'' Vassago ignored Eshwar and began to move towards Vinny''s void magic. Vassago spread his scenes to every inch of Vinny''s body in search of the void, but instead discovered a neb-like core, the core at the center was filled with crimson red void energy which was surrounded by green hue, simr to a ''Death star.'' ''Everything around it is the aura of my host, while the crimson red is the void!'' Vassago stared in envy and awe at Vinny''s core. ''Let us focus and carefully draw out the void energy; if the seal is broken roughly, we could both die....'' Vassago considered before he began to tap into the void without disturbing the green aura that surrounded the core. "Grauuuuooo!!" The void energy slightly seeped out of the core and shook the green aura surrounding it; the green aura instantly merged into a raging bull and charged at Vassago''s consciousness. "Grra!" Vassago screamed in agony as Vinny''s consciousness returned stronger than ever. * In the training chamber. BOOOMMM BANG WHOOSH Vinny regained his consciousness, sat up, and looked around, finding himself in front of Eshwar, who was lying unconscious on the ground. Vinny''s entire body ached, many of his bones had cracked while others were broken, and his head ached as if it would split apart. BAM "Arg!? What...." Vinny mumbled. SNAP THUD Something snapped inside Vinny and he fell face t on the ground with a low ''thud.'' *** In the Devil''s Domain. Two figures stood in front of each other, one was a white-haired man and the other was a red-haired demon. Despite the fact that the other was the demon, the white-haired man looked more horrifying with a maddened grin and madness filled in his eyes. The white-haired man took pleasure while watching the demon struggle. * I stopped attacking him as soon as he realized that Vinny, too, had the same void-like energy which I simply named ''Helix zeal'' because it literally looked like the Helix neb. Vassago seemed to have taken damage mentally because of Vinny''s aura when trying to ess Vinny''s Helix zeal. "Haa...haaa...haaaa..." Vassago stopped screaming, leaned forward with his palms on his knees and was now gasping for air. BAM I kicked Vassago''s head because he had leaned forward and it seemed like he was asking for it, and this.... Vassago in front of me is real, I mean... This, this guy looks exactly like this.... Ah! Only Vassago will die if I kill him now. "Ai che, who am I even exining to? Haa goddammit!" I mumbled and scratched the top of my head. "Now, now, don''t be a wuss. You knew what would happen." I mocked Vassago. "COME ON! FIGHT!" I roared and dashed at Vassago. I appeared in front of him, grabbed his horns and pressed down on him, his knees buckled before he kneeled down, I clenched his horns and knee kicked him in his face. BAM (4x) "Gra!?" He groaned as he started to bleed from his nose and mouth. ''I seriously want to kill him right now, but...'' My thoughts were cut short when I felt a sharp pain cruise through my left leg. BAM "Uck?" I groaned in agony as I felt pain on my left calf bone. When I looked down, I saw that he had punched at my calf bone and was now tightly clenching it as his ws dug into my calf muscle. "Heh." I scoffed and knee kicked him again before jumping back to put some distance between us. "..... It seems like you are back...." I said while staring at Vassago wipe the blood around his mouth with a savage grin and madness filled in his eyes. "Round 2?" Chapter 115 114. Supporter. ?Sorry, but you''ll have fight a bit longer!'' Quinn thought, nced back at his desk, tapped the ring twice, it blinked bright red, he ignored it and ced his palm on the circr light blue glow, pressed it tightly, and circuits began to climb on his arm until his entire forearm was covered in circuits. "Change!" ZING CRA-CRACK (3x) Everything connected to the circuits was disassembling itself, and Quinn''s senses confirmed that everything was changing. Only after confirming that did he retract his arm; despite the fact that he retracted his arm, the circuits did not disappear, he knew it would continue to use his mana and simply let it do its job. WOOONNNGGGG For a brief moment, the entire academy glowed blue, and everyone in the vicinity was dragged into a vast free space, including Quinn. WHOOSH "Uck!?" "Whoa?" "What''s going on?" "Hm? What is this?" Everyone who was dragged to therge ground was stunned as they looked around in disbelief because they couldn''t find any traces of the academy they were all familiar with. SNAP "Huh?" Quinn felt something was amiss as therge ground they were summoned to had some missing structures which were covered by bright blue glow creating a circuit like patterns on the walls and the ceilings. "Haaa..." Quinn sighed in disbelief when he realised that the training chamber where Eshwar was wreaking havoc had been disconnected from the circuits, and he had believed that the circuits couldn''t ever be broken. The entire academy had turned into a maze, even the ground they were on had many paths open as if they were now at the heart of the maze, some structures were floating mid-air with firearms hung below them, the same firearms installed in the ''Portal area'' and are powerful enough to kill a Grade-7 monster or a Rank-D hero. (AN: ''Portal area'' mentioned in ch11: sector one.) SPLASH BLUBUBLUB "Oh!" A gasp escaped Quinn''s mouth as he realized the gravity of the situation when one of the enemy''s limbs reattached themselves to the main body, causing a chain reaction that caused every enemy who was damaged to heal themselves. ''This is bad! Those firearms are ineffective against ''Vampires,'' and if there is a ''ranked'' one, 75 percent of the forces will be ughtered before even engaging inbat! Not to mention the presence of cadets....'' Quinn''s mind raced as he tried to sort through the forces, separating the useful ones from the ''how to use'' ones, because he, as the ''Supporter,'' needed to use everyone to ensure the highest sess rates. ''We can only hold them back until we are confident that we can kill them, and we must ensure that no one bes ''nutrients'' to them...'' Quinn sighed inwardly at the situation and did not express his concerns in order not to lower their morale even further; if he did, they would give up hope and simply die. CLAP TAT-TAT (30x) A single p resounded the whole ground, every enemy that stood opposite to Quinn and his ''allies,'' abruptly moved back, bowed 90 degrees and made way to somebody, making Quinn''s allies tense in the process. TAT-TAT (5x) "Hello. Nice to meet you." A man with maroon hair walked forward, wearing a butler-like suit, and made a slight bow with one hand behind his back and the other on his chest. "I am ''Kensa Bishop.''" Kensa Bishop introduced himself, raised his head, and stared at Quinn. Kensa had dark crimson red eyes with vertical ck slits and delicate facial features, as if he had never been to the outside world. ''.... And we''re doomed. That''s a ranked vampire.'' Quinn thought while staring at Kensa with a calm gaze. ''I think I''ll have to use every trick up my sleeve.'' Quinn thought. Quinn Walker is a supporter ss hero. There are many reasons why the academy is safe despite the fact that Quinn is a supporter ss hero, and one of them is that he is a ''multi'' awakened hero, as he possesses multiple traits of different ''support'' sses. "Hmm.... I have only made contract with two elemental spirits, though not high ranked ones, I think they''ll be fine...." Quinn mumbled out loud in hopes of getting some of the morale back. "Audie. Aminah." Quinn mumbled. [Specialized Trait: Summoner [RANK-S] User can summon the contracted spiritual beings.[Contracted: Audie [Low ranked fire spirit] [Contracted: Aminah [Intermediate ranked, unique Strom spirit]]] Audie was a fire spirit while Aminah was unique ''storm'' spirit, their names were given by Eshwar who said those were sidekick-like names. WHOOSH Suddenly, elemental energies of fire, water, and wind moved closer to Quinn, who was staring at Kensa Bishop, who was instead ring at Quinn, orange and red coloured mana concentrated on his right and pale blue and pale green concentrated on his left before two adorable blobs of energy popped out. POP (2x) [Kii!] Audie jumped in joy as she moved towards Quinn''s right cheek and snuggled. [Wii!] Aminah quickly followed Audie''s cue and snuggled Quinn''s left cheek. ''.... I sometimes feel like there is a strange rivalry between them....'' Quinn thought. [Specialized Trait: Bard activated. [Heals ''allies'' by 10 percent of the portion of their attack, if within range.]] WHOOSH [Specialized Trait: Artificer activated. [Artificer: Increases physical attack damage by 2x.]] SHWOOSH "Mana Armour. Mana shield." Quinn mumbled and all of his ''allies'' who were in range were, ironically, over geared without much gears, the teachers who had fought with Quinn knew what to do and clenched their weapons before lunging towards their enemies without waiting for any specific orders. "Oh my, not even a greeting? What a pity." Kensa Bishop said, contrary to his words he was grinning from ear to ear. "Raze them." Bishop said with a wave of his hand. In an instant, half of Kensa''s army vanished from the sights of those who were not prepared, but those who were lunging towards them didn''t miss their movements and moved ordingly, some attacked the openings they had, some dodged, defended, while some deflected and counter attacked without giving their opponents a chance to put up a proper fight, but everything was futile as their opponents only needed a single cut on them to kill them. The vampires didn''t think twice about throwing themselves at their opponents if it meant they could scratch them hard enough to make them bleed with just one shot. Their weaknesses were their hearts and their position, which could be changed if they trained long enough, and it was also something they were taught as soon as they joined ''The Graveyard.'' "Che!" Quinn clicked his tongue in annoyance and extended his left arm out signalling the initiation of the attack. ''I cannot do much except for giving them myplete support....'' Quinn thought with a nonchnt look on his face. ''.....but that was before.'' Quinn thought with a slight smirk on his face. Chapter 116 115. Supporter (2). ?''I cannot do much except for giving them myplete support....'' Quinn thought with a nonchnt look on his face. ''.....but that was before.'' Quinn thought with a slight smirk on his face. "Mana shield." He mumbled and an hexagonal cylinder materialized around his forearm which he used to punch at enemy in front of him. BAM A circr wind pressure formed from the impact which woke almost all of his allies who were dazed in fear, those who were fighting wore a savage grin at the sound and started to go all out. WHOOMM SHWOOSH BANG (5x) BAM (4x) Fire, wind and other attributed spells materialized andunched at the vampires, even though vampires couldn''t handle mana as long as there was blood they ''will'' win and a battlefield is the best ce for vampires which was proved the next minute. "Akaaa!!" A man''s groan was heard from Quinn''s right and he instantly understood the battle tide which they desperately held on had turned around. Every single life mattered in a battle against the vampires and now that the damage was done, it was only a matter of time before they got over powered. "Audie!" Quinn roared. Audie understood his thoughts and zoomed towards the man who screamed in agony, he had his right shoulder impaled, coughed out a mouthful of blood which was just flowing out from his mouth, it seemed like he tried to swallow back or hold back in his mouth, but he had failed to hold outpletely as his clothes were covered in blood, Audie arrived and circled around his head, he understood the gesture and stabbed his heart with the sword he was wielding with a salute and a small smile, Audie lit his body on fire instantly without hesitation. WHOOOOMMM "Gra..." THUMP The man slumped down lifelessly while fire burned more and more intensely by the second, Quinn could see what Audie saw could feel what she felt and was greatly saddened by it. He could feel Audie''s rage and pain as if it was his own, but he still held a slight smile on his face, because it was what he had to do, in order to win and ensure the highest survival rate of the ''maximum,'' he couldn''t help the fallen nor those couldn''t fight for their own survival. Even the cadets were trying to put up a fight, even when they knew that they would die, they were only summoned into the fighting ground just because the academy''s functions couldn''t discern who could be helpful and who could be a burden, its only task was to summon ''everyone'' ifmanded and it did its job wlessly. ''1 out of 200 is down and 12 out of 300 are down.'' Quinn assessed the damage by a single thought and he could feel four new figures rushing towards them, Quinn sent Aminah towards them to kill if enemy and found Jiwoo, Katline, Violet and Katharineing towards them. "I hope they have at least learnt a thing or two from Eshwar." Quinn mumbled with a slight smile. *** In the academy which had now turned into a maze. Four figures were rushing with extreme caution, popping their heads around many pathways one by one before choosing a route they think is the ideal one, four figures had their brows furrowed as they kept an eye out for everything. "Where the heck are we?" Jiwoo snarled while roaming in the maze, it had been about 5 minutes since he and Violet recovered, though around only half way because they rushed out of the training chamber as soon the academy started to shake violently and somehow there were recovery and strengthening potions in front of the training chamber. "As if we would know!" Violet snarled at him in irritation because that was twelfth time heined at those who were in the same situation as him. "No, I''m not asking you guys, can''t I at least vent out my frustration?" Jiwoo asked with his brows raised in disbelief. "No! Shut it and move it! We''re frustrated too and you are only making it worse!" Violet snarled at Jiwoo who shut his mouth and furrowed his brows deeper at her before turning his back at her with a scoff. "Keep your couples quarrel forter please, we need two smart heads who are almost strangling each others throats." Katharine said, making Katline giggle while Jiwoo and Violet blushed in embarrassment. "Th-that''s not it!!!" Violet roared suddenly because she had been single till now and her thoughts had instantly escted. "E-Exactly what she said!!" Jiwoo roared and pointed at Violet, which made it seem like he, too, was the same case. "..... If you''re done, a little help please, I need you to go to a certain location and you can bring Vinny Grover for extra force." Quinn''s voice sounded above their heads, they snapped their heads above and stared at greenish blue blob which was circling over them. "I don''t know where Vinny Grover is, I would appreciate it if you could call or text him and Eshwar asking for backup." Quinn said through the blob which zoomed out right after giving them the information about what they need to do. DING (4x) "Let''s hurry! Sir Walker sounded to be in a rush!" Katharine said and dashed back the way they entered because they had found the exit as soon as they walked out of the training chamber. "It''s this way." Jiwoo pointed at the opposite turn because Katharine had turned to go to the other way. "Eek! Ahem! Let''s go!" Katharine cleared her throat in embarrassment and dashed without looking back at the others because she knew they wouldugh the instant they meet her eyes. "I''ll text Vinny and Eshwar about it and send the location." Katline said and received a slight nod from the others. *** Behind the army of around three hundred, stood a feeble figure with imposing aura, his delicate facial features didn''t have hint of worry as he trimmed his nails and blew air on it to check if it was shaped properly. "Hmm~" Kensa Bishop hummed happily and raised his head back to nce at his target Queen. "It''s a pity~" Chapter 117 116. Support For The Supporter. ?"It''s a pity~" Kensa Bishop hummed contently and nodded his head. "If he was among us, he would have been a prominent figure who could instil fear just with his name..." He mumbled to himself and gazed at the battlefield. "Hmm~ I want to have a feast too...." He licked his lips while staring at his pawns, enjoying the frightened blood of human bodies before those bodies were lit up like candles, making it almost a perfect candle light dinner, if not for the screams. "Let''s watch it for a bit longer...." He mumbled with a wide ominous grin. He looked at the frontline, which was almost leading the entire battle; knowingly or unknowingly, they were standing in a zigzag pattern that would form if every next ''pawn'' in the chess board was moved by a single step. ''I guess, that''s why his majesty Azazel loves chess....'' Kensa Bishop thought. Quinn stood in the second line of their formation, supporting the others and fighting alongside them; if this continued, they would inevitably lose, which Kensa had no reservations about. He would love it if they put up a fight and that was it, he wouldn''t want anything else except his enjoyment as his victory was decided by the movement he set his foot around the academy and that wasn''t boundless because he never underestimated his opponents nor himself. Suddenly, his eyes met Quinn''s and he grinned, receiving a slight re in return. Quinn looked at his adversary and focused on them instead of Kensa, who giggled like a child and shook his head before ncing back at Quinn. A prism appeared in front of the hexagonal cylinder as he punched his opponent in the right bicep where the heart had moved, killing his tenth vampire. Kensa noticed something and furrowed his brows at Quinn to confirm his suspicion as Quinn dashed at his sides, killing the vampires who had broken through the frontline. ''How is he killing every vampire he fights, no, how is that even possible in the first ce!?'' How does he know the exact location of a vampire''s heart? And why is he fighting in such a clumsy manner if he is a Rank- S hero? Something is going on, but I''m not sure what.'' Kensa noticed and frowned. [Push forward.] Kensa ordered his pawns, telepathically. They rushed and jumped on the frontlines, causing them to take a step back and their formation to break apart, but Quinn... Grinned. "You''re toote." Quinn whispered under his breath, but Kensa could hear it clearly. Quinn abruptly took a step forward as those fighting on the frontlines back-stepped in unison, as if they had practised it hundreds of times before putting it into action. WHOOMM Quinn''s magic power exploded out of his body, creating magical ripples in the process, sending all nearby vampires and academic professors flying, but vampires contained a bit stronger damage because of the buffs Quinn casted with his magic power seemed to have recognized the professors as ''allies'' and did as little damage as possible. "Uck!" Quinn spat out a mouthful of blood and red at the vampires, keeping an eye on them in case they tried to control his blood. ''He.....seems vulnerable....'' Kensa thought before his gaze moved to Quinn''s blood on the ground and grinned. ''Lets see, what he has up his sleeve, his defeat has ready been decided and.....'' Kensa chuckled in amusement. "Hahaha, whatever you I will not be the one killing you anyway! The deal was that you''ll die by ''his'' hands and I get some amusing family drama!! Hahahaha!!" Kensa roared andughed hysterically. "!" Quinn flinched as soon as he heard ''family'' and smiled bitterly. "Ho! You seem to know what''s happening!! Hahaha! That''s even more fun!" Kensa Bishop saw Quinn flinch andughed as the ''Royal Blood'' which Kensa had consumed slowly began to climb up to his brain, which he didn''t notice because he was too engrossed with the situation unfolding. "..... This will be the first time I''m trying it in the middle of an actual battle...." Quinn mumbled. "Huh? What is it?" Kensa suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. "Zone." Quinn mumbled. *** "Zone." Quinn mumbled. BOOOMMM A ear deafening ''BOOM'' resounded throughout the area and everything shook as excruciating pain cruised through his body which made his face twist in grimace. ''How does Eshwar use this technique with a straight face....'' Quinn thought, even though he was aware of the answer, it always bothered him as to why Eshwar act like he was used to pain. Every time Quinn used this technique called ''Zone'' an excruciating amount of pain cruised through his body, there were times when he gave up on using that technique because of the amount of pain he experienced every time even though he was used to pain. He, as a supporter ss, was used to pain because if his party members died in battle, he, too, would perish if it weren''t for his experience in dealing with near-death situations and his stealth, which he learned through sweat, blood, and tears after his first near-death experience. He was almost proud of his pain resistance, which his body had naturally developed after being in many near-death situations, though Eshwar''s proved him wrong... He would always keep a straight face while using ''Zone'' when Quinn is sprawled on the ground in pain, and he would use it as many times as Quinn asked while learning the technique without a second thought, and every time he watched Eshwar use the technique with a nonchnt expression, Quinn would have a single thought, Why? I know he is used to pain, but..... Quinn would never finish that thought, despite the fact that he wanted to ask him to stop using such techniques, but he couldn''t bring himself to say so because every time tried to say that, Isha''s pleading face shed in his mind, making him realize that he was not worthy to say such things. He felt unworthy of all the care Eshwar showed him; he wanted such a caring person by his granddaughter''s side, even if it was just a fantasy-like thought; he wanted them to understand each other, slowly open up, and be with each other because a trust that is slowly built while walking on a thorny path together is difficult to break. "Oh! Old man, when did you learn this?" Quinn was startled out of his reverie by a cheerful man''s voice. Quinn turned to face the direction of the voice and was startled by the people present in front of him. "You!" Chapter 118 117. Support For The Supporter (2). ?"You guys!" Quinn eximed in disbelief as he started at the figures in front of him. Four figures emerged from the maze''s pathway on Quinn''s left. Quinn personally knew them as he had met them from time to time, and he was surprised that they decided to showed up and was relieved to see them. "Yo." Core Oliver greeted Quinn with a slight nod and a lollipop in her mouth, she had a deep frown on her face, but she looked cute rather than threatening. ''.... hasn''t grown....at all.'' Quinn thought looking at Core. "Good to see you again, Sir." Louie Robbins greeted Quinn. ''respectful as always....'' Quinn thought looking at Louie who had a warm smile on his face. "..... Tsk, you''re not dead yet." Arngrim clicked his tongue and looked way with an annoyed look. ''arrogant as always....'' Quinn sighed and shook his head. "Old man? When did you learn this?" Henry Hale asked while looking around in amazement. "You Eshwar." Quinn mumbled out involuntarily and made Core, Louie and Arngrim chuckle. "What was that supposed to be? An insult or apliment?" Henry asked with his brows furrowed at Quinn. "For now, an insult." Quinn said with a smile. "I hope you''re warm reunion is over." Kensa Bishop said with a nonchnt look on his face. "Wow, look at his face." Arngrim said as he walked towards Kensa, but was stopped by one of the vampires, he didn''t seem to mind as he continued to walk towards him, pushing back those who stood in his way and halted when he was a step away from Kensa. "It''s a pity." Arngrim curled his lips down as he mumbled. ''There is he goes again....'' Quinn shook his head with a smile. "What is?" Kensa frowned at Arngrim because he didn''t seem to like the human acting as if he owned the ce. "You got apetition." Arngrim ignored Kensa, walked back and said to Core. "Really?" Core furrowed her brows and squinted her eyes at Kensa Bishop who was seething in anger. "Hmm... I guess he won." Core mumbled and nodded her head in understanding, Louie, Henry and Arngrim chuckled while everybody else who were staring at them were bbergasted. "Yea, it''s a pity, if he was woman I would have gone on another round in the maze. Look, he has a face with delicate features as if he has never been outside just like you. Tsk, what a waste." Arngrim exined for the others while looking at Core and Kensa back and forth before sighing deeply in disappointment. "Pfft." Augh could be heard from the back corner, setting off a chain reaction in which all of Quinn''s allies began to chuckle lifting off the tense atmosphere while some of the vampires covered their mouths with their hands. "You! Basta*ds!" Kensa Bishop clenched his fists and gritted his teeth before releasing his killing intent, which made everyone gasp for air, including the vampires, with the exception of Core, Quinn, Louie, Arngrim, and Henry. * "Heh." Arngrim scoffed and dashed at the vampires after taking out a scythe from his subspace. ''Stupid basta*d, falling for such a small provocation,ughable for a ''Ranked'' vampire!'' Arngrim thought and started to swing his scythe. His scythe was 7 feet long with a horizontally curved de like a hook, the curved de was almost a metre long, dark red with several bumps on it that were lumps of meat from all those he had ughtered with his scythe. "Hap-!" Arngrim roared and danced around the battlefield while spinning the scythe around him, he swung his scythe so fast that he appeared to be in the middle of a transparent red blob. Red blob, because of all the blood stter he caused with his scythe, he turned five vampires into blooded meat lumps in an instant. "Aye! Leave some for us too!" When Arngrim heard Core''s voice from behind him, he turned to face them with a wide savage grin. "Firste, first served!" Arngrim said and dashed towards the army of vampires. "You cheater! You ran first!" Core yelled at Arngrim who shrugged it off and continued to ''ughter'' the vampires. To kill a vampire, their heart needs to be destroyed, but there is another simply way and that is to..... Turn them into minced meat. * "Arg! I''m going to kill him first!" Core said in frustration while Louie and Henry chuckled. "Well, let''s join the fun." Henry said as he leaned forward over Core''s shoulder with a slight smile. "Mmm~" Core hummed and stared at Henry from the corner of her eyes. "Aye! Kids are here! Don''t do anything inappropriate and there is a certain time for those things!" Louie karate chopped on their heads and said while shaking his head in disbelief. "Sir Walker, please send off everybody, they''ll simply die if they stay here." Louie said while staring at Quinn straight in the eye. "Yes please, no hindrance is needed." Core said after giving a quick peck on Henry''s lips. "Agreed." Henry said while chuckling at Core''s adorable actions. "Right." Quinn was hesitant after hearing Core''s choice of words, but he understood their point and agreed because they were a hindrance even for Quinn because he couldn''t fight properly while protecting them and the fewer the number, the higher their survival rate against the vampires appeared to be. "We''ll definitely survive." Louie assured, staring at Quinn ponder and snapped him out of his trance. "I''ll be back in a bit, I''ll cancel the zone and apply after I return." Quinn said and rushed back to his allies. [It doesn''t matter, does it?] Core said to Louie and Henry via telepathy. [He doesn''t know that we could just overpower it, so leave him be for now.] Henry replied as Louie nodded in agreement, Core, too, nodded her head in understanding. "Anyway, shall we have some fun? It''s been a while too." Henry said as he stretched his body. "It sure has." Louie said with a slight nod and took out only his double edged 4 foot long sword. "Hm? He has yet to reach the 20th body count, let''s go!" Core said while staring at Arngrim who was dodging and shing at everybody who go a bit too close. Many blood spikes protruded from the ground, as well as blood bullets, a blood cutter that looked like a wind de magic spell, blood rain, blood arrows, and blood spears, which were beingunched at Arngrim, who had a wide savage grin on his face as he dodged, shed at the so very vampire-like techniques, and killed some vampires while standing in the middle of their horde. "Hahaha!" Arngrim abruptlyughed maniacally. "Well, that''s ''The Psycho'' for you." Chapter 119 118. Berserker. ?"Well, that''s ''The Psycho'' for you." Louie mumbled. BOOM Louie charged at the vampires with the double-edged sword in his right hand, shed off their necks as soon as he appeared in front of five vampires, even though he knew he hadn''tpletely dealt with them, he was certainly weakening them, pushing their ''Blood regeneration'' to its utmost limit, so that his team would have an easier time dealing with them. His job as a ''Tanker'' against vampires felt pointless to him, so he was taught to ''Tank'' them by weakening them until they are desperate for blood, of course the one who taught was Eshwar, earning him the moniker ''Sensei,'' which only Louie uses. (AN: he calls Eshwar that in ch37: The Obituary Colosseum.) "Ho! Someone''s excited." Core mumbled with a giggle. "He sure is. Seems like he missed Eshwar a bit too much." Henry said and nodded his head in agreement. "Well, that applies to all of us." Core said with a smile and received a nod in reply. "Hahahaha!" Suddenly, aughter was heard and they shook their heads without even having the need to look at the source of the maniacalughter. "Let''s go, we''ll miss out on the fun." Henry said with a sigh which was soon reced by a wide savage grin with simrities to that of Eshwar''s. "Fufufu~" Core chuckled, teasingly. WHOOSH Two daggers appeared in Henry''s hands; they were the ones he had picked up just a few hours before; they were orange striped daggers, and with a single nce, one could tell how well they were made and be mesmerized enough topliment its maker''s craftsmanship. (AN: daggers from ch102: moving the pawns.) BOOM Henryunched himself at the vampires with a dagger in his hands and stabbed at the vampires who were reconnecting their heads to their bodies after Louie shed and moved forward, ignoring them because he did his job and it was their job now. SPLURT (5x) SPLASH The vampires hearts were pierced through with surgical precision, and as soon as those vampires hearts had stopped, their bodies turned bloody before sshing down on the ground. "Hm?" Henry instantly frowned and red at Kensa Bishop. ''This basta*d....'' A twisted grin appeared on Henry''s face as he girted his teeth. [I think they''ve brought ''puppets'' be careful.] Henry warned Core, Arngrim and Louie, telepathically. [Noted.] All three of them replied instantly in unison. "If Eshwar was here, it would have been over in an instant." Henry muttered. "Speaking of him, where''s that basta*d?" Arngrim suddenly spoke. "I don''t know" "knowing him" "he''ll be fine." Core, Louie and Henry said, respectively, in unison as they continued each other''s words. "Hm... We''ll let''s finish this before hees back." Arngrim nodded and grinned mischievously, Core, Louie, and Henry all returned the same mischievous grin and dashed in unison, despite the fact that they were right next to each other. Henry, Core, Arngrim, and Louie charged at them while 10 step distance next to each other, their surroundings blurred as their attention was drawn entirely to the vampires. [They''re out.] Louie mentioned as those who appeared to be a hindrance stepped out of the ground, following Quinn''s red blob. As soon as thest one stepped out, Louie confirmed to the others so that they could fight properly. Arngrim, Henry, and Core all grinned as they heard the good news, and Core''s weapons changed into a battle axe, which she swung down, vertically, with full force. BOOM A loud ''boom'' resounded throughout the ground, and an 8-foot-long, vertical crater formed as a result of her strike, ''killing'' two vampires and transforming 13 ''puppets'' into a, literal blood mass. Core used the axe''s swing force to do a front flip with the axe''s handle still in her hands and because of her petite body, her feetnded on the other edge of the axe head, which she quickly adjusted so that one foot is right behind the other, slightly bent down, and pushed down on the axe head. CRA-CRACK (3x) BOOM The axe dug through the ground and was released from the force she applied on the axe head, which was swung down again from her back, the axe created a perfect purple circle around her before she threw vertically after doing a front flip once again. SPLURT (16x) SPLASH (20x) The axe cut through everything in its path while spinning vertically, ''killing'' 8 vampires and creating a red blood puddle by ''destroying'' 20 vampire puppets in the process, she ignored the thrown axe and abruptly sidestepped towards Henry, who readily weed her with his daggers which he simply tossed in air before back-stepping, Core grabbed the daggers mid-air, clenched them tightly and continued to sh down the vampires while their eyes started to glow, Core''s eyes gleamed bright purple, Henry''s bright red, and Louie''s bright orange, while Arngrim''s eyes turnedpletely ck. "Strengthening, regeneration, recovery, haste, boost, minor barrier, energy burst." Quinn''s mumbling was heard from behind, and soon Core''s, Henry''s, Louie''s, and Arngrim''s bodies burst out with arge amount of mana of their respective aura or mana colours, which were purple, red, orange, and ck. "Ho? Looks like somebody is back in game." Henry muttered with a slight smirk. SPLURT (5x) WHOOSH SWISH (3x) Arngrim''s scythe appeared in front of Henry''s eyes after shing five vampires, spinning, Henry grabbed the scythe and swung around at the vampires, creating the same thin red hue around him just like Arngrim had done just a few minutes ago and started killing the vampires while destroying many vampire puppets in the process, but they were rising back up nonstop even though the strength behind them had decreased, and their numbers were a bit, just a teeny tiny bit, concerning. Louie tossed his sword to his left, which Arngrim grabbed and continued his ughter, while Louie crossed his arms in front of him and charged at the vampires. BOOM Louieunched himself at the vampires in a straight line, he instantly appeared in front an axe that was stuck on the wall with blood covering itpletely, he held the grip tightly with his right hand, turned to face the vampires and shed at them diagonally, spun using its force and swung the axe horizontally, which killed many vampires beforeunching a bright orange arc at them, their actions could judged as a cold blooded massacre, if the vampires didn''t simply regenerate as if nothing happened. "These basta*ds are getting a little annoying..." Louie mumbled with a cold smirk on his face. Abruptly, Henry, Arngrim and Core halted their ''fun'' stared at Louie cautiously with a awkward smile. "I-It-can''t be ri-right?" Core stuttered. "Y-You''re joking right?" Henry asked with as his lips twitched. "...." however, Louie didn''t reply as he red at the vampires, simply with a cold smirk. "B-Big Brother?" Arngrim stuttered and took a step back. "Berserker." Louie mumbled, instantly, Core, Henry, and Arngrim immediately opened their eyes wide open in shock and dashed back, turning their backs on the vampires without any unnecessary thoughts. "Sh*t!" Chapter 120 119. Berserker (2). ?"Sh*t!" Henry cursed at Kensa Bishop without looking back at him. BOOM ? All the blood around Louie shot up before raining back on them, Kensa Bishop still had the same nonchnt expression, but if you looked closely, you could see that he had taken a step back without even realizing it because of the sudden mana explosion that urred around Louie when he mumbled something. "Hehehehe, you weakling! You dare!" Louie roared suddenly before the blood rain around him got cleared. "Louie! I''m a bit disappointed, you''re always outside, hehehe, even then you are this weak." Louie cursed at himself as if somebody else took over his body. Louie''s body ''tanned'' in an instant, a red-ish orange me-like hue covered him head to toe, his face was twisted with a wide ominous grin as a bright red tattoo appeared on his face, it was shaped like a ''3'' on both sides, it moved down to his jawlines, covered his eyes, and finally formed a demon-like horns on his hair while he clenched the axe and red at everyone in the room with bright red sclera and a bright green iris with vertical ck slits, as if scanning everyone. "Hi-Hello! B-bi-big b-bro-brother." Arngrim greeted Louie with a awkward smile on his face. ''This basta*d! He took my chance!'' Core thought as she, too, stered a forced smile on her face and took a two steps forward before taking one long step back. "Hello? Big brother?" Core called out. "Oh my! Core! Hahaha!" Louie dashed at Core, ignoring Arngrim''s existence and lifted her up in the air before spinning her around as if she was a little kid. ''Guh! I forgot about because it''s been so long since he used berserker....'' Core thought with a dry chuckle. Louie''s specialized Trait ''Berserker'' brings out all feelings and make them violent by a notch, in simple terms he is a ''Red'' Louie Robbins. "Hahaha! Ah! You!" Louie abruptly halted spinning Core around, snapped his head to face Henry and red at him after putting Core back down. "Blergh~" Core puked because he abruptly came to a halt after spinning violently just a moment before, but she waspletely ignored by everyone. "I won''t give my daughter to you!" Louie said to Henry with a re while pointing his index finger at him. "Don''t worry, first you need to find a wife for that. And even if you had a ''daughter'' I wouldn''t marry a kid, especially a one like you." Henry shrugged his shoulders and scoffed at the red Louie. "You! I''ll kill y....." Louie was about to threaten Henry, but was cut short. "Though..." Henry abruptly said, and Louie frowned deeply before squinting his eyes at him; Henry realised he had his attention and continued. "I''ll push forward our marriage date if you kill that son of a bit*h." Henry said with a wide smirk and pointed at Kensa Bishop. "Ho! Deal!" Louie said without hesitation. ''Why....are they talking about marriage all of a sudden? No, when did we even fix a date for a marriage to ''push'' it forward?'' Core thought, she grabbed a water bottle from the subspace, goggled and spat out before drinking the water. [Are we marrying?] Core said to Henry, telepathically while giggling teasingly. [If you want, of course. Why not?] Henry replied instantly and shrugged his shoulders. "Huh?" Core stared at Henry in daze, as that thought had never crossed their minds ever. [Though, I won''t say it will be any different from how we''re now.] Henry continued with a smile on his face. "Ra!" Louie roared abruptly and dashed at the vampires. Core snapped out of her reverie due to Louie''s roar and stared at the vampires in daze for a split second before snapping back to reality and a beautiful smile appeared on her face. "We''ll discuss itter then." Henry, who was staring at her, couldn''t help but find her adorable as he chuckled and nodded his head as Core said with a smile and dashed at the vampires. "Well of course, we should, so let''s hurry up and finish this." Henry said and dashed, Arngrim, who was staring at them with a dumbfounded look on his face, shook his head, sighed, and shrugged his shoulders before dashing towards the vampires with a sword in his hand that was shifting back and forth from both of his hands. *** A maroon haired man with delicate facial features stood dazed while the army of vampires he brought had been reduced by half after those four people joined the battle, many ''vampires'' had turned into blooded meat lumps while the ''puppets'' he brought had lost almost half of their initial strength, even though their numbers could be considered overwhelming, they were just being ''ughtered'' as soon as they regenerated, lowering his strength even further. Though, it was like this before, it all started when a bulky man thought they were annoying. ''Wha? Wh-what? What is going on?'' Kensa Bishop thought. ''Where did that shield pop out from?'' Kensa Bishop thought while frowning. The tanned bulky man took out a shield out of nowhere, shoulder charged at the vampires with his shoulder covered by his shield, jumped back threw the shield at the vampires, it seemed like he wanted to cover their line of sight at first, the vampires thought the same and grabbed the shield, but it was not, the bulky man simply raised his right leg and kicked the shield strong enough to create a circle of wind pressure up on the impact. BOOM ''The vampires ex-exploded?'' Kensa thought and shuddered from the sight in front of him. The vampires behind the shield exploded on impact, the man ignored their deaths, grabbed the shield and spun with the shield in his right hand and an axe in his left, he leaned forward and threw the shield, which spun, hit the ground, bounced, and hit the vampires on their knees, breaking them as they bent backward and fell face first on the ground before the bulky man dashed towards them and stomped on their heads, he then picked back the shield while the vampires began to heal themselves, covered his right side, jumped up, andnded on the vampires with his shield covering him, the vampires'' bodies exploded from the impact, and a crater appeared beneath him. BAM "Hahahaha!" The ground shook as a result of the impact, but the bulky man simplyughed hysterically and continued his onught. Chapter 121 120. Training Dummies. ?"Hahahaha!" The bulky manughed out loud menacingly. ''The-this man is strong!'' Kensa Bishop thought and nced at the other guy with light blonde hair. He was mercilessly ughtering the vampires as if they were just another type of monsters that needed to be exterminated; he looked like a prince from a fantasy novel if not for his demon-like demeanour; his sclera and eyes had turnedpletely ck, and he was swinging a double-edged sword without pausing for a second as if he could see everything with his extrarge iris and pupil. "Hehehahaha!" He wasughing maniacally. He swung his sword as if he were swinging his scythe, which he had used just movements ago, they were tossing around their weapons before, but it seemed like because of the bulky man, they were not shifting their weapons anymore, but it didn''t matter because they were still massacring the vampires.... SWISH ''Ha, they switched again...'' Kensa Bishop thought while staring at them in awe. ''Petite woman'', ''Green head'' and ''Demon prince'' now had switched their weapons again, Scythe, Sword and Daggers respectively and the onught resumed again, around 160 of the vampires had died without putting up that much of a fight, the one who killed.... No, ughtered the most would be the bulky man even though he started second. (AN: petite woman- Core, green head- Henry, demon prince- Arngrim and Louie- the bulky man because character ''Kensa Bishop'' isn''t aware of their names.) While all of this was happening, target ''Queen'' or Quinn Walker and some of his ''allies'' who decided to stay behind and fight were staring at the onught in daze. Even Kensa was dazed by the sight in front of him; he had never expected a vampire to be killed because all it takes is a single cut on the victim''s body to kill them, but he had never expected humans to kill them before they could even get close to them; Kensa Bishop''s reason for bing an undead vampire was because he could grow stronger ''just'' by drinking blood and ''just'' by killing humans would suffice for everything he wanted, and he was right, but now he thought that there are some people he will never be able to kill because the scene in front of him was too gore. "Ha!" The bulky man roared as he began to spin while swinging his axe horizontally, and ten vampires were shredded without even having a chance to fight back. The bulky man''s roar, on the other hand, jolted Kensa Bishop out of his trance, causing him to furrow his brows and re at the four people. ''What am I even thinking!'' Kensa inwardly snorted and calmed down. [Trait: Blood Maniption activated.] [Trait: Blood Katana activated.] Kensa grabbed the katana as it materialized and rose from the ground, slowly raising it above his head and taking his time before swinging it down. "Tide of Blood." Kensa muttered and swung down his katana. *** "Tide of Blood." Kensa Bishop''s voice was heard, Quinn and his ''allies'' flinched at his voice and instinctively took a step back, but.... BOOM Louie abruptly changed his course andunched himself at Kensa Bishop with a shield and an axe in his hands and a wide grin on his face; there was no previous warmth on his face, Quinn was quite taken aback when he saw Louie like that and he began to wonder if it was the same person. Kensa Bishop simply stared at him and raised his left hand; at the same time, many bodies made of blood rose from the blood puddle they were standing in, and all of the bodies rushed and stacked themselves against Louie, forcing him to slow down ande to a halt. "...." Quinn and the others simply stared at Louie, except for Quinn, everyone else was staring at Louie with desperation in their eyes and were shivering slightly. "Graaa....!" Louie roared and tried to push them back so that they could obstruct Kensa''s movement, but it was futile. "Che." Louie clicked his tongue in annoyance and jumped back; Arngrim instantly appeared next to him and began shredding the bodies made of blood, but more rose and continued to stack. "Hap-!" Louie roared, leaned back slightly, and hurled the shield with full force, the shield tore through the air pressure and moved towards its target, Kensa Bishop. Kensa Bishop looked at the approaching shield apathetically and flipped his left half-raised arm, bodies made of blood climbed up on each other and shielded Kensa, who appeared to have lost interest in swinging down his katana and seemed to be waiting for what they would do next. Arngrim didn''t stop for a second and continued to onught the blood bodies; as soon as he turned ten of them into shreds, twenty more appeared, and it seemed like there was no end to them and rose infinity because the one who controls them didn''t seem even a little bit tired. "It''s no use...." Kensa muttered, nonchntly as he gazed at Louie and Arngrim who seemed like they were fighting with their all. "I, Kensa Bishop, am a Ranked Vampire and as long as I have even a bit of blood under control, you won''t be able to defeat me." Kensa Bishop continued. "Hm? You think we don''t know how a ranked vampire fights?" Arngrim asked with a smug grin on his face. "There are so many, training dummies here so we are enjoying ourselves so, wait for a bit." Arngrim muttered and continued to sh down the blood made bodies with a pair of orange striped daggers in his hands. "..." Kensa frowned at the words ''training dummies'' and red at Arngrim, releasing an unbearable amount of killing intent. Quinn''s ''allies'' knelt on the ground and gasped for air with their hands on their necks, from afar it appeared as if they were trying to choke themselves to death, but reality was different, they were unable to breathe as if oxygen around them had suddenly been turned off. "Look at them, clearing the vampires in a hurry so, that they can join us~" Arngrim muttered before raising his right hand and pointing his dagger over his shoulder at Core and Henry, who were hastening their onught. "Enough of your ys!" Kensa Bishop said and tightened his grip on the katana which he had raised above his head. "Tide of Blood." Kensa Bishop mumbled again and swung down his katana. WHOOSH CLUNK Chapter 122 121. Training Dummies (2). ?"Tide of Blood." Kensa Bishop mumbled again and swung down his katana. WHOOSH "Arise." From the path where Core and the others had walked out, a sweet woman''s cold and indifferent voice could be heard. CLUNK A ck shadowy creature appeared out of nowhere and blocked Kensa''s katana in the middle of the attack, bringing the attack to a halt. "....." Quinn jolted out of his trance when he heard the voice, his lips curled into a warm smile, but he still couldn''t do anything except stay away from the battlefield, he was a supporter who knew his limits very well, so he simply backed off and observed the fight because he had done what he would and because he knew he wouldn''t get the opportunity to show what he could. "Isha!" Core eximed with twinkling eyes and dashed at her, ignoring the vampires she was fighting with. "H-Hello, Miss Core." Isha greeted, awkwardly. "You''rete for the party! It''s almost over! See!" Core eximed excitedly, stood in front of Isha and said, before pointing a scythe twice her size at Henry, Arngrim, and Louie with a bright smile. ''How do they know each other? Did they meet?'' Quinn paused before turning to face Isha, whose nose was a little red and eyes were puffy; she appeared to have been crying beforeing here, and Quinn frowned deeply when she noticed her state. "Why..." Quinn wanted to ask her why she was crying and who had caused her to cry, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he shut it tightly as he felt something stuck in his throat and his heart clench tightly, then again.... ''You are not worthy!'' Those words shed through his mind, forcing him to press his lips tightly against each other while clenching his fist and turning his back on her, disgusted with himself. Isha, who witnessed his actions,ughed at him and turned her attention to the enemy in front of them. "Who is he?" Isha asked, pointing to Kensa Bishop, who was frowning deeply and ring at the enigmatic creature in front of him. *** An hour ago. BAM "...." Isha stared at her door which Eshwar had loudly shut after walking out. "Haa...." She slouched back on her bad with a deep sigh, she was not in the least bit worried because the emotion colours she saw in thest movement were orange with streaks of light orange and pink, indicating anxiety, confusion, and disbelief, respectively. She felt her vision blur as a tear rolled off and fell on her thigh; only then did she realize she was crying. "Huh? Why am I crying?" She wiped away the tears on her cheeks, but they didn''t stop and continued to tear up, so she began to wipe them away simultaneously. Many worst-case scenarios popped up in her mind, as did the solutions to those worst-case scenarios, hurting her even more at those thoughts, even though she knew nothing would happen and, knowing Eshwar, she knew he would return to her, but nheless.... It hurt. "Sniffle....." She leaned back on her bed, pulled her pillow closer, turned to her right and hugged her pillow, brought her knees closer together, curled and closed her eyes while crying. * BAM BOOOOMMMM "Hm?" She had slept while crying, involuntarily. A ear deafening ''BOOM'' woke her up, her eyes were still watery, but she ignored it and dashed at the window, and saw the academy which shot out a bright blue pir, she checked through her window and noticed that cadets and many other people were disappearing right in front of her eyes, she frowned and dashed out the door towards the academy. *** "Who is he?" Isha asked Core while pointing at the maroon haired man whose katana was blocked by her shadow summon. "Oh him! He is a ''TRAINING NPC'' he can spawn unlimited training dummies for practice, wanna join?" Core exined while smiling brightly. "NPC? The ones who appear in games?" Isha took Core''s words seriously and stared at the ''NPC'' with wide eyes. "Yeah, a ''game event'' is going on, c''mon let''s go!!" Core giggled and raised her hands in air before running towards the vampires, excitedly. ''Well.... Considering Eshwar''s story... or the story he told me in my previous life, and the ''game'' he created in the story is almost identical to this world, so the existence of a ''NPC'' is not that surprising, knowing what is toe...'' Isha thought. Isha had learned about Eshwar''s ''novels'' from him, as well as the existence of another person who knew about the story; recently, when her memories reappeared to her, she concluded that the world they were living in was far too simr to the story he had told her, but she had never cared about anything about it except Eshwar, of course. She didn''t have any positive emotions toward humans, though she still cared for some, so it didn''t matter much to her, she didn''t care how the story progressed and would ignore it if it didn''t involve Eshwar and was on the lookout for any methods to return to her previous world for revenge against certain people and gods, she would love to bring Eshwar along with her journey, but if he rejected it, she would just have to... Kidnap him. After seeing Eshwar''s previous reaction, she decided that she would talk to him about their past life and if he didn''t ept it, she would simply ''show'' him those memories; now that her divinity has awakened, she just needed to increase her ''army'' to regain her previous strength, but now that she had begun physical training, she could be stronger than her past, which is one of the reasons why she had pushed forward her ns to return. "Hm?" Isha looked around the crowd near Quinn and counted 13 people, but she could only feel the presence of 12 people. ''Who is that? I can''t even sense their presence....'' Isha furrowed her brows at the hooded figure, he/she was wearing a hooded cape, that person had no presence whatsoever, it was too suspicious to her, but because that person was standing next to Quinn, she decided to ignore it. ''Anyway....'' "Let''s train a bit." Chapter 123 122. Loss. ?"Let''s train a bit." Isha mumbled and dashed towards Core after pulling out the Ice Blood Katana from her inventory. Isha appeared next to Core and unsheathed her katana and shed, employing mana in it before shing horizontally, ck coloured mana slowly climbed to the tip of the katana and a ck arc was shot out after the sh waspleted. SLASH The ck arc passed through the necks of the remaining 20 vampires, which would have made it easier for Core and Henry to kill them, but the heads didn''t roll off, instead freezing in ce as their entire body slowly began to freeze while the remains of the ck arc began to devour the vampires starting from their neck. When Core and Henry noticed that the vampires'' necks had frozen, they halted their onught and stared at Isha and the vampires back and forth. "... Eshwar taught you that?" Core couldn''t hold back her curiosity and asked. "Mhm~" Isha nodded her head with a bright smile. ''He did.... But not in this life; if he asks after seeing this, it will be easier to talk to him; if he begins to ignore, I can simply kidnap him; now that I have awakened my divinity thanks to him, I will definitely kidnap him to at least test my strength.... Though I doubt he would offer any resistance.'' Isha inwardly thought and grinned. "Divine Pulse." Isha murmured, and golden ripples appeared from her feet, which she was certain would not be visible to beingscking divinity. ''I should change its colour after I gain a bit more control over it....'' Isha thought as she slightly furrowed her brows. "Tsk." Isha clicked her tongue in annoyance, when she still couldn''t find the hooded person''s life force. That person was a variable she kept an eye on; she was getting a very uneasy feeling from that person, simr to how she felt in front of ''him.'' ''A total of 18 life forces, excluding mine.....a vampire and his indefinite soldiers wouldn''t have any, of course, they''re called undead for a reason.'' Isha counted and snorted at herself, inwardly. ".... Should we kill that ''NPC'' or train?" Isha asked Core. "Pfft, what do you pfft, want to do?" Core asked while holding back herughter. "Well, if it was up to me, I''d rather train first and kill him after I don''t want to anymore." Isha answered with a straight face while Core and Henry where chuckling. "Pfft, hahaha, let''s do that then." Core said amid herughter. "Okay~" Isha said joyfully and walked towards the blood soldiers. "Che." The NPC clicked his tongue who knows why and red at the shadow solider that was blocking his katana every time he moved. "How annoying." He mumbled and nced at the crowd where Quinn and the others stood. "Hehe." He grinned at them, they instinctively took a step back, but.... SHING (5x) Blood spikes protruded from the NPC''s leg and moved towards the crowd in an instant, killing everyone except Quinn, Isha knew it before it even started, she just didn''t care, but Quinn, Core, Henry, Arngrim, and Louie didn''t notice it until it happened because Core and the others were focusing on the vampire soldiers while Quinn stood in a daze as it happened, and somehow the suspicious person was killed as well. SPLASH (12x) Their bodies fell on the blood puddle and within a matter of seconds, their bodies were devoid of blood, they had turned into ''mummies'' and their bodies turned pale green. ''That.... I wasn''t even able to sense that person even after I used my divinity, a simple blood spike killed him? No, no, something is wrong here.....'' Isha was thinking, but snapped out of her reverie when she heard the NPC speak. "Blood Sea." He mumbled. SPLASH (5x) All of the blood on the ground began to ripple before spinning around the NPC''s feet as if a whirlpool had formed out of nowhere; he raised and mmed his right leg to the ground, causing some of the blood to float in mid-air while snipping; slowly, all of the blood rose up, forming a massive vortex around the NPC. ''Like a domain...'' Isha thought while staring at the phenomenon take ce, if hepleted that technique everybody will be drawn into a domain where the NPC will be in control of, she knew that it will be hard toe out of it, but wasn''t in the least bit worried about it. "Hmm... Should we stop? Or go in?" Arngrim mumbled. "Aye, he is working so hard, it''ll be rude to refuse the invitation." Louie mumbled. "Correct." Core nodded in agreement. "Well, let''s go, it''s not like it''s first time or anything." Henry said. "You guys have been in a ''Iplete domain?''" Isha asked in surprise with her brows raised. "Of course...." Core replied and nced at Isha with a mischievous grin. ".... We experienced it because of ''Your Boyfriend.''" Core grinned from ear to ear while dancing her brows up and down. "Really? Mhmn~" Isha answered while keeping her best poker face, but her rosy cheeks gave her away. ''I''m still not used to the ''boyfriend'' thing even though I love him! That too, for two lives!!! Uuwaaa!'' Isha screamed inwardly while trying her best to hold back from flushing bright red. The vortex expanded into a massive blood sphere thatpletely engulfed the NPC, then burst outwardly and drew everybody... the remaining six into it. The floor had turned into blood, which rippled with each step they took, while everything else waspletely white; the end was not visible, but at the end both red and white touched, it was ominously beautiful to look at with only the rippling sounds; air bubbles appeared from beneath the blood sea, and slowly dead bodies floated up. ''Its still iplete....'' Isha thought and as if the ''iplete domain'' heard her..... CRA-CRACK (4x) Cracks appeared and a ck crack opened mid-air on the pure white space, a bright red moon shone behind the crack, it had many cracks on it from which it was bleeding bright red blood, which seeped out of the crack like a blood fall into the ''Iplete Domain'' known as ''Blood Sea'' created by the NPC. "Bloody recovery." The hoarse voice of NPC rang out from the front to Isha, but everyone else was looking in their own respective directions. ''Recovery!!!???'' SHING "Uck!!??" Quinn''s trembling voice filled with agony was heard from Isha''s right, she immediately snapped her head in Quinn''s direction and saw him with a hand impaling through his heart, Quinn was looking down at his heart and saw a hand piercing from behind, he simply stared at the hand before raising his head to stare at Isha with a slight smile on his face, when she saw him like that, a strange pang appeared on her heart and the entire world fell silent in front of her, gradually darkening even more; it had only recently gained some dull colours after meeting Eshwar, but that, too, had vanished and darkened even further with each passing second. "Quinnnnnn!!!" Louie roared in anguish, Isha looked at him with a straight face, Louie, Henry, Core, and Arngrim dashed towards Quinn without a care in the world while Isha couldn''t move while her mind imprinted that face, Quinn''s smiling face with blood flowing from his mouth was still in front of her eyes. Quinn''s body had already slumped down lifelessly on the blood sea, slowly blending with the floating bodies, and the hooded figure simply stood staring at Isha, nothing visible on him, he looked like one of her shadow soldiers. CRA-CRACK (4x) Another crack started to appear on Isha''s right with ten steps away from Quinn''s body, 8 fingers could be seen as the crack slowly being tore apart and a figure stood in the dark with white hair that shone brightly, bright orange iris with vertical ck slits shining violently while the entire body seemed ck, causing the mana in the air to screech. ".....Q-Quinn?" Chapter 124 123. News About The Constellations. ?"..... It seems like you are back...." I said while staring at Vassago wipe the blood around his mouth with a savage grin and madness filled in his eyes. "Round 2?" Vassago asked while grinning from ear to ear. I nced at him with a wide smirk and took a deep breath to calm down, remembering very thing I saw before I invited him into my domain, I don''t think the word ''Round 2'' would matter any longer because, thanks to him, I remembered my life a little too perfectly, which means no more entertainment and nonstop strength building. "Sorry dude, I''ll try my best to hold back from ying around too much from now on because I remembered my childishness all too well, so my tenacity to reach my goal has gotten a bit too strong...." I said with a wide smile. ''I''ll kill them all! I''ll kill those who made me go through everything!!'' I determined myself. My goal since the moment ''Earth'' from my past experienced all those things has been to kill those who are responsible for it. I don''t know what happened or why it happened, but those who were responsible will die by my hands, so the goal of be stronger to destroy everything. I''ve always believed in ''nature'' and ''bnce,'' so someone is to me for those to have been ruined; I''m not sure who, but I''m going to kill them. ''Kill them!'' My own voice appeared in my mind, which I certainly wasn''t expecting, but its rage was directed at something else, about which I am unsure of yet. ''Kill them? Sure!'' I asked and answered my own questions because anger rose from somewhere deep within me. ''I''m not sure what I''m angry about, but I do know that I don''t want them alive.'' I felt an unimaginable amount of rage towards somebody or something, I''m not sure what or who it was, but I wanted them dead. I know I sound like a hypocrite, when I was the one who created this world only to ruin it, but it doesn''t matter, I want the ones who are responsible to die, and if anyone from this world wants to fight me for making their world like this, I''ll wee it with open arms, but I''ll definitely kill them. "What''re you talking about?" Vassago frowned and red at me. His voice jolted me out of my reverie, and I simply stared at him for a brief moment before silence descended. "You, you seriously believe you can kill me?" I stared at Vassago dumbfounded. "....." Vassago didn''t reply, but his hesitation was enough for an answer. "I''ll remind you before you change your mind, we''re in ''my'' devil''s domain." I raised my arms in the air because my domain was something I was proud of, and it was certainly a sight to behold. "...." He girted his teeth and red at me. "Return." I said in amanding tone. "Or die." Ipleted. SHWISH I called out my shotgun and the Trishul, and millions of tiny ck threads shot out from my left palm from the hollow ring of ''machine parasite,''pletely covering my left arm, before a sinister shotgun materialised on my left palm, and I raised my left arm and rested the shotgun on my shoulder. SHING WHOOSH A golden Trishul materialized on my right, floating in mid-air; the trident''s head was shaped like ''(-l-)''. I raised my right arm slightly, and the trident began to spin violently while aimed at Vassago, a mini horizontal vortex formed around the Trishul, condensing the air around it as time passed. (AN: I don''t know how to show its shape properly so I tried to show an example. >_< )(I will upload an image in the paragraphments, there are two, but I liked the one which isn''t shaded, drew after a long time so only take a nce and imagine!) "I shall return, for now." Vassago muttered while ring at me. "Then return." I tilted my head and stared at him as if he was dumb. ''Why did you even answer? Why not just return? Is he dumb, or am I dumb? I would have definitely return without answering, am I rude?'' I asked myself. WHOOSH His figure instantly disappeared from my sight, as I already gave him my permission to return, he would have returned outside without any problem. "Haaa...." I sighed and turned to face the giant golden clock. ''It has started to move again..... it started back when I was reborn again, I just hope it doesn''t act up again.....'' I shook my head and dismissed those thoughts. "Ha, what am I even thinking? It is impossible for it to not act up." I scoffed at my stupid thought and nced at the earth which had many golden rings that were spinning around in their own respective directions. "Fffffuuu...." As anger rose from the depths of my being, I bit my lower lip and red at it before taking a deep breath to calm down, but I couldn''t control myself, raised my right hand at it and clenched my fist tightly in anger. CRA-CRACK (6x) BOOM The shattered into pieces, which floated in the ck space, but the golden rings remained intact and began to spin violently in the opposite direction before drawing in all the pieces and rebuilding it as if nothing had happened, before the rings began to spin normally again. "Che." I clicked my tongue in annoyance and turned by head to nce at the ck throne on the dark purple ground. "Hmm.... I guess nothing can be done yet, I can''t even use my full power!!" I grumbled in frustration and walked towards my throne. "Haa.... If I use my full power, I would definitely destroy this too...." I muttered and sat on my throne. ".... If I leave here, I would simply get more frustrated, what should I do...." I grumbled with glum expression. "Stats." I muttered in a dejected tone. ==== STATUS: MAX [ESHWAR FROST] Level: 7 (early ess) CLASS: MAGE RANK: S == STRENGTH: 3/10--> 6/10 (+18) [RANK- S] (NEW) CONSTITUTION: 4/10 (+18) [RANK- S] AGILITY: 5/10--> 8/10 (+18) [RANK- S] (NEW) PERCEPTION: 6/10 (+18) [RANK- S] ENDURANCE: 5/10 (+18) [RANK- AA] INTELLIGENCE: 4/10--> 6/10 (+18) [RANK- SSS] (NEW) ??? Energy: 10/10 (+18) [RANK- ???] WILL POWER: 9/10--> 5/10 (+18) [RANK- SSS] (NEW) DEXTERITY: 5/10--> 7/10 (+18) [RANK- AA] (NEW) == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ->Frost [RANK- ???]: User can control Frost [Mastered] [Skill: negative mana temperature control] ->Creator''s Domain [RANK- SSS]: User''s Domain can be altered [Mastered] [Skill: Space maniption] ->Machine Parasite [RANK- ???]: [Skill: Link.] [Skills locked.] -> ??? [RANK- ???] (Cursed) [Skill: Party, can locate party members (added party member can not be removed.)] == TRAITS: ->Good with hands [RANK- D] (NEW) : User''s skills which uses hands is enhanced [Mastered] [Dexterity increases by 12 percent] ->Hand to Handbat [RANK- C]: increasesbat sense [Mastered] [Good with hands has enhanced this trait by 10 percent] ->Human Hunter [RANK- ???] (NEW) : increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or human-type monsters [Mastered] [Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 113/120--> 198/200 to next stat increase)(NEW)] == SKILLS: ->Taboo (?) ->Pause (D) ->Release (B) == Private Skills: ->Control (?) ->Break (2 uses) [user can break anything user wishes to.] ->Author?? (?) ==== DING [The ck Dragon''s Fire: [Type: Attribute.] [Can be imbued into one Trait.]] [User has nowplete control over ''??? Energy.''] [MAGIC POWER stat has been reced by ''??? Energy.''] "Hmm... What should I do with this attribute." I mumbled while scratching my chin. "Meh, what''s there to think about? I''ll just add it to the trait I use the most." I muttered to myself and clicked on my specialized trait. [User has chosen trait [Frost [RANK- ???]]] [Fusing....] [New! Personalized Trait created.] [Personalized Trait: Frost Fire [???] created.] [User is the first to create a ''Personalized'' Trait!] ZZZT-ZZT [10,000 Achievement Points rewarded to the user.] "Huh? What is this?" I frowned at the strange system notifications. "This.... What is happening now??" I grumbled. "Che, hey! I am the one who created you, shouldn''t you keep me informed a bit ahead? What is going on?" I pointed at the system and grumbled in frustration and then it happened. As if the system heard my grumbling, many glitched system notifications popped up in front of my eyes. [Control activated.] [Author?? Activated.] ZZZT-ZZT [System influence increased by 10.] [NEW! Achievement Points added!] [Rewards will be given by the system when the userpletes the tasks assigned to them by their respective recipients.] [Countless Constetions are watching over the world ''Earth'' in search for a ''yer'' to give their blessings and gifts to the chosen ''yer,'' who shall be included in the ''Selection'' process.] [The chosen ''Demon King'' has gotten stronger over time, fight against the demons and the Constetion will be there to help.] [NEW! yer Shop has been added.] [Achievement Points can be used in the yer Shop.] [Gods and Goddesses have granted ''Lesser Blessings'' and gifts to the Heroes of ''Earth.''] [200 Achievement Points are gifted to the user.] [NEW! yer System initializing.....] [Current System influence: 67.] "What!!???" I opened my eyes wide in surprise. BOOM "Gods and Goddesses? Constetions? What yers? Blessings? What''s going on? And...." I jumped off my throne and stared at the system notifications in disbelief. WHOOOOMMM Chapter 125 124. [??? Energy.] ?WHOOOOMMM "Why am I feeling so angry?" I mumbled and stared at the golden coloured me that lit up the entire domain, everything was covered in golden me while its source was pitch ck whose intent was to kill, I could feel that intent was mine but didn''t know why it was released so abruptly. CRA-CRACK (7x) "Huh?" When I turned to face the source of the cracking sound, I discovered a new globe forming next to the earth, formed by the golden me that seemed to want to devour it whole. DOOB (AN: A muffled explosion.) BOOOOOMMMM A ear deafening ''BOOM'' rang out right after a muffled explosion, a single golden ripple shot out of the globe before it seeped back near it, creating a new giant golden ring around the new, which felt all too familiar to me. The was 50 timesrger than the earth, but it was strangely calm and spinning in its own direction, while the golden ring spun in its own. As I continued to stare at the new strangely familiar, my rage grew gradually until I couldn''t hold it in any longer and just wanted to destroy the in front of me. "Graaa!!!" I abruptly held my head and my consciousness was forcibly drawn down to where my mana core was present. I appeared in front my core, which was asrge as the new globe that formed in my domain; the mana core''s colour had changed to pale purple which was just a random mix of light blue, crimson red and ck colour before; I made them move behind each other so that they did''t block each other''s flow; never in my wildest dreams did I expect them to merge with each other, there were still small rotating lumps of light blue, crimson red and ck coloured mana while the rest had turned into pale purple. (AN: Simple child-like drawing in the paragraphments, I don''t like colouring so don''t..... Ahem, forget about the colouring and just imagine with that in mind. ¡Á_¡Á) (AN: mentioned in chapter 17: Rank-SS Dungeon (2)) ''Uck!?'' As a sudden unimaginable amount of excruciating pain pulsated from my sacrum, where the mana core is located, I closed my eyes THROB ''Guh!!'' Again, the core pulsated and started to pulsate like a excited heartbeat, sending jolts of excruciating pain all over my body; I wanted to see what was happening with my core, but I felt like my eyeballs would pop out if I open my eyes.... ''Graaa!!!'' I screamed in pain and my eyes shot wide open from the sudden pain, only then did I notice that the colours in my core were merging at an extremely fast rate, while the source of the golden me, ''The Pitch ck'' killing intent began to seep into my core, darkening it by the second, the pale purple mana core had now been transformed into a perfect purple coloured mana core which continued to darken. ''Aura, mana and ''demonic'' energy are merging together?'' A sudden thought urred to me, leaving me, the one who thought it, perplexed. In the ''novel'' they were impossible to merge.... Scratch that! It was not even possible to store them in the same core, as I had done; I could only do that because I had experience with maintaining different mana in my core back when I was in ''Earth,'' where I had four different forces in my core, Mana, Aura, Demonic Energy, and Dragon''s mana which I received from ''Frostine,'' though I could never use it because my body was not fitted for it..... ''Graaaaaa!!!!'' I screamed in agony, and if I hadn''t been in my consciousness, I would have screamed so loudly that my mouth corners would have been torn, as happened with one of my characters, ''Vinny Grover,'' when he lost his ''Wife Katline Glover'' right in front of his eyes. ''Gra....!'' I mind turned nk and I couldn''t even hear my own scream, as the core was suddenly lit in the golden me, a thinyer of ck coating around the core as the golden me flickered around but didn''t die down, instead it grew denser and denser, then suddenly... (AN: again a child-like drawing and a sketch in the paragraphments.) THUMP A threeyered pulse shot out from the core, golden, ck, and dark purple, which slowly merged as it cruised through my body, carrying an inhumane amount of pain with it, as it merged only golden and dark purple were seen, but the ck gave off its ''presence'' before dominating the others andpletely devouring the other colours, even though the ck colour devoured them, they, too, started to give off their ''presence'' before returning to normal, the mana core was nowpletely dark purple with a thinyer of ck covering it, while the core burned in golden me and threw my consciousness back to my domain. "Haa....haa...haaa..." I gasped for air while breathing from my mouth because it hurt a bit too much when I breathed through my nose. [User has taken perfect control over his ''??? Energy''] [Congrattions! User....] ZZZT-ZZT (5x) Real sparks shot out of the system window, which should have been impossible because the system cannot physically ''manifest'' anything, and inventory is simply a different type of magic that is simply in control of the system, which is a different case. ZZZT-ZZT (5x) It acted up again and calmed down after a bit before a glitched system notification popped up. [Congrattions! User is first existence that has gained control over the ''??? Energy ''] [User''s limitations has been broken by a another user.] ''Even the glitched system doesn''t know what energy that is?'' "Pfft, hahahahaha! Well I don''t think anybody would be willing to try what I did. Hahaha!" I held my stomach andughed out loud, ignoring the pain. "I know! Hahaha! I know what that energy is! I know how to use it!" I roared with crazedughter, and the pain gradually subsided, but I suddenly realised there was a w that couldn''t be changed, at least not yet. "..... I can''t use it..." my expression instantly turned gloomy when I realized the w. "..... I can''t use it anywhere as long as I''m on this...." I muttered and slouched my shoulders forward. Antino¨¹s!'' I suddenly remembered the existence of another which was mentioned by ''Kvasir'' the beast. (AN: character and Antino¨¹s mentioned in Ch: 49 and 50, Artificial Dungeon (6) and Antino¨¹s respectively.) DING Suddenly normal system notifications popped up. [Transcended Beings are looking at the user ''Eshwar'' in curiosity.] [''God who likes to y tricks'' is looking at the user in amazement.] [''Goddess who iszy'' is looking at the user in boredom.] [Many Transcended Beings are looking at user with wide eyes with a greedy smile.] [Many Gods and Goddesses are drooling over the gem that has yet to be found by the others.] "....Drooling?" Chapter 126 125. My Daughter? ?[Transcended Beings are looking at the user ''Eshwar'' in curiosity.] [''God who likes to y tricks'' is looking at the user in amazement.] [''Goddess who iszy'' is looking at the user in boredom.] [Many Transcended Beings are looking at user with wide eyes with a greedy smile.] [Many Gods and Goddesses are drooling over the gem that has yet to be found by the others.] "....Drooling?" I mumbled in disgust and disbelief. ''The system seems to be straight up dissing them(?)'' "Transcended Beings? Gods and Goddesses? Heh..." I shook my head in disapproval. "At least act like one and live up to your name or title, aye...." I mumbled with a disappointed look on my face. "God who likes to y tricks must be Loki, considered all the movies, novels and books I have read... Aren''t you being a bit too obvious?" I scratched my head and furrowed my brows at the system notification. [''One eyed God'' is ring at the user ''Eshwar'' hatefully.] "Hmm.... Sorry bro, don''t feel too bad." I scoffed at the notification and raised my hands in surrender, nonchntly. ''That''s ''Odin'' for you, hahaha.'' Iughed inwardly. "..... It''s a bit too obvious, isn''t it..." I muttered. ZZZT-ZZT (AN: ''ZZZT-ZZT'' shall be the cue for the glitched system window.) [God''s specific interest disy shall not be entertained- System.] "Huh?" I eximed in disbelief as I stared at the glitched system window. ''System is controlling the gods?'' DING [Many Gods and Goddesses are showing interest in the user ''Eshwar.''] ZZZT-ZZT [Only a ''recipient'' can be shown specific interest or favour- System.] [Many Gods and Goddesses are showing dissatisfaction with the system.] [Many Gods and Goddesses are disappointed with the system functions and ''rules.''] DING [Many Gods and Goddesses have chosen the user ''Eshwar'' to be their recipient.] ZZZT-ZZT [Many Gods and Goddesses think that the user ''Eshwar'' may have a chance in defeating the ''Fallen'' if nurtured properly.] ''Pfft! I''m getting all the information they''re thinking about!! What kind of cheat is this?'' I mumbled in excitement, inwardly. "It doesn''t matter now...." I muttered and sat back on my throne. ZZZT-ZZT [Because too many offers cannot be disyed, Achievement Points can be awarded to demonstrate specific interest, and Gifts can be used to provide the user with the opportunity to be a ''recipient.'' -System.] Another glitched system notification popped up, revealing the information about how they could offer and how a recipient would be chosen from now on, from which I learned one thing... I''ll be racking Achievement Points. "yer Shop." I called out. ZZZT-ZZT [yer Shop has yet to be initiated.....] [''yer'' system has yet to be initiated.....] "Hmm.... So it''ll take time, but who knows how long...." I muttered and as if the system was responding to me, another glitched window popped up. ZZZT-ZZT [Current System influence: 67.] [''yer'' System Initialization requirements are: System influence 100.] [Estimated time: 2Y: 211D: 23H: 35S.] [If the ''Quest'' ispleted the condition shall be fulfilled automatically, time remaining until thepletion of the Quest: 3Y: 201D: 23H: 35S.] [Variables are can be expected.] "You mean there are conditions and variables, variables being you abruptly increasing your influence, and conditions being thepletion of the ''Quest'' or your influence reaching a 100," I muttered as I looked at the system notifications with interest after understanding its conditions and requirements. ZZZT-ZZT [It is correct.] "Ho! You canmunicate with me? Isn''t it great." I mumbled. ZZZT-ZZT [System has tinkered with the user''s private skill: Control.] [User can nowmunicate with the system discretely.] "Hmm." I realized why the system did that because I noticed that the Gods and Goddesses could hear me speak when I simply mumbled. [Skill: Control activated.] [Hmm.. can you hear me now?] I asked the system. I didn''t know how to talk at first, but I tried to use it like my skill ''Space maniption,'' which allows me tomunicate telepathically. Oh, I created a ''Main Link'' device with the help of Core, Louie, and Arngrim, it is a device that can be activated at any time and is imprinted with ''our'' mana signature, so all of us can activate it at any time and any ce to contact each other, its range would be the entire earth, and it warns everyone when the other''s life force drops to a certain extent. Because the others didn''t have the space maniption skill nor space type attribute, I thought it would be a great if we canmunicate with each other whenever and anywhere and I got the idea for the device ''Main Link'' after learning how to use the skill space maniption, and after a long discussion with the others, we discovered many things in the process, including [Blink]. ZZZT-ZZT [....] [You, do you know who I am?] I asked to confirm it once. [Y-Yes! You are my ''Father!''] I heard a cute girl''s voice, a bit robotic, but it was cute indeed. [Ack! F-Father?] I dramatically held my heart and clenched it with hurt expression. [S-should I not call you that?] A quivering voice sounded making me feel like a jerk, though I was initially surprised because I didn''t think I wouldmunicate directly, I just thought I would speak while I get a response from the glitched system. [N-no, no, I am indeed your creator, so there should be no problem with being called a father.] I replied with a smile. ''I think?'' I questioned inwardly because I didn''t have the heart to hear that hurtful voice. [Hahaha, thank you father.] The voice replied with a joyful giggle, I felt something warm near my heart. ''I guess, I am a father now.'' [So you are my daughter? A kid''s voice can be deceiving, so I want a direct answer.] I asked with a excuse. [Yes, I''m your daughter.] ''My daughter'' replied joyfully. ''!'' [Are you hurt? Are you alright? Did something happen?] I asked because ''the system'' had been acting strangely from the beginning, but now that I know ''she'' is a child, I began panicking without regard for the reasons she wanted the ''living'' dead. [Hehe, no, I''m not hurt and everything is fine... I wish I could say that, but due to ''something'' or ''somebody''s'' intervention, everything is going off the tracks, and somebody forcibly gained ess to the system, I don''t know what their goals are, but they are opening new portals to earth, here.] She answered, and many questions shed through my mind, but I need to confirm one thing first..... [Do you know who I am?] Chapter 127 126. Eunomia. ?[Do you know who I am?] I asked again. I need to know if she knows about me or not, and if she does, how much does she know? She knows I am her creator... her father, which means she may know everything about me, or she may only know about my life after I was reborn, which isn''t much..... [Yes, you are my father.] She answered firmly. [Hahaha, yes, yes, I am your father, but that''s not what I''m asking, I am asking if you know about me. Anything else...] I asked, chuckling with my right hand near my mouth, but was cut off by ''my daughter.'' [If you are referring to the ''novel,'' then yes. I don''t know much about father, but I do know about the novel; you created me for that purpose, didn''t you?] She asked. [....] I fell silent and thought about how lonely it must have been for her; she has all the knowledge and power but no one looks at her even though she is protecting everyone from the shadows, no one to praise her for doing such an amazing job and always doing her best without anyone caring about... This is why I dislike ''regressions,'' ''time travel,'' and any other time-rted phenomena; I even despise myself when I think about it; regression may appear to be an opportunity to everyone at first, but it is actually a curse in which you cannot die. No one will know about you, what you did, why you did it, nothing will ever be known, even if you share your experiences and burden, you will only be seen as a madman and if any body believed you, you better run because only a madman will ever believe that kind of bullsh*t! Do you seriously believe that you will be happy if you regress, change your past, and live a happy life? What if, just what if, the regression kept happening? What guarantee do you have that you will not regress after living a happy life and dying? Why? Do you consider yourself fortunate to have the opportunity to regress? Do you think you can regress without consequences? Regression is a curse that leads to a ''bad ending''; there will never be a good ending; the result of regression is ''bad luck,'' which will never leave you and will be imprinted on your soul! Which will not leave you alone even if you forget! Not that you can forget your life in the first ce; Regressors can never forget their past lives; instead, they simply rewrite them with the changes they made in their presence. Why? Because they are unable to forget. Forgetting is as much of a blessing as it is as much of a curse to the humans, our bodies subconsciously push back memories that could potentially harm us, so that even though they are still in the back of our minds, we cannot remember them; the ability to forget would be sacrificed, if you want to have a chance of bing a Regressor. ''Regressions....'' I muttered in my mind. [That''s is there are too many problems which are making the novel''s story go off track.] While I was questioning myself, my daughter said in a sweet dejected voice that jolted me out of my trance. [..... Man... ''Flip'' the novel! Don''t worry about the novel and all, just take care of yourself, though I don''t know if I''ll ever meet you directly, I want you to be healthy and happy.] [And.... You''re doing a great job.] When I said those words, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my chest; even though I was trying to cheer her up, I felt refreshed as my goal became a bit more clearer. ''Snowkes.'' I muttered in my mind and held out my right hand, palm up, and a snowke materialized on my palm. A ck 12 branched snowke materialized on my palm, it was covered in ck me like the ck me that covered the ''Knight of the ck me.'' I flicked the ck snowke with my thumb, and it rotated while floating above my palm.... (AN: Image!) (AN: ''Knight of the ck me'' from ch104: going all out (2)) "A Frost me, aye.... Not bad. It is stronger than I expected, the branches have be denser than before....." I muttered out loud. "I wonder what I would look like in my ''Frost Devil'' form." I muttered and grinned, excitedly. [Now, let''s move on the important topics.] I said to my daughter. [Yes?] I heard a cute voice and imagined a television headed figure tilt its head in confusion, adorably. [I can''t call you ''my daughter'' for everything... I mean, I can, but I need your name.] Even I wasn''t sure what I was saying, but I decided to ask her name a bit more directly. [I don''t have one, you didn''t give me one.] I felt like she was pouting right now and I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. [Eunomia, how is Eunomia? She is the Goddess ofw and her name means ''Order'' and you certainly are the ''Order'' of everything, aren''t you?] I smiled brightly and asked teasingly. [Hehe, it is good, though it''s somebody else''s name, it''ll do for now, hehehe.] Eunomia giggled joyously. [Ok then, you will be Eunomia, from now on.] [I want to ask you another question, are you the system or is the system just a part of you....] I asked. [Hm? Don''t you already know that?] She asked. [I know, I made the system just a part of you, but the novel is no more.....] I mumbled and realized something. ''Aren''t I the one making everything about the ''novel'' go off tracks? No, even if I''m not the one, I still think that I am responsible.... No, I definitely bear the majority of the responsibility for the novel''s story going off track...'' "I may be the Viin of my own novel...." I muttered under my breath. [Yes, you are correct, the ''System'' is just a part of me and that''s exactly why I am having trouble tracking back the culprit.] Eunomia replied and confirmed. "Hmmm..." I nodded my head in understanding. [Why are gods and goddesses getting involved in the matters between you and the earth?] I asked directly. [Wait, how do know that the gods and goddesses are involved with me too?] She asked enthusiastically. ''Aye, Frist, shouldn''t you be scared if your secret is revealed or am I just a coward to think so? Second, doesn''t she know about the glitched system?'' I questioned, inwardly. [I''ll answer itter because it is not that important, right now and I created you, do you think you can hide anything from me?] I gave a half-a*sed excuse and asked. [Hehehe, as expected from father, you know everything...] She giggled and said, but her voice got lower at the end. [..... What''s wrong?] [Haaa.... Gods and Goddesses are here to help the humans and we have made a deal.] Chapter 128 127. Father And Daughter鈥檚 Talk. ?[Haaa.... Gods and Goddesses are here to help the humans and we have made a deal.] Eunomia sighed. ''Hahaha, she knows how to sigh, how cute.... Ah, right! Ahem, she knows everything...'' I found her sigh with a child-like voice so adorable that I forgot that she has the knowledge about everything. ''Wait!'' [A deal? About what?] I frowned for a split second and remembered my thoughts from just a second ago. ''She is smart and can even be called the Goddess of Knowledge.... If I could, I''d give her that title.'' [About the ''Fallen.'' Do you know about it?] She asked. [Yes, but I don''t know what these ''Fallen'' are...] [Gods.] She replied firmly. "Huh? Is she mad?" I muttered out loud. [Why? What''s wrong?] I asked, perplexed. [Hahahaha! No, no. The ''Fallen'' are the ''Gods.''] sheughed and said. [Huh? Oh? Huuuh?] I tilted my head after understanding what she meant and tilted to the other side when I realized that we were talking about the ''Gods'' that are now called as ''Fallens'' for reasons only they know. [Pfft, Hahahahaha!] She continued tough for a minute and spoke only after she calmed down. [.....] [..... Ahem, there are some Gods who have fallen from grace and are wandering around the world that all the Gods and Goddesses are looking over from the start....] She said. [Hmm..... Why does that matter then? If they are fallen then, their powers should also be gone, so why are they worrying over something like this?] I furrowed my brows and asked. [Because the ''Fallen'' still have all of their powers! They are still as powerful as they were in the ''Higher realm.''] she replied in a stern tone. [And? They can just kill them if they so bothered by it.] I replied nonchntly. [....Divine beings cannot use their full strength against each other in the ''Lesser realms'' because there are ''rules'' binding them, and these ''Fallen'' have somehow broken the rules and descended while still retaining all of their powers.... There are some who don''t even know why and how they fell from grace.] She replied with a sigh. [Aye, why are you sighing?] I felt like I said something wrong and decided to ask it. [..... We''re talking about ''Divine Beings,'' Papa! You are say to kill them, so nonchntly that I was taken aback by a bit.] She replied and honestly I couldn''t care less, but ''Papa'' had a nice ring to it. [Ahem, ahem, your papa is that amazing, don''t worry about it and continue.] I boasted with my chest puffed up in pride. [Hehe. Yes, the Gods and Goddesses intend to be human''s ''Beneficiary'' by making them their ''Recipients.'' Both humans and Gods will benefit from it; humans will be stronger with the support of their ''Beneficiary,'' while Gods will be stronger as their ''Recipients''plete tasks assigned to them by me.] She answered. [How do this Gods get stronger?] I pondered for a bit before asking. [By Achievement Points, of course.] She answered as if it was obvious. ''Then the Achievement Points are important...'' [So if the ''Recipients''plete the tasks, their ''Beneficiary,'' too, will receive Achievement Points?] I asked. [No, if a human bes a ''Recipient'' their Achievement Points are given to their ''Beneficiary'' who in turn uses them to bestow ''Blessing'' and ''Gifts'' up on them.] she replied. [Hmm...] I got the general idea of how the things will be from now on. [Ah right! What is this ''Selection'' process?] I suddenly remembered about the selection and killing the ''living.'' [Yes, it is about the deal. I''ll exin the deal first, so papa will understand it easily.] She replied. [Ummhm~] I nodded my head, enjoying the feeling of being called ''papa.'' (AN: a chibi sketch.) [The deal is that the Gods and Goddesses will ''nurture'' their ''Recipient''s'' growth to ensure that they will help ''them'' in defeating the ''Fallen'' through me because, as I said before, they cannot interfere with the ''Lesser Beings,'' so the ''Selection'' process is about choosing ''Recipients'' to bring them to fight the ''Fallen'' in the other world....] She was continuing, but was cut short by me. ''I guess she is my daughter for a reason, I can confirm that she is my daughter just from her naming sense...'' [Humans cannot be strong enough to defeat the ''Fallen.''] I said firmly, as bad as it sounds, as long as they are the ''lesser'' beings, they can never defeat a ''higher'' being, let alone a transcended one. [This is where the ''yer'' systemes into y! Because you created me with all of the knowledge of the ''Akashic Records''bined with all of your knowledge and the ability to think and grow, I have created a ''yer'' system. Though the idea came from your knowledge, I was able to make it a reality.] She answered enthusiastically. [To initialize that system, you need to gain influence over Earth.] Ipleted her words. [Exactly! Ahem, as I was saying, they will help the humans to grow stronger and to hunt down the ''Fallen''....] She said but I interrupted again. [What will happen to ''Fallen'' if they are killed?] I asked. [They cannot be ''killed'' however they will ascend again. Because their ''souls'' cannot be destroyed, we don''t know if they''ll still retain their powers after they ascend because even one of them are yet to be ''killed.''] she answered. ''There are more than one....'' [The deal is that I will assist them in interfering with ''Earth,'' from which they will select and nurture their ''Recipient,'' while they will assist me in finding the ''culprit,'' who appears to be designated in the world they''re looking over, they will report to me about even a single clue they find about this culprit, and they will bring him/her to me if they are found, without harming them of course. I''ll get the information I need while also strengthening the system''s security and making it impossible for anyone to ever try to mess with me again.] She replied in cute, slightly robotic, voice. [And if these Gods and Goddesses betray you?] I asked with amused smile. [Of course, I''ll kill them, your daughter doesn''t even need to lift a finger to do so, muhahahaha.] She tried tough hysterically, but her cute voice couldn''t do so. [Hahaha, as expected of my daughter.... Uck?] As a sudden pang appeared near my brain, I groaned. [Oh! You must have used too much mana,municating with me....] She answered in a dejected tone. [Oh! Is that so.... Then I''ll just call you after recovering a bit.] I smiled and said. [No, you cannot contact me like that....] She said, I furrowed my brows because we were definitely talking normally right now. [.... You have to be in a dungeon or in your domain to contact me or else you cannot speak with me....] She continued. [.... Is that so.... Don''t worry, it only happened because I used my mana before contacting you so, I should be able talk longer the next time.] I said while holding in the mind splitting pain. [Ok...] She replied with a slightly better tone. [See youter.] I said and disconnected the link. "Uck! Haa... Haa... Haaa..." I gasped for air and slumped back on the throne. ''Shit! Fight against Vassago and being in the Domain for so long seems to taken a bigger toll on me than I expected.'' I massaged my forehead with my thumb and index finger before deactivating my domain. I returned back to the training chamber and sensed that I was alone without anything covering my upper body. "Graaa!!??" Chapter 129 128. ??? (Cursed) Activating..... ?"Graa!!!???" I roared, clenched my head and screamed in anguish. I could feel my eyes burn, slowly my vision faded as if something was covering my vision without my consent, in an instant my vision turned ck and I couldn''t even do anything because my mana was almost depleted and it hurt when I tried to circte it. WHOOOSH Again, my consciousness was dragged somewhere forcibly, and it didn''t take a long time for me to arrive in pitch ck space where I neither feltfortable not did I feel ufortable... I was just...there. [??? (Cursed) activating...] [ERROR!] *** ''What''s going on?'' I looked around.... Or so I tried but I couldn''t move my body even by an inch. ''!'' ''I'' slowly opened my eyes and stared at humans being eaten, ripped apart, stomped on, and pierced through, then ''my'' eyes met the monster''s, I grinned and braced myself for a fight, and I felt ''my'' legs shiver in fear(?)... ''What?'' I muttered in my mind. ''My'' body shivered in fear, and I was terrified for my life, which was feeling that had been numbed long-long ago. My body simply continued to shiver at the sight of a mere goblin closing in with a grin on his face, my whole body trembled as ''I'' began to sweat profusely, perhaps because of the amount of fear ''I'' was feeling, my body moved, jerked back before beginning to crawl back in fear. SLIT "Urg!?" ''I'' groaned in pain and noticed that a wide vertical cut appeared on right forearm because of a broken rock''s sharp end which was poking out in my direction. I ignored the pain because the fear I was experiencing was more overwhelming, grabbed the rock, and pointed at the goblin with shivering hands, but the goblin had begun to dash at me while human blood poured out from its mouth. It held the dagger like a sword and dashed at me while roaring, and in fear, I pushed the rock out at the goblin, and because of the speed it was moving at, it couldn''t dodge and died with the rock piercing its neck. [Awakening condition met...] [Initializing ''System'' ....] THROB *** ''My'' head throbbed and my consciousness was suddenly dragged back out from ''my'' body. ''What''s going on? Where is this? Where was I just a second ago? I don''t have any recollection of being that pathetic in front a mere goblin, but... Why did it feel so vivid?'' I tried to figure out what was going on, but I was dragged back to the pitch-ck space before I could think of anything else. I began to ponder what had just happened after I returned to the ck space, until.... DING [Trait: ??? (Cursed) Activated.] [Party member ''Quinn Walker'' has died.] [??? (Cursed) activating....] "Wha....? Q-Quinn d-d-died?" I stared at the system notification window in disbelief. As soon as I spoke those words I felt my heart throb for a split second before calming down, but my head turned nk. Magic power shot up from the depths of my very being as if a dam as been broken, I didn''t know where the magic power wasing from, but I weed it as it cruised through my entire body, I wasn''t thinking straight, now I just wanted to see Quinn, I pushed my fingers into something and tore it apart, I didn''t even know where I was just a moment ago, what was happening and what I was doing... I just wanted to see Quinn and..... I saw him. He was there..ying lifeless in the hands of Louie, who appeared to have used his trait berserker, weeping at the sight of the dead..... Quinn. Henry and Arngrim were standing behind Louie with tears welled up in their eyes while Core was bawling her eyes out. ".....huuu...." I breathed out sharply. "... Q-Quinn?" I called out. SPLASH (8x) Before I even realized, I was in front of Quinn''s cold body, I knelt as my eyes blurred, I blinked and cleared my vision as tears started to stream out, I reached out my arm to touch Quinn''s face, I don''t know why I was doing it, but my body moved on its own and soon my palm appeared near Quinn''s right cheek, I touched it and felt the cold sensation on my fingertips which seemed to climb up to my whole ''being,'' my consciousness started to numb, but I desperately held on. "Ah...." I weird sound escaped my mouth as I shut my eyes close tightly and breathed in sharply. "Haa..." I sigh escaped my mouth as my vision continued to blur without my consent, I retracted my arm back and started to search. I had no idea what I was searching for or who I was searching for, but I desperately needed it... My gaze was drawn to Isha, who was staring at Quinn''s body with a lost expression on her face. Before I realised Isha''s face was right in front of mine, I reached out my arms and pulled her close for a hug, hoping it wouldfort her a little. I had no idea what I was doing, but... I just did. I don''t know why, but Isha seemed small as her head touched my chest, I then started the search again while hugging her slightly stronger because I..... needed to feel something or I knew I would do the same thing I did before I was reborn.... "Haa..." I felt Isha''s warmth, but this time we were knelt on the ground, hugging each other while I rested my head on her drenched left shoulder, and it was only then that I realized I was crying so hard that her clothes were already soaked in my tears. ? ".... And..." I tried to speak, but my mouth and throat were dried as I spoke in a broken, trembling voice. ".... Haa..." I tried to gulp down air, but I felt something stuck in my throat, it felt.... Too painful. "..... A-and he-here I th... Haa.... thought I cu-cu-couldfort y-yu-you....." I said to Isha who was still staring at Quinn, but tears were streaming out of her eyes which is a... Good sign. ".... T-they s-s-say, one shu-should cry wh-when they lo-lost sum-someone, or th-they would ne-never be able g-g-get over it...." I said with my hands on her cheeks as I forced her stare at me in the eye. "Pfft, hahahahaha, pffft, hahaha! Yes, this is it! This what I wante...." I heard a man''sughter which brings back very.... Veeeerrrrryyyyy bad memories. (AN: CH03 Intruders (2)) CHOMP SPLURT "Grr..." Chapter 130 129. Monster. ?CRA-CRACK (4x) Kensa Bishop saw a white haired man with a lean chiselled body like that of a Greek gods walk into the ''Blood Sea'' domain, his white hair had no shadows on them, as if was radiating bright white glow, his eyes seemed mncholy, but his iris still gleamed bright golden hue with vertical ck slits while his sclera had turned pitch ck, he seemed like a Devil in human clothing, the space around him twisted as he walked while the mana in the air screeched while trembling, Kensa Bishop wasn''t affected by the white haired man because he was manipting blood not mana. Kensa Bishop was a handsome man, second to only the King, his majesty Azazel, but he still looked like a monkey whenpared to the man in front of him, Kensa was seething in envy and ire while ring at the white-haired man who just walked in like it was just another walk in the park and as if that was not enough, the white-haired man didn''t even bat an eye to Kensa and continued as if he was in his own world. The white-haired man approached the dead target, wept briefly, then approached a beautiful ck-haired woman and hugged her, cing his head on her left shoulder and weeping once more before slumping down on the ground and hugging her. DRUMDURUDUDRU (AN: thunder''s SFX as there was thunderstorm outside, I don''t know what kinda sound effect I should ''write'' here so that one..) ''Ho!'' Kensa Bishop found the situation amusing as he grinned from ear to ear, taking pleasure at the scene in front of him. "..... A-and he-here I th... Haa.... thought I cu-cu-couldfort y-yu-you....." the white haired man spoke in trembling voice and his words were quite hard toprehend because he was stuttering too much. ".... T-they s-s-say, one shu-should cry wh-when they lo-lost sum-someone, or th-they would ne-never be able g-g-get over it...." he continued and his lips curled up into forced smile which looked too painful, making it even more pleasurable to Kensa Bishop. (AN: Image in the paragraphments.) "Pfft, hahahahaha, pffft, hahaha! Yes, this is it! This what I wante...." Kensa couldn''t holding it any longer andughed out loud at their misery and the ever next course of action instilled an ingrained.... Fear in him. CHOMP SPLURT The white haired man disappeared from Kensa''s sight and suddenly..... A fanged mouth shed in front of Kensa''s eyes, but nothing else happened until... Kensa''s head tilted to the right, and he noticed the white-haired man''s body crouched horizontally, which slowly turned upside down as Kensa''s head titled more and more. Only then did Kensa notice that his head had been ripped off by the white-haired man who was crouched horizontally on Kensa''s body, which stood vertically with his legs still on the ground. DOOM-DHRUMDURUDUDRU The white-haired man''s left hand was on Kensa''s left shoulder, while the other hand was on Kensa''s waist. The white-haired man''s legs were covered in light blue transparent ws that pierced Kensa''s right shoulder and chest, making it easier for him to stand on. ''Wh-what?'' Kensa tried to make sense of what had happened when he noticed the white-haired man''s mouth had turned bloody; only then did he realise that the white-haired man had ripped off his neck with his mouth. ''W-well, ee-it doesn''t ma-matter! I-I''m in m-my du-du-domain!'' Kensa''s consciousness trembled in fear. SWHHOOOP Kensa''s body instantly shot out a whip-like intestine that connected to his head and reattached itself before a second passed, but his body was drenched in cold sweat and trembling in fear, and as if healing was a curse, the white-haired man''s left hand morphed into ws that resembled his feet and pierced Kensa''s face, his index and ring fingers pierced his eyes, the thumb pierced his left jawline, the middle finger pierced his forehead, and the pinky finger pierced his cheekbone before ripping Kensa''s face off of his head and biting off arge lump from his neck. ''''BBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP'' Kensa''s mind turned nk form the ''pain'' and an ingrained fear he was feeling from the white haired man.....monster. But then Kensa healed again, but the white-haired monster bit off his face while his arms ripped off his limbs cleanly as if he expected Kensa to heal again, and only then did the man climb down from Kensa''s body, stand on all fours, and readied himself to lunge at Kensa the movement he healed, and the blood from the Blood Sea climbed up Kensa''s body and healed him in an instant and the pain registered making Kensa scream on top of his lungs in anguish. "Gaaaaa...." Kensa screamed out loud, but..... Was cut short by the white-haired monster, who shoved his left hand into Kensa''s mouth, halting his scream before ripping off his lower jaw and wing every inch of his body except for the poor vampire''s heart, which continued to pump blood faster and heal him continuously, making him feel as if bing a vampire was his worst idea ever and making him believe that healing and regeneration were a curse. Kensa Bishop healed again, but this time the white-haired monster didn''t do anything until he calmed down from all the pain he was feeling. Kensa fell down on his knees, shivering in fear and pain, and the white-haired monster clenched Kensa''s neck from behind, dragged him towards the target''s body, and forced him to look at the dead body, which had turned pale. SHUUP The white haired monster crouched down next to Kensa and stared at the pale dead body before speaking without looking at Kensa. "Heal him." A low hoarse mand'' was heard next to Kensa who shuddered in horror. "....." Kensa''s mind nked out in fear as he stared nkly at the target''s body, and he felt the grip around his neck tighten before the hand went cold and ws pierced his neck. "Heal. Him." He heard the voice again, but this time Kensa was able to catch a glimpse of the white-haired monster staring at the pale dead body with a mncholy expression on his face; his body gave off a ''Kingly'' demeanour that waspletely different from the feeling Kensa got in front of his King, his majesty Azazel, but it also gave off a very painful aura as if the king had lost his precious vassal. BOOM-DHUMDURUDURURUM Suddenly, the white-haired monster''s eyes snapped at Kensa''s direction, his demonic eyes sent shivers down Kensa''s spine as his earlier kingly demeanour died down and hunter''s demeanour oozed out, making Kensa remember the pain he had just gone through, and Kensa''s body instinctively started to tremble in horror. "I''m s..." Kensa spoke, but... CHUMP His body was crushed before he could evenplete his sentence, but hisst sight was of tear which rolled off of the white haired monster''s demonic eyes. Chapter 131 130. Cursed. ?"..... Eshwar!" I heard Henry''s worried voice, and I wanted to respond, but my magical power had run out, and this unknown energy had taken a heavy toll on my body. I could feel my head spinning and my eyes rolled as the world around me started to sway. SNAP THUMP ''.....'' I abruptly lost consciousness and couldn''t think because so many things were happening in my body that I had no control over; even now, something was happening in my body that I had no idea about, but I could remember its ''feeling'' because of my knowledge I received from Nhifrogr, the Golden Dragon. It was extremely unfamiliarly familiar feeling, it was the feeling of ''that'' energy which was now much more tame, my head hurt and I felt something empty near my heart, that was a bit too familiar feeling which I didn''t feel after being reborn in this world. DING [??? (Cursed) activated.] (AN: This trait will be in third person! I''ll change it to third person in the middle, as less noticeably as possible.) ''....'' I simply stared at the notification window spinning in the void, I curled up, hugged my knees, and continued to spin in nothingness, my consciousness was dragged elsewhere again, it had the same feeling of not beingfortable or ufortable, like I was just.... there, in nothingness. "Quinn! You can''t just do nothing! You are a man!" A sweet woman''s voice rang in my ears. ''Quinn?'' I opened my eyes wide in surprise and found myself in a semi-lit gloomy 20-foot room with a blonde-haired woman in front of me. She was 6 feet tall with a hourss figure and had bright ocean blue eyes, she looked like a princess from a fantasy romance novel, she had her arms on her waist as she red down at me, if it was fiction, smoke would havee out of her nostrils as she breathed sharply. I felt my heartbeat speed up(?) at her sight, even though I was feeling gloomy just before she arrived.... ''Who? This damn woman! Where is Quinn?'' I roared inwardly, but my voice didn''t seem toe out. ".... You don''t understand Elvira, I awakened a supporter ss!! The worst ss of all the possible sses!" ''I'' grumbled at Elvira. ''Elvira?'' "You! You''re a man! How dare you hole up in room and cry?" Elvira snarled at me, angrily. ''Wh..'' "Quinn Walker! You better get your a*s out! Now!" Elvira roared. ''Quinn? Where!'' ".... our ''holed up'' date was cancelled because of you..." Elvira mumbled under her breath. Suddenly, when I heard her mumbling my heart pained, I hurriedly stood up and walked towards her with a tensed apologetic expression. "I''m sorry Elvira, I really am, I was just depressed by the fact that I can''t protect anybody with my awakened ss." I apologized. ''What? What am I even doing? ¡­...'' ''Elvira is getting hurt because of me!'' "I am so sorry! We''ll have our ''holed up'' date tomorrow, for sure!" I said enthusiastically. "You better!" Elvira said with a bright smile, held my hands and dragged my out of the gloomy room into the balcony where cold air flitted on both of their faces while moon shone beautifully. He nced at Elvira and admired her beauty under the moon light, he was simply mesmerized and her sight, it was enough for his heart to warm up, though she was staring at the bright moon and acted as if she didn''t notice his gaze on her, her rosy cheeks gave her away, he noticed that and smiled a little at her adorable actions and leaned forward while she was still staring at the moon. CLEEENKK The rails on the balcony creaked as his weight slowly shifted forward, Elvira flinched slightly and gripped the railings as she felt his breath on her cheek, and before she could scold him for making her too flustered, he gave her a peck on the cheek and jerked his head back. "!" Elvira was taken aback because she assumed he was just teasing her because it had been a year since they began dating and this was the first time he had ever made a move on her. Elvira was a 19-year-old young woman who had been his friend for about 11 years and a year since they began dating because of their mutual feelings, even though the world had messed up with the system and monsters that killed both of their parents at the age of 15, they found courage to survive with each other, she was an awakened warrior and he was a recently awakened supporter, even though it was regarded as a trashy ss she wanted him to stand tall. "..... I''ll return back inside now, youe in too, we have to get ready to fight monsters tomorrow." He mumbled and walked back in with a flushed face. ''Even though he was the one who made the first move, I can''t believe he is flustered.'' Elvira thought. "Oh, my adorable Quinn." Elvira giggled at his expense. "Don''t do that!!" Quinn grumbled and walked back in with a light heart. ''I have to get there early and kill as many monsters as I can so that Elvira doesn''t have to work too hard for us..... Wait, what?'' "Uck!" he held his head and crouched down. "Quinn!" Elvira who walked back in, rushed towards him with a worried expression. "Who?" ''I'' mumbled out. (AN: ''I'' is intentional.) "Huh?" Elvira looked at him in bewilderment. ''Who...'' "Uck?" ''Quinn'' groaned as his head hurt. "Quinn! I think you got a headache because you acted out too much." Elvira said jokingly on the outside, but was very worried on about him inwardly. "I think so too, hahaha." Heughed drily and made his way towards the room with the help of Elvira. ''Why.... am I feeling his emotions, her emotions and thoughts at the same time?'' ''I'' thought. "Huu..." Quinn breathed out and lied on the bed facing the ceiling fan while Elvira ced pillows in the middle of the bed and lied on the other side of the bed. "..... Is it really necessary? I told you I won''t do anything." Quinn said. "Yes, it is. And the problem is not you..." Elvira said. "I don''t know if I''ll be able to sleep properly with my hands to myself....." Elvira mumbled under her breath with a flushed face. BA-BUMP (6x) "Ahem." Quinn''s heart started to beat loud, so loud that even Elvira could hear it. "G-good night." Quinn said and closed his eyes without waiting for her. BWOOOMMM As if a soul leaving the body, ''I'' was shot out from a space between Quinn and Elvira before being dragged towards Quinn. SWOOSH Chapter 132 131. Cursed (2). ?SWOOSH * The next day. He woke Elvira up and went out first; the first thing he saw as soon as he walked out was blood; a pungent smell of blood hit his nostrils, which he didn''t seem to mind as he simply began to move without a regard for his surroundings. All kinds of vehicles were destroyed, some were crushed, shed in half, torn apart, bit off, and many strange things filled the area, Skyscrapers and high buildings seemed to have broken in half as the other half was on the ground, debris covering the path, sses were shattered only a few remained cracked on the walls, goblin and some other low ranked monsters were roaming around leisurely, human and monster blood had sttered everywhere, limbs, heads, intestines and many other body parts, including monster''s, could be seen everywhere, with some even dangling from the buildings. Only half of their bodies could be seen hanging, either the upper or lower bodies were dangling, some were skewered on a spike, and many monsters roamed the streets, he had to sneak past them, and even the path he walked required him to put his life on the line. He went to the ''camp'' where all of the awakened were gathered and were being assigned to squads with captains, damage dealer, long range damage dealers, healers and ''baggage.'' Baggage was a moniker for the non-awakened people whose tasks were to carry everything they killed and bring back to the camp, and Quinn was one of the ''Baggage'' even though he was an awakened, because ''Supporter'' ss was treated like trash and because they were weak with no physical nor magical strength, they were only, in slightest margin, stronger than the non-awakened. Camp was a ce where they exchanged monsters, cores, and other valuables for money and they were not allowed to bring anything out, there was strict checking and security, and even a sttered blood lump was enough to get somebody ripped off by the security team, and Quinn was one of those who would get ripped off for doing anything, which was not the case with Elvira because she was ''strong'' and was one of those who would rip off others if they messed with her. That day wasn''t anything strange as it repeated the same thing as the days passed. A monthter. "This damn system!" Quinn snarled as he kneeled behind Elvira, drying her blonde wet hair as she returned from a bath. "Its only use is that it increases our growth rate by a bit and disys our traits and nothing else, it''s just useless!" Quinn snarled while drying her hair softly. "Yeah, yeah." Elvira nodded her head as she rolled her eyes because she was used him grumbling about the system. "Hey, I''m not joking! Did you notice anything else that''s...use.... full....." Quinn was ring down at her before his voice turned into a mumble while his throat dried in an instant, his body heated up, and his heartbeat sped up as if it wanted to pop out, when Quinn''s gaze fell on a water droplet that trickled down from Elvira''s ear and slowly made its way to her bosom. BA-BUMP (8x) "!" Elvira''s eyes widened when she heard his heartbeat and noticed that his hands had slowed; she didn''t know what had happened, so she slowly raised her head to stare at Quinn. BA-BUMP (6x) Quinn met her eyes and slowly leaned forward subconsciously, Elvira leaned back slightly and they..... Kissed. ''Stop! I don''t want to watch a p*rno right now!'' I pleaded, though I didn''t know why, it somehow felt..... wrong, which theypletely disregarded because they couldn''t hear it, of course, and continued. * A monthter. ''I..... Who? I don''t know who I am, I know my name is ''Quinn,'' but when I think about it like that, I suddenly feel strange, I don''t know why... I am feeling all of ''my'' feelings and thoughts and I know that I''m ''Quinn,'' but I don''t know I''m ''Quinn'' because I sometimes feel like I''m ''Elvira,'' and that is strange too, because when I ''think,'' ''Quinn'' doesn''t, nor does ''Elvira,'' only ''I'' think... but ''my'' heart pains every time it does for them and I noticed something, that was, ''I'' feel two parties'' emotions and they should be rted to me.... No, they should be rted to ''Quinn'' up to a certain extent.'' (AN: Ahem, I apologize if it is too confusing) ''I don''t know what and why but ''I'' am ''Quinn'' but ''Quinn'' is not ''me.'' Quinn is living and I am not, that would be the best exnation.'' ''I don''t know why I''m exining everything or who I''m exining it to... This is the 59th time I''m doing that....'' "Good morning, Eli." I, no, Quinn awoke and softly whispered in Elvira''s ear; they were on the bed cuddling with each other, their bare shoulders visible because everything else was covered by the nket. "Mmn~" Eli woke up, hummed happily and stretched her hands wide. "Mhmn~ Uggghhhh~" Quinn stretched his body and his lower body trembled for a brief moment. (AN: ;)) "Hahaha, get up! We have work to do!" Eli giggled and said, but her words and actions didn''t match because she turned around and hugged Quinn. * A yearter. ''I still don''t know who I am, and I''m slowly starting to ''feel'' ''everything,'' I am feeling emotions of every human emotion from all over the world, and since a week ago I''ve been trying to control how much I feel, I feel like if I feel another strong emotion, I will lose whoever this ''I'' or ''me'' is....'' Everything has remained the same since the beginning, the only difference being Quinn, who somehow became strong enough to stand up to himself, he trained with Elvira and some of his so-called ''friends'' whose emotions are simply filled with greed, envy, and jealousy, though I want to warn him, I can''t because I am simply ''feeling'' absolutely everything, I feel the entire world itself, those emotions, painful ones and happy ones, though painful ones stand above everything, I too am feeling all the painful emotions of all the people around Quinn even when I am controlling the.... I''m not sure what it is, but I''ve realized that I have no control over it. Quinn has been in many life-threatening situations, and I have felt everything he has felt, including the ''death'' of hispanions, which did not seem to have much of an effect on ''me.'' Everything felt torturous, even the happy emotions, with the help of the memories of the ''me'' as ''Quinn'' I realized that I need a sense of ''self'' which is getting further and further away the more I try to think about it. The sense of self seemed like something too far out of the reach for ''me'' because I didn''t understand much about what a sense of self is, and continued to feel emotions of humans and monsters from all over the world with even a slight deviation, so I had to haveplete control over it first before I try to achieve a sense of self, so I continued to be tortured by painful emotions and some happy emotions... Of course, a happy emotion was sufficient to push aside a mountain of painful emotions.... For a while. Chapter 133 132. Cursed (3). ?(AN: in the chapter128 ''??? activating.....'' an [ERROR!] has been added newly. Thank you for reading.) * Few yearster. A being floated in the pitch-ck space, looking like a mannequin with no distinguishing features. The being sat cross legged in nothingness and stared at ''Earth'' in front of the being, the ''Earth'' in front of the being looked like a globe used for references, there was absolutely nothing and to add to the contrast, the being could be seen from anywhere as the being was pure white and the mannequin -like body simultaneously pulsated with a dark purple ripple, billions of dark purple ripples shot out per second. Every single ripple was rted to a ''living'' being''s emotion, every time a living being felt something, the mannequin-like being felt those emotions, just a little bit stronger, torturing the being with every single ripple, ''it'' had learned different things from those ''emotions'' which were ''imprinted'' and ''memories'' of the living, which had started to force itself into ''it'' as some time passed, the being too had stopped counting the days and started to umte ''power,'' because ''it'' discovered that was only method of bing aware of ''its'' existence that had yet to be.... Defined. The emotions of the being..... No, it couldn''t be ''emotions'' because the being felt like it didn''t have any, so ''something'' it was feeling had be numb over time. Though the ''feeling'' of whatever ''it'' felt had numbed down, it didn''t feel any less torturous, ''it'' had just gotten ''used'' to it as the greed to know the meaning of its existence increased, with the help of the being called ''Quinn,'' ''it'' was able to ''know'' and ''understand'' things, but wasn''t able toprehend them, it had something called as ''muscle memory,'' but because it didn''t have a body to use it, it began to grow ''stronger'' to make one for itself. Strong enough to create its own body, even if it appeared insignificant, and even though it could feel them through the others, its greed didn''t allow it, because ''it'' wanted to feel what the others felt by itself, and its ''greed'' was the only thing it could feel by itself, yet. In the meantime, Quinn Walker had his third child a year ago with his wife Elvira when he was 30 and she was 29, the children were now 5, 3, and 1, all of whom were boys, and they were closely observed by ''the being'' in the hopes of learning something about its existence, not that it helped in any way. The being had given up on everything and continued to be tortured, but it was somewhat bothered by the kids who were being hurt in very stupid ways, it ''felt'' something by itself and that made the being angry because it had grown ustomed to the torturous emotions, but not only were the children a burden they also seems very... Annoying. ''!'' ''I am ''annoyed''...'' Though it was only a minor part of the being''s daily torture, it was the first time in many years that the being felt something, and even though it was minor, that feeling came through the being and to it, it was not at all minor. ''Annoy is one of the emotions rted to anger or rage!'' The being let go of its cross legs and floated around with its hands crossed behind its back, it was a poor yet aristocratic imitation of ''pacing around.'' ''And ''Anger'' is a strong feeling that the ''living'' have when something has happened or somebody did something that the ''living'' do not like.'' The being raised its hand slightly and clenched its fist, tearing apart the pitch-ck space in the process, that too was a poor yet extreme imitation of the ''excitement'' that some humans disyed. ''I am ''feeling!'''' the being unclenched its hand and started at it, that was the imitation of disbelief, but if the being had a face to express its expressions, then it would have been an apathetic one. ''I do not like kids(?)'' The being concluded with a tilt of its head. ''I should ''ignore'' something I do not like.'' The being concluded and sat cross legged again to get tortured and gain ''power.'' * A few yearster. Quinn Walker was now an 81 years old man, he had recently lost his wife Elvira and after her death some of his emotions had numbed down which had numbed down by a bit before because his kids had fought each other in the name of the rightful sessor of Quinn Walker, the youngest who had been the most cunning of them all, killed every one of his brothers and became the sessor of Quinn Walker one of the named Hero and the survivor of the ''Age of Disaster.'' Unbeknownst to Quinn Walker, the one who was responsible for his wife''s death was also the youngest child and the one who knew the truth couldn''t do anything, not that ''the being'' would do anything even if it could. The being had learned of the existence of ''Gods'' who are not visible to the ''living'' but are still believed to exist and watch over everything, they are beings who look over the bnce of the world and control everything even though they are not visible, and this belief grew stronger after the system appeared in the world of the living. "The ''Gods'' have given us the system to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the other worldly beings!" was what the humans started to spread the belief and ''hope.'' And ''the being'' who had been watching over them turned into a.... GOD! When ''the being'' became a ''God,'' it felt like it had reached the road to awaken a sense of self, a truth behind its existence, something to define it. The being tried and failed to interfere in the world of the ''living,'' ''it'' wanted to bless the ''living'' for assisting it to reach a path that ''the being'' could now see the end of, and when the being couldn''t do what it wanted, the path seemed to drift away, so the being began to gain more ''power'' in order to be strong enough to interfere with the world like the other so-called Gods are doing, and the long-gone greed for power returned, which could turn a ''God'' into a ''Demon'' with a small crossroads in the path that the being desired to see the end of. Now, the mannequin figure in the middle of the pitch-ck space stared down at the world with an apathetic expressionless expression on its face, while the dark purple pulse continued to increase and decrease as seconds passed, the being could feel the living being named ''Quinn''s'' emotions first before it could feel others, it was as if ''Quinn'' was a priority, and the being understood that it was unboundedly bound to Quinn Walker for reasons unknown. The being knew exactly how many emotions it would feel per second, and the more control it had over them, the stronger the emotions it felt. The being who could feel the emotions of all the ''living'' on the world ''Quinn'' was living in expected them to numb down, so that the being could never feel it again, but it only grew stronger as the day went on. [62: Years.] [22,630: Days.] [543,120: Hours.] [32,587,200: Minutes.] [1,955,232,000: Seconds.] Chapter 134 133. Cursed (4). ?''I shall be ''The Eye.'''' The being dered to itself, as the being felt that was the only thing it could do, yet. It will name itself the Eye who will look out into the world. WHOOSH The Eye floated slowly and stood up straight, raised its mannequin hand, fingers separated as if glued together, closed the others with only the index finger out, and gently tapped in mid-space. SHWOOMMM A small dark purple square appeared beneath the index finger as if it was a ''key'' from a keyboard, spreading bright thin dark purple thread-like circuits around it beforeing to a halt after about 3 inches on all sides. CRA-CRACK (5x) PANG A 20-inch crack appeared in the pitch-ck space, which oozed a thick dark purple hue, and numbers slowly materialized in the crack and were disyed.... [62: Years.] [22,630: Days.] [543,120: Hours.] [32,587,200: Minutes.] [1,955,232,000: Seconds.] That was the time the Eye had spent in the world of the living, but in the pitch-ck space it had counted up to about a millions of billion numbers before stopping as it seemed meaningless, and that crack was the Eye''s space, and even the pitch-ck space was dominated by the Eye to some extent because as its senses spread wide, the more the pitch-ck space increased, making the Eye realize it was stillcking ''power'' to interfere in the world of the living and in the world of nothingness. The Eye has been getting stronger by the millisecond, but it seemed like it was still not enough to truly be a God and began to gain power again, which somehow became a reason for the Eye''s existence as it walked on a thread that was in between bing a God and a Demon, the thread could snap at any moment and tum the Eye into a demon who is ''hungry'' for power, ''it'' was not particrly ''hungry'' for power, it was just a greedy to get stronger so that, that the strength it earned could define ''its'' existence. Even though the Eye had the ''muscle memory'' of every being in the world, it didn''t have anything that was ''its'' own, which felt like a taint that wouldn''t wash away no matter how hard the Eye tried, so the only thing that was ''its'' was the strength it earned and was still earning, it could do anything while in that space and with the exception of daily torture of course, if the Eye had a heart it would be like ripping it apart as the pain increasing continuously and healing before it stopped beating would be a perfect expression. The Eye had learned many things and nothing at the same time, as perplexing as it appeared to be, that was exactly the case with the Eye, but there was one ''feeling'' that would always dominate the greed, and that was ''desire,'' about what? the Eye too didn''t know, but it was telling it to do what it wanted, even when it felt like greed would take over, the desire said ''Do what you want'' or that''s what the Eye felt like, it trusted that feeling and didn''t give in to greed because the Eye was sensitive to ''feelings'' it wanted to protect the only desire and got stronger because it ''wanted'' a body and explore the world of the living, without being confide in this nothingness. ''....'' The Eye had stopped ''thinking'' anything and started to do things rather than simply thinking about it and because the only thought there was, was about getting stronger, so the Eye did that. The Eye felt omnipresent and omniscient when it felt the power within, but it didn''t be arrogant or ignorant because it still couldn''t get out of the pitch-ck space, which meant it wascking and was too weakpared to the rumoured Gods whose presence even the Eye couldn''t feel even though they were looking after the world of the living, and all the ''memories'' the Eye got from the living knew that if it got drunk on the power it felt, ''it'' will bring ''its'' own demise without being able to do anything it ''wanted.'' In the meantime, Quinn Walker floated out of the academy ''Switch,'' which he built to train future generations, unlike the ''camp'' he survived from, and was now floating towards the house of his killer son, whose family was despised by Quinn because he knew that he was the one who killed his other sons, even the middle son who didn''t want the right of bing a sessor or a heir, though he didn''t know about the truth behind his wife Elvira''s death, it was not like he wasn''t suspicious of the youngest. * He arrived in a massive luxurious mansion that had everything one could ever want to live a happy andzy life; if the mansion needed anyparison, it could easily bepared to the Marquis mansion''s range from a fantasy romance novel. "Wee, mast..." A servant approached Quinn to greet him, but was cut offpletely by Quinn, who raised his hand and used magic to make him shut up. ? Ignoring all of the servants in the mansion, he floated towards the youngest''s office room, kicked open the door, and red down at the pathetic pig of a son. The pig-like man was startled out of his wits when he saw his father barge in front of him like that, but he didn''t dare to say anything. "I shall be going to sector one on a mission." Quinn said to his youngest son, whose name he didn''t want to utter, and turned away without giving him a chance to respond, floating towards the door with no regard for his surroundings. STEP-STEP (5x) "S-Sir!!" A skinny kid dashed from the garden around the mansion and dashed desperately towards Quinn as if it was thest lifeline. "Ple-please, he-help me." The kid begged. ''!'' the Eye suddenlyid its eye on the kid in front of Quinn. ''Who?'' The Eye was thinking that it wanted to be with the girl in front of Quinn because that was the only thing it was ''feeling'' its ''desire'' raging for. -''Who is this kid? Why is it talking like that?'' (AN: ''-'' will be Quinn''s thoughts.) The child was dressed in rags, clenching her dress tightly while trembling, but she still looked at Quinn''s eyes with her round ck obsidian eyes resolutely and desperately, she had bruises on her arms and neck, it looked a bit too brutal to do to a child and looked like she wasn''t even fed properly, and her ck hair was all dishevelled and overgrown as if nobody had taken care of her for years. "Pl-please he-help me get o-out o-of here." Chapter 135 134. Cursed (5). ?"Pl-please he-help me get o-out o-of here." -''Don''t tell me, that child is that guy''s.....'' Quinn stared at the kid as his brows furrowed at her. Then he suddenly remembered the feeling he got when he saw his pathetic pig-like son and a feeling of ''despise'' crept up from his heart and a feeling of ''disgust'' merged with it and he was unable to hold it in and the sight of a ''weak'' kid made him feel ''superior'' and all the pent-up emotions oozed out against the poor skinny kid and abruptly Quinn Walker, who is 81 years old..... Spat. He spat right next to the kid, as if he wanted to spit in the kid''s face, the kid slightly trembled and took a step back, but she didn''t avert her gaze, which got Quinn even more agitated, it was like a bully having augh while the weak resisted. ''Human!!'' The Eye became ''angry'' at the actions of the ''Quinn'' for the first time ever, and the same anger that the Eye thought it had numbed rose from the Eye''s very existence, which it was constantly striving to define. CRA-CRACK (5x) The pitch-ck space around the Eye trembled as if it were alive, many cracks appeared in the space that oozed thick dark purple hue and caused everything in the pitch-ck space to break apart while a thick ck hue oozed out of the Eye''s mannequin-like body outlined with a thinyer of dark purple hue disying a horrifying Devil-like figure behind the Eye, a fanged mouth formed and was wide open with a set of slits which were splitting apart as if glued together with goo and formed a pair of pitch ck abyss-like sclera and bright orange iris with vertical ck slits as if the iris had been split from the middle as if to make way for the abyss-like sclera. The hue that had formed behind the Eye leaned forward and merged with the horrifying mannequin-like being, and the dark purple pulses rippling across the Eye''s body came to a halt and began to beat in a heart-like rhythmic beat. BA-BUMP (6x) The heartbeat-like dark purple pulses rippled on the mannequin body as the pitch-ck hue merged, though the mannequin body''s colour didn''t change the aura around the Eye certainly did. Now, the Eye leaned forward towards the ''Earth'' which looked like a reference globe in front of it and red at the world. Meanwhile, on Earth, the ground trembled slightly, and when the vibrations were read by humans using their technology, they were shocked to discover that the incident had urred with no forewarnings. The Eye didn''t notice anything because it was feeling ''angry'' at ''Quinn'' and that feeling was strong enough to make it want to wipe out the existence of ''Quinn'' from the face of the world. "How dare you disgusting thing have galls to speak to me!" Quinn Walker roared in disgust. ''You dare!'' the Eye continued to re at the world while the ''rage'' it felt grew more by the second. "I-I am sorry sir, pl-please he-help me ge-get out of he-here." The child knelt in front of Quinn and begged, tears streaming from her eyes as she trembled. The child begged, her forehead touching the ground, but the feeling of ''disgust'' seemed to grow as the feeling of ''superiority'' fuelled his actions. "Tsk, how dare..." Quinn roared at the pleading child, but was cut off by an ominous feeling that sent shivers down to his core -"Human!" the Eye roared with the newly formed mouth and the pitch-ck space shivered like a puppy in rain. -''W-What?'' Quinn shuddered in fear; he didn''t know what had happened, but the fear brought him back to his senses, and as he returned his gaze to the child kneeling in desperation, fear crept up from the corner of his heart. "Tsk." Quinn clicked his tongue and floated towards the mansion''s gate. -''It''s toote to apologise...'' Quinn thought. ''How dare...'' The Eye was seething in rage when suddenly the kid who was kneeling stared at the figure of Quinn who was floating away and dashed towards him. tumbling. "S-sir! Pl-please!" The kid pleaded Quinn as she rushed towards him and tugged his left leg desperately and continued to beg. "Please, please, help me." She pleaded as tears streamed down her face and clung to his leg like it was herst lifeline, her knees still touching the ground, causing the skin on her knees and toes to bleed profusely as she was dragged. ''.....'' The Eye stared at the scene and its newly grown brows trembled as if it was trying to hold back tears and clenched its fanged teeth in rage. "Oi, leg go!" The guards near the gate rushed towards Quinn, roughly grabbed the kid, and threw the kid behind their backs after freeing her from Quinn, who ignored them without batting an eye and floated out. ''Human! You shall be killed by my hands!'' The Eye dered. * A hour after in the world of the living. The Eye calmed down from the feeling of rage and started to think back on its actions, there were many things that happened in a short amount of time and many things that the Eye never imagined would happen, but it still gained understanding of a few things. First was that, the Eye wanted that human child, it didn''t know what it was feeling but its ''desire'' which it treasured seemed to yearn for that human child and his greed for power increased because it needed a body to interfere with the world of the living, the Eye had yet to realize it had somehow interfered with earth unknowingly. Second was, It had developed facial features that would appear when it needed them and disappear when they were no longer required, the Eye simply kept those because they were new and it didn''t require them at all as its senses were much stronger than those, not that they interfered with any of the Eye''s senses in any way. Third was the feeling of ''rage,'' though it had yet to feel that feeling again, the Eye was not disappointed in the least and was feeling an entirely new feeling about that human child, and that feeling was ''curiosity.'' Meanwhile, Quinn returned to the ''Switch'' academy and contacted some of the people he had remained in contact with during his time in the ''camp,'' inviting them to go on a hunt in Sector One like they used to, he had contacted five people and four out of five agreed because thest one was preupied with his new-born grandchildren. Chapter 136 135. Cursed (6). ?(AN: Ahem, Notice! Because I mainly focus on the main characters, I''m thinking of adding a column of ''NEWS'' at the start or at the end in some chapters... Reviews and suggestions are weed!!) *** Quinn contacted five people, four of whom agreed because the fifth was preupied with his newly born grandchildren. * A weekter. The guilt of what he had done before was eating Quinn from the inside with strange pangs, and the pain of him grieving about his wife''s death was enough for him to want to kill himself, so he had no qualms in dying in sector one. All of his colleagues meet up in the ''Portal area'' and stood near the portal which led them to sector one, after they greeted each other, talked a bit and walked into the portal. The Eye simply stared at the world, searching for anything interesting as it went through its daily emotional torture, and now the Eye had reverted back to its mannequin body without any distinguishing features, it stared into the world of the living while it ''circted'' power, which it learned that the ''power'' the Gods use is called ''Authority,'' thus the Eye had learned to circte its ''Authority'' in the iplete form it had taken. After it did and seeded in circting its authority, it had grown by bounds and leaps from when it first began, though it had yet toe up with a proper name without the name bing ''cheesy'' as the humans called it, and because it couldn''t think of any name it left that alone for now, it controlled its ''feelings'' and began searching for anything interesting if it couldn''t find any, it would watch any animated series the humans kids watched. Why? Because it was more interesting to watch than to watch humans act on their greed. * A few hourster. Quinn and his friends wandered through Sector One with no regard for their lives because they had already left a ''will'' when they left their homes, they were strong but not invincible, they would fight monsters and if they died in the process, they would die fighting, or so they thought.... In front of Quinn, who had slumped down with his back to the tree, was staring at the gore scene where his friends were ripped apart before they could even put up a fight, their enemy was an Orc warrior chief, it had a ckplex maze-like pattern on his body which almost filled its entire body, a single Orc warrior chief was enough for them to be ripped apart, and suddenly the Orc warrior chief bit Quinn''s friend''s body and blood sttered. SPLURT -''I WANT TO LIVE!'' Quinn''s instincts screamed in his mind as he stared at the scene. "Urg!" Quinn groaned in agony and pressed down on his abdomen, where he was struck with a blunt blow from the Orc warrior chief''s blunt weapon. -''Run.'' Quinn''s instincts urged him, but he couldn''t seem to find the courage to move nor to survive, then suddenly... [Do you want to live?] A amused child''s voice sounded in Quinn''s head. ''!'' The Eye who heard those words felt a strange pull, which it could clearly feel because the Eye was bound to Quinn, and even if it didn''t want to, it would have heard it anyway. "!" Quinn who heard the voice in his head flinched and looked around in fear. -''Is it a devil?'' Quinn shook his head, cursing himself for his stupidity, because that was the first thought that came to his mind, and there was only one being who would take advantage of anyone who was desperate enough. [Hahaha, Do you want to live, human?] The amused child-like voice chuckling was heard in his head. -''There is no way I''m hearing things!'' Quinn thought. "W-who are you?" Quinn yelled in fear and attracted the attention of the Orc warrior chief who was busy eating its prey. "Grig!" The Orc warrior chief roared. [''Human!'' The stupid Orc said.] The amused voice exined as if had expected that reaction. "Y-You!" Quinn roared while trembling. [Do you want to make a contract with me?] The voice sounded again, but this time it sounded cold. [I''ll save you if you do.] The voice said. "Ye-yes!" Quinn agreed without thinking. [Good!] The voice reverted back to its amusement. SPLURT Suddenly, the Orc warrior chief''s head exploded 10 feet away from Quinn, whose legs were still digging into the ground as he tried to crawl back while the tree behind him didn''t even budge. [How amusing!] The child-like voice rang in his head again. "..... W-who are you?" Quinn asked. [Hm?] "Your saviour?" the child-like voice rang from behind as the voice asked in questioningly. "Aahh!!?" Quinn screamed in surprise. "...." the voice turned silent after hearing a grown man''s girly scream. "....." ".....Um..." the voice was the one to break the silence. "....Ahem! I am sorry, I was flustered." Quinn cleared his throat in embarrassment and made up a excuse believing it was enough. "Hmmm.... Maybe I should just torture him and get all the information needed? I mean I should survive among humans... But is it such big of a thing? It''s just information and there is nothing about his personal life nor about his girly scream....." the voice mumbled out loud, pondering. -''.... Don''t say such scary things in a kid''s voice!!'' Quinn thought and looked down at his legs to hid his embarrassment. -''I just want to dig a hole and bury myself in it.....'' "Would this part be alright?" Quinn mumbled out involuntarily as he patted the ground next his thighs. "You want to die, human? Give me information about the human world and die!" the child-like voice said with a cheery tone. -''I seriously want to die now.'' Quinn thought as his face turned red in embarrassment because the devil''s child-like voice was making him let his guard down. "If you die without answering me, then I''ll kill you painfully and as slowly as possible." Quinn visibly shuddered and snapped back to reality, putting up his guard as he remembered he was dealing with a Devil, as the voice said in a cold tone that sent shivers down his spine. ".... You! Who''re you? Are you the devil?" Quinn asked as he gave up on running or doing anything because he was a supporter couldn''t do sh*t in the first ce. [Of course. Now, do you want to make a contract with me?] Chapter 137 136. Cursed (7). ?[Of course. Now do you want to make a contract with me?] The voice rang in Quinn''s head this time. ".... What do you want? My soul?" Quinn asked. "Why would I want your worthless soul?" A nonchnt voice rang from above this time. ".... Worthless? Then what else do you want?" Quinn asked, trying his best to ignore what the voice had said previously. He, too, thought and agreed that he was worthless, but hearing directly from a being who deals with souls affected him. "Of course I want information." The voice said. "About what?" Quinn asked with a scoff. CRUNCH (4x) SWISH "You should know your ce, human." Suddenly, a white-haired, white-skinned child hung upside down in front of Quinn who was scared sh*tless. "Uwaa!!" Quinn let out another strange scream, startled by the appearance of a white humanoid figure out of nowhere. ''What is going on?'' The Eye, which had desperately held back its senses because it seemed interesting, was experiencing strange sensations as the pull grew stronger and stronger, while many ''feelings'' seemed to appear and disappear in a sh. BA-BUMP (7x) The Eye was drawn to the white-haired boy, who had different powers in a single core, something the Eye had never seen before because it had been ''proved'' to be impossible, and the Eye was perplexed as to why that iprehensible being was acting like a Devil. Was he a demon? Devil? Beast? Or a entirely different race? No! His body appeared to have developed like a beast, with a human skeleton, dragon eyes, and a demon core! He possessed all ''natural'' abilities in a single body! Aura, mana, magi, Dragon''s mana, and their sensitivity were allbined in that small body, which would cause him to feel unbearable pain. Magi''s nature has been altered! Magi, who is naturally destructive, is acting tame within him! Finally, Dragon''s eyes appear to have developed as a result of his frequent use of dragon''s mana, but it appears that he either isn''t aware or isn''t using it properly because it is subconsciously maintaining ''order'' in his body while keeping ''bnce'' between other different natured mana. "W-who are you?" Quinn asked, frightened. "I''m the Devil, of course. What else do you want to hear?" The white haired kid said with a grin. THUMP A 3 foot tall kid jumped down,nded on his feet, and stared at Quinn, his body waspletely white with smoke oozing out as if he were wearing a jumpsuit made of snow, his forearms and crus were translucent light blue and he had ws instead of fingers, his genital area was covered with armour made from a mix of many armours of the dead people who came to sector one, though that too seemed to be slowly turning into ice which could break any movement, and on the contrast were his round bright orange snake-like eyes. -''What is this.....'' Quinn stared at the him in a slightly dumbfounded look. "..... This kid is a devil?" Quinn tilted his head and mumbled out, involuntarily. "Hm? Human, I dare you say that again." The kid spoke in a low, cold voice, releasing his killing intent which was focused on Quinn, and despite the fact that his voice sounded childish, it sent shivers down Quinn''s spine. ''This kid!'' the Eye felt ''amused'' at the kid''s actions and its fanged mouth appeared again as it grinned ominously. ''He is holding back.'' The Eye was even more ''curious'' now, and was ''intrigued'' to find out what will happen next and was thinking about that strange pull it felt when it saw that kid. "No, no, no, I''m just surprised that ''the great Devil'' has taken a form of a child." Quinn shook his head violently. -''Oh, he''s the Devil alright! There is no way a kid can have that amount of killing intent and I shouldn''t have doubted it in the first ce! I should''ve understood just by looking at that form!'' Quinn reasoned with himself. "Hmm, hmm." The kid seemed to be pleased with Quinn calling him ''the great devil,'' he crossed his arms and nodded. -''Cute.'' Quinn''s thought at the sight and suddenly, his eyes went wide open and he shook his head while thinking, maybe the devil took that form to make people let their guard down and kill them, but the kid''s next words left Quinn dumbfounded. ".... Well, I''m a 5 year old now anyway." "Huh?" "Hm?" "Eh?" "Huh?" "Huh?" ".....Now, about the conditions of our contract." The 5 year old kid continued ignoring Quinn''s strange actions. "1st, you''ll keep my existence a secret. 2nd, you''ll teach me about the human world. 3rd, you''ll take me to the human domain when I want you to. Are we clear?" He said while counting it on his fingers which were facing Quinn. "Huh?" Quinn was even more bbergasted at the conditions. "Huh? What''s wrong? Hm? Ah! Maybe he has a life in the human world even though he looks like this, hmm..." He pondered while nodding his head. "....." Quinn was silent. -''What kind of stupid conditions are those?'' "Ok, I''ve decided! You''ll leave here ande back at least once a month to teach me!" He said with a bright smile like it was the best idea ever. ".....What if I betray you? What if I leave here and never return?" Quinn who had turned silent, asked with a curious look on his face. "Huh? We''ll you''re not the only human thates here, I''ll keep one alive when the next party arrives and ask him or her the same, but a ''her'' would be a bit better because they''ll use their brain instead of trying to avenge their friends as if they are some heroes....." The kid mumbled with a shrug which turned ominous after hepleted that sentence. "But remember, I''ll find and kill you the moment Ie out into the human world." The kid said. "..... What if I get you killed before you set your foot into the human domain? If I organize a team saying there is a new monster in sector one, you''ll die the moment you set your foot into the human domain!" Quinn shuddered when he heard the kid''s words, but he couldn''t help but ask. "Ha! If all of you humans have ''only'' reached this level, I''ll be able to kill an entire army by myself." He scoffed and said while pointing at the dead Orc warrior chief. "!" Chapter 138 137. ??? (Cursed) Activated. ?"Ha! If all of you humans have ''only'' reached this level, I''ll be able to kill an entire army by myself." He scoffed and said while pointing at the dead Orc warrior chief. "!" Quinn opened his eyes wide and stared at the kid''s bold remark in disbelief, but his couldn''t find any words to deny it. -''That''s a Rank-S monster!'' Quinn roared, inwardly. "Now, what will you do? My friend recently went back to his home, so I''m in a pretty bad mood, you better answer fast." He said with a nonchnt expression. "O-okay! You can make a contract with those conditions!" Quinn agreed because he had nothing to lose in the deal anyway. "Hmm, hmm." The kid nodded his head in satisfaction. ".... Um, so? Do I have to drink your blood?" Quinn asked as he found the strength to stand back up. "....." The kid covered his upper body with his hands and stared at Quinn in pure disgust written on his face. "Wh-what? What''s with that look? I heard that''s how you demons turn us humans into ''fiends,'' what''s with that face!?" Quinn roared with a flushed face. "What the f**k is wrong with you old man? We''re making a ''contract,'' where the f**k did bloode from?" the kid..... He asked in disgust. "Wh-what? Don''t curse! Kids should not curse like that!" Quinn scolded. "I''m sorry old geezer." The kid sincerely apologized with a scoff. "O-old geezer?" Quinn mumbled. "Then, f**k off and return next time!" The kid cursed again with a smug grin. "Y-y-you!" Quinn looked at him in disbelief. "Don''t forgot to bring a contract with you next time, this ce, unsurprisingly, doesn''t have any shops." He said with a wide grin. "Ha." Quinn scoffed and rolled his eyes. *** Two yearster. Quinn was 83 years old, and today was the day he was supposed to meet the little devil whom he had made a deal with. The Eye, who had been keeping an eye on the living world, particrly on Quinn because it was bound to him, ''recovered'' some of its feelings, and its ''hatred'' towards Quinn grew because it realized he was an hypocrite who was taking care of a 5-year-old kid after abandoning an 8-year-old child who begged for his help. ''Recovered'' was a word that the Eye thought would be appropriate because it ''felt'' like that was correct way of describing. Quinn becamefortable around the kid named ''Eshwar'' after a few frequent visits; Eshwar''s introduction was one of the incidents where the Eye felt its feelings ''recover.'' After Quinn becamefortable around Eshwar, he too becamefortable enough to ''revert'' back to his human form in front of Quinn, who was initially surprised, and now, he just thinks of Eshwar as an oddity, but nothing more. "Where is he?" Quinn mumbled as he looked around in search of Eshwar after he arrived in sector one''s middle area, Quinn who was not strong enough would simply sneak in and him sneaking into the sector one was limited until the middle region from where he would follow Eshwar if he wanted to go into the core of sector one. SHWOOSH CRUNCH (5x) "Yo, old geezer, you''re here!" Quinn was startled by the sudden sounds when a 3-and-a-half-foot tall white haired handsome kid hopped off a massive tree next to Quinn. "Geez, you scared the ''beep'' out of me." Quinn said. "Old geezer, I''m an expert in curses, so speakfortably! And what do you mean ''beep?'' if you don''t want to curse then don''t, but don''t add filters, okay?" Eshwar asked with a scoff. "Alright, but you should not curs...." Quinn, who was nagging was cut short by Eshwar. "Oh! By the way, I like ''f**k,'' ''f**king,'' and things that include ''f**k'' in general!" Eshwar said with a wide grin. "You damn..." * "So that''s why you''re so weak!" Eshwar eximed in shock. They were now discussing the system, awakening, and heroes who protect the human domain, but Quinn winced when he heard Eshwar''s words because, while he was definitely weaker than Eshwar, he was one of the strongest humans and a supporter of the human domain capable of dealing with a Rank-S monster after he awakened his second trait. "I''m not weak! You''re just absurdly strong." Quinn said. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you want something else to help you to get stronger? Now, I know why you are so weak." Eshwar just ignored Quinn and clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Look at me, I got stronger all by myself!" Eshwar said as he looked up with a proud face. CLAP (5x) "Wow." Quinn pped and said, sarcastically. "Hahaha! Say your wish, weak one." Eshwar pointed his index finger at Quinn andughed. *** A few yearster, Eshwar turned 14, was 5 and a half foot tall and awakened the system, which suddenly made him weaker than before, but he still awakened at Rank-C, which could be considered one of the best ranks one could awaken at, because absolutely everyone had to start from lower rank no matter how strong they were, but there was never a case where one got weaker after awakening, so Eshwar was just an oddity who defied the logics set by the system. "Old geezer, take me to the human domain, I can''t survive in core of sector one if I''m this weak." Eshwar grumbled in frustration and stomped his feet on the ground as he walked in front of Quinn, who had just arrived. "Hmm, you seriously got weaker...." Quinn mumbled as he scratched his chin. * "...Wha?" Quinn''s mouth was hung open in disbelief as he stared at Eshwar. Eshwar was now covered in dark green and dark red monsters blood from head to toe, having ughtered all the monsters that stood in his way as he walked out of sector one, and he had ughtered around 500 monsters on his way. -''Every single one of them are Rank-A!!'' Quinn was shocked beyond belief and he was sure he saw ''Rank-C'' on Eshwar''s status window. "You, are you sure you got weaker?" Quinn mumbled out in disbelief, involuntarily. "Of course, can''t you look at the galls of this weaklings jumping at me? They should have made way when their ''King'' is walking ou...ou.....out...out....ou...out...." Eshwar''s voice was being heard, but it abruptly repeated itself like a broken CD record to the Eye, who was staring at them with an apathetic expressionless expression. ''What?'' The Eye looked around the pitch ck space in disbelief, everything looked glitched. Everything around the Eye began to glitch, everything became blocks, strips, streaks, pixels and space twisted with many colours, its ''instincts'' which it ''recovered'' as it observed Eshwar were screaming and a faint memory of a white-haired man running on a thick nket of snow shed in its head and the Eye began to get ''scared'' of that ominous feeling, that screaming instinct meant danger and that danger was never aimed at ''him.'' (AN: memory is from the chapter 01 ''The Fall'') ''!'' The Eye held it head because it suddenly felt many emotions and memories forced themselves into ''him.'' [Trait: ??? (Cursed) activated.] A glitched system notification appeared in front of him, but he didn''t have time to look at it, and when he forced himself to look at it, he felt like all of his emotions had just recovered turn number. [Party member ''Anuke'' has died.] Chapter 139 138. Return Of The Cursed. ?[Trait: ??? (Cursed) activated.] [Party member ''Anuke'' has died.] *** The Blood Sea domain was slowly unravelling while Louie, who was holding Quinn''s cold dead body in his arm, was staring at Eshwar with tears in his eyes. Eshwar had suddenly lost consciousness just a minute ago after killing the ranked vampire Kensa Bishop, and he was surrounded by Henry, Arngrim, Core, and Isha, who still had a lost look on her face but held onto Eshwar who was lying on herp. Henry and Arngrim stood firm, only tears welling up in their eyes, but Louie and Core had only recently stopped crying from the shock as to why Eshwar had lost consciousness. Isha was staring at Eshwar with aplicated expression on her face, her heart felt slightly empty because she hadn''t expected Quinn to die right in front of her eyes and because her mind couldn''t register his death properly, her heart and mind throbbed, but as soon as Eshwar copsed she snapped back to her senses. Her mind immediately began to deny that she had ever felt a single ounce of love and care from Quinn, and when Eshwar copsed, her mind removed every single thought except for him, and her mind epted the fact that Eshwar was the only one who genuinely loved her, even though it was in their previous life, she didn''t even need to think about who is more important, and even if her mind subconsciouslypared both Eshwar and Quinn, Quinn''s existence itself was too insignificant in front of her Eshwar. Eshwar had shown her two decades of pure love and care, andpared to the love and care thates from guilt it was like heaven and literal hell, every thought had left her mind when she saw Eshwar copse, and before her mind could register anything, she rushed towards Eshwar and supported his head before cing it on herp. ''Why? Why is his body so exhausted? He is still overexerting himself!!'' Isha wanted to throw a fit right then and there, but she somehow managed to hold it in. "Huuu...." She breathed a sigh of relief and employed her divinity into him, so that he could regain some of his strength, and his body epted her divinity as his own, which slightly surprised Isha, but her lips curled up into a slight smile because once a divinity is awoken, it will bear their own unique signature in them, which is why it is said to be impossible for two different gods to exchange divinity, she only tried to heal him internally, but discovered something amazing. "Isha." ''Well, it seems like we won''t have any problems if we decide to fight the divine beings now....'' Isha thought as she felt a subtle cold sensation on her cheeks. "Isha!" "Huh? Yes?" Isha looked at Core, Henry and Arngrim with a surprised expression. "Are you okay?" Core asked with a worried expression. "Hm? Yes, of course." Isha answered and slightly tilted her head to the right, perplexed. "..... Its going to be alright, stay strong." Core said, a tear rolled down on her cheek as she leaned forward and hugged Isha. ''W-why?'' Isha was taken aback by Core''s unexpected gesture, but she didn''t deny it, and something pricked on her cheek; she raised her hand to rub it off, but she felt a cold wet sensation on her cheek, and when she saw what it was, she realized she had cried before, and the tears that had welled up in her eyes had just rolled down.... ''There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding here, but....'' Isha hugged Core back and calmed her heart and mind. ''I guess, I was a bit sad about his death...'' Isha admitted, and another lonely tear rolled down her cheek as if to prove her right. "Haa.... Thank you, I''m alright now." Isha sighed, thanked Core and patted her back, signalling her to let go. "Sniffle, I''m not, stay still." Core mumbled with a pout while sniffing. "Hahaha, yes, yes." Isha chuckled lightly andforted Core this time around. Isha believed there was nothing wrong with getting close to Eshwar''s friends because he would never allow bad people to get too close to him, let alone be his friends. There would be two types of people he would be close to: ''his'' people and those who he thought could be ''useful'' to him. In between Isha and Core was Eshwar, who was breathing slowly while tears continuously streamed off and froze as they approached Isha''s thigh, the blood sea which was slowlying down as the white space cracked was another sight to see for Isha who stared deep into the blood sea domain''s horizon where the pure white space and the crimson red blood sea met over Core''s shoulder, then suddenly.... SHWOOSH SWIRL "!" Isha opened her eyes wide as all the mana in the air trembled and got sucked into Eshwar, who was out cold. "What!?" Isha eximed in surprise, gently pushing back Core and staring at Eshwar''s face, whose eyes were wide open and eyeballs had rolled back, revealing a pair of two white sclera with thin red veins. ''Wh.... What''s going on? His whole insides are trembling!'' Isha used her divinity that rose from her thighs topletely sense Eshwar''s body; unlike his body, which was only trembling slightly from the outside, his insides seemed to be ready to burst at any moment. "Wh-why?" Isha looked at Eshwar, worriedly. "Gra!!" Eshwar suddenly screamed in anguish which left Isha even more worried. "Healing!?" Isha used her divinity, but because it had no effect, she looked at the others in front of her with a worried and helpless expression while her re intensified. "He-here!" Arngrim, Core and Henry instantly opened their subspaces and handed over a volumetric sk with green, slightly thicker, healing potion. She snatched it from Core''s grasp, popped off the volumetric sk''s cap, and ced it near his lips with one hand while gently holding his chin with the other and supporting his head to keep it from trembling too much, and poured the potion into his mouth, but the liquid hit her thighs as Eshwar.... Disappeared. Chapter 140 139. Return Of The Cursed (2). ?[Trait: ??? (Cursed) activated perfectly.] [Party member ''Anuke'' has died.] The Eye nced at the notification pop up and suddenly felt strange while many things shed through his mind, he got to know he was a man, many feelings, names, ces and about himself as Eshwar, the kid who he thought was amusing was just him being him, many ugly truths, rage on many things including Quinn, a subtle pity for Isha which he was forcing off of his heart because that would change the way he treated her until now which he didn''t want. All those years of his life''s pain had returned and forced themselves into him, ripping apart the being ''Eshwar'' and turning him into an entirely different person, but.... Would ''Eshwar'' change? No! Why? Because all of those feelings were his to begin with, his ego was too big for it to crack from the feelings which were just repeating themselves! If he changed that would just be nonsense! But..... Would he really be same person? He was experiencing all of the emotions and pain at once which had happened to him as the years passed, and one would definitely be broken when he felt the same thing over and over, numbing his feelings and if he wanted to express them it would just be a fake expression. Now, the being known as the Eye was forcing itself into ''Eshwar'' numbing Eshwar''s everything.... ''Everything,'' a simple word that just simply defined an entire existence of the being named ''Eshwar,'' the same existence the Eye endured 64 years of continuous torture just to be destroyed the next moment he defined.... Would ''Eshwar'' and ''The Eye'' simply let it go? Never! Now that the both knew they were one, he would give his everything to hold on to himself, like he has always done. All 64 years of loneliness, struggle and all the strength he ''earned,'' he would use everything to hold himself from changing. Doesn''t matter he if remains the same or not, he wouldn''t give in to the ''curse'' nor would be let the being who cursed him be alive! Eshwar who was in his mannequin body was floating in the middle of glitched space, he held his head in anguish, but not a single groan escaped his mouth, everything was returning to him. Suddenly, Quinn''s life began to sh through his mind, and Eshwar felt all of Quinn''s pain he felt in his entire life in first person. Eshwar''s body manifested in that glitched space, with only half torn and tattered trousers. Slowly, stripes of bright crimson red sh-like marks began to appear on his body, and he felt the pain of being shed in the same ce. Slowly, the bright crimson red stripes appeared on his shoulders, arms, forearms, chest, waist andstly his back which was more than all of stripes which appeared in front of his body and he felt all the pain of those shes of swords, daggers and ws though they weren''t anything new to him, it''s not like they don''t hurt, but he just clenched his teeth and endured because he felt like if he screamed he would lose himself. Now, Anuke''s life shed through his mind, all the abuse she endured during her stay with her so-called parents, all the mental and physical torture that little child had to endure before fleeing to the Sunshine Orphanage, and, though it was only a little, all the happy moments she had when caring for children in the orphanage, meeting Isha and Eshwar. He felt like he was in a child''s body as he felt the same amount of pain she had to go through when she was abused, every single p, punch, and many bruises caused by her father to her and her mother, and she who abused Anuke to relieve herself from all the pent-up stress and pain because she couldn''t do anything to her husband, Anuke''s emotions of thinking she shouldn''t have been born, each and every single emotion and pain of hers was felt by Eshwar. SHWOOSH Suddenly, Eshwar''s body trembled violently and turned stiff, his head shook side to side violently and every time a face other than Eshwar''s shed, a mannequin head, Quinn''s face, Anuke''s face and Eshwar''s face, four faces shed forming a semi-circle, their faces seemed to be screaming in anguish, but Eshwar''s face was grinning ominously with a wolf-life fanged mouth. The other three faces zoomed out as if running from Eshwar before pulling back inside him, his shaking face came to a halt, and only Eshwar''s face remained and a dark purple hue sprang out forming a me-like pattern, but then suddenly the me-like hue crackled before forming w-like edges. BOOM Then, all of a sudden, an unknown feeling enveloped him, which was him recognizing himself as ''I,'' and awakening his sense of self. "Well, that was one violently emotional roller coaster." I mumbled out with a apathetic expression. ''At least ''I'' didn''t change....'' "First..." I looked down at the glitched space in an indifferent expression. "Let''s get out of here." I nced at my right hand as it slowly froze turning translucent light blue forearm and.... CREAK (5x) The translucent light blue fingers creaked as they grew, forming a the veeeerrrrryyyyy familiar ws, I stared at them with in satisfaction with a an apathetic expression and punched down pierced through at the glitched space. The glitched space cracked around my ws, and small ss-like glitched space cracked and fell before transforming into magic power that dissolved in mid-air. ''I''m somewhere mid-air....'' "And it''s raining...." I mumbled as I stared at the water droplets raising up to the ground (?).... "I''m upside down?" I slightly tilted my head and jumped up, beforending exactly at the small crack that turned into a giant one in an instant, I crossed my hands behind my back and slowly descended from the giant crack that I had unknowingly broken in the sky, I controlled the mana around me and slowly descended from the sky, enjoying the scenery in front of me. I was in Sector five, above the academy, which had turned into a pile of debris, and Isha, Henry, Arngrim, Core, and Louie were staring at me... or the giant crack behind me, but I could definitely feel Isha''s gaze on me, my lips twitched and curled up forming a small smile, and my eyes moved towards Louie, who was carrying Quinn''s dead body behind his back, and anger rose from the depths of my entire being. "How ironic." Chapter 141 140. Return Of The Cursed (3). ?"How ironic." I, who once thought of him as a family member, am now looking at him as if I want to resurrect him just to kill him again. Plenty of the moments I spent with Quinn shed through my mind as if trying to change my mind, but... It doesn''t matter now, does it? "Che. How annoying." I clicked my tongue because all the ''muscle memories'' I had as the Eye were forcing themselves into my mind every time I moved my body. ''I guess, Nhifrogr''s knowledge is useful at times like these....'' I closed my eyes and felt every nook and cranny of ''my'' body because information about the body always forces itself into my mind even when I don''t want it to, it was somewhat convenient this time. "Hmm...." I clenched and unclenched my fist to check if there was any changes, oh you bet there were, everything felt far morefortable now, and ''my'' body moved exactly how I wanted it to. SHWOOSH A dark purple hue exploded from my body, it pulsed twice, and I sensed everything happening on the ground as if I were there myself; many people were covered in fear while trembling, many had fainted, and the mana density in the atmosphere had increased by a factor of two. Maybe they couldn''t handle the sudden increase in atmospheric mana or they feared they would die from the sudden changes, but people seemed..... Scared. ''That man.....'' I could feel a hooded suspicious looking man, he had a ck hair which fluttered under the hood, but I ignored him as he felt insignificant, and..... "Anuke...." "Thank you." I thanked Anuke as I felt like if not for her, I would have never woken up from that curse, though I would have personally preferred a different.... Method. Though it may seem cold, her death was a necessary sacrifice, but..... I nced at Isha, who was staring at me with a smile on her face, she genuinely seemed happy to see me, hmmm? ''Not that much time has passed in here.....'' I stared at the surrounding in a apathetic expression as everything that happened before 64 years shed in my mind. "Hahaha, 64 years of the time I have been through..... has passed in a sh?" I chuckled with my right palm rested on my face before I leaned back and stared at the gloomy sky. "Hoo... You better hide." I took a deep breath and mumbled while ring at the sky because I didn''t know what the being who cursed me looked like, an image of a silhouetted being manifested in my mind. And "How dare you mourn for such a pathetic human." I mumbled at the rainy sky because I felt the fading mana of Quinn mixed with Aminah''s, the spirit of storm. I raised my right hand and spread it out a little more, causing a strange translucent dark purple ripple that instantly cleared the rainy clouds as the moon shone beautifully on my right. "Now, time to mourn for someone who actually deserves it..." I mumbled and disappeared from the sky. *** A few moments earlier. The healing potion fell on Isha''s thighs where Eshwar had beenying just a moment ago, but now his entire body had disappeared without a trace and as if to add salt to the wound, the heart of maze where circuit pattern which was glowing bright light blue turned crimson red and started to tick. "!" Isha opened her eyes wide when she felt it. "Run! Mana is being overloaded!! It''ll burst in at most twenty seconds!!" Arngrim yelled at the others. "Okay! Who remembers the exit route!?" Louie asked, stood up and carried Quinn''s dead body behind his back, nced back and forth at all of them. Isha ignored them and dashed away because she could feel Eshwar! She didn''t know what she was feeling, but she knew where he was right now and dashed through the maze as somehow Eshwar''s presence-like something guided her, she trusted and followed that while Henry, Core, Arngrim, and Louie dashed behind her, though they didn''t know what happened to her, they followed her because they didn''t have much of a choice nor the time as they all forgot the path they walked in from, and it could easily be read on Core''s face who seemed to be whining and grumbling about it as she dashed right behind Isha. It wasn''t long before they reached the outside into the pouring rain, as the storm brewed heavily almost covering the moon light, and then abruptly.... RUMBLE (4x) The ground trembled violently, strongly enough to cause them to lose their bnce. Isha used her trait to summon ''shadow hands,'' which was her skill; many pitch-ck hands erupted from Isha''s shadow, which expanded wide enough to cover Henry, Core, Arngrim, and Louie; all the shadow hands held their legs tightly to keep them from falling to the ground. "Eek!!?" Core yelped in surprise and calmed down only after she felt certain that the shadow hands were not harming her or the others. She then stole a nce at Isha and stared at the sky where Isha was staring, who seemed oblivious to the rain water that had gotten into her eyes. "...." the others too simply stared at the direction, Core and Isha were staring at. BOOOMMM An ear deafening ''BOOM'' rang out in the sky, as if a giant asteroid had just crashed on the other side of the world and they were now facing the first ripple, and that loud ''BOOM'' reverberated throughout sector five, though terrified, every single human in sector five stared at the sky and suddenly.... SWOOOMMM A massive pair of demon-like eyes shed with ck abyss-like sclera beneath bright orange iris with vertical ck slits that seemed to split the iris from the middle to make way for the abyss behind them and instilled an ingrained fear in everyone present, including Isha, and only then could she feel Eshwar''s presence-like something more clearly, that ''something'' was as if she could feel his entire existence.... Existence? ''This!!'' Isha opened her eyes wide and stared at the exact spot in the sky where she could feel Eshwar as her body trembled subconsciously. "His existence is being defined!!" Isha eximed in surprise. She felt delighted because she had lost him precisely when he attempted to define his existence in their previous life, all the struggle they went through in the ''Time space'' which the Demigods would use to attain their own divinity and their ''divine name'' which is required for ascension into godhood. ''He is as strong as a Demigod, now?'' Isha tilted her head slightly in confusion. ''This world doesn''t even have that much of a pure mana though? .....'' Isha furrowed her brows, perplexed and shook her head to dismiss those thoughts. "That''s Eshwar so..... Meh." Isha mumbled and nodded her head in understanding. BAM CRA-CRACK (4x) BOOM CRACKLE (10x) "Hmm?" Chapter 142 141. Despair. ?BAM CRA-CRACK (4x) BOOM CRACKLE (10x) "Hmm?" Isha stared back at the sky again where a giant crack had appeared. The crack that appeared in the sky waspletely ck with nothing inside of it, but the amount of mana oozing out of it was iparably denser and purer to the mana Isha could feel in her everyday life in this world, and from that crack descended.... Eshwar. DING [NEW!] [Mana density of the ''Earth'' has increased twofold!] [Mana beings ''level'' increased by 1.] [System influence increased by 5.] [Current System influence: 72.] Isha ignored the system notifications and stared at Eshwar with a beautiful smile on her face; she felt a sudden surge of power in her body that perfectly customised itself in her body and slightly enhanced her overall strength; she saw Eshwar descend like a literal God, which brought back some unpleasant memories that she suppressed and focused on him. Eshwar was surrounded by a thin but denseyer of dark purple hue, but that wasn''t what drew Isha''s attention.... She couldn''t see his emotions whatsoever, then their eyes met, and only then a green pulse rippled on the dark purple hue that covered him, only then did she understand that he had gotten stronger and seemed like he turned into somebody else. He was covered in a dark purple hue that represented both his mana and his emotional state; he didn''t appear to be feeling anything at all, but... Those green ripples definitely indicated that he was happy, which means that he could feel emotions, but he didn''t seem to be able to do so at the same time, as if his emotions, which had previously appeared to be arge canvas, had now be too small, as if he was cutting them off. "Hm?" Isha noticed Eshwar mumbled something and suddenly the green ripples turned crimson red which indicated anger, in an instant; she followed his line of sight and saw Louie, which perplexed her, and a ''maybe'' crossed her mind as her gaze moved towards Quinn''s dead body which was being carried by Louie on his back. ''Why?'' Isha slightly frowned and suddenly.... SHWOOSH "Uck!?" Groans filled the ground and Isha abruptly snapped her head and looked around; everyone was kneeling while groaning in pain as the fear they felt intensified, and Isha was the only one who stood straight while even Core and the others were kneeling with their heads down, and she realized that she was only standing straight because of her divinity and because she had already ''remembered'' how many times she had faced fear stronger than this when she felt the ingraining fear from earlier. "Hahaha, ...." A coldughter reverberated throughout the sector five as the fear they felt intensified, Isha looked back at Eshwar and frowned. ''Who?'' Isha''s frown deepened when she saw shes of a mannequin. A mannequin body shed on Eshwar and disappeared entirely before Isha could get a better look at it; it was then that Isha properly realized that something had happened to him that had forced him to change, and that change was something ''Eshwar'' had yet to adapt to; and from then everything happened in a sh, Eshwar cleared the rainy clouds and nced back at Isha, who was still staring at him, and vanished. His abrupt disappearance made Isha uneasy; it was something she had only felt once before, and it had nothing to do with Eshwar; it was something she felt when she had to leave behind someone precious to her in her previous life...her maid, whom Isha was forced to leave behind because she had run from everything that held her back, and when she was running, an unknown emotion crept up from the bottom of her heart, which hurt more than anything else, and now that feeling returned to her, again. SHWISH Eshwar suddenly appeared in front of Isha and stared at her, green colour pulsated on the thinyer of dark purple ''colour'' that covered him. Even though ''that'' feeling lingered in the back of her mind, her lips curled up into a bright smile, forcing Eshwar''s to do the same, though not as brightly as they were before, a small smile appeared on his face, as if that was the best effort he could muster. ''Eshwar is still there, but he has yet to adapt to it.... I don''t know what happened to him, but he is trying to get back, or so my feelings are screaming, and I can''t help but trust them. If he doesn''t, I just have to turn him back into the Eshwar he was by myself!'' Isha was determined, and she clenched her fists inwardly. "Excuse me, Miss Cyclops." Eshwar said in a low voice, instantly filling Isha''s heart with happiness as it began to beat faster, something was still stinging in the corner of her heart while she felt happy. "Eh?" Isha suddenly eximed in surprise when Eshwar abruptly held her waist and pulled her close for a hug. Isha was not surprised by the sudden hug... She was slightly surprised, but she was also embarrassed because he wasn''t wearing anything to cover his upper body, and this was the first time she had seen his body that wasn''t covered in translucent light blue ice or white snow. "...." She hugged him back and closed her eyes while blushing violently. SWISH "Open your eyes, Miss Cyclops." Eshwar''s soft breath trickled into Isha''s right ear as he whispered in her ear in a sweet voice, while his warmth seemed to envelope her body. "Eeik!!" Isha let out a strange meek scream and nced at Eshwar''s handsome face while the moon light shone brightly on his face and she simply continued to stare at him, dazed. "...." Eshwar too simply stared back at her with a small smile on his face, dark orange and light orange colours pulsated which woke Isha back out of her daze, she furrowed her brows for a split second and turned to her right where she was a giant moon shone beautifully, only then did she notice they were high up in the sky slightly closer to the moon. ''Dark orange- Worried and light orange- concerned, but....'' Isha thought. "Why?" she asked while staring at the moon. "....." Eshwar didn''t answer. SWISH And the beautiful scenery in front of her abruptly changed, and the answer to her question appeared in front of her in a very unexpected and heart wrenching way, she was now in front of the..... Sunshine Orphanage. "Ah." Chapter 143 142. Despair (2). ?"Ah." Isha at the Sunshine Orphanage..... Or what was left of it. The Sunshine Orphanage was now in ruins with blooded debris scattered around, and in the scene were Vinny who had sat down, Jiwoo was standing next to Vinny with a lost expression, Katline seemed to have cried as her eyes had turned red, Katharine and Violet too had tears streaming down their cheeks while puke was next to Katharine, Vinny, Jiwoo were on the right corner of the ruins while Katharine and Violet were on the left while Katline was peeking at the bodies as if she was investigating something. "W-why?" Isha mumbled and trembling in Eshwar''s arms while tears trickled down. THROB Isha felt her heart clench and her whole body lost strength if not for Eshwar who was still holding her in his arms she would have copsed on the ground. At that moment, the only thing that kept her sane while the gruesome scene instilled in her mind was Eshwar''s warmth, she had ced her hands on his chest to push him away, but because he held her firmly, she still held on to herself only because she could feel Eshwar''s racing heartbeat. SWOOOMMM CRA-CRACK (4x) RUMBLE (3x) Suddenly, everything around her was engulfed by a gloomy darker purple hue, and every single debris was covered in a thinyer of that hue, slowly rising to air, and bodies of the academy''s children slowly rose above ground andid on the ground in front of what remained of the Sunshine Orphanage, and possibly due to the sudden mana fluctuation, people began to gather, including the people from the association. STEP-STEP (5x) "Sir Eshwar, please back off, the association will handle from here." Seo Hana walked up to Eshwar and Isha with a solemn expression and said. "Eh?" Isha snapped out of her trance when she heard her words. "How dare...." Isha red at Seo Hana while tears continued to stream down, but then suddenly something unexpectedly expected happened. "Ukh!!?" Everyone in the area knelt with their heads down, including the people from the association with the exception of Isha, as groans filled the air. "Hush." Eshwar ced his right index finger on his lips and said in a low tone, and the entire area instantly turned silent as the temperature dropped by few degrees. "Ah." Isha nced at Eshwar and noticed that his face had turned cold while crimson red and dark cyan colours rippled on the darker purple hue that covered him. ''Anger and grief...'' Isha briefed due her habit, subconsciously. "...." Isha then turned to were the bodies of the Orphanage''s childrenid. "....Ah." Isha''s gaze fell on Anuke''s body, which had turned cold; she extended her left hand as if trying to reach her, but Isha''s knees gave way and she slumped in Eshwar''s arms; she then nced at Eshwar while her right fingernails dug into his chest until they bled. "P-please." She mumbled in a low voice and stared down at the ground while tears streaming down her cheeks. ''You''rete.'' Anuke''s annoyed voice rang in her head, every time she would have happily apologized, but this time she felt as if her heart was being pressed down by an unknown weight, making her think that maybe they lost their lives because of her. "Y-yes, I''m sorry I''mte." Isha mumbled in her head down, and the ground changed to a slightly more blooded one as her gaze moved to Anuke''s face, which seemed to be filled with pain, and that face made Isha feel like her heart had been torn apart. Anuke''s body didn''t have any limbs attached to her while the blood flowing out had stopped, there was a giant sh in the middle of her small body and a ck bruise on her left cheek which seemed to have broke her jaw and cheekbone. Isha was two steps away from Anuke''s body, kneeling down with her shoulders slouched forward while staring at the dead bodies of the children who she saw every day and thought that these kids were enough for her to be happy... SWISH A cold breeze blew across her face, snapping her out of her trace, she instantly crawled towards Anuke''s dead body, picked her head up, ced it on herp and slightly tapped on her right cheek as if she was trying to wake her up from her sleep. "O-oi. Oo-i, A-A-Anuke?" Isha called lovingly with a painful looking smile while tears streamed down profusely. "A-Anu-Anuke? Way-wake up, huh?" She called while stuttering. "Ah, A-Anuke!? Haa.... L-look b-bi-big si-sis-sister and bi-big b-bro-brother is.... Haa, please...." She mumbled and pressed her lips and closed her eyes. "Oi, Anu-Anuke!?" She screamed and opened her blurry eyes to stare at Anuke. "Haa... Look b-bi-big b-bro-brother is h-here, haha, haa, d-don''t y-you wa-want t-to ri-ride the u-unicorn?" Isha asked while taking deep breaths which left her body the next second and just as she said those words Eshwar who stood right next to her winced as his brows trembled. "Please! Haa.... Oo-i! Please? Please wake up!" She pleaded. "Pl-please. Esh-Eshwar, say some-something?" Isha nced at Eshwar for a split second and looked back at Anuke. "..." Eshwar simply stared at her with his brows trembling. *** "Pl-please. Esh-Eshwar, say some-something?" Isha looked at me with a pained expression on her face, I felt my heart tighten. ''Please stop.'' I said inwardly, strangely enough my mouth didn''t seem to open as if a lump was stuck in my throat, the scene in front of me was too heart wrenching, but I couldn''t find any tears to shed as I stared at the scene, my head hurt as my heart ached and no.... I still didn''t feel anything for thinking about Anuke as a ''necessary sacrifice'' or maybe..... I did. THROB My heart throbbed at the thought, as if to confirm my thoughts; Isha''s state pained me even more; she tried to hold on, but she appeared to have lost her sanity... Or she simply denied reality. PANG A sudden pang appeared in my mind and some images of Isha shed through my mind, Isha was walking towards me in the middle of an empty green grass field with a bright beautiful smile on her face and that image changed into one where she had an indifferent and proud expression on her face as she stared down at me while the ground around me froze, continuously and again the scenery changed and now I was in a wooden warm and cozy house where I followed Isha who climbing the stairs from behind while admiring her figure... PANG A different scene appeared in front of my eyes, I stared at Isha who red and roared indistinguishable words at the sky before copsing in front of me with a smile on her face and her eyelids slowly lower and I could feel that she had died, and abruptly an unquenchable thirst for vengeance and an unimaginable amount of pain crept up from the bottom of my heart and engulfed my entire being. PANG Another pang appeared in my mind, and everything vanished, and I was back at the scene, behind Isha, who was still denying reality, and the throbbing in my heart continued; I couldn''t take it any longer, and.... SMACK "..." I knocked Isha unconscious and lifted her up like a princess and turned back before disappearing from the spot I stood. Chapter 144 143. Aftermath (2). ?SMACK "..." Seo Hana heard a strange sound which she decided to ignore as her mind was filled with other thoughts. ''Why? Why? Why is it always me? I just asked him to not interfere with the crime scene? Why is he acting like that only to me? And....'' Seo Hana felt unfair as she remembered how she felt humiliated just from the way Eshwar always behaved. ''Who is that woman!!? Is she his new girlfriend? Why is she so beautiful!?'' Seo Hana grumbled inwardly. "Haa..." She sighed while staring at the ground. SWOOOMMM "Huh?" The pressure that had been pressing on her suddenly dissipated; she raised her head and looked around, only to discover that her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend had vanished from the scene. ''Though it was very heart wrenching to hear that woman speak with her trembling voice, I can''t lose focus now as if is nothing new nowadays.....'' Seo Hana thought, stood back up and nced back at the ten people of her squad, slowly stand back up with tears welled up in their eyes, though some people who had gathered here had nonchnt expression on their faces and none of them cried, maybe because those kids were from the orphanage... It''s disgusting, but it''s the harsh truth of the reality. "...Secure the sight! Position yourselves and don''t let anybody in!" Seo Hana ordered, ignoring everything rted to the previous actions as if it never happened. She then looked around the scene and noticed the cadets of the ''former'' switch academy, ''former'' because she had heard about many strange things that had happened in sector five, one of which was the shocking news about the switch academy''s copse. ''What was that tremor? It wasn''t only in sector five, all other sectors had reported that same strange tremor.... the entire human domain felt the same tremor...'' Seo Hana pondered. "Go speak to the witnesses!" Seo Hana ordered and one of the squad members walked towards the academy cadets. ''Aren''t they the ones in the top 10 rankings of the academy? No wonder they seemed familiar..... Should I try scouting?'' Seo Hana pondered. "No, no, no." She shook her head vigorously. "That''s Elise''s job." She mumbled. ".... Vampires....." She heard a low voice from a distance and at the ''vampires'' word her ears perked up. ''Vampires? But the blood is.... intact....'' She pondered, but she found the answer at the next words of the cadets. "We arrived at the scene toote, but we were able to stop them before they.... did their thing." The red haired guy said. ''They were able to stop them before they did there thing? Those guys stopped the vampires from sucking blood? Those blood crazed monsters?'' Seo Hana was astounded that those horrendous monsters who had caused such a ughter on poor little kids had been stopped by kids who weren''t even as strong as her; every single thought sounded absurd to her. SWISH "You better stop spouting bullsh*t, kid." Seo Hana instantly appeared in front of the red haired guy and red at him. "You. Stopped those blood sucking monsters? They were cruel enough to cause such a ughter against these poor kids weren''t strong enough to deal with you guys? Even if you are a rank-S hero, that doesn''t mean you can simply kill them and those bloodthirsty monsters won''t flee because they are terrified of a single rank-S hero! if it was so easy, the world would have already been devoid of any vampires!" Seo Hana red at him and snarled with every sentence. "At least one body of the vampires would have remained if you fought and killed them, and it is nearly impossible that they would have left after seeing a bunch of kids." Seo Hana said and started to ponder as soon as those words came out of her mouth. ''Or they had another hidden agenda....'' "I''ll correct myself then, they left as soon as we arrived at the scene." The red haired guy persistently said. "How did you know that something was happening here while the whole neighbourhood was silent?" Seo Hana asked as him talking back irked her for reasons even she didn''t know. "We received a message from our Academy''s chairman, Sir Quinn Walker." This time a ck haired woman answered. "Where? Show us." Seo Hana asked with her brows furrowed. [Hana, Academy''s chairman Quinn Walker is dead.] Elise''s voice sounded in Seo Hana''s earpiece. "What!?" Seo Hana eximed in shock and everybody around her flinched. "Hey Elise, how did that old man die?" She spoke in her earpiece. [I don''t know, your ex''s friends seemed to have fought together and while they were engaged in the fight, the old man was killed from behind by a hooded man.] Elise replied. [Elise, can those words of theirs be trusted? Nobody else saw what actually happened in there and the whole academy has copsed with anything rted to the incident.] A soft man''s voice sounded through the earpiece. "Alex, join her and hold them there, I''ll join you and look at them, if they are ''his'' friends they can be trusted and I know because I have seen and talked to them or you can contact Matthew Smith, the guild master of the Hell Fury Guild, we can use his skill to check if they are saying the truth or not." Hana said in her earpiece. [Huhuhu~ seems like somebody still likes her ex, even after all these years.] Elise giggled teasingly. [Oh, they are her ex''s friends? Ahem, anyway, I''ll contact that annoying guy.] Alex Turner said in surprise. "I don''t like him, I just know him!" Hana roared with a flushed face. [Huhuhu~] Elise continued to tease, but Hana got a bit too flustered and disconnected the call just reconnect the next second. "This woman, I''ll have to train her after I return to the association." Hana grumbled as a demonic smile appeared on her face, and her gaze was drawn to the red-haired man and the ck-haired woman, both of whom were staring at her with strange expressions on their faces. "Ahem, I have a bad news and a worse news which one do you want to hear first?" Seo Hana asked with a solemn look on her face. "Bad." A low mumbled was heard from her right to which Hana nodded without looking back at the voice. "You''ll have toe with us for now, with the message of course." Hana thought of taking them near the academy and clear up all the doubts at once. "The worst one is that, the Academy''s Chairman, Sir Quinn Walker has passed away, and the Switch academy has copsed which may or may not mean that your academy is no more." Chapter 145 144. Announcing Their Return. ?[NEWS] [The ''Switch'' academy has been attacked over night!] [The Academy''s assets have been handed over to the Hero Association, further discussion is prolonging.] [Attack on the Switch academy was done by the vampires from ''the graveyard,'' the vampire association and the a ''Bishop'' ranked vampire had led the attack.] [Former Switch Academy''s Chairman, Sir Quinn Walker was killed during the attack.] [246 casualties, including the professors and cadets were killed in the attack.] [People who lost their loved ones are cursing at the academy''s ex-professors who had previously guaranteed the safety of the cadets.] [Another attack in the same day!] [Sunshine Orphanage has been added to grieving!] [The attack on the Sunshine Orphanage too was led by the vampires, ording to the witnesses the vampires fled at the sight of the heroes, the witness''s identity has been kept confidential for security and the strict investigation on the incidents are being carried out by the Hero Association.] [Birth of a new Hero!] [Cadet named ''Vinny Grover'' has been evaluated as a Rank-S Hero.] [All the Guild''s are on the lookout for the Hero ''Vinny Grover,'' it has been said that the Hero Association has also contacted Hero ''Vinny Grover.''] [Hero Association has offered a newly created squad for the newly born Rank-S Hero ''Vinny Grover.''] [Demon army is in the move!] [ording to the information from the satellites, the demons army consists of extraordinary mass, they are crossing the sea through flight and demonic magic, the demonic army is expected to be controlled by the demon king.] [Elves join the alliance!] [An envoy from the Elven Kingdom, ''Frolond,'' has bought the news from the Elven King, saying that they wish to form an alliance for the uing ''Demonic War,'' which was very well received news from the human domain.] [Generation Z has been excited to finally fulfill their fantasies about the Elves.] *** The next morning. In a 20 feet semi furnished room, two figures slept on a king-sized bed. Gorgeous ck-haired woman slept soundly, her eyes and nose had turned red from crying, her hands were in front of her face holding onto a big hand of the handsome white-haired man who was sitting while leaning back against the headboard while lovingly staring at the ck-haired woman and staring at his smartwatch on the other hand. ''So it really was the vampires.....'' I frowned upon reading the news. "But why?" I mumbled. "Mmm~" "Hahaha." I chuckled at the sight of Isha who was frowning as her silky ck hair trickled on her face. THROB "...." She cried even in her sleep, and I had no idea what was going through her head. She finally stopped when she grasped my palm and didn''t let go for the rest of the night. FLOP I tossed my smartwatch on the bed and tucked her hair behind her ear. Only after her hair was out of the way did she rx her face muscles, making me wonder how she would sleep normally and slightly tightened her grip around my hand as she slowly tightened and loosened, a process that had been going on all night. "Haa..." I sighed and caressed her head gently before sitting back straight. * 10 minutester. "Mmm~" Isha slightly opened her left eye and stared at her hands which held mine. "Good morning." I whispered. "Mmm~" A small smile appeared on her face as she pulled my hand closer to her. ''!'' "Um, Isha..." I stiffened before she pulled my hand any closer because she was pulling it to her chest for a hug and I definitely wasn''t confident that my hands would stay still. "Mmm?" Isha furrowed her brows and opened her left eye. "..." "..." "Hello?" I decided to break the silence and her gaze moved to face me with a frown. "!" Her eyes shot wide open and she jerked back subconsciously. "Wha-what are you doing here!?" She yelled with a flushed face and pulled the nket closer to hug it tightly. "?" I tilted my head slightly, puzzled. ''Why would I be where? This is a hotel''s room, I carried you here because I was the reason you passed out.'' "Umm, sorry?" I mumbled and scratched the back of my head. "Ah." Isha''s face suddenly turned gloomy. ''Seems like she remembered aboutst night...'' "You!" Isha''s face abruptly twisted in madness and tears started to stream out. THROB "....." I stared at her in silence. "I-If not for you!" Isha yelled. THROB "If not for that basta*d! I could have gone to their rescue!" Isha said and I started to remember what had happened before all those things happened. THROB "I..." I thought it would be better to exin everything to her, but..... "Shut it! I don''t want to hear it! Let me speak!" Isha roared and wept. "...." "What the f**k do you want to talk? Huh? ''We''ll talkter'' my a*s! If you had asked about it simply then and there, we....we... haa." Isha took a deep and cried, I simply stared at her as my brows trembled, I thought that if I speak now it will get worse and decided to let her vent it out. THROB "W-we could have gone to..... save them...." Isha who was ring at me while pointing her finger at me, slouched her shoulders forward and sobbed. THROB I couldn''t do anything in this situation; if I spoke, her temper would worsen; her state was at the point where everything I said would be heard as an excuse, and she wouldn''t hear anything until she had calmed downpletely; I should have spoken with her properly, but not now. "Sniffle, haaa, sniffle." THROB "Isha..." I mumbled and rose up on the bed and knee walked towards her tofort her, but.... "Stop." Isha said and crawled to the other side of bed, hugged her knees and buried her head in it. "Leave me alone." She mumbled. THROB "..." I stared at her with a pained expression and nodded my head with a slight smile. "Sniffle." "..... Yes." I felt like a lump stuck in my throat and mumbled in a low tone. CLUNK I walked towards the door, looked back at her, and exited the room because there was nothing I could do but leave her alone for now, so she could calm down and think clearly... I just want to ignore her wishes and stay with her, but.... since she made it clear that she didn''t want me there.... "Oh my.... It seems like I can still feel hurt even after all those years of continuous emotional torture...." I mumbled and ced my hand on my heart because it hurt a bit too much than I expected. I nced at my wrist for the smartwatch and remembered that I chucked it in the room. "Haha, ha." I let out a dryugh and.... [Announce the return of the ''UNCHARTED.''] Chapter 146 145. Announcing Their Return (2). ?[Announce the return of the ''UNCHARTED.''] *** In the underground facility. Louie, Arngrim, Henry and Core sat in a semi-circle in front a couch with a leg rest in front of it, Core sat on Henry''sp, while Louie continued to sigh deeply in dejection, Arngrim stared at Louie in a stupefied expression while Henry simply stared at them and shook his head. "Cheer up, it''s not the first time we''ve seen the death of someone close." Henry decided to break the silence and spoke up. "Well, we all lost someone close beforeing here, I''m not worried about Quinn''s death...." Arngrim snapped out of his trance at Henry''s words and mumbled. "Right, I''m worried about Eshwar because he thought of Quinn like a family...." Louie continued Arngrim''s words. "I don''t think Eshwar that weak hearted, but...." Core mumbled, but.... [Announce the return of the ''UNCHARTED.''] They all abruptly flinched in unison when they heard Eshwar''s voice in their head, it sounded cold and slightly mncholy. ".... We''re back in business." Arngrim muttered and stood up. "He sounded hurt, maybe because he lost Quinn...." Louie mumbled. "Well, I''ll go and announce our return, the Eshwar we know will get over it in a day or two." Core said with a smile and walked towards her room. ''No, he just holds a grudge that could burst out the second he gets a chance to strike back, he has never gotten over anything nor will he ever....'' Henry thought and shook his head. "''Mind Link'' is one damn useful thing...." Henry mumbled with a chuckle. *** VROOOM VRO-VROOOM I rode my bike until I reached sector two and continued until I reached the most inner zone of the sector two where the most Rank-S monsters reside, though they are slightly weaker than the Rank-AA monsters which spawn in sector one, they are still considered as ''strong'' monsters from the ''normal'' standards set by the human domain. THROB ".... I''ll have to walk from here..." I mumbled. "How annoying." A Rank-S monster, a Orc warrior popped into in front of me with a giant club while hunting down the Rank-AA wolves. "Rainfall." I mumbled and got off from my bike. THROB "Hmm..." A sudden idea popped up in my mind as thousands of ice needles formed above my head. ''I guess, I''ll try, there''s nothing wrong in trying something new....'' I held out my right hand, and a twin axe head materialized above my hand, chilling the air around it and turning it visibly white. "Next are the chains...." I raised my hand and turned it in a twisting manner, focusing on the ice needles and imagining the process and its appearance. "Tsk." I clicked my tongue, drew my hand back along with the twin axe head, and threw it as hard as I could. BOOM WHOOOSH CRA-CRACK SPLURT CRASH BAM ? Everything around me tore apart, up to ten steps on both sides, killing three monsters in the process, two Rank-AA wolves and a Orc warrior, things around me were simply raze to ground and the axe head which I threw flew until there was something strong enough to stop it, only after ripping apart fifteen trees from their roots continuously did it stop. THROB "Haa.... F**k." I crouched down and cursed. THROB "I can''t focus, dammit." "F**K!" I roared, dashed and got on my bike. VROOOM * VROOOOMMM THROB "Stop!" I roared at my throbbing heart as I drove faster towards sector one. There are simple gates connected to certain other sectors, this is what humans in the human domain use for going to the neighbouring sectors because not everybody can afford to travel long distances by using the portal areas. * VROOM A scent that was all too familiar hit my nostrils: trees, mud, rotten bodies, and blood. I drove through sector one until any monsters were caught in my sight and fortunately, I didn''t have to wait for long as a Ogre appeared in my right. THROB "F**king son of a bit*h! Come!" I roared and jumped off of my bike. CRASH My bike crashed into a nearby tree and bounced back once before copsing to the side and stopped moving. BAM I jumped to the right where the Ogre was and instantly punched its face before it could even react to me. THROB "Where?" I looked around in search of more monsters and.... BOOM Dark purple hue exploded out of body and reached to the centre parts of the sector one while I stood at the start of it. BOOM I lunged forward to the nearest monster I sensed, leaving behind a 5 feet wide crater beneath my foot. THROB WHOOSH (6x) BAM Another Ogre was caught and I lunged forward again, ignoring the blood that sttered on me, a swarm of goblins appeared in front of my sight, I dashed and halted five steps away from the goblins, raised my right leg and mmed it to the ground. BAM Again, a five-foot-wide crater appeared beneath my foot, and four small ice spikes protruded out in front my foot which multiplied thrice in both, numbers and size by the time it reached the goblins and skewering them before they could even face me, I could say that ''they died without knowing what killed them,'' at the sight in front of me. THROB BOOM I took a step forward, crouched down slightly and lunged forward before the other foot touched the ground, the werewolves started to appear which could only be found at the start of the inner parts of sector one... Not that it mattered. BAM I punched at its stomach and killed it in one shot, and as soon as I killed that werewolf, four more popped out and dashed towards me, which made me happy cause they could react to my speed, which meant the monsters which are going to appear from now on, can react to my speed and what should I do about it? I just have to go.... Faster. SWISH THROB I noticed the werewolves eyes go wide, which meant that either they could see me, but couldn''t react or Ipletely disappeared from their sights which is more....Likely. BAM (4x) SPLURT "!" Right after I killed the werewolves, I remembered that there was an Orc warrior''s vige in the inner parts of the sector one. "Well, you better be prepared, cause....." THROB "An envoy of death ising to visit." Chapter 147 146. Announcing Their Return (3). ?In the underground facility. Henry, Louie, Arngrim, and Core all felt a strange vibration in the base, and a single thought raced through their minds at the same time. ''He''s finally here.'' ".... Did he really have to destroy something as soon as he arrived?" Core grumbled as her monitors shook, causing her concentration to falter. "Well, isn''t he always like that when he wants to vent out something." Louie mumbled as he entered her room, carrying three bowls on a white tray, one filled with chips, another with noodles, and the third with ice cream. "Where does all of this go?" Louie looked at the tray and back at Core. "In to my ''inventory.''" Core rubbed her stomach with a wide grin on her face. "Haa..." Louie sighed, set it on the desk where there was only one mouse and arge mouse pad beneath, and walked out of her room, shaking his head. "I don''t understand why there is mouse there when she doesn''t even use it...." Louie mumbled as he left the room. "It''s to y games, I''m bored you know." Core said with a wide smile while looking at the food in front of her. PING "Hm?" one of the monitors chimed, Core nced at the notification and grinned. "I can''t believe we already got a request; it hasn''t even been 5 minutes since I announced our return." Core made ament loudly to get Louie''s attention, but because it was a little too loud, both Henry and Arngrim dashed down to her room. "Really? What''s it about?" Arngrim asked with a wide savage grin. "Hm, hm." Core nodded her head in satisfaction and opened the request. ==== [User: Anonymous.] [Target: (image)] [Target''s recent spotted location: Sector six, Restaurant ''The Hungry Bond''] [Bounty: 350,000 C] [Request to: ''WHITE''] [Reason: Personal.] [Dead or alive: Dead.] ==== "Weak." Henry mumbled looking at the bounty. "Yeah, are they underestimating us because we have been inactive for a two months? Previous head bounty was at least 500.000 coins, wasn''t it?" Arngrim asked. "So? Who are they?" Louie ignored Arngrim and asked Core. "One sec." Core mumbled and flitted her fingers on the keyboard. CLI-CLICK (5x) ==== Name: Edwin Cobb Age: 24 Affiliation: The Hungry Bond restaurant (chef) Hero rank: C ==== "Edwin Cobb from the hungry bond, he is the one who requested it, and...." Core said. CLI-CLICK (6x) ==== Name: Ned Benson Age: 21 Affiliation: Active hero, Iron scars guild (Guild master). Hero rank: A ==== "Target is Ned Benson, guild master of a minor guild which is located in sector six..... maybe a petty grudge?" Core mumbled. "Dig deeper on Edwin Cobb. It''s suspicious how he got so much coins." Henry pointed out. "Right, I don''t think he could afford that much money from working in a restaurant, and no one wants someone killed if they had to use their savings." Arngrim said and nodded in agreement, attracting attention of Core, Louie and Henry. "W-wha?" Arngrim asked, slightly flustered by their gaze. "No, it''s just that you sometimes speak like a smart person, so we were just taken aback by a bit." Henry replied, Core and Louie nodded in agreement. "Argh! F**k you! I am a genius! A genius, you know? How dare you evaluate me so low!" Arngrim screamed in frustration and waspletely ignored by the others. "I''ll go search for additional information." Henry said and turned around to leave. "A week?" Core asked. "A day or two is enough, it''s a request for Eshwar anyway, it''ll be done before a day after I confirm what that guy does." Henry said as he skipped the five step stairs. "Then within 3-days?" Core asked. "Hmm... Yep." Henry nodded and walked towards the door. "Come back soon." Core''s voice was heard from behind, Henry smiled at her words and took out his mask from the subspace. It was a bright red mask that covered the lower half of his face and had a slit in front of his mouth with a razor sharp fanged pattern. He held it up to his mouth, and it adhered to his face as it recognized Henry''s mana signature. SWISH (2x) He took out a pair of orange striped daggers and shed the air, and after his grip around the daggers gotfortable, he opened the door. CLUNK A 50-step stairway weed him, and there was a vent at the end of the staircase, so he jogged, opened the hatch, jumped out, and dashed as the hatch quickly hid itself as soon as his mana supply halted. After a 100-meter dash, he found where Eshwar had previously been as the 20-foot-wide path was cleared with trees falling to their sides, some slightly frozen with blood sttered everywhere and fifteen trees pulled off with their roots simultaneously, the first five trees were broken in the middle as they were frozen in that position. The damage stretched for about 200 meters. "..... He has gotten stronger..... again." Henry mumbled in disbelief. "Haa..." He sighed and shook his head when he imagined what Core''s reaction would be if she learned about it. "Let''s keep quiet about it for now." He shuddered at the thought and mumbled. ''....Where was I supposed to g.... Ah! Sector six.'' ''Focus mind.'' Henry muttered in his head and all of the unnecessary thoughts were cleared in an instant. ''Wind''s way.'' His body felt light as he began to move in the direction of the wind; even if the flow was in the opposite direction, it didn''t matter much, but it would have worked wonders if it had been. SHWOOMMM ''Should I consider myself lucky?'' He thought and grinned because the wind was now blowing in the direction of the sector two''s portal area entrance. SWISH He floated a meter above ground and disappeared from the spot he was previously. *** Sector one. 500 meters away from the ''Orc Warriors Vige,'' which was surrounded by a giant pencil-like wooden fence forming a roughly drawn circle of 50 meters radius, with many shacks in it, along with some traps, and many Orc warriors roaming around leisurely with axes, hammers, and broad swords in their hands. The vige had an arched entrance decorated with many monster skulls and bones, with a huge bull''s skull hung in the middle as a symbol of their pride in their chief, who had hunted one of the strongest monsters. THROB "..." Chapter 148 147. Return Of Eshwar. ?THROB "..." ''It is likely to be one of the Minotaur....'' ''Minotaur'' is a bull-like monster with a human-like body. It stands about 12 feet of average height, with the upper half of its body being human and the lower half being bull. Its neck is covered with a dark mane-like fur, and the bull half of its body is covered with a thickyer of dark-colored fur. Orcs are 3-metre-long pale brown monsters. They not only look like humans, but they also possess intelligence simr to that of humans, they are hostile, cannibals, fight instinctively and are warriors by nature. Orc warriors are a type of Orc that will fight to the death if they start a fight. To be considered a winner, they must survive in a death match. Orcs and Orc warriors are easily distinguished because they are tattooed for each match they win. Tattoos are typically a single red stripe for each fight they survive, and they create a maze-like pattern on their body with each stripe they add. And now I sensed the presence of exactly 56 Orc warriors in the vige in front of me, as well as one single Orc warrior with a tremendous amount of aura oozing out of it, who was most likely to be the chief. THROB "...." I had the feeling that if I moved right now, I could kill all of the Orc warriors without even getting hurt. Yes! I needed some physical pain to distract myself from the strange pangs near my heart, which felt like I was about to have a heart attack. ''I-If not for you!'' Isha''s voice sounded in my head. THROB ''Haa...'' I sighed inwardly. I didn''t understand why her words had such an impact on me... maybe I would have thought differently if they hadn''t, but I still thought I''d get over it...wait... ''Why am I thinking like it''s been years?'' I suddenly realized that I was either thinking too fast or too slow because my sense of time had be strange, and I began to think of many other things that happened prior the curse was activated to get my mind back on track. "Huu..." I took a deep breath to calm down and leaped on to the tree''s branch, sat on with my back facing the tree and closed my eyes. THROB BA-BUMP (6x) I heard my heart as soon as I began to concentrate, and it sped up as I began to feel that something had changed, and I needed to figure out what it was. I opened my eyes and looked at the vige from the corner of my eye because I needed a safe ce to check the changes, so I decided to kill them and use ''materialisation'' in the vige. CREAK (5x) The trees around me froze and creaked as needles of ice materialized above me, slightly mixed with green colour, which were the ''shattered or broken'' tree leaves. THROB "Rainfall." I muttered as I raised my right hand in the air and released my palm down lightly. SHWOOMMM The needles propelled forward as they left behind a very small circr wind pressure, and because there were thousands of them, they cancelled each other out, though it didn''t really matter to the ice needles as they were already over there raining upon the vige. Because they were too small, they could pierce their shacks with ease and attack even those who were inside of it, the ice needles simply stuck on the Orc warrior''s bodies as if the Orcs were going through an acupuncture. It was frost magic trick that I developed as a ''debuff'' which would slow down the enemies movements orpletely halt it, though they could be lethal if its speed was adjusted. SWISH As soon as I felt that the needles had sessfully rained down on them, I disappeared from the spot I sat and appeared right in front of the entrance of the vige. ''''Gri!?" "Grui!" "Grr?" The groans of the Orc warriors filled the area, which I promptly ignored until I reached the center of the vige, I crouched down and ced my hand on the ground. "Domain materialization." I mumbled. SHWISH WHOOSH I pushed down on the ground, a small circle of muddy wind rose around my palm, and soon after, a chilled white breath seeped out from the bottom of my palm and rippled, growing in size and volume as it pulsated, the small circle of wind pressure blew out and rose up to the knee level by the time the pulse moved a step away from my palm. SHWOOOOMMM Everything around me froze, including the acupunctured Orc warriors, which sparkled and glistened brightly in the sunlight, the shacks turned into translucent light blue crystals, and everything else was in the same state, except the ''living,'' which did not turn translucent, and the ground had turned to a shiny ice floor forming a pattern of a massive 12 branched snowke that consumed around 300 meters of the surrounding area. SHIMMER "...." I ignored everything around me and stared at my palm. CRACK I pushed down my palm again, and this time a slight crack appeared beneath my palm that only expanded towards the ''living,'' and cracks appeared in a vertical line on all of the crystallized Orc warriors, killing them on the spot as a puff of smoke broke free from the crack. PUFF ? "...." ZZWWWOOOSHHH SHOOOP A reverse ripple of the ''Puff'' formed on the giant 12 branched snowke floor that shot in towards me and shot up, covering me in a thickyered white cocoon, and everything in my sight turned dark as the space morphed into my domain as I desired. "...." I kept my eyes closed as the space morphed because I knew what would happen... "Hm?" I felt a hot yet extremely cold sensation around me, which forced me to open my eyes because I was used to the extremely cold sensation but not the hot one, and the answer to my question was right in front of my eyes. It was the ck Dragon''s Fire which was an attribute which I imbued with my Frost trait. "Hmm..... It''s not what I desired...." "Is it because I started to get morefortable with the ''Trait'' and not employ the mana as I did in the past?" I muttered and looked around; there was ck me covering the entire ck domain, but it was only visible because of its small white me that glowed in the middle of the ck dragon''s me, and of course the dark purple patches were an exception because they weren''t lit in the ck mes, the Earth still had its golden rings, the massive new globe had its own golden ring, and.... "!" The giant clock which previously disyed... [06s: 29m: 11h: 296d: 1669y] was now disying.... (AN: From ch-111 ''A perfect devil''s domain.'') [29s: 52m: 12h: 321d: 1733y] Chapter 149 148. Return Of Eshwar (2). ?[29s: 52m: 12h: 321d: 1733y] "..... Those 64 years have been counted too...." I muttered and walked towards the ck throne because one of the questions I had was answered by that. "Then my experience of those years have definitely affected me, so I need time for myself....." I mumbled and sat on the ck throne. "Hmm.... I have be active in the uncharted because they would have announced our return because of me, I have to get stronger, keep an eye out and be ready for any new changes because I know that many things will change, gods and goddesses, nuisances and new nonsenses..... damn, there are so many things." I mumbled with a nonchnt expression as I counted my fingers. "And..... Isha." With a sigh, I leaned back and noticed that my heart had calmed down. As soon as I realized this, I sat straight in the lotus position, while still on the throne, to get my mind back on track because my time sense appeared to be messed up, which could be a major problem in the future. * Few hourster. "...." * A few more hourster. "...." * Again, a few more hourster. "Huu...." I took a deep breath and breathed out a white translucent smoke, which was enough to notice many differences, the most noticeable of which was that ''mana'' had merged with my breathing, mana was circting in my body with just me breathing. Though it wasn''t anything ''noticeable'' like, but it was a tremendous change because everything I did as ''The Eye'' could now be done by me as ''Eshwar,'' meaning.... I got stronger. "Though I don''t know where I''ll use all this strength, haa..." I muttered and instantly killed all of my excitement of getting stronger than I previously was, sh*t! "I have to do something about all the God-things, so that I can at least fight against them! It doesn''t matter if I lose..... I guess, I don''t want to lose...." I corrected myself because I felt repulsive as soon as those words got out of my mouth. "I want to fight using full strength." I pped my crossed legs, excitedly. "That space I was sealed in..... If I had known anything about myself, I would have definitely trained in there because nothing was happening to that cursed space and not much time seemed to have passed in the real world...." I mumbled. "Ah! Now that I think about it..... there was something I really wanted to do when I was ''The Eye,'' and when I was ''Eshwar.''" I grinned savagely. I uncrossed my legs, stretched them while sitting on the throne and took a step forward, the domain I was in disappeared and I was back in the frozen and former, Orc warrior''s vige and it was already night. SWISH "Fuuuu...." I took a deep breath as chilled air trickled across my face, and a significant amount of mana cruised through my body as a result; it was almost unbelievable that mana was being filtered just by breathing, not that I had anyints. "What''s wrong?" I asked. SWISH "Nothing, I was just letting you have your moment, all ok?" Henry appeared next to me like a wind and ced his right arm over my shoulder. "I definitely was having my moment and I''m alright now." I smiled slightly and started to walk like that. "Well, it seems like you got stronger....so get ready to get your a*s kicked." Henry grinned from ear to ear and I abruptly halted as soon as he said those words and shuddered. "Hobgoblin?" I mumbled as I imagined Core who was reced by an image of a hobgoblin. "Hmm, I''ll tell her that you called her that!" Henry grinned, removed his hand over my shoulder and disappeared in an instant. "No! Don''t, You damn traitor!" I yelled and started to think whether I should go back or not. * VROOOM I rode back to the inner edge of sector two on my bike, opened the subspace which moved forward as if wanted devour the bike, and walked towards the vent as the bike disappeared into the subspace, employed mana to the vent through my foot and jumped in as soon as it opened, I cautiously walked down on the stairs and somehow it seemed like a stairway that led to hell. CLUNK CREAK "I''m back." I whispered and peeked in to the hall. It was a 50-foot-wide, 10-foot-tall room with three small staircases in the front: one on the left corner led to Louie''s room, which was also connected to his workspace, one on the right corner led to Arngrim''s room, that too was connected to his ominousb, and the one in the middle...I flinched as soon as my gaze fell on the middle stairway.... though Arngrim''sb was ominous, it couldn''t match the ominousness of the room in the middle! The one in the middle was Core''s room, no, it was her workspace; there was no room for Core because she had moved to Henry''s room a long time ago, and her workspace was connected to a huge sleek white training room. Henry''s room was on the left corner, right above Louie''s room, mine was on the right corner opposite to Arngrim''s room, and right next to the door I was taking a peek from was the washroom and the other side was the kitchen. This underground facility was filled with many venttors, this was the best hideout and base one could ever wish for! ''Let''s ignore everything and run to Arngrim''sb first! She definitely won''te there to search me." I half thought and half mumbled, involuntarily. I stepped in like a cat with extreme cautiousness and silence, slowly closed the door behind me and clenched my teeth as it creaked. CREEEEEEKKK CLUNK ''Sh*t!'' I cursed at the door, inwardly and tip toed around. "Heiikk!" I shrieked because ''Core!'' Core was standing behind me, smiling, with her hands crossed and a frown. "Got anything to say?" She asked slowly as an eerie feeling enveloped me and before I could even open my mouth, she continued just as slowly as before. "Or anything to do?" She ''said'' while pointing at the ground next to the kitchen. "Ha, haha, ha...." Iughed drily, scratched the back of my head and red at Henry who was taking a peek at me behind the staircase leading to Core''s workspace. ".... Damn traitor...." I grumbled, walked towards the kitchen and before I knelt, Louie climbed up the stairs in front of his room as soon as my eyes fell on him, my eyes twinkled. "Big brother!" I called out with a bright smile hoping that he would save me, of course, he was big brother for a reason! but.... "Ahem!" he cleared his throat and returned to his room as soon as he saw Core in front of me. ''Big brother!!!'' I screamed for help, inwardly. "This is unfair!" I grumbled. "Unfair?" Core said with a frown and a smile. "You got stronger, again! You crazy basta*d!" Core roared and dashed towards me. "Aaaaa!" I screamed and dashed around in the hall. "Come here! Stop! Hey! Stop!" she roared while doing everything she can to catch me, I , of course, didn''t get caught. WHOOOSH Because she was chasing me without mana, I too responded without using mana, but because I was a bit stronger than her in terms of speed, I sidestepped on the wall and jumped towards the stairs leading to Core''s room where Henry was peeking with a wide grin. PAK "Ack!" Henry groaned as I jumped behind him, kicked his a*s and dashed towards the training room which was connected to Core''s workspace. "Come here!!" Chapter 150 149. How The UNCHARTED Does Things. ?In a sleek white training room. A handsome white-haired man, Eshwar, was kneeling down with his hands raised in the air, and next to him was a slightly less handsome dark green haired man, Henry, who was kneeling with his hands raised in the air, and in front of them stood a purple haired petite woman, Core, with her hands crossed, smiling, with a frown. "..." "...." "..." "Why not just forgive Eshwar for this one time? I mean, he has returned after a two months break...." Louie said to Core. "Huh?" Core however red at Louie who shuddered and took a step back with a forced smile. "Haha, ha, forget about what I said...." Louie said. * In a sleek white training room. Eshwar, Henry and Louie (?) were kneeling with their hands in the air, in front of a purple haired petite woman, Core. "Pfft, ahem." I cleared my throat and held back myughter. "....Pfft." Henry was in the same state as me. "....this is unfair." Louie mumbled with a glum expression. Then appeared our saviour with a crazed expression, Arngrim! " Core! Update the new stock, oh! Eshwar! Eh?" Arngrim''s expressions changed continuously, first from his crazed expression then surprised and then confusion. He was our saviour who appeared at the right time, or so we thought. * In a sleek white training room. Eshwar, Henry, Louie and Arngrim (?) were kneeling with their hands in the air. "...Pfft, hahahaha!!" I leaned forward, held my stomach andughed out loud. "Hahahaha!!" Henry joined me andughed out loud while pointing at Louie and Arngrim. "You crazy basta*ds! You should have warned me that she was pissed off!!" Arngrim grumbled because he felt injustice. * Four men sat cross legged on the floor of a white training room. I asked about their recent activities, and what they did during my absence, despite the fact that they thought I was strange for talking like an old man, they talked. Arngrim was always focused on creating something new in hisb, Henry was busy with minor assassination requests and spending time with Core, and Louie was busy crafting new weapons and making tons of katana with the remaining materials for me, of course. "Right, here. This the information on the one who ''requested.''" Henry said and handed over an envelope. "..... The graveyard?" I frowned for a split second and received the envelope as I instantly understood what it was about when he said ''the one who requested.'' We basically hunt down our targets based on the request, it doesn''t matter who or what, but thanks to Core and Henry, we''ll have information on both the client and the target with us, and if the client turned out to be a vampire, they''ll be killed alongside the target. "Nope, seems like a thrall." Henry said. "Hm, for me?" I read the information, frowned for a brief minute and grinned savagely. "Yup, it''s a request for ''White.''" Henry nodded. "These trashy basta*ds, deserve to die." I mumbled, because if Ibined both of their crimes, there wasn''t a single crime they didn''tmit, though it didn''t really matter what they did, they''d be killed if they were the target or a vampire, the target hadmitted atrocities in the name of a guild master, while the clientmitted the crime for blood and pleasure, and all of this information would be released online after they were killed. "They sure do." Henry grinned. "Then, let''s go." I stared at Henry and slightly tilted my head pointing towards the door. "Mhm." He nodded and stood up. "I''ll see you guys in a bit." I smiled at Arngrim and Louie before exiting the training room, and my gaze was drawn to Core, who was staring at the monitors while her fingers flitted across the keyboard. ''She seems busy...'' I walked behind her chair, roughly ruffled her hair and instantly dashed out of the room. "Aahhh! You basta*d!!" Core roared behind me while I ignored sincerely her and dashed towards my room without looking back. CLUNK BAM "Safe..." I mumbled with my back facing the door. "Hmm...my room, how much I missed you." I jumped on my king sized bed. My room was 30 feet wide and 10 feet tall, with a beanbag, afortable king-sized bed with three fluffy pillows and one small square shaped pillow that was my favourite pillow because it wasfortable to hold when I slept all curled up, an arm chair where all the clothes rested, and a small table next to the bed that would hold everything grabbable including, though unnecessary, a small dagger. "Oh, now''s not the time." I mumbled and stood back up, took out my suit from the subspace. It was a pure white tuxedo with a ck ''S'' shapedbel pin on the zer''s chest pocket that I purchased because it matched my killing intent, which was a snake, but.... Haaa. ''It can''t be helped.'' I took out a pair of white leather gloves from the subspace and chucked them on the bed. * WHISTLE I wore the white tuxedo with white gloves, whistled and nodded my head in satisfaction as I looked at myself in the ice mirror that materialized in front of me as I employed mana. "Goddamn, I''m sexy." Iplimented myself and took out my mask. It was a white mask with silver borders that covered the lower half of my face and had a slit in front of my mouth with a razor sharp fanged pattern. I held it up to my mouth, and it adhered to my face as it recognized my mana signature..... That was supposed to happen, but it didn''t stick... "What''s going on?" I frowned and suddenly a thunderbolt struck in my mind. "My mana changed! Che, that was not good enough, again." "My mana ''evolved.'''' ''Hmm, that was good." I mumbled. ''That''s the only exnation, because many things happened in a very short time.....'' I nodded in understanding. SWOOOMMM I employed mana on my left palm which held the mask, forcing the new mana into it because there would definitely be some simrities since it had only ''evolved'' into a new one, so it should ept my new mana, that was my conclusion and I was right! The mask freely circted the new type of mana and shone(?) ... Huh? "Wha?" I mumbled while staring at the glowing mask. ''What the f**k.....is happening? Though it was an artifact, it definitely wasn''t an ''artifact'' strong enough to be called an one, what''s going on? It definitely isn''t evolving..... Huh?'' "Is it evolving? Wtf? A growth type thingy?" I mumbled. WHOOSH DING [Trait: Machine Parasite synthesized with the ] --> < White Parasite> [White Parasite: [RANK: ???] [Type: Item (Bound)] [Skills: ]] Chapter 151 150. How The UNCHARTED Does Things (2). ?DING [Trait: Machine Parasite synthesized with the ] --> < White Parasite> [White Parasite: [RANK: ???] [Type: Item (Bound)] [Skills: ]] SHWOOMMM "Hm?" I stared at the mask, intrigued. The mask had now evolved into a triangr abstract art-like design,posed of many trianglesbined into a mask, though there weren''t any dramatic changes it still had some, and that were the triangles which were visible through a series of minute silver-coloured lines. ZZZT-ZZT A glitched system notification popped up in front of me as I stared at the mask. ==== [Name: ] [Level: 1] [Rank: ???] [Type: Item (Bound)] [Skills: , , , ] [Effects:] -> Physical damage reduction (5%) -> Magical damage reduction (5%) -> Mana regeneration -> Mana amplification ==== "Wha?" * "Hmm... so what you are saying is that the ''Machine Parasite'' trait synthesized with my mask and the trait disappeared..." I mumbled while wearing the ''White Parasite'' which wasn''ting off. "At least it only reappears, pop, when I want just like, pop, before, when it was, pop, a iron man glove-like thingy..." I mumbled and tapped on my lips, testing, feeling no interference whatsoever. Why was I doing that test? Of course, because I can''t kiss anyone with a mask stuck on my face! Duh! "This ''Alter'' is nice too." I mumbled and changed the colour of my eyes to silver. My eyes were now bright silver with vertical ck slits; those vertical slits weren''t something I could change, but I could change what I thought I couldn''t! I thought the mask would be altered and tried to change its colour to ck, but instead my eye colour turned ck! And everything else remained the same, except that now, instead of firing mana beams from my palm, I can fire them from my mouth, just like a Dragon! "But a level 1? Does that mean it will grow?" I mumbled, pondered, and didn''t mind the effects because they were the same as they had been since the beginning, though I hadn''t noticed the damage reduction effect. "Modify." I murmured while staring at my white tuxedo because I had a spare if something happened to it and because I wanted to learn how it worked, though I was a little concerned because I was wearing it. ZZZT-ZZT Another glitched notification popped up. ==== [Skill: is currently locked.] ==== "Pity..." KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK "Hm?" I stared at the door. "Mydy, are you done?" Henry asked, cheekily. "Come in." I replied. CLUNK "Ready?" Henry asked and walked in, he wore a bright red mask simr to my previous mask and a ck-red colourbination hooded coat that was a perfect fit for an assassin. WHISTLE (2x) We both whistled at same time, looking at each others outfit. "Looking good." Iplimented him. "You too, let''s go, I wanna return early and spend some time with her." He said and started walking. "Ok." I walked out of the room and headed towards Core who was still on theputer. "Core, announce our attack and ask the target to prepare himself to wee me." I said as I leaned on her chair and crossed my right leg behind my left. "Mhm." Core hummed and flitted her fingers on the keyboard. CLI-CLICK (8x) "Done,e back soon." She said without looking back, Henry walked in front of me and kissed her. I shook my head and started to walk towards the door after skipping the stairs. "Mm~ bye, I''ll return soon." Henry mumbled and skipped the stairs behind me. CLUNK "Let''s hurry." I said as I skipped on the stairs. *** [NEWS] [Has the famous mercenary group ''Uncharted'' resumed operations after a two-month hiatus?] [We have just received a news from the mercenary group Uncharted, the ''Purple Dipper'' has just informed us of their target is Ned Benson, who is the guild master of the Iron scars guild.] [Though we have yet to know who would be the attacker.] [We have just received word that those who have heard the news have already left the Iron Scars guild premises, and all hopes for the Iron Scars guild''s survival have been forfeit.] "Ah, f**k!" A muscr man with dark brown hair and eyes threw the remote in his hand at the 12-inch grey square shaped device that was disying the news. BAM ZZT-CRACK "Why? Who? Why is the UNCHARTED targeting me!?" Ned Benson roared and pulled out his hair in anxiety and fear. "Right, the association! I should ask help from the Hero Association!" He grinned and contacted the association. TRING-TRING BEEP "F**K!!!" His call for help was ignored. "Gasp! Don''t tell me ''White Swan'' ising!?" He mumbled and shuddered in fear. "..... But it has been two months since they have been active, so they must have gotten weaker! That''s why they are targeting me!" He mumbled and grinned, he didn''t care if he called himself a weakling or anything else, there was only one sentence that was cruising through his mind right now. ''The Uncharted have gotten weaker because of their two months break.'' Those words repeated themselves in his mind like a chant. He sent the Guild''s emergency message, which contacted and warned everyone in the guild, and he said that this is their chance to be famous by killing a member of the Uncharted mercenary group, and everyone reluctantly agreed with his n, which was nothing special, it was just a fight of numbers, surrounding and killing whoever arrived at their guild from the Uncharted mercenary group, because only one member from their group attacks their targets and that was a known fact. *** Sector six, the second most popted area, is filled with tons of skyscrapers and minor guilds, many hotels and restaurants, bars, shopping centers, and many necessary and unnecessary buildings, some to show off their wealth, fame, and many more, which may make the sector six appear to be an overly popted area, though it is in terms of unnecessary things, but it is still only the second most humanly popted area, and.... The sector which I hate for reasons even I don''t know, but everything else is the best, food, clothing andmercial things. "..." I just exited the portal area where everyone was shocked at my presence and there were even some who covered in fear..... Ok, everybody, everybody covered in fear. SWISH And, unfortunately, as soon as I walked out, an unfamiliarly familiar odour hit my nostrils: vehicle exhaust, industrial waste odour, rotten food, garbage, and many others. Because I grew stronger, my senses grew stronger as well, and my nose can detect the scent of things from a kilometre away!! Welp. WHOOSH I took a step forward, crouched down, and jumped forward while the other foot was still in the air, hoping that if I go up, maybe, just maybe, the air would be a bit fresh, no, a bit normal, and as if to help me, sector six was densely packed with skyscrapers. "Snowkes." Chapter 152 151. White Swan. ?I took a step forward, crouched down, and jumped forward while the other foot was still in the air, hoping that if I got up, maybe, just maybe, the air would be a bit fresh, no, a bit normal, and as if to help me, sector six was densely packed with skyscrapers. "Snowkes." I jumped off the ground and continued to jump higher until I could only see the skyscrapers ahead of me. I lunged forward towards the nearest skyscraper while stepping on the snowkes, and then a crazy idea appeared to in my mind. "I have nothing to hold while swinging, so I guess I just have to jump from one to another..." I mumbled, grinning. WHOOOSH I stood in mid-air in front of the skyscraper, gazing up at the night sky, where the moon shone brightly and the stars twinkled, as if trying not to be overshadowed by the moon. THROB Suddenly, Isha''s face shed in my mind twice, once from yesterday when I took her up in the night sky as the moon shone beautifully on her and the other from the memory that shed in my mind while Isha was weeping, where she was ring down at me as the ground around me froze continuously. (AN: From chapters ''Despair'' 1 and 2.) "Haa..." I shook my head and took a deep breath in admiration, though there was still the same odour, it was somewhat bearable. "Let''s go then." CRA-CRACK (6x) When I ced my left leg against the skyscraper''s wall, the sses on the skyscraper began to crack but didn''tpletely shatter because I ced my leg against the solid wall in between the ss walls, though this did not prevent the ss from cracking even if I tried. I crouched horizontally on the skyscraper''s wall and pushed off of it; the ss rippled 10 feet wide as if it were water and shattered as soon as I shot out. BAM SHATTER (10x) SHWOOOOMMM I shot out towards a nearby skyscraper and then shot out from there, this process repeated until I was satisfied with it. * "Ho!" I eximed because I appeared in a massive hologram that disyed a massive white bullet destroying all of the skyscrapers, and of course, that was me. WHOOSH I grinned while freefalling from the top of the skyscraper. Why? Because I, unfortunately, arrived at my destination. "Snowkes." As I dove down, unconcerned, I left a trail of white chilled air behind. I took a cigar from my subspace and remembered that I was wearing my mask, so I tossed the cigar back into my subspace and closed my eyes after expanding my senses. WHOOOSH When I realized I was getting close to the ground, I leaned forward slightly while diving upside down, and because the air density around me had changed, my body began to slow down as I began to float like a feather, and when I was about to reach the ground, I spread my legs out forming a 90-degree angle, turned, andnded on my foot. TAP I adjusted my zer and hair and walked towards the Iron scars guild building, which was a skyscraper from which I had just dove down. The Iron scars guild members appeared to be very courteous as they stood in front of their building to wee me, and of course with their weapons. ''Ho! How courteous.'' I admired them for that. *** The vice-guild master of the Iron Scars guild was terrified from the moment he learned that their guild master was the first target of the Uncharted mercenary group, which had recently returned from a two-month hiatus. He was a ginger-haired man with brown eyes named Eo Jung, and unlike his guild master, he didn''t believe that the Uncharted had be any weaker from how strong they previously were, but rather thought that they were simply unlucky to be their first target, and he was a bit relieved that White Swan wasn''t the one who targeted the guild master. He noticed a white bullet being disyed on the hologram a little further away from them, and he assumed it was a new gameunch or something, but there was an eerie feeling in his chest that only grew stronger as he continued to watch that hologram. ? SHATTER! Then, all of a sudden, he heard a shattering sound that sounded eerily simr to the screen that was being disyed on the hologram, and before he could fully register what had happened, the same bullet appeared in front of their guild building, leaving a white trail, and his worst fears became true. TAP A handsome figure covered in whitended directly in front of their guild building, his sharp silver eyes seeming to see through everything as the mask he wore seemed to enhance rather than conceal his handsome face. There were about 20 people who were armed to the teeth and everyone waiting for the Uncharted group''s member shuddered in fear and turned pale as soon as they saw the figure wearing a white mask, they were waiting outside with weapons to defend and defeat anyone who approached them, though they had heard how Uncharted mercenary group does their things this was their first time experiencing it and any hopes of survival left them as soon as the figure covered in white descended, because... White Swan was in front of them. White Swan wore a white tuxedo suit with a ck ''S'' shapedbel pin, he didn''t seem to mind the stares and adjusted his white suit and white hair, he had bright silver iris with vertical ck slits and white hair fluttered from the wind as it seemed to glow brightly under the moon light. ''W-Why? Should I just run away? F**k this guild and f**k that stupid guild master, I want to live!!'' Eo Jung yelled desperately, inwardly. "Hello, I''m White Swan, I''m hear to kill your guild master, if you could please take the lead." White Swan politely introduced himself to Eo Jung and snapped him out of his trance. "!" Eo Jung''s eyes shot open because he didn''t even feel White Swan get close to him, and he shuddered in fear, clenched his unsheathed sword tightly, and furrowed his brows at the white masked, white haired, and white suited figure in front of him, and.... Suddenly! "Of course,e in." Eo Jung put on his business smile, sheathed his sword, bowed politely, and led White Swan to his guild master; he had just discovered a way to survive, and he wasn''t going to let it go for sh*t! ''Who was White Swan''s target? Ned Benson! How would I survive? Simple! By guiding White Swan to his target!'' Eo Jung did a Q and A in his mind, found a very appealing answer and acted on it as his attitude took a perfect 180 degree turn. "Thank you." White Swan thanked Eo Jung and followed him. Chapter 153 152. White Swan (2). ?''Who was White Swan''s target? Ned Benson! How would I survive? Simple! By guiding White Swan to his target!'' Eo Jung did a Q and A in his mind, found a very appealing answer and acted on it as his attitude took a perfect 180 degree turn. "Thank you." White Swan thanked Eo Jung and followed him, but.... "Vice-guild master! What''re you..." A man with broad sword roared in outrage, and.... SPLATTER The man who objected was crushed to death in an instant, before he could even finish his argument! Who did it? Of course, it was White Swan who didn''t even turn back to see who did it, the man had turned into a lump of blooded meat before anyone could even react! His death instilled fear in those present, causing them to turn pale, while two guild members passed out with a pale face and foam oozing from their mouths, and this action was being broadcasted in real-time, making those who watched tremble in fear. An eerie silence descended in the guild''s premises. "Shall we?" White Swan spoke, breaking the eerie silence and instilling more and more fear in those who were present with each and every one of his actions. ''Th-this!?? This is White Swan?? What''s so white about him? F**k!?!'' Eo Jung thought while trembling in fear as his mind subconsciously made a pun. "Y-yes, o-of co-course!" Eo Jung smiled forcefully and lead White Swan into the guild building as his back and forehead was covered in cold sweat. * BAM The ginger-haired man busted open a room door. The room was 50 feet wide and 20 feet tall, with many shattered vases and other items on the ground. There was a desk near the end of the room in front of a wide ss window that covered the entire back wall of the room, and on the chair behind the desk sat the Iron scars guild master, with hair on the desk and blood trickling down on his face, as if he had pulled out his hair because he didn''t know what else to do. With a smile on his face and his shirt drenched in cold sweat, the smart man opened the door and led me to his guild master. "...." I stared at the smart man who was the guild''s strongest member; at first, I assumed he was the guild master, but quickly dismissed that notion because I had seen an image of what the guild master looked like. "Gi-guild ma-master, y-yu-you ha-have a ge-guest." He stuttered and looked like he was about to pass out. "Heikk!" Ned Benson shrieked in fear and turned pale in an instant. The smart man seemed to understand why I was staring at him because he walked forward and led me to the chair in front of the desk. "Thank you." I thanked the smart man and took a seat in front of Ned Benson. CLUNK A dull metallic sound reverberated throughout the silent room as I ced my pistol on the table, which materialized on my right palm after I sat down. "Hello, I''m White Swan, the one who is going to kill you as per my clients request." I introduced myself, leaned back in my chair, and stared at the pitiful figure of a man iming to be the guild master. "Heh!" Ned Benson suddenly grinned as his gaze fell on the pistol; he was in such a pathetic state that he didn''t even hide his disgusting grin as his eyes seemed to have finally found hope. "Hm? I think it is always better to share a joke." I said with a apathetic expression. "Huh?" Ned seemed to snap out of his daze when he heard my voice. "I mean, you wereughing, so I thought there was something funny." I exined and continued to stare at him, while Ned Benson was grinning widely, the smart man was turning paler by the second. "Hahahaha! Of course, you fool! Who will be scared of a toy?" Ned pointed at my gun andughed out loud, took out a broad sword from his inventory. "Oh!" I nodded my head in understanding when realized why he was acting like that; I thought he went insane from fear, but it was because of the gun! Of course, guns were rendered useless for those who had awakened, so there is nothing wrong with him underestimating the power of a gun, but.... It is different matter if it is ''my'' gun. "Aye! Call all of over guild members in here!" Ned ordered the smart man, who instead looked at me, and when I looked back at him with a nonchnt expression, he flinched and took a step back. "Oi, what are you doing!?" Ned roared. "Y-yes." The smart man nodded without an ounce of respect towards his guild master, then summoned all of the Iron Scars guild members to the guild master''s room. And why was I just staring at them while they did whatever they wanted? Because it was the first target after a two-month hiatus and.... "The more they are, the more shier it is." I grinned and the smart man who heard me shuddered and looked at his guild master. "Guild master!" He suddenly called Ned out. "What?" Ned roared in irritation. "I''ll go and order them to hurry from the outside! If I see anybody running away, I''ll kill them, then and there!" He said as his eyes set aze with light blue mana. "Good! That''s why I trust you more! Go and bring them in!" Ned said with wide savage grin. "A smart man indeed." I nodded my head. *** In Iron scars guild master''s room. Around a hundred people were present, each armed to the teeth with weapons in their hands, while the room was filled with an eerie silence, and there was one white masked handsome man who sat on the chair with an apathetic expression, while a muscr man stood behind the masked handsome man, ring. The handsome figure covered in white crossed his right leg on his left, slightly leaned to the right, rested his right elbow on the armrest and rested his masked cheek on his right fist, though it was just a simple gesture his aura instantly changed to that of a domineering one as it seemed to suffocate those that were in front of him. "Where is Eo Jung!?" Ned roared in outrage. "Hm? You mean the smart man? He ran away of course, are you dumb? Look, you''re killing your guild members because of how dumb you are." White Swan said pointing at armed guild members with his left index finger, nonchntly. "Wha..." Ned wanted to ask what nonsense he was speaking, but was cut short by him. "Look, everybody who weed me ran away. Ah, don''t worry, you''ll know why soon enough." He said and Ned who realized that what he said was true felt a sudden chill run down his spine. "Shall we start the party?" Chapter 154 153. White Swans Signature Kill. ?"Shall we start the party?" White Swan red at the hundreds of people in front of him. He raised his hand, making everyone flinch, even though they knew he was only one man, they weren''t confident in winning because something seemed to be wrong, no matter how strong one is, even a Rank-SS hero would be scared to fight against hundreds of Rank-B and Rank-A people, but the man in front of them was too calm, they felt like he was stalling time for something, then suddenly the man in front of them lowered his hand, they flinched again, they employed mana, covered themselves in it, clenched their weapons, and prepared for what was toe, but the man swung his hand behind his back and ced it on the gun on the desk behind him. CLUNK "I just want to test its max fire power though...." He mumbled and pointed the gun at the guild members who red at him because they thought he was mocking them, but he ignored them, tilted his head to the left, closed his right eye, and stared at them above the pistol. SHWOOMMM Dark purple circuit-like patterns glowed on the ck pistol as the disy metre on the gun instantly disyed 10, its barrel glowed and the gun was covered in a thinyer of dark purple hue, looking at the exquisite gun their backs were covered in cold sweat before they even realized it. "You. Put your shield up." He said while pointing his gun at a shield holder who red at White Swan, but still held up his shield with a scoff. BANG As soon as he held up the shield While Swan fired without any forewarnings (?), but what shocked them was what followed after. THUNK (10x) The bullet pierced through the shield and killed the other ten people who stood behind the shield holder who looked down at his chest and saw an inch wide ''frozen'' gaping hole, there hadn''t been a single drop of blood spilled yet and ten of them were killed in a sh, but one of them looked back and noticed that the bullet had pierced through the walls behind them and he wasn''t sure if the bullet was still in their guild building. FFISSSSH "Hmm.... A bit stronger than expected." White Swan smiled, though they couldn''t see it, they felt like he was smiling in satisfaction. "It has a ten bullet magazine, so 75% of these guys will be done with a single magazine and the rest will be killed by the ''White Swan''s tradition.''" White Swan said and everybody shuddered at those words. ''White Swan''s signature kill'' or ''White Swan''s tradition'' was named after his brutal killing technique of thousands and thousands of cuts on his target''s body that slowly freezes the flowing blood over time as they continued to bleed, until the target is crystallized and turned into a blooded prism, which is a block of ice in the shape of a prism made of the targets blood. Only his target''s face, which is filled with anguish, and the prism above are visible in that prism, while everything below is covered in frozen blood. The prism was taken to ab and studied, his target''s body didn''t have any life-threatening cuts, and the prism below the head was blood that had frozen in that shape, and the tip of the prism was ice made from White Swan''s magic, and that prism is usually found in a spot where everything is translucent and crystallized, with not even a single drop of blood in the spot, as if it the prism was separately ced in the middle of a calm ocean, hence the his moniker ''Swan'' because a swan is believed to be able to separate water from milk and only drink pure milk. ''White Swan,'' on the other hand, is said to drink blood due to the translucent and crystallized ground, despite the fact that he killed his targets with thousands of cuts. After hearing what he said, no one wanted to be in the 15%, and even those who had just been killed didn''t spill a single drop of blood, then.... THUD (7x) The bodies of those who had just been killed fell to the ground, and the sound of their falling bodies jolted everyone out of their trance. "A-Attack!!" Ned abruptly roared. BANG (9x) THUNK (8x) As soon as Ned roared, White Swan fired his gun nine times, killing many of the hundred all at once. Everyone ignored Ned and checked their bodies, and those who had an inch wide gaping frozen hole died with a smile on their faces because no one wanted to die by such a gruesome way, no one! While those who were alive turned pale and some passed out with foam oozing from their mouths just thinking about how much pain they would have to endure, the others clenched their weapons and dashed at White Swan desperately as their instincts took over. Why? Because they wanted to die and didn''t want to be a part of his traditional method of killing. "Ahhh!!!" "Gaaa!!" 36 people were still alive and dashed with weapons in their hands. "Don''t me me, because it just wasn''t your day." Suddenly, they were startled to hear White Swan''spletely disinterested voice, which he spoke with his head down, and they noticed that the air around him had turned white. "Heh." He raised his face revealing his eyes which were arched and they could see an ominous grin on his face even though he had a mask on. Suddenly, twin ice daggers materialized above his head and disappeared, then everything came to a halt in the eyes of all 36 people, and then they heard his mumble. "Zone." A stinging pain cruised from all over their bodies and they heard his mumbled again, even though they didn''t know what it was, their hearts instinctively stopped beating. "Frost prison." Thest thing they saw was him getting off of the chair and walk towards Ned Benson, slowly. *** Ned Benson who had lost consciousness from horror, opened his eyes slowly and shot wide open instantly. 36 blooded prisms and hundreds of light blue translucent prisms in which people with an inch wide gaping hole, they were ced in a semi-circle and those prisms were standing on small stands which didn''t let the prism fall off as if they were ced on disy in a clear ss-like crystallized room, Ned was familiar with that room, it was his, Iron Scars Guild master''s room! Everything in the room was still there, but it had turned translucent; he could even see the rooms below, above, and to the sides, despite the fact that the side and front walls had been broken to make room for all the prisms; everything had turned translucent and crystallized, even the debris of the broken walls; everything glistened as if it were made of precious gems. "Huh?" Ned then noticed that he was floating mid-air, he couldn''t move an inch and his confusion turned into horror when he saw White Swan in front of him. "You can''t die that simply, you have done too much sh*t to die that simply." He said in a cold voice as each of his words instilled more and more fear in Ned. "Now, let''s start." White Swan''s eyes arched as a ice sword materialized in his hand. "Arrrrrrgh!!" Chapter 155 154. White Swans Signature Kill (2). ?"Now, let''s start." White Swan''s eyes arched as a ice sword materialized in his hand. "Zone." He mumbled. SWOOOMMM A dark purple hue shot out from his body, seeming to cover the entire translucent room as everything slowed down in Ned''s view, and it didn''t just ''seem'' to slow down, it actually did. White Swan gripped his sword and swung it in every direction he could, his swings were very fast despite the fact that time had slowed around them, and although Ned couldn''t see White Swan''s hand, he could see the ice sword being swung down at him. White Swan''s ice sword covered Ned''s entire field of view and then a sudden conclusion revered in his mind that he was underwater, White Swan''s sword moved so fluidly that Ned forgot his fear and stared at the sight in awe as he ingrained that beautiful view in his mind, the sword made 0.3 centimetre deep cuts with every single swing and blood should have sttered everywhere, but the blood droplets were floating mid-air as they wobbled, White Swan''s other hand had a thinyer of dark purple hue covering it, which seemed to be the cause of the floating droplets..... But it wasn''t! In the midst of the stinging pain and slight drowsiness, Ned felt a very cold sensation on his toes, which jolted him out of his trance and caused him to feel an unimaginable amount of pain. "Arrrrrggggh!!!" Ned screamed in agony, tears, snot, and saliva streamed down his face, and those sensations couldn''t even be registered in the midst of the insane amount of pain he was experiencing; if it did register properly, he would probably be ashamed about it. ".... You think you''ll die simply after doing all those heinous things?" Ned Benson heard White Swan''s cold voice and it sent shivers down his spine, despite the fact that he was in so much pain that he ignored and forgot everything. Ned was hearing his own terrified voice very slowly because everything had slowed down, and then he heard White Swan''s voice just as slowly as his own, but every word of White Swan''s instilled fear in Ned. "If it were possible, I would torture guys like you every day, to the point where you would hope to die that day, only to learn that it was all wishful thinking at the end of the day, and hoping you would die the next day." White Swan continued to speak. "Arg! Arrrrggggh!! Ned continued to scream in agony, his voice gradually dying down until he could no longer scream, despite the fact that his mouth was open and his face was twisted with anguish and despair. "I want to develop a skill like ''that'' curse, just to curse people like you guys!" ".....!!!!" Ned wanted to scream but no sound came out as he continued to hear White Swan''s words which seemed to be being engraved on his mind. "Death is just a luxury....which, not everybody deserves and....." "It is definitely not a luxury that ''absolutely everybody'' gets." White Swan''s words seemed instil horror to Ned''s very core. After hearing those words, Ned''s consciousness began to fade as the cold sensation approached his chest area, and the final words Ned heard were... "..... I know that from experience, of course." ''Wh....a...t....!?'' Ned thought in his final moments. *** [Core, it''s done! Steal everything.] Eshwar''s voice sounded in the Uncharted''s hideout. "Hahaha! That was fast and shy!! Hahahaha." Coreughed joyfully before her fingers flitted on the keyboard. CLI-CLICK (8x) "Louie! Contact Henry and ask him to start it!" Core yelled while focusing on the monitors in front of her, as her fingers continued to dance on the keyboard. CLI-CLICK (6x) "Got it!" Louie yelled back from his room and contacted Henry. [Henry! You can start! Try to find out which group he is rted to, if possible.] Louie said to Henry through the Mind link device. [Mhm.] Henry hummed. [Great.] *** Henry stood atop a high building named ''The Hungry Bond,'' which was lit up all over and filled with people. Because the building was made of ss, Henry could easily see what was going on inside. ''It seems like a famous restaurant, but I still doubt that guy, ''Edwin Cobb'' is earning that much as a chef.'' ''Well, let''s see, how he entices people...'' Henry continued to stare at the chef, Edwin Cobb, who was walking in and out of the kitchen to speak with the customers. [Henry, want me to join the fun?] Eshwar''s voice sounded in his mind. [You wanna join?] Henry asked as he spoke through the Mind link. [Of course.] Eshwar confirmed telepathically. "Hahaha." Henry chuckled at Eshwar''s instantaneous reply and nodded his head. [Alright.] Henry said. [I''ll be there in a second. Oh! Should I sneak?] Eshwar asked. [Of course, we''re not announcing his death, yet.] Henry said, crossed his arms and shook his head. [Tsk.] Eshwar clicked his tongue and Henry sighed. [I''m right behind you.] Eshwar said, telepathically. Suddenly, Henry felt something cold on his neck. "Jesus!! At least warn....haaa." Henry jerked back in surprise, when he saw Eshwar''s index finger on his, and wanted to give Eshwar a piece of his mind, but he gave up and sighed because he sort of expected this to happen. Eshwar simply raised his hands in surrender and backed away, but Henry knew he was smiling behind his mask. "Are we killing him or interrogating him." Eshwar asked. "Waiting. Killing." Henry answered with only two words. "We can just drag him out of there, can''t we? He can''t die anyway." Eshwar said. ''Right, why am I even waiting for him do something...'' Henry thought and nodded his head in understanding. "Then, let''s go." Eshwar instantly jumped off of the building. "Haa..." Henry sighed and jumped behind him. "Snowkes." Eshwar mumbled, raised his right hand in air to manipte snowkes around Henry who stared at Eshwar''s hand which was covered in a thinyer of dark purple hue. ''Purple?'' Henry frowned as he stared at Eshwar''s new mana colour. ''What happened?'' Henry''s frown deepened as he sensed something was wrong, he has known Eshwar for almost 5 years, so he knew something was wrong with Eshwar when he saw him running away from Core; he didn''t seem to enjoy it like he always did, though he slightly returned back to normal after the chase was over, it didn''t feelplete, nor did Eshwar feel like Eshwar. "I''ll go and drag him out." Eshwar said to Henry and snapped him out of his daze. "Huh? Oh! Ok." Henry nodded his head. "Kyaaaa!!" "Ah! Haaa...." Henry sighed and shook his head. Chapter 156 155. Death Of The Divine. ?*** In a 20 feet semi furnished room. Isha sat on the corner of the bed, hugging her knees and burying her face in them. She had cried herself unconscious before falling asleep soon after. ''Lady Isha! Please survive!'' A sweet woman''s voice sounded in her head. "Gasp!" Isha jolted out of her sleep, her eyes and nose were red from crying. "Ah." She remembered what had happened this morning, her eyes became hot and she trembled as tears welled up in her eyes again. ''Where are these tearsing from?'' She thought and chuckled. "Why did I speak like that? Owuu!!" She let out a cute and weak scream and slouched forward again. "Haa... I''m an idiot!" She sighed and cursed at herself. ''It''s not like he wanted them to die!!! If I could at least have calmed down a bit!!'' "And he looked after me the whole night..... whole night!" She eximed at her own outrageous actions and mumbled with a slight smile when she told herself that he looked after her. "If I was like ''Isha Eireisone'' from the past, I wouldn''t have behaved like this...." Isha mumbled as her face twisted in disgust when she said her surname. "Oh! The Divine Rebirth!!" Isha eximed in joy. ''Divine Rebirth'' was a technique that was used by the divine beings when they are in a situation where they have to awaken their previous divinity again. This technique ismonly used by the divine beings because it slightly purifies their divinity which is nigh impossible if not for this method. "But..... my rebirth is the opposite...." She mumbled with a bashful expression. "Haa... It can''t be helped, if I want to get stronger, I have to do this...." She sighed. ''Come to think of it, won''t Eshwar be suspicious of me, because I have be more like him....'' She realized while she kept thinking about Eshwar. "Oh goddammit!!" She cursed and her eyes shot wide open because this is how Eshwar would have behaved. "Oh f**k!! Oh sh*t!! Oh..... I should just stop talking.... No, I am even to talking to myself like Eshwar does!! Arghhh!!" she roughly ruffled her hair at the revtion. ''The more I be ''Isha'' from the past, the more I be like Eshwar!!'' Isha thought, and she knew she was correct because they had been together every day for two decades! She had seen and been with him every day, so of course she would adopt some of his habits. "No, now''s not the time to be thinking about this, I have to go through a Divine Rebirth." She shook her head and mumbled. "Huuu..." She took a deep breath, walked towards the middle of the room and sat down crossed legged. "Death of the Divine." She mumbled with a slightly flushed face. BOOM ck coloured mana shot out of her body and covered the entire room''s floor with it, pitch-ck hands with no essence in them protruded out from her ck mana and began to pull her down as the ck mana began to climb up on her body, her shinny ck hair floating up in mid-air as if she was underwater, and just as she was about to bepletely engulfed in her own ck mana, a golden ripple shot out from her, destroying all of the pitch-ck hands, It was only a single golden ripple, but it sent an excruciating amount of pain through her body. "Aaaaaaaa!! Mfffm!!" Isha screamed in agony, but then a pitch-ck hand shot out of her mana and covered her mouth. She had the impression that this pitch-ck hand was trying to devour her and... ''No! You are mine!'' She red down at the pitch ck hand covering her mouth and talked to it with her will, and then..... POP SHWISH The back of the pitch-ck hand covering her mouth burst open and a thick ck hue rose from it, forming a skull face in front of her; that skull face slowly began to regenerate, as thickyers of ck hue covered that skull, slowly forming a face with seemingly threatening pitch-ck hair as an exact copy of Isha''s face materialized right in front of Isha. Though their faces were simr, their demeanours werepletely different; one was Isha, with her slightly human-like demeanour, and the other was Isha too, but menacing. "No, it''s mine, cause you''re a fake! How dare you think of yourself as ''me''!!" Menacing Isha red, menacingly. ''Ha! Yeah right, like that would work on me.'' Isha scoffed at the bodiless Isha as her brows trembled because of the pain she was experiencing. ''Bit*h, I dare you call yourself ''me'' once again and erase your existence this instance.'' Isha red at the bodiless Isha which was more menacing than the other. "Y-you! I''m Ish... Graaa!!!" The bodiless Isha stuttered in response to Isha''s unexpected reaction and began to call herself ''Isha,'' so Isha awoke and shot out a ripple of her divinity at the bodiless Isha, causing that Isha-like illusion to shriek in pain. The Isha-like face distorted and twisted into disgusting figure which couldn''t be called a face anymore. ''Once it is ''mine,'' it will always will be ''mine!'''' Isha said. ''I''m turning more and more like Eshwa...Argh!?'' Suddenly the pain increased by a notch and she passed out, unable to bear that much pain. * KNO... KNOCK, KNOCK KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! "Gasp!" Isha jolted back to her consciousness. KNOCK, KNOCK "Miss Isha! Are you alright?" A sweet woman''s voice sounded from behind the door. "Hm?" Isha frowned. ''Divine pulse.'' She muttered in her mind and golden ripples shot out on the ground she was on. ''Oh right, I passed out...hm?'' Isha''s frown deepened for two things. ''My divinity..... merged with my mana?'' She was perplexed because that wasn''t what was supposed to happen in her Divine Rebirth. ''And why are those people here...'' Isha red at door and nced back at her own hands. "Hmmm..." She imagined turning into her ''Divine form.'' CLUNK (7x) Bright golden chains materialized out of nowhere and chained itself around her wrists and arms, and her hands turned pitch-ck, even though she knew her hands were still there and she could still feel her hands, she couldn''t feel any essence in them. "This is..... something new." Isha tilted her head in satisfaction. "Miss Isha! Are you alright?" Isha snapped out of her trance when she heard the voice again. Isha frowned when she heard from them because she had seen them in front of the Sunshine Orphanage and didn''t want to see them again, if possible, never again. "Haa...." she sighed, stood back up and walked towards the door. CLUNK Now, the people in front of her were, Vinny, Jiwoo, Katharine, Katline and Violet with sad and serious looks on their faces. ''Calm down, they''re just kids....'' she thought. "What is it?" Isha went straight to the point without even letting any of them into the room. "Haaa, look.....Miss Isha, we''re sorry, we went there as soon as we got the message, but...." Vinny spoke up and his tone irked Isha to no end, but was cut short by Isha. "..... Apology epted." Isha said with a deep frown and red at them. "But forgiving you is another matter." Chapter 157 156. The Need For Answers. ?Vinny, Jiwoo, Katharine, Katline, and Violet had discussed on apologizing to Miss Isha after seeing how precious the children of that orphanage were to her. The idea was proposed by Katharine because she had known Isha for a long time and felt somewhat guilty about it, and her wanting to apologize was just to push her guilt on to Isha, or so Jiwoo thought based on the look on Katharine''s face. ''I have memories of being a 34 years old man, so I know what you are trying to do...'' Jiwoo thought as he stared at Katharine''s back. ''I want to ask Eshwar the truth, if he really did create me as a character in his novel or have I really transmigrated, if I really did transmigrate, how to get back to our original world....'' Jiwoo thought as he followed the others to Isha''s room from behind, his gaze fixed on their backs. ''Everything will get clearer if I get a proper answer from Eshwar....'' Jiwoo sighed, inwardly because he had developed a kind of identity crisis. From his perspective, everything appeared real yet fake, many thoughts would race through his mind in an instant, almost all of his thoughts had turned negative, pushing him deeper and deeper into depression, after thinking about many things, he hade to question himself about his very own existence, and even now he had many questions that continued to turn darker and darker after witnessing the deaths of innocent children. He felt very ufortable being in their presence when they were debating whether or not to apologize to Isha, and a disgusting feeling crept up from the bottom of his heart whenever they wanted to ''discuss'' it upon the deaths of innocent children! Violet had grown a bit darker, Katline had resolved to be stronger, Katharine felt guilty and wanted that feeling to leave her right then and there when she proposed the idea to apologize to Isha, and Vinny didn''t care, perhaps because he had seen too many deaths before his regression and he even said it was too bothersome, and everything... everything about them began to disgust Jiwoo. He just wanted to spit at them and get away from them, but he needed answers from Eshwar, who had vanished to who knows where, and if Jiwoo wanted to find him, he thought Isha would be a good ce to start. Jiwoo, too, didn''t care about Isha because he thought, ''She''s not even a side character from the novel,'' and he joined without regard for any other his humanly emotions which had been trying keep him sane. He was only interested in learning about himself from Eshwar and he just wanted to return to ''Earth,'' even if he was ''just'' a ''character'' in the ''story'' created by the author ''Eshwar.'' KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK "...." Nobody said a single word as Katharine knocked on Isha''s door. ''.....How did she know where Miss Isha was? We''re in a random hotel right now....'' Jiwoo furrowed his brows at Katharine, but he didn''t want to know.... No, he just didn''t care. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK "Tsk." Vinny clicked his tongue in annoyance. "...." "Miss Isha, are you alright?" Katharine asked. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK ''Why is she acting like she cares?'' "...." "Miss Isha, are you alright?" She asked again. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK CLUNK The door opened, and a gorgeous ck-haired woman stood behind it, her brow furrowed, her eyes and nose red from crying, and she appeared to be in a lot of pain. "...." Everybody stared at her in silence and Jiwoo felt slightly guilty, but not enough to care. "What is it?" Isha asked with a slight frown as her brows trembled seemingly because she was in pain. "Haaa, look.....Miss Isha, we''re sorry, we went there as soon as we got the message, but...." Suddenly, Vinny spoke up informally and arrogantly, it definitely wasn''t how an person apologizing should look like. Jiwoo wanted to spit at Vinny as soon as he heard the way he was speaking. "... Apology epted." Isha said, Jiwoo felt a chill run down his spine when he saw her cold and omnipotent re. "But forgiving you is another matter." She said, dumbfounding everyone. ''Wha? What nonsense?'' Jiwoo thought and wanted to voice it, but something stopped him. "What? Look here, Miss Isha, we''re apologizing, right?" Vinny repeated with a frown and a cocky attitude. "Yes, I said, your apology is epted, but I''m not forgiving you." Isha replied. "Haa, what''s with this woman?" Vinny mumbled in a low tone which was heard by everyone. "We. Are. Apologizing." Vinny said with a re and seemed like he wouldn''t back down without her forgiving them. "Look here, child." Isha''s voice reverberated in their minds and sent shivers down their spines. "I epted your apology and I will not forgive you for your ipetence, so scram and, Do. Not. Annoy. Me. I''m not somebody whom you can speak so lightly to." Isha said stared at him with cold eyes. "I''m ipetent? Ha, if you are so proud why didn''t youe save those kids? You couldn''t even save your own grandfather." Vinny scoffed at Isha''s words, walked in front of Isha and red at her. ".... I''m not Eshwar to be merciful against ipetent fools, so if you annoy me once again, maybe today, Will. Be. Your. Last. Day." Isha said in coldly. "Vinny, stop...." Katline grabbed his hand to pulling him, but.... "Ha, A mere Rank-A, hahaha, try my." Vinny said andughed at her. "Hmm..." Isha took a step back into her room with a troubled expression on her face, looking at Isha''s face a wide disgusting grin appeared on Vinny''s face. ".... You''re nothi...." Vinny started to speak, but was cut short by Isha''s mumbled. "How troublesome. Troublesome indeed." Isha mumbled and paced around, pondering. ''What is going on? Something is wrong...'' Jiwoo thought and observed everyone''s expressions; Violet had furrowed her brows at Isha''s actions, Katharine had a frown on her face, and Katline appeared troubled by the esction of the situation. "Eshwar would probably disappointed....." Isha continued her loud mumbled. ''Why...?'' Jiwoo''s ears perked up when he heard Eshwar being bought in this situation, and a thought urred to him, which he dismissed with a shake of his head. "I don''t ever remember Eshwar creating such a disgusting and idiotic character.... No, there was one, but not this one." Isha mumbled. "!" Jiwoo''s eyes shot wide open when her words proved that his thoughts were correct. "What''s this wom..." Vinny was speaking something, but was cut short by Isha. "ck hands." Chapter 158 157. That Easily? ?"ck hands." Isha mumbled. "Wha....Uck!!?" Vinny was forced to shut up by Isha. ''What!!?'' Jiwoo stared at a dozen of ghastly pitch-ck hands materializing behind Isha; those pitch-ck hands had bright golden chains chained around them, and the hands were only visible up to the elbows, as everything else seemed to fade. One of the ghastly pitch-ck hands was choking Vinny mid-air, he was struggling to break free from the hand, but looking at the way he was struggling it seemed impossible. "Eshwar''s rage!" Jiwoo abruptly roared. [Trait: Eshwar''s Rage activated.] "Hahahaha!!" Jiwoo suddenly burst out a crazedughter as Eshwar''s rage took over his body. BOOM Jiwoo''s body lunged forward to strike Isha who was staring at Jiwoo with wide eyes, but..... [Eshwar''s Rage forcibly deactivated.] [Trait: Eshwar''s Rage activation is impossible at the current target.] ''What!!?'' Jiwoo looked at system window with wide eyes and.... "Ukh!!?" Jiwoo thoughts were cut short by pitch-ck hand which was now choking him too. "You. What''re you? How did you do it?" Isha''s cold and indifferent voice sounded, but Jiwoo felt like she was angry. "Grgh!!" Jiwoo groaned as the grip around his neck started to tighten. "Vinny!" Katline yelled and seemed to have snapped out of her daze. "Shush." Isha shushed at Katline with her index finger on her lips. "You. You better answer, if you want to live, that is." Isha threatened and nced at Jiwoo. * "You. You better answer, if you want to live, that is." Isha said. ''That.... I definitely felt Eshwar''s anger from him.... Who? What the hell?'' Isha frowned, inwardly. ''I wanted to test my powers at that kid, but....'' Isha raised her right hand and the hand choking Jiwoo was released as it grabbed his hair instead. "Argh!!" Jiwoo groaned, grabbed the ck hand which held his hair and pulled it closer to lessen the pain. "Vinny!" "Jiwoo!" The women in the back eximed and wanted to rush forward to assist them, but we were forced toe to a halt because their legs didn''t appear to move as they suddenly felt weak. Isha brought Vinny and Jiwoo back down to the ground and used the same technique she used to bring the women to a halt. Her shadow stretched out and engulfed all five of them, feeding Isha the stamina and mana that the shadow devoured from them. "Ha, ugh." Vinny gasped for air and slumped down on his knees. "Uckh!" Jiwoo suddenly felt weak before he slumped down on his knees. "Now, answer child." Isha crouched down as if she was taking a seat and a pitch-ck chair materialized behind her in an instant. She sat on that chair and crossed her legs elegantly. ''Hmm... Seems like he''ll take some time, let''s check the system and see if there are any new changes.'' Isha thought and muttered ''System'' in her head. "...." ''Hm?'' Isha frowned, inwardly. ''System.'' She muttered in her head again. "...." ''Syst...'' [ERROR.] [ERROR.] [ERRO...] [USER IS NOT AN AWAKENED. PLEASE AWAKEN A ''TRAIT'' TO RECIVE HELP FROM THE SYSTEM.] A series of red warning system notification windows popped up in front of her with nonsense which left her dumbfounded. "What?" Isha mumbled out loud, involuntarily. DING [System influence increased by 5.] [Current System influence is: 77.] [Divine being ''????'' can interfere with the world ''Earth'' after the system influence has reached ''100'' on the ''Earth.''] [Please register the user''s Divine name to search for a ''recipient.''] New white system notification windows popped up in front of her and she understood what had happened. ''I am back to being a Goddess.'' Isha realized. ''That easily?'' Isha thought and closed her eyes to check her divinity. "!" Isha felt her divinity and was surprised by the quantity and quality of it; her divinity was a little too pure for a newly born god, and even though she had ascended to godhood in her previous life, the purity of her divine power couldn''t even bepared to what she was feeling right now. "What the hell?" Isha abruptly snapped open her eyes and jumped back on her feet. "What? How?" Isha paced around the room while continuing devouring the mana and stamina of Vinny, Jiwoo, Katharine, Katline and Violet. ''Because my it merged with my mana?'' "But that... should be impossible." Isha mumbled and slowed down because it had undoubtedlybined with her mana, which was supposed to be impossible. ''And why am I so weak? I would probably die if I used more than 5 ripples worth of divinity....'' She concluded. ''I have divinity but can''t use it, what kind of sick joke is this?'' She scoffed inwardly. ''Let''s keep my divine name unknown for now, I can''t simply reveal it and get killed again.'' She thought and muttered ''Unknown'' in her mind. [Divine Name: Unknown is already given to another God.] [Searching....] [Suggestion: Goddess who wields a ice sword.] And series of white system notification windows popped up in front of her again. ''Mhm, use that.'' Isha nodded her head because it wasn''t too cheesy, but still defined her by a bit because she was now wielding the Ice Blood Katana that Eshwar had given her. [Divine being ''Goddess who wields a ice sword'' has been registered.] DING ==== ==== DING [ options have been added.] A white system window appeared in front of her, disying her physic, divine name, authority, and skills, as the white system window gave off a majestic godly feeling. ''This... don''t tell me, it''s a system made for gods??'' Isha was shocked beyond belief, inwardly. "Uck." Then she heard a small groan, snapped out of her daze and looked at all of them who were kneeling a panting heavily. "Oh!" Isha realized and released the ''Shadow Restraints'' on them. "Ahem. Speak child." Isha nced at Jiwoo who was panting heavily. "Huff....huff...huff..." the room was filled with panting noises. ''Ahem, ahem.'' Isha was flustered, inwardly. ''Ah right! I have this now! I should check what it is.'' Isha thought. ''Gaze of the Divine.'' Chapter 159 158. Who He Is. ?''Gaze of the Divine.'' She muttered in her head, and her sclera turned ck, her obsidian ck iris shed dark purple, and her pupils turned to vertical pure white slits. WHOOSH Suddenly, she felt a strong pull as soon as she activated that skill, and she found herself staring at the ''Earth'' as it slowly rotated in its orbit; it was visible from the Sun''s perspective, with many magical circles surrounding it. ''Those are protective magic circles.'' She realized by looking at the signs, symbols, circuits and the patterns on the magic circles. All of the magic circles were supported and held in ce by a massive magical circle. It was a magical circle made of white, almost transparent mana in the shape of gears, the magic circle contained dozens of gears as each gear spun in their own respective directions in sync and supported the other to spin at its own respective speed and path. "WHOA!!" Isha eximed in awe as she stared at the Earth from the Sun''s point of view. "This.....is mesmerizing..." She mumbled at the majestic view of Earth. That was the first time she had seen a from the outside, and the sight was so mesmerizing that she forgot about everything for a brief moment, but then.... DING "Huh? What curse?" Isha mumbled, but was cut short by the sudden change in view. "Eshwar?" Isha mumbled as she furrowed her brows at the white haired young man who was striding on a thick nket of snow. "Eshwar!" She then zoomed towards him to apologize as what she said this morning shed in her mind, again. The white haired young man continued to stride as if he couldn''t hear Isha. ''Is he sulking? How cute.'' Isha thought and sneaked behind him to scare him as she ced her hand on his shoulder. "Huh?" Her hand instantly passed through his body which scared her. "What!!?" Isha jerked back and stared at him in disbelief. She then noticed that the there was strange feeling in her heart which was throbbing pain yet was at peace. DING <''Curse'' effects are being redirected due to the traits has to offer.> As soon as the white notification window popped up, the strange feeling in her heart subdued. She then activated the ''Gaze of the Divine'' on Eshwar again. ==== ==== "These aren''t his current stats...." Isha mumbled as she stared at the white status window in front of her. "And this is what I expected when I used this skill ''Gaze of the Divine'' and not to stare at the entire Earth...." Isha grumbled. "Wait! Eshwar is Cursed? Why? By whom? Who dares?" Isha suddenly realised and snapped when she remembered that notification. ''No, wait! Why is the curse on Eshwar acting on me?'' Isha frowned in confusion. "And why am I here? Where is this? Why can''t I touch him?" Isha started to get a headache, not literally though because even though it was only at level 1, she still had a . "Hmm?" Eshwar''s voice confused hum sounded and Isha nced back at him. "Hero! This is yourst challenge! Defeat the ''Dragon'' in the dragon''sir and save thest of the humanity!" Eshwar mumbled in a low tone. "..... What is he doing?" Isha tilted her head, perplexed. "Hm?" Suddenly, something clicked in Isha''s mind, and Eshwar''s memories flooded in until they caught up with the Eshwar in front of her. A 16-year-old Eshwar shed through her mind; he was a chubby kid with dark brown hair and ck eyes, just a normal kid out there on the magic-less ''Earth,'' and a bitzy. He was the ''Author'' of the ''story'' that formed in his mind without a title. The main character of the story was a female named ''Katline Glover,'' and it was an action, adventure, and romance genre series. Eshwar''s story didn''t have any content in the middle, he only had the beginning and the end, it was just a story in his mind and it stayed that way as he continued to ignore that story and read other novels of the same genre to get motivation, and then.... ''Regression'' stories piqued his interest as he began to read more and more novels about regression, his nameless story, which was dying in his head, suddenly got a spark as he thought of adding a male lead to the story and ''that male lead will know the future,'' and that''s it, the nameless story in his mind soon came to a halt, but it created a new story of its own as it pushed aside the nameless story. He ignored the nameless story and began to form many new stories in his mind, and one day he decided to try writing a story without any expectations, and he began to write a chapter, paused beforepleting a single chapter, and thought ofpleting his nameless story. His story idea with a female main character and his story idea with a male main character who knows the future werebined to form the story ''The survival story of the extra.'' The story had sessfully ended by the time Eshwar had turned 20 years old who had begun to write the second part of the story, he was happy with his family, and then it happened.... Everything was turned upside down in a single day, ''animals'' became ''monsters,'' ''friends'' became ''enemies,'' and the only people he could trust were his mother, father, and adopted younger sister. The word ''humans'' had lost its meaning because the world had already devolved into survival of the fittest, and they had to fight like beasts for a single meal. A monthter. Eshwar began to move more, he got out, fought to death with the monsters or humans, and bought food for the three members of his family who stayed in a tent; he knew that if they saw him bleed as if he were on the verge of death, they would freak out, so he would toss the food into the tent and say, ''mom, I ate the food on the way and saw some more, so I''ll go fetch it,'' and would dash out of there before they could even reply. This processsted ten days; he had now transformed into a skinny man with an oppressive aura that oozed out without his awareness, and on the eleventh day, when he went to fetch food for his family.... "Huff....huff...huff..." He panted heavily, dragged himself and a sack full of fruits and meat, and was bleeding profusely from his chest after the wolf-type monster he had just battled managed to w him in the chest. "Huff....gulp..." He took a look at the food and gulped because he needed food to heal or he wouldn''t wake up the next day, which would mean he wouldn''t be able to care for his family. "Aaaa...." He yelled in a low voice and tossed the sack towards a tree and stared at it for a brief moment, slowly approached it, crouched down and as he was about to grab a fruit, he stopped.... because his little sister''s face shed in his mind, and even though she didn''t know much about what was going on, she was mature enough to offer him food even though her stomach was grumbling. "Argh! Arghhhh!!" He yelled, punched his grumbling stomach, writhed on the ground and red back. CRUNCH WHOOSH He lunged forward, leaving the food behind, and dashed with every ounce of strength he could muster with his bleeding and weakened body, and when he got close to the dead monster''s body.... CHOMP SPLURT He bit the its neck. Chapter 160 159. Who He Is (2). ?CHOMP SPLURT He bit the dead monster''s neck. He tore off the tough and thickyer of fur, bit of a big chunk of flesh off of the monster''s neck. "Haa...haa...mfff." He huffed as he chewed the monster flesh and resisted the urge to vomit because it was too disgusting. He knew he''d die if he didn''t eat, so he forced himself to eat the monster flesh. He only stopped eating when his stomach waspletely full and when it was bit bloated. "Haa...haa...haa." He panted as he slumped back, and then he remembered that his family hadn''t eaten anything yet, so he dashed again, grabbed the sack he''d left near the tree, and dashed again until he reached their tent, without a single break. "Huff...huff...huff." He huffed and fell unconscious right in front of the tent. THUMP * "Mh... Hm?" Eshwar jolted awake and stared at his family members who were in front of him. "Are you alright?" A bearded man asked in a hoarse voice, he had dark brown eyes and hair with a warm smile on his face, his name was Vishnu, Eshwar''s father. "Pa." Eshwar mumbled and nodded his head. "Brother!!" A 4 feet tall girl jumped on him, she had bright green eyes and light blonde shoulder length hair, her name was Luna, Eshwar''s little sister. Eshwar returned Luna''s warm hug tightly. "What happened? Why were you bleeding? Didn''t you say you would be out of trouble?" A woman with ck eyes and hair asked Eshwar in a stern tone as she sat straight crossed legged on the ground while staring at Eshwar, she was Elena, his mother. "Ah!" He looked down on his chest and noticed that he was bandaged with the torn clothes. ".... Ma, I was on my way back with the food when a wolf suddenly attacked me for food, so I had to run around and distract it before returning here, and this wound I have here is because of that wolf, so I''m fine there nothing is wrong, and I managed to perfectly escape from it." He said with a satisfied smile because he came up with that reason then and there. "....." Elena furrowed her brows at him and stared at him for a brief moment before shaking her head. "Haha, ha." He looked around, avoiding eye contact andughed drily. "Haa, anyway, be careful." She mumbled with a sigh. "Yes, ma." Eshwar smiled brightly and replied. * Five monthster. "Putui... Know your ce, you son of a bit*h." With a re, Eshwar spat out blood and said to the dead human. The human beneath Eshwar''s leg had his left arm severed and a blunt hit which had crushed half of his head, while Eshwar had small scratches on his face and arms that were healing at a rate visible to the naked eye. The man beneath Eshwar''s leg had picked a fight with him for food and died before he could even fight properly. Suddenly, Eshwar felt a shiver run down his spine, and the memory of his happy family shed through his mind. RUMBLE (4x) "Hm?" Eshwar instantly frowned. "Huh?" His breath had turned white, and a wave of freezing cold air swept through on him, and he dashed against it, because his family was on that side, and the breeze that cruised past him could easily blow off the tent, and there would be nothing to protect them. Then a huge wave of white cloud appeared from a distance, he squinted his eyes at the white cloud that was fast approaching and blinked because it was a little too cold for him to handle, and the next movement the white cloud was right in front of him and engulfed him whole as he lost consciousness. * Hourster. "Gasp! Cough....cough, cough, cough??" He jolted awake and coughed in cold, continuously. "Ah...." ''Everything seemed toe to a halt for him'' when he was engulfed by a thick nket of snow that had engulfed everything and everyone he could see from the spot heid on. Half of his body was covered in snow, but he didn''t care because the first thing that came to mind was his family. He jumped to his numb feet and dashed forward, having no idea where he was or where he was going, but he just wanted to know where they were and if they were safe. He ran for half a day with tears streaming down his cheeks, not stopping until he passed out from exhaustion. He then woke up after regaining some strength and dashed again, this time his knees wobbled and forced him to his knees, he looked around in daze and saw a ton of debris that seemed to be poking out of the thick nket of snow, and not a single life was felt in any of his surroundings as he dashed his way here. "Ah... Arrrrrrggggghhhh!!!" Eshwar screamed at the top of his lungs and punched at the snow, which gradually hardened as he continued to punch, and then his knuckles began to bleed as his skin tore off due to the cold and his knuckles were crushed due to his continuous punches, the white snow in front of him had already turned red due to his blood, and he fell unconscious again, this time due to profuse bleeding. * Two monthster. As he moved to find his family, he hunted and ate monsters that stood in his way. Yes, he had not given up on finding his family yet. The monster he found frequently were a weird looking lizardman-like hybrid which are called ''Dinosaurs'' ording to Eshwar. He then began to talk to himself in order to keep himself sane, because he was already on the verge of insanity; one could say that his talking to himself is a type of treatment he devised for himself. In any unbelievable situation, even if he was about to die, he would speak to himself and chuckle every once in a while. And then another two years passed in this manner, and Eshwar found himself in front of a location where he saw a white-coloured dragon arrive, and he dubbed that location ''The Dragon''sir'' from the moment he saw the Dragon enter a cave on the mountain to rest. "...." Isha saw Eshwar talking to himself with a warm smile, even though he had been through a lot, he held on strong, she thought as she stared at him as an indescribable emotion enveloped her heart and somewhere inside she knew that if that curse had worked properly on her, she wouldn''t have been able to treat Eshwar the same because she understood that the strange throbbing pain she felt previously was Eshwar''s, though she didn''t know how such a thing was possible, so she concluded that the ''Curse,'' whatever that was, it was responsible for it and she determined herself that she would break it if she could return back. [...What are you.....a human?] A cold hoarse voice sounded from the Dragon''sir. "!" Isha opened her eyes wide and snapped her head to face their as an extremely painful feeling appeared near her heart. Chapter 161 160. Who He Is (3). ?[...What are you.....a human?] A cold hoarse voice sounded from the Dragon''sir. "!" Isha opened her eyes wide and snapped her head to face their as an extremely painful feeling appeared near her heart. "Hm? Oh, you can speak?" Eshwar asked because he thought that it''s useless to hide as he was already found out. Isha could hear his thoughts and feel his emotions subtly, as if someone was narrating ''Eshwar'' for Isha, but she wasn''t aware of it because she waspletely engulfed in her own thoughts. "Fr-Frostine?" Isha mumbled in daze as the memories from her previous life started to reappear. Frostine was sold in the auction thinking she was a lizard-man because when she was young she couldn''tpletely morph her dragon form, so her tail remained even after she turned into her human form, making people misunderstand her as a lizard-man as beast-men, demi-humans, and other races were extremelymon in Isha''s previous life. She was given to Isha as a ''Gift'' for her birthday and Isha was the one who named her as ''Frostine.'' Frostine was the only one Isha was particrly close to. Frostine was a friend, a maid, a pet and her emotional support in her previous life, thus when she was forced to leave her behind, it pained her more as guilt started eat her away because she was the cause of Frostine''s death. And now, she was certain that she heard ''Frostine''s'' voice, the same voice which would wake her up every morning, speak to her every day and be with her whenever she needed, it was the same voice that had turned a bit mncholy. "Something like that..." Eshwar said with a nod and snapped Isha out of her trance. ".....I-is th-that re-really Frostine?" Isha stuttered as she felt a lump stuck in her throat. [What do you mean ''something like that''?] The hoarse voice sounded from the dragon''sir, again. "You could tell, right? That I''m no human." Eshwar said with a shrug because he had already epted whatever he was and he knew that he no longer a ''human'' because none of the humans had survived the avnche from two years ago while the ''Dinosaurs'' had survived because they were ''monsters,'' thus Eshwar concluded and epted that he too was a ''monster.'' His body which would heal as soon as he was hurt physically wasn''t something a ''human'' is capable of, even though he had plenty of w scars on his lean and chiselled body he knew for a fact that no human would ever be able to live if they lost blood as much as he had, he would heal if given enough even if he was at the death''s door. [What are you then?] The hoarse voice sounded a bit amused by the conversation. "Like hell I would know, though you can say I am a ''human'' too." Eshwar answered as took out a axe and a hammer which were hung on his back. "Say, you''re a dragon right?" Eshwar asked as he clenched the axe and the hammer. [Yes. I am Frostine, The Ice Queen or The Queen Of Frost.] Frostine introduced herself in a slightly prideful tone. "Pfft! She''s still using that! Hahaha!!" Isha burst out intoughter as she heard Frostine use the monikers she had given her when they yed together. "....Um, I don''t want to pry about why you call yourself that, but.... It''s a bit, a tinny tiny bit, cheesy...." Eshwar mumbled in a low voice and Isha flushed red because she had given those monikers to Frostine. "Y-yu-you! What do you know? I-I was a kid, back then!!!" Isha pointed her index finger at Eshwar and roared. "Ahem, anyway, you can call me Eshwar....." Eshwar said and his cheeks turned slightly rosy. "... ''The Hunter.''" He expressed his embarrassment at introducing himself in such a manner to someone of such intelligence. [....] Frostine turned silent. "Pfft!! Hahahaha!!" Ishaughed out loud at his expense. "D-don''t turn silent all of a sudden, won''t I get embarrassed!!" Eshwar roared at Frostine''sir. "Anyway! Let''s fight!" He said and dashed towards their with an axe in his left hand and a hammer in his right. She swung her tail once and hit him off of the cliff in front of herir. * A monthter. "Hahaha!! I won!" Eshwarughed as he writhed on the ground. [.... You managed to get one hit on me after a month and 25 matches!] Frostine said and pointed to Eshwar while in her human form; she was 6 feet tall woman with pale skin, white hair, bright blue eyes with vertical ck slits, and wore baggy clothes made by Eshwar from monster''s skin. "Yeah, you only managed to get one hit after fighting against her for a month!" Isha snorted, even though her words weren''t reaching them; she was still happy that the two most important people in her life were happy, and because she had realised that she could know what Eshwar was feeling, she wasn''t too concerned, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she was concerned that Eshwar might fall in love with Frostine, because Frostine was obviously beautiful. Years passed, and it had been 10 years since everything on Earth had gone wrong. He discovered his parents; they were buried deep beneath a thick nket of snow, and their bodies had crystallized; he used tools to perfectly carve out their bodies and buried them. And in all those years, Frostine had transferred some of the dragonic mana into Eshwar''s body; he now had white wavy hair and bright orange iris with vertical ck slits; she had taught him a noble''s attitude, elegance, and grace, which turned ''king-like'' when he used them; she had taught him ''mana maniption,'' different kinds of attributes, subspace magic, and many other things. He taught her everything that was ''human-like'' and brutish fighting techniques, talked about his novels and about the ''third part of the novel,'' the survival story of the extra, and every time he talked about romance, Frostine would react a bit too strongly, which made him want to tease her, so he started to tease her, asking her to marry him. Then, one day. A group of humans arrived at Frostine''sir and killed her as she protected Eshwar from the meteor attack. Isha wept uncontrobly at the sight, and it only got worse because she could feel a heart-wrenching pain from Eshwar influencing her own; she wanted to kill those who attacked them, and though she couldn''t do anything, there was someone who could, Eshwar. He killed those humans who attacked them, got information on who made them do it, and killed every human in the so-called city they had built, and because he couldn''t control his own magic, he died. "Haa... Well...it''s not a bad way to die, I guess." He mumbled as hey on top of the translucent light blue tomb, which had covered the entire human city as it slowly froze everything and turned everything into translucent crystals. "It hurts." He mumbled as he winced from the pain inflicted on his body, and Isha, who was watching him, sobbed as she felt her heart clench at his sight. "Haa..." He sighed and stopped breathing. Isha view instantly started to blur and scenery in front of her morphed into a white one. * "Gasp! Cough....cough, cough, cough??" Eshwar jolted awake in the middle of a nowhere. "Huh? He''s alive!!" Isha jumped in joy, but soon halted. "Wait! Huh?" Isha instantly frowned because she remembered the view in front of her¡ªit was when the avnche had happened! It was when Eshwar had lost everything! "Gaze of the Divine!" Isha roared hurriedly. ==== ==== "!!" Chapter 162 161. Who He Is (4). ?"Gaze of the Divine!" Isha roared hurriedly. ==== ==== "!!" Isha opened her eyes wide and stared at the white status window in front of her daze, especially the age. His age was still the same as it was before he returned to the past! Mana maniption was something Frostine had taught him, while the ''Clock of Fate'' was something he got after he returned, and... "What are these stats? What''s going on? Why?" Then she suddenly realized something.... "How did we meet? How did, no, where did hee from?" Isha muttered as she started to think back to the time they had met. There was only a strange magical ripple that cautioned her, and when she went to see what it was, she found him inside a massive crater that made him look like an ant. That was how they met! That could mean he fell out of the sky (?). "Huh? Where am I? Is this my life shing before my eyes before I die?" Eshwar mumbled in daze as he too recognized that spot. PAT "Cough!?" He pped his cheek in full force and coughed out a mouthful of blood with several broken teeth, which grew back instantly. "..... This isn''t the dream? Then I regressed?" He mumbled with a lost look on his face. "Aren''t I a total cheat main character?" He grinned and jumped back to his numb feet before falling face first on the snow. "What''s going on?" Isha mumbled as she suddenly started to feel anxious. "Something is wrong...." She mumbled. "Eight years! I have 8 years!!" Eshwar''s mumbled snapped Isha out of her trance. "No! Eshwar! Something is wrong!!" Isha zoomed in front of him and held his shoulders, or at least she tried to; she wanted to warn him, but it was just a futile thought. He got back up on his feet and dashed towards the location of his parents, where he found themst time, with the thought of a ''maybe.'' Maybe, just maybe, they were alive at the time. * "Ha! What did I even expect?" He mumbled as he stared at the translucent light blue crystal that held his entire family, and this time he began to carve them out more skilfully as he remained as strong as he had be in the past. "...." Isha simply stared at him as he carved out his family members from the crystal with a nonchnt expression on his face, but he was in extreme heart-wrenching pain, which only Isha knew. "Sniffle....uck... haa...." He stopped carving, leaned forward on the crystal, cried, and stayed like that for a while before he buried them again, and then he went to find Frostine because he wanted to thank her and yell at her to never do that again. * He visited Frostine and managed to exin the situation before challenging her again. After the fight, he went to find the cave where he lived in the past, refined all of his techniques, and vowed that this time he would protect her. But the same future repeated itself again, but they died differently. This time too, somehow Frostine protected Eshwar again. He went crazy and killed all of humanity very slowly and as painfully as he could. Isha, who watched everything, felt a bit bad for the humans who were getting tortured by Eshwar because he didn''t use his ''Frost Devil'' form and was still alive, which he felt was unfortunate. Isha wanted to beat him up for thinking like that, but because she couldn''t do so yet, she continued to stare at him and watch him work harder day by day and master himself. He would push himself to the limits and train until he would fall unconscious; this passed by for years, but even though he had grown mentally by hundreds of years, his body age had stopped after 10 years; in Isha''s ''Gaze of the Divine,'' his body age was... Then he trained, fought monsters, ate them, and did it all over again until he couldn''t take it any longer and killed himself with an ice axe forged with Frost magic. He threw it high into the air and dashed as he watched it fall back down, and when it reached the correct height, he stood below and let the axe strike him. He was split in half, and the earth had a huge vertical cut in it asva was falling to the depths. * "...." He simply stared at sky with lifeless eyes as he woke up in same spot he woke up in his previous lives. "Eshwar...." Isha called out with tears streaming down her face. She felt a lump stuck in her throat when she called his name, but there was one change this time. Eshwar saw a sh of a golden clock right before he opened his eyes in this life. "Well, I guess, I''ll get to torture some humans again...." Eshwar mumbled and continued to stare the bright blue sky with lifeless eyes. "Hic....hic...." Isha was crying as she stared at the state he was in; she wanted to hug him and try tofort him, but she couldn''t. She felt helpless and useless when she couldn''t do anything but stare at him dying inside. ''He never talked about any of this...'' Isha thought and cried harder because ''all'' the pain she thought wasrge seemed too insignificantpared to what he had gone through in just two lives. Even though she didn''t know what was going to happen next, she ''felt'' that this wouldn''t be thest. She too was lonely and had abandoned herself to istion because she didn''t like the ''gazes'' she was receiving, but now as she stared at him, she thought it would have been too much if she was alone; even though she didn''t like it, there were tons of people who could help her, but he... Didn''t have any. He slowly stood back up, took a step forward, and appeared at the ce his parents were. He carved them out and buried them again, but this time he turned the other way around and dashed towards the spot where the humans had built the city. There weren''t any cities there yet, so he waited there for years, and as soon as he felt the same numbers of humans in the city as his past, he ughtered them all and then rushed towards Frostine. "Ah...." He let out a strange voice at the sight in front of him. There was a huge dragon''s skeleton there, with blood sttered all over the mountain the cave was on, and he stared at the scene with an indifferent expression, but the pain in his heart was still there, though it seemed to have lessened a little because Frostine died fighting this time, rather than protecting. He still killed every single monster on Earth in his ''Frost Devil'' form. He killed the monsters before a year because he was stronger in that form than in his human form. "I''ll be spending more time with her...next time...." He mumbled, jumped high into the sky, above the clouds, and dove down with his head facing the ground. BOOM Chapter 163 162. Who He Is (5). ? He had gone through ten regression processes after hisst three lives, and every time it was Frostine who would either somehow protect him from something before dying or she would die in some other way, not once in his 13 lives did Frostine ever die after him. Eshwar had gone through many changes in these recent lives, he was no longer looking dead, he began to talk to himself more and more, and Isha, who was with him at all times, would speak to him even though he couldn''t hear, one could say that the voices in his head and Isha were the same, because she could tell what he was thinking with a single nce, her responding to him was a kind of treatment for both of them to be sane. He had developed his ''mine'' obsession, but it was a bit more violent than the Eshwar on ''Earth'' or the novel''s world, he had made chess his favourite game and it was the trait he had given to the main viin of the story, ''the smart viin who would first take everything away from the main character before killing him,'' that was something Eshwar would do if someone touched what''s ''his,'' regardless of the fact that, that was something he had kept within him since he was 16 years old boy, like his dark personality, he made the main viin by making him do every ''dark'' thing and included several other things, among them was, how to ''properly'' destroy someone. And there was one major change, he was finally able to get a clear view of the golden clock that appeared in front of him every time he died. It was a massive ring-like circr, golden clock with five hands: the first disyed seconds, the second disyed minutes, the third disyed hours, the fourth disyed days, and the fifth disyed years, with the time disyed as [45s: 08m: 11h: 185d: 155y]. It had two dark purple core-like giant spheres, one in the centre and the other at the right bottom from the centre, and it had many gears installed in it, with at least a hundred gears turning before a second passed. He had be the ''Eshwar,'' Isha knew, he was openly showing his emotions and would speak whatever he wanted, he had be more ruthless yetpassionate against humans, he killed everyone who he thought wasn''t of any use to the world and left everyone to live their lives, he would spend time with Frostine hearing her speak about her master, Isha, which would bring a smile to Isha''s face from time to time. This time, some of the humans he had left alive acted on their greed and attacked him and Frostine, and were killed by Eshwar, but Frostine had died protecting him, again, and he would not have died....no, it wouldn''t have stung him even if that something had been dropped directly on his face, but Frostine had protected him and died... Which left him quite dumbfounded, to be honest. "Why? I won''t die even they bought a whole army with them, why did you think that I would die from this sh*t?" He asked while ring at Frostine''s dead body. "It wasn''t like she didn''t know this sh*t!" He turned back, pointing at Frostine''s dead body, and roared at nothing, acting as if he was speaking with someone, despite the fact that no one was left except corpses of humans and monsters. "Ha! Regression is a blessing my a*s!! Thispletely different from all the stories I have read!! This is a goddam curse! A curse which is the start of your bad luck! God f**king dammit!!" Eshwar yelled on top of his lungs and roared at the sky. "Why should I be the one forced to watch her die!! Why in the f**king hell is she trying to protect my a*s!? Arrrrrrggggghhhh!!!" He screamed in agony as his head and heart hurt. RUMBLE (4x) At his scream, the entire Earth began to tremble, and Isha could feel the ''seed'' or the ''core'' of the Earth trembling. The ''seed'' was the core filled with mana, which had grown and filled to the brim over the previous ten years since the Earth was exposed to mana and created its own signature, the ''World Energy.'' Every world that is exposed to mana develops its own core, and the mana in the core begins to supply the mana to everything present in the world, making everything purer and more magical, including the ''living,'' it refines the mana and returns to the core, as more and more things begin to develop their own magical signatures and breathe out mana, the World Energy continues to increase, making the World''s core the purest and thickest. This is the reason why, the longer the world is exposed to mana, the stronger the mana cruising through it bes. This is also why the magic-less Earth began to act strangely, and nature, which breathes in everything the world has to offer, began to seem like it was taking over humanity. Isha, who stared the process, was astounded beyond belief because Eshwar had just managed to scare a ''being'' who is 4,543 billion years old! (AN: Isha is referring to the ''Earth'' when she said being.) But Eshwar, who was unaware of this, simply ignored it, believing it to be an earthquake. Then suddenly Eshwar was dragged somewhere and Isha too was dragged with him. He appeared to be in outer space because everything around him was dark, with star-like minute things shining all around him, then an Earth materialized in front of him and soonpleted its day rotation once, and instantly ten more Earths materialized around him, Eshwar looked at all of them in confusion, and noticed that each and every one of them disyed one of his lives. SWHHOOOP Then he was dragged back to the scene of the massacre, right in front of Frostine''s dead body, and everything seemed to happen in an instant, as if something simply shed through his mind once, like one of those things that everyone forgets as soon as they remember it, but in Eshwar''s case, he remembered what had happened, very clearly. "What was that?" He mumbled in daze, and Isha, who was staring at him, was left speechless, whatever had just happened, it seemed like her ''Gaze of the Divine,'' but a lot different and a thousand times better than her ''Godly Skill!'' "I want to see that again...." Eshwar mumbled with a twisted grin. "..... If I did that..... I want it to be under my ''control!''" He muttered as his twisted grin widened. "This..... Ah, right!" She wanted to scold andin at him for thinking it was easy because it had taken her years and two lives to achieve, but she kept her mouth shut because she remembered that he was older than her and it had taken him more than two lives to achieve it, but still..... "Hmph." She snorted at him. And he then started to train while working on replicating the scene in his mind and many....many yearster, something happened. He was sitting crossed legged on the ground, why? Because that was how everyone in the stories and novels he read achieved enlightenment. So, he, too, decided to stick to the tradition and started to meditate in the lotus position. BOOM Thickyers of different colours exploded out of his body: light blue, crimson red, ck, and emerald green, which were his mana, aura, demonic energy, and dragonic mana, respectively. They exploded out of his body and shot up into the air, forming a mesmerising pir while coiling around each other as if trying to merge, and because their natures were different, they weren''t able to merge, but because they were under Eshwar''s control, they stayed like that and then..... As if it was jumping off of something, the coiled magical pir stretched up and dove down on Eshwar; as soon as it reached his head, it exploded out, rippled twice before rippling in reverse and seeping back into him before forming a mesmerizing cocoon around him. Isha stared at the process in awe as Eshwar was now floating mid-air above a massive crater that made him look like an ant, and the cocoon made out of different colours of his mana looked mesmerizing, with all four colours moving in harmony, or at least looking like they were moving in harmony, and as she continued to stare at the phenomenon in a daze, her vision blurred and the view in front of her eyes morphed. Chapter 164 163. Who He Is (6). ?Isha''s vision blurred and the view in front of eyes morphed. She was now in a pitch-ck space with only two structures, one of which was a massive golden clock that disyed [36s: 24m: 05h: 32d: 155y]. The clock had stopped ticking after 11 or 12 years had passed, and this fact was something only Isha knew yet. "Damn, it''s been 155 years since I regressed this time..." Eshwar mumbled because he knew the existence of that clock; its presence in that pitch-ck space surprised him, but not by much. "..... No, it has counted all of your lives..." Isha mumbled. And next to it was the Earth, which had 13 golden rings spinning around it in their own respective directions at extreme speeds. "Hm?" Eshwar frowned at the sight and nodded in understanding after staring at it for a brief moment. "Each ring represents one of my lives....so 13 rings..." He mumbled as he nodded his head in understanding. "Two of the most f**ked up things of my lives are right in front of me, hahahahaha!!" His crazedughter reverberated throughout the pitch-ck space. "Hm?" He took a step forward towards the massive structures to take a closer look at them, but as soon as he took a step forward, a patch made of all four colours of his mana formed beneath his feet. He ignored it and took a long step forward, and this time too, another patch formed. "Hahaha." He chuckled, started to jump high tond in a random location where more patches started to form, and after he was done ying around, he jumped high up in space andnded in a location where both of the massive structures looked like huge decorations in the background. Once he seemed satisfied with the location, he smiled and nodded his head in satisfaction, and... BOOM WHOOSH SHWOOSH A huge patch of different mesmerising colours materialised beneath his feet and expanded wide, forming a small ind of its own with a pitch-ck throne at the middle of it. He stared at the throne for a brief moment and walked towards it with a wide grin of satisfaction while releasing his aurapletely and even adding mana pressure, killing intent, and demonic energy, which would disy his authority or rank, and sat on the pitch-ck throne. All of his powers, which he was excluding,bined with each other, forming a pitch-ck yet translucent rippling cape-like hue on his back and a crown on his head, with light blue, crimson, ck, and emerald green crystals adorned on it. "Whoa..." Isha was taken aback by the sight because Eshwar looked... incredible. That was the only word that came to her mind at his sight; she was so mesmerised by him that she forgot to breath for a moment. "Hahahaha!!" Heughed menacingly at his coronation and snapped Isha out of her daze. That was the moment Eshwar created his own ''domain,'' and he knew how to get in and get out of it, as soon as he sat on the throne. He leaned forward, stood up, took a step forward, and he was back on Earth. "Huh?" He looked down at the massive crater in disbelief and determined himself that he would use it only when it waspletely necessary because he didn''t simply want to damage or destroy the Earth. "Um...." Looking at him misunderstand things, she thought it was a pity because he looked goddamn hot when he sat on the throne with a crown on his head, and she would kill to look at him like that whenever she wanted. * [54s: 59m: 01h: 29d: 1650y] was the time disyed on the golden clock in his domain, and the earth in it also had hundreds of rings around it now. He had learned how to move in and out of his consciousness, where hundreds of Earths surrounded him. Eshwar would float while staring at many image-like screens that had encircled him in a cylinder; the images in front of him would change twice in a split second, and every single one of the ''images'' were his memories of his different lives. His eyes would move to every single image as the images coiled around him without stopping. Hundreds of ''Earths'' would materialise around him. There would be no sun or moon, but the light that fell on the earths would remain constant as they spun in opposite directions. He''d lived so many lives that he''d lost count, and now all he wanted to do was die. He had killed the humans in every way possible, he had ughtered them, killed one daily, tortured one daily, he even created a game to kill them called ''random pick of death,'' destroyed families around his targets before killing them, making their lives so miserable that they wanted to ''ask him permission'' to die; of course, some still died despite his warning; the next day, everyone close to him was tortured in front of everyone; because some still died, he even created permit tickets, which would be given one daily, and those who had them were able to kill themselves. But that wasn''t all there was to it; they had his ''permission'' to choose one person to die with them. He had once mixed tons of monster''s blood until it turned poisonous and released it in the city after blocking every single escape route, and he watched them die slowly and painfully. One of the methods that even Isha liked was the way he manipted those humans. He had manipted them many times, to kill each other, to rebel against the government, to wage war against the association and the government, to turn humans into psychos, and many other things, but one thing that bothered Isha was that he always began his maniption with a woman!! Of course, he''d do ''things'' with the woman to turn her into his ideal puppet, which seemed inevitable but still!! Isha wanted to beat the sh*t out of him, but she couldn''t, so she saved it forter, when she returned to that ''Earth.'' In all of his lives, he had gotten so strong that he could destroy a with a simple snap of his fingers, and in all of those lives of his, the only thing that remainedmon was Frostine, who died in front of him, almost every time. Isha had be numb from all of the sights in front of her, and though she wanted Eshwar to simply ignore everything and live separately, one thing or another would go wrong and not the same, but simr future would unfold in front of him, and there was something he would definitely do in every one of his lives, he would definitely kill one person no matter what, his name was.... Park Oh. (AN: He is association president mentioned in chapter 01: The Fall.) There were times when he had left him alone, and in all of those lives, the humans'' lives had turned dreadful, wars would break out, or humanity would destroy itself from within, and the city would have turned into a living hell. There was something Isha noticed about him that reminded her of the Hero Association chairman, Stan Walton. And another surprising thing about Isha was that she noticed that no matter how many centuries of years had passed, she never forgot a thing about their life in that ''Earth.'' "I want to die." Chapter 165 164. Something Important. ?"I want to die." Eshwar mumbled, and Isha stared at him with a pained expression as her heart clenched at his words, but if it had been possible, she would have stopped him even though she didn''t want him to suffer any longer. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in rage. Subconsciously, his body emitted a violent ripple of pitch-ck hue, which gradually transformed into a cape on his back. He had regressed over a hundred times, and every time Frostine was the one who died, there was a time when he killed her because he couldn''t control his strength properly because he was too happy to see her alive, but there were too many times when she died protecting him. He didn''t like that feeling of being someone who should be protected; he never liked it. But he ignored that feeling, and he tried to save her many times, but everything would still continue in the same way, and after some time, it started to irritate him. It was as if he had been cursed to see her die; she was the only one he wanted to protect, so he didn''t fully understand, but he concluded that the regression is a bad omen that forces the one who regressed to witness the death of their loved ones right in front of them. (AN: Eshwar''s thoughts about ''regressions'' is mentioned in chapter 126: Eunomia.). "Aarrrggggh!!!" Eshwar screamed at the top of his lungs and lunged forward, killing everything in sight; it was the moment he lost it, all the pent-up emotions burst out of him, and he subconsciously transformed into his Frost Devil form. He turnedpletely white before small cracks appeared on his forearms, legs below his kneecaps, and abdomen, slowly peeling off and transforming into translucent light blue crystal-like body parts, his fingers had turned into ws, as had his toes, and his heels had turned sharp as if another finger had protruded out of it. His wavy hair was glowing white as if it had devoured the darkness, his sclera had turned ck, and his iris was glowing bright orange with vertical ck slits. Everything in his path was shredded before they could even realize what had happened; he dashed like a ribbed bog and ravaged everything, slowly destroying the Earth, and when there was nothing left to destroy, he began to dig because he felt a very dense and pure mana that had developed over thest century oozing out from the deeper depths. When he was digging down, he felt congested and it irritated him that things were preventing him from going deeper, so he punched at his sides, destroying the world from the inside, his single punch created a ton of space that he could build a dozen of mansions there if he wanted, after he was done with one side he punched at the other side after it cleared the path he dug down again, dove into theva andpletely froze it, then broke it after it hardened and continued until he arrived at a location where the ''World Energy'' appeared to be abundant. Isha was perplexed by what Eshwar was doing, it appeared that he had some kind of n, but she was still perplexed and was staring at him dig around in shock, she asked herself what the hell he was doing and why it seemed so easy when he did it, because he had already reached the centre of the Earth where its core of World Energy was present and he seemed to be searching for something... As soon as that thought cruised her mind, she smiled forcefully and shook her head to dismiss that thought. "No, no, no, it''s impossible, it...." Isha paused and stared at Eshwar who seemed to be searching for something, earnestly. ".....I-it can''t be....right?" She mumbled. After a while of searching, he discovered a golf ball-sized translucent ball that didn''t give off any feeling, but radiated tons and tons of magical ripples that caused Eshwar to bleed profusely as soon as he took it to his hands, and in an instant the ce he had just dug was filled with his blood forming an ankle length puddle of blood, Eshwar gritted his teeth from pain, but those teeth instantly felt off as soon as he tried to clench it, he closed his eyes as he lost all of his senses and gulped down the golf sized translucent ball right before hepletely lost his senses. ''Hahahahahahahahaha!!!'' Heughed maniacally, inwardly. Isha clenched her fists and forced her eyes closed at the gore scene, but it was pointless because she would ''know'' what was going on even if her eyes were closed. "Hic.... Esh-Eshwar...." Isha mumbled while hupping. Suddenly, Eshwar focused on the crystal he swallowed, perhaps because of the ''Taboo'' skill he developed when he ate monsters and humans alike, he was able to ''Devour'' the ''seed'' which held an abundance of World Energy! After focusing on it, everything around him began to fall apart, and the Earth, on which he had spent thousands of years, was destroyed by him, but he didn''t know because he didn''t have any of his senses yet. After everything in the golf ball was devoured, he began to heal as well. After he healed properly, he noticed one major difference: he was in the middle of something that was floating away, Earth was broken apart from the sudden disappearance of mana that held it together and the damage Eshwar had caused from the inside, then suddenly... He died. He didn''t even know what killed him, but he died in an instant and the golden clock appeared before him, again. It was the cause of his regression...every single amount of pain he felt, every single death he had to witness, it forced him to bury his own parents hundreds of times, forced him to witness the death of the only person he wanted to protect, that goddamn thing was the cause of everything!! Eshwar thought of a sword and a sword made of ice materialized in his hand which he clenched and swung at it, diagonally, the sh passed through the golden clock more easily than he thought and bnced each other withoutpletely falling apart and suddenly Eshwar felt a strange yet strong pull with two strong energies, one gave off a same feeling as the ''seed'' he ate and the other gave off a ten times more stronger feeling, so choose thetter. Isha had turned a bit numb to his surprises so she simply stared at the phenomenon take ce with a stupefied expression on her face, thinking that nothing more could ever surprise, but.... ? He appeared in front of a that was 50 timesrger than Earth and appeared to be simr to Earth that had received a ''saturation boost,'' and the pull vanished as soon as he entered that''s atmosphere, and gravity worked just fine because Eshwar got free freefall almost from the space. Isha stared at him in disbelief because that was definitely the she was on in her past life, she then noticed that he was in his ''Frost Devil'' form, so everything fit perfectly, it was only after he reached the ground that they met!! Isha was curious to learn what he was thinking when they met, but... Everything abruptly turned dark, nothing was visible and then suddenly.... "Eshwar." Isha''s voice rang out in Eshwar''s head, and Isha, who was staring at him, was taken aback because it was unmistakably her voice, but she hadn''t said anything.... And when she began to think about it, she realized that her voice just sounded in Eshwar''s head, and then she remembered that his memories from the moment of their meeting had been sealed due to the price she had to pay in order to ''Curse'' the Gods who betrayed her, she smiled bitterly, and everything morphed around her, and she didn''t ''feel'' Eshwar anymore. *** "Gasp!" Isha jolted awake as she reappeared in front of Jiwoo, Vinny, Katharine, Katline and Violet, and because she wasn''t focusing on her eyes, she saw their emotions, and everyone was surprised and terrified. "You. What are you looking at?" Isha nced at Jiwoo and asked. "You...no, Mi-Misss Isha, y-yu-you j-ju-just disappeared and re-reappeared just now." Jiwoo said. "!" Chapter 166 165. Something Important (2). ?"!" Isha opened her eyes wide and suddenly remembered something. ''Eshwar had disappeared like this before! On the night Quinn died! That must imply that Eshwar was cursed even on the night Quinn died! But how does it work? Did he see Quinn''s past when he died?'' She frowned. ''That''s why he did nothing even after Quinn died!! If not he would have gone crazy like he did when Frostine died!!'' Isha realized and her eyes opened wide at the realization. ''But why did it act on me too....'' Isha thought and a possibility cruised through her mind. "What if both parties see the other''s past? Eshwar saw Quinn''s past and reacted like that after he learned what Quinn did in the past, and I could only see how he reacted because Quinn was already dead." She mumbled out in low voice, involuntarily. ''But what are the curse activation condition?'' "Is it death? Eshwar disappeared after Quinn''s death, so it could be possible, but why did I...." Isha froze as another possibility that she thought was impossible shed in her mind. "No, that''s impossible, Eshwar can''t die....right?" Isha mumbled out loud, involuntarily. And as she continued to mumble to herself, her control over the restraints came lose and she suddenly felt a strong killing intent, her divinity subconsciously covered entire body and.... BAM She felt a strong force against her chin, so she spun in the direction of the force to reduce the damage she took; her body flew towards the wall and collided with it with her head. BOOM SHATTER She wrapped herself in her divinity, ignored whatever had just happened, and floated up into the sky because there was something more important she needed to know, and a golden ripple shot out from her feet. ''Divine pulse!'' she muttered in her mind. She felt an irony taste in her mouth and something trickling from her head, but she ignored everything and soon felt a presence on the other side of the street in front of the room she was in, as if the presence was keeping an eye on her. "Haa..." She sighed in relief when she saw Eshwar and a small smile appeared on her face because she thought that he was worried about her even after she had spoken so harshly this morning, but then she ''saw'' what she needed to know, slightly less important than the person himself. "The curse!" She mumbled as she rushed towards him, while hiding her presence, and because she didn''t want to see what each and every human was feeling, she controlled her eyes so that she wouldn''t be able to see what they were feeling; now that she had reimed her divinity, she could easily control her eyes. She looked down from above at Eshwar, who was dressed in a white suit and a white mask, possibly because he didn''t want to hide (?). ''It ismon sense that wearing ck and ck would make one suspicious, but if it''s white that draws all the attention, nobody would think of him as a bad person or someone who is spying on someone.'' Isha nodded her head in understanding at her own delusional story and then furrowed her brows at ''that,'' the curse. The curse resembled a hooded reaper that floated behind Eshwar with nine ck chains in its hands that spread out in different directions and another chain that came out of its mouth that was chained around his neck, while Eshwar''s mana, which was shaped like a huge snake, hissed at the hooded reaper from behind with its mouth wide open as if it would devour the hooded reaper the moment it got the chance. "Nothing is wrong yet, but let''s try and get rid of it." Isha muttered. ''World Curse.'' She muttered in her mind, and then a vertical crack appeared on the hooded reaper, which would break the curse as time passed, and the damage of the curse being broken would be inflicted on the cursed Eshwar. She only broke half of the curse for three reasons: One, Eshwar was still alive. Two, she was still not strong enough to break the cursepletely. Three, she desired that whoever cursed Eshwar endure excruciating pain until the curse waspletely broken. ''How dare you curse at him, hmph!'' She snorted inwardly and zoomed out of there in search of dungeons because she needed to get stronger if she wanted to be strong enough to fight against the Gods because she noticed that Gods were starting to influence the Earth and Eshwar would definitely grow more stronger in the future, so in the meantime she would get revenge for Anuke, Melissa, and the kids from the orphanage. ''They dare go after the kids!!'' Isha boiled in rage and began grieving for the orphanage kids at the same time, even though her emotions had slightly numbed when seeing Eshwar inflict pain to the humans and his inhumane torturing methods, but her other emotions had gotten stronger at the same time, of course, it was only limited to Eshwar, Frostine and the kids, she still didn''t care about other humans, but now that her emotions had gotten stronger, her sadness and desire for vengeance had also gotten stronger. ''Wait for me, kids, because I''m going to send all of those vampires to hell before they even consider repenting for their sins, so they don''t bother you in heaven!!'' Isha clenched her fists with a determined look on her and felt slightly proud of her child-like reasoning. *** A few minutes earlier in sector six. A small back door in the kitchen of ''The Hungry Bond'' restaurant led to a back alley where the kitchen waste and garbage is disposed of, there were five ''skip bins'' as three of them were full and in front of a skip bin stood three figures, one with his head forced into the bin, the one who forced his head into the bin was covered in white, and the other was staring at the scene unfold with a bright red mask on his face. PAT "Look here, you son of a bit*h." Eshwar pped Edwin Cobb, who was crying because he couldn''t move even an inch away from the stench of the dump because Eshwar was holding the back of his neck. "Pfft, ahem." Henry looked at Edwin Cobb in a glee. PAT "Huh? What''re you looking at?" Eshwar pped Edwin Cobb again because he looked at Eshwar because he was told to. "Pfft, hahaha, hey, let him speak, hahaha." Henryughed his a*s off as scene unfolded. "Pfft, ahem! Hey, don''tugh, we''re in the middle of a serious business." Eshwar said with his eyes arched, Henry could see him holding back hisughter. Suddenly. "No..." Eshwar''s eyes disyed pure disbelief and a sudden chill run down Henry''s spine. "No, no, no, no.....no..." Eshwar continued to shake his head in disbelief and then he suddenly disappeared. (AN: I''ll be changing the novel cover because I found one that was more suitable. I''ll change it tomorrow, [Peace]) Chapter 167 166. Not So Simply. ?"No..." Eshwar''s eyes disyed pure disbelief and a sudden chill run down Henry''s spine. "No, no, no, no..... no..." Eshwar continued to shake his head in disbelief before abruptly disappearing. Henry and Edwin Cobb simply stared at the spot where Eshwar stood in a daze, unable toprehend what had just actually happened, and before a minute passed, Eshwar reappeared in the same spot, bloodshot eyes and seething in rage. BAM "Uck!?" Edwin Cobb groaned in shock when he was abruptly ''knocked out.'' ''What? A ''vampire'' was knocked out?'' Even Henry was taken aback and stared in disbelief at Eshwar. Because of their absurd recovery rate and vitality, there has never been a time when a vampire was ''knocked out,'' and as a result, humans have been unable to gather any ''data'' on the vampires or devise a method to reduce their numbers, so what Eshwar did simply because he wanted to was impressive in its own level. THUMP Eshwar abruptly threw Edwin Cobb at Henry, who was still dazed, and the air around Henry turned visibly white before a translucent light blue tomb covered both Henry and the unconscious Edwin. "Wha..." Henry wanted to ask Eshwar what he was doing, but was cut short by Eshwar''s unexpected actions. BOOM Eshwar jumped off of the ground, and the force of his jump caused a huge ripple that destroyed all the buildings near them; around ten buildings copsed in an instant. Henry and Edwin Cobb were safe because of the tomb Eshwar had built before his departure, but everything around them was covered by a thick smokescreen. The smoke got thinner, and Henry saw that except for inside the tomb, thend around them had huge cracks on it, so huge that a human could easily fall into them. ''Wha? What''s gotten into him so suddenly? Why was he so angry?'' A series of questions raced through Henry''s mind, followed by another important question. "..... How did he suddenly get stronger?" Henry mumbled in daze as the translucent light blue tomb slowly started crack. *** [Party member ''Isha Walker'' has died.] "No, no, no, no, no, no...." I started to deny whatever was in front of my eyes. "This..... Please, please." I mumbled as I stared at the hotel room where I left Isha this morning. "Ah..." A wired sound escaped my mouth as I started at the room from afar where Jiwoo, Vinny, Katharine, Katline, and Violet were kneeling down in front of Isha in the room I left her in. Isha''s shadow had expanded out and was restraining them, and she seemed like she was in her own world as I saw her lips moving. I noticed Vinny''s eyes set aze in a green coloured aura, and he abruptly dashed forward and punched at Isha''s face with a strong killing intent oozing out of him. As soon as his fist reached Isha''s face, my mind turned nk, and the ''Eshwar'' I didn''t want to bring out in this life began to act out; at that instance, I just wanted to rip him apart. I wanted to move, but my body wouldn''t let me, forcing me to simply observe the scene as it moved slowly. Isha''s body flew towards the wall while spinning, as blood trickled down from her mouth, and she hit her head against the wall, breaking it and continuing to fly out, as her head began to bleed and I noticed that her body was covered in a thinyer of golden hue. I''m not sure why, but she ignored them and flew away, but my gaze remained fixed on Vinny Grover who punched Isha, the hand he punched Isha with was bleeding profusely with his skin melted from his knuckles, and then suddenly every memory of ''Park Oh'' the association chairman from my previous life, plotting to kill Frostine shed in my mind, and the memory didn''t stop there, every memory of Frostine''s death shed through my mind, fuelling my ''mine'' obsession, and then the memory of Frostine''s death was reced with Isha''s. ''I''ll kill you!'' My voice reverberated in my mind. My body began to cold, indicating that I was about to morph into my ''Frost Devil'' form; this was something I did every time after I returned to the human domain; every time I had the feeling that I was about to transform into that form, I would control it, but this time was different; this time I dly weed it. CRE-CREAK The surroundings around me froze and started to creak. But.... DING [Papa. Isha. Un-awakened. Sudden. Error.] Eunomia sent a message through the system, and I instantly snapped out of my trance; my rage was still there, and many ways to kill them cruised through my mind. ''Not so simply....'' I thought of killing him right this instance, but I calmed down, because I can''t just ''simply'' kill him. ''Yes, destroy. I will destroy them.'' I grinned at the blissful words that cruised through my mind and nced at the system notification window, where my daughter''s message awaited me, and because her influence on Earth had slightly increased, she was able to send about 5 words at once, which I somehow knew as soon as the system influence increased just now. I can contact her directly through the system if I''m in a dungeon or a domain, but since she tinkered with my control skill, we could just talk if we want to, but the only requirement is that I''m in a dungeon or a domain. The issue was being able to talk even outside, which was partially resolved as her influence on Earth grew. "Hahaha, how cute." I muttered out loud because I wanted my mind to calm down so that I wouldn''t get angry at Eunomia, so I slightly calmed my anger, read and understood what Eunomia wanted to say and what had just happened. ''Because of the error, the system presumed Isha had died and the curse activated or because of Isha an error urred in the system and forced it to presume that Isha had died, making the curse activate.'' "F**king bit*h! The next time I see her, I''m going show her, her ce!!" Vinny ignored his bleeding hand and yelled angrily, his words filled with malice; as soon as those words entered my ears, my thoughts about ''why the system suddenly got an error'' were cut short, and I nced at them again, this time a little calmer, just a tinny tiny bit calmer. I can contain my rage for as long as I want, but only if I have a proper andplete n in ce with scenarios under my control. ''If it had been my previous life, I would have gone with the flow, slowly killing and torturing them to my heart''s content, but this time it''s a little different, because they can stop me now that I''ve be weaker, I think?'' Getting weaker was one of the things I wanted because I could actually do something physically if I was weaker, because I prefer to move more physically rather than st everything with a single thought, but only now have I realised that there are many restraints on the weak. "That bit*h should have shut her damn mouth and ept my damn apology!! How dare she?" Vinny''s eyes set aze with green coloured aura. ''Hmm... I should listen to such things to ''stack'' my rage, though if he crosses that line, I may kill them before even I could realize that I have already killed them.'' I widened my senses and focused on them. "The next time I see her, I''ll put her in her ce, no..... I''ll kill her!!" Vinny dered and Jiwoo seemed uncaring while the others simply stared at Vinny with stupefied expressions. "Hahahaha, you insignificant insect, hahaha, she is not that weak....." Iughed out at his ''deration.'' "Hahahaha! Pfft, control, pfft.....huuu...." Iughed and simply mumbled because my killing intent started to ooze out without my consent. DING [Private Skill: Control activated.] ZZZT-ZZT ==== |Name: Vinny Grover| |Age: 39| |Gender: Male| |State: Alive| [Alter] |Race: Demi-human| |Attribute: ck magic| [Alter] |System status: Awakened| [Alter] |Status| [Alter] |Interest: Katline Glover| |Thoughts: That bit*h wasn''t even in the future I''m from, so there won''t be any changes even if I kill her! I''ll kill her the next time I see her!!| ==== [User awakened the hidden trait of the [Private Skill: Control]] [One ''system alter'' rewarded as a free trial.] [1000 Achievement Points are rewarded to the user.] "Huh?" Chapter 168 167. [Alter] ?[User awakened the hidden trait of the [Private Skill: Control]] [One ''system alter'' rewarded as a free trial.] [1000 Achievement Points are rewarded to the user.] "Huh?" I nced at the series of glitched system notification pop ups with a nk face. "One ''system alter''? What does that mean? I can alter any one system once? Anything?" I mumbled with a amused look on my face, but suddenly something caught my attention. "Hahahaha! This is.....I never expected such a thing...Nor did I expect that someday someone would try to take what''s ''mine,'' again, that too my very own creations, hahaha." Iughed as I stared at Vinny''s thoughts on the glitched window. ''Control skill, huh.....'' ''but he really thinking about it huh.... many unexpected things are happening today.'' I grinned and I suddenly heard their voices again. "Yes, I''ll kill her!" Vinny said again with a wide ominous grin. ".... Do whatever you want, I don''t care anymore." Jiwoo mumbled, stood back up and walked out of the room, stumbling. "...." Katharine and Violet soon followed after him, leaving behind Katline and Vinny. ''You''re mistakes are that you ignored someone spouting bullsh*t without restraints, not even caring about any ''what ifs,'' not that it matters to me.'' "Not once did I ever imagine that there woulde a day where I would want to destroy something I created myself." I sat on the edge of the rooftop, grinning. "I simply wanted to ''use'' you guys and make you fight against the demon king like in the novel, but.....pity." I mumbled with a shrug and grinned widely at all the delightful thoughts cruising through my mind right now. ''I wonder if something happened, like a butterfly effect? I don''t remember writing.... Ah! Because I created him like me? No, no, I didn''t mention anything ''specifically'' though.....but I guess, it doesn''t matter now.'' ".... You should have kept your f**ked up attitude to yourself, now look at what you''ve done...." I knew I was acting on impulse because the memories of Frostine''s death from my previous life kept resurfacing in my mind, but with Frostine had been reced with Isha, and if I calmed down and think maybe, just maybe things would be different, but why should I? The more extreme, the better; the more pitiful their lives be because of me, THE BETTER IT FEELS. "Now, you''ll be used in way that only death would await you, hahahahaha." Iughed heartily and nced back at the glitched system notifications. ''One ''system alter'' huh....'' "Let''s see what this [Alter] is...." I mumbled and clicked on the [Alter] next to the |System state: Awakened| ==== [The one who gave the power can also take it away.] [User can [Alter] anything as long as the user is strong enough.] [Un-awakened] [Awakened] [Please choose one.] ==== "Being awfully blunt, are we?" I mumbled with a smirk as I started to the glitched system window. ==== [Private Skill: Control is developed based on the user''s mind-set and alters ''everything'' as long as the user wishes for.] [Would the user like to reset ''your'' system to standard settings?] ==== "Nah, as you said, you''re ''mine,'' so it doesn''t matter as long as it stays like that." I grinned at the notifications. ==== [Understood, ''your'' system shall be like this until the user wish for it not to be anymore.] ==== "Let''s keep the |System state| same for now, let''s give him what he always wished for." I mumbled and clicked at the [Alter] next to stats. ==== Vinny''s stats: System (Error) [Alter] STRENGTH: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] CONSTITUTION: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] AGILITY: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] PERCEPTION: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] ENDURANCE: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] INTELLIGENCE: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] MAGIC POINTS: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] WILL POWER: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] DEXTERITY: ??/10 [RANK- ?] [Alter] == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ->Devilization [RANK- ???]: ??? ?? ???? [Skill: ???] [Alter] ->God Hater [RANK- ???]: [Skill: ???] [Alter] ->Unique priest [RANK- S]: [Skills: BUFF, HEAL] [Alter] == SKILLS: ->Stab (D) [Alter] ->sh (C) [Alter] -> Limit Breaker (?) [Alter] ==== "The ''error'' was the ''main character benefit'' I had given to him, I even gave him an opportunity to speak with my daughter....." "Hm, let''s fix his system, so that our Eunomia won''t be hurt anymore...." I mumbled as I altered the system error in Vinny''s system. "And limit everything to Rank-S. Ah! But keep everything to one, so that he can think that he is still growing...." I grinned at the cruel thoughts and altered his stats. "Remove, [God Hater] from his specialized traits and add it in mine, so that I won''t be bothered by them...." I altered andmanded ''my'' system because I didn''t know if it was possible. [God Hater] was a trait I added because it was smokescreen which would keep him out of the God''s radar, because I had Gods interfere with the Earth intter half of the story, not directly though, when Vinny grows into a Demi-God with the help of the system error. I was quite surprised when I got to know that the God''s will be able to interfere with the Earth directly from now on. And the [Unique Priest] was a trait that Loki had gifted to Vinny because he wanted to make fun of his [God Hater] trait. ''The Gods asked for help? The Gods and Goddesses are prideful and absolute beings, would they really ask for somebody else''s help? That''s nonsense.'' I shook my head as I remembered what Eunomia had previously said. ''If the Gods were a bit smarter, they would have at least questioned why they got that thought in the first ce, nothing happens coincidentally among the divine beings, they are the Gods and Goddesses for a goddamn reason, everything happens ording to one''s will and to humans, ''coincidence'' means something destined by the Gods.'' I scoffed, inwardly. "He already possesses the limit breaker skill. That should appear when Vassago tries to take over and Vinny resists him after 3/4 of the story, but I forcibly woke him up this time because I thought of him like ''my'' creation, so it shouldn''t have happened..... when and why did it even happen?" I frowned and started to remember the annoying feeling I had almost forgotten, that very annoying feeling when things aren''t in your control. "Haa... Let''s leave it there, for now." ==== Vinny''s stats: System [Alter] STRENGTH: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] CONSTITUTION: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] AGILITY: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] PERCEPTION: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] ENDURANCE: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] INTELLIGENCE: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] MAGIC POINTS: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] WILL POWER: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] DEXTERITY: 01/10 [RANK- S] [Alter] == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ->Devilization [RANK- ???]: ??? ?? ???? [Skill: ???] [Alter] ->Unique priest [RANK- S]: [Skill: BUFF, HEAL] [Alter] == SKILLS: ->Stab (D) [Alter] ->sh (C) [Alter] -> Limit Breaker (?) [Alter] ==== ZZZT-ZZT [Free trial has ended.] [User can only use [Alter] once per day.] DING [Private Skill: Control leveled up.] [NEW!] [User has acquired a new Trait: God Hater.] [User has full understanding of the Trait: God Hater, locked skill is revealing itself.] [Trait: God Hater [RANK- ???] [Attribute: Shadow] [Skill: Divine Curtain]] DING [Pa. Vinny. Error. Fix. You?] "Hahaha, yes, yes. I''ll talk to you about itter, Eunomia, I''ll tell you my reasons too, don''t worry." I said while staring at the system notification sent from Eunomia. DING [Yes. Pa.] ''I should go look for Isha and talk with ''her.'''' "Now, how did Ie here?" I mumbled and looked back. "Eh?" The rooftops of many tall buildings and skyscrapers were frozen by at least one floor, showing exactly the way I had came from. "Ahem, ahem! N-now, now, let''s concentrate on destroying something I created myself." I ignored the frozen buildings and turned my back to it. ''Why did I run all the way here? I don''t even need to do things physically anymore, not that I don''t like it.....'' I grumbled at myself, inwardly. ''He should have gotten the fix notification by now, enjoy it while you can because your creator finally listened to your request for the veryst time.'' "Later, I''ll have to check if I can [Alter] my system too." I mumbled and disappeared from the spot I stood after a golden hue enveloped my foot. Chapter 169 168. Conceited. ?*** "F**king bit*h, how dare she, does she even know how many people whom I called myrades died right in front of my eyes? She dared to be arrogant in front of those who came to apologize to her for something they didn''t even do!! Dumb bit*h!" Vinny grumbled as he walked towards the busy sector five border. He was on his way back to his home in sector seven. He had seriously considered killing Isha at the time because he had begun to think about things in an extremely conceited way; he didn''t know why, but he wanted to kill everyone who annoyed him. He was aware that something about him had changed and he had transformed into the type of person he despised the most after acquiring his new ''Devilization'' trait, but because the trait was assisting him in using mana, he dismissed the possibility of it influencing his mind and began to believe that the change in his behaviour was due to his use of mana. DING [NEW!] [User''s system error has been fixed.] "...." Vinny paused and stared at the notification pop up with a nk face which instantly beamed as soon as the notification properly registered in his mind. "YES!!" Vinny abruptly roared in delight while standing in the middle of a crowd; everyone looked at him with strange expressions on their faces, but Vinny ignored them because he was too happy to care about them. "System!" He called out hurriedly. ==== STATUS: VINNY GROVER Level: 1 (early ess) CLASS: PRIEST RANK: S == STRENGTH: 01/10 [RANK- S] CONSTITUTION: 01/10 [RANK- S] AGILITY: 01/10 [RANK- S] PERCEPTION: 01/10 [RANK- S] ENDURANCE: 01/10 [RANK- S] INTELLIGENCE: 01/10 [RANK- S] WILL POWER: 01/10 [RANK- S] DEXTERITY: 01/10 [RANK- S] == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ->Devilization [RANK- ???]: ??? ?? ???? [Skill: ???] ->Unique priest [RANK- S]: [Skill: BUFF] [Skill: HEAL(NEW)] == SKILLS: ->Stab (D) ->sh (C) -> Limit Breaker (?) ==== "Yes, yes, yes, yes!!!" He raised hands in air and jumped in joy, he noticed that his [God Hater] trait was missing, but he didn''t care. ''Magic power stat is cut off..... maybe because I can''t use mana without my Devilization trait, but it doesn''t matter!!'' Vinny thought. God Hater trait was something he got in his previous life because he started to hate Gods who suddenly started to influence the world after he thought everything couldn''t get any worse than it already was, he hated them because before he had believed in all of the religions that had formed after mana had started to influence the world, there were tons of new Gods introduced to humans, and he had believed them would plead with them to show him a way to use mana. Of course, they would not respond, but he would still go to the temples and beg for a way. Many yearster, when they were at war with the demons, in the domain of the demon king, the Gods began to intervene with humans, granting them gifts and traits for those who believed in them, but they didn''t give him a single nce! Who believed in them for years!! He had believed that he was the greatest devotee a god could ever wish for, but he was not spared a single nce, which enraged him, and he acquired his [God Hater] trait, because he hated gods while they were influencing them, and after acquiring that trait, he felt that he was being ignored even now, which fuelled his anger at them even more. "Now, even I can get stronger! I have to contact Eshwar and ask him teach me his fighting techniques after learning I can finally be confident in myself and create my own guild... No, no, a mercenary squad with all of my friends, of course, Eshwar included." Vinny eyes twinkled with stars in them. ''Just Eshwar''s presence would soar our mercenary squad''s fame off through the peaks!!'' He thought, excited about his mercenary squad battling against the demons and protecting the whole of humanity by themselves. "Dungeons. I need to go to the dungeons and get stronger!" He clenched his fist, determined. He, who was ignored in his past because he didn''t have mana, will now use mana and make everyone shut there mouths. No will speak about him behind his back anymore! ''I''ll show that basta*d his ce!'' He thought when the face of his father who had abandoned him without a second thought, shed through his mind. *** A monthter. ==== [NEWS] [Return of the UNCHARTED!] [The famous mercenary group ''UNCHARTED'' is back in business!] [The ''White Swan'' has returned from his break, wrecking havoc on the vampire groups!] [White Swan returns stronger than before!] [All active vampires have ran with their tails between their legs as soon as the ''White Swan'' announced his return with his team!] [Crime rates, which included vampires, have dropped precipitously, reminding humanity and vampires of the significance of the White Swan''s nickname, "The Hero behind the mask"!] [None of the families whose loved ones were killed by the White Swan expressed any dissatisfaction! Investigations show that although the families are saddened by the loss of their loved ones, they do not hold White Swan responsible because he was saving humanity in the shadows.] [White Swan has given at least a million coins inpensation to each family who lost a loved one who had secretly turned into a thrall and be a thrall without the family''s knowledge.] [ording to the families, "White Swan is the true mark of the "Hero behind the mask"!" No human dared to object to the name given to the White swan! not even the people from the Hero Association.] [Many business tycoons from sector six are still seekingpensation for the harm that White Swan caused bying back; White Swan has not yet responded to any of the demands.] [The great tri-raced alliance!] [Gen-Z monikers the matters of the Elven Kingdom joining the alliance as the ''Tri-fantasy alliance!''] [Elves move in to the human domain to satisfy their curiosity! Fantasy-like Elven beauties! Male elves and female elves are bothparably beautiful.] [A human pounced on an Elven woman out of lust and killed on spot by the elf! The Elven King is very displeased with the behaviour of humans, ording to an emissary from the Elven Kingdom, and this may cause them to reconsider their alliance with humans.] [Elven Kingdom warns! ''Humans who behave like beasts shall be killed on sight!''] [Demon war draws near!] [The hero association warns the humans about their behaviours! ''All the captured assants shall be on the frontlines in the war against the demons! If they dare try to run, they shall be killed by the humans!''] [New variant of monsters found in dungeons!] [Hero ''Eshwar'' who saved people in the Academy''s terror attack incident and warned humanity about new types of monsters in the recent press conference turned out to be the truth.] [The new variants of monsters are iparably stronger than before and appear to be as ''intelligent'' as the humans!] ==== (AN: This will be the end of volume 2! [Peace]) Chapter 170 169. Rebellious Phase. ?Louie paced around the underground facility''s main hall, wondering if Eshwar was still depressed about Quinn''s death, Eshwar had been holed up in his room for a month, not showing his face much and onlying out if he had any requests from the clients. He would sometimes have a crazed expression on his face that would send chills down their spines, and the air around him had turned threatening, even though he wasn''t showing.... No, he was clearly showing outside that something had happened and that only he would be the one to take action. "Haaa...." Louie sighed and nced at Eshwar''s room. ''He calls me big brother, yet doesn''t talk to me, how am I supposed to help you if I don''t know what''s going on with you?'' Louie thought. He sighed deeply, walked towards the his room and knocked on the door. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK "Come in." Eshwar''s voice sounded behind the door. CLUNK "What''s going o...." Louie wanted to ask if anything was going with him, but halted at the sight. Eshwar sat leisurely on the beanbag with his legs rested on the armchair and was moving the pawns on the chess board which was positioned on the table, with telekinesis or so it seemed because Louie couldn''t feel any mana. He was dressed in a ck suit, ck gloves, and a white mask; it was.... how to describe it.... It was quite a bizarre scene with the suit and his way of sitting leisurely, anyway whatever, but he gave off a noble like aura that made everyone want to be respectful towards him. "Done checking me out? What do you want?" Eshwar asked with a nk face which wasn''t visible because of his mask, maybe that''s why he wore it. ".....are you alright?" Louie asked with a worried look on his face. "Hm? What nonsense? Of course I''m alright." Eshwar furrowed his brows at Louie and replied. ''Does he not want to talk about it?'' Louie questions himself looking at Eshwar''s ''frown.'' "Anyway, I''ll be going out." Eshwar answered as he stood back up and adjusted his suit. "Now? It''s already night." Louie mumbled. "That''s exactly why." Eshwar said and walked past Louie. ''Haa.... he''s acting like a kid in his rebellious phase.'' Louie sighed inwardly. *** In sector seven. In a busy bar, a handsome ck haired and ck-eyed man sat at the centre table, drinking the most expensive drink in the bar, wearing a simple ck shirt with top three buttons unbuttoned, ck gloves and ck trousers, he looked like a model who had just been fired from thepany he worked for, because he appeared irritated. All the women in the bar were drawn to him, whether they were with a partner or not, and there was a peculiar beautiful woman who sat on the corner table with the expression of someone who bore all the world''s responsibility. She wore a mini dress that emphasized her long legs and she had light blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, as well as delicate facial features and an hourss figure. In front of her was a bulky looking man who appeared to be a delinquent, and the scene appeared to be a delinquent bothering a beauty, but nobody dared to bother them because the man had his muscles tensed up. ''Haa...how the hell did this man find me!! He''s spoiling my night!'' Faye yton contemted while massaging her brow with her index and thumb fingers. She was a Rank-A hero and the vice-guild master of the ''Moon Guard Guild,'' which is ranked ninth out of the top ten guilds in the world. "Give me one chance. Go out with me for a month and if you don''t like it, you can leave me! If you go out with me, I can put in a good word about your guild and make both of our guilds form an alliance if you want, please? Hm?" Alvin Collins asked, pleadingly, but Faye knew better because he just wanted her body and would leave her after he had his ''fun.'' Alvin Collins was a squad captain for the ''Hunters Guild,'' which is ranked second among the top ten guilds in the world. ''Tsk, disgusting son of a bit*h, at least hide your intentions first.'' Faye thought as she stared at his lips curl up into a disgusting smile. ''If not for that son of a bit*h of a guild master, I wouldn''t have met him in the first ce!'' She thought, lowered her head and her gaze moved to the ck haired man who had a irritated look on his face. ''Who is he?'' She thought because her gaze would somehow make its way to him even when she wasn''t trying to, there was a certain charm about him that made her gaze move towards him and suddenly an dark grey haired woman walked into the bar with sensual steps, she looked around, her gaze stopped at the handsome ck haired man and walked towards him. The woman had dark grey hair and dark brown eyes, smooth facial features, and an hourss figure; nothing stood out about her, but she had her own special allure. She was dressed sensually in a ck mini dress with ckted stockings, and she walked and sat in front of the ck-haired man, who furrowed his brows at her and leaned forward on the table before pushing his drinks towards her. WHISTLE "Damn, she''s sexy." Alvin Collins mumbled with a whistle. "They are one damn hot couple." The women who was leaning against the wall next to Faye mumbled to herself and those who heard her despite the loud music nodded their heads. ''He was already taken? Haa... As expected, there is no way such handsome man would be single.'' Faye thought and shook her head, but her gaze was still drawn towards the ck haired man. CREAK "Fuu..." A alcoholic cold breath blew near Faye''s right ear which sent her creeps. "What?" She jerked to the left and pushed whatever was next to her; she suddenly felt a grasp on her right wrist; only then did she realize that Alvin had moved close to her while she was focused on the ck-haired man; Alvin, who had gotten a hold of her hands, looked at her with lustful eyes. "Let go." Faye frowned and tried to break free from his grip, but as she did so, she felt something rough on her thigh, she flinched and tried to get up but couldn''t, she looked down at her thigh and saw Alvin''s hand crawling up, she shivered at the sight and wanted to scream for help, but.... She suddenly felt afraid to.... Ask for help. ''Help!'' She screamed, inwardly and tightly closed her eyes, nothing cruised in her mind in that situation, she could have used mana to escape, but even a thought about it didn''te to her mind. The woman who stood behind her just noticed her distress and.... "What''re you doing?" Chapter 171 170. Max. ?(AN: Not edited.) ''Help!'' She screamed, inwardly and tightly closed her eyes, nothing cruised in her mind in that situation, she could have used mana to escape, but even a thought about it didn''te to her mind. The woman who stood behind her just noticed her distress and.... "What''re you doing?" A irritated voice sounded in front of Faye which gave her hope. She slowly opened her eyes and saw ck loafers, she gaze slowly moved up to ck trousers, ck shirt with top three buttons unbuttoned and finally to the ck haired and ck eyed handsome face. "Huh? Who are you?" Alvin asked and Faye shivered at his voice. "See, I''m quite irritated right now and I don''t want to kill anybody on an impulse, so please kindly back off." The ck haired man said and massaged his temples with his ck gloved right hand while his ck gloved left hand was on his waist. "...." The entire bar turned silent, since the music was turned down at the ck haired man''s words. ".... hahahaha!!" Alvin took his hands off of Faye andughed as if it was best joke he had ever heard. "Haa..." A sigh of relief escaped Faye''s mouth and her gaze moved to Alvin as her mind started to work straight and she swore to make him pay tenfold for the humiliation she just suffered. "It''s good that you understood, not many understand my words if I speak kindly." The man smiled slightly. Alvin stood up, red at the man and punched at the ck haired man with full force. BAM "Ukh." The punch to the man''s face caused him to groan and spin. Faye stared at him with wide eyes, he stumbled before standing straight with his head down, he brought his gloved hand close to his face and looked down at it, the gloved index finger had a smudge of blood on it. "Don''t me me now. Cause you chose this." He mumbled, snapped his head towards Alvin, red at him and disappeared. Faye who was about to rush towards the man suddenly felt a breeze past next to her, she snapped her head towards it and saw the ck-haired man grip Alvin''s face with his gloved right hand. ''Fast!'' Faye thought. BAM "Argh!?" Alvin''s groaned in muffled voice as the man''s hand was still on his face, even after mming the back of Alvin''s head to the wall next to Faye. "You made me do this." The man said with a nonchnt look on his face and... BAM (4x) "...." The entire bar felt chills down their spines as they stared at Alvin''s face that was getting plumed by a handsome ck haired man. The man was punching at Alvin''s face without mercy and when Alvin''s face was disfigured.... "Stop!" A sweet woman''s voice sounded next to the man who simply raised his head and nced at the voice, Faye who spoke up looked at him in the eye, bravely, but her legs were shivering slightly. "...." The man raised his gloved hands in air and backed off as Alvin''s blood trickled down from his right fist. The ck haired man''s lower lip had a single cut and his face had five droplets of sttered blood while Alvin''s disfigured face was bleeding profusely, Faye didn''t even nce at Alvin, she simply stood up and slightly bowed towards the man and.... "Thank you." She thanked him. "Ah, don''t worry, Miss." The man smiled brightly, but the blood on his handsome face made it look ominous. "Now then." The man nced down at Alvin who had slumped down on the ground and crouched down, took out a healing potion from his inventory and fed it to him. "No hard feelings and thanks. Thanks to you, I''m quite less irritated now." The man said and started to walk out of the bar. After he was out of the bar. "That man, I think he just punched him to relieve his irritation...." The woman behind Fayemented and everybody in the bar agreed with her. "Excuse me." Faye suddenly dashed out of the bar with a small smile on her face. TAK-TAK (5x) "Excuse me! Excuse me wait!!" Faye dashed towards the ck haired man who seemed to be smoking as he walked down the street. PUFF "Yes?" He turned and looked at Faye over his shoulder while smoking his cigar. ''He''s hot.'' She thought. "Thank you. Thank you for saving me back there, I was too scared to think of anything." Faye shuddered as she remembered what had happened back there. "I''m Faye yton." She introduced herself and offered her right hand for a handshake. PUFF "Max." Max said and shook her hand with his gloved left hand while the he held his cigar in his right. "?" She subconsciously tilted her head to her right, perplexed by the weird handshake. "Blood." He showed his gloved right hand which had turned bloody. "Ah, I understand, sorry." Faye blushed slightly. "It''s okay and you''re wee, then." Max said and turned around to walk away. ''Eh? I haven''t properly thanked him yet!! How should I stop!?'' She thought, inwardly. "Um, umm, Sir Max!" She suddenly called out in a loud voice. "Hm?" He turned to face her with his brows furrowed at her. PUFF ''N-Now wh-what? What should I say? Uwaaa!!'' Faye cried, inwardly. PUFF "Um, can we have a dinner together? Tomorrow?" She asked and instantly blushed. ''What have I done??'' "....." Max looked at her with a weird expression on his face. "Thank you? I wanted to say thank you properly." She came up a half-a*sed excuse. ''It is not a excuse!! It''s not! I j-ju-just want to thank him properly!'' She reasoned with herself. PUFF "..... very well." He agreed with a slightly reluctant look on his face. * "If I''m not over stepping my boundaries, can I ask who was the woman you were with?" Faye who was walking next to Max suddenly asked. "You are, but since it''s not anything important I can answer that, she was someone whom I had some business with." Max answered. PUFF ''Uwaaaa!! I don''t know what to speak! He said I''m over stepping my boundaries and even gave a very ''vague'' answer!!'' She cried inwardly, but she didn''t know what else to talk! Since she was the who offered to walk with him, she wanted to strike a conversation and was troubled with it because she has never dated before. PUFF "You can simply enjoy the walk, it isn''t necessary to talk. Walk slowly while watching the night sky, you will arrive at the location you''re going to before you even realize it." Max advised. "Mhm." She looked up at beautiful night sky and smiled. (AN: HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Hope you and I have a great year, I thought of uploading at 12:00, but since some of you may have ns at that time, so enjoy! For a great year ahead. CHEERS! [Peace]) Chapter 172 171. Max (2). ?A weekter. Faye yton arrived in a luxurious car at a restaurant in Sector Six, got out, and ordered her driver to pick her up 3 hourster, and if it appeared that she would bete she would notify him, before walking into the most famous restaurant in Sector Six to meet Max, with whom she has been speaking for about a week. She had arrived 30 minutes earlier because she couldn''t contain her excitement for reasons she didn''t understand. She walked and sat on the reserved table in a closed 10-foot room, where all the food would be brought in at once and no one would enter unless called for; she was the one who reserved the table, despite Max''s offer. She had learned a few things about Max in thest few days. One was that he wasn''t much of a talker, two was that he was a good listener, three was that he is blunt and would get straight to the point, and four was that he was the guild master of the ''Persona Guild''! That guild is also known as a ''hidden powerhouse'' because they have held rank 10 for five years in a row. That may not be that big of a deal on the outside, but they gained that moniker since there would always be only a single point difference between them and the ninth-ranked guild in the monthly guild ranking notice, which was the guild she was currently in! It is as if they know exactly how many points they should have in order to be in their tenth rank; not once in all those years have they moved a rank above or below, earning them the moniker ''The Hidden Powerhouse.'' Almost nothing is known about the ''Persona Guild,'' and nobody would even believe her, and some could evenugh at her if she said that she was meeting with that guild''s guild master on a daily basis. ''Sometimes I wondered why their guild isn''t known on the outside, but after meeting Max, I know for a fact that he thinks that public attention is simply too bothersome, and at the level of his handsomeness, I wouldn''t me him too much.'' Faye thought as she waited for Max to make his appearance. ''And the final thing and the most important thing than his identity as the guild master of ''Persona'' is that he has another personality whiches out when he wants to get a woman into his bed!!'' She definitely wasn''t pleased to learn about it, but.... ''But in that personality of his!!! He looks so goddamn sexy, that even I would have agreed if he spoke to me like that!!'' She thought and instantly flushed red. DING, DING When the door to the room was pushed open, the bell jiggled and a ck-haired handsome man walked in, wearing a white shirt with the top two buttons unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up, ck gloves, ck trousers, and ck loafers. "Hello Max, you''re right on time as usual." Faye greeted with a bright smile. ''At least arrive a bit early on a date!!'' Sheined inwardly. "Hello Faye, you''re early as usual." Max greeted her with a chuckle. ''Goddammit, I can''t evenin at his face!'' She wanted toin, but melted at his chuckling face. "Hmph, I''ll forgive you because you''re so handsome." Faye snorted softly and muttered out loud, involuntarily. "..... I guess, I should be thankful for being ''so handsome.''" He replied and sat in front of her. "I-I.... said that out loud?" Faye asked with her face flushed bright red. "Hahaha." Max busted out intoughter. "D-Don''tugh!!" She grumbled. * CLUNK (5x) They ate their meals while chatting....or it was more like a Q and A, since Faye talked and Max replied from time to time after hearing her speak, but not a single moment was awkward and Faye enjoyed the time she spent with Max. When the meal was nearing the end, Faye turned silent and continuously peeked at Max for at most ten minutes with rosy cheeks, she would meet his eyes sometimes and instantly avert her gaze, but Max simply waited for her to speak up without disturbing her, and after some time. "H-Hey." Faye called out with a flushed face. ''Ca-Calm down, it''s not like I want ''that'' ..... I just want to...'' She justified her reasons, inwardly. "Mhnm." Max nodded her to continue. CLUNK "....H-Hey...." She called out again and seemed slightly reluctant to say it out loud. "Mhnm." Max nodded again, ced the knife and fork on his te, and took his wine ss before taking a sip. "... ca-can y-you sp-speak with me like th-that, li-like the fl-flirt ty-type..." Faye said with her face flushed bright red. "C-cough? Cough, cough, cough...." "Ar-are y-you alright?" Faye instantly stood up and leaned forward towards him. "Cough, cough, I-I''m al-alright, I just didn''t expect this from you." Max looked at with a small smile on his face, it looked like he was holding back hisughter. "Don''tugh...." Faye noticed his smile and wanted to scold him, but her entire body stiffened at his next words. "Hello love." Max said with a charming smile. "...." Faye turned silent. "Hello love~" "H-hello." Faye sat back down with stiff movements. STEP (3x) "What do we have here? Hm?" He shifted his seat and sat right next to her. ".....S-st-st..." Faye wanted to respond but began to stutter with a flushed face. Her heartbeat quickened and her mind stopped working to keep up with everything moving and changing at such a rapid pace; there hadn''t been any physical contact yet, but something in Max seemed to have changed; she didn''t know what was going on, but her heart just kept beating like crazy. "Hm?" He leaned forward and stared at her with his charming face, which she had only seen him use against other women; now that she was facing it herself, something in her wanted to agree with everything he wanted. ".... W-w-we''re having steak..." She looked down, closed her eyes and replied while she felt her whole body turn hot. "Hmm..." He gently supported her chin and lifted her head up. Her neck instantly stiffened at his gesture but softened as soon as his hand started to lift her head up. CLUNK After he raised her head, he cut a small piece of steak from her te and fed her while looking at her in the eyes; her mouth subconsciously opened up, and she stared at him while chewing the food in a dazed manner. "Is it good?" He asked while maintaining eye contact, she nodded, dazed. "Then shall I have a taste too?" He asked, and her mind slightly cleared up, and her crazy fantasies slightly left her mind. ".....Yea...." She mumbled while still chewing the food. "Don''t mind if I do, then..." He leaned forward towards her, slightly tilting his head while continuing to maintain eye contact. ''!'' Her mind instantly registered a possibility and she slightly opened her mouth. She felt a strong yetforting grip around her arms and felt an unfamiliar breath near hers. "About time." Max mumbled, which Faye couldn''t hear due to her daze, and she felt something soft and warm on her lips before something invaded her mouth. "Mhmm~" She closed her eyes and was enjoying the kiss, but then.... BAM DING-DING (3x) ".... Y-yu-you, you son of a bit*h!! Get off of my woman!!" She suddenly heard Alvin''s voice from the door. She opened her eyes wide and wanted to push Max back, but since he had gripped her hands, she could do nothing but enjoy his kiss. ''!'' She was surprised again when her mind finally registered that she was kissing Max. "Mhmm~" Since it was so good, she just enjoyed the kiss after a few seconds before he broke the kiss and licked his lips seductively while staring at her in the eye. "Thank you for the meal." Chapter 173 172. A Bit Stronger Than Expected. ?"Mhmm~" Since it was so good, she just enjoyed the kiss after a few seconds before he broke the kiss and licked his lips seductively while staring at her in the eye. "Thank you for the meal." Max said with a suggestive smile. "Ah!" When she finally understood she had just had her first kiss, she ced her fingers on her lips and curled her lips into a small smile. ''Like a devil.'' Those words suddenly popped up in her mind, and she found those words quite urate, since she definitely would have woken up tomorrow morning next to Max, naked, if not for the sudden disturbance. "!" Her eyes shot wide open when she suddenly remembered the disturbance and red at the door where Alvin and his goons stood. ''That son of a bit*h found me again, I''ll have toin at his guild for stalking!!'' Faye clenched her fists and girted her teeth. "Max...." She called out and nced at Max who was still staring at her, ignoring Alvin as if he didn''t even exist. "Mhm?" He tilted his head slightly and hummed with a genuinely puzzled look on his face. "There.....is some kind of annoyance...." She mumbled as her cheeks turned rosy because of his gaze. ''Wha? What am I saying? I mean, he is an annoyance, but I never spoke out loud about it!! Where is this courageing from??'' She was surprised at the words that came out of her mouth. "Well, annoying things are everywhere, do you want an example?" Max asked Faye with his brows raised as he stared into her eyes with a charming smile. Looking at his face, her head subconsciously moved and she nodded slightly. "Hey...!" Alvin called them out since they seemed to be in their own world, but they ignored him and continued. "Look." He pointed at Faye, at her body to be exact. "Hm?" She looked down, perplexed. "The clothes you''re wearing. They''re such a hindrance that I want to rip it apart, but I can''t. Do you know why?" Max said while smiling seductively while looking at her face, but when he looked down at her clothes, he stared at them as if they were his all-time enemy. ''!'' Faye flushed red at his words and slightly expected he would do so; at that thought, she suddenly remembered the hindrance in their room again, and she red at Alvin. "".....Why?" She asked before ncing back at Max and blushing violently. "Because they''re simplypleting the role they are given." Max replied with a wide, slightly ominous, ''smile.'' "Mhnm." Faye blushed violently and nodded her head in understanding; she felt like there was another meaning behind his words, but ignored it. "But....we can at least get rid of one annoying things before we continue." Max said and stood up while ring at Alvin and his goons as he fixed his gloves, grinning. "Y-you. Basta*d! I''ll have your head!" Alvin roared and rushed into the room as an axe appeared in his hands. "What kind of fetish is that? Who the hell wants somebody else''s head?" Maxmented with a confused look on his face. "Hahaha." Faye giggled and took out her sword from her inventory. "Hm? Oh, you joining the ''fun?''" Max asked with a bright face. "Of course, I will join the ''fun.''" Faye replied with a smile. "Hmm..." Max started to ponder, ignoring Alvin''s and his goons attack. WHOOSH "What''s wrong?" Faye asked as she rushed forward and swung her sword at Alvin and his goons. "Uck!!" Alvin''s groan was heard from behind. "Well...." Max mumbled, and she suddenly felt a gaze from behind, and when she turned to face it, she saw Max choking Alvin with his right hand before throwing him at her. "!" She ducked in surprise as Alvin''s body flew at her horizontally. BAM "Argh?" "Uck!!" "Uff!!" "Guh?" All ten goons of Alvin groaned in pain. Faye turned towards the groans and saw Alvin and his goons on the ground, groaning. She then turned to face Max, who was checking her out before slightly licking his lips seductively. "If you get tired now, you can''t have real ''fun'' after this annoying thing is taken care off." Max said with a charming smile. "Y-you!! You''re thinking of that now? In this situation?" Faye flushed red before staring at Max in disbelief, not that she wanted to deny the ''real fun''ter. "Hm? Why not? It''s just a few bugs, isn''t it?" Max asked as he tilted his head, puzzled. "Wha...." She was dumbfounded at his words and wanted to refute his words, but was cut short by Max. "It can''t be helped, we just have to have fun next time, bad luck." Max mumbled and Faye felt slightly disappointed. ''It was all because of this son of a bit*h!! I had so many disappointments in thest few minutes, just because of this basta*d! I have to do something about him first!!'' Faye red at Alvin, who was ring at Max after he stood back up since he recovered from the mental damage he had just received, since he wasn''t attacked physically and was simply tossed aside like a bug by Max. "Aaaaa!! You son of a bit*h!! Because of you!" Faye suddenly remembered what Alvin did a week before in the bar and lost it. WHOOSH "Just die!" she yelled and swung her sword which shot out a bright blue arc at Alvin. BOOM (5x) Ten bright orange fireballs flew past Faye and blew away all the goons Alvin had brought with him; they all fell unconscious right after. Faye was slightly surprised, since all of them were at least Rank-B heroes, but thought that one should at least be that strong to be a guild master. And since the annoyance was gone, Faye could properly focus on Alvin, who was perfectly defending against all of her attacks even though he was wielding a much heavier weapon than hers. ''He is a bit stronger than I expected, but....'' Faye thought. ''Quick sword.'' She muttered in her mind and her sword suddenly glowed bright blue. She abruptly because fast and shed diagonally upward at Alvin, who was caught off guard and got a quite deep cut on his left shoulder since he couldn''tpletely avoid or defend against Faye''s attack. "Argh!!" He knelt to the ground and groaned in pain. CLAP (5x) A pping sound was heard from behind, and both Alvin and Faye nced at the direction of the sound and noticed Max pping with a smile on his face. "Max." Faye mumbled and smiled slightly. "Now, let''s maintain this feeling of overwhelming victory and get out of here." Max walked towards Faye, ced his hand on her waist, and dragged her out of the room. Chapter 174 173. Destroying Evidence Is Important. ?The next day. ==== [NEWS] [Alvin Collins, the squad captain of the Hunters Guild, which is ranking second in the world guild rankings, was found causing trouble in the famous ''Streetwise'' restaurant by using the guild''s name.] [Alvin Collins is rumoured to be stalking a woman and abusing his status as a squad captain of the second-highest ranking guild to force himself on women.] [Rank-S Hero ''Vinny Grover'' refuses the Hero Association''s offer!] [Vampires found dead in many ces!] [The Government and The Hero Associationments that the White Swan always does his job messily and asks him to do some cleaning of his own.] [White Swan replied to thements from the government and the Hero Association by saying: "Well, I''m cleaning up sh*t you couldn''t in your ce, so don''t whine too much and at least show humanity that you''re at least capable of cleaning up some of your sh*t which remained after I''m done cleaning up."] [The Government and The Hero Association expresses their displeasure towards White Swan''s words.] ==== "What''s this?" I mumbled as I stared at the news, Alvin Collins''s part to be exact. "I guess it doesn''t matter." I ignored the news and nced at the chess board made of ice which floated mid-air in front of me. "Argh...." ''One pawn is in ce.....'' "Now for the second one." I mumbled with a grin. "Argh....aa...haaa...haa..." "Oi, shut it, I will kill you this instance if make another sound." I roared in annoyance at the three kids who were groaning. I was sitting on one''s back while the other two were sprawled on the ground while groaning in pain. Cole Quinn, the one I was sitting on, was a friend of Vinny''s with Auburn hair and grey cat eyes and a medium build. (AN: Cole Quinn was mentioned in Chapter 33: Professor Frost (2)) Piers Lee and Michael Sharp were the other two; they both had dark brown hair, Piers Lee had ck eyes, and Michael Sharp had light brown eyes; these two were also Vinny''s friends, but the difference between Cole and these two was that these two were his childhood friends. All three were the ''friends'' who joined first when Vinny created his mercenary group in the story or in his past life; Piers was a barehanded martial artist, Michael was a sword wielder and also the one who taught Vinny his swordsmanship, and Cole is an axe and shield dual-wielder. These three characters be significant in the second half of the story when they are introduced as Vinny''s friends. I dragged them here and beat them half to death in the hopes that they would contact Vinny, but the funny thing is that they contacted me first. Why? ''Because that son of a bit*h had given my, I mean the ''Professor'' Eshwar''s contact to them, asking them to contact me if they were in a life threatening danger.'' I had arrived here, in sector seven, as White Swan to hide my identity, and since White Swan kills only vampires on the outside, I even bought things that were required for it. I held up a half-empty volumetric sk filled with crimson-red blood. "Do you know what I fed you guys in the beginning?" I asked them, grinning. "...." Their groans had turned silent for a while, why? Because they healed and were no longer in pain. "Answer." Imanded with a re. "W-what is it?" Cole spoke up first. "A vampires blood, whose intention was to make a few new thralls." I grinned widely. "...." They started to shiver at my words, only two of them though, Cole Quinn seemed quite calm about it. "Well, you definitely wouldn''t get scared of somethings like this, since you were nning on taking this path from the beginning." I said while looking down at Cole, only then did he started to shiver. TEET A muffled ''teet'' sounded, which I heard only because my senses were spread wide in anticipation of any unnatural movements. "Hahahaha, you think I, the ''White Swan,'' woulde here without knowing anything? I have received a request from my client that informed us about you guys; I checked it and found out that all of you were vampires from the beginning, and everybody in your neighborhood thought of you as a bunch of kids." I chuckled and said with a smirk, since I knew Michael Sharp was recording my voice in his smartwatch. ''Haa, of course, I know. I made you, you son of a bit*h, you think I would forget something I created myself?'' ''A-ahem, ahem! I know I have forgotten some parts, but not everything.....'' I reasoned with my conscience which was pricking me from a side. SHING "Arghhhh!!!" Michael groaned in anguish as a small, light blue ice spike protruded out beneath him and pierced his hand right below his wrist where he wore his smartwatch. STEP (3x) BEEP I walked towards Michael, tapped on his smartwatch and turned off the recording before ncing at Michael from the corner of my eyes; his face was twisted in anguish as tears, snot, and saliva streamed out. "You shouldn''t do things like that without the other''s permission." I said with a smile. "Your pain tolerance is unsightly low, even though I just made you a thrall. Look, even your eyes are turning red." I said while staring at their eyes, which were slowly turning crimson red as a red whirlpool formed in their eyes, eating away what remained of their humanity. "And...." I turned to face Cole, who was still shivering in fear. Of course, he would be terrified, because he never mentioned anything about bing a vampire, not that it''s a matter to announce, and he must be wondering if I have any mind reading abilities that would read all of his unsightly and ugly ns he had for the future. "I hope you have contacted Vinny and called him here. Though I have to act in a way that he would believe me, I am not that good of an actor, so I have to get into the role, you know, by self-hypnotizing." I said while staring at Piers, who was staring at me and quivering heavily. "W-why? Why are you doing this to us?" Piers asked. "Ho! Hahaha, because your friend, Vinny Grover, fucked up, and because I am the type who likes to destroy something I want topletely. Once my target is at their lowest, or so they think, I bring them even lower until they be a living corpse." I replied with a chuckle. "Savor every bit of their despair before devouring them whole." I grinned and a small amount of killing intent oozed out of body without my consent. "Piers!" "Michael!" "Cole!" Vinny''s low voice sounded from a distance. "He''s here. Sorry boys, your time is up." I grinned widely and killed them by destroying their hearts with golf ball sized mana bullets and of course, I didn''t forget to shot another one at Michael''s arm where a Frost Spike was used. ''Destroying evidence is important.'' I nodded my head in satisfaction. BAM ''Let''s go. It''s time.'' Chapter 175 174. Eshwar Isn鈥檛 Someone Like That. ?Vinny rushed towards the underground facility, which was the location Cole gave him; he was told that White Swan was hunting them for unknown reasons, and they were brought to an underground facility in the name of extracting information about which vampire group they belong to and information about the one who made them into thralls. ''What nonsense!! They wouldn''t ever want to be thralls! They have been my friends since I was six years old! None of them ever talked about the problems they''re facing, and all of us knew the problems of the others, even if the other side said nothing. Though Cole recently became our friend, I trust him!'' Vinny thought as his eyes teared up. All of the worst-case scenarios yed out in his head, and every one of them resulted in his friends'' deaths; they couldn''t ever win against that monster, WHITE SWAN! Even he wasn''t sure what he should do if they really turned out to be vampires, should he defend them? But if he did, he, too, would be killed by White Swan, and as soon as that possibility crossed his mind, he began to tremble and dashed towards the location given to him by Cole. He had been living without them for a few years and had gotten ''used'' to a lot of things, including the feeling of ''losing'' something or someone precious, and there was only one thought that came to mind after he thought he had lost everything important. ''SURVIVE.'' ''I can''t die... I can''t die, I can''t die....I can''t die...'' Those words repeated themselves in his mind like a chant, and despite his conscience pricking him about abandoning his friends, he wanted to survive. He wouldn''t hesitate to throw away everything if it meant surviving, and his ''friends'' weren''t an exception. He wasn''t like this before, or so he thought, but why he had suddenly turned into someone like this, he didn''t know. What he did realize, as a matter of fact, was that he would throw away everything in order to survive! And Katline''s face abruptly shed through his mind at that moment, indicating another ''thing'' in his ''everything.'' "NO!" He roared out of nowhere in the middle of his path, shook his head to dismiss the thought, and dashed towards them. Why? Because he wanted to see the truth for himself. ''Right! They would have contacted Eshwar! I''m sure he can do something against someone like White Swan. Yes, yes. Eshwar is there! He will help!'' Vinny thought. ''He even fought against a Devil! He would be strong enough to fight against White Swan!!'' Vinny slightly regained hope for his survival. "Piers!" "Michael!" "Cole!" Vinny yelled as a tear rolled down his cheek since Katline''s face shed before his eyes, and the thought of him abandoning her disgusted him. STEP (7x) It rushed down the 30 step stairs in the middle of nowhere that led to a dark brown coloured door; he wasted no time and banged on the door. BAM "Piers!" "Michael!" "Cole!" He yelled as he banged on the door. "...Op..uck! Open the door, uck, it''s open...." Eshwar''s groaning voice sounded from inside and Vinny who heard it instantly pushed the door. CREAKKK "Pull it, you son of a bit*h!!" Eshwar''s annoyed voice was heard from behind the door. ''Oh....'' Vinny eximed inwardly and pulled the door. CRE-CREAK ''It''s heavier than I thought.'' "Eshwar!?" Vinny entered the dark room and looked around for Eshwar because he could only hear his voice. "Ack?" He tripped over something, but he supported himself with his hands and barely survived falling face first on the ground. SHWOOSH "Hm?" Vinny closed his eyes at the sudden light, which illuminated everywhere as the crystal-like ice around the light reflected it everywhere; it was the same magic Vinny had seen before when they raided the SS rank dungeon, but this time it floated mid-air with the help of Eshwar''s magic, and after his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked at his sides and found nobody but Eshwar who had slumped down on the ground with blood trickling down from his mouth and a wide crater on the wall behind him. "Guh." ''What!?'' Vinny''s eyes widened when he saw Eshwar''s condition; there hadn''t been much damage done to him, and he appeared to have been tossed aside like a bug He then took a slow look around, noticing tons of ice spikes protruding out from the floor, ceiling, and other sides of the walls, tons of huge sword marks everywhere, but not a single source of White Swan using magic was seen, there was only a single fist sized magic mark on Eshwar''s chest that didn''t have any magic-like ''feeling'' to it, it was as if Eshwar had been attacked by something entirely different. ''Eshwar wasn''t strong enough to deal with White Swan?'' Vinny''s eyes widened in surprise, and he looked down, thinking that even if he had arrived earlier, he wouldn''t have been of any help. When he realized what he had just tripped over, his eyes widened in shock, and his hands trembled before bing weak. THUD ''Huh? Cole?'' Vinny, who had fallen t on his face, remained like that on the floor after discovering what he had tripped over was Cole''s lifeless body. "Ack." "Ah..." A wired sound escaped Vinny''s mouth, and he immediately jumped up, rushed towards Cole, and noticed Piers''s and Michael''s lifeless bodies just a few steps ahead, all three of them had a huge gaping hole in the middle of their chests, done by some unknown power, which was also the same mark Eshwar had on his chest. "Piers?" Vinny crawled towards Piers with tears streaming down his cheeks, then looked at Michael and noticed that his face was twisted in pain, whereas Cole''s and Piers''s were filled with fear. "Michael?" Vinny crawled towards him and lifted his head as if about to kiss him, but instead he simply stared at him before checking his body for any evidence against White Swan, only to find another gulf ball sized gaping hole on Michael''s forearm. "Urgh." Vinny discovered a smartwatch that had been tossed aside and slightly crushed, as if the person who attempted to destroy it had failed and didn''t check it afterwards to see if it was busted or not, he didn''t waste any time and looked for whatever had been opened recently, he noticed that the voice recorder was the only thing that had been opened recently, Vinny then opened it and yed the audio that had been recorded. [Hahahaha, you think I, ''White Swan,'' woulde here without knowing anything? I have received a request from my client that informed us about you guys; I checked it and found out that all of you were vampires from the beginning, and everybody in your neighbourhood thought of you as a bunch of kids.] White Swan''s hoarse voice rang out of the smartwatch which shocked Vinny to the core. "Argh." ''Is that true? No, no, I know them better than anyone, they weren''t any vampire things, they were.....my.... friends.....'' Vinny started to doubt everything about ''his friends,'' and the word that integrated into his mind was ''client,'' which meant somebody else had requested this from White Swan. Not an ounce of his hatred was directed towards White Swan, but instead every bit of his anger was directed at the client. Vinny suddenly snapped his head to face Eshwar and saw an ominous grin on his face, which disappeared in an instant before being reced with a painful expression. ''What!? No, no, since the light is above his head and blood on his mouth, I must have seen wrong while he winced in pain.'' Vinny shook his head and dismissed that possibility, because ''Eshwar isn''t someone like that.'' ''Eshwar isn''t someone who wouldugh at somebody else''s distress.'' "Vi..uck! Vinny, you alright?" Chapter 176 175. Let鈥檚 Just Simply Groan! ?"Eshwar!?" Vinny yelled in shock as soon as he entered the room. ''Don''t yell, you son of a bit*h.'' I was grinning widely as the situation I created began to unfold. I shot out a fist-sized mana bullet as soon as I heard Vinny bang on the door and made it change its direction to hit me. I didn''t hesitate to take a strong blow since I would heal in an instant and ''pain'' wasn''t anything new to me. Even though my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, it wasn''t close enough to get a perfect view of Vinny''s pained face, so I created a blob of light trapped in crystal shaped ice because it was enough to illuminate the entire room. "Hm?" He flinched at the blinding light and closed his before slowly opening them. "Guh." I groaned because I didn''t know what else to do in this situation and because I have a cheat just for situations like this. ''Control.'' I muttered in my mind and a glitched system window popped up. [Private Skill: Control has been activated.] ZZZT-ZZT ''Minimize to ''thoughts,'' target Vinny.'' Imanded, since it was ''my'' system it would obey my wishes. ==== |Thoughts: What!? Eshwar wasn''t strong enough to deal with White Swan?| ==== ''Tsk, I can''t help it if he thought that first. Won''t everybody want to look at what they tripped over first? Why is this f**ker looking around and analysing the situation when his friends have died? Why is he acting like he arrived at a crime scene to investigate things rather than grieving for the deaths of his friends?'' Iined inwardly. THUD ''Pffttttt!! Hahahaha!! Lololol!! Hahahaha!! What the hell was that? Hahaha! He just fell face first, even though he was supporting himself to not fall in the beginning! Hahahaha!'' Iughed, inwardly. ==== |Thoughts: Huh? Cole?| ==== ''Yes.'' My lips twitched, threatening to curl up into a smile. ''Wait!! I should act right now!!! But what should I do?'' I suddenly realized. ''Since I don''t know anything about ''acting'' like I''m in pain, let''s just simply groan!'' "Ack." "Ah...." Vinny made a weird sound. ''Eh? Wtf was that? Pfft!!'' ''Hmmm, he''s not thinking about anything. Tsk, I just need to have fun looking at his expressions, though they are the things that actually make it more enjoyable than his useless thoughts.'' I grinned and closed the ''control panel,'' which is what I started to call the glitched system window that pops up whenever the ''Control'' skill is activated. "Piers?" Vinny mumbled and crawled towards Piers while tears streamed down on his cheeks. ''Ahem, heaven''s messenger here, you can speak with the dead through me.'' I narrated. ''Hm, the dead soul of Piers rejects the call of someone insignificant who only bluffed all the time and called them friends who were more like disposables.'' I voiced over the voice of the pitiful soul, which returned to heaven simply because it had an unfortunate encounter with Vinny Grover! ''Since the soul returned to eternal rest because of Vinny Grover, let''s give him a big round of apuse! Yay, yay, yay!'' "Michael?" Vinny crawled over again. ''''No! Don''t defile me now; at least leave me alone after I''m dead!'' Michael pleaded from heaven, and since heaven and Earth''s connection has been long lost, his words fell on deaf ears.'' I narrated while staring at Vinny hold Michael''s face as if he were going in for a kiss. ''Huh? Oh! Ahem, ahem! I thought some kind of ''BL'' was going to happen. Though I didn''t do that kind of setting for Vinny in my novel, since everything is almost messed up, I thought he would turn like that. Then, moving on. '' I thought, and three chibis that had many simrities to myself materialised next to Vinny in my mind: one had his right hand on his ear and mic in the other, another stood in front of him with a camera over his shoulder, and thest one sat in a room reading the content disyed on a small screen; it was a basic news reporter''s setup. ''Reporter Eshwar here, and as you can see here, detective Vinny Grover is vigorously trying to find clues that could give him a lead in his investigation. Though there haven''t been any fruits to hisbours yet, public is hoping that he will open his f**king eyes a bit more widely and find the smartwatch, which isying just a step away from Michael''s lifeless body. Over to you, Sir Eshwar. M moustache.'' ''Ah, we''ll be back after a short break.'' Moustached chibi in the office room said and disappeared, why? Because I have to groan to keep up my act. "Urgh." I groaned and Vinny found the smartwatch right after before turning on the recorded audio file in the it. [Hahahaha! You think I, ''White Swan'' .....] The recording yed. "Argh." I groaned again after the recording was done ying, though it wasn''t donepletely yet. I unknowingly grinned when I noticed Vinny''s body emitting a green-coloured aura, which meant that he either caught on the client''s part or that he is stupid enough to be angry at someone who defeated Eshwar seemingly without any effort while Eshwar, in turn, had previously defeated him with a small amount of struggle. Why would Vinny focus on the client when White Swan was the one who killed his so-called friends? Simple, really, because they could be weaker since they didn''t defeat his ''disposables'' on their own but are strong enough to ''hire'' White Swan, which isn''t possible for that many people. When the opponent does it, it''s a simple mind game, but when your own mind thinks like that, it''s a simple math, because a human''s mind always chooses the survival of its own body. Vinny isn''t strong enough to fight against White Swan yet and is stressed, and the kind of stress that he is experiencing is harmful to his body. To release that stress, another target should be found, and the clue to this ''another target'' is White Swan''s ''client.'' These are the types of thoughts where one''s will needs to be strong enough to redirect such thoughts, and the current Vinny isn''t strong enough. ''This thing called ''mind'' is simply a work of art. It analyses a ton of information in a sh and gives out a solution, which is named a ''thought.'''' I suddenly remembered something I had believed in for a long time. ''You can investigate and snoop around for information regarding this incident, but you will move the way I want you to.'' I grinned widely since another pawn was set in motion. Vinny abruptly turned to face me, and I stopped grinning and put on a pained expression in an instant, since it wasn''t long enough for his mind to register my expression, his mind would get confused because the amount of information it could register in that short amount of time was too insignificant, and ''I must have seen wrong'' would be the mind''s final conclusion, and I grinned inwardly when I saw Vinny shake his head, seemingly denying something. "Vi..uck! Vinny, you alright?" I asked ''worriedly.'' "Huh? Yea, yeah, I''m alright. Are you alright? Did they call you here?" Vinny asked after he wiped off his tears and walked towards me with a pained look on his face. ".....Yea, I got a call from Cole asking for help, but by the time I arrived White Swan was already here. I attacked him as soon as I saw him, but he simply....." I girted my teeth and clenched my fists in ''anger.'' "....he simply blew me away, I couldn''t even see what he did...." I exined and ''subconsciously'' released my killing intent. ".... maybe because I intervened, he simply killed them and left." I said while looking at the lifeless bodies with a ''saddened'' expression. ''Don''t worry, I''ll send you to meet them sooner than you think.'' I continued inwardly, but then.... "Arghhhh!!!" Chapter 177 176. Important Matter. ?(AN: Sorry for not uploading yesterday, there was a ton of other things on my mind. I might take a one-day break (Though even I don''t know when), I have already taken tons, but thought I should say it once. I may or may not take a one-day break, once a week or once in two weeks, like that. Sorry again, hope you enjoy the future chapters and thank you for reading!) *** Suddenly! "Arghhhh!!!" Michael''s scream, filled with anguish, resounded, making Vinny flinch in surprise. He snapped his head towards Michael''s dead body, which simplyy lifelessly. Only then did he notice that the voice was from the voice recorder, which he had left turned on. "Michael...." Vinny said under his breath as he girted his teeth in anger. ''Good.'' I grinned inwardly at the scenario which unfold perfectly. "..... Vinny....haa." I sighed, sadly. "..... Shall we investigate....on who ''ordered'' White Swan?" I asked. Though my ego was slightly hurt when I said out loud that someone ''ordered'' me, it couldn''t be helped because I''m pretending not to understand how the ''UNCHARTED'' works, I was the one who made it so that our ''clients'' ''request'' and not ''order'' us, I can''t believe I have to do this because of this basta*d!! ".... Thank you Eshwar...." Vinny said with his head down and a small smile. "..... Don''t worry about it." I I smiled bitterly and stood back up, of course, with a few groans and said to him that he should hold a funeral for them with only their families present, so that nobody will get to know that they had be vampires and sullen their names after they have died. ".... Thank you....Eshwar..... I''ll do as you said." Vinny said as tears started to stream down on his cheeks. ".... Then, I''ll return..." I turned my back to him and walked off after waving my hand in air. ".... Have fun." I muttered under breath and grinned widely. "I, too, will have fun.... spreading the rumours." *** A weekter. ==== [NEWS] [We have just received a report from an unknown person who saw something unbelievable in Sector Seven.] [The new-born Rank-S hero Vinny Grover was found burying some vampires behind his house; though it could be preserved that the hero Vinny Grover had killed those vampires on his own, but the way he was crying says another story.] [The unknown person who reported these actions imed to have previously seen those vampires. He reported that all three of those vampires were previously Vinny Grover''s friends! Which brings out the conclusion that the new-born Rank-S hero ''Vinny Grover'' may be affiliated with the vampires.] [New rumours that have started to spread all over the human domain have bought in many conclusions!] [A conclusion states that; Vinny Grover is a human spy who is nted among the human domain by the vampire association, ''The Graveyard!'' If this conclusion is the truth, then it certainly does exin the strength he processes at such a young age!] [The orphanage ughter incident may have been caused by Rank-S Hero Vinny Grover! A conclusion states that Vinny Grover was secretly supplying young blood for the vampires behind the humans'' backs while a highly respected hero, Sir Quinn Walker, was sacrificed!] [Another conclusion states that this may be the reason for the vampires'' retreat during the orphanage ughter incident.] [ording to a witness who witnessed the orphanage ughter, Rank-S hero Vinny Grover was thest one to arrive on the scene, and all the vampires fled as soon as they saw Vinny Grover!] [The Hero Association and The Government orders Hero Vinny Grover to answer their questions.] [The hero Vinny Grover is said to have gone into hiding because he has yet to be found, and rumours about him being a graveyard spy continue to spread!] ==== * In a sector six. In a house surrounded by dense trees and grass in the middle of a lush green mountainous area. The house was a cosy 30 foot room with two floors, the ground floor had a kitchen, a bathroom, and a living area with tables, couches, carpets, and decorations. The first floor waspletely covered in soft and fluffy mattresses, pillows, and nkets; the entire 15-foot floor was a bed. A handsome ck-haired man rested on a couch in the living area with his legs on the right armrest and his back against the left armrest, wearing a ck baggy set of clothes that included a full-sleeved t-shirt, trouser, and ck cat-eared home slippers, and he was seen browsing through his smartwatch. TING-TONG "Max?" Faye yton arrived at the house and rang the doorbell before calling out loud. Her outfit perfectly emphasised her perfect hourss figure, as she wore tight ck leather leggings that entuated her long legs and a white short t-shirt with a ck jacket over it. "It''s open!!" Max yelled,zily. "I''ming in then." Faye said and reached out for the doorknob. CLUNK "Max!" Faye eximed and averted her gaze after savouring the scene for a few moments. Max satfortably on the couch, his left hand on his firm abs as his t-shirt was pulled up, and his right hand resting on his chest, disying something on the window that popped up from his smartwatch. "Huh? Oh! Where are my manner. Hahaha." Max chuckled as he looked down at his state and pulled down his t-shirt to readjust himself, but before he could do so.... "No!" Faye eximed loudly as her face flushed bright red for no apparent reason, but when he began to pull down his t-shirt, she became dissatisfied and yelled before she realized what she was doing. "N-no, y-yu-you d-don''t have to, s-si-since this is y-yu-your h-house!!" She stuttered and made up an half a*sed excuse. "...." "...." "Pfft." Augh escaped Max''s mouth. "...." "....Pfft, hahahahaha!!" He couldn''t hold it and burst out intoughter. * "Hahaha, haha, haa, oh my, my stomach hurts, hahaha!" Max had fallen off the couch and wasughing on the ground, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, while Faye, the cause of this, sat on the huge couch next to Max''s, burying her head in her knees to hide her embarrassment. ''I can''t believe this!! Why did I act like that....No, it''s all his fault!! Who asked him to be so handsome!! And what''s with that body of his?? I forgot my purpose of the visit as soon as I saw him like that!!! I want to bury myself in a deepest hole I can find!!'' Faye thought while blushing violently. Faye felt Max''s presence in front of her and blushed in embarrassment, again. "Pfft, Faye." Max called out. ''Go away! This is all your fault!!'' Sheined inwardly. "....Faye...." He called out again, Faye slowly raised her head to look at him, only to see him holding back hisughter with teary eyes. "Pfft, I''m so-sorry forugh.... Pfft, hahahahaha!!" He burst out intoughter again, Faye looked at him with a pout. "Hmph." She snorted before burying her face in her knees again. "Hahaha, I''m, pfft, sorry, I won''tugh, pfft, this time." Max assured Faye and stood straight again. "That was your fault." Faye mumbled. "Yes, yes, I''m sorry for being handsome." He said with a light chuckle. "And here is apensation." Muffled voice sounded in front of her. ''I don''t want it, and besides I''m here for another important matter!! Ah, right I have to.....'' Faye''s thoughts were cut short when she felt Max''s firm grip around her waist, not that she resisted his touch, but then she suddenly felt something hard and her whole body stiffened. ''Wha....'' Chapter 178 177. Important Matter (2). ?"And here is apensation." Muffled voice sounded in front of her. ''I don''t want it, and besides I''m here for another important matter!! Ah, right I have to.....'' Faye''s thoughts were cut short when she felt Max''s firm grip around her wrist, not that she resisted his touch, but she suddenly felt something hard and her whole body stiffened. ''Wha....'' She slowly raised her head and saw her hand on Max''s abs; she moved her hand on her own, dazed. "....." Only after she finished feeling every inch of his abs, she snapped out of her daze and slowly looked up at Max''s face. "Y-You done?" He asked, biting his t-shirt and averting his gaze with his bright red ears, to show off his abs. "Whoa, is he embarrassed?" Faye mumbled out involuntarily while staring at Max act all embarrassed. "Yes! I''m embarrassed! Who won''t get embarrassed when they see..." He released the t-shirt from his mouth, which fell over Faye''s hand, which was on his abs, and said while looking at her, stopping mid-sentence. "When they see?" Faye repeated his words, curious about what he was about to say. ".....when they see.....a woman touching their abs." He mumbled. "But you bring woman to your bed whenever you want though?" Faye tilted her head, slightly puzzled by his embarrassment. ''Won''t he have tons of women feel his abs by now?'' She thought. "T-this and that is different!!" He yelled. "W-what is?" Faye asked and instantly blushed since she somewhat guessed why; she knows how humans'' feelings change when they are in front of the one they love. She wasn''t dumb; she felt it when they kissed a week before; something about Max felt different, and it was different from the times she saw him act the same in front of other women. None of that mattered to her right now; she just wanted the man in front of her to confirm if her thoughts were right or not, though his actions had already confirmed it; it was different from him saying it out loud. "...." Max simply bit his lower lip and looked at her. "Hmmm?" Faye tilted her head cutely; now she wanted to tease THE Max, who flirted with other women, though it was rare when they were together, but it was different! She demanded restitution for everything he had done. ".... Don''t act like that..... you might get hurt." He covered his face with his right hand and mumbled. "Hm? What do you mean?" Faye asked feigning ignorance. Max peeked at her through the gap between his fingers and sighed. WHOOSH "...." Faye stared at Max''s deep, abyss-like ck eyes, which were right in front of her face; Max had appeared in front of her face before she could even realise it, but since she was not yet satisfied with her teasing, she continued. "What are you do.... Mmphf!" Max kissed her as soon as she started to speak with a cheeky smile on her face. "Mmmn~" She was enjoying the kiss, but was soon out of breath. "Mmph~ Mmphf!" Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes as she was out of breath. THUMP (5x) She hit Max''s chest weakly as she felt like he wanted to devour her whole. "Mpha! Haa, haa....haa..haaa." She breathed heavily after he broke the kiss. "You...." She felt as if her soul just returned to her body and felt her whole body turn weak with a single kiss. ".... I warned you before that you might get hurt." Max mumbled with a suggestive smile while licking his lower lip. "I can''t believe, haaa, you...." Faye said while catching her breath. ''If he wanted to have his way, I might really be harmed...'' She thought and suddenly felt something in her grow as her expectation about that matter strangely grew, and as soon as she understood that, she blushed violently. ''This! This is dangerous!! This man is dangerous!!'' She thought. ".... I can prove it again if you want~" Max said and suddenly leaned forward. "Wha!!" "I''ll prove it until you believe me." He said while slowly leaning towards her with his hands on the back of the couch. "Wai... Mmphf!!" Faye tried to stop him, but that too was proved to in vain. "Again." "Haaa, wai... Mmphf!!" She had only enough time to catch a single breath. "Again." "Mpha! Important!! Haaa, haaa....haa...." Faye said as soon as he broke the kiss and started to take a few breaths because she didn''t know if he would listen to her or not, though she wouldn''t reject the same offer a bitter. "Important?" He asked as he leaned forward again. "Yes, yes, important! Mmphf!!" She ced her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back. He didn''t resist her and slowly leaned back, but Faye subconsciously leaned forward towards him and continued to kiss; she didn''t even realise that she was the one who was kissing Max now. Max knelt, but since he was being pushed back continuously by Faye, he fell back on the ground, with Faye kissing him whileying on top of him. Faye felt Max hold her waist and pull her down on him; when she felt it, she snapped out of her trance and broke the kiss. "Haa, haa...haa..." She leaned back as she supported herself with her elbows on Max''s chest. She breathed heavily while looking at Max in the eyes. "What we''re doing seems pretty important as well." He said with a slight smile on his face. "No! Yes! No, yes it is, but, haa... it is important!" Faye said and she herself was confused by what was more important. "This....is more important?" She tilted her head as she pondered and understood that this seemed Important than the matter at hand. "Right?" Max asked with a charming smile. "Yes." Faye nodded her head in confirmation and continued. "But the other is more urgent." Faye said. "Really?" Max asked with a nonchnt look on his face. "Ye... Mmphf!" She was kissed before she could agree. ''Ah, f**k it! This seems a bit too urgent!!'' She thought inwardly and hugged his head and kissed him more passionately. "Mpha!? Haaa, haaa, haaa....why?" Faye asked Max, perplexed, because Max had effortlessly raised Faye in mid-air by her waist. Faye supported herself with her hands on his massive forearms because she didn''t want to bend embarrassingly like a cat and stared at him with a disappointed expression. "Haaa, I don''t want to stop too, but you said important, it''s not like we''re going anywhere." Max sighed and said with a loving smile. ".... Right." Faye agreed reluctantly and found his words quite reasonable, and she was happy since he, even though indirectly, confirmed their rtionship to some extent. "It''s about that basta*d, Alvin Collins." Faye said with a serious look on her face and looking at her face Max''s turned serious as well. "That persistent basta*d recently came directly to our guild building and caused a ruckus, he was unting his status and was bragging about their guild while talking sh*t about you, I got angry that he was talking nonsense about you, so I made a slip of tongue and revealed that you were the guild master of the ''Persona.''" Faye confessed with a guilty smile while still raised mid-air in the same position and continued. "After I revealed it, heughed saying many annoying things, so annoying that I wanted to kill that basta*d right then and there, but since I was in the guild I couldn''t do anything, and things escted from then on and continued until he said that he would challenge the ''Persona'' guild to a guild battle." Fayepleted with a guilty expression on her face. ''Is he angry? Will he say we won''t meet again? What should I do if that happens? I don''t want to leave him though, but I am the reason that he may even lose his guild! That he must have built over blood, sweat and tears, sh*t! I swear I''ll kill that basta*d!!'' Faye thought and looked at Max''s face that was looking at her with wide eyes. ''He is angry....'' She closed her eyes, disappointed with herself. "You." Max called out. "....." She simply opened her eyes and stared at him. ".... You got angry for me?" Max asked with a bright smile on his face. "Huh?" Chapter 179 178. Something Is Wrong. ?"You." Max called out. "....." Faye simply opened her eyes and stared at him. ".... You got angry for me?" Max brought her down to him and asked with a bright smile on his face. "Huh?" She was dumbfounded at the first question he asked. "And you alright? Did he try something? Like touching you or forcing you to agree to his proposal, anything like that." Max asked with a deep frown, and a tiny bit of his killing intent oozed out of his body. Faye felt that the killing intent that oozed out of his body was unintentional, and somehow it seemed like his body released only a tiny bit, but it was enough to send shivers down her spine. "Huh? Ah, sorry. I..." Max felt her shudder and wanted to exin what had just happened, but was forced to stop when Faye gave him a peck on the lips. ''Am I wired to feel happy when he is feeling angry for me? No, no, it can''t be, since he too seems to be like that. I guess we have something simr.'' Faye thought and smiled brightly. "You can control your killing intent?" Faye asked in amazement. Killing intent was also simr to aura, since they both awaken in extreme situations, and this is also why killing intent is sometimes called ''aura.'' Only those who are in extreme situations can awaken their killing intent, and only those who train hard just like they train any other trait can control it, since it disys not only ''killing'' but every other negative intention a human being has. Though positive intentions can also be felt, they simply aren''t as strong as the negative ones. "Of course, I''m a guild master of a guild, you know?" Max replied nonchntly with a shrug. "Since I''m with you most of the time, I forget that fact." Faye said with a cheeky smile and suddenly remembered something. "Ah! The guild battle!" Faye eximed, pushed back and sat on him. ''Guild battle,'' just like the name suggests, is a battle among the guilds in which both guilds can demand something from the other and the winner''s demand is carried out, even if the winner''s demand is for the guild master''s guild and its members. In other words, it''s a gamble with the entire guild''s and guild members'' lives on the line. If they stay in the guild until the guild battle is over and the guild is handed over to the other guild, the entire authority over them is passed over to the other guild; if they want to resign after that, the decision about the matter would fall upon the new guild master. "Now is not the time! Wake up, wake up! You would need to discuss this matter with your guild members, we don''t have much time!!" Faye panicked and started to push him up and down while sitting on top of him; this.... was something she had yet to realise in her panicked state. "Stop." Max said while looking at her, embarrassed. "What nonsense? Wake up! You have to go to your guild, fast!!" She roared and started to shake him again, but she felt something warm; she looked down at his abs, since his t-shirt had moved up from all the pushing she did, and as soon as she saw his abs, she halted. CHAP "W-why a-are y-yu-you re-removing y-yu-your clothes!!" Faye pped his abs and asked while blushing violently. "Y-you!! Look at the position we are in!!" Max suddenly roared. "Why are you acting like this...." Faye pouted at him and looked down at Max''s body, caressed his abs, and asked herself, ''Why?'' Why was she looking down at Max when they were both lying down? She noticed she was sitting on top of him, and on his...his..his.... "Kyaaa!!" She simply jerked back with her hands near her face; she had yet to get off of Max, but then she suddenly thought of something and looked at Max. "W-what a-are y-yu-you lo-lo-looking at!!?" Max stuttered while looking at the position Faye was in. "G-get off while I am still holding back." Max mumbled and rxed his body; his head touched the ground, and his hands fell on her thighs for a second before starting to slide off. TAP (2x) "!" Max suddenly snapped his head to face her and saw her holding his hands on her thighs. "Y-you!! Stop." Max said and seemed afraid of something. "Hm? What''s with that reaction?" Faye asked with a deep frown. "Ha, f**k it, don''t me me anymore." Max said and disappeared from her sight. SWISH "!" Faye felt absolutely nothing about Max, it was as if he just disappeared from there. ? WHOOOSH "!" Faye opened her eyes wide when she suddenly saw Max in front of her; she instinctively took a step back and felt a wall blocking her way back, and before she could move elsewhere, Max pined her against the wall with her hands above her head. "I definitely warned you." He said and opened his fanged mouth, she shuddered when she realized he might be a vampire, but she couldn''t move because she was weak. He leaned forward towards her neck and bit her. *** Meanwhile. In front of a secured Rank-A Gate stood a woman with ck hair and obsidian ck eyes. She wore a white turtleneck top, ck leather leggings, and boots. She had ponytailed her ck hair, and she held a light blue katana in her right hand. "Miss, your Hero ID is required to be able to enter this gate." A man, who was guarding the Rank-A Gate, said politely. "Of course." Isha gave her Hero ID. * After the checking procedures were over, Isha entered a Rank-A gate, which the Hero Association was managing. "Should I have just snuck in? If I had snuck in, I would have been able to clear this gatepletely." Isha mumbled as she walked into the swampy area¡ªno, not a swampy area, but a swamp with dense trees and a damp atmosphere. "Was it a lizard-mans gate?" Isha mumbled as she remembered the details she was briefed with when she entered the gate. "....Why are there trolls then?" Isha mumbled as she felt the presence of trolls from her divine pulse. "A freebie?" Chapter 180 179. Something Is Wrong (2). ?"Was it a lizard-mans gate?" Isha mumbled as she remembered the details she was briefed with when she entered the gate. "....Why are there trolls then?" Isha mumbled as she felt the presence of trolls from her divine pulse. "Their habitats wary greatly...." She frowned. Trolls have pale green skinplexion, their eyes are bulged out rather than like those of humans, their average height is 13 feet tall and four humans wide, they are described to dwell in isted areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings. Trolls are still known to be dangerous to humans, and their appearance varies greatly; they can be ugly and slow-witted, or they can look and behave exactly like humans, with no particrly grotesque characteristic about them. SWOOSH "...." Isha rushed towards the swamp, lunging herself onto the trees to get to the ce where she had just felt the presence of trolls. SLASH She spun vertically and shed down a lizard-man, who had seen her through their trichromatic vision rather than their thermal vision, which is also known as ''Third Eye.'' Though humans don''t seem to know about it yet, lizardmen tend to have very good eyesight. They rely primarily on their vision to find food and evade predators. In most regards, they can see just as well, if not better, than humans! Their ''thermal vision,'' as it ismonly known to humans, is just used to sense changes in light or darkness, so they don''t have to depend on their eyesight. SPLASH (2x) The lizard-man''s body was split in two and fell on to the swamp, since Isha was curious about when these changes, about how and why two different species of monsters spawning in the a single gate, she crouched down, ced her hand on its head. ''Authority: Ruler of the death.'' She muttered in her mind and her sclera turned ck while her obsidian ck eyes turned dark purple. ''Time of the change. Other species in the swamp.'' Isha mumbled in her mind, hoping those could be the clues and that it would be easier to find the information if she searched for something specific rather than going through the entire memory of the lizard-man. SHWOOSH The ''dead'' lizard-man''s consciousness was dragged into hers; since Isha is superior to the lizard-man in all terms, it was much easier to get hold of its consciousness, and since it had died at her hands, the fear of death remained in its consciousness. Isha appeared in the nk space in front of the trembling lizard-man''s consciousness, which was chained from all directions; she floated towards it and ced her hand on its head, and a swarm of information appeared in her mind that contained the ''time'' and ''ce'' in which the trolls appeared as she was in that ce herself. ''!'' She released her grip on its head when she got what she wanted and let its consciousness slip away. SWISH ''Authority: Shadow lord.'' She mumbled as her consciousness returned to the swamp. WHOOSH SPLASH (4x) A one-metre-wide, pitch-ck magic circle appeared in front of Isha with at least a dozen signs, patterns, and circuits. A single armoured shadowy woman rose from the magic circle and knelt in front of Isha, disying deep respect. "Hunt down all the trolls in this gate." Isha ordered with a deep frown on her beautiful face. The shadowy woman flinched at those words, and without saying a word, she disappeared from Isha''s sight. "These basta*d''s are from the world I previously lived in!" Isha mumbled under her breath and bit her lower lip in rage. ''Did the Gods already notice me?'' "No, no, that shouldn''t be possible." Isha shook her head and dismissed that possibility. ''They..... have yet to be properly allowed to interfere with the Earth; they shouldn''t be able to sense me yet, and I have been getting stronger over the past month and a half. Even if they are somehow able to interfere, they will have to specifically search for me if they want to find me!'' Isha reasoned and dashed forward towards the ''family'' of trolls. "....why is this happening?" Isha mumbled while ughtering all the lizardmen and trolls that appeared in front of her while her shadow swallowed everything that she cut down. ''Mana cores'' were separately stored in her ''subspace.'' "It can''t be a coincidence that they spawned at the same time I ascended to godhood again in this life." Isha mumbled and appeared in front of a cave covered in thick, dark green vines that seemed to have naturally developed over the cave; if she had been just a normal hero, or if she hadn''t known exactly what it was, she too would have ignored it. CRUNCH (3x) SHUFFLE ".... It''s gross. Seems like tentacles." She mumbled with a disgusted expression and entered the cave. Everything around her turned dark as soon as the vines returned to their ce and sunlight protruded through them likesers. The only light source in that cave was the dots of sunlight from the outside. "It''s better like this for me." ''Authority: Shadow lord.'' She muttered again; though just a thought was enough for her to use her powers, she wanted to at least mutter some basic names to the outside, just because. And soon dozens of purple dots were visible in front of her. "Keep the strongest alive." She ordered with a domineering aura around her, and the purple dots disappeared. Those were the shadow soldiers she had over time in this life, and the one who was previously summoned through the magic circle was the one from her previous life. Though it was only a low-ranking soldier of hers from her previous life, it could easily rank as a Rank-SS hero in the human domain. * TAK-TAK (5x) Isha walked to the dead end of the cave and saw a dozen purple dots again. She raised her left hand and pointed out her index finger, which glowed golden and illuminated the entire cave, which was filled with dark green blood and pale green fingers, limbs, heads, and chopped-off bodies of the trolls, and there was one limbless troll alive beneath the foot of five shadowy figures while the rest of the figures surrounded them while standing on a puddle of dark green blood. "Now" Isha crouched down in front of the limbless troll which was bleeding profusely. "Which. God. Do. You. Serve?" Chapter 181 180. Pathetic Bit*H. ?"Which. God. Do. You. Serve?" Isha''s eyes shed with a ominous ck hue as she red down at the troll. She didn''t want any answers from that troll, she just wanted to know if the god they served was still looking after them, if yes then, she will be cursed like Eshwar....Eshwar! ''Then does that mean he was cursed by a god?'' Isha frowned at that possibility, but what she couldn''t understand was, when. ''Don''t tell me from the moment the system talked about reducing the number of ''living''.....'' Isha thought and that conclusion seemed quite possible. "Kill him." She ordered apathetically. SLASH "Careful, look." Isha said and pointed at the dark green blood droplet which sttered on her right cheek. ''You done?'' Isha asked the other summon, which was killing the other trolls outside. Isha would know if the shadow woman hadpleted her mission or was still in the process ofpleting it, but she would still ask them. It was a kind of respect she returned to her summons even though none of her summons had names or could speak. SWOOSH The shadow woman appeared in front of Isha and nodded its head, it seemed kinda cute. "Let''s return then. It''s no use even if we stayed here." Isha said and turned around, and all the shadow summons seeped back into her shadow. "I think, I should just sneak in from now on." *** In a 20 feet semi furnished room which contained a kitchen, a bathroom and a few decorations. A handsome long-red-haired man sat on the side of the bed with a mncholy and lost expression on his face, while another man who was average-looking stared at him with a apathetic expression on his face while sitting on the other corner of the bed and in front of the handsome long-red-haired man. ".... What were you doing?" Jiwoo asked with a ridiculing tone. "...." Vinny simply stared at the bed with a pained and lost expression on his face. "You. You killed the vampires?" Jiwoo asked, irritated. ''F**k! If I was as strong as him, I would have instantly kicked him out of here! I can''t believe a ''main character'' could be this pathetic.'' Jiwoo thought and stared at Vinny''s pathetic state. Another possibility cruised through his mind, which said that maybe he was the one who caused some kind of butterfly effect for the main character to change so much, but Jiwoo thoroughly ignored it. "You..... killed your own.... friends?" Jiwoo asked. Though he knew he would be pissing off a main character, he thought he had to take that risk to send him out of here as soon as possible. "No!" Vinny roared abruptly and clenched his fists. "....." "No! Goddammit, no! White Swan killed them and ran away!!" Vinny said. "Shut up, if you don''t want to be kicked out of the room, right now!" Jiwoo yelled at Vinny loudly. Even though Jiwoo felt scared of the man in front of him, all he could see right now was just a pathetic kid throwing a tantrum. "...." Vinny turned silent. "...You, lower your voice; this is my house where you came into hiding! If you want to get kicked out, I''ll do so dly, but I don''t want to get kicked out of this house for noiseints." Jiwoo exined in a slow and pissed-off tone. "Pfft, and what did you say? Hahaha, White Swan ran away?" Jiwoo chuckled at the pathetic excuse the ''child'' in front of him gave. "You. What do you think of yourself? Huh? You''re nothing but a pathetic bit*h, not some kind of bigshot that the White Swan and vampires need to run away from. A single flick, that''s all they need to kill you." Jiwoo said, while ring at Vinny. "If you want to yell, get out and yell in front of the government or the Hero Association, not here and definitely not in front of me. Though you are stronger than me right now, I''ll seriously kick you out if you do that in the future." Jiwoo said. ''I was definitely stronger than Vinny before he regressed; that means I can definitely get stronger than him in the future.'' Jiwoo thought. "And why the f**k are you even hiding without directly saying what you said here? And what do you think they will do if you tell the truth? There are many people who use lie detector skills; you won''t have a chance if you are really lying. Get out of here and go to the Hero Association and reveal what had really happened, and if they want any proof, bring Eshwar to them or bring them to the ce the incident took ce." Jiwoo said what was supposed to be obvious. "Haa.... I can''t believe how disappointed Eshwar would be to look at the state you are in. He helped your friends while you acted like a pathetic bit*h, taught you how to use mana, and even saved you and us when ''you'' were trying to kill us in ''your'' devil form!" Jiwoo pointed at Vinny and said, with his voice increasing with each word. ''And he even created you!'' Jiwoo thought inwardly. ".... You''re right, I can''t disappoint my friends who are alive...." Vinny mumbled with a resolute face. "..... Get out then; if you don''t hurry, Eshwar or Katline, who are the next closest people to you, will be dragged away by the Hero Association." Jiwoo said it without thinking much. ''Please get out of my house, I am still feeling repulsive whenever I meet you, the main characters.'' Jiwoo thought. "!" Vinny jumped back on his feet when he heard Jiwoo''s words and dashed towards the door with a hurried expression on his face. CLUNK BAM "Haa..." Jiwoo sighed and slumped back on the bed, stared at the ceiling as his eyes slowly turned lifeless. ''Have I really transmigrated into one of the novels I liked or am I simply a ''character'' that''s created by the author ''Eshwar,'' for entertaining other people..... This... story is messed up right now; it can''t be changed no matter how hard any of these characters try, since it got messed up as soon as I arrived in this world. An outsider.'' ''I want answers, but Eshwar is busy with all the things that have been messed up because of my intervention. He who created this world would be devastated to learn that their creation was being destroyed by somebody else. Maybe I should simply find a way to return to ''Earth,'' and since Eshwar is the author, maybe he can send me back to Earth, or should I just die? If I die, maybe, just maybe, the story will return to its original state...'' Jiwoo thought and curled up on the bed while another nonsensical and impossibly possible possibility cruised through his mind. ''Am I even alive?'' Chapter 182 181. Single Ounce. ?*** In a cozy 30 feet room with two floors and on the ground floor''s living area where couches, tables, carpets and decorations filled, stood a handsome ck haired man who had pined the light blonde haired woman to the wall. "I definitely warned you." Max said and opened his fanged mouth. Faye shuddered when she realized he might be a vampire, but she couldn''t move because she was weak. He leaned forward towards her neck and bit her while she shuddered. She had felt his fang-like teeth when they kissed, but she simply thought that ''maybe that tooth feels longer than normal when a couple kisses,'' but when looking up close, she thought he was a vampire. "Ah!" A soft moan escaped from Faye''s mouth as she felt a tingling sensation cruise through her entire body, and the possibility of him being a vampire flew out of her mind. Max slowly ced his free hand on Faye''s waist and pulled her closer, stopped biting her neck, and kissed her on the lips while continuing to pin her to the wall. TRING-TRING (3x) "!" Faye opened her eyes wide in surprise and snapped out of her daze when she heard the ringing sound. "Mmm~" But since it seemed like Max had no intention of stopping there, she just enjoyed that moment. "Mpha! Haa...haa...haa..." Faye stared at Max''s eyes seductively with her mouth slightly open while breathing heavily. Max, who broke the kiss, seemed slightly pissed off; he looked down at his smartwatch and red at it for a brief moment. "Haa..." He sighed and loosened his grip on her hands above her head. DING "Can''t you simply send a message and not call?" Max mumbled and took off the smartwatch from his wrist when a notification of a message popped up. ''Wha.....what just happened?'' Faye thought, dazed. ''Oh. My. God. We would have...'' She blushed violently before evenpleting that thought. ''but.....that....just now, felt amazing....'' She thought and bit her lower lip while staring at Max with her hands still above her head. "That, haa.... goddamn watch." She mumbled out loud, involuntarily. "..... I was thinking the same." Max replied while looking at his watch with a slight smile on his face. "....!" Faye blushed again when she realized that she spoke out loud. "Tsk, I should have killed that son of a bit*h when I met himst week." Max grumbled, and when Faye heard his mumbling, she snapped out of her daze and took a step towards him with a worried expression as she remembered why she was here in the first ce, but there was something she wanted to confirm before thinking about other things. "Um....are you a vampire?" Faye asked, she didn''t have, not in the slightest interest of letting him go, but she just wanted to confirm. "Oh, are these the reason for your doubt?" Max pulled his right cheek and showed her his fang-like teeth. "Yea...." Faye nodded. "They have grown like these, you know? I''m not a mosquito so don''t worry." Max said with a shrug. "I''m not worried about anything, I just thought I should confirm it once." Faye smiled and stared at him. "You. Don''t...." Max mumbled and averted his eyes. "Hm? Eh?" She tilted her head slightly, opened her mouth, and pointed her right index finger at her own mouth as she was asking for a kiss again. She sensually walked back with small steps and raised her hands in the air again. She stood in the same position they were in while they kissed and licked her lips before smiling brightly. "Faye.... don''t do..." Max mumbled, but before he could continue, Faye zoomed towards him in full speed, jumped on, and locked her legs around his waist. "What was that?" Faye asked while looking down at his eyes. "Do...Mm!" Max started to speak but was cut short by Faye who kissed him like he had done earlier. "Mmm~" Faye closed her eyes and enjoyed kissing him. She felt Max''s hands on her back and waist, which seemed to slowly move down, but she felt something on his that supported her back and understood that was his smartwatch, which he had taken off. "Haa.... What, haa...were you, haaa, saying?" Faye asked with a cheeky smile while restingfortably on his hand which supported her back. "....look how heavily you are breathing... If we continue this, I''m sure you''ll pass out before we even....." Max said and before he couldplete his words.... DING (5x) "...." "...." CRACK "Pfft!" Augh escaped Faye''s mouth when she felt his grip tighten around the smartwatch he held behind her back. "I swear I''ll destroy the guild that Alvin guy is in." Max mumbled and Faye''s face turned serious. "Are....you going to be alright? I mean, it''s still a guild which is ranked two in the world guild ranking." Faye said with a worried look on her face. "Hahahahaha!!" Maxughed like that was the best joke he had heard in a while. ".... Wha?" Faye furrowed her brows and looked down at Max''s face, which had its own charm when heughed like that. "Faye, do you know why my guild is ranked tenth in the world guild ranking?" Max asked her while looking at her face with a bright yet ominous smile. "Because you don''t want attention (?)" Faye tilted her head and said what she had thought the reason was. "No." He replied while looking at her in her eyes. "Then?" Faye was perplexed at his reply because she thought that he just hated getting attention. "Because that''s the least result I get if I hunt while using only a single ounce of my actual strength." Max replied with a cheeky smile. "...." Faye turned silent. "Hmm... Ah! Let''s say that ''I won''t even have to lift my pinky to get that result'' or ''I''m using a single cup from my ocean-like strength.''" Max said in a more simpler manner and continued. "You know how my guild doesn''t have or employ many members, right? You can also call my guild a ''mercenary guild,'' since my guild doesn''t have even 10 proper guild members; you can even say that I am the only one in my guild; now imagine how my guild is in the top ten." Max exined. "..... really?" Faye asked, dumbfounded by the revtion. ''... he''s that strong....'' Faye thought and she had already somewhat guessed that Max was waaaayyyyy stronger than what he showed on the outside, but what he just revealed was waaaayyyyy, waaaayyyyy stronger than she could ever imagine, since all the guilds in the top ten ranking have scored those ranks have always worked with the best teams they could afford, but....this guy....the man in front of her was strong enough to get into the top ten rankings by himself. "Why would I lie to you?" Max smiled lovingly and leaned towards her face. "Mmhmn~" Faye subconsciously leaned forward and dly epted the kiss. "Mmmhm!!" Faye was out of breath and wanted to break off from the kiss, but she couldn''t, and soon tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. "Mpha!! Haaa...." Faye took a deep breath as soon as Max broke the kiss. "Are you, haa.... only going, haa....to be kissing me?" Faye asked with a seductive smile on her face while breathing heavily. "Not a chance" Max said with a wide grin. "But?" Faye asked since she felt a ''but''ing. "But... not now, since I got the news informing me that Alvin had challenged my guild and it was spread all over and all the media people are making a much bigger deal than it actually is." Max exined and made Faye sit on the couch, slowly, and scratch the back of his head, maybe because of all the hindrances Alvin and his guild are causing. "What is the guild master of the Hunters Guild, ''Kane Romero,'' doing without properly managing his guild members?" Faye grumbled and continued. "Haaa.... I had hoped that at least ''Leanna Romero,'' one of the very few Rank-SS heroes, would have at least questioned the strange management her husband''s guild has!" Faye sighed and med the ''Romero family,'' since she too was feeling guilty that things hade this far, but she started to me them, the Romero family, so that she would at least feel a bit better. "Right." Max said with a crazed, ominous grin which was reced by a small smile by the next instance. ''I....must have seen wrong.'' Faye thought as that ominous grin on Max''s face shed in her mind, and it was enough to send chills down her spine. ''R-right, I must have seen wrong'' She thought and nced at Max again and saw a small smile on his face. "Why....are you smiling?" She asked, unable to hold back her curiosity. "It''s a open challenge to screw us over, right?" Max asked while pointing back and forth at himself and Faye. ".....Right." Faye nodded her head, concerned. "So... I was thinking of a way to screw with their entire Hunters Guild." Max said. "!" Faye opened her eyes wide in surprise and jumped back on her feet. "You! No! You can''t! It''s the Hunters Guild! THE HUNTERS GUILD!! You can''t do anything to a second ranking guild and not to mention all by yourself!!" Faye said and worried if anything happened to Max. "Faye, if you act like that, I might change my ns about the, ''not now,'' from before." Max said with a charming smile. "Max! Now''s not the time to be joking around!! Do you know what that son of a bit*h, Alvin would do!!! You can''t do....mmphff!!" ''No! Now''s not the time for this.....'' "Mmmhmn~" Chapter 183 182. Dungeon Battle. ?A weekter. ==== [NEWS] [The Hidden Powerhouse, the Persona guild, has been challenged for a ''Guild Battle'' by Alvin Collins of the Hunters Guild, which is currently ranked second in the multteral guild rankings.] [Kane Romero of the Hunters Guild and Max of the Persona, the two guild masters, have agreed that there will be a guild battle.] [Guild master of the Persona, Max, incites the Hunters Guild by dering, "I alone am enough to wreak your bullsh*t." and agreed to the Guild Battle and even made his demand known.] [In response to Persona''s guild master Max''s provocation, Kane Romero, the guild master of the Hunters Guild, says, "I ignored the matter by thinking that it was just a ''kids'' tantrum, but seeing as how you behave like this, I suppose, I too have to intervene." Additionally, the Hunters Guild also makes known what they want.] [If Max, the Persona''s guild master, won the guild battle, Alvin Collins would be expelled from the Hunters Guild.] [If the guild members of the Hunters Guild won the Guild Battle, the guild master of the Hunters Guild demands that ''The entire Persona Guild to be dissolved.''] [After reaching an understanding with one another''s demands, it was decided that the Guild Battle would be a Dungeon Battle.] [In the Dungeon Battle, only guild master Max from Persona and the entire squadron under themand of Alvin Collins from the Hunters Guild are taking part.] [It is revealed by The Hero Association and The Government that the new-born Rank-S Hero ''Vinny Grover'' is not a human spy from ''The Graveyard.''] [Faye yton, the vice-guild master of the Moon Guard Guild, discusses her thoughts on the conflict between Persona and The Hunters Guild. "I would like to participate in the Dungeon Battle alongside Sir Max, the guild master of the Persona, because Alvin Collins, the squad captain of the Hunters Guild, has been stalking me for a while."] * [Today, under the watchful eye of The Hero Association, the Dungeon Battle between The Hunters Guild and Persona will take ce in Sector Two''s ''unexplored rank-A gate''!] ==== In Sector Six. In a 50-square-foot office space. A gorgeous blonde-haired woman stood with her hands crossed behind her back and fiery eyes, while a rude and slightly, on the borderline, good looking man sat on the armchair behind the desk, ring at the gorgeous blonde-haired woman in front of him. "You are going to take responsibility for the sh*t you have caused by making an alliance with the Hunters Guild after the dungeon battle and by any means. No. Matter. How. You. Do. It." Josh Mendez said while tapping on the ss-like table in front of him, ring at Faye, who gritted her teeth and red back at him. Josh Mendez, the guild master of the Moon Guard Guild and f**king hard-core opportunist who was using Faye yton, the vice-guild master of the Moon Guard Guild to form an alliance between them and the Hunters Guild which was pissed off about how Faye revealed that the rumours floating around about Alvin Collins to be true, which also soured their almost non-existent rtionship with the Hunters Guild. Josh Mendez had ck hair with a shade of purple to them and darker shade of green coloured eyes, he was Rank-AA hero, but.... ''This ipetent fool is weaker than me, a Rank-A hero and he knows that I could kill him right this instance and take over the guild, yet he dares to order me around!! If not for that f**king another year long mana contract I would have killed him right this instance!'' Faye thought and red at Josh. "....Yes sir." Faye answered and walked towards the door without waiting for him to reply. ''If that guild is still worth it after this dungeon battle, that is.'' Faye thought and smiled as she thought of the n Max had made to humiliate Alvin Collins in the dungeon, but she was just feeling happy about Max going that far for her rather than other ''insignificant things,'' like the existence of Alvin, Josh, the Hunters Guild, and the Moon Guard Guild. There are still tons, but it would take too long. "Hey! Stop! I''m not done talking!" Josh''s roar was heard from behind, which Faye simply ignored and continued to walk out. CLUNK BAM "Aaaaa!!! That bit*h!!" Josh''s yell was heard from the already closed door. TAP (5x) RING [Hello love.] Max''s voice was heard through the smartwatch which Faye used to call him. "Hahaha." Faye giggled as she noticed Max pick up the call with just a single ring, and it made her happy since she had never seen him pick up any calls he received. [What''s up? Anything wrong?] Max asked with a worried tone. TAP (2x) She tapped on two options that were visible on the pop-up window of her personal smartwatch; one requested a video call, while the other made it so that only she would hear his voice, and the request was immediately epted by Max as a small hologram of Max''s upper body materialised above her wrist. "Nothing is wrong, I just called since I thought of you." Faye answered with a lovely smile. [Oh! What''s up? You calling me is something new, isn''t it?] Max asked with a cheeky smile. * "Yea, I''m leaving now and I''ll be there in a few minutes." Faye said. [Hm? Why wait a few minutes? I''m already in front of your guild building though.] Max said with a bright smile. "So that''s why your hair was fluttering from the time I called you!!" Faye realized and paced up as she barged out of her office room. [Of course, why would I leave you alon.....] Max said cheekily, but Faye cut him short. "Yet you do nothing but kiss all day long if you could." Faye said. [Y-you!! I can''t believe you''re being this shameless!! Not that I dislike it though.] Max replied and continued. [Well, wait until the Dungeon Battle is done.] Max said. "...." Faye blushed now that a date was set and her kink increased her expectations. [Or do you suggest that we do it in the dungeon. Hahaha.] Max said jokingly andughed it off. "....that.... doesn''t sound so bad." Faye mumbled as she started to imagine about how it would feel to make love in the dungeon. [.....Faye?] Max who heard her, called her out with a worried look on his face. [Faye! Hallo? Hey! Snap out of it! Hey! Faye!!!] Chapter 184 183. Dungeon Battle (2). ?In Sector two. in front of the unexplored rank-A gate. Around 50 or more people had gathered, including Alvin and his squad members, Stan Walton, one of the association''s chairmen, Seo Hana, the 1st squad captain, Elise Ryan, the 3rd squad captain, and Alex Turner, the 2nd squad captain, from the association, as well as the media teams. VROOOM A bike''s exhaust sounded, and everybody in front of the rank-A gate turned to face the direction where the bike exhaust sounded. A handsome ck-haired man rode the bike, and a gorgeous blonde-haired woman sat behind him, hugging. The handsome ck-haired man had a nk expression while the woman, who they recognised as Faye yton, had a bright smile, which made her look even more beautiful than they had ever seen her. VRO-VROOOM The ck haired man stopped the bike in front of them and got out, everything seemed fine until Faye yton walked towards them first, the ck haired man''s gaze halted at Alvin and a ominous grin appeared on the man''s face, and everybody who saw that face flinched and took a step back instinctively as they felt a sudden chill run down their spines. "Alvin." Faye mumbled in a cold tone, frowning as she girted her teeth, and everybody who heard her voice snapped out of their trance and looked at Faye while their backs were covered in cold sweat. * "Alvin." Faye mumbled under her breath and girted her teeth, frowning. "Ldy Faye yton! We have heard that Sir Alvin has been stalking you; is that true?" A reporter asked, and for reasons unknown to Faye, everybody around him looked at the reporter with an admiring gaze. "I''m the one who said it in the first ce, so of course it is true. Why would I lie? And that too in front of the media? You can investigate that son of a bit*h with a person with a lie detector; you will instantly know the truth and maybe even imprison him for it." Faye said with a scoff. "And enough about that bit*h...." Fayemented and turned to face Max, who had a loving smile on his face. "This man here is Max, the guild master of the Persona guild, the ''Hidden Powerhouse!''" Faye introduced Max herself with such a lovely smile that her previous frowning face looked like a lie. "Max!!" "Persona guild''s guild master!!" "...." Everybody turned silent after some of them repeated those words, eximing. "... He''s so f**king handsome." A voice sounded from the media people, and everybody, except for Faye and Max, snapped their heads towards the voice to look at who mumbled it, but not a single one of them denied that fact. ''Of course he is.'' Faye thought with a proud smile. "Hm?" Faye furrowed her brows at Max and stared at his face, which seemed to say ''Please no.'' After she understood why he wanted to say that, she blushed and ignored him. "Max..." Faye called out, smiling with a slight frown on her face. "Y-yes?" Max asked in a low buzz-like voice. "Haaa.....let''s go in for now." Faye said with a sigh. "Mhm." Max nodded with a smile and walked towards the gate with his gloved hands in his trousers'' pockets. * After briefing everything in front of the gate, Seo Hana, Elise Ryan, Alex Turner, Alvin Collins and his goons, Faye yton and Max entered the gate, they were 16 people, ten were the goons Alvin had brought with him when they walked in on Faye, who was enjoying her first kiss for the first time in her life and she saw a kiss getting interrupted for the first time!! Alvin and his goons seemed like a ''ideal'' team, since it contained two tanks, four damage dealers of both close and long range, two mages, a healer and a supporter, while the other side had only two people Faye and Max, but not a single concern was seen on their faces while the ''ideal'' team was tensed, since no matter what, it was still a Rank-A gate and an unexplored one at that, which means no data about monsters, terrain, nothing. They entered into a dense forest area, and a small sigh of relief escaped the ''ideal'' team''s mouths. Seo Hana, Elise Ryan, and Alex Turner simply stood in the back, keeping an eye on them, but there was an oddity about two people who were having a couple''s quarrel without a care in the world, in the middle of a ce where their lives could be on the line! "Ok sorry alright? I''llpensate for this ''sacrifice'' after this is over." Max said with an apology. ".....you better." Faye said with a pout. ''After I''mpensated, I''ll bring him to a gate myself! I need to test something...'' Faye blushed violently at that thought. "..... Orcs, goblins and hobgoblins." Max mumbled. "Hm? Two variants?" Faye asked and readied herself, since she trusted Max enough to believe even his mumblings. ".... Yea. Be on guard, there''s a hobgoblin mage, fire attributed." Max warned. "F**k you and your nonsense!! We have mages with us too, not a single one of them felt anything." Alvin said with a scoff andughed at Max. "Faye.... ''ignore'' them." Max ignored him and said while staring at Faye in the eyes. ".... Alright." Faye nodded in agreement, since it somehow felt different from all the other times he had spoken to her¡ªthis.... sounded more like amand. WHOOOSH A huge, metre-wide reddish brown fireball shot out at Faye and Max from nowhere; the weird thing was, instead of hitting them, it changed its trajectory and hit the healer brought by Alvin. BOOM "...." Everybody turned silent. None of them were able to register what had just happened; even the Rank-S heroes from the association couldn''t feel anything, not even Seo Hana, who was a Rank-SS hero! ''.... What....was that?'' Faye thought she wasn''t worried about how a fireball was just shot at their face, but about ''something'' that she felt flying past her. In that instance, where the fireball was about to hit them, Faye felt something like a breeze pass next to her, and the next instance, the trajectory of the fireball had changed!! ".....What!?" Seo Hana mumbled in shock, and everybody snapped out of their daze and looked at the poor healer''s incinerated body before ncing at Max, who had previously warned them, and they noticed that he had a nonchnt expression on his face. That...face scared them more than the fireball. "....Be on guard, if you don''t want to die, that is." Chapter 185 184. How Unsightly For A Fire. ?".....Be on guard, if you don''t want to die, that is." Max mumbled as he nced at Seo Hana and Elise Ryan. ''This man....'' Sep Hana frowned in confusion, since she felt like Max was the one who changed the trajectory of the fireball. No! She was sure he was the one who changed it, because she felt the mana in the dungeon concentrate on Max''s gloved left hand, which was in his pocket! It was only for a moment, but she was sure she felt the mana in the air concentrate around him! She was a rank-SS hero, so of course she is mana sensitive, and that kind of weird and abrupt change in mana would definitely alter her, but... ''How did he do it?'' Seo Hana thought, since manipting mana in the air ''is'' ''impossible!'' She, too, had gained a trait.... No, more like a physic, Seo Hana had been through a ''body reformation'' after she reached Rank-SS. Even though it was hard, she still managed to meet heroes of the same rank and confirm that, after getting into Rank-SS, the person will go through a ''body reformation'' process and gain ''mana physic,'' which had only two useful abilities: first, mana sensitivity increased by a lot, and the second is that ''mana protects the user!'' So none of the people know what kind of ability they would gain if they reached Rank-SSS, but everybody who has reached Rank-SS ims that at the next rank maybe they would have the ability to freely control the mana in the world! And.....that absurdity had happened right in front of her right now!! "You..." Hana walked towards Max to ask about it; even if she had to use force, she would learn about it right now, and her determination and her desire started to manifest in her appearance; her killing intent, which was controlled in her body, started to seep out of it since she was unable to hold back her ''DESIRE'' for power. BOOM Suddenly, a massive king cobra with pitch-ck, abyss-like eyes and bright golden slits appeared out of nowhere. It had ck, light blue, and crimson-red coloured shades on its scales, with a thinyer of a dark purple hue covering them all independently. And it zoomed towards Hana with its mouth wide open and its fangs looking like broad swords that could cut through everything, and before she could even react to the majestic being in front of her, it devoured her whole, and her whole world turned white. THUMP Seo Hana fell butt first to the ground while trembling in fear and sweating profusely as soon as everything around her returned to normal. "Haa...haa...haa..." Seo Hana breathed heavily. ""Hana!?"" Elise and Alex rushed towards Hana, who was trembling like a wet puppy in the rain. "What happened? Are you alright?" Elise asked while holding Hana''s hands to support her. ''What.... just happened?'' Seo Hana thought while trembling. "....Are you alright?" Max''s worried voice sounded in front of her; Hana instinctively flinched and gripped Elise''s hands slightly. Because even though she was scared, she was still sane and knew that if she clenched Elise''s hands tightly, they would break. SWISH Seo Hana saw a big gloved hand appear in front of her face; she flinched again, but she didn''t get scared like a moment ago; however, that king cobra was still too vivid to recoverpletely. She slowly raised her head and looked at a handsome ck-haired man''s concerned face, which slightly warmed her heart; she opened her mouth to speak but was cut short by Alex Turner. "You have nothing to worry about, you can go back and do your thing....." Alex Turner seemed pissed off about something as he red at Max. "Stop." Seo Hana ''ordered'' Alex and before anybody could say anything, she continued. "Thank you." Seo Hana ignored the gazes she was getting and took Max''s hand, then stood back up with a bashful smile on her face. "You''re wee, then." Max replied with a charming smile and turned around before walking towards Faye, and after Max was a few steps away from them.... "You. You are making a big scene of someone trying to help." Seo Hana turned to face Alex and scolded him because she was pissed off about how he behaved even though he was supposed to be a professional, but suddenly she noticed a bright green me die down on Alex''s shoulder. She thought she was seeing things because of the fear from whatever that king cobra from before was. "N-no, I? Huh?" Alex abruptly started to act weird and looked around with a genuinely perplexed look on his face. ''Huh? What''s with him?'' Seo Hana frowned, inwardly. "What''s wrong?" Elise asked with a weird look on her face. "Huh? N-no, nothing." Alex said and shook his head. "Faye! Iing." Max''s roar was heard from the front, and everybody snapped out of their daze and started to take a battle position. "We''ll participate too!" Seo Hanamanded Elise and Alex before rushing towards Max as a strong heatwave began to emit from her back. ''Phoenix Wings!'' Seo Hana muttered in her mind, and two metres of long, ming wings protruded out of her back and lit all the nearby trees on fire, which instead of burning down started to create a beautiful fire show. * "Oh! Hahaha, it''s warm; how unsightly for a fire." Maxughed at Seo Hana''s mes, which seemed to dance on trees instead of burning them down. "Hm? What''s wrong with my fire?" Hana appeared next to Faye in an instant and asked with a smile on her face. ''This woman....has fallen for Max!'' Faye realized as she felt a warm sensation from Hana''s me which engulfed her. THUD (6x) The sound of heavy footsteps sounded as ground trembled and trees were seen to be shaking in front of them, and soon they were able to see the huge feet of monsters whom they recognised as Orcs, and in front of them were small goblins that were rushing towards them with a crazed expression on their faces, and they assumed it would be the same with the Orcs whose faces they weren''t able to see yet. The scene seemed like the goblins were running away from the Orcs if not for their expression. "They have gone berserk." Max mumbled and continued. "Anyway, let me show you what a real fire is." Max said with smirk on his face. WHOOSH A ''hot'' fist-sized fireball of reddish orange with ck tips materialised above his gloved left index finger, which produced thick ck smoke as it continued to ''burn.'' Max took a left-handed baseball throwing stance and threw the fireball towards the hoard of monsters. The weird thing was that the fireball left behind ck, circr wind pressure as it flew forward without dying down. BOOM The fireball hit a goblin''s face and exploded out, approximately 5 feet wide in all directions, and incinerated everything, leaving behind only a 7-foot-wide ck, burned-out area; everything Max''s fireball engulfed was incinerated. "See? Now that''s what a fire should be like!" Chapter 186 185. He Is There For Me. ?"See? Now that''s what a fire should be like!" Max said with a proud look on his face, while Alvin and his goons took a step back as they remembered taking a mini, harmless version of his fire head-on and were thankful that they were alive. ''Max!!'' Alvin girted his teeth and red at Max. ''That son of a bit*h took my woman, my fame, and even my reputation!'' Alvin thought, since he knew that if it went on like this, it was just a matter of time that he would be kicked out of the Hunters Guild, because even they can only pardon few things that would lower their guild''s power before correcting themselves, and Alvin was among the things the Hunters Guild could afford to pardon only once or twice. This was hisst chance to redeem himself and correct everything; if he failed, he would be back to his previous powerless state, and that.... was something that he couldn''t afford. ''Sorry, my friend, but you''re going to die in this dungeon.'' Alvin thought after analysing Max pletely,'' Max was a mage ss hero, meaning a long range damage dealer. He is strong for a mage, but he doesn''t have any techniques or martial arts skills; he uses simple brute force without any skills behind it. Alvin knew this because he had felt it in the bar a few weeks before when Max had plundered him. Though shameful, these were the facts. Alvin just needs to get closer to Max to kill him, but... There was one problem. Seo Hana. A rank-SS hero from the Hero Association, he needs to distract her first if he wants to kill Max, but now! Looking at the way Seo Hana is behaving towards Max, it could be slightly easier than he thought. He grinned widely as his thoughts ran wild where he was with Faye yton whom he would make a bit*h that would only bark for him. ''Just you wait until this is over! I''ll show you your ce.'' Alvin thought while looking at Faye with a lust filled gaze and drooled. * Faye felt a shiver run down her spine and a creepy feeling creep up her heart; she somewhat knew that was because of that f**ker, so she nced at Max for help and noticed an ominous grin on his face, which was the same face he made when talking about the n where he would humiliate Alvin. ''He is there for me.'' A thought shed in her mind, and a loving smile appeared on her face as shepletely agreed with that thought. She rushed towards Max, who had a proud look on his face, jumped on him, locked her legs around his waist, hugged him tightly, and kissed him in front of everyone. There were two reasons for this: one, because she felt safe in his arms, and second, because she wanted to ''mark'' and show everyone that Max was hers. "Mmhm~" She closed her eyes and enjoyed the kiss. Max kissed her back while keeping an eye on the surroundings for monsters. "...." Their surroundings instantly turned silent as they watched Faye and Max kiss so passionately, but it seemed like they weren''t the only ones that were dumbfounded by that scene, since even the monsters weren''t popping out. ''Ah, I forgot that he is the one who decided when to break the kiss!!'' Faye, who was out of breath, thought "Mmphfm!!" Faye felt like her soul was leaving her body. "Mmpha!! Haaa....haa...haa...haa...haa..." Faye breathed heavily, and as she regained her senses, she heard several gulps. "How, haa....rough~" Faye took her chance and thought that she would make sure Seo Hana or Elise Ryan would give up on Max, but... "Hm?" Faye looked down at her waist where Max''s hand was and saw him grip her waist a bit more tightly than she expected. She then nced back at Max, who was leaning forward towards her; she understood him and leaned down towards him and offered her ear to him. "..... I definitely said that I''m doing my best to hold back." Max whispered in her left ear, so closely that she felt his lips on her ear. As soon as she heard his words, a strange yet pleasurable shiver cruised through her body as she felt butterflies all over, and... ''I can''t believe I riled him up unknowingly, but I hope he can control....'' Faye thought and before she couldplete her thoughts.... "Ah~ opp!!" A soft, yet loud, moan escaped her mouth when Max bit her ear, but she soon realised they were in front of many people and covered her mouth with her hands and leaned back so hastily that if Max wasn''t supporting her back, she would have fallen off, and though she covered her mouth to save herself from too much embarrassment, it was already toooooooote. "A-ahem!! If you are done, I hope we can continue into the gate." Seo Hana said with her face burning the same colour as the two meters long fiery wings on her back. Only then did everybody realise that they were still at the entrance of the gate! "Y-yes!!" Faye replied with a flushed face and wanted to get off of Max, but she ''felt'' like she shouldn''t, and as she felt Max''s grip around her, which was still as tight as before, she ''understood'' that she wouldn''t be able to get off even if she wanted to now, and as if Max read her thoughts. "You bought this on yourself." Max said with a seductive smile, which seemed to seduce Seo Hana and Elise Ryan even if it wasn''t intended. "Y-you shameless!!" Faye pped his shoulder in a bashful manner and continued to lock her legs around him. Max turned to face Hana with the same seductive smile, and... "We''ll continue to move like this... for now. I think I''ll have to be the one carrying her, since she won''t be able to walk if we stand in the same ce for more than a minute... from now on," he said, and nobody except Faye, who was blushing violently, understood his words, but they all knew what he was talking about. ''This!! This man!!! I can''t believe you''re announcing what could ''potentially'' happen!'' Faye thought, not even trying to deny his offer, not that she would deny anything when her wish woulde true and she even slightly hoped they would be here more than a minute. * After that, as if crushing Faye''s hopes, they didn''t stop for more than thirty seconds at one spot and Faye was able to get off of Max. After a few minutes, a fierypetition started between Seo Hana and Max about whose fire burned the brightest and the most fierce, and while all of this was taking ce, Alvin and his goons contributed absolutely nothing, which showed them an extreme gap in strength and humiliated them at the same time, though none of five which included the squad captains from the association, Max and Faye did anything that would humiliate them, but they still felt humiliated since from the moment they entered the gate, they were being treated like extras, a baggage that should be carried and not one of the five had any thoughts about clearing up their misunderstandings, because they felt like Alvin and his goons were exactly that. Faye, Elise, and Alex were shocked to see that Max, a Rank-S hero, waspeting against Seo Hana, who is a Rank-SS hero, which is on an entirely different level from any Rank-S. Chapter 187 186. Damian. ?"Haa...haa...haaa...." Max breathed heavily afterpeting against Seo Hana for hours. "You...haa... you''re g..haa..good." Max said while breathing heavily while Seo Hana stood in front of him with her hands on her waist and a "I won" face, but she too had beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "This... was the second-best time I had in my life." Seo Hana said with a bright smile on her face, which made her even cuter than she already was. "Hahahaha, well, I now know that I''m not the first topete against Seo Hana." Max said without thinking much, but Seo Hana flinched at his words, and a wry smile appeared on her face. "Max." Faye walked towards Max and cupped his face, forcing him to look at her beautiful face because she was feeling insecure about Seo Hana, and then something unexpected happened as Max stopped moving. "Max?" Faye tilted her head in confusion, and as if he knew about the sort of thoughts Faye carried, "Whoa.... you''re a ton more beautiful up close." Max mumbled, seemingly in daze. "Wha... Mmphf!" Faye blushed and wanted to ask what nonsense he was speaking, since he saw her like that the whole day, but was cut short by Max who leaned forward and gave her short kiss which erased all the insecure feeling she had. "The hobgoblin mage, few normal hobgoblins, goblins and three Orcs are left." Max said. "A-alright." Seo Hana blushed slightly and replied to his words, instantly. "Max..... can I help?" Faye asked in a dejected tone because she wasn''t able fight next to him and that feeling.... somehow stung her heart. ''I am not able be of any help to him.....'' Faye thought and slouched her shoulders forward as she looked down at the ground. "I can understand your feelings, but you do know that the hobgoblin mage is the cause for the orcs and goblins going berserk, right?" Max ced his hands on her shoulders and leaned forward towards her face before hugging her head on his chest slightly stronger than he had ever done before. That hug felt like he was worried about her safety, and she felt like he was a bit more possessive than she had thought. "...haaa." Faye took a deep breath of his scent and hugged him back, since she knew it would be a bit more dangerous from now on and she didn''t want to be too unreasonable; if she wasn''t satisfied with this, she just had to go to another gate with him next time. But as she was about to let go, she noticed that his heartbeat was normal and his body wasn''t even covered in sweat, everything indicating that he wasn''t tired, not even a bit. ''He....was so tired just now though? Ah! His sweat must have evaporated due to the heat his fire produces. Of course, even though I wasn''t next to him, I was still able to feel hot just by being near him, so he won''t be any different.'' Faye concluded. "Kekekiruke!!" A weird voice sounded and snapped everybody out of their trance. Max gently pushed Faye back and stood in front of her with reddish orange fire covering his forearms; they even began to burn the clothes he wore. ''Hot'' Faye thought, but continued to stand behind him since he was doing that for her, and she felt that it would be disrespectful to Max if she moved away. "9 normal hobgoblins, 30 goblins, 3 Orcs and a hobgoblin mage iing!!" Max roared and a spear made of his fire materialized in his right hand; it produced so much heat that everything around him was being lit on fire without them even doing anything while also causing ripples around him, but none of them affected Faye. It was a skill he hadn''t used from the time they had entered the gate, but him using that strong strength means that the enemy is stronger for him to bring out his techniques, everybody understood the situation without anybody even talking, they stood on their guards. RUMBLE (4x) The ground started to tremble the more the monsters moved closer, and though they weren''t that heavy, the ground still trembled for unknown reasons. And soon, the monster hoard was in sight. Max wasted no time; he leaned back, holding the fire spear in the middle, and threw it towards the monster hoard with full force. BOOM (5x) The spear was shot out towards the monsters, leaving behind five ck, circr wind pressures as it pierced through the wind with a thick line of ck smoke. The spear moved so fast that it seemed like teleportation, if not for the trial and area which burned after the spear had already arrived in front of monsters, they would have thought that it really did teleport. BANG! A loud ''bang'' resounded upon impact and a ripple which was strong enough to push back everybody shot out from the impact and huge ck clouded mushroom formed in a distance and that....cleared everything in the area, including monsters..... Or so they thought. BOOM! WHOOOSMM A big silhouette zoomed through the thick muddy cloud that covered their sights and.... BAM!! (8x) SPLURT THUMP (4x) "...." Everything turned silent after the sound of something sttering sounded inside the thick veil of muddy cloud. "Tsk." Max clicked his tongue and disappeared from the sights of Seo Hana, Elise Ryan, Alex Turner, and Faye, who stood close to him, and.... BOOOOOMMM!! A loudest ''boom'' they had ever heard resounded and everything turned silent once again, but then something ball shaped flew into the sky and..... WHOOOSH Another huge ripple shot out from the spot where Max had disappeared to and cleared the thick veil of muddy cloud in front of them, revealing a gruesome sight of ughter where Max and Alvin were visible. All the goons Alvin had brought had died with their bodies exploding. Alvin was slumped down on the ground with a puddle of piss beneath him, covering his ears in fear and trembling with his eyes dted, while Max stood like a heroic figure; he stood in front of a headless hobgoblin''s huge body. It had dozens of nes hanging on its shoulders and dozens of bracelets around its wrists and ankles, and its body was covered in red maze-like patterns, the same patterns that were normally only seen on Orc warriors. THUD!! A loud ''thud'' resounded secondster, and when they all turned to face the source, they saw a six-eyed hobgoblin''s head, which was the ball that was shot up into the sky previously; it had three pairs of eyes, above and below the eyes that are normally ced, with two lower fangs protruding out from the corner of its mouth, and a dark purple hair bun on the top of its head; it looked... ancient. "Damian." Max''s mumbled words sounded, but nobody could understand what he said since he was a bit far away from them. "Max?" Chapter 188 187. An Obvious Victory. ?"Damian." Max''s mumbled words sounded, but nobody could understand what he said since he was a bit far away from them. "Max?" Faye called out, since she felt like Max knew that hobgoblin. "Haaa..." A long sigh escaped Max''s mouth; since his voice was yet to be heard, they only saw Max''s shoulder go up and then down. "Coming!!" Max roared and jogged towards them with a charming smile on his face, which eased any doubts they had. FHUMP "...." Max hugged Faye as soon as he arrived, and Faye suddenly felt sad. There was something that felt wrong, and she felt ufortable with that hug; it was a hug she didn''t want. Though she didn''t know what was happening or what it was about, she didn''t like that hug, and she didn''t want to let him go. She felt like something she would never want would happen if she let him go. THROB ''Wh-what? Wh-what''s going on? Why do I feel so ufortable with this hug, and why does it feel like something I don''t want will happen if I let go?" Faye thought and tears welled up in her eyes, she didn''t even know what was going on, but.... she felt her heart clench. Suddenly! All of those feelings she felt instantly disappeared, and everything returned to normal as if nothing had ever happened. Since she was the one who felt them, she wouldn''t be able to ask or exin anything about what had just happened. "Huh?" Faye frowned while hugging Max as everything she just felt disappeared, but those emotions she felt were too vivid to think anything else about them, and it was the moment she confused more than she had ever been. "Wha... Mmphf!" Faye wanted answers from Max about the feelings that appeared and disappeared in a sh. She pushed Max back gently with her hands on his shoulders, and before she could ask her questions, Max kissed her while cupping her face. Faye''s mind removed thoughts about those feelings for now as soon as he kissed her. "Mmhpa!!! Haaa... mmphf!!" He broke the kiss and kissed her as soon as she took a breath, and then he continued to kiss her while allowing her to breathe as they continued to kiss, ignoring everything around them, and this time everybody ''felt'' Max''s love for Faye. Hana, Elise, and Alex averted their gazes from the alluring sight, and their gazes soon fell on Alvin, his dead goons, the hobgoblin mage''s headless body, and finally the hobgoblin mage''s bodiless head. * "Mmhm~ pha, haa...haa...ha..." Faye breathed heavily after Max released her from a minutes-long kiss. Her small tongue was slightly out of her mouth as she stared at Max in a lustrous manner; unintentionally, she just looked lustful with her eyes and blushing face, which had turned that way after the longest kiss she had ever had. STEP-STEP (5x) The kiss was so good that she wanted to pounce on him right away but stopped herself when she heard footsteps closing in. "S-shall we get out of here? We have many reports to take care of, and since there are tons of things that have happened in this like a fastest rank-A dungeon raid clear, guild battle victory, dungeon battle victory, and new troublesome things, new monster variants, new dungeon types, and many more," Seo Hana exined with a blush. "Of course, thank you for waiting." Max thanked them with a charming smile, which Faye didn''t mind since her mind was filled with lustful thoughts. "O-of co-course, no problem, hahaha." Surprisingly, Elise spoke up this time with an awkwardugh; since her fiery personality was widely known, her actions seemed a bit cute. "Hahahaha." Maxughed and began walking while holding Faye''s hand. * Few hourster. In a 40-foot-long office room. A gorgeous blonde-haired woman sat behind a desk with a dazed expression on her face. She had a ton of papers on her desk, but she did none of them as she continued to rub her lips in an unintentionally seductive manner. ''The news about the dungeon battle is yet to announced and that f**ker getting kicked out of the hunters guild is yet to happen too.'' Faye sighed inwardly. ''But....'' She paused her thoughts and remembered how good the previous kiss felt. ''I''lle pick you up, around eight.'' Max''s voice resounded in her head, and Faye blushed violently since today was the day Max had said they would make love, and of course he had asked for her opinion a ton of times. TAP Faye tapped on her smartwatch to check the time, and it was [7: 48 pm] at that moment. They were already supposed to be together at this time since it was a date, though a bit grumpy Faye sat behind the desk, since Mr. Punctual always arrived right on time no matter what it was. Faye was still sitting on her armchair because the date was nned for 9:00 and they were meeting early because Faye asked him to, and if her mood was right, the date would be cancelled, and she was sure she wouldn''t be going on any dates today. ''Is.... could this be considered moving fast? Or am I just h*rny for him? Well, we have only started dating for 53 days and 23 hours.... though it didn''t hit when we kissed, but....'' Faye questioned herself. ".... It was just.....too good." Her thought process was cut short since as soon as the word ''kiss'' sounded in her mind, she remembered everything she would feel every time they kissed. ''I think..... I''m simply h*rny for him.....'' "But it''s not a bad thing! Since I am feeling h*rny for him! And only for him!" Faye justified herself out loud, involuntarily, while blushing violently. ''What....were those saddening emotions I felt, when Max hugged me previously....'' RING Her professional smartwatch rang and she picked up without thinking much. BEEP [Miss Faye yton, you have a guest.] The receptionist''s professional, yet sweet voice sounded. "A man?" Faye asked. [U-um, Y-yes.] The receptionist said, stuttering. ''Is she charmed by his handsomeness too?'' Faye pouted inwardly. "Send him in." Faye said and hung up. * TAP (5x) "Hm?" Faye frowned when she heard the footsteps from the hallway leading to her office room. ''This....is not Max.'' She realized because she was familiar with the sound of Max''s footsteps and the one from the outside definitely wasn''t him and when she realized that fact an ominous feeling crept up her heart and.... BAM Her room''s door was busted open from the outside as soon as she took her sword out of her inventory, and a deep frown appeared on her beautiful face when she saw the dagger-wielding silhouette walk in to her office room. "Alvin?" Chapter 189 188. A Prophecy. ?BAM Her room''s door was busted open from the outside as soon as she took her sword out of her inventory, and a deep frown appeared on her beautiful face when she saw the dagger-wielding silhouette walk in to her office room. "Alvin?" Faye frowned as she stared at Alvin, who had a dazed look on his face and had a white smudge around his nose and mouth. ''His took drugs beforeing here.'' Faye started to analyse her opponent and noticed that he was drooling with a lustful gaze fixed on her. "Tsk, disgusting son of a bit*h." Faye spat in disgust. "Faye yt...." Alvin called out, but was cut short by Faye, who was irritated by his very ''existence.'' "Don''t. Call. My. Name. Answer! How did you find my location? I''m pretty sure that not even the guild master knows anything about my location!" Faye asked, her killing intent oozing out of her body. She had only asked the receptionist to inform her if anybody came to meet her as she had sneaked into the guild building since she didn''t want that f**king guild master of hers to bother her. "Hahahehehe!!" Alvin burst out intoughter as soon as he heard her question. "....." Faye frowned, ring. "Hehehehaha!! Pfft, hahaha." He continued his crazedughter. BAM A strong mana bullet hit Alvin''s forehead in the middle and sent him back, flying. "....." After he fell, an eerie silence descended upon them, but after a few seconds, Alvin began to chuckle as he stood back up on his feet, leaned down, and grabbed the dagger thaty next to him before unbuttoning his pants. Faye, who noticed what he was about to do, shot a mana bullet aimed at his groin, but this time he managed to dodge it with a single sidestep and zoomed towards her while holding his pants with his free hand. "Quick sword: Quick sh." Faye mumbled under her breath, and her sword glowed bright blue before she disappeared in a blur. TAK She reappeared behind Alvin and instantly turned to face Alvin''s back, since she knew she couldn''t afford the time to look cool and because he too was a rank-A hero, she shouldn''t underestimate him, but he simply stood still with the dagger in his hand and his back facing Faye, who knew that her sword sh connected. SHWISH SLASH A diagonal bright blue line appeared in front of Alvin and disappeared, his body bled profusely as soon as the bright blue light disappeared, he coughed out several mouthfuls of blood, but continued to stand still, maybe the drug he took beforeing here helped him to not lose consciousness, but not a single bit of it mattered to Faye, who also knew that he would definitely have cheap trick as his trump card, hence she stood on her guard. ".... You, cough!! You know, I will always get information about wherever you go, no matter what. Cough... I have a trump card up my sleeve with me, that gives me information about your location at any time. Remember how I found you in the bar? How I arrived at the hotel? And even all those locations you went to spend time with him? And even today." Alvin mumbled and coughed out mouthfuls of blood from time to time as he answered her question. ''F**king stalker basta*d. I can''t believe he stalked somebody just to fulfil his lust! But....'' Faye was creeped out of her wits right now, but there was one thing she needed to confirm. ".... Why?" Faye asked and readied her sword for another sh. What she wanted to know was why he was lusting after her so much. Maybe it''s a kind of fetish or a kink he has, but she wanted a clear answer, and she somehow knew that she wouldn''t hesitate to cut him down. "Heh, of course. To f**k you and make you a bit*h, my bit*h that would only bark for me." Alvin looked at her over his shoulder and replied with a savage grin on his face. "....Well, bad for you. I belong to someone else." Faye said and disappeared and appeared in front of him, and another wide bright blue diagonal line appeared behind Alvin and struck him. SLASH THUD Alvin fell on his knees while bleeding profusely from the front and back; if both of those shes werebined, it looked like a perfect ''X,'' and then... SPLASH (5x) "!" Faye flinched and jumped back because she was shocked to see Alvin''s blood seeping back into him; it was the rarest phenomenon that had taken ce when the monsters were popping out of the gates at the very beginning of awakening. It was phenomenon that took ce when the ''mana of the dead'' was at all times high, it was now something akin to a thing of the past or something like a legend! It was phenomenon when an ''undead'' is born. Not the vampires, but skeleton and zombie type undead, it was also a sign of ''great disaster'' which would befall upon the world, somewhere in the near future!! ''A prophecy!'' That word shed in Faye''s mind, and instantly the world in front of her turned white as she floated in a blinding light-filled space. - "Human child, warn the world! A great disaster is about to befall the world! I shall bestow upon you a prophecy from the future I have seen!" A heavenly voice sounded in her head, whose gender she couldn''t figure out. - "A demon stronger than the demon king will bring destruction to earth." A prophecy entered her mind, along with a few images where everything was in the ruins and was covered in blood of humans, beasts and monsters everywhere, tons and tons of limbs, heads, bodies were scattered around everywhere, and there was one notable thing and it was that, everything was covered in bright blue crystals which had protruded out of everywhere, and there was huge crack in the sky, from where a mountain sized translucent bright blue crystal protruded out from, the entire upside down crystal was covered in frozen ck blood. (AN: It is the same prophecy from the vol 1 chapter: 22 The prophecy.) ''Demons blood....'' Faye muttered in her mind since she recognized the ck blood. As her vision turned hazy and she returned to her office room where Alvin''s blood was still seeping back into his body, she wasted no time and grabbed her smartwatch to contact Max to inform him about the prophecy, but she abruptly remembered that he would being here right now, she then thought it would be right to contact Seo Hana from the association, because she was told to inform the whole world. * She informed Seo Hana of everything that had happened to her in thest few minutes, and since she still needed proof to prove herself, she sent pictures of Alvin''s state to Seo Hana, but somehow Seo Hana agreed to Faye''s words without even questioning anything, and something suddenly shed in her mind as if to answer all of her questions. ''Goddess''s words!! Now I have no need to exin myself to anybody when delivering the prophecy to the whole world, and not a single being would question anything.'' Faye realized. "And now that I have chosen a point where the news will be spread, it will continue even without me." Faye smiled at her words; since she hadpleted her mission, she wouldn''t have to worry about anything else and could enjoy her time with Max. WHOOOSH (AN: I feel like this chapter is a bit rushed (I don''t know properly).... I''ll be mindful of it in the future chapters.) Chapter 190 189. Mr. Punctual. ?"And now that I have chosen a point where the news will spread, it will continue even without me." Faye smiled at her words; since she hadpleted her mission, she wouldn''t have to worry about anything else and could enjoy her time with Max. WHOOOSH Meanwhile, Alvin''s body continued to suck its blood back into the body; green veins popped up on his entire body, and his body turned dead pale. Alvin''s body right now looked like it was made up of worms, with green veins popping out everywhere. "Bleargh...." Faye wanted to puke at the sight, but nothing came out. "I can''t believe he could be more disgusting." Fayemented as her face twisted in disgust. SPLASH (6x) All the blood had already seeped back into his body, but it didn''t stop there! His body slowly started to snap everywhere, as if his body were turning everything into blood. Slowly, all the blood in his body started to move up to his mind as his body continued to wither and the skin covering his head began to bloat and expand. "Bleargh!!" Faye puked at the sight, which was the most disgusting thing she had all her life! SHWOOMMM The heart of once-Alvin''s body began to glow crimson red, and some of the blood flowed towards the glow before bing concentrated on that spot. After a while, a prism-shaped crimson red crystal protruded out from the body and fixed itself in the body''s heart area. UMBUUOOOOOO But the blood that was flowing into the body''s brain area continued to flow as the skin on the head stretched out; it seemed like the eyes would pop out if the head stretched out even a bit more, but it showed no signs of stopping. The body''s mouth, nose, and ears abruptly opened wide, and all the wrinkled skin below the head started to stretch up towards the head as the blood continued to fill up in the head. After a few minutes. BOOM A loud ''boom'' resounded as the head busted open and stopped. Everything about the body in front of Faye, who was continuously throwing up, stopped. The huge puddle of blood which exploded out of that body''s head was floating mid-air as if somebody had ''paused'' the ''process,'' like pausing a video when the water balloon popped, to admire it in awe, but the sight in front of her was anything but awe; it was too gory, too disgusting, and too much of every word used to describe the level of its disgustingness. "Bleargh....haa...haa...haaa...." Faye was puking continuously; she had now started to puke blood, even while she was in constant pain. It didn''t matter at all; she just wanted that disgusting feeling to stop! And now that what she wished for has happened, like literally, she hoped she could close her eyes and forget about this, which could be considered a most disgustingly traumatic experience. WBLUBBLUB "NO!" Faye screamed on top of her lungs, as she saw the blood which started to vortex around the body''s head and disappeared. "!?" Faye opened her eyes wide in disbelief. All the blood simply.... disappeared. "Wh...at?" Faye mumbled in disbelief. SNIFF "!" She sniffed the air once and jumped back in fear; the air around her smelled like blood. Since there was a ton of blood in the exposure, it wasn''t supposed to be a big deal, but her instincts screamed, ''Danger!'' WHOOSH And abruptly, a wide, crimson-colored line appeared in the spot where she just stood; it was the same line that would appear every time she used her ''Quick Sword'' trait! Only then did she start to focus on her senses and the dagger-holding hand of the body, which was once named Alvin. "!" Faye gasped again and jumped to her right when she saw a blur of the hand that held a dagger. "Uck!" Faye groaned and held her left bicep where the attack had just gazed her just now. * A few minutes earlier. The headless, withered body had yet to move a single step while Faye, who was dodging all of its attacks, was covered in cuts that were not life-threatening but deep enough to cause bleeding. Since her whole body was covered in blood, it wouldn''t be weird if she fainted any moment now. "Haa...haa...haaa...ha..." Faye breathed heavily while crouching down on her right knee, but suddenly the headless, withered body turned around towards the office door and disappeared from the ce it had previously stood, and... BOOOOMMMM An ear deafening ''BOOM'' resounded throughout the entire guild building, and a silhouette was shot out, crashing through three walls before arriving at the room where Faye was. The silhouette was shot back while fluttering like a wet rag. Faye couldn''t distinguish what was happening since everything was covered in a thick cloud of dust. STEP (6x) "!" The sound of footsteps resounded in the room where an eerie silence had descended previously, and Faye''s eyes were shot wide open when she heard familiar footsteps, and a small smile appeared on her face when she realised who the footsteps belonged to. WHOOSH Something small shot out of the thick dust cloud, and Faye didn''t even flinch at the sudden moment, even though it happened right in front of her; she simply raised her hand and caught it. TING BLOBLUBLOB "...." She stared at the volumetric sk filled with a thick green coloured liquid roll on her hand, she recognized that potion, it was a higher grade healing potion. POP GLUP (5x) She popped the cap and took five small gulps of the potion without hesitation and stood back up on her feet as all the wounds on her body began to heal, but her mana and stamina, which were almost depleted, stayed like that. But she didn''tin and simply walked towards the armchair, which was supposed to be around there somewhere. "Ah! Here it is." Faye mumbled, picked up the fallen armchair, and sat down on itfortably, with a bright expression on her face that seemed to indicate that the face that had been filled with anguish previously was a lie. She was still feeling pain all over her body, and the potion had yet topletely heal her, but it didn''t matter now since she knew everything would be alright now. TAP Faye tapped on her cracked smartwatch to check the time. ==== [7: 59 PM] ==== (AN: Time in chapter 187 changed to [7: 48 PM] since I thought it was a bit too short of a time for all of those things to happen.) "Oh!" She eximed and smiled brightly. "You are quite early, Mr. Punctual." Chapter 191 190. Start Of The Destruction. ?"Oh!" Faye eximed and smiled brightly. "You are quite early, Mr. Punctual." She said with a lovely smile on her face. SWOOSH She saw the silhouette charge towards the office room''s door, or where a door had been previously. SWISH A crimson red coloured wide line appeared in the thick dust veil which showed no signs of disappearing any time soon. BOOM Though Faye couldn''t see what had just happened, she knew that it was only a matter of seconds before that newly born ''undead'' died. There was one peculiarly vexing aspect to this type of undead: if it is in a certain limit, it''ll copy everything that it sees, which was also the reason it was able to use Faye''s ''quick sword'' trait. * BAAAANNNGGGG!! An ear deafening ''bang'' resounded and an eerie silence descended upon the room Faye sat in. ''It has only been around 30 seconds! Are you kidding me? I would only be able to fight against him for thirty seconds? Even after using my trait??'' Faye pouted; even though she knew how strong he was, she couldn''t believe that her ''quick sword'' trait onlysted 30 seconds against him. ''he didn''t even use his fire trait!'' Faye grumbled inwardly at her realization. STEP (6x) WHOOSH SHATTER Max simply waved his hand, and the dust cloud that had covered the entire floor dissipated through the windows, which had shattered at the same time, possibly.....No, if it was somebody else Faye would have thought it was coincidence, but she knew better, so she now knew that he made the windows shatter so that the dust cloud would get out. Hmm, this seemed like a correct assumption, even to Faye. "Shall we go out?" Max, who wore ck formal dress and nothing out of the ordinary, asked Faye and offered his hand to her, ignoring everything that had just happened and not even asking what Alvin was doing here, though the state she was in would have exined everything. She knew a ton of people who were having rtionships without a single ounce of trust, so her heart warmed a little at his seemingly unbothered and unknowing actions, but... "No." Faye rejected his offer, firmly. "Are you hurt?" Max frowned and nced back at where the headless withered bodyid and red at it. "No." Faye denied, firmly. "Hm?" Max tilted his head, puzzled, but then his eyes slightly opened wide and he retracted his hand; this time, Faye furrowed her brows at his actions, perplexed. "Then let''s simply go on a date." Max smiled lightly and stood with an arm open to the side, as if inviting her for a walk side by side. "Huh?" Faye tilted her head. "Hm? What? You don''t want to go on a date either?" Max asked with a puzzled expression. "Huh? What''re you talking about?" Faye asked back. "Huh? You just rejected me twice, right?" Max asked. "..... Yes. But why did you think I didn''t want to go on a date?" Faye asked after replying to his question. "..... I thought, you changed your mind about ''the n'' and since you said it was your first time, I thought you were scared and didn''t want to do it right now." Max replied with genuine confusion written on his face. ''What nonsense is that? But why does it sound right? Since I rejected his offer after asking him for it all day long, of course he would think that way.....'' Faye reasoned. "....No, no, I just have something talk about." Faye wanted to make fun of him by denying again, but looking at his confused face, she thought he would take her words seriously and the n would be postponed, which seemed like a bit of a..... waste (?). "Huh? Oh ok." Max nodded his head in understanding. Faye thought he was acting strangely dense.... No, his actions were quite urately seemed dense, she concluded that maybe he too was a bit nervous, so Faye got straight to the point without beating around the bush. * A few minutester. "...." "...." Faye noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere after she finished talking about everything that happened in thest few minutes to Max. "Haa....so you''re saying that you received a prophecy from a god." Max sighed and said while staring at Faye. "Mhm." Faye hummed, nodding. ''Wait!! Why....is he asking questions? When I am speaking of the Goddess''s words? Shouldn''t nobody question this?'' Faye thought and a sudden chill ran down her spine as an extremely ominous feeling crept up from Faye''s very core, as if it was primitive of her certain DEATH. "Haa... and why did you conclude those words to be of a Goddess''s?" Max sighed again and asked while scratching the back of his with his eyes closed. "Th-that wa-was be-be-because I-I f-f-felt it." Faye said while stuttering profusely. Faye felt absolutely overwhelmed by something and felt like she was being interrogated with her head in the ''guillotine.'' (AN: Guillotine is a mechanism or a machine I don''t know properly, but it is what the people of the past used for execution, the kind where their head is chopped off by a dropped de. That one.) She couldn''t think straight, and she nced at Max, who was definitely not the Max she knew of; everything about ''Max'' felt extremely ''real'' while feeling extremely fake at the same time; she felt that the Max right now was definitely the real one; then suddenly all the feelings she felt towards him abruptly ''roared,'' and every single bit of it felt real. "You ''felt'' it was Goddess?" Max asked without much change in his expression. "...." Faye vigorously nodded her head while trembling, since she couldn''t get any words out of her mouth properly. "Alright, so you have already informed Seo Hana about it and if it is her, she would surely have already spread those words out to the people." Max mumbled to himself as Faye trembled violently. "You wasted yourst wish. Pity." Max said with a shrug, and.... ? SWISH "You know, you are the start of the destruction that the prophecy spoke of." Max said, disappeared and reappeared at the same spot, then Faye''s world suddenly turned upside down. ''Ah.'' She..... kinda knew what had just happened, but strangely enough everything felt peaceful, she didn''t even feel any pain, yet her head was cut off.... And instead of her whole life shing before her eyes, only the moments she spent together with Max shed before her eyes; every moment spent with him was filled with happiness to the brim. Every single moment, not even a single bit of it, felt fake. She had truly loved him; maybe he did too. He had taught her how to love, which was something she had thought gave s*x or other physical intimacy a name, and for her, love was also something only s*x could prove. Of course, there were tons of physical contacts between them; not every one of them was filled with lust, but there were tons of moments she felt like she was genuinely being loved. She cherished everything about Max with her; if she knew his situation and what made him use her or bring them to a situation where he had to kill her. If she knew maybe, in the extreme case, she herself would have killed herself for him, so that not even an ounce of guilt from her death would haunt him. ''Ah, maybe that''s why I felt all those saddening emotions back inside the gate¡ªhe really was sad. Maybe he started it to use me at first, but fell in love in the middle, and something serious happened in his life again, which forced him to start acting again. But I was so happy.... It truly is a pity. I wanted to be with him, maybe a little bit longer''. Faye thought and noticed Max in her hazy vision, whose hair had turned white and his eyes had turned bright orange with vertical ck slits, that he now looked even more handsome than he did before, and then, Faye yton.... DIED. Chapter 192 191. Act One: Complete! ?*** THUD "Haa..." I sighed as I stared at Faye''s head fall on the ground. "I can''t believe Alvin was strong enough to be born as an undead and that to one of the higher ranked ones." I mumbled and nced at the headless withered body which was named Alvin for maybe what? Like 20-25 years? ''What''s with today? First, Damian! I can''t believe he became a believer of a divine being!!" I half thought and half grumble. Damian was a hobgoblin mage who never believed in anything except strength and magic, his death made me slightly, tinny tiny bit, sad to be honest, but that enough to make use of. ''F**king divine beings!! I can''t believe they sent a prophecy, again!!'' I grumbled. "Ah right! Am I really a ''demon'' in the prophecy?" I scratched my chin and pondered. "Well anyway, let''s start the first....no, is it a second?" I ignored the matters which didn''t matter much right now and started to think about my next moves. ''Act one: Making use of the rotten connection. Complete!'' I grinned widely. "And why the f**k did I change? Huu." I looked at my white hair in front of my eyes and blew at it. [White Parasite activated.] ''Alter.'' I changed my hair and eyes back to ck, since I didn''t know if my eyes had changed back or not, I altered them twice. Though even I thought it wasn''t quite logical, but still.... I altered them twice. "Seo Hana huh.... knowing her, she would be on her way here to help and rescue Faye from the undead, since she knows how dangerous they can be. Without wasting any more time, let''s start the act two." I mumbled under my breath and activated what I call ''torch of emotions.'' (AN: It is used in vol 1 ch39. The Obituary Colosseum (3).) "Heh, it was definitely worth looking at Alex''s and others confused faces." I chuckled as I suddenly remembered how confused Alex Turner, Hana, and Elise were in the gate. I had used green mes, which indicated jealousy, on Alex when I helped Hana stand back up on her feet, though I was slightly concerned about it, since he may not like Hana and was ready to alter the mes to incite his ''man''s pride'' if it didn''t work, but it was proved to be a useless concern. "And I can''t believe how intensely Hana red at me at the beginning of the gate, it was so intense that I subconsciously tried to suppress her killing intent. I guess she is a Rank-SS hero for a reason, I didn''t think there would be anybody who had such a strong amount of mana pressure among humans." I smirked as I remembered how she fell butt first. I have to admit her killing intent was quite strong, like that very annoying bug which you simply want to swat away, exactly like that one! and that was exactly why I subconsciously tried to suppress it. "Ahem! I''m going off track again! Let''s focus." I mumbled and nced at my right fingers, which were lit in a reddish orange fire. It was a fire that simply used fire attributed mana, but it became like this after I used it. Pyre scolded me quite a bit when he saw me trying to imitate him, but still taught me how to use all the other elements; of course, he is a good guy. I''m not as good as Pyre in using different attributes of mana, but I''m definitely on par with him. (AN: Pyre is introduced in vol 1 ch11 sector one.) ''Now that I think about it, three months are already over, maybe he''ll return on his own in a few days, or should I call him myself....'' I pondered, but shrugged eventually, like always. "I''ll get scolded by him if I summon him forcefully. Ah! Now that I have gotten stronger, he too would have gotten stronger because of our soul contract. Don''t tell me, he is trying to purify the entire Sector One, hahahaha." I mumbled andughed while the reddish orange fire covered my entire arms. ''Torch of emotions.'' I muttered in my mind and added two emotions to the fire. FUUUMMMM The reddish-orange fire now had crimson-red and dark purple mes at the ends, while thick ck smoke rose from it. Crimson red indicated anger while dark purple indicated pain; it was the perfectbination for the current situation ''Max'' was in. SHUFFLE I crouched down and ced my ming hands on the floor, and an invisible ripple shot out from beneath my palm, which cruised through every corner of the floor I was in before lighting the entire floor on fire, which would slowly climb up and down, engulfing the entire guild building by the time Seo Hana appeared. "Surely not, right? Pyre isn''t THAT reckless....right? Haha, ha." Iughed awkwardly as I thought about Pyre purifying the entire Sector One. It was once a home for both him and me, so he had been trying to save the nature there ever since, but since ''Pyre'' wanted to purify it, he had to use only his own strength, because it was something he wanted and he didn''t ask me for help in that matter, so of course I left everything to him. But now that I have gotten stronger, he.... that basta*d, would definitely purify Sector Onepletely. "Haaa...." I sighed and shook my head as the fire continued to spread fiercely and had already engulfed two floors of the huge skyscraper. ''Well, I guess having a ''nigh unlimited mana'' helps in such matters.'' I shook my head with a smile. ''Nigh unlimited mana,'' was because of ''the seed'' or the world''s mana core, which I had consumed in the past. It basically gave me free ess to ''World energy'', and I didn''t know what its other abilities, benefits, traits, or things like that were; I also didn''t have any expectations for it, since I almost ate everything I found, but now, with the help of the system and many unknown pieces of puzzles that I unknowingly gathered, I can finally ''use'' world energy! It was invisible even to me, of course not that I have anyints about it, as long as I have it, it doesn''t matter. (AN: The seed is mentioned ch 164: something important.) The condition to activate the world''s mana core was that I had to have all kinds of mana! Normal mana, aura, demonic energy, dragonic mana, void energy, attributed mana, divinity, and my own mana¡ªdamn, that''s a lot of different kinds of mana. (AN: void energy mentioned in ch110 Void energy.) Though I had already gained control over the world mana, which was supposedly being cruising through my body, a while back, I had no control over how to activate or use the world energy outside, and there were tons of otherplications to properly ''use'' it, but now, I ''knew'' how. (AN: He got control over it in ch124 [??? Energy]) "I knew because..." "!" I opened my eyes wide when I felt somebody from the outside extinguish my fire, which had already engulfed the whole skyscraper. "She''s here." Chapter 193 192. The Ruler Of The Flames. ?*** In an office room that was well furnished with a desk, a couch, extra chairs, books on the bookshelf, arge ss window behind her desk, a bonsai on the desk, and some nts near the window. A beautiful woman sat behind the desk on her armchair; she had ck hair and purple eyes, was 5.5 feet tall, appeared to be in her twenties, and wore a red suit with white pants. She almost appeared to be a royal guard. "Yes, spread the news widely; we''ll contact the Elven Kingdom and the Dwarven Kingdom from the association''s side." Seo Hana said to the 6th news tform after informing the whole Hero Association. BERP "It is done!!" Seo Hana eximed after hanging up the call and abruptly stood up as she remembered Faye yton talking about a undead in the previous call. ''Sh*t!'' Seo Hana cursed herself and rushed out of her room. * After arriving out of the Hero Association building. ''What should I do? Take a team together or go alone? Should I rush over or should I take a gate?'' Seo Hana agonized, but none of it mattered as she was already running away from the association building to an unknown destination. ''F**k it.'' She thought, messaged Elise, asking her to bring the squads to Sector Six, and activated her specialized traits. [Specialized Trait: Kin of the Phoenix activated.] [Skill: Phoenix Wings activated.] [Specialized Trait: Descent of the me Kin activated.] [Acquired Skill: me thrower activated.] ''Kin of the Phoenix'' gave her a phoenix like ''me constitution,'' which is the first ever constitution known to humanity, and since her trait held the word ''Kin,'' she was still continuing to grow; nobody knew until when she would continue to grow, not even Hana the trait holder; though it was a trait that was mocked at first, it soon became an unbelievably strong growth type trait. ''Descent of the me Kin'' was also a growth type trait, but the only use that she had ever discovered for that trait was that it helped in controlling all the mes. Though a bit duller than expected, it was an unbelievably excellent trait whenbined with her ''Kin of the Phoenix'' trait, which made her monster-like constitution more monstrous. Kin of the Phoenix helped her control the mes within herself, while Descent of the me Kin helped her control all types of mes, either internally or externally; they were great traits, but Seo Hana didn''t have any long-range attack skills, so she bought a skill book called ''me Thrower.'' It was a skill that allowed its user to ''throw'' any kind of me they came into direct contact with; the damage she received would still be the same, but it was possible to ''throw,'' and nothing else, absolutely nothing useful about the skill itself, but for Hana who is called ''The Ruler of the mes'' it was the best skill there could ever be. If shebined all of these skills, she could control everything about herself and the insane amount of me that is trapped in her body because of her trait. WHOOOMMMM Her entire body was covered in beautiful warm orange mes; her ck hair turned bright orange while being covered in mes; and her brows and eyshes had also turned bright orange before being lit in her mes. Her bright purple eyes turned orange, with ck, blue, yellow, and greenish colours adorning the rims of her vertical ck pupils, which also morphed into phoenix-like irises. Her two-meter-long wings were decorated with intricate feather-like mes that flitted across the beautiful, bright orange wings that protruded from her back. WHOOMM BOOM She pped her phoenix wings once and shot up off of the ground, kicked off of mid-air, and shot herself towards sector six from sector five. BOOM * She quickly arrived at Sector Six and rushed towards the Moon Guard Guild; though she didn''t know where it was located, she instantly knew where she had to go as soon as her eyes fell on the familiar fire. THROB "...." Seo Hana''s heart throbbed when she saw Max''s reddish orange fire engulfing the entire Moon Guard guild building; his fire was so strong that it was instantly melting the ss walls of the skyscraper, and that wasn''t even the surprising part; the most surprising part were the mes, which included purple and more reddish mes. THROB "...." As a phoenix''s kin, she could ''feel'' everything a me had to offer, and now the mes in front of her were burning so strongly with emotion that she didn''t even have to be a phoenix to feel the sorrow and rage the fire excluded. It was a scene that was definitely worthy of all the attention it could ever get on social media, and it was definitely going to be uploaded on social media by people moving around in the area, or..... things were supposed to be like that. Though the people were still recording it, every single person who was staring at the scene had tears streaming down their cheeks, and they felt their hearts clench for no reason. THROB "....Max." Seo Hana mumbled as she reached out to touch the fire that was devouring the skyscraper, a pitiful expression on her face as her heart throbbed from the amount of sadness the fire had excluded. She ''knew'' me, so she knew it could change based on emotions, but the emotions one should feel must be strong enough to be an intent before it gets sucked by their mes and disys them through it, which also means that Max''s sadness and anger were so strong that they became one with the me, making it burn more vigorously. THROB "Haaa..." Seo Hana sighed and her eyes teared up as she felt a lump stuck in her throat. ''I waste.'' She realised that it was toote; no, she arrived toote. Faye yton had died; she wouldn''t be strong enough to survive a fight against an undead. She was a brave woman whopleted her mission given by the goddess even in the face of death. ''The undead!!'' She suddenly remembered that the undead had killed Faye yton, and then Max would have to be the one fighting it! "Max!!" Seo Hana roared and rushed into the burning building while extinguishing the fire to make way for herself. Chapter 194 193. Throbbing Heart. ?"Max!!" Seo Hana roared and rushed into the burning building while extinguishing the fire to make way for herself. She felt her nostrils and lungs burning at the insane amount of heat the skyscraper''s insides were producing, even though she herself was covered in mes. The fire she was extinguishing was far more fierce. They were strong enough to hurt someone who is called ''The Ruler of the mes.'' THROB "Max!" She continued to yell his name as she rushed to the only floor where she could feel a single presence. "Hahaha..." A hysteric, ominous, muffledughter reached her ears, which sent shivers down her spine. "Max!" She called out onest time and rushed to the floor, where she felt his presence; hisughter got louder and louder as she got closer. "Ha, hahahaha, haha, ha." His ominously sorrowfulughter resounded throughout the entire floor. Seo Hana peered in the direction where theughter wasing from. She squinted her eyes and noticed a silhouette sitting in the middle of the fiercely burning fire. There was a ton of debris at the entrance of what was supposed to be a room, despite the fact that she had noticed debris all the way over to this ce, she was still trying to figure out what had happened. WHOOOMMMM The fire was burning more fiercely in the room Max was in. Hana braced herself and walked towards him. She noticed a body lying in front of Max, who was kneeling down with his back facing Seo Hana. She then noticed that Max''s fire, which was devouring the entire skyscraper, was just the fire''s way of letting out the extremely stressful amount of emotion he was trying to hold in, and he was not exactly in control over his magic power, which was exploding out of him. "Ha, haha." Max was letting out dryughs. Seo Hana noticed a bit of resentment in them, but not as much as the sadness it carried; she suddenly remembered how much Max''s love she had felt back at the gate; his love for Faye was literally oozing out of his body without being able to be contained within; and... Now, he was in front of the dead body of the very woman he had loved so deeply. THROB ''Max....'' She wanted to call him out, but she couldn''t; she felt a strange lump stuck in her throat, which was forcing her to shut up. She then noticed that the closer she got to Max, the less the fire burned; there was a huge circle of fire around Max that wasn''t getting close to him as if the fire feared him. Even though that was the case, she noticed many holes burned in the clothes he was wearing, where only the cor of his shirt remained intact, and his lean, chiselled body carried many burn marks; this man....he was trying to protect Faye even though he himself was burning. She got close to him and noticed that there were no signs of the undead, which meant he had killed it; a sigh of relief escaped her mouth at that realization. She was so relieved by the fact that he was still alive that she didn''t even question how a hero who was supposedly ranked AA defeated an undead, which would give even a team of rank-S heroes a headache. THROB "....Max." Seo Hana called out with a pitiful look on her face; she wouldn''t even dare imagine how he must be feeling right now, but she definitely knew how it felt to lose a loved one, because in a world like this, a ''hero'' should be born with an unbelievable amount of luck to not have lost a loved one even once. He had stoppedughing loudly like a madman, but she could still hear a subtle voice that would crack out augh every now and then. "... M-Max." Seo Hana called out again and ced her hand on his shoulder. She flinched when she felt his body so hot that it seemed like he was being cooked alive, but she still ced her hand on his shoulder, trying to at least ease the amount of emotional pain he was feeling. "!" She flinched again when Max raised his head and looked at her with his hollow, crying eyes; they seemed so lifeless that she would find it strange to learn that he had already died. Tears were streaming out continuously, leaving red marks on his cheeks, showing how hot his tears were, to not even evaporate in such a hot room. His teary eyes were so hollow that not even his pupils were visible in his ck eyes. In front of him was the body of Faye yton, whose head was detached; he had ced her head back where it was supposed to be and had poured a ton of thick, green liquid, which Hana recognised as a high-grade healing potion. "H-Hana?" Max called out with mncholic voice with a dead look on his face. THROB "....Y-yes." She replied with her hand ced on her mouth as tears streamed down her cheek when she noticed that he had tried to heal her after not being able to ept the truth about Faye yton''s death. He was in such a pitiful state that she couldn''t even find any other words other than ''pitiful'' to describe it. She felt her heart clench so strongly that she couldn''t breathe properly; her phoenix trait enhanced the emotions she was feeling, which included the emotions the fire surrounding them excluded. "L-look, F-F-Faye i-isn''t m-moving?" Max pointed at Faye''s lifeless body in front of him. THROB "....." Seo Hana''s brows trembled at his words, which seemingly denied reality. "I, I, I al-alreadyughed, haa... at h-her j-j-joke." Max said with a forced smile on his face which made him all the more pitiful. THROB ".....Uhu." A cough escaped Hana''s mouth as she tried to hold back from crying out loud in front of him as she realised why he wasughing like a madman. "No, no, no, d-don''t cr-cry. Wh-what if F-Faye f-feels bad a-a-and d-doesn''t wa-wake up?" Max shook his head repeatedly and showed Hana a forced smile again while crying, as if he wanted her to copy him. THROB "...M-Max!" Hana yelled, unable to bear seeing him in that state any longer; even though she had witnessed such deaths many times before, this time she was feeling especially sad, and all the tears she had held back at those deaths began to force her to weep together with Max. "Hm?" Max titled his head with a puzzled look on his face, which had many red marks on it. She then noticed that his skin was being slightly peeled off by his own tears; she abruptly knelt in front of him and gently wiped off his tears so that he wouldn''t be in any more pain than he was already in. Her mes had healing properties, so she even used them on him to heal him; though slightly, it was enough if she could even lessen a bit of his pain. BUMP She cupped his face and bumped her forehead with his; she then closed her eyes, since she didn''t dare look into his eyes and say the words she was about to say. THROB "F-Faye is already....dead." Chapter 195 194. Too Clingy. ?"Faye is already.....dead." *** [NEWS] [Yesterday night, Faye yton, the Moon Guard Guild''s vice-guild master, was discovered dead.] [Faye yton, the vice guild master of the Moon Guard Guild, was ''killed'' by ''Alvin Collins,'' who had tried to force himself over the victim, Faye yton, who was killed upon resisting.] [Sign of impending disaster! Undead was born out of Alvin Collins, who was attempting to force himself on Faye yton, who instead resisted and pushed him away, but the unfortunate events continued! Alvin Collins, who was being warded off, called forth the ''mana of the dead'' and turned himself into an ''undead!''] (AN: the above two may sound different because the [NEWS] isn''t from a singlepany.) [Max, guild master of the ''Persona,'' swears to destroy ''The Hunters Guild,'' which was the cause of hispanion''s death.] [Faye yton, the courageous woman who spoke the words of the goddess even in the face of death.] [Prophecy delivered to the world is that of a ''Demon'' other than the ''Demon King'' bringing more destruction upon the world; it was a prophecy revealed to the world, by the ''Saintess,'' Faye yton.] * A weekter. [NEWS] [On the cue of the prophecy, the destruction that is told to befall the world has finally begun!] [The entirety of the Sector One has turned into a Gate!] [Additional military forces have been developed to guard Sector One!] [The causes of this abrupt change in Sector One are yet to be uncovered, but monsters areing out of Sector One without pause, making Sectors One and Two extremely dangerous to mankind.] [Heroes EXP ground!] [Sector One which had morphed into a only one of its kind Gate is being called ''The Heroes EXP ground'' as countless monsters of all grades are popping out!] [Sector One is being graded as a ''growth type gate'' as the strength of the mana oozing out of the gate is increasing continuously! Monsters'' ''stats'' and ''levels'' inside of Sector One have been said to have grown incredibly stronger!] [Sector One is being graded as the first ''rank-SSS'' gate; the gate''s and monsters'' levels continue to increase the more a hero explores it!] [As more and more heroes continue to hunt monsters and die inside Sector One, the more the mana, which is said to be helping heroes grow, is also helping the Rank-SSS, Sector One gate, grow! The Hero Association and The Government have to trying to stop heroes from entering the gate but to no avail.] [Utter Chaos!] [All the gates linked to Sector One have started to break, and high-ranked monsters are pouring out into other sectors!] [Spotting of the new sentient monsters!] *** In Sector Five. In a 30 square metres apartment. A ck-haired beautiful woman, who wore afortable set of clothes containing a grey top, baggy white trousers, home slippers, and a blue and pink checked apron upon them, was cooking in the middle of preparing a meal for two. CLUNK (5x) She ted them and took one for herself before walking back to the living room, towards the couch in front of the TV and sat in a ufortablyfortable manner, and turned on the TV, which was just a 10 inches wide rectangr box that disyed holograms and worked simr to the smartwatch which peoplemonly wore. "Haa...." Katline sighed and girted her teeth in irritation. ''Sh*t! I can''t believe that all the fame and reputation of our guild is dwindling because of one freaking goddamn hero!'' She cursed inwardly as she remembered the face of ''Alvin Collins,'' who was the squad captain of the guild her father managed. ''We should have simply fired people like that! I can''t believe Papa ignored me when I warned him about that Alvin guy. Disgusting people like them are better off killed.'' Katline thought as she remembered the news about the disgusting acts, they mentioned about Alvin Collins in the news. ''The guild master of the Persona guild is not in the wrong; I, too, would have held a grudge against someone whopletely ignored reports about a sh*t ton of atrocitiesmitted by a person they are affiliated with and then refuses to apologise to me after a sh*t ton of damage is done to me because of their ignorance.'' Katline clenched her fists in rage, thinking she couldn''t help them despite the fact that it was rted to the guild her family had founded; while she wouldn''t say their guild was corrupt-free, she was certainly proud of the fact that they were the least corrupted guild to ever exist. She then nced towards the kitchen, which was open to the living room, and frowned deeply, noticing another te ced in the kitchen filled with the same food she was having. ''I can''t believe I have to take care of another baggage.'' Katline gritted her teeth, ced her te on the couch, stood up, and walked towards the closed door of a room. CLUNK "Get the hell out of the room and eat your goddamn food; if not, get out of my house." Katline said while ring at the long-red-haired guy sitting on the corner of the bed. "...." "Ha. I can''t believe why the me from the past was so stupid enough to fall in love with the likes of you." Katline scoffed at Vinny''s pathetic state; he had dark circles, slouched shoulders, a glum expression, and unkempt long red hair. "...." Vinny came to Katline''s house to check up on her wellbeing as soon as he cleared up the misunderstandings about him being a spy of the graveyard, but that news about him not being one was buried among other more important things, so other people still looked at him with weird expressions and avoided him like a disgusting pest, though he couldn''t care less about what the other people thought of him, the lifeless bodies of all the important people from his past life, including his friends who had died recently started to appear in his mind constantly, which had now termed ''nightmares'' continued to haunt him, he wasn''t able sleep properly through a single night after his system error was lifted.....and so on, Katline''s mind was bombarded with all these, unwanted, information by Vinny. Though she felt bad for him, it was still too much, it was as if he was asking her to carry his sh*t ignoring hers. (AN: News about Vinny''s misunderstanding getting cleared is mentioned ch 182 Dungeon Battle.) "Haa...." Katline sighed, controlling her irritation and backed off. She couldn''t help but find Vinny too clingy, though she epted the fact that he and her were a ''thing'' in his past life, but she was a different Katline altogether from Katline who loved him in his previous life. Katline of the present didn''t love him; she found him ''interesting,'' and that was it. She now has a ton of sh*t, she herself has to take care of, and ''Vinny'' wasn''t one of them; she barely even knows him well enough to act like a couple andfort him in his ''lowest'' phase, which she couldn''t give a sh*t about if she had to be honest. Yes, they have started dating, but so what? She doesn''t know him; only him knowing her doesn''t do sh*t in a rtionship where it''s about two different entities. "I''ll be leaving for the guild; please get out of my house by the time I return, so that I won''t have to use force." Katline said while walking back towards the living room, but suddenly... "Ack??!" Katline felt a sharp pain cruise from her wrist. She snapped her head towards her hand and noticed Vinny grabbing it. "Hey! Let go. It hurts." Katline said while trying to free her hand from his grip, but to no avail. "You.... can''t ....do...that...." She then suddenly heard Vinny''s mumbles and red at him; he continued to repeat those words out like a chant, and then... FUMP "!!" Before Katline could even react, she was thrown on the bed inside the room, with Vinny climbing on top of her with his unfocused eyes. "Ack!!" Chapter 196 195. Traumatized. ?"You.... can''t ....do...that...." She then suddenly heard Vinny''s mumbles and red at him; he continued to repeat those words out like a chant, and... FUMP "!!" Before Katline could even react, she was thrown on the bed inside the room, with Vinny climbing on top of her with his unfocused eyes. "Ack!!" Her arms were forced above her head; she couldn''t even resist his strength. She felt scared and started to tremble. ''H-help.'' Katline wanted to scream, but her voice didn''t seem toe out of her throat, and before she could even voice something..... R-RIIIP "!!" Vinny tore off her top. She winced and tried to cover up her chest, but she couldn''t even move. Though she was wearing her underwear, she didn''t feel any safer. The more she looked at Vinny''s face, the more she started to get terrified by it, and before she knew it, she was already crying uncontrobly. "Aaaa!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs in terror; perhaps it was because of her voice; she regained some of her senses, applied mana to her entire body, and kicked his stomach. If she could even focus a bit more right at that moment, she would have ended the future of his ''next generation'' right then and there, but since she wanted to get him off of her, she simply kicked him off. BAM "Uck??" Vinny groaned on the other side of the room and slumped on the ground. Katline crawled back towards the head of the bed, covered her upper body with her hands, and brought her knees close to her while crying. "Huh?" Vinny''s eyes regained their focus and he stared at Katline''s state; she was looking at him as if she were looking at a beast while covering her body. Their eyes met, and Katline flinched and started to tremble again. "K-Katline? Are you okay...." Vinny, who noticed the state she was in, wanted to get closer to her to ''support'' her but halted his steps as he noticed that she was scared of him. "G-g-get o-o-out, o-of my home!!" Katline yelped while shivering. She wanted to kill that man in front of her, but she couldn''t bear the sight of him as it scared her; the more she was in his presence, the more terrified she became. She herself wanted to run away from there, but the words "my home" shed in her mind, and she spoke them out loud without even thinking. "Katli..." Vinny called out with a pained expression, but Katline cut him short. "G-g-get out!!" She screamed and hugged her knees with her left hand, took out an arrow from her inventory, and pointed it at him with her trembling right hand. "...." Vinny nodded and walked out of the room with his head down. "....." Katline didn''t lower her arrow for a second even after he left the room and continued to point at the room''s door, just in case ''that demon'' came back. CLUNK "!" Then she heard a subtle ''clunk'' sound, and she recognised that sound, it was that of her home''s main door closing. Even though she heard the sound, she still didn''t lower her arrow; she continued to point at the door for a few minutes. She then slowly got off the bed and checked the whole house with a bow and arrow in her hands and trembling legs and body. After she confirmed that he was nowhere to be found, she slumped right in the middle of the living room and passed out crying. * A few minutester. ''You can''t do that.'' "Gasp!!" As soon as Vinny''s words sounded in her mind, Katline jerked back and crawled back until she felt something behind her back, covering her upper body with her hands. She then noticed she was in her bed, and the spot where she was asleep had a thick nket that was seemingly covering her body while she slept. She then began to wonder if everything was a dream and shook her head to dismiss those thoughts; those traumatizing memories were too vivid for a dream, and as if to prove her point, she felt skin on her hands. She looked down at her chest and noticed that she was wearing the clothes that ''that demon'' had torn apart, and as soon as she remembered that, she started to tremble again. TAK-TAK (6x) FFISSSSH She then heard utensils being used in the kitchen and flinched before trembling in fear. She thought that ''that demon'' hade back to her house, and since her head was a lot clearer than it was at that time, she pulled her bow and arrow again, this time pulling the bow string ready to fire on sight. SHUFFLE She slowly moved to the side of the bed before getting out of it. The bed made a light sound, but since the sound of utensils wasing from the kitchen, that demon most likely wouldn''t have heard the bedsheet''s sound, she thought and continued to move stealthily. She wouldn''t make a single mistake now and would kill that demon at sight. She resolved as such and continued to move with her bow string pulled back. Many thoughts cruised her mind, and some of those were about that demon''s rank; he was a rank-S hero, which meant the chances of his survival were high and hers were low, and then his face, which seemed to have traumatised her as just a thought about him started to terrify her, and the other was about how terrified Faye yton must have felt, though not to the level the news described that incident, but now that she herself had somewhat had that terrifying experience she wanted topletely support ''Sir Max,'' who had sworn to destroy the Hunters Guild, though it was her own family''s guild, it didn''t matter to her at the moment at all. She had arrived at the wall that led to the living room; if she walked out of the hallway that led to her room now, she would arrive at the living room, to which the kitchen was openly connected. BA-THUMP (5x) Her heartbeat quickened and she trembled slightly; she clenched her bow and arrow, loosened her pull on the string before pulling it back a little more strongly, she heard humming and the sounds of kitchen utensils, and she girt her teeth while hearing the calm humming of that demon who was behaving as if nothing big had happened between them. SWISH Her mana concentrated on the arrow before she jumped out from behind the wall; her arrow aimed at the kitchen''s stove and was released; it all happened before even a second had passed! Or....that was what''s supposed to happen, but when she saw the white-haired man cooking food in a wok while maintaining eye contact with Katline, her entire body stiffened. She just stood there dazed. The white-haired man finished cooking, ted them, and walked towards the dazed Katline. FHUMP "It''s alright now." The white-haired man hugged her without any forewarnings; he tapped her on the shoulder as if proud of her and said in a soothing voice while rubbing her back. Katline bit her lower lip as tears streamed down her cheeks; she dropped the bow and arrow before tightly hugging him while trembling, weakly, and weeping. Chapter 197 196. Reunion. ?A few moments earlier. A blood-dyed, dark maroon-haired man sat atop a massive snake''s coiled-up dead body, which was in between a ton of monster corpses. The scene was too gory to describe appropriately; the monster corpses were at least 10 feet tall, and they were forming a huge, bloodied circr wall of monster corpses around the maroon-haired man, who had a leisurely look on his blood-covered ominously handsome face. DRIP (5x) "Huuu...." I shook my head to get rid of the monster''s blood dripping down on my hair, which had turned dark maroon from all the monster blood, and ced my hand on my face to get rid of the blood dripping down from my face. PAT-PAT I patted the scaled body of thergest Naga I have seen in a while. The monster corpses contained Orcs, Orc warriors, Ogres, Nagas, werewolves, goblins, wolves, hogs (pig-type monsters), hobgoblins, and a ton of ''guardians'' of each respective type of monster. Guardians among the monsters are ranked the highest, since they the ''strongest'' among a type of monster until the other bes stronger than the strongest. ".....2796 monsters, huh...." I mumbled as I remembered the exact number of monsters I had killed after arriving in Sector One, which had recently be a Rank-SSS gate. I came here today because I was bored out of my mind. I was staying in Seo Hana''s house after that incident, and since Seo Hana was taking care of me (?) for reasons seemingly even she doesn''t know, though I wasn''t expecting this kind of development, I wouldn''t let go of the opportunity that presented itself to me. I had been sitting in one corner of her house with a dead look on my face ever since she brought me to her house because I or ''Max'' to be exact, was supposed to be extremely hurt. I hadn''t moved a lot since I was acting depressed; at an extreme level, of course, Hana sometimes made a face that I couldn''t understand at times, and since I didn''t want to be bothered by it, I simply ignored her and enjoyed beingfortable in the luxurious yet cosy house of Hana. That''s that, and... "Pyre." I mumbled in a soft tone with a smirk. [...] A fox-like green spirit with dragonfly-like wings that shone neon green floated mid-air in front me with his face turned away from me, the fur on its back was coloured with all elemental colours that were pulchritudinous. "Pfft, care to exin what you did?" I held back myughter and asked him for the tenth time after I summoned him back as soon as I heard that Sector One had turned into a gate. "So, the reason for the entirety of Sector One turning into a gate is because of my adorable and cute partner, Pyre! Yay!!! Pfft, hahahaha." Iughed out loud as I teased him. [PI....] "Hahahaha, hahaha." He asked me to stop, but of course, I continued tough. [....PIPIII PIPI PII] "Huh?" I instantly stoppedughing as soon as I heard what Pyre said. "....What do mean that Erebus wille here?" I furrowed my brows and stared at Pyre who had now turned face me with a smug look on his face. (AN: Erebus is a ck furred cat introduced in ch 14 EREBUS.) [PIPII PIPI PI] Pyre said that Erebus wanted to follow Pyre and me, and though I don''t understand Erebus''s reasoning, I simply can''t ignore an adorable creature that wants toe with me now, can I? As soon as Pyre understood what I was thinking, he turned around for a brief moment before ncing back at me, and for a few seconds I heard a strong presence approaching us from afar. It didn''t have any hostility towards us, so I sat still while gazing in that direction, though nothing was visible since all I could see was a mountain of corpses in front of me. RWWOOOAARRRR I heard a loud roaring from afar, and it didn''t take long until a 6 feet tall, huge tiger-like beast pounced towards us from a ramp of corpses on all fours. Excluding an extremely prideful aura surrounding it, the beast waspletely ck, had a bright blood red ferocious eye that could instil fear with a single nce, and a pair of fangs protruding out from its lower jaw. THUMP "....." I simply stared up at Erebus, who stood atop the Naga''s head behind me and looked down at me, as a strange feeling crept up from my heart, like¡ªhow should I describe it¡ªa proud kind of feeling? Maybe I was proud of seeing the kid I named grow up so strong and healthy. ''I can''t believe he has grown so big in such a short time.'' I thought, but wasn''t surprised by that much, since Erebus is most likely to be a monster, if that really is the case then, it isn''t all that weird for a monster to grow up so quickly. [....] "Mrrrw?" Erebus tilted his head, seemingly puzzled by my daze. "Ack." I dramatically held my heart at Erebus''s adorable way of tilting his head in confusion. He was still so adorable even after growing so big! "Wait!" Suddenly, I realised that I couldn''t take him out even if he wanted to follow us; he was just too big, and he would definitely attract a ton of attention if he came out of this gate. I simply stared at Pyre, smiling bitterly, and before I shook my head.... [PI PIPIPII] Pyre abruptly called out Erebus and said "transform!" "Mrrow." Erebus nodded his head adorably and then... POOF A thick cloud of white smoke covered Erebuspletely, and with a ''poof,'' an adorable ck furred creature pounced out of the smoke cloud onto my head. FHUMP Erebus turned into a normal ck cat, but he still had a small, adorable pair of fangs protruding from his lower jaw. Hended on my head with a poof, upying Pyre''s spot so slyly that Pyre didn''t even realise that his spot was stolen. I raised my hand and carefully scratched the back of Erebus''s head. "Purrrr...." Erebus''s eyes arched as he enjoyed the soft strokes on his head as he purred, and since I heard him purring satisfactorily, I slowly moved my hand towards his neck and continued to stroke his neck. "Purrrr~" "Hahaha." I chuckled and left him like that. [PI? PIIII] Pyre seemed to have realised that his spot was stolen as he zoomed towards Erebus and started to butt his head against Erebus''s. "Hahaha." Iughed at their bickering and called out my status window. ''Status.'' ==== STATUS: MAX [ESHWAR FROST] Level: 9 (early ess) [96,762/192,000 exp.] [95, 238 exp required for the next level up.] (NEW) CLASS: MAGE RANK: S == STRENGTH: 6/10--> 9/10 (+19) [RANK- S] (NEW) CONSTITUTION: 4/10--> 8/10 (+19) [RANK- S] (NEW) AGILITY: 8/10--> 5/10 (+19) [RANK- S] -> [RANK-SS] (NEW) PERCEPTION: 6/10--> 10/10 (+19) [RANK- ???] (NEW) ENDURANCE: 5/10--> 6/10 (+19) [RANK- AA] -> [RANK-S] (NEW) INTELLIGENCE: 6/10--> 10/10 (+19) [RANK- ???] (NEW) WORLD ENERGY: 10/10 (+19) [RANK- ???] WILL POWER: 5/10--> 10/10 (+19) [RANK- ???] (NEW) DEXTERITY: 7/10--> 6/10 (+19) [RANK- AA] -> [RANK-S] (NEW) == PERSONALIZED TRAIT: ->Frost Fire [RANK- ???]: User can control Frost and ck fire [Mastered] [Skill: Mana temperature control] == SPECIALIZED TRAITS: ->Creator''s Domain [RANK- SSS]: User''s Domain can be altered [Mastered] [Skill: Space maniption] ->White Parasite: [RANK: ???] [Type: Item (Bound)] [Skills: ] -> ??? [RANK- ???] (Curs...) [Skill: Party, can locate party members (added party member can not be removed.)] == TRAITS: ->Good with hands [RANK- D] (NEW) : User''s skills which uses hands is enhanced [Mastered] [Dexterity increases by 12 percent] ->Hand to Handbat [RANK- C]: increasesbat sense [Mastered] [Good with hands has enhanced this trait by 10 percent] ->Human Hunter [RANK- ???] (NEW) : increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or humanoid monsters [Mastered] [Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 198/200--> 246/300 to next stat increase)(NEW)] == SKILLS: ->Taboo (?) ->Pause (D) ->Release (B) == Private Skills: ->Control (?) (Level 2) ->Author?? (?) ->Break (2 uses) [user can break anything user wishes to.] (AN: This is not a new skill!! It is mentioned in chapter 48 Artificial Dungeon (5) but I had forgotten to include it before. I have added it in all the previous chapters where I remember to have written Eshwar''s system window.) ==== ==== MISCELLANEOUS: Free stat points: 23. Achievement Points: 11700. Monster hunted in the past week: 2878. Humans hunted in the past week: 0. Number of living the user has hunted is: 99,304. Current System influence on Earth is: 72/100. [Time Limit: 3Y: 33D: 012H: 44M: 42S.] ==== ==== INVENTORY: [Trishul [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: TRIDENT]: Skills: Crescent moon, Third eye.] [Devil''s Shotgun [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: GUN]: Skills: Quick reload, Burst.] [ITEM: SKILL LEVEL INCREASE SCROLL.] (5x) ==== Chapter 198 197. A Bit Concerning. ?"Hmm..." I stared at four system notification windows in a slightly puzzled expression. That cursed trait was slowly fading away, as what looked like (cursed) had now faded to look like (curs....), although the reason for this was still a mystery to me. And then, my human hunter trait, whose condition previously had started from (0/20) instead of (0/10), for whatever reason, was now at (246/300). There should be no problem at all, and there wasn''t any, but what I couldn''t understand was that it would increase by "1" after every 10 kills, and it continued to increase until it reached "19," and then the condition for another stat increase by "1" abruptly increased by a hundred, and the condition for another increase was now turned into "???/300." For example, the trait''s condition would normally increase by 10, making the condition something like "???/210," but now! Now, as soon as the condition hit "???/200," it instantly rose to "???/300." And finally free stat points, whose value, just like those (+19) from my human hunter trait, is still unknown. I can easily understand the meaning of stat points, but... "Grraaa!!! I don''t know!! F**k this! I don''t care!" I ruffled the sides of my blood-soaked hair roughly in irritation. I can feel the changes in my body caused by the 1 stat increase in the original system''s ''ranked stats,'' but I don''t feel any changes from the (+19) stats next to them; perhaps this is because I''ve grown ustomed to them, but still... I don''t know their exact value like I do about the others. "Haa..." I sighed and closed the system windows before calling out ''my'' system. ''Control.'' I muttered in my mind and a glitched system window popped up. [Private Skill: Control has been activated.] ZZZT-ZZT ''Minimize to ''thoughts,'' target Vinny.'' ==== |Thoughts: Ah... maybe..... I should have listened to them and not send Katline to the war against the Demon King. Yes, I am dumb to have sent her to the war, I should have listened to the others. If I listened to them, then I wouldn''t have lost my friends nor my family, who became important to me as more time past and I let go of my resentment towards them..... Right.... I simply haven''t realized it yet, now I get it.... everything is because of me. This is all because I''m weak.| ==== ''Minimize to ''thoughts,'' target Katline.'' I muttered in my mind, since I knew Vinny was currently in Katline''s house. ==== |Thoughts: H-Help!| ==== "Huh?" I frowned as soon as I read her thoughts. There was nothing else; her entire mind seemed to have nked out. "Heh." I chuckled as soon as a crazy theory formed in my mind: Katline''s fear and Vinny''s daze, and finally both of them in a single home, who would Katline be scared of? Heh, of course. "Let''s get out of here, for now." I said to Pyre and Erebus, who were still bickering, but now Erebus had slumped on my head while Pyre had slumped on Erebus''s head. "Hahaha." I chuckled at them before grinning widely. ''Since the opportunity presented itself to me I should not let go of it, should I....'' SWISH I vanished from where I sat, in the middle of the pit formed by the monster corpses. * I arrived at Sector Five after cleaning myself with fire and water magic before leaving the gate; I burned everything ''unwanted'' on my body and washed away everything until I wasn''t reeking of monster''s blood anymore, and I rushed towards Sector Five soon after. And it was quite a sight to behold, to be honest. Vinny walked out of the apartment as soon as I neared it, with a guilty expression on his face. I am not exaggerating when I say that he would have walked together with the police, if they had arrested him at the moment he walked out of the apartment. The amount of guilt on his face was something else, and goddamn, it was a great sight to see. That wasn''t all; as soon as I entered Katline''s apartment, I found Katline passed out in the middle of the living room with the front part of her top ripped off. ''This!'' "..... should I became a soothsayer?" I scratched my chin and pondered very seriously, since I had expected something like this to happen. (AN: Soothsayer is a person who predicts the future.) ''Haven''t I been meeting too many perverts like this recently.....'' TAP "Hm?" Erebus tapped on my forehead and when I looked up at him, he pointed at Katline. "Argh...Haa..haa...argh...no...haa..." Katline breathed heavily and started to w at her own body. She roughly stretched her marked wrists until they bled; the same went for her triceps, neck, and chest. I winced at the sight. "I didn''t ....think it would be this bad." I grinned widely and approached her, lifted her up, and walked towards ''her room,'' which I had written in the original story, andid her on the bed. ''I''m feeling quite hungry.... let''s go and see what she has.'' I thought and walked out of the room after covering her body with a nket, and of course, it was done ''with care.'' * ''She woke up.'' I noticed Katline get off of the bed and take out her bow and arrow while cooking food for two in a wok. I tasted the food, which most likely Katline had cooked, and it... tasted nd. Maybe it was because I like foods with strong vours? But still!! it tasted nd. And for the next few minutes, I continued to cook food while keeping an eye out for Katline, who then jumped out of the wall with her mana-infused arrow aimed at me. I didn''t move and maintained eye contact with Katline, who stiffened as soon as she saw me. I continued to cook as she stood dazed while staring at me; her eyes were shaking. I can''tpletely understand how she is feeling now; maybe I never will, but the state she was in was a bit... concerning. This was a kind of development that I hadn''t ever prepared her for while writing her story; though this situation wasn''t something that could be prepared for, her state was far worse than I expected it to be. ''Vinny, Vinny, Vinny.... I can''t believe he had be so messed up.... Well, that''s what''s bringing you closer to your demise.'' I chuckled inwardly. After I finished cooking the food, I ted it for two on a single te and walked out of the kitchen with the te in my hands before cing it on the couch. I walked towards the dazed Katline, patted her on her shoulders, and hugged her to ''console'' her while my lips twitched before curling up into a wide grin behind her back. Chapter 199 198. Get Stronger. ?*** In a thirty square metres apartment. A handsome white-haired man stood hugging a gorgeous ck-haired woman, who was sobbing uncontrobly while hugging the white-haired man. ''I, I, I w-was so sca-scared! I n-ne-never thought, I w-would ever ha-have to go through an experience like that.'' Katline thought. She wanted to voice her words, but she couldn''t; she felt a lump stuck in her throat, which was stopping her from speaking as she sobbed uncontrobly. "Hic, ukkh, haa...aaaa.." Katline clenched Eshwar''s clothes and continued to sob. PAT-PAT (3x) "Shuuuuussshhh.... it''s alright now." Eshwar''s gentle voice trickled in Katline''s ears as she felt gentle pats on her back, which seemingly soothed her. "Hic, haa...waaa..." Katline''s cries softened at Eshwar''s gentle care. "Have you eaten yet?" Eshwar''s soothing voice sounded in her ears, and she shook her head, denying subconsciously. "Hic, hic..." Katline wanted to stop crying, but since her fear still remained, she continued to hup. "I have cooked some food, want me to feed you? You have to eat to get stronger, after all." Eshwar spoke like he was speaking to a kid, hugging. "Hic....I''m, hic...not a k-kid." Katline smiled slightly and spoke with a small pout. She felt Eshwar release his embrace around her, but she didn''t budge. She was feeling veryfortable in his arms and didn''t want to let go of it. "Hahaha." Eshwar''s chuckle trickled into her ears, and she blushed slightly but still continued to hug him tightly. "!!" Katline''s eyes shot wide open in shock when Eshwar gently picked her up like a princess and Vinny''s face instantly assaulted her mind. Her fear returned along with the vivid memories of what had happened previously, and she involuntarily started to tremble in Eshwar''s arms. "!" Katline was surprised again when she saw ''Vinny'' lean closer to her ear, but from her fear she didn''t have any strength to push him off. "It''s alright. It''s okay, he has already left." Katline heard a gentle, soothing voice and noticed white hair trickle on her face. She remembered that ''that demon'' had already left her home and that she was in Eshwar''s arms now. "M...mhm." Katline nodded her head slightly as her head started to get clearer again, and again, she felt a sense offort and security wash over her while in Eshwar''s embrace. She stealthily moved her hand closer to Eshwar''s clothes and held it tightly as if she feared him releasing her from his embrace. "Hahaha." Katline heard Eshwar''s chuckle again; this time she raised her head and peeked at his handsome face, noticing him smiling bitterly with a worried look on his face. BA-THUMP ''!'' Katline was surprised by herself when she felt her heart skip a beat. ''No, no, he....is my professor, so of course he would be worried about his student....right.....'' She shook her head vigorously and thought, only to feel disappointed by it. ''...but still.... he is only 19 years old.'' She thought and blushed without even knowing why she suddenly felt embarrassed, and then Vinny''s face shed in her mind again, which sent shivers down her spine. "...." Katline shuddered in Eshwar''s arms and felt his grip around her tighten slightly. She raised her head and noticed that he wasn''t even looking at her as if he wanted to hide his worried face, which Katline could slightly see and ''feel.'' SHUFFLE "....?" Eshwar ced Katline on the couch and got up, but halted as soon as he saw Katline clenching his clothes. He then gazed at her with a perplexed look on his worried face. "...I, I a-am a bit s-scared." Katline said that though it was true that she was scared to be alone, she herself felt her words were an excuse. "Ah, I''m sorry.... I wasn''t considerate enough." Eshwar lowered his head in shame and apologized; Katline became flustered and wanted to apologise for talking nonsense, but before she could speak, Eshwar spoke up instead. "I thought you would feel better if a man is not around, especially like now." Eshwar mumbled, and Katline felt his words were reasonable, but she didn''t feel ufortable being around him. "N-no, no, no, I am not ufortable around you, Eshwar." Katline instantly denied his words, a bit too fast for her own liking. ''Though I still don''t know if I''ll feel the same in front of other ''men.'''' She added inwardly, and Vinny''s face shed in her mind again, and she shuddered, but not so strongly as thest time. "Thankfully." Eshwar mumbled in low buzz like voice and sighed in relief, unaware that Katline could hear him. "Then... please eat some food, I don''t want to brag but I''m an extremely good in cooking." He said with small smile while pointing at the te withrge quantity of food. ''There is so much.'' Katline thought and smiled a bit before sniffing the food''s aroma, which made her drool inwardly. "...Um." Eshwar looked down at Katline''s hand which was clenching his clothes and looked bewildered. * A few minutester. Katline pretended to be spoiled, saying she didn''t want to be alone and refusing to let go of his clothes. Eshwar jokingly said that if she let go, he would feed her, and Katline instantly agreed, but still stubbornly clung on to his clothes, and then somehow things came to this. Now, Katline was sitting on Eshwar''sp while wearing a new top, as Eshwar fed her the food he cooked from behind. Though it was supposed to be ufortable, Katline feltfortable in it, especially in Eshwar''s presence. And while being fed, Katline heard a slight meowing and saw a ck cat walk out of the kitchen before it carefully jumped and slumped on Eshwar''s head. It looked sofortable that it slightly made Katline envious; she then ignored that feeling and gently stroked its head. Then, afterpleting the food, Eshwar pointed out the scratches she had done to herself unknowingly and asked her if she had any bandages. Though perplexed as to why ''bandages,'' she still brought him to the ce where the bandages were kept, and Katline was slightly surprised by Eshwar''s answer when she asked him. "....why bandages though? I have recovery potions.'' Katline said. "Yes, you can simply use a healing potion, but you will only recover physically, not mentally. I want you to get over it, so by the time these marks heal by themselves, I want you to get stronger than you are now." Chapter 200 199. Get Stronger (2). ?"....why bandages though? I have recovery potions.'' Katline said. "Yes, you can simply use a healing potion, but you will only recover physically, not mentally. I want you to get over it, so by the time these marks heal by themselves, I want you to get stronger than you are now." Eshwar answered while bandaging Katline carefully. "...." His words stung her heart and warmed it at the same time. She wanted to respond that she was fine, but her eyes welled up as she felt terrified, hurt, and sad all at the same time. She remembered Vinny''s story; whether it was true or not, she didn''t know, but she felt like his words were true when she heard them, and that was exactly why she agreed to date him. But now, those same words terrified her, and his voice that rang in her mind terrified her. She bit her lower lip trying to control those emotions, but she couldn''t stop herself from crying out loud in Eshwar''s embrace. She wept again as if she wanted to remove all of those memories right then and there, though notpletely. By the time she calmed down, she felt a lot better, but Eshwar''s clothes were soaked in her tears and snot, making them stick to his body, and then, under Katline''s persistent request, he went to take a bath in her house after agreeing to sleep in her house today, since his clothes needed to dry. "I''ll put your clothes into the washing machine while you take your bath." Katline told Eshwar, who was flustered and continued to reject her, that it would be better if he just went home so she could make up her mind and get over the morning incident, and a man''s presence wouldn''t help with it, and a slew of other excuses, but Katline persisted and pushed him into the washroom. "N-no, i-it is a bit.... embarrassing, please I''ll do it myself...." Eshwar''s voice sounded behind the closed washroom''s door, but Katline promptly ignored him and picked up the carefully ced clothes before walking towards her room, where the washing machine was mounted. "...." Katline, who stood on the other side of the washroom Eshwar was bathing in, stared at the slightly wet clothes in her hands. ''I cried this much!'' Katline thought while staring at his clothes and dropped them on the floor before tapping on the wall-mounted, small ck ss tablet, which was a device used to ''scan'' the clothes that were supposed to be washed. PEEP (5x) CLICK And with a click, a rectangr, meter-long door appeared on the wall directly beneath the tablet; it was the space where the clothes were supposed to be ced; she tossed in his trousers and socks beforeing to a halt with his shirt held in her hand as an extremely important thought passed through her mind. ''W-what would he wear, if I put his clothes to washing? And I even asked him to stay in my home for today?'' She thought and blushed violently, then abruptly she remembered about a few clothes he could use that were supposed to be Vinny''s, and she started to tremble as soon as she remembered his face. She subconsciously crouched down, crossed her arms, and covered her upper body, then she felt something on her triceps. She snapped her head towards her biceps and noticed that she was unconsciously trying to w herself but was stopped because of the bandages covering it. Her mind then started to think straight; she noticed cold sweat trickling down her forehead and back; she hadn''t even noticed that she was crouching until then; she looked down and saw Eshwar''s shirt, which she was hugging subconsciously. "Haaa...." Katline sighed and drooped her head. ''Sh*t.'' She cursed inwardly and slumped back, with Eshwar''s shirt pressed against her face. She felt weak, too weak. Her mentality has always been about getting stronger, strong enough to protect people, dwarves, elves, and other unknown, non-hostile creatures. She was getting stronger, slowly but surely, as time continued to pass by, but... the moment she was pushed down on the bed by ''that demon,'' she felt.... helpless and weak, that feeling.... that feeling she didn''t like it, not one bit. "....get stronger than you are now, huh...." She muttered Eshwar''s words from earlier and determined herself to do so, taking a deep breath; however, as soon as she took a deep breath, Eshwar''s body odour entered her nostrils from the shirt which she was unintentionally pressing down on her face; it was... quite a pleasant scent; she then remembered howfortable and secure she felt while in Eshwar''s embrace; she then held his shirt in both hands, pressed it on her face, and took a deep breath, sniffing his body odour. Though she thought she was behaving like a pervert, the strange sense offort Eshwar''s scent gave off ignored her worries and soothed her throbbing headache and fear. "Haa..." * "...." Katline stood dazed in front of Eshwar, who was wearing afortable ck open-front shrug with nothing beneath it. He wore ck baggy trousers and home slippers, which were hers; she had left them near the washroom. "...." Eshwar too simply stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. "...." Katline ignored his gaze and stared at the water droplet trickling down on his almost naked upper body and moisty white hair, which seemed to glisten under the living room''s light. "Um, Katline.....?" Eshwar spoke with a face which seemed to ask "done?" "Huh? Ah, hahaha." Katlineughed awkwardly and averted her gaze. "Ahem, maybe I should return?" Eshwar asked and stretched the back of his head. "N-no. No, I was simply surprised to know that you had another pair of clothes." Katline said, what she said was exactly what she had in mind, but she felt she was just giving a half-hearted excuse to cover up her blunder. "Oh, ah. You mean these, I was nning on going to a hunt beforeing here, I was...Ah!" Eshwar seemed to have suddenly realized something. "Katline.... I have something to talk about, I was actually here was another reason." Eshwar said with a serious look on his face. "Mhm." Katline nodded her head to continue. "Huu.... I am....haa.... I''m actually affiliated with the ''Persona'' guild...." Eshwar said with a wry smile. "Ah." At his words, Katline could somewhat guess what he hade here to talk about. Chapter 201 200. Get Stronger (3). ?"Huu.... I am....haa.... I''m actually affiliated with the ''Persona'' guild...." Eshwar said with a wry smile. "Ah." At his words, Katline could somewhat guess what he hade here to talk about. * Katline asked Eshwar to sit down on the couch, so that they can rx and have a talk, properly. "Then I''ll start by saying it again. I am actually affiliated with the ''Persona'' guild, and since we don''t have any rank-like system because of how low our members are, you can think of it like, I''m actually the guild master while ''Max'' is the ''guardian'' of our guild, like the guardians from monsters." Eshwar exined. "Me being in the persona guild is a secret that only you know about, and I intend to keep it that way, so please don''t speak to anyone else about this." Eshwar said with a soft smile. ''A secret between the two of us....'' Katline thought that even though there were a lot of things that could potentially be important, she ignored them and imprinted those words into her mind; it felt...kind of exciting. "And the open secret is that Max intends to destroy the Hunters Guild with all his heart, and trust me when I say this, he will definitely do something if he puts his heart into it." Eshwar said with a slight smirk on his face, and since Katline knew how strong Eshwar is, she trusted his words without a second thought and started to get slightly anxious about Max destroying her family''s guild. But then suddenly... ''A guild that ignores people like that demon and Alvin doesn''t have the right to stand tall.'' Katline thought. "O..." Katline was about to say "Ok" and agree with whatever they wanted to do, but stopped herself just as quickly as she opened her mouth. "Huuu...." Katline breathed out deeply and leaned forward, resting her head on her knuckles and her elbows on her thighs. ".... Why did you talk to me about it?" Katline asked herself loudly, but Eshwar, who heard her, replied with a perplexed look on his face. "I... don''t know....it just felt right? Ah, I intend to support him, so I thought I should....inform you?" Eshwar replied while pondering his own words, while frowning back and forth. ''It just felt right, huh....'' Katline stared at Eshwar with a curious look on her face and a slight blush as a delusional theory about Eshwar unknowingly having feelings for her formed in her mind. "....ok, do what you want, since I know about it, I just can''t, not do anything, so I''ll warn my father to be careful about Sir Max." Katline said and nodded her head. "That will do, and I think I should go to bed." Eshwar said and leaned forward with his hand supported on the backrest to get up. Katline''s gaze automatically moved towards his lean and chiselled body; she savoured every moment of Eshwar standing back up, and her gaze followed his covered back as he walked to the room she had let him stay in, which was right next to her room. CLUNK (2x) She felt slightly disappointed at Eshwar''s disappearing figure, which had entered the room and closed the door, but shook her head and dismissed those feelings as soon as she realised them. After a few minutes, she too turned off all the lights and went to bed, since it was already 11 at night. * "Gasp!!" "Haa...haa...haa..." Katline breathed heavily upon waking up for the fourth time since she had slept. ''Sh*t!'' She cursed inwardly; it was the fourth nightmare she''d had since falling asleep; this had never happened before, and why was all of this happening... it was all because of that demon. She felt terrified every time she tried to sleep; her mind was filled with terrifying what-ifs, and every one of her nightmares had something to do with that demon. ''What if he was a creepy stalker in his past life and because of his obsession with me, he resorted to this means as soon as a miracle happened and he returned to the past with his memories intact? Maybe that''s why he knows so much about me and tried to do things like that because he was running out of patience to fulfil his lust....'' Katline thought and shuddered at her own thoughts. Katline then turned to face the mirror on the wall next to her and noticed a small wisp of orange me on her head, which slowly dissolved beautifully; she didn''t know where it came from or how it got there, but thanks to that warm wisp, she remembered Eshwar, and that was it; before she even realised it, she had walked towards the room he was in with her own pillow, which she held under her armpit. "Huuu...." She breathed out without making too much noise and held the doorknob. CLEE.....NKK "...." She had held her breath for whatever reason. She closed the door behind her and slowly tiptoed towards the bed Eshwar was sleeping in, without anything covering his upper body. BA-THUMP (5x) Her heartbeat quickened without her realising it, and she soon noticed Eshwar flinch, slightly; if she hadn''t been staring at him so intently, she might not have noticed. ''He....he''s awake!!!'' She screamed inwardly. "...." "...." "...." ''Is he really going to pretend that he''s asleep? Now? Or does he not want to move because he thinks that I would be.... weirded out at myself?'' Katline thought and tilted her head. "Hahaha." She chuckled softly in a buzz-like voice and entered the bed after cing her pillow next to Eshwar''s. "Thank you....." She mumbled in a whisper and closed her eyes. *** ''What the heck is this!!!'' I screamed inwardly, despite the fact that I was awake, no, more like I hadn''t slept; I had sent a wisp of ''orange me'' to her room; of course, it was a ''torch of emotions'' that was supposed to incite fear and worry in her; I would have scared her five times before leaving her alone, but I never expected her to walk into the room I was sleeping in!!! I flinched because I felt like if she continued to stare at me like that for another minute, she would have drooled. ''Damn.... Faye was much better, and when I am with Hana, it feels like she herself will manipte herself with all the weird ways of her thinking and create new misunderstandings, without me even doing anything.'' ''Haaa....'' I sighed inwardly and decided to shut up and sleep because I hadn''t decided to manipte Katline with the ''intention'' of manipting her, at least not yet; I just wanted to instil doubts in her mind about Vinny. Like a minor level of maniption(?) Though it isn''t like she is ignored from being manipted right now, it wille to her gradually and in a roundabout way. "...." I breathed out sharply and thought, ''It isn''t your time, yet,'' and closed my eyes to go to sleep. *** The next morning. "Umm...." In the morning, Katline felt ufortablyfortable while sleeping, she frowned with her eyes closed and felt something bumpy on the back of her left hand while feeling something warm and firm on her right hand; her right leg appeared to be stuck somewhere while something else poked at her thigh. "?" Katline definitely remembered going to sleep quitefortably without anything she was feeling on the bed, so she tried to feel it; she groped whatever was beneath her right palm, and whatever she was groping felt hard and firm. She then moved her left hand on something bumpy, and that too felt hard. She ignored it because it wasn''t anything different from the one previously, though it did feel slightly harder. She then moved her right leg up and down, then.... "Mmm..." "!?" Katline''s eyes widened in surprise when she heard a voice other than hers; her vision cleared slowly and she saw Eshwar''s naked upper body right in front of her, her right hand was on his chest while her left was on his abs; and her right leg was crossed across his, and that something she felt poking at her thigh was... "Kyaaa!!" Katline yelped in surprise and jerked back instantly while pushing Eshwar towards the bed''s corner. "Ack....!!" Katline was forced to shut up by Eshwar, who abruptly sat up and gripped her neck, half-awake. "Shut it....who sent you...huh?" Eshwar rubbed his eyes leisurely while Katline struggled to breathe; he then looked at her with a confused expression. "Wha....why are..." Eshwar was questioning her, dazed. TAP-TAP (4x) "Ah, sorry." Eshwar let go as soon as he noticed Katline tapping on his forearm and apologized. "Cough, cough, cough, cough...you...I, cough, can''t believe you did, cough, this first thing in the morning." Katline said while coughing and gasping for air. "No, no, no, I thought somebody was attacking me in my sleep." Eshwar exined with a apologetic expression on his face. ''So that why he woke up in the middle of the night when I walked into the room....wait!'' Katline thought. ''Somebody attacked him in his sleep?'' Katline didn''t know how to feel about that; it meant that he was constantly scared of deep sleeps, and looking at the way he reacted, it seemed like he was used to it. ''Why would anybody want to kill him?'' Katline couldn''t understand why. "Ow..." Eshwar flicked her forehead softly. "Don''t make that face, it''s nothing new." Eshwar said with a small smile on his face and massaged her temples, attempting to relieve her unconsciously formed frown. "...." Katline forced a smile at his reply; it somehow stung her heart that he used something like that, which she wouldn''t even dare to imagine, at least not yet. "And remember." Eshwar tapped on her bandaged neck and said with a smile. "Heroes heal faster." Eshwar said. ''.... right, heroes heal faster, which means that I have to get over my fear about that demon and get stronger than I am now. I don''t want to disappoint Eshwar, and after hearing his reply about how he has gotten used to someone trying to kill him in his sleep.... I have it easy....'' Katline thought and before shepleted that thought Eshwar raised his hand as if he was telling her to stop. "Mine''s physical, I''m stronger, I am an Rank-AA hero, my senses are stronger, so I am constantly aware of my surroundings, at least most of the time." Eshwar said. "You. I don''t know what you''re thinking, but you have it much harder than I do. Emotions aren''t something tough at, and mental healing takes much longer than you think. I''m not saying you should be over it by the time these marks heal; I''m asking you to wear them until you believe you''ve gotten over it." Eshwar exined. "...." Katline turned silent and her eyes welled up in tears; her fear was much stronger than she had initially thought, and when she thought about how she had it easy, she subconsciously started to tremble. "Do you understand?" Eshwar asked with his right thumb on her left cheek while the rest of his right hand was on her neck. She suddenly felt small; she didn''t know if her face was smaller or his hand was bigger. "Mhm." She held back her tears and nodded her head vigorously. Chapter 202 201. First Update. ?A weekter. The gorgeous ck-haired woman with bright red eyes and bandages covering her neck, triceps, and the area below her corbone invited a handsome white-haired man who wore formal clothes with a white shirt and ck pants into her apartment with a bright smile on her face. She was wearing a white tank top with bright red baggy trousers. She asked him to make himselffortable and walked to the kitchen to bring something to drink while her gaze remained fixated on the white-haired man, who was making himselffortable on the left corner of the couch with a square pillow on hisp. He leaned back, drooped his head back, and stared at her. Though she was slightly startled by his way of looking at her, she simply shook her head and smiled brightly before walking towards him. "Thank you." Eshwar took the mug he was offered from Katline''s hand, and she sat right next to him with another mug in her hand before sipping on it with a slightly flushed face. "....Um... Katline, not to be ungrateful or anything, but.... aren''t these mugs,monly used by couples?" Eshwar asked with a confused look on his face. "Pfftttt!! Cough! Cough, cough, cough, wha...what are you talking about? Cough!" Katline spat out the sip she just took¡ªno, the sip actually came out of her nose, slightly; though she acted ignorant, her face, which had turned bright red, seemed to give her out. "N-no, hahaha, it must''ve been a coincidence, hahaha, no, I just thought both of our mugs looked simr." Eshwarughed it off and said with a slightly awkward smile. ''.... I.... definitely thought I wouldn''t be found out!!'' Katline screamed inwardly. ".....no, not at all, maybe I just took out whichever mug came to my hand, it wasn''t on purpose or anything like that." Katline gave an excuse, which she was slightly proud of since it came out so perfectly that if she had been the one who heard it, she would have definitely found it perfectly appropriate. "...oh, is that so." Eshwar replied, and the way Katline heard them, his words seemed dejected. ''.... why does it sound like he is disappointed?'' She thought and sipped her drink while sneaking a nce at his face, which seemed disappointed to her. "Ahem, anyway, why did you invite me?" Eshwar asked. "Ah, ri-right!" Katline eximed loudly, sat straight with a flushed face and stiffened. * "So, you invited me here because you want me to remove these bandages, is that right?" Eshwar asked while pointing at the bandages slightly above her chest. "Y-yes." Katline nodded her head with a flushed face. She stuttered so much while exining her reasons to Eshwar that it wouldn''t be weird if he looked at her weirdly. BA-THUMP (6x) "....Ahem, alright." Eshwar agreed with an awkward shrug. * "...." "...." "...." "...." There was absolute silence in the living room; the clock''s ticking sound resounded all the way from her room. Eshwar had already undid the bandage on her triceps; awkwardly, he was now fidgeting about how to remove the bandage around her neck. He could simply walk around and remove them, but it looked like he wasn''t thinking straight. Of course, Katline was in the same boat as she too wasn''t thinking straight. And together with the ticking clock''s sound, there was another sound that sounded like war drums, and that was... BA-THUMP (6x) Katline''s heartbeat. ''T-this is crazy, no, I''m crazy. What am I even asking for? That too from Eshwar!!'' Katline considered asking him to stop so she could do it herself. SHUFFLE (3x) "!" Katline''s eyes were shot wide open when Eshwar scooted towards her out of nowhere and almost hugged her. His hands were behind her neck while his corbone was right in front of Katline''s face. Her mind went nk from his actions, and she subconsciously raised her gaze and stared at his neck and Adam''s apple, which looked like it was asking to be kissed. She slowly leaned forward towards it while sniffing his neck, opened her mouth slightly, and her small tongue came out to kiss his Adam''s apple, but... "Ack?" Something stung her neck, and she snapped out of her daze. She blushed violently when she realised what she was about to do, but didn''t back down. "S-sorry." Eshwar''s soft whisper trickled into her ear; she blushed again and slightly nodded her head while staring at his neck; she then heard a heartbeat other than her own. BA-THUMP (3x) His heartbeat..... It was strangely calming; Katline wanted to stay like that; she wanted the time to stop so that she could live in that moment forever; she wanted...him. ''!'' ''Wha...what am I thinking!!!'' Katline thought, and before she could make up her mind, Eshwar leaned back and continued to unfold the bandage around her neck. She felt greatly disappointed at the missed chance. "...." Eshwar halted and fidgeted around with stiff movements. "?" Katline tilted her head slightly, puzzled by his actions. She then nced down at her chest, where the bandage still remained; her head was already burning because of his actions, and now she was about to get undressed (?) by Eshwar. She was thinking about her bandages, of course, though she didn''t seem to mind ''that'' either. Suddenly! She felt something trickle down into her nostrils; she wiped it off and noticed a smudge of blood on her hand; yes, she had a nosebleed from all the steamy thoughts in her head, so she quickly hid her hand behind her back and wiped it on her red trousers. Tsk, if only it weren''t for Eshwar''s next course of words. "I, I, I think, it would be better if you undid that yourself." Eshwar averted his gaze and said. "Huh? Why would I? You bandaged me!" Katline confidently dered (?) that she didn''t know what she was doing or where all of her confidence wasing from, but now she just wanted him to continue. She saw Eshwar flinch at her words, so she just closed in on him before sitting on hisp subconsciously, afraid that he might run away. "!" Eshwar was taken aback by her actions and was about to get up, but as if she knew what he was about to do, she grabbed his wrists and pulled them behind her back. Of course, she did that so that he wouldn''t escape and undo the bandages if he wanted to get up, but even she was taken aback by the next course of action. Both Eshwar and Katline moved forward in their own directions as a result of the pull, and Katline''s face was now just an inch away from his; she was staring right into his eye while he had turned his head away so that something unwanted wouldn''t happen that Katline would feel ufortable with, due to the strong pull. Of course, those were just Katline''s thoughts. She felt like this was her chance and forced him to face her, kissing him before he could turn his head away. "!" Katline saw Eshwar''s eyes open wide in surprise. She hugged his head so that he wouldn''t run away and continued to kiss him as passionately as she could since it was her first time. "Mhm~" As she closed her eyes and enjoyed the kiss, she felt his left hand move towards her waist and slowly slide down; she was surprised but didn''t push him away; then, his right hand moved up to her neck with his right thumb on her left cheek; he pulled her closer and began to kiss her on his own; she felt happy that he didn''t push her away but was surprised at the same time when she noticed that, him kissing her felt better, by a ton, than her amateurish way of kissing. "Mmhmn~" And they continued to kiss for a few minutes until she got herself familiar with his way of kissing, at which point her hands loosened and subconsciously moved to hold his neck before she began to slowly unbutton his shirt. (AN: Ahem, ahem,dies and gentlemen, these are times when things like this are required, (grins cheekily) and bam!!) DING [The system is going through its ''first update.'' The system update has been graded ''highest,'' since it will be the first major update and the system will be on aplete ''shutdown'' in the process of the update.] Chapter 203 202. First Update (2). ?"Mmhmn~" And they continued to kiss for a few minutes until she got herself familiar with his way of kissing, at which point her hands loosened and subconsciously moved to hold his neck before she began to slowly unbutton his shirt. DING [The system is going through its ''first update.'' The system update has been graded ''highest,'' since it will be the first major update and the system will be on aplete ''shutdown'' in the process of the update.] "Mmpha! Haa...haa...haa..." Katline stared at Eshwar with a lustrous look on her face, her hands on the shirt''s cor, as if she wanted to rip it open, and it appeared that she had seeded until mid-way because after the top three buttons unbuttoned, she had opened his shirt wide, revealing his chest as the other two buttons had popped off. She ignored the message and pounced on him again and kissed him with her hands on his chest pushing against herself. Eshwar didn''t seem to push her off, he slowly leaned forward and she subconsciously rose up with her knees supported on the couch. His left hand moved up and supported her back and neck, while the other hand, which was on her butt, pulled her closer. "Mmpha! Haa....haa...haa..." Katline breathed heavily and looked at Eshwar, who seemed to be on top of her right now. Only then did she realise how much she had leaned back subconsciously; she was approximately a foot above the ground, and if not for Eshwar''s left hand, which was supporting her back and neck, she would have definitely fallen to the ground. He was still sitting on the couch, even though he had leaned forward so much¡ªby almost 90 degrees or more¡ªand he looked down. When she followed his gaze, she noticed her hands on his chest and the w marks they had unknowingly caused. ".... you want to continue?" He asked while looking down at her before lifting her back and making her sit on hisp morefortably, and before she could answer, he held her waist and neck and pulled her closer. Katline slightly pushed him back, twisted her legs, stretched them before locking them around his waist, pulled herself closer to him, hugged his head, and stared at him in the eye. "...did you get the same system notification?" Katline asked while calming down her urges. "Mhm." Eshwar nodded while maintaining eye contact. "Then..." Katline mumbled to herself. "Ummchwaa." She gave him a peck on the lips with a childlike sound and a bright smile on her face.. "Hahaha." Eshwar chuckled at her actions. "..... Yes, but it seems like something serious is happening, and my heart is feeling anxious while my instincts are screaming danger after the contents of the system notification entered my vision." Katline replied with a brief exnation. ".... right." Eshwar agreed and his face turned serious. "Stats." Eshwar called out and sighed deeply. ''He calls it like that, huh...'' Katline thought it sounded kinda cool, and she wanted to call the system like that, since she would always call "Status Window" if she ever wanted to check her system. "Stats." Katline tried to call out like Eshwar. ==== Status window: [Locked] ==== ''So that''s why he sighed.'' Katline thought as she stared at the lock pattern with [Locked] written on it and the circuits around her system window. ".... Hey." Katline called out and leaned back; his right hand was still beneath her bum while his left supported her back. (AN: ''Bum'' because I tried to keep it slightly healthy....no, why am I.... sigh, no need to stay healthy after writing about everything other than s*x. No, since I haven''t written it, I guess I should keep it slightly healthy (?)....I just remembered that I have written butt at the start, sigh...) "Yeah?"Eshwar asked with a smile on his face. "...will you stay here?" Katline asked while fidgeting around. "...." "...." "...." "....say something." Katline mumbled with a buzz-like voice and a flushed face. "Pfft, no. I''m sorry, but I had something to do beforeing here. I said I would return in ten minutes and ran here, and it has already been about half an hour, so..." Eshwar held back hisughter and replied, his face turning serious as he continued to speak. "....so, you have to return...." Katline mumbled with a dejected tone. WHOOSH "Mmhmf!!" Katline''s eyes shot wide open in surprise when she was abruptly pined to the wall. He kissed her without giving her any time to properly understand anything, and of course she didn''t deny it. She saw the main door to her apartment right next to her as she closed her eyes while kissing him, and her body moved on its own after that. She hugged his head and pushed her waist closer to his, with her legs locked around his waist while supporting her shoulders against the wall. She felt his left hand behind her head and his right hand gripping her thigh, which was slowly moving up. "Mmpha!?" Katline felt slightly disappointed when Eshwar broke the kiss first. ".... sorry, since this wasn''t nned, I can''t help it...." He slowly released her, stared at her for a brief moment, then walked out of the door and halted before the door gotpletely shut. "I won''t be free for another few weeks..." Eshwar said and walked out without looking back. CLUNK "...." *** (AN: Omniscient POV.) Two weekster. DING [System updatepleted.] DING [NEW!] [Number of living was: 4,507,653,468] [Has been lowered to: 4,507,554,164, by a single individual named ''unknown.''] [Rewards will be given.] ==== Rewards: [Item: Level up scroll (10x)] [Level up by 2] [Potions (2x): (Regeneration potion (1x), Permanent body strengthening potion (1x)] [Trait holder ticket.] ==== [Current number of ''living'' is: 4,168,637,423] [System influence increased by 10.] [Current System influence on Earth is: 82.] [100 Achievement Points are rewarded by the system.] [System takes control over ''The Great Tri-raced Alliance,'' whichever race breaks the contents of the alliance, its entire race shall be punished.] [NEW! Achievement Points added!] [NEW! yer Shop (limited) has been added.] [NEW! ''Community'' function has been added.] [Countless Constetions are watching over the world ''Earth'' in search for a ''yer'' to give their blessings and gifts to the chosen ''yer,'' who shall be included in the ''Selection'' process.] [The ''chosen'' ''Demon King'' has gotten stronger over time, fight against the demons and the Constetion will be there to help.] [Rewards will be given by the beneficiated constetion when the recipientpletes the tasks assigned to them.] [Achievement Points can be used in the yer Shop.] [Gods and Goddesses have granted ''Lesser Blessings'' and gifts to the Heroes of ''Earth.''] [200 Achievement Points are gifted to the user.] (AN: the notifications above are the same as the one from ch 123, but that time only Eshwar could see, but now everybody could.) [Heroes of the world, Earth, shall be referred as ''yers'' from now on.] [The ''consequences'' for ignoring the system ''Quest,'' ''Waves'' will be started.] [Dungeon overflow''s time limit has been lowered to a week.] [Demons of the demon world will be spawned at the time of the ''Wave.''] [The level of every next ''Wave'' will be increased by 1] [The first Wave (level 1) shall start in: 0D: 01H: 00M: 59S] DING [NEW!] [Sensing changes in Sector One in the Human domain.] [748,534 ''living'' has been killed at once.] [Rewards will be given to the user, ''Unknown.''] [10,000 Achievement Points are rewarded by the system to the user, ''Unknown.''] [''Unknown'' is the first user to aplish the impossible.] [There are no rewards befitting the new achievement!] [The new achievement rewards are being given as Achievement Points.] [100,000 Achievement Points are rewarded by the system.] [yers can form ''Guilds'' after surviving the Wave (level 1)] [''Guild buildings'' can be purchased at the ''Community.''] [Guild buildings can be purchased with Achievement Points.] [Purchased guild buildings are considered as a ''safe house'' which can ''temporarily'' protect yers at the time of Waves.] [For more info, please check the ''Community'' function.] [New functions will be added as an ''additional'' status window.] WHOOOOMMM WHOOOOIIINNNNNGGGHHH Chapter 204 203. Wave. ?(AN: Omniscient POV) [For more info, please check the ''Community'' function.] [New functions will be added as an ''additional'' status window.] WHOOOOMMM WHOOOOIIINNNNNGGGHHH An invisible ripple shot out from the centre of the world; the entire world trembled violently for a brief moment; it trembled so strongly that it appeared the world would fall out of orbit, but the magical circles surrounding the Earth began to act and re-adjusted the world back to its orbit and held in all the new and abrupt mana explosions; the Earth core''s mana received a huge boost, and the density of the Earth''s mana increased. By the time everything settled down, an hour had already passed. An hour was given by the system as a grace period for humans to prepare for the uing ''Wave,'' but due to the violent tremor that cruised through the entire world, people were forced to stay still on the ground while minor levels of destruction urred. Skyscrapers ''broke'' in half and fell to the ground, killing all the humans in them and the humans below them. Many cracks appeared in the ground, through which people fell and never climbed back up. It seemed like the end of the world; maybe it would have been much better than the way it is now. Heroes, no, the yers had moved fast and had rescued as many people as they could in the short amount of time, and they employed mana to levitate the falling skyscrapers. Of course, a veryrge number of yers and arge quantity of mana was required, so they couldn''t levitate all of them, and since not everybody had be a ''yer,'' those who could only use mana bullets and mana shields could still only use those, but they were slightly stronger than they were previously. *** Sector Seven. At the borders of sector seven, a small force containing at least 10 yers had gathered; all the minor guilds located in sector seven sent their force, since this was the best time to rake achievements and have their guild graded up. Of course, there were a ton of yers who were forcibly deployed; they deserted their positions and rushed towards their families. Association, government and guilds, this was first time that all the powerhouses of the world had worked together, even though their greed was involved, they still protected humans, and exactly when the notification in front of them and the huge system notification in the sky which was visible to everybody from everywhere, hit [00D: 00H: 00M: 00S] KIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKK A loud, ear-deafening sound resounded throughout the world. People knelt on the ground, covering their ears, which they released after a while, though their ears were still ringing. [''Wave'' (level 1)mencing.] WHOOOSH All the yers positioned at the borders flinched when they saw a ton of pixels materialize in front of them, where a group of ten had gathered, 100 lowest ranked demons ''spawned'' in front of them, the demons had dark skin, razor sharp teeth, lipless mouth which could lowered to 75 degrees or more, some had a single eye in the middle of their face and two horns while some had two eyes and two horns, some had a pair of eyes and horns, while the rest had a eye and a horn, the colour of their irises varied from hazel and crimson red, with vertical ck slits as pupils. The demons too seemed confused as to what they were doing there, but only for a moment before their gazes fell on the humans in front of them and their instincts to ''kill and destroy'' took over as they lunged forward towards the humans, who were mercilessly ughtered while in panic. * The association, the government, and the guilds, which were proud of their decision about sending yers to the sector borders, soon regretted their decision when they saw the lowest-ranked demons spawn in front of them in much greater numbers and ughtered them. While some had lost their reason in panic, veteran heroes or yers who had a ton of experience in the face of death started to take control of the situation pretty quickly and fought back. ''Normal'' humans who saw that and regained courage too started to fight back, those who killed more than 10 demons, individually or with their teams, started to awaken as yers; though their powers remained the same, they gained hope that they too would be able to get stronger from now on. As the word spread, humans started to fight back and lost lives since not everybody was lucky enough to kill 10 demons while a hundred surrounded them and slowly ate them away. *** Sector Six. Guild buildings were broken down here too. Humans were continuing to kill the demons that indiscriminately spawned, but since the force of yers was a bit more in sector six than in sector seven, they were doing much better than them, but they too didn''t have it easy as the surviving demons had passed through the gates linking all the other sectors and continued to destroy things in their paths. What the humans noticed while ''hunting'' demons was that they were turning into pixels soon after they were killed, and though not by much, the awakened humans saw their level''s exp go up by one every time they killed a demon, which meant that every single demon in front of them was 1 exp point, which also meant that they were in front of a pool of exp points that would help them get stronger and faster. This craze soon spread wide when they realised that fact. They rushed towards the hordes of demons with crazed expressions on their faces and were, of course, killed in vain. *** Sector five. Here in Sector Five, yers were a bit more prepared for the wave. They armed themselves and moved under the orders of the squad captains from the association. Seo Hana was seen flying around with a beautiful pair of ming wings on her back, while another figure flew next to her with a pair of three-meter-wide, ominously burning wings on his back, which left behind a trail of thick ck smoke as he flew around next to Seo Hana. The man next to Seo Hana would ''burn'' everything in ''their'' way, while Seo Hana ''protected'' the people in ''their'' way. Though the people were scared of the man, they regained hope for their survival, but here in Sector Five, instead of crazed yers being born, crazed believers were being born. Though somehow Hana calmed them down, she wasn''t able to get them to be on guard against the demons since they had to protect not only them but others too, and when they didn''t listen to her and started to get on their nerves, the man forcefully made them be on guard, of course by beating up one of them, which also earned the man a slogan as a ''demon more demonic than the demons themselves.'' The same slogan appeared in the minds of everybody who saw him, and since they were all panicking and couldn''t quite think about the prophecy given to them by the goddess, they simply ignored that thought and continued on. If they had made up a connection between them, maybe they would have thought something else and been fearful of that man, but now, after he forcibly made them be on guard and they fought against the surviving demons, they were thankful for him and soon changed his slogan to that of a ''gentle demon'' and ''brutish angel.'' After both Hana and the man went ahead to rescue other people, the people who were already rescued began to spread around the man''s new slogan as they made fun of the people who were beaten up by the man, while fighting against the spawned demons. Chapter 205 204. New System. ?(AN: Omniscient POV.) Sector Four and Three. These two sectors had a bit more leisure in their fight against the demons since both sectors had strong forces with a lower poption, which caused fewer demons to spawn in the first wave. The leisure time they had after killing the spawned demons was used to get adjusted to the new system window. "Status window." A man spoke with a leisure look on his face. ==== [Status window] [Community] [yer Shop (limited)] ==== ==== [Profile] == Name: Heath Walker Level: 2 (1000/1750) ss: Warrior (/) Rank: D == [Image of Heath Walker] [Headgear (-)] [Slot (1x)] [Body Armour (-)] [Slot (1x)] [Arm Guard (-)] [Slot (2x)] (AN: 2x because there are gauntlets, wrist protectors and those amours which are worn separately, though I don''t know properly, like small te armours which are ced near biceps, near forearms, elbow protects, like that. I don''t know about armours properly yet, so it will be left like this until I research about this a bit more, if you have any suggestions or anything to correct me, please do so.) [Trousers (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Boots (-)] [Slot (1x)] ==== ==== [Stats] == Strength: 6/10 (Rank- D) Agility: 4/10 (Rank- E) Endurance: 3/10 (Rank- E) Intelligence: 5/10 (Rank- C) Perception: 2/10 (Rank- E) Dexterity: 3/10 (Rank-E) Magic power: 5/10 (Rank- E) Constitution: 3/10 (Rank- D) ==== ==== [Traits] (more info) [Skills] (more info) [Misceneous] (more info) [Inventory] (more info) ==== "Good. It''s going up nicely." Heath Walker mumbled with a grin. ''I am an awakened now.'' He thought while staring at many separate system notification windows in front of him: [Profile], [Status], and [Skills] were square-shaped windows, while [Status Window], [Community], and [yer Shop (limited)] had a rectangr-shaped window above the other three windows and the rest had their own small rectangr windows below. He clicked on themunity tab. ==== [Community chat] [NEWS] == [Drogo Greenwood: Help! Please send help to sector seven.] [Randall Russell: Send help to sector six.] [Harold Mallin: Please wait, Miss Seo Hana will be there shortly, with a man.] [Mandy Howard: Thank you.] ..... == [Message...] [Send] ==== He ignored themunity tab and clicked on the yer shop. ==== [Shop] == [Grade: E, D, C, [B], A, AA, S, SS, SSS] (AN: B is in brackets because it is selected.) [ultist''s Helmet] [Grade: B] [1000 AP] [ultist''s Chest armour] [Grade: B] [1500 AP] .... .... .... [Traveller''s boots] [Grade: B] [3000 AP] == [Achievement Points: 300] ==== "Damn, that''s expensive. How would I know why it costs that much?" He mumbled and clicked on one of them. ==== [Information unavable] [yer Shop (limited)] ==== BOOM Suddenly, something exploded next to him, he nced at it and saw a demon rushing towards him. * The yers continued to kill all the spawned demons, and soon every single human alive as at least a level 1 awakened. Of course, there were many casualties among them, but they were a bit too happy about them finally awakening to care about the deaths of others; it didn''t matter to some people even if their families were dead; this was the time when humanity seemed disgusting. Of course, not everybody was like that, since something good doesn''t always shine. And when everything seemed to have ended.... [Phase 2 of the Wave (level 1)mencing.] Many groans filled the sectors, but the system didn''t even give a few breaks this time and instantly spawned another ton of demons, but this time all the dead humans also rose as zombies and began killing the humans in front of them. This time the number of demons was double, ignoring the zombies. The zombies had pale skin, white eyeballs, and a drunken walk; the only differences between them and normal humans were, of course, the fact that they were already dead. The zombies followed their sense of smell and sniffed out humans, punched at the humans until they bled without caring for anything else, bit them, tore off the skin while alive, broke bones of their own while breaking those of the living, and fed on the prey they had killed. There were many zombies whose only upper body remained; they moved while dragging themselves, but none of it matters to the dead; they dragged themselves and fed on the prey they hunted; their bodies grew stronger as they fed on their prey, and once they instinctively realised that they were bing stronger the more they ate, their obsession with strength soured, and they began to hunt the prey that were still alive, because the taste and strength they gained while the prey was still alive was on another level. People screamed and ran because something inside them wouldn''t let them kill the people who were just fighting next to them, which didn''t matter when they were ignoring the dead right next to them, but now mattered so much that I, who was staring at them from above, couldn''t help but shake my head in disapproval. Again, the veteran heroes, who had seen their once preciousrades die right next to them, came to the rescue of those who were alive; they helped humans kill the zombies while defending them against the demons because they had to get stronger themselves and pray for the dead, and moving on was one of the things they, the people, had to do in order to get stronger. People who dared and killed the zombies barfed at first, but started to get back on their feet once again, slowly but surely. Of course, they had to get up, if not then only one thing awaited them and that was DEATH. Another half of the remaining humans died together with the slightly left humanity of the people alive. Women who suddenly remembered what had happened to Faye yton, the Saintess, started to get serious and hunt demons more because they didn''t want to suffer the same fate, and looking at how low the numbers of humans had be, some basta*ds who were crazy enough might try their hands on them, so they started to hunt and get stronger; they had awakened now, which also meant do or die, so they started to hunt and get stronger; they have now awakened, which also meant do or die, so they would rather fight to death than die in vain. The desire to be stronger struck not only women, but every human being alive; while the reasons may be dubious, the desired results did not materialize. It was already night, and many new gates had appeared because of the dense mana in the atmosphere, and many breakouts had happened in the same day, since the system was still trusted, they thought that it may be because of the new changes; the order had already broken down, turning all the sectors intowless zones, humans killed all the monsters which popped out of the gates by themselves, making the association feel useless. DING [''Spawning grounds'' has been added.] Chapter 206 205. Spawning Grounds. ?DING [''Spawning grounds'' has been added.] RUMBLE (4x) A tremor, less violent than the previous one, cruised through the sectors, the Elven Kingdom, and the Dwarven Kingdom. The Elven and Dwarven Kingdoms had little trouble with the new changes because they were used to living ''with'' the world and had grown ustomed to the mana cruising through their kingdoms, which were already dense, and the sudden increase in it caused drastic changes, but the damage was far less. Dwarves, who were efficient in using fire and earth attributes, employed mana to make their underground facilities sturdier. While the elves, who were the most efficient in using all natural attributes, stood their ground, that was also the first time all the attributes included in the ''world energy'' revealed themselves. All naturally attributed mana, divinity, and even demonic energy cruised through it; elves, who are far more sensitive to the world''s energy, went berserk, but they were held still by the "King" and "Queen" of the Elven Kingdom before they could even do anything in their berserker state. And the tremor that happened just now brought forth a ton of colosseums all around, and the Elven Kingdom got two new ''spawning grounds.'' The Dwarven kingdom got two new underground spawning grounds; they too were shaped like a Colosseum but were underground, which was the only difference between the two in the Dwarven kingdom and the Elven kingdom. Every sector of the human domain had a new Colosseum, and because the Colosseum protruded through the ground, a lot, like really a lot, of damage was done. Again, humans died; every human seemed to be on the edge of losing their minds and going berserk, and when the Colosseum hadpletely protruded out through the ground and halted together with everything and everyone near it, absolute silence descended upon the human domain. CRA-CRACK (5x) The debris that fell from the corners of the massive Colosseums broke the silence that descended upon them, but not a single one of them opened their mouths and continued to stare at the massive structures in a daze. DING [''Spawning grounds'' will begin to ''store'' monsters.] [The structures,ndscapes, terrains, environments, designs, traps, and monsters, inside the spawning grounds will change at random.] [The ''Gate'' which is used as the entrance of the spawning grounds, will change the locations at random.] [The yers can enter the spawning grounds as individuals and teams.] [Different modes are added to the spawning grounds.] [Hard, very hard, and impossible modes have been added.] [''Tokens'' can be used to enter the spawning grounds.] [Orange tokens, red tokens, and ck tokens, are used ordingly to the mode the yer wants to enter.] (AN: Tokens are mentioned in chapter 57: [Level]) "...." A slew of new system notification windows floated in mid-air in the sky, but no one noticed as they continued to stare in a daze at the massive structures and pool of blood nearby. They soon woke up and walked around, dazed, in search of their families or, hopefully, their remains. Everything the humans had built was brought down in a day. Why? Even they didn''t understand until they abruptly remembered the system notification, which said that these were the consequences for ignoring the system quest. They shuddered at the revtion, but they couldn''t help but despise every powerhouse, which prevented them from even attempting to reduce the number of living. And then they abruptly remembered the user named "Unknown," who had killed approximately a million lives by himself, and all of those who remembered that fact halted and shuddered for a brief moment. The exact number of lives this user named Unknown reaped were 847,838. *** After a weekter. People were living in tents and took shelter underneath the broken buildings, and even under the piled up debris, while the powerhouses began to clean up the sectors they were a part of first. They were already ustomed to the guilds function which was newly introduced by the system, that gave people protection against the monsters. [Wave (level 2)mencing in: 21D: 05H: 43M: 22S] The system notification window floated in mid-air and showed the yers the exact time on the small rectangr-shaped window in front of which never disappeared; it simply continued to float in front of them, but they learned to move it horizontally, out of their sights, and ce it somewhere in front of them because they didn''t want to mess with the system quest ever again, and though they knew that the notification wasn''t a quest, they didn''t dare ignore it. * And after another week had passed. The human race had regained its footing, though slightly. They had bought a guild building of the lowest quality and sheltered in it. Since the guild buildings were of the lowest quality, the yers had to hunt daily to keep themselves safe. Guild buildings came in grades; lowest, low, mid, high, and highest qualities, and the lowest guild building cost them 300 AP; the cost increased by twofold at each other rank. Lowest ¨C 300 AP, low- 600 AP, mid- 1200 AP, high- 2400 AP, and highest- 4800 AP. There was another guild building which was ranked ''supreme'' which cost a whopping 10,000 AP. The total number of people who survived the level 1 Wave was 3,004,470,884. Approximately 25% of the humans in the human domain had perished in a single day; the craziest thing that happened was the survival reward given by the system. ==== [Wave (level 1) survival rewards.] [1. Complete recovery.] [2. Level increase by 1] [3. 1x Token (spawning grounds)] ==== Yes, that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. *** (AN: First person POV) An attractive white-haired man stood atop the Colosseum''s most prominent corner and stared down at the humans, who were roaming around the ruins like ants. Yes, the spawning grounds or the Colosseum were THATrge. "....its quite a scene, if I have to be honest." I mumbled while looking down at the ruined Sector Five. ''Erebus. Pyre.'' I muttered in my mind, and Erebus walked out of a thick ck portal-like hue, majestically, while Pyre materialised in front of me, even more majestically than Erebus. Seeing the two beings appear so majestically, I, too, wanted to change... I.... don''t think so, but whatever. POOF And, of course, Erebus turned small with a ''poof'' and climbed up on my back before slumpingfortably on my head with Pyre slumped on his head. "Should we go on a ride?" I looked up at them and asked with a smirk. "Meooow...." Erebus meowedzily, yawning. [PIII....] Surprisingly, Pyre gave a simr reaction, which was quite surprising because he would always be ready for some action, somewhat simr to me. "What the hell? Aren''t you guys bored?" I asked and pouted, slightly. "...." [....] "At least don''t ignore me, you crazy basta*ds." I grumbled and nced back at the ground. ''What should I do now...'' I pondered about it quite seriously; it was a problem whenever there was nothing to do. I had checked on everybody: the uncharted, main characters, subordinates... "Ah, I had all most forgotten about them." I grinned widely as I remembered something I had forgotten to do. [I need more ''royal blood.''] I telepathically sent a message to a certain someone. Chapter 207 206. Samantha. ?In Sector Six. In the mountainous terrain, a woman who wore a red maxi dress walked towards a seemingly cosy wooden house. She had dark grey hair and dark brown eyes, smooth facial features, and an hourss figure; nothing stood out about her, but she had her own special allure. CRE-CREAK As soon as the woman opened the door, a strong whiff of irony stench trickled into her nostrils, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the scent of blood which sent a pleasurable shiver through her body, she then opened her eyes slowly and her dark brown eyes gleamed with a ominously bright red hue. There were six women who wore a thinyer of white cloth to cover themselves, though the clothes they wore were supposed to be white. They were now soaking in the crimson-red blood of the eight naked men who were in the darkest corner of the house; in front of them, their wrists were tied up and hung on the ceiling as they floated a foot above ground, covered in w marks from head to toe. "....argh..." "...uck..." "....urgh..." Very feeble groans sounded as if to let the woman who entered the house know that they were still alive, and the woman who noticed them trying their hardest to ''please'' her couldn''t help but grin widely in satisfaction. "Ah!" One of the women wearing a thinyer of, now red, cloth eximed when she noticed the woman enter the house, she raised her hands and covered her face while blushing violently, if observed closely one could notice something stuck in her nails, which were the pieces of flesh of the men in front of her. Blood was trickling down on her hands from her fingers, which she had used to w the men who were hung to the ceiling. "Kyaa!!" The rest of the women eximed in delight as soon as they noticed who the woman who entered the house just now was, and without thinking anything else, they rushed towards the woman with a bright face, their eyes were slightly out of focus as they rushed while blushing violently and had drooling out of their mouths as if they had just had an extremely pleasurable experience. "I''m home, my loves." The woman smiled brightly and opened her hands, weing them for a group hug. The women rushed towards her as if they would miss out on the opportunity and hugged her before starting to sniff her and lick her neck, chest, hands, and legs. Of course, the woman didn''t stand still and started to grope their butts and chests. "Ah~" Delightful moans filled the house, which continued for several minutes as they ignored the gruesome scene in front of them and pleasured each other. * SLURP "Ah~" The woman, whose red maxi dress waspletely tattered, held another woman from behind, groping while drinking blood from the neck of the woman who had a blood-dyed nket sliding off of her naked body; she had a very obscene expression on her face while the other five womeny on the ground, naked, with obscenely delighted looks on their faces. ".... Thank you for the meal, my love." The woman mumbled and passionately kissed the woman whose blood she had just drunk, and she only let go of the woman after she passed out with the same obscenely delighted expression on her face as the other women. She wiped her lips sensually, stood back up, and walked towards the men who were bleeding profusely and had lifeless eyes. They stared at the woman as if asking for death; she noticed that stare and chuckled mischievously, raised her right hand slightly in the air, and pointed at the men to fulfil their wish; they were delighted to know that they would finally be free from this living hell. SWISH Blood des materialized in the air around her and... [I need more ''royal blood.''] An ominously familiar voice sounded in her head and she shuddered for a split second. "Haa....bad luck." She shrugged and backed off without killing the men, whose faces were now washed with pure despair. [Don''t scare me like that. And what''s with this out of the blue?] The woman sent a blood transmission, which she could connect with the telepathic voice and make it work exactly the same as the technique the man on the other side was using. [Oh my, the great Kensa Pawn got scared?] The man on the other side asked cheekily. (AN: Kensa Pawn is a character introduced in ch 85: Kensa Pawn.) [Hmph, I''m not scared of anything..... except for you. You crazy basta*d, and....] The women scoffed before remembering the man''s scarily handsome face and corrected herself. [Didn''t I ask you not to call me by that name anymore? What happened to the name you gave me? Huh? Don''t tell me the omnipotent Eshwar forgot about the name he himself had given?] She too started to act just as cheekily as Eshwar. She was too grateful for Eshwar to be scared of him; she was thankful for Eshwar for sparing her life, rescuing her from the hellish vampiric organisation known as the graveyard, and most importantly, even granting her a new meaningful name. Her name now was.... [Hahaha, Samantha, if act too cheekily I might really, identally, kill you this time, for sure.] Eshwar''s voice sounded in her head and Samantha who heard it tilted her head slightly perplexed. [Does.... your words even make sense to you?] She asked. [Anyhow, why again? I already have ''her'' parents in control and am even manipted them into abusing her and pressure her mentally, if I have to go in, into much details, I even have made it....] Samantha began to exin but was cut off by Eshwar. [No, no, no, it''s for somebody else, you are doing a great job in the n, so no need to worry and just continue to do whatever you are doing, I''ll also be starting after some time..... soon.] Eshwar said. Thest time they had talked about "the n" was inside a busy bar, where Eshwar started his n. It was also the day he met Faye yton, who would be the "starting point" of his n. Though Samantha didn''t know the npletely, since Eshwar was the one who asked her to take part in it, she didn''t hesitate for a moment. They had met in the bar to discuss the n; of course, the n was already in motion by the time she met with him to discuss it, as she leaked information about Faye''s location to Alvin Collins every time Eshwar asked her to. (AN: The bar spoke of in here is from ch169: Rebellious Phase) Samantha abruptly began to recall the day they met in the bar. Chapter 208 207. Samantha (2). ?In Sector Six. On the day Samantha and Eshwar as Max met to discuss the n. ''I can''t believe he called me out so abruptly and that too, to a bar!'' Samantha rushed towards the bar where they had agreed to meet; it didn''t take long for her to arrive at the street leading to the bar. She walked in and looked around in search of Eshwar, whose image was imprinted in her mind, and she noticed a handsome ck-haired and ck-eyed man sitting at the centre table, drinking the most expensive drink in the bar. Wearing a simple ck shirt with the top three buttons unbuttoned, ck gloves, and ck trousers, he looked like a model who had just been fired from thepany he worked for because he appeared irritated. ''That''s definitely him.'' Samantha thought as she noticed a certain charm in him that she couldn''t quite put her finger on, and since she was certain it was him, she walked towards him and sat in front of him; he sighed and pushed the drink he had in front of him forward. "...you remember the name I mentioned to you beforeing here right?" Eshwar aka Max asked with a serious look on his face. "Mhm." Samantha nodded her head and took the ss Eshwar had drunk in. "I have two targets in mind, if you do as I ask you to, then you can rake as much money as you want, for your new start, of course." Eshwar said with a smirk. ''Guh, I hate it when he makes that all knowing face.'' Samantha thought inwardly, not because s-sh-she was scared....or anything. ".... and they are ''her'' parents?" Samantha asked. "Mhm." Eshwar nodded his head. "I want you to ''control'' them by making them into your thralls and make it so that ''she'' is under constant mental pressure and taking it into another level, physical abuse. But it should start slowly so that ''she'' won''t be suspicious about it, this will continue until she is mentally unstable." Eshwar said. "Their entire guild is yours, you can do whatever you want with it, but I want ''her'' to only be mentally unstable, make her so pitiful that even the demons would want to pity her. Understood?" Eshwar asked with ominously charming smile. BA-THUMP "!" Samantha opened her eyes wide in surprise when she noticed her heart skip a beat. ? "This.... goddamn man is dangerously handsome." Samantha mumbled, furrowed her brows and stared at Eshwar in suspicion. "You...you do realise that you are speaking out loud, right?" Eshwar asked. "Mhm." Samantha nodded her head, vigorously. Eshwar ignored her nonsense and grabbed the alcohol ss in front of Samantha. "Oi." Samantha called Eshwar out, who was making a disgusted face while staring at the alcohol ss, which he just took a sip from, as if it were his long-time enemy. "Hm?" Eshwar tilted his head, puzzled. "Goddammit, he''s so cute." Samantha couldn''t resist the urge toment and mumbled out loud, and Eshwar, who heard her, had a "I know" smirk on his face. ''Sh-should I just say it? No, no, no, let''s not....but'' [Sam...a] "You won''t abandon me, right?" Samantha asked, though it wasn''t quite what she wanted to ask. "Hm? Who are you to me, to abandon you?" Eshwar asked with a perplexed expression on his face. PANG ''.....right.'' Samantha nodded her head and bit her lower lip when she felt a strangely painful pang near her heart. [Sama...ha] "Well, that''s my cue." He stood up and walked away, but instead of walking away, he stared at Samantha for a split second before ruffling her hair roughly. [Samantha!!] Eshwar''s telepathic yell snapped her out of her daze. "Huh? Ah!!" Samantha, who snapped back to reality, flushed slightly before reconnecting with Eshwar''s telepathic link. [I said, I''ll also be starting some time soon.] Eshwar said. [Huh? What was that?] Samantha asked, perplexed. [....] KAT-KAT (6x) "!" She opened her eyes wide when she heard the sounds of Eshwar''s knuckles cracking. [I-I am just joking.... notpletely.] Samantha said. [Tsk, get me some royal blood.] [Why though?] Samantha tilted her head, perplexed. [What do you mean why, of course to.....] Eshwar turned silent. [Hm?] Samantha asked, humming. [R-right, why do I need... royal blood? Tsk, I had something in mind, arghhh!! Now I forgot about my n, aaarrrghhh!!] Eshwar screamed, telepathically. ".....pfft." Samantha giggled after breaking off the telepathic link. "Mmm~" One of the womanying on the ground covered in a blood-dyed nket wiggled with a delighted expression. "...." Samantha stared at them for a brief moment. ''I want him....'' Samantha thought inwardly, and her eyes gleamed in a bright crimson hue filled with lustrous desire. She bit her lower lip sensually, crouched down, and began to grope the women. *** On a certain cloud which cruised above the human domain. A handsome white-haired man with pitch-ck sclera and bright white eyes stared down at the human domain, which was in ruins, with an apathetic expression on his face while sitting on a cloud in the sky. He wore a ck tuxedo suit with a pair of ck gloves. ".... something I wanted to do slowly, became a mess because of that goddamn system." He mumbled and re-adjusted his gloves. "That goddamn system, how on earth did it gain ess to the demon world while the ''Demon King'' is here?" He mumbled. "My ns are being spoiled because of one ipetent fool...." He mumbled and grinned widely, showing off his vampire-y fangs. "but.... something I had never expected in all of my lives is happening, right before my very eyes, ah, this is what wanted, this is what I yearned for. It is finally happening, something very different from my same, repetitive, boring lives from the past." He mumbled with a delighted yet ominous grin as he leaned back. "I.... I want to do something to feel alive, I want them to feel more despair, how....ah, maybe I should start to make a move directly, since the demons are being forced to move, their own King can''t stay still, can he now...." He mumbled as ck coloured killing intent started to ooze out of his body. "I should contact the scapegoat, ah, I mean, Azazel." He said with a wide savage grin on his face. [Azazel.] He said telepathically. [Yes, your majesty, Tchort.] Azazel replied instantly and The Demon King, Tchort could imagine Azazel kneeling with his head on the ground. [You have greatly disappointed me.] Chapter 209 208. Demon King Tchort. ?[Azazel.] He said telepathically. [Yes, your majesty, Tchort.] Azazel replied instantly, and the Demon King, Tchort, could imagine Azazel kneeling with his head on the ground. [You have greatly disappointed me.] Tchort said with a nonchnt look on his face, and he could imagine Azazel trembling right at this moment. Of course, it was a pity that Tchort himself couldn''t see that delightful sight. [I, I, I have c-caused great inconvenience to your majesty.] Azazel said, stuttering. [Your ipetence has foiled my ns; how are you going to take responsibility for it? Just because you are my contractor doesn''t mean we are equals. If you don''t remember, let me remind you, you are a "servant" while I am your "master." The contract was about "Trait exchange," and that was it.] Tchort said while grinning from ear to ear. "Trait exchange" contracts are the type of contracts where a "trait" is exchanged, though it was more like copying. The traits which are exchanged are not the traits they gained with the help of the system, but their own unique trait. Whether a human, demon, elf, dwarf, or undead, these too can be considered as their own unique trait, and this can be exchanged with the help of the "Trait exchange contract." And it was also something Tchort himself made; it is the only one of its kind. It was with the help of this contract that Tchort gained the "vampire" trait for himself and granted the "demon" trait to Azazel; of course, it was just a sham to get Azazel into signing the contract, since he, Tchort, was a Demon King, making somebody a demon wasn''t that much of a big deal; he just needs a pinch of his own demonic energy to change somebody into a demon, and if it''s a human, the task is a ton easier. Just thinking about how he got Azazel to sign the contract makes Tchort grin. He had other uses for his "scapegoat," so he made him into a demon since no matter what, demons have to obey the Demon King, and that was ABSOLUTE. [I, I remember it very clearly, your majesty Tchort. It is just that there is a certain man who has somehow managed to foil all of ''our'' ns, I was thinking about how to make hime into my domain, so that I could kill him first and continue with the others, as if he is alive, he will do something and foil our ns again, thus I plea for your generosity, your majesty.] Azazel rambled, but the words "certain man" piqued Tchort''s interest, as he too remembered a certain man who wasn''t in any of his lives; he remembered meeting him in the Switch Academy, where Tchort had stayed to cure his boredom. ''Eshwar Frost, was he?'' Tchort remembered being told that name the day before the challenge took ce. ''He certainly is strong enough to foil my ns.'' Tchort thought and trembled... "!" Tchort''s eyes went wide open when he realised the feeling he felt just now was fear. He then remembered Eshwar''s re when he mumbled "release" at the end of their fight; though the man in front of Tchort seemed extremely weak, that single word from his mouth sent shivers down to his very core at that time. (AN: From ch 30: A Ranked Vampire (2).) Eshwar''s trait was something that could kill a vampire in a blink of his eyes, as he could just freeze a vampire entirely and push him off bnce; that was all he had to do to kill any vampire he wanted. Tchort had made up his mind to kill that man that day, but he was forced to escape because the force behind his punch when he mumbled the word "release" had almost reached Tchort''s heart. Because of the vampire trait he had gotten from Azazel, without a heart, he couldn''t heal; hence, he was forced to retreat back then, but... That was the one and only humiliation Tchort wasn''t able to payback tenfold, that day he had ran like a coward with his tail between his legs, he, the Demon King was forced make a run for his life, there is no way in heaven that he would simply ept that, and he won''t forgive Azazel for making him remember such unpleasant memories. [You have exactly 21 days before the wave starts again. If you don''t do something about that man by that time and continue on with the n, I shall give you a very painful death; I swear it on my name as The Demon King Tchort.] Tchort warned and took the other way around since he knew that if he wanted to punish Azazel, then he would need a reason, that was purely because of that trait exchange contract where Tchort added, "I, Tchort, will not hurt ''Azazel'' without a reason," he added that condition purely because of his curiosity and now, that wasing back to bit him, that condition was two sided, it was kind of reassurance that Azazel won''t plot against him and make somebody else kill him, he had already experienced that kind of betrayal from other humans in one of his lives, so he added that condition, but now, he couldn''t help but feel his anger raise to an uncertain level, making him want to kill Azazel even at the cost of having a tiny part of his soul getting destroyed. The sky turned dark as if responding to his rage and started to rain profusely. [Thank you for your generosity, your majesty.] Azazel thanked him. [You may leave.] Tchortmanded. [Yes, your majesty.] Azazel said and waited for Tchort to cut off the telepathic link. "Tsk." Tchort clicked his tongue in annoyance and remembered Eshwar''s face again, but he trembled this time too. ''Eshwar Frost!'' Tchort muttered in his head and red down at the human domain as thunder struck one of the human domain''s still standing buildings. "Haa..." He sighed and shook his head to dismiss his unnecessary emotions. ''I can''t believe I got worked up over a pest.'' He thought and grinned widely. "Humans~ humans are so easy to manipte, hehehe." Heughed ominously. "Ah~ now that I think about it, wasn''t there another human that I used to create a massacre? I wonder if he is still useful ~" "Did he manage to kill off his sister? Well, let''s go look for him, if he is still alive, I can use him to create more massacres." Tchort mumbled and disappeared from the cloud. *** In Sector Seven. In the middle of nowhere stood an almost broken, massive castle with many people rushing around; it seemed like they were preparing for something, as many were employing crimson-red hues to fix the castle, which was holding itself together with a thickwork of blood-red tentacles. One woman stood out even among all of those people bustling around; everywhere that woman walked, the people around her stopped whatever they were doing and bowed their heads to her while she ignored them as if they were mere bugs and continued to rush towards the giant door, which looked like it was screaming "crown room" with all the fascinating designs and jewels adorning it. Instead of walking into the crown room, she swiftly walked past it and made her way towards a certain room that existed at the end of the long hallway she was walking in. She arrived at the door, halted, took a deep breath, and opened that heavy door effortlessly. Behind the door was a red-haired, handsome man kneeling with his head on the ground. Next to him were a luxurious throne, a luxurious leg rest, and a fancy table with chess band pawns on it. "...." She carefully walked into the room without making a single sound and stood behind the man with at least ten steps between them. * "Haa..." The red-haired handsome man sighed a sigh of relief, with cold sweat trickling down on his forehead. SNIFF He sniffed the air once and stood back up, walked towards his throne, and sat on it. "You''re here." Azazel said. "Y-yes, your majesty." Mair¨¦ad flinched and replied. "Prepare! Master is making haste; we have to kill White Swan, no, Eshwar, or we shall perish at the master''s hands." Azazelmanded Mair¨¦ad, who was bowing her head. "Yes, your majesty." She replied, but didn''t move from that ce. "....What is it?" Azazel asked and frowned deeply. "Yes, your majesty. From the human spy we had nted among the humans, we had received a report saying that White Swan had silvery eyes thest time he made his appearance." Mair¨¦ad reported and continued. "We believe he was another person who imitated perfectly as White Swan; since even though ''White Swan'' wore a white mask, he never intended to hide his identity as Eshwar from us. So, the pawns are thinking that it might be difficult to target Eshwar or White Swan directly, but instead we can simply target ''him'' and bring him over here to bait Eshwar. If it''s him, Eshwar will definitelye to his rescue." Mair¨¦ad said this and even gave her own opinion. "Very well. Ask the Rook to move this time and ask him to bring him alive; if he is alive, even if Eshwar doesn''te to his rescue, we can still extract a ton of information from him." Azazelmanded. "Yes, your majesty." Chapter 210 209. A Client. ?A handsome red-long-haired man walked between the ruin''s alleyway in an extremely cautious manner; there was blood trickling down the right side of his formal clothes, and even the ends of his long red hair had blood dripping down. Behind the alleyway he was walking out of were two blood puddles and three dead bodies with their limbs torn apart, and from the state the bodies were in, it could easily be read that they went through extreme torture before getting killed. MUMBLE (4x) The red haired handsome man seemed to mumbling something as his lips were moving up and down while his eyes had turned lifeless. "That....21st..... clueless clue." Vinny mumbled in a low buzz-like voice. ''That was the twenty first group of vampires that had made contact with Piers, Michael, and Cole, but not a single one of them remembered about them, but they were in constant contact with a certain man." Vinny mumbled out loud, involuntarily, amid his throbbing thoughts. Vinny was currently in the middle of hunting for clues about who and what were involved in the deaths of his closest friends. ''Hahahaha, you think I, the ''White Swan,'' woulde here without knowing anything? I have received a request from my client that informed us about you guys; I checked it and found out that all of you were vampires from the beginning, and everybody in your neighbourhood thought of you as a bunch of kids.'' White Swan''s words, which were recorded in Michael''s smartwatch, resounded in Vinny''s mind, increasing the head-splitting pain he was experiencing. "Urckh...." He held his head and groaned before continuing to move forward. "A client..." He mumbled as if to resolve his determination to find the client that White Swan spoke of. He had started to hunt down the vampires after he was kicked out of Katline''s apartment, though every thought of it still stung Vinny, and he asked himself, "Why?" No, it wasn''t a question about himself or about why he was acting strangely; it was about why his ''wife'' was rejecting him. Yes, his head was only filled with such thoughts. Why is she rejecting him? Was she having an affair behind his back? As strange as his thoughts instantly jumped to the extreme, he continued to have such thoughts. What''s wrong with him trying to sleep with his wife? Why was she acting that way? So, what if he tried to do it a bit forcefully? Shouldn''t she, his wife, let him do that? Couldn''t she think of things from his perspective? Couldn''t she just endure it once? Why does he have to be the one to always endure? Shouldn''t she, his wife, carry his burden as if it were her own? Does he have to endure everything from the past, present, and future? Such thoughts started to appear in his mind, and everything was only circling around himself; he wasn''t even realising that he had be too conceited, and Katline, whom he was thinking of as his wife, wasn''t his wife; the Katline who was his wife had already died in his previous life. "A client...." Vinny mumbled again and walked out of the alleyway and onto the road, where humans, demons, and monsters were bustling around. Humans were rushing fearlessly towards the demons, and the demons were killing off both humans and monsters that stood in their way. Then suddenly one of the humans began to kill other humans who were hunting together with him, and after killing all of them, his gazended on Vinny. He rushed towards him and swung down his giant sword, which was covered in a ckish red hue. Vinny simply nced at him with dead eyes before shing him horizontally with his giant sword, which materialised in his hands out of nowhere. SPLURT THUMP "...." Vinny stared at the dead body before walking off. "....A client....." * In a basement. Vinny had arrived in a suspicious looking basement in the middle of Sector Seven''s industrial area, the irony scent of blood hit his nostrils as he opened the door to the basement and that was when he knew that he was in the right direction, not that it mattered to him as his head was filled with anger which had derived from the intense amount of pain he felt from questioning himself, ''Why?'' DRURURURK He pushed aside the bared gate and another gate in front of the bared gate to enter the basement, which was oozing out the unpleasant scent of blood. DUK He stepped in and saw dozens of still-alive, limbless bodiesid on the ground, wiggling in anguish. CHATTER The vampires, men and women, were having a grand chattering party with a ss filled with blood in their hands. Some were having fun while looking at the wiggling limbless people with delightful expressions on their faces. "...." The entire room turned silent as they gazed at Vinny, who had a dead look on his face. Their faces soon brightened when they noticed that he was human; what else would be great if not a blood pack walking into a blood sucker''s residence? STEP-STEP (6x) FHUMP ".... you want to have some fun, pretty boy?" An alluring woman walked out of the crowd and ced her hands around his neck with her lower half touching Vinny''s. "...." Vinny, who simply stood staring slightly downward, now had his gaze on the alluring woman''s bosom. ".....Oh my, is this a hindrance?" The woman noticed Vinny''s gaze, which was on her bosom frown, and asked with her thumb pointed at her two-piece innerwear. "....." Vinny didn''t say anything and continued to stare at it. "....hmm~ let''s make a deal then." She said with a bright alluring smile and raised her index finger. SNICKER GIGGLE Snickers and giggles filled the room as they stared at them. "..... you treat me with a meal I desire~" The woman said and slightly moved his shirt''s cor to the side to get a better view of her meal, since Vinny was already getting a clear view of his. "And~" She said, ced her index finger on his chest and started to poke at it. "I''ll give you the meal you desire~" The woman smiled with a lustrous expression on her face. SPLURT "...." Chapter 211 210. A Client (2). ?"..... you treat me with a meal I desire~" An alluring woman said and slightly moved Vinny''s shirt''s cor to the side to get a better view of her meal, since Vinny was already getting a clear view of his. "And~" She said, ced her index finger on his chest and started to poke at it. "I''ll give you the meal you desire~" The woman smiled with a lustrous expression on her face. SPLURT "...." Deep silence descended upon the room, until.... THUD (2x) The alluring woman''s body, which was slit vertically in the middle, fell on the ground. Only then did the vampires in the room notice a blooded giant sword in Vinny''s right hand, which had an ominous blue glow. Vinny instinctively shed the alluring woman vertically because Katline''s terrified face reced hers, and he was angry that ''that woman'' dared to push him away. He might have¡ªno, he would have definitely agreed to have a ''meal'' if that woman hadn''t poked his chest; he felt like he was in front of Katline, who was pushing him off of her, and that didn''t sit right with him; how dare she push him away? But then suddenly... ''.... Thanks to Eshwar for making it sturdier.... I guess (?)'' Vinny thought and nced at the giant sword, which Eshwar had used his ice-attributed mana to make with Vinny''s old cracked two-handed sword; a small pitiful smile appeared on Vinny''s face as he remembered how he, Jiwoo, and Eshwar had fought against the Elemental Golems in the SS-ranked dungeon. (AN: it''s about ch 19: The Golden Dragon.) His thought process instantly jumped from one topic to an entirely different one; he ''ignored'' the fact that Katline, whom he was still calling his wife, would have died if she had been in front of him right now, as if it were a matter of no significance. SPLASH (3x) The vertically split woman''s body turned into a puddle of blood before re-constructing itself back into an alluring woman with her two-piece innerwear on. "How rude." The woman red at Vinny, who was staring at the sword in his hand and seemed lost in his own world. He then nced at the woman from the corner of his eyes with a cold re, and the woman shuddered before an ominously beautiful smile appeared on her face. "How rough~" She mumbled and bit her lower lip seductively, but hard enough to make it bleed. ".... Piers, Michael and Cole. You know any of these names?" Vinny asked as he kept staring at the woman, but the man in the back, who was ignoring the entire situation, suddenly began to tremble. Not only him, but all the other vampires suddenly flinched before acting as if nothing happened. Though Vinny noticed a strange change in the atmosphere, he ignored it and continued to stare at the woman. A droplet of cold sweat appeared on her forehead, and she gulped hard before opening her mouth. "Yes, we know them, especially Cole." A hoarse man''s voice sounded from behind. Vinny moved his gaze and stared at the man over the woman''s shoulder; the man simply stared back as if telling Vinny to go to him if he wanted to talk and it wouldn''t be the other way around. Of course, Vinny understood the meaning behind that gaze, walked towards the man, and sat in front of him. "Speak." Vinny said. "No." The man denied. "...." Vinny frowned deeply before releasing his half-baked, green-coloured killing intent which was still in the middle of taking the shape of a bull, half of its body was already visible while the other half was smudged. "....." The man, too, fought it back with his intensive killing intent, which diminished Vinny''s killing intent quite easily. Of course, him being a vampire helped him greatly, since it doesn''t matter what one is in the middle of a battle, both of them ignored it. "Haa..." Vinny sighed and.... PIERCE "Speak." Vinny smiled brightly and said it again after piercing the man''s body with his massive sword. ".... You''re quite an annoying human." The man pulled out Vinny''s sword and smirked savagely. BAM "Uck!" Vinny groaned at the sudden pain in the back of his head. He turned around and noticed a bloody fist that the man had used to punch at Vinny. "An eye for an eye." The man smirked. * "So, ording to what you just said, Cole was a frequent visitor who had hoped to be a vampire one day, Michael was someone Cole had introduced here, and Piers was just somebody who gradually got ustomed to here after he had appeared here to bring his friends away from here. It wasn''t that dangerous since you guys are those who have been authorised by the Hero Association." Vinny said and received several nods at his words. "And after a while, Cole epted to be a vampire, and after the process was done, he had s*x with one of the women here and walked out after learning to control the vampire blood he had received, so that he wouldn''t be suspected by others." Vinny spoke with an unbelievable look on his face and received several nods again, but this time a woman behind the man began to fidget with a bashful expression on her face, quite clearly indicating that she was the one Cole had picked to make love to. "And after learning how painless and pleasurable it felt after he became a vampire from Cole, Michael and Piers came and became vampires and went out saying that they would bring another one of their friends beforepletely disappearing without any trace. Since it wasn''t anything new, you guys simply ignored them; did I get everything right?" Vinny ignored that woman and asked, receiving another bunch of nods in response. "Right. Since there wasn''t any contact with them since then, we believe they ghosted us and our vampire gro...." The man was saying something but Vinny cut him short. "Shut your trap! They are dead because somebody gave out information about them!!" Vinny yelled. "Look here young man, we have been holed up here since several years, these peopleying on the ground after losing all of their limbs are r*pists and those, who havemitted heinous crimes, but since they weren''t caught, we caught them and we are having a feast on them, the only one who had this information was..." The man abruptly halted mid-sentence, flinched visibly, and frowned as if he realised something; of course, Vinny caught on to what it was, and... BAM "Who was it!?" Vinny banged his hand on the table next to him, stood up abruptly, and red at the man. "No, no, maybe because we are having an intense talk I''m thinking like this, in a negative way, ''they'' won''t do that." The man mumbled under his breath, but Vinny heard it and caught on to the word ''they.'' "Who?" Chapter 212 211. A Play. ?"Are you sure, it was ''them?''" Vinny red at them with moist eyes. Vinny, who heard the names of who ''they'' were couldn''tpletely ept it. ".... Yes, I don''t know who they are to you, but I''m sure that only they knew about it." The man replied with a nod. "Ha, haha, ha...." Vinnyughed drily and leaned back on the chair he sat on. He couldn''t understand why ''they'' would do such a thing, no, he knew exactly why they did that, but it was something that he was having a hard time epting. "...." Except for Vinny''s dryughter, the room waspletely silent. The man had talked about the matter, which included "them." Though they didn''t know why the man in front of them was acting that way, they could figure out that he was rted to the boys that made their way there to be vampires, or he was rted to them, who were keeping an eye on the three boys, or maybe he was rted to both of them. "¡­.You should return, though we don''t know what your connection with them is; if you stay here for long, you, too, could be considered one of us, and we can''t protect you if you went out of here, though we can''t be of much help even if wee out of here as it''s still noon, hahaha." The man chuckled slightly, as if he were trying to lighten up the mood. "....." Vinny silently stared down with tears welled up in his eyes that were threatening him to pour out. Vinny was considering many things in his mind right now, and some of them were filled with thoughts that ended up with him killing the vampires in front of him, which he considered to be the best option since they had seen him, which meant that they could track him quite easily, threaten those who were close to him to reveal his location, and make those who were close to him into thralls so that they could keep him in check. And one of the main reasons that he was considering getting rid of them was because "they" could do anything to him and his so-calledpanions without his knowledge and with the help of these vampires, though everything in his head was running on extreme scenarios, he didn''t care and thought it was the right thing he had to do, and most importantly... "Vampire association, the graveyard, won''t do anything if they die." Vinny mumbled and clenched his sword. "!" The vampires flinched and readied themselves for a fight. Of course, the man who sat in front of Vinny could easily kill him if he attacked right now, but since he didn''t do anything, the other vampires, too, didn''t rush at Vinny to kill him, but still, it seemed better to be on guard. "You better watch your mouth, kid." The man in front of Vinny said with a frown. STEP-STEP (4x) CLIIIIIEEEKKKK Vinny started to walk off, dragging his giant sword, without even ncing back at the vampires. DUK DRURURURK *** "Haaa...." The man sighed a sigh of relief as he sensed that man walk out of his range, and looking at the man sigh, the other vampires around him also sighed in relief. "I-is I-It over? We won''t have to live in fear from now on?" The alluring woman who struck a conversation with red-long-haired handsome man, who left just now, asked while stuttering and trembling in fear. ".... don''t jinx it, dammit!" the man yelled in irritation. "S-sorry." The woman lowered her head and apologised as all the vampires around her red at her, since none of them wanted to remember ''that man.'' "....but, yes, I think it''s over now. We havepleted the task given by him." The man muttered and wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. The room was filled with sighs of relief upon hearing the man''s words, and even though they didn''t want to remember "that day" when "that man" had appeared, it was already toote not to. * That Day. The sight of that handsome white-haired man walking into the basement with a nonchnt look on his face made them shudder. Even though it was only a single nce that made them shudder, it wasn''t something unforgettable, but the next movements of his were just too unbelievable to forget; the white-haired handsome man swatted away all the vampires that rushed to subdue him or stood in his way, and... "I want you all, to do a job for me. A red-haired man, slightly less handsome than me, wille here in search of people called Cole Quinn, Piers Lee, and Michael Sharp. I have a story that would be believable, so I want you to recite it and guide him the way I want you to. Am I clear?" Those were the words the man said after swatting away some of the vampires in the room, of course, no sane person would agree to things simply, that too if they are strong, no, there is not a chance any stronger person would listen to those weaker than them, so they declined his words and pounced on him to kill him off, and yes, they regretted it soon after. DOOM The man sighed and released his killing intent, which forcefully made them kneel; some even broke their legs at that moment and didn''t heal until the man gave them his "permission" to do so, it hurt like hell; that was the first time in a long while that they felt that much pain and fear; it was almost like they had messed with some "thing," like.... AN EXISTENCE THAT SHOULDN''T EXIST. His killing intent was shaped into a massive king cobra with a ck ming crown on its head, it materialized coiling around the man and hissed before the vampires found themselves being swallowed by that snake and that wasn''t even the most terrifying part, the most terrifying part was a pure white snake which had slithered around his neck, it had far more fierce aura than the massive snake behind him, it had silver iris with vertical golden slits giving off an otherworldly feeling, a single nce from the pure white snake was enough make them experience "DEATH" once. "You will do it, right?" The man shed a ominously charming smile and asked, menacingly. Of course, the vampires didn''t have any other choice from the beginning, so they agreed to whatever he wanted them to do. The man arrived, achievedplete submission of a group of vampires, who knew that they weren''t the only ones in this y of his, exined his y, and left exactly like he had arrived, with a nonchnt look on his face. * "Let''s just hope that he never returns." The man mumbled, and all of those who heard him agreed and started to prey on whatever constetion they were recipients of. *** Chapter 213 212. A Play (2). ?A few moments ago. A handsome white haired man, who stood atop the colosseum''s most prominent corner and red down at the Sector Five which was in ruins. [R-right, why do I need... royal blood? Tsk, I had something in mind, arghhh!! Now I forgot about my n, aaarrrghhh!!] I grumbled because the n I had in mind was suddenly ruined as soon as I realised what I was about to do wasn''t worth the effort. "I could simply go do what I had to do." I muttered after cutting off the telepathic link with Samantha. I had nned on using White Swan''s influence so that it won''t be too suspicious, but I suddenly realized that I don''t care if my actions raised other new problems, it seemed like I became to engrossed into the maniptive role-y that I forgot that I wasn''t one to care about such insignificant things, since I had killed those who I didn''t like, because of what they did, of course, I''m not that unreasonable to kill of everybody I don''t like..... maybe I am? "Guh.... I didn''t even know, how I am! Wait!!" "Is that even the right question?" I asked myself, and the chibi with the moustache appeared in my head, pondering with sses on. "Meh...let''s ignore the insignificant things." I shrugged and took a step forward, walked off of the colosseum''s edge, and enjoyed a small freefall beforending on my feet. BOOM A loud ''boom'' resounded throughout the colosseum and the area around me. Using the smoke cloud as a cover, I kicked off the ground andunched myself into the air. BOOM WHOOOSH After arriving right below the clouds, I used "snowkes" and stood on them; though snowkes weren''t necessarily needed, I just did it to get that feel. WHOOSH A soft breeze of fresh air enveloped my entire body; I quite liked that feeling. I gazed at the beautiful scenery of the sun setting among the clouds, and that made me smile brightly. "Would he have started to investigate about it by now?" I wondered with a smile on my face. I nced to my right, and a chessboard materialised out of nowhere. ck had only a king and a queen, while White had a king, a queen, two knights, and a horse. With the exception of one knight, every white pawn had two "pawns" in front of them, seemingly guarding them, but the king was in front of the two pawns that were supposed to guard him, while ck''s queen had all five of them lined up. (AN: A not so good, rough sketch of the pawn cements in paragraphments. It is just a scribble.) "Heh." I chuckled, waved my hand at it and watched the chessboard dematerialise. RUMBLE "Hm?" I looked at the sound over my shoulder and saw a thunderbolt strike at a still-standing building. I stared at it for a brief moment and grinned widely. I raised my left hand, pointing at the pouring rain; the rain crystallised and turned needle-like, and as soon as everything, as far as my vision reached, crystallized, I lowered my left hand, increasing the speed at which the needle-like crystallised rain droplets dropped. A thick white cloud was shot up as the needles poured down, erging the cloud, which was pouring out rain. Soon after, I ignored it as if it weren''t any of my business and rushed towards the location I had previously set. * In sector three. Soon, I arrived in front of a massive guild building that had been purchased through the system; it seemed like it was of the highest quality since the guild building seemed quite shypared to the other smaller guild buildings around the area. I felt the mana cruising through the building quite pure, and when I matched its wavelength, I was able to follow it. I was slightly surprised to find everything a yer would require built inside of the guild building; there were training rooms, mana training rooms, offices, rooms, a canteen, a greenhouse, and many gates, one of which led them directly to the spawning grounds. "It''s of a highest quality guild building for a reason, I guess." I muttered while staring down at the guild building of the ''Marble Shield Guild.'' ''It was a guild which was previously ranked 4th..... guild master ''Ronald Glover'' did quite a good job....'' "It''s a pity though." I grinned widely and zoomed towards the top most floor, where I felt two strong energies, which were quite likely to be those of the guild master, Ronald Glover, and the vice guild master, Avery Glover. Yes, they are indeed.... a couple. I was able to pass through the guild building''s highest-graded security system very easily, because the guild building doesn''t perceive ''world energy'' as a threat since it cruises, like literally, everywhere. And I, who have the "world energy" under my control, won''t be a threat for anything. ''Of course, I''m not a threat because ''I am a very fragile and naive child,'' I am too scared to do anything any harm.'' ''How should I do this....'' I nced at a mini volumetric sk filled with ck coloured liquid. It was poison, a very dangerous one at that; it only needs one drop to kill any being that has a certain amount of mana, for example, a rank-A yer. So now the question is, what would happen if anybody took a whole sk of it? Since nobody is insane enough to test things like that, we''re going to do it a bit forcefully. ''Alter.'' I muttered in my mind, and my white mask turned visible. I altered my voice and made my presence known slowly, since it would be too shocking if somebody suddenly appeared in front of the guild master''s door. KNOCK, KNOCK ? "Excuse me, I am ''Gang Jiwoo,'' can I enter the room? I have something important to talk about Katharine." I said in Jiwoo''s voice. "....Enter." A hoarse voice sounded behind the door. CLUNK "Excuse me." I said and walked into the room. "!!" The guild master, Ronald Glover, and the vice guild master, Avery Glover, shuddered as soon as they saw my white mask. Ronald Glover seemed like a man in his fifties; he had dark brown hair and eyes, a rough-looking face, and a bulky build, while Avery Glover seemed to be a woman in her mid-thirties; she had long blonde hair and bright green eyes, soft facial features, and looked beautiful. Looking at Avery Glover, I understood where Katharine got her beauty from. "Shhhh...." I ced my index finger on my masked mouth and hushed in an extremely low voice while using mana to shut them up. ''Heh.'' Iughed inwardly and my eyes arched; it seemed like they knew I was grinning as they flinched visibly. I used mana topletely shut off any body moments so that they wouldn''t try anything funny. "I''m extremely sorry." Chapter 214 213. Who Am I? ?In an office room, a rough-looking, bulky man and a beautiful woman sat next to each other, discussing. "Haa..... But if we bring Katharine to the guild now, it will be harder for us to work freely. I will definitely care for my daughter, and a bit excessively if she''s in front of me, ignoring everything else that actually needs proper care." Ronald Glover sighed and said while trying to convince his wife that bringing their daughter to the guild wouldn''t be ideal at this moment. "I know you care for her, but that''s not what I was talking about. We can bring her into the guild building; if she is here, roaming in front of us, we can be unconcerned about her and do our work more efficiently and effectively, as we won''t have to be stressed about her well-being." Avery Glover exined for the millionth time that they are only bringing her to the guild building because of the safety it offers, not to make her work in the guild. "No, but if we do bring her here, she will be forced to work for the guild...." Ronald was about to exin his reasoning but halted when he felt a presence slowly bing known. Though he thought the presence wasn''t that strong, it certainly made them wary because of how it was able to get so close without them even noticing it. And what was more weirder was.... KNOCK, KNOCK "...." Ronald and Avery frowned when they heard the knocking. They began employing mana in their bodies, getting ready for whatever was about toe, but... "Excuse me, I am Gang Jiwoo, can I enter the room? I have something important to talk about Katharine." The presence outside the door introduced himself as Gang Jiwoo; he was one of Katharine''s friends, which was enough reason to let him in, though the real reason they wanted to let him in was because he said he had something to talk about their daughter. Then they remembered what they were just about to gloss over, which was the fact that his presence couldn''t be noticed until he made it known on his own cord; they couldn''t lower their guard against someone like that. ".....e in." Ronald nced at Avery and replied only when he saw her nod her head. CLUNK "Excuse me." The door opened, and a white-haired and white-masked man walked in. Avery was slightly dazed by the charm the man excluded, but as her brain registered the man''s white mask, she flinched, and of course, Ronald wasn''t any different. He tried to talk and noticed that he couldn''t speak. "....shhhh..." They saw White Swan ce his index finger on his masked mouth before his eyes arched, and though they couldn''t see it, they could tell that he had an ominous grin on his face. Taken aback by the absurdity of the situation they were in, Ronald tried to reach the desk in front of him, which could read his stress level and inform everybody in the guild about it, but he felt like he would die if he moved. They couldn''t see or feel any magic power, aura, or anything else that seemed to have bound them, but they could tell that if they moved they would die. In fear, they nced at the White Swan and noticed his hair gradually turning ck. They were surprised to see that ck mes started to be lit on the edges of his hair, which was still turning ck, but they didn''t know if the man himself knew about it and that it was happening ording to his will or not. "I''m extremely sorry..." * "I''m extremely sorry, I had to sneak in with this cloak I bought from the yer shop." I said in Jiwoo''s voice and made some corroboration for unseen circumstances. SNAP And with a snap of my fingers, I activated the white parasite''s "link" skill to get ess to any electronic or mana infused devices in the room. [Skill: Link activated.] [Searching for devices near by.] [Targeted devices found. New links created, connecting....] [3 new devices linked sessfully.] [Total devices linked are 13.] ZZWOOMM ''Hmmm....'' I stared at the three new windows that popped up in front of me¡ªtwo cameras and a voice recorder¡ªand thought of deleting the records of me entering the room and... [Do you wish to ''erase'' the database of the selected parts?] [Y/N] ''Mhm.'' I hummed inwardly and clicked ''yes'' with a nod, and left the audio recorder as it is, but I stopped it from recording things from now on. CRA-CRACK (4x) POOT I concentrated my mana on the cameras, which busted with a weird sound before cutting off the link from all three, somehow, still connected devices. "Now then, hello, I''m..." I was about to introduce myself, but stopped because of the abrupt question that arose in my head. ''Who am I? Eshwar? The Eye? Max? Eshwar Frost? Or all those other fake names? Slogans?'' I ponder hard because, to my knowledge, all of them are dead. Why did an absurd question abruptly pop up in my head? Even I don''t know, but I definitely found my thoughts urate because... ''Eshwar'' had died back on the Earth, I destroyed, ''The Eye'' had died as soon as I got back my consciousness, ''Max'' had died when I was a three-year-old, or when I remembered my past lives, ''Eshwar Frost'' is a name I gave myself to remember the dead, and everything else is just fake and meaningless, then who am I? I didn''t know what to think as soon as the realisation hit me, quite hardly to be honest. Whoa!! Never in all my lives did I ever expect to be asking myself this question; this is quite a crazy dilemma. What I was doing a few seconds ago and what I am asking myself now have nothing to do with each other, but still, this question... it feels like an unforeseen tribtion. "I....I am...." I stuttered to find a proper answer, and my head started to hurt because I was going through all of my memories in search of who... I was. "No, don''t release control on mana!" I ordered myself and continued to focus on my memories. I "ordered" myself in order to self-hypnotise into a clearly focused focus on keeping mana in check, but that "order" turned into something else, and I got an extremelyrge rush of ancient, indescribable information and words that soon started to make sense to me, and I, no, The Eye, who had been in search of the "authority" that would gain him a sense of self if awakened, awakened as "The Order," and the mana I controlled to halt any moments of Ronald Glover and Avery Glover stopped before moving, as if that was how it was supposed to be from the beginning. The feeling of overwhelming omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience that I felt when I was the Eye returned. Chapter 215 214. Who Am I? (2). ?The feeling of overwhelming omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience that I felt when I was the Eye returned. *** (AN: Omniscient POV) Ronald Glover and Avery Glover satpletely stunned with a stuttering idiot in front of them. The man in front of them was stuttering, "STUTTERING," to introduce himself; he, who was speaking perfectly fine just a second ago was now stuttering! He just had to say his name, but the feeling they got when they stared at his eyes was that of confusion. The man in front of them was confused about his own name! They frowned inwardly when they noticed the man in front of them looking around dazed, and suddenly his entire body turned pitch-ck, including the insides of his body, his head arched back, and his mouth opened wide, showing off his ck-coloured tongue, fang-like teeth, gums, and throat. And soon, as if a ck coloured ink droplets were dropped into his eyes from the corners, his white sclera became dyed pitch-ck, irises were still bright orange, but the vertical ck pupils in them began to turn and glow bright golden. The ck-coloured ominous me that was lit on the edges of his hair soon spread all over it, but soon died down as a ck halo-like crown materialised and floated above his ck coloured hair with a golden glow glowing behind his back. Ronald and Avery stared at him and felt something divine, an indescribable feeling that made their senses shudder in fear yet made them respect him from the bottom of their entire beings. While they trembled and admired him. [Trait: Creator''s Domain activated.] [Private Skill: Control activated.] [Private Skill: Author??? activated.] [?@#¡ê&@?#()@!@?#?@(#?¡ê;#-* activated.] [?@#¡ê&@?#()@!@?#?@(#?¡ê;#-* is directing the ''forces'' to easily merge with the user, ?????] [Pa. I. Guide. Focus. Easy.] Eunomia sent a message to him through the system, though she knew he wouldn''t be able to know about any of it at this moment. Still, it is always better to have someone believe in you, as it gives hope and a strength that nothing could ever equal. Private Skill meant that something that belonged to him and only him, Eunomia was basically helping him use those skills behind the scenes with the system, since his body was still not strong enough to wield them, and it still isn''t, but because of his self-doubt he awakened the full power of his trait "Creator''s domain" which wasn''t exactly the first time the trait started to release its full power. It did once when he was in front of Nhifrogr, The Golden Dragon, in the rank-SS dungeon; that time he was questioning himself, but it was about something else entirely, which was the reason it couldn''t activate properly, and then it activated again when he got the "Control" skill and the "Author???" skill; none of it just simply appeared out of nowhere and he was lucky enough to find them; it was his creator''s domain that did all that, and now they were starting to truly be his; if he seeds in it, he would be able to use them even without the help of the system, which is the same as getting them engraved onto his soul. Now, "The Order," "Creator''s Domain," "Author???" and "Control"¡ªall of these powers were being engraved on his soul. Though I still have yet to figure out why he always gets so powerful! While all of these were happening outwardly, inwardly he was.... floating somewhere in the blinding white space. He was feeling like a baby in his mother''s womb. Asfortable and protected as he felt, he also felt very puzzled by the sudden turn in the situation. He, who was nning on acting totally like a viin who would exin all of his n before killing off his victims (?) was now stuck in a space, which felt ufortably toofortable, sofortable that he just wanted to stay there, if only he didn''t have his extraordinarilyrge ego, that wouldn''t sit still in any kind of situation. He either wants to destroy something or delude himself into a funny visual scenario his mind creates. ''It sure is veryfy here, but....'' "....It''s boring." He mumbled and began to wiggle around, before his new "understanding" about "the order" started to resurface in his mind, and now he "thought" of walking, and then he started to walk on nothingness in the pure blinding white space. A few (???)ter. "How long am I going to be here?" He questioned himself while continuing to walk on nothingness. Then, from his habits while he was "The Eye" resurfaced and he began to count seconds. After a few millions were done, he was astonished because, even though he knew that many seconds had really passed, he felt like he had counted them before even a single second had passed. As confusing as it sounded, his thoughts were true: in that blinding white space, even though the time was passing at an extremely fast rate, it was also passing extremely slowly, and at the same time, it wasn''t even passing. "This time, I won''t stay still." He mumbled as he remembered how he wasted all of the time he had for himself when he was ''the Eye,'' and a strange pain began to cruise through his entire body, though it was at a level where he could feel that he was in pain, but not yet at a level where he would groan. He then "thought" of fighting himself, and a man, exactly like how he was now, materialised in front of him out of nowhere, and he too stood on nothingness with an ominously charming grin on his face. "I''m getting quite annoyed by that smirk on your face." He pointed at the other face, which was a mirror image of his, and thought of stopping the facial expressions on that face, but to his surprise, instead of bing expressionless, the smirk on the other''s face widened before he rushed towards him. That happened because he didn''t exactly "will" it; he just simply thought it would stop, and before he could contemte on it anymore deeply, the other him appeared in front of him and punched him. He raised his hand to block that punch, thinking, ''I can easily stop your sloppy acts,'' but not too surprisingly. BAM As soon as he stopped the other''s punch, the other, knee kicked his side. He flew to the side, held his side, and stared at the other with a wide grin. "I guess, I really am fighting myself." He mumbled with a wide grin on his face. After another (???) passed. ''Fighting against someone unpredictable is harder than I thought (?)'' He thought while continuously defending most of the blows and attacking with every gap he could find. "I won!" He yelled at his victory, then abruptly he thought, ''if we were both the same, who won? Who am I? Am I the doppelganger? Or am I....me?'' He was back at the beginning, where he was contemting who he was, and he then went back to think of all the names he had in all of his lives and pondered on all of them. He then began to realise that a name had a lot to do with defining someone for what they were; it was the same feeling he had when he was "The Eye," which was also the "name" he had given himself when he understood that a name "could" define someone. He definitely didn''t want a new name now because he already had one for himself, but he still didn''t know who he was, all while knowing who he was. And if you have noticed, I haven''t mentioned his name quite yet, since he himself has yet to realise who he exactly is. "I....I am...." He couldn''t handle the amount of stress his own question was causing him, so he called upon another doppelganger, two of them at that, and they beat the sh*t out of him. Chapter 216 215. Who Am I? (3). ?After (???)ter. "It has been at least an unknown number of years, with a minimum of a few thousand. Goddammit, why? What have I even done to suffer things like this? I definitely lived... normally, I think? But I shouldn''t suffer for a few thousand years for whatever goddamn reason. If it were the first time, it would have been a bit understandable, but..." He mumbled whileying on nothingness with both of his arms blown off, his right leg blown up to his knee, and quite a few half a fist-sized holes in his abdomen. No, it wasn''t understandable at all. Maybe his mentality had naturally developed to be too tolerant to such absurdities, of course, since it definitely wasn''t his first-time spending years alone in pain while trying to hold on to his sanity, but this time it looks like he finally lost the very few emotions he held on to from all of the times he had been in situations like this. Because he didn''t show a single ounce of emotion, not a single change appeared in his face as he spoke to himself, and not even a twitch in his face muscles, indicating that he had somehow turnedpletely expressionless. And that wasn''t all there was to it; he seemed to have lost even a few of his emotions. He didn''t know what and how it happened, but his "torch of emotions," which had eight different colours, had now turned intopletely pure white mes; he wasn''t able to incite any emotions in himself, only a calm, cold, and indifferent me that would burn anything and everything if told, remained. CRE-CREAK SHING Cold smoke rose from his body as if somebody poured cold water on something very hot, and out of nowhere, crystallized, translucent golden-coloured limbs grew back, with pitch-ck mes lit on them. He floated in nothingness, and with a small poof, they turned human-like. It seemed like he still preferred to be in his human form, though even he wasn''t sure why he was doing that. "What even is there to do now...." He mumbled apathetically, and another himself materialised out of nowhere. He had his hands behind his back as he floated "above" nothingness with a majestic aura surrounding him. Looking at his doppelganger, he, too, floated "above nothingness" and took the same stance as his doppelganger. WHOOOMMM BOOOOOMMMM They both instantly appeared in front of each other and punched at each other; both of them read each other''s moves, and before the punch even connected, they halted, and their moment, which halted abruptly, caused a massive ripple of "everything" that existed in that pure white space he was in; there wasn''t even an ounce of "air" in that space, but it was filled with different kinds of mana, and the attributed mana was one of them, and it was also what he was using to breathe. As he continued to breathe in the mana in that space, instead of filling his core to the brim, the mana inside his body was leaving, and though he knew this fact, he wasn''t doing anything about it because he got the feeling that he didn''t require mana from now on and waited for his body to run out of all the "world energy" which his body subconsciously stored. Even he couldn''t believe that he had that much mana stored in his body. He then started to doubt again because everything he had done up until now was going to waste¡ªall those years of suffering he had been through to acquire them¡ªand all of it would go to waste if he didn''t have mana now, but... That made it all the more exciting to him; it didn''t matter if all of it was going to waste; it was a new experience, something he wasn''t ever able to experience ever, all those repetitive lives, a past life before this new life, he had never experienced something like this in any of them, so of course, he wouldn''t let this chance go. And back to continuing his fight. BOOOOOMMMM Again, a loud "boom" sounded, and the mana in front of them began to tremble, but their hits had yet to even connect to each other. He and the doppelganger were punching at each other only to halt right before they actually hit, because they read each other''s moves and knew that as soon as the hit connected, one of them would die, not from the hit they were throwing at each other, but from the next hit that woulde at them if the first hit connected. A jab, right uppercut, left uppercut, right hook, left hook, knee kicks, elbow hits, shoulder charges, kicks on each other''s upper and lower bodies, wing at each other, shing and attacking with swords, spears, shields, axes, hammers, bows, daggers, and gauntlets, mana attacks, magic spells, dragon magic, and all the other mana techniques he knew, since both of them were the same, everything seemed like a very well-co-ordinated act, but if even a single one of hit them instead of cancelling each other, they would have died at least a trillion times. ''Onest push.'' He thought and used all of his remaining mana in his attack. He raised his hand above his head with his palm tensed, and all of the mana in his body cruised to his palm. "Frost devil, partial manifestation, 100%" He mumbled, and his right arm froze, turning crystallized translucent light golden with pitch-ck mes lit on it, and... CRA-CRACK (5x) His already crystallized arm began to bulge, and since there wasn''t anything in his arm to tense, the hardest and strongest crystal he had ever seen in all his life began to crack, and because of his strong regeneration, which had be even stronger in his time in that white space, it began to heal those cracks, but instead ofpleting healing, the cracks started to expand. Since the "insides" of his arm would be the first to heal, due to there being nothing to heal, it began to regenerate a new crystallised arm, making it expand unknowingly. And when his arm was about topletely shatter, he girted his teeth and the magic power which cruised through his arm began to pour out from his fingertips, shooting out before forming a massive pitch-ck coloured pir whose end wasn''t quite visible, though he couldn''t quite get the glimpse of the golden coloured divinity, he knew it was somewhere inside of that pir. And when all of this was happening, would the other him stand still? No, but he was forced to do so by the sheer amount of pressure the mana he was wielding gave off; he himself was feeling an excruciating amount of pain. One had to understand that he would only start to feel a sting like pain when a normal human was experiencing pain at the level where they would want to die instead, like removing their body parts while somehow still keeping them alive; if it was at least at the bear minimum of this level, then he would start to feel pain. PING And with a strange sound, the pir stopped altogether; absolutely nothing moved; and the space turned white and ck. Though it was as white as ever, it seemed bearable; he could see the other him like a sketch, which included himself. He raised his head and saw the pitch-ck pir be a spider-web-sized, 3-metre-long line in his hand. He stared at "it," which had strange pitch-ck chains connected to it; it was more like something was trying to hold "it" in ce. He didn''t waste any more time; he clenched it, girted his fang-like teeth, which cracked before blood that was dyed ck began to pour out; his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears started to bleed while millions of sword scars "opened up" on his body. SPLURT All of the blood disappeared as soon as they dripped and he tried to sh with whatever was in his hand, he pushed in forward with absolutely everything he had, as he even used ''Frost Devil,'' subconsciously, as he tried to sh down, and ''it'' didn''t even budge, until.... CLUNK Chapter 217 216. The Creator. ?He tried to sh with whatever was in his hand, he pushed in forward with absolutely everything he had, as he even used ''Frost Devil,'' subconsciously, as he tried to sh down, and ''it'' didn''t even budge, until.... CLUNK The pitch-ck chains clunked very subtly, but it was enough for him to hear them. The Frost Devil he subconsciously used didn''t even get coloured; he only turned crystallized and translucent without any content in him. "L"-shaped horns protruded out from the sides of his forehead before both of them were connected to each other with an iplete white coloured halo that went around his head, and what remained of his clothes frozepletely before turning into dust that disappeared soon after; he now only had a ck sketched outline to define it as "him." BOOM Something imploded inside him and another unimaginable amount of pain shed in him, and a roughly sketched ck coloured aura surrounded him, highlighting his white coloured body, and then.... CRA-CLUNK The chains around "the something" in his hand began to "crack," and with the amount of strength he was applying to it, it was admirable that the chains could hold on until now, when abruptly the chains snapped and the swing, he was trying so hard to do waspleted. "...." Except for the colours returning as if the canvas-like dimensions had been torn off, absolutely nothing happened even after the sh waspleted. He, who held the pitch-ck, 3-meter-long line in his hand, couldn''t hold on to his consciousness anymore and began to "fall" in that blinding white space where nothing else could exist in the first ce. The other him stared at the falling figure in a daze, as from his point of view, the other him was falling as soon as his Frost Devil was partially manifest in his right arm, and from then on nothing happened. "I won, right?" Though his face was still as emotionless as ever, his voice sounded confused. The one who was in free fall right now was the doppelganger, whose existence had materialized because he willed for it to. The "original" who had first set his foot into the white space had died the moment he materialized two of himself, and the one who was falling right now was exactly the 11,111,111,111st doppelganger. SWISH Then suddenly, a strange, small breeze hit his face, which sent shivers down to his very core. He began to tremble in fear, and then a strange ck line appeared on his body, as if somebody had drawn a line exactly in the middle of his body. Though his sight couldn''t reach the ends of the blinding white space, that too had a pitch-ck line that didn''t have an end. "I, I, I am f**ked, aren''t I?" He chuckled in disbelief while stuttering in the fear that washed over him. He then nced at the still-falling figure with a proud smile and epted his death wholeheartedly. Because he knew that if either one of them survived, he too would be alive. SHING The entire blinding white space was cut in half, with the only exception of the falling "him." *** (AN: Still in omniscient POV) Ronald and Avery Glover, who were trembling in fear while respecting the man in front of them from the bottom of their entire existence, suddenly snapped back to reality, and the man in front of them slowly reverted back to normal before his body began to float a few inches above the floor, his hands moved and crossed behind his back, his chest slightly rose up, and his entire body began to give off an otherworldly feeling, but since they couldn''t quite understand that feeling, to them it became one of dignity. His body began to give off a dignified feeling, then he slowly opened his eyes and stared down at them as if he were looking at something too insignificant, then he began to recall why he was here in the first ce. His face twitched as he felt a strange feeling well up in his heart, and yes, it was cringe. "...." He then uncrossed his left arm and bought it close to his face before removing his white mask, yes, he somehow removed a bound item as if it wasn''t that big of a deal. And with a wave of his hand, the mask disappeared into his subspace and the mana halting the moments of the shocked Glover couple, disappeared. Even though the mana surrounding them disappeared, they didn''t move an inch. Ronald Glover was surprised when he recognised the man in front of him as Eshwar Frost, a former professor of the former Switch Academy, and his daughter''s secret crush, which Katharine spoke about in front of her mother, and Avery didn''t move because she was charmed by the most handsome man she had ever seen. Then suddenly, Ronald Glover shook his head to deny his thoughts. He was thinking that Eshwar was White Swan and that he had appeared in front of them to kill them off, but then he remembered that thest time White Swan properly showed himself, he had silvery eyes, so there is no way the man in front of him was White Swan. Then he remembered his daughter saying that Eshwar put his life on the line to protect them from a devil that had appeared out of nowhere, so the man in front of him must not be Eshwar, since he didn''t have any reason to do such things; if he really was Eshwar then he didn''t even have a reason to reveal his face, and the strange man in front of them was someone who was imitating both Eshwar and White Swan. That was the final conclusion Ronald had reached. "You. Who are you?" Ronald red at the man in front of him and questioned. "...." Without answering, the man nced at Ronald and met his eyes. Ronald flinched, took a step back instinctively, and began to tremble in fear. ''W-what is t-this?'' Ronald thought as his gaze, which disyed pure fear, saw an indescribable being in front of him. The being in front of him seemed like a pure, blinding white being with "L"-shaped horns that protruded from the sides of his forehead and an iplete halo that went around his head. The horns and the halo were also the same colour as his body, and they were only visible because of the pitch-ck hair on his head and ''the something'' around him. He had a very strange-looking pitch-ck aura surrounding his whole body, highlighting his pure, blinding white body; the aura surrounding him looked like it was "drawn" and then "animated" in the hopes of making it look overpowered. "I...." The man opened his mouth, and Ronald Glover snapped out of his trance when he heard a voice that sounded "divine." "I am your ''Creator.''" Chapter 218 217. The Gods. ?(AN: Omniscient POV) In a blinding white space that oozed divine energy. A massive white gate that seemed divine with just a single nce. Inside the massive door was alsopletely white, with a round table in the middle and ten chairs around it, which seemed to as heavenly as everything else in the room. It was a space which the system created, of course, with Eunomia''s permission. It was a space where strict rules of non-aggression should be kept; if the rules are broken, even the highest-ranked gods will be punished, and by considering the amount of "intent" behind the rule breaker, their existence could also be erased. There were ten highest-ranked gods or transcendent beings, and they were the only ones who had "permission" to enter the "Infinite." If they had a topic of discussion and it was something they "needed" to be in the Infinite to speak about, then they could send the meeting request to the system, and Eunomia would look over it and, if it seriously was something of significance, allow the meeting among the highest ranked gods. But this time, it was the meeting request from the system, and even Eunomia got the message about it, since even she didn''t know what had happened that a part of her was sending her an emergency message. And in an instant, all ten of the highest-ranked gods appeared in their seats. Though all of them had taken their own time to get here, it didn''t matter at all since time was distorted in the infinite. Odin, who was a one eyed bulky God, he had golden coloured right eye patch and pure white braided beard, wore golden-coloured body armour with a white furred cape above a chainmail armour, he was also wearing a golden crown on his head, with a spear in his right hand, sat on his seat with a majestic aura surrounding him. Next to him sat Thor, he had light brown hair and beard, he had, though minimal, simr maze like patterns to that of a Orc warrior''s, on his arms, shoulders, and chests. He wore a horned helmet to cover his head, left and right vambraces, left gauntlet, and held his Mj?lnir in his right hand, and a cape on his back without any other armour to cover his upper body. He wore fauld, tasset, greave, and sabaton above a chainmail armour and cloth to cover his lower half of his body, he, too, had a bulky build. Next to him sat Loki, who was now a woman; she had a green, revealing dress that looked quite simr to a maxi dress, but a lot more...unhealthy (?); she had light golden-coloured armour on her green dress; she also wore her horned headgear. Next to her sat Argo, who was a "Demon of Pride." He wore a ck suit with a small ck moustache and beard and had a massive cross-shaped sword on his back, whose handle waspletely ck while the "T"-shaped de was dyed blood red. Next to him slept Kshipa, who was a "Demon of Sloth." She wore extremelyfortable-looking ck puffy clothes and hugged a ck pillow while two ck furred cute yet ominous-looking rabbits floated around her. (AN: Fun fact which wasn''t so fun to learn, I recently learned that rabbits eat their baby rabbits if they are stressed or something. That was also the reason I chose rabbits here. x_x) Next to her sat Lord Krishna, who is also called "Mayavi." He was an extremely handsome man with a bright smile on his face; he had an ocean blue skinplexion; he had shoulder-length ck hair, which he had tied up into a bun that was adorned with a beautiful peacock feather; he was adorned with earrings, bajubandh, kadas, karambandh, and paizeb (anklets); and he held a flute in his hand. Next to him sat Lord Ganesha, who is also known as "Ekadanta." He had the head of an elephant, a bright face, and a calming gaze. He too was adorned in essories simr to that of Lord Krishna''s. Next to him sat Lord Vishnu, "The Preserver." He had a blue skinplexion; he had a peaceful expression on his face with a calm smile, which seemed to calm everybody who saw that; he was adorned with a crown and other essories simr, though a bit less shy, to Lord Krishna''s, who was an "avatar" of Lord Vishnu himself. Next to him sat Lord Bramha, "The Creator," he had four heads, facing in all four directions, he was golden skinplexioned breaded man, he was adorned simrly to Lord Vishnu. The aura just their presence was releasing was enough to get a like the Earth to get destroyed, such beings have fallen from grace and now they need the help of "mere" humans to do something even they themselves couldn''t do. Once everybody had taken their seats, the meeting started. [The first topic is about the disappearance of "the prince," from the strongest race of demon beasts.] The system''s words sounded within the space, in an indescribable voice. Eunomia wasn''t physically present, but since she wasn''t really needed to be present physically, she hadn''t bothereding there yet she listened to the words of the system. Odin had a dissatisfied expression on his face, Thor nced at Loki and shook his head, Argo ced his legs on the round table with a nonchnt expression on his face, Kshipa continued to sleep, and Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesha, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Bramha still had calm and collected expressions on their faces, as if everything was under control. [Abnormalities are appearing even on Earth after the constetions began to interfere.] Again, the same reaction took ce; Odin''s dissatisfaction was growing continuously because, for whatever reasons, together with many gods that fell from grace, many beasts from Olympus also fell, including "Fenrir." Also, he had recently learned that there was even a few spotting of giants. In the meantime, Lord Ganesha was lost in his own thoughts; actually, he had joined the meeting in the infinite because of his father''s sudden disappearance; Lord Shiva, "The Destroyer," was supposed to be the one joining the meeting together with Lord Vishnu, "The Preserver," and Lord Bramha, "The Creator." All of the gods that have fallen from grace, for whatever reasons, were on Antino¨¹s, where the constetions were showing open favours, only because that was the oldest and strongest that''s still alive. Now they wanted help from the mortals of Earth, where people were too weak, so weak that the gods and goddesses were having a hard time picking mortals that at least seemed to have potential to grow stronger, strong enough to fight against the gods. ''Haa....'' Lord Ganesha sighed inwardly as he remembered his mother, Parvati''s, state. [The final and important topic of today''s meeting is] The system announced. ["Karma" has been unsealed.] The system revealed, and everybody in the Infinite flinched in panic. Chapter 219 218. Karma. ?[The final and important topic of today''s meeting is] The system announced. ["Karma" has been unsealed.] The system revealed, and everybody in the Infinite flinched in panic. Their eyes went wide open at the revtion; of course, it was a natural reaction since they were talking about "the karma." It would have been strange if they hadn''t had such a reaction in the first ce. "Who has been chosen by Karma?" Lord Brahma asked with a calm expression on his face. [That has yet to be learnt.] The system''s voice responded politely. "A mortal?" Odin asked with a deep frown on his face. [The being could not be identified as a human.] The system replied. "Huh?" Odin''s frown deepened. Loki had an amused expression on her beautiful face. Karma, the only "existence" that could be called the Absolute. though not much is known of it, it said to have been born into existence from all the karma of every transcended being, who have grown out of thews which were created even before the Gods came into existence. As it is known, even the Gods have sinned, and since the karma¡ªthe consequences of the actions of a divine being¡ªhasn''t umted in them, the "karma" devours their karma, turns it into its own, and frees all the divine beings from karma, which could potentially corrupt and eat away the soul of a divine being. The Karma had grown too strong, so it sealed itself in a space where none of the divine beings could find it since the one who could handle it would be the Absolute. The meaning of the absolute is not yet known, and they had hoped that it wouldn''t ever be known, but the news they just heard said otherwise. "Is an absolute being being born?" Lord Vishnu asked. [No.] The system gave a resolute reply and continued. [An absolute being cannot be born simply like that; either they die and are devoured by their karma, or they get all of the karma to themselves and kill themselves; nobody can be alive after taking in that extreme amount of karma into their very soul.] The system exined itself, and all of them found the exnation quite possible since a corrupt soul couldn''t handle the karma and the karma wouldn''t stop trying to corrupt the soul of its holder. But.... Only Eunomia knew somebody that could make even an impossible possible. And while all of the gods'' panic began to die down, the mofo who held the karma in him was feeling... *** (AN: Back to first person.) ''Light.'' ''I am feeling extremely light and free...'' I thought and nced at myself, ignoring the gazes of the Glover couple. I was feeling extremely light andfortable; I didn''t feel a single ounce of pain from my mana core, which always kept me in constant pain; it was at a level where a human being would die in agony. But now, I was feeling extremelyfortable. I don''t know how to describe my feelings, but if I could, I would have cried to express them. I felt like I was back to being human without any mana or other nonsensical add-ons. I took a light breath, and since the feeling of controlling the mana in my core still remained, I controlled the air that I just breathed in. It felt extremely good to know that I, no, everything was back to "normal." "Normal," I never thought I would say this word ever again, but now that I was feeling normal, though I knew that in itself wasn''t normal, I didn''t care. All of my memories from when I was in the mana-less Earth started to resurface: my younger sister, my mother, and my father; of course, their faces weren''t there, but still. Just a few happy moments are enough to make a person''s day. And, of course, Isha''s face shed in my mind; inwardly, I felt something. No, what was that? Something happened inside me as I remembered Isha; what was it? a feeling to protect? a feeling of lust? a feeling ofpassion? a feeling of attraction? a feeling of curiosity? A feeling? I... didn''t know, but then "their" faces shed in my head. "...." I didn''t feel a thing, but I didn''t want them to get away without apologising to Isha. And then I remembered something important that I was just about to forget: the fact that human apologies don''t have much value. ''Introducing Isha to Eunomia might have been a good thing, since they can be with each other..... even if I am not.'' I thought as I remembered asking Eunomia to talk with Isha thousands of years ago¡ªno, a few months ago. I asked her to reveal herself slowly, so there won''t be any problem with that. "You. Who are you?" I suddenly heard Ronald''s voice. I nced and stared at him. I noticed him flinch before trembling, but I ignored it and continued to stare at him. [Karma: 45] As if to mock me about my thoughts from earlier, a red mark floated above Ronald''s head, and as I continued to stare at him, something on his soul started to clear up, and a name that was engraved on his soul was now clearly visible to me. [Aun] That was the name engraved on his soul, and somehow, I knew that that was the name he had gotten before his soul went through the process of "rebirth," and after countless other lives, Aun was now reborn as Ronald. Aun''s soul, which was white at birth, had now dyed a dark violet, which was the final colour of the soul before it permanently disappeared. And I just received the rity that I had been searching for; I could now know who I am since I already knew what I was. "I...." I opened my mouth to reply to his question. I received my rity as soon as I remembered my life with my parents, my life in the mana-less world, a life of amon young kid who simply wanted to take care of what was precious to him, and though young, my life as a writer, an author who enjoyed writing his fantasy into words, hoping to get to know people like him.... Hahahaha. Anyway, an author, who now had his own "authority," that was at the same level as the gods themselves. ''Authority of the Dark Ink.'' I muttered in my mind, and as if I were painting on a canvas, arge white inked brush stroke appeared above Aun''s body, on which his ck-coloured, sketched figure was seen. I nced at him like that for a brief moment and cancelled the activated authority, and everything returned to normal. "I am your ''Creator.''" Chapter 220 219. Targets. ?"I am your ''Creator.''" I replied to Aun''s previous question. "Huh?" A weird sound escaped from his mouth, which Ronald covered soon after. "....." I stared at him with an apathetic expression, and without saying anything, I raised my left hand and made a swapping action with my index and middle fingers before standing still with my hands crossed behind my back. I raised my left hand again and noticed a small blob of mana above my index finger. The mana wasn''ting in contact with my finger at all; not only that, not even a single particle of mana was in contact with my body, as if it were avoiding me. But still, since I could "order" the mana, I could still somehow control it, though it seemed like I was only able to use it like telekinesis. The "order," which was another authority of mine, is mine but also not mine at the same time. The order was the authority derived from sacrificing all the mana I umted during my time as the Eye. You can think of it like this: I gained the authority to order mana for sacrificing the Eye, and I gained my own authority after something even I don''t know happened, maybe because after a very, very, veeeerrrrryyyyy long time, I put my life on the line (?), Maybe that was the reason. Anyway, I want to know what exactly has happened to me, and I don''t have any time to waste on insignificant things. And as if on the cue.... "Urckh..." "Aaack!?" The Glover couple started to groan in agony because I had swapped the poison I had on me for the water content in their bodies. Since it was directly injected into their bodies, its effects were quite fast. I, then, crushed the voice recorder and floated towards the wall behind them, turning intangible andfortably floating out of the guild building after breaking the wall (?). BOOM "Hm?" I frowned in confusion because if I had entered the guild building that way, why was it different now? "...." I soon realized that, now that I didn''t have any mana inside my body, I couldn''t use mana to turn intangible anymore. WHOOOMMMM And before I could even do anything, the guild building reacted at the abrupt breach and activated all of it security system, a dense mana shield appeared around the entire building and it seemed like it even had an ability to find the unregistered target, disarm them, while sucking the mana inside their body, that was one scary ability. I was able to understand the ability because of the new knowledge about ancient words I received, for whatever reasons. "....." I tried to study that ability since it seemed useful, and after studying it for a while, I found all the words, structures, and patterns used in it to be very fascinating, but it seemed inefficient. ''Why? Why was it structured this way? Shouldn''t this be connected to the other one next to it?'' I thought inwardly while being immersed in it. The structure in it was intangible but was shaped like a clock, but its hands were ticking quite strangely: the seconds hand was ticking like an hour''s, the hour''s hand was ticking like a minute''s, and the minute''s was ticking like a second''s. "Move, move, move, move!!!" People''s voices sounded, and I snapped out of my trance before zooming out of there and towards the next target. * I soon arrived at a mansion which was almost in ruins. People wearing maid and servant outfits were bustling around the mansion while helping other people clear up the debris and boulders, which were the broken parts of the mansion they seemingly served in. ''Should I kill them too?'' I thought as I stared at them. ''Since they did nothing but stand still and watch her getting abused, they deserve to die.'' I soon found the answer to my previous question. "Right, there were even those among them who abused her as a kid." I mumbled, and this time a clear feeling was felt inside my body, and that feeling was anger, but my face was still as apathetic as ever. "It is a waste." I mumbled and calmed down my anger because getting angry at insects was a bit too much. ''Since I made ''him,'' I know for a fact that he would rather choose a massacre....'' I remembered creating ''his'' character and knew that if it were him, he would choose to kill everybody instead of acting like a vampire. I had just nned to use ''him'' as a cover while creating a massacre here. "A massacre it is then." I mumbled and flicked my index finger, and after a snap, a golden-coloured blob of mana that was covered in a ck hue materialized above my index finger, and a golden ripple shot out from it. WHOOOSH Before even a millisecond passed, three golden-coloured des materialized around all 26 servants, which aimed at different parts of their bodies at different angles. I then snapped my fingers again. SNAP (2x) Two snaps were heard simultaneously, and instantly all the des attacked their targets, causing a minor scaled massacre (?). SPLURT A single ''splurt'' sound sounded from all the blood stter, then I ignored them and floated above ground, making my way towards the exact target. "...." I had a sense of deja vu as I remembered the same exact scene from my time as the Eye. The only difference was that, at that time it was Quinn Walker who floated above ground as he made his way into this very mansion. Yes, I was now making my way towards Quinn Walker''s youngest son. (AN: Character introduced in ch 133: Cursed (3).) The name of Quinn''s youngest son was "Oscar Walker," and the name of his second wife was "Emily Walker." I could feel their presence in the underground facility of the mansion; they werepletely fine and even seemed to be veryfortable in there while all of their servants were working so hard to get them back up. ''Disgusting.'' I thought as I stared down at Oscar floating right above the ground where his presence was felt, he was a pathetic pig-like son of a bit*h, he had so much fat in him that he would find it hard to breathe after a few steps, I couldn''t help but feel, no, feeling wasn''t quite right, anyway, I just get disgusted at his sight. "Move." I "ordered" the ground, and it moved to the side and made way for me to descend. RUMBLE (2x) "Heeeiiikkkk!!!" Oscar shrieked as Emily hid behind him, of course, there was no other shield like that fata*s in front of her. ".... What kind of pig-like shriek is that?" I couldn''t help butment at his strange shriek. SNAP POKE (4x) With a snap of my fingers, I made two small holes in each of their necks, and Oscar held his shoulder (?) with a panicked expression; no, maybe it was still his neck, which had spread out until his shoulders, anyway, because I couldn''t bear to see his expressions. SNAP I snapped my fingers again, and all of the blood in their bodies was sucked out before they could even open their mouths to scream. After a while, Oscar wobbled and slumped on the ground while Emily mummified before slumping on the ground lifelessly. "....haa...." I sighed indifferently. I had hoped that I would at the very least feel relieved by their deaths, but I felt nothing. * Chapter 221 220. Targets (2). ?At the same night. A quite good-looking man walked towards the mansion where seemingly a massacre had taken ce. He was 5.5 feet tall; he had obsidian ck eyes and raven ck hair, which shone under the moonlight while fluttering in the cool night''s breeze. (AN: Character introduced in ch 38: The Obituary Colosseum.) He stared at the dead servants'' bodies with a deep frown on his face. He then rushed towards a massive pit in the ground. He nced down in the pit and flinched because he could see the underground facility of his home. "Ma?" He called out with a trembling voice and jumped down into the pit. FHUMP "Uck!" He groaned in pain from the pain his legs absorbed from the impact. He then looked around, and it didn''t take long until he noticed two mummified bodies in front of him¡ªnot a single drop of blood was seen in the underground facility. He couldn''t even "smell" the irony scent of blood. He then lunged himself towards their mummified bodies, ignored his one and only father''s body, and picked up and ced his only mother''s lifeless body on hisp as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Ma, your son finally awakened ma, y-yu-you can''t die now." He shook his head. "Please, if you die, hing, haa....if you die...." He mumbled as he took deep breaths. "Then, who will get happy at my achievements?" He asked with an angry look on his face and frowned as he red at his mother''s body. His face was so twisted in anger that made it seem like his earlier emotional face was a lie. "You bit*h, how dare you die after emotionally torturing me all my life and asking me to awaken! How dare you! You better get up! Now I have awakened, I can be stronger than that bit*h now, so get your bit*h a*s up!" He yelled in outrage as he red at Emily''s lifeless body. "Didn''t you literally try to kill me once, saying that I was ipetent and that it would have been a lot better if you hadn''t bore me in the first ce? Huh? You stupid bit*h, get up!" He jumped back on his face and dropped Emily''s body on the ground before ring at it. "Get up!!" He yelled in outrage. He had to go through all of it because of this bit*h of a mother, and now that she had died before he could even give her what she always pestered him about, he couldn''t control his rage, he had now awakened into a yer and gotten stronger to the point where he could even meet the minimum requirements to form a guild. And all of this was in vain! Why? Because Emily had died, he showed not an ounce of respect for the dead; hell, not even an ounce of respect for his mother was seen in him, yet he didn''t care about anything. And then, when he was just about to kick the head off Emily''s cold lifeless body.... SNIFF "?" He sniffed the air involuntarily, nced back at her body and then nced at his surroundings; everything seemed too perfect for a vampire attack, and the most important thing was... "This isn''t a vampire''s attack...." He couldn''t "smell" the unique scent that only vampires emit, but, of course, he knew about it because he was a vampire himself. He now got the gist of what was going on, somebody had killed his parents and faked the scene like that of a vampire''s attack. "Whoever you are, wherever you are, you better hide with your tail between your legs, you son of a bit*h, because you dared to kill someone who was my prey." He mumbled as he red around. "I''ll find you and...." "I''ll kill you." *** The next day. [Community:] [NEWS] [Yesterday night, the Walker couple were found dead without even an ounce of blood inside their bodies.] [Yesterday evening, Glover couple were killed by a still unknown assant, who had used "The Death" poison to kill the Glover couple, the investigators are suspecting one of the victim''s closed ones to be an assant.] [Two out of the seven big families were killed on the same day! Is this a challenge to the big families?] [Mass murders are taking ce all over the Sectors which are now in ruins.] [yers are said to have seen a few thralls kill humans after inciting them into forming a party with them.] [Guilds have begun to take action and check for any thralls amongst themselves, and some guilds said to have found a few, who yelled "For the graveyard!" before making themselves explode to kill the humans who were close to them.] [Crime rates in the human domain have drastically increased after the "Wave" passed. The people are scared and are forming their own groups in hopes of survival.] [What is the Association doing? Will the human domain turn into awless zone?] [Association has replied that they are discussing matters with the Elven and Dwarven domains in hopes of receiving help.] * A gorgeous dark brown-haired woman was seen rushing towards a guild building that had its entrance filled with media people, people of the association, guild members, the association chairman, and many other people, but all of them made way as soon as they noticed the woman rushing towards them with tears welling up in her eyes. Of course, the woman ignored everyone around her and made her way into the guild, if only to people like this didn''t exist.... "Miss Katharine Glover, what are your thoughts on your parents deaths?" A reporter asked with his mic ced in Katharine''s face, she red at the reporter, who didn''t even flinch at her re, and Seo Hana, who had came here after visiting to the Walker''s family mansion, to control things like this was right about to move, when.... BAM BOOM "Uck!!!?" The reporter groaned in anguish as he flew and crashed against the nearest wall. Everybody gathered there nced at the white haired handsome man, who had seemingly appeared next to Katharine out of nowhere, forget about the punch, nobody could even see him appear right in front of them, not even Seo Hana. "Move it." Eshwarmanded, and everybody made their way to Katharine, who nced at him and thanked him with her eyes before rushing into the guild building. "Hic...." A hup, which she had been holding in for a while, escaped Katharine''s mouth, and as if on cue, tears busted out of her eyes. "....P-pa?" She soon arrived at the guild master''s room and mumbled before even walking into the room. Chapter 222 221. Too Dependent. ?"....P-pa?" She soon arrived at the guild master''s room and mumbled before even walking into the room. "....M-ma?" She mumbled as she slowly arrived at the room''s door. ncing in, she saw her parentsying down on the ground with a peaceful expression on their faces, as if they were sleeping. That was what the poison did; it would eat away everything on the inside, making them feel an excruciating amount of pain, but nothing would ever happen on the outside, as if it had some kind of preservative that didn''t let the body rot. "....." Katharine approached their bodies, and the first thing she did was check their breath. Even though she was informed that they had died, she had hoped that it would be a lie. "Hah...." A hollow chuckle escaped her mouth as tears streamed down her face. "..... hic...." A hup broke loose, and the cry she was trying her best to hold in burst out. She then held their bodies tightly and hugged them as if she was afraid that they would leave her behind. She knew that she was destroying any potential evidence that remained on their bodies, but none of it mattered to her right now; she wanted to hold them back, so she would hold them back, doing whatever her mind told her. She couldn''t think straight, but there was one thing that got imprinted in her mind as soon as it appeared. ''I''ll kill you.'' She thought. Who? She didn''t know. How? She didn''t know, but there was one thing she knew, she would find the one responsible for this and kill them. "...hic...huwaaa....haaa...hic....hwaaa...." She cried. She wanted to cry, but her hups wouldn''t stop, and that began to irritate her, and then she raised her right hand, brought it close to her throat, and clenched it as if she wanted to rip it apart. "Hic...haa, huh?" She then abruptly felt a strong grip on her right shoulder. She raised her head to face the source and found a handsome white-haired man who was staring down at her with a calm expression on his face. Though it seemed calm, she felt a strange, painful sensation when she gazed into his eyes. "Calm down." Eshwar''s voice sounded, she then scoffed and looked around, trying to see what there was to be calm about. "H huh? Hahaha, hic, haha...." Katharine then started to chuckle when she realised that she was trying to choke herself, strong enough to actually leave marks on her neck; maybe she would have seriously killed herself if Eshwar didn''t stop her. "Say...hic.... should I, hic, just do it?" She gazed at Eshwar and asked with a pitiful smile on her face, with her hand still on her neck. She then began to tighten her grip. "....if you want." Eshwar replied. ".... What''s that, hic, supposed to mean?" She asked with a painful smile on her face. "....it means, you can do whatever you want." Eshwar crouched down next to her and replied. "Then, hic, should I really do it?" She didn''t even know why she was asking his permission, but if he said yes, then she would really kill herself without a second thought. "I don''t know." However, Eshwar just shrugged. "Hm? Hic...." Katharine looked at him in confusion, of course, because his words were just confusing her; she just wanted him to answer with a yes or a no. "If you want to do something, do it. Why does my opinion even matter?" Eshwar asked before he stood up and walked towards the door. "But don''t die." Eshwar''s mumbled words sounded as he walked out of the room and left her alone. "...." Katharine''s hups stopped as soon as she heard those words; she didn''t know why, what, or how, but she felt like she had found hope. Yes, she shouldn''t die; she had yet to find the murderer and kill them herself; she didn''t have time to be depressed like this; the more she loitered around, the further the murderer could escape. She couldn''t let out the possibility that the killer was someone close, because to poison somebody, the closer they were, the better. "Don''t die, huh...." She had one strong ally with her whom she could trust with all her heart, so that was enough for now. She felt something warm around her heart, which was gradually turning more and more colder with all the psychotic thoughts cruising through her mind, to which her heart seemingly agreed to every one of them. "....Thank you...." She mumbled and slumped on her back, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She then suddenly furrowed her brows because she found it strange that she so abruptly calmed down from the painful pangs in her heart; she had thought of ending her life at the very moment she realised that her parents were no more, but her thoughts were cut off from then on. Why? The only reason she could find was Eshwar''s presence; she then noticed her heartbeat quicken at his thoughts, and she frowned deeply. "What am I doing in front of..." She didn''t dareplete her words, and then again, her cold way of thinking, which was cruising through her head, returned, and now she was thinking a lot colder than before. ".....be cold hearted and cool headed." Her father''s words popped up in her mind, and she wanted to be like that from now on. After determining everything she would do from now on, she got back up and noticed that it was already night. Only then did she understand that even though everything passed by so quickly to her, in reality everything had happened over time. Eshwar was there with her from morning till now and had only walked out of their after he was sure she had calmed down. Guild members had taken care of everything so that nobody would bother her as shey with her dead parents. She got up from there, walked out with hollow eyes, thanked the guild members, and walked towards Katline''s home because she wanted to be with someone who couldfort her right now. Then she remembered that the buildings were in ruins, and she had to call Katline first if she wanted to know where she lived now. She called and learned that Katline would send someone to pick her up, and she even learned that even small "houses" could be purchased in the yer shop. Since she never had the need, she never learned anything other than what her parents made her learn, and until now, everything about her was taken care of by her parents, so she never bothered to learn anything else other than fighting. She found herself quite pathetic for being so dependent on her parents. "Hahaha...." At that thought, she remembered her parents again and broke out in tears in the middle of the street. Chapter 223 222. Unexpected. ?In a cosy wooden house. A handsome white-haired man sat on a couch with his eyes closed as he pondered something¡ªat least, he seemed to be pondering something. ''I didn''t want Katharine to misunderstand something and....'' I stopped my thoughts there because I felt like if it continued, it was quite likely toe true, and I didn''t want that to happen. No, she can''t be like Katline; if she too bes like this, then it would be too troublesome. Except for Faye, I hadn''t ever even tried to seduce women in this life, hmm...if I think of it like that then she is the first woman, who I had to put in some effort.... I don''t think I actually put in any effort, anyway, and I never thought Katline woulde to like me. How the hell, no, where the hell did it go wrong? Did I do anything to seduce her, unknowingly? ''Hopefully, Katharine doesn''t turn out like Katline...'' That was also the reason I didn''t stay with her for long; though I might have been overthinking, I thought she would misunderstand something ande to like me. "Here." A sweet woman''s voice sounded. I opened my eyes and saw Katline cing mugs on the table with her a*s facing me. She was wearing ck bum shorts and baggy off shoulder t-shirt. "God have mercy." I mumbled with a sigh at her efforts. "Hm? What was that?" Katline asked without turning to face me. Though I couldn''t see her face, I knew she had a bright smile and shade of red on her face, and it definitely doesn''t take this long to ce a mug on the table. "It is a good ce for 150 AP." I said and nced around at house, though small it was very cozy. Since it was something the system, Eunomia, made, I wanted her to be physically present with me in a house like this, and though I don''t know much about being a father, I can definitely show her love. Though I can try to do the same through the system, but being present in the moment physically hits different. ''She too must have wanted to live in a house like this.....'' I thought as I remembered how it she must be feeling to be all alone in a space dedicated only for her, it is quite painful to be like that, I know from experience of course. ''Wait a bit longer; when I find a way in and out of your space, I''ll try to bring you here, or I will go there myself, and we can spend as much time with me as possible. Of course, I will make it so that you can summon anyone you wish to.'' I determined myself. "Hehehe." Katlineughed cutely, sat on myp and made herselffortable, and I jolted out of my trance at her actions. ''What is she doing....'' I sighed inwardly and leaned forward on her back, hugged her from behind. "Haaa..." I sighed but didn''t reject her. because it is said that physical contact with humans is good for mental and emotional health. But suddenly Katline shuddered. I nced at her and noticed that I had just sighed at her ears! Then I pulled her waist closer and leaned more forward, hoping to get a proper view of the look on her face. "Ah...." She moaned softly and closed her mouth with her hands. I froze when I heard her moan and questioned myself if my actions were seductive from her perspective and, yes, it was. "Sorry, I did it unintentionally." I apologised and softened my hug around her waist. "N-no, y-you d-don''t have to, i-if I f-f-found it ufortable, I would have said so." Katline replied blushing violently. "Hm~ is that so." I said, ced my hands near her belly button, pulled her closer, and tightened the hug because it felt like she liked it, as if proving my point... "Mmm...." Her back arched as her chest rose up. I didn''t know what to think¡ªwasn''t this reaction a bit too much? It''s only a hug, and it was only her waist¡­. right? I moved my hand up and soon felt her actual belly button. I froze and abruptly pulled out my hands because, by the logic of her belly button being above where I had previously ced my hands, meant that my hands were on her... ahem, ".... I know you may think of it like an excuse, but I definitely thought my hands were on your belly button." I exined myself. "....." Katline had ced her right hand on her mouth as she leaned forward with her elbow resting on her thighs. "...." I too didn''t say anything, and this time, a lot more carefully, I moved my hands and hugged her from behind. Why? because I wasfortable. "...." Katline gradually ced her left hand on my hands, which were around her waist, and leaned back to rest her head on my shoulder. DING-DONG A ssic doorbell sounded in the cosy house, and Katline jerked slightly. Since my hands were still around her waist, she couldn''t move much, so I loosened the hug on my own cord. She nced at the door and nced back at my face back and forth for a few seconds. Without getting up, she leaned to the side, and I felt her soft lips on mine. My eyes widened, even though I kind of expected it, and I expected it on the cheek. "Coming." She yelled and rushed towards the door with rosy cheeks. CLUNK "....well, that was kinda unexpected...." I mumbled in a buzz-like voice. "Wee, Katharine." Katline''s voice sounded. "Are you alright?" I then heard Katline''s worried voice, and a "fhump" sound sounded, it seemed like they were sharing a hug. ''Should I show myself? I should right? Since she''ll see me anyway.'' I thought and calmly stood up before walking towards them. "....are you alright?" I asked without any expression on my face; since Katharine had closed her eyes, she didn''t see me walk in front of her. Her eyes widened in surprise as she flinched and jerked back at my voice, and when her gazended on me, she made a gaping expression. Since I didn''t know how to react to such an expression, I stood still. "...." "...." Chapter 224 223. Unexpected (2). ?"...." After a long gap of awkward silence. Katharine snapped out of her daze and forced a smile at Eshwar; she hadn''t expected to see him here. "You don''t have to force yourself." Eshwar said and nced at Katline, who nodded her head. "I''ll be in the room; you can call me if you need anything." Eshwar said as he walked towards the room inside the cosy house. CLUNK "...." "...." "....I''ll go get you something to eat." Katline said and walked towards the kitchen, acting as if nothing was weird with Eshwar going into a room in her house. "....does Eshwar live here? Isn''t this your house?" Katharine couldn''t hold back her curiosity and mumbled with a low tone. "....It is mine or should I say he gave me the necessary AP." Katline said with a small smile. "Since everything was messed up, I asked him for help, and he bought me a house, saying I should return at least half of it." Katline exined. "....is that so." Katharine agreed with that reasoning and continued to ponder her n of action. ''Now that I think about it, wasn''t he the only one that visited me today? Jiwoo, Vinny, and Violet have been strangely out of contact....'' She wondered as she walked and sat on the couch. Though Katline too hadn''te, she didn''t include her because Katline had said that she wouldn''t be able toe to her today because of some work. "Here." Katline ced a te filled with food, but the amount of food was too much for one person. "Katline.... I can''t eat that much...." Katharine chuckled lightly and said while pointing at the food. "Oh, sorry, I did it out of habit...." Katline blushed slightly and made up a half-a*sed excuse. "....habit of eating a ton?" Katharine asked with a chuckle, it was definitely lifting her mood. "No! We eat in a single te...." Katline yelled but stopped herself mid-sentence. "Huh?" Katharine furrowed her brows at Katline. "N-nothing." Katline pouted and sat next to Katharine before holding her hand. "...." The house turned silent after those words, but it wasn''t awkward; Katharine gradually took the te in front of her and began eating. She was reminded of her mother, who used to feed her while she yed in her childhood, which continued even after she had turned into a switch cadet; she would get fed while she swung her sword without caring for the food in her mouth or her mother''s care, but now that had lost all meaning to things like that, she was now regretting that she couldn''t enjoy them when they were alive. "Hic....hic...." The living room was filled with the painful hups of Katharine, who was sobbing uncontrobly while eating the food. Though Katline felt bad for her, since she couldn''t understand that pain, she just stroked Katharine''s back in hopes offorting her so that she could let out all of her stressful emotions. ? "It will be alright." Katline mumbled with a soothing voice and hugged Katharine, who had stopped eating food. CLUNK "Haaa...." Then suddenly, Eshwar walked out of his room with a deep sigh. He was now wearing a ck baggy t-shirt, trousers, and home slippers. "...." Katharine stopped crying as both of them stared at Eshwar, whose hair was all messed up. "Tsk." His gazended on Katharine and he clicked his tongue. "I am trying to get some goddamn sleep...." He mumbled under his breath and walked towards them before sitting in front of them. He then suddenly grabbed Katharine''s hands and stared at her in the eyes. Katharine flinched and pulled her hands, but since Eshwar was stronger than her, she couldn''t free her hands from his. "Katharine." Eshwar called out, Katharine shuddered and stopped struggling, and even Katline was surprised by his actions but didn''t say anything out loud. "Why are you crying?" Eshwar asked, and even though the answer was obvious, they couldn''t answer him. "You do know that your crying won''t do anything except bother people like me." Eshwar said. His words pissed off Katline and depressed Katharine even more. Katline, who wanted to scold him, stood up, but before she could continue... "I only cry when I want to forget about something, and I hate it when people don''t just cry once and keep on crying for all their lives, and from what I see, your case is thetter." Eshwar said. "Though I know I''m different and you are different, I don''t want to hear you crying out loud like this. Go to the room with Katline, lock it, and cry with your face buried in the pillow." Eshwar said. His words were so calm that it was quite scary. Katline then nced at Katharine, who seemed not to have heard even a single word that Eshwar just spoke. ''.... there it is.... the hup is gone again, at Eshwar''s words this time too....'' Katharine thought while staring at Eshwar in his eyes. She had heard all of Eshwar''s words and had pondered them, but they sounded like a bunch of nonsense. It was as if a kid was trying to act mature in front of an actual adult, but not a single one of them was consoling her; instead, it even made her more depressed. (AN: If only she understood that not a single word that came out of his mouth was meant to console her.) "Haa... sorry, I don''t even know what I was trying to say; I just got too irritated by all the sobbing. Sorry, you can continue." Eshwar said, got up and sat on the couch at the other end, pulled Katline and made her sit in the middle of him and Katharine. "!" Katline''s eyes then shot wide open when she saw Eshwar lean on her shoulder before falling asleep; she let out a few dry coughs and continued tofort Katharine, who had started to sob again as she remembered her parents. Katline could feel Eshwar''s face twitch from time to time; after a while, she made him lean on the couch, walked in and out of her room, bought her earmuffs with her, covered his ear, and made him lean on her again. Katharine slept while sobbing, and Katline too slept with her head leaned on Eshwar''s; at that time, all three of them had slept on the couch. * The next morning. The first to wake up was Katline; she opened her eyes and froze since she felt a pair of big hands holding her from behind. Since she was familiar with the big hands, she didn''t make any noise even though she wanted to scream, because the hands hugging her were definitely Eshwar''s. He had hugged her like a body pillow, with his left hand between her legs and his right hand around her neck. This was the first time something like this had happened, and she didn''t know what to do because she was almost choked to death when she acted all surprised before. "E-Eshwar...." Katline whispered because her gaze halted at a certain woman''s figure, whichy on the ground with tears in the corner of her eyes. Yes, while Katline and Eshwar were sleeping on the couch, Katharine had fallen to the ground and was sleeping on the cold ground. "G-get up." Katline was having a hard time holding back her voice; if he moved in a weird way, she would moan loudly, and that was something she wasn''t confident in holding back. She then thought of pushing him back in hopes of getting his hands off of her because Katharine could wake up any minute and she wasn''t ready to exin everything. ''...1....2....3....'' She counted inwardly, leaned back, and soon felt his breath on her neck; a pleasurable shiver cruised through her body, and she blushed violently; as a result of that shiver, she jerked abruptly instead of moving slowly, and... "Anh!!" She moaned loudly. Because of her moan, Eshwar jerked back and abruptly pulled his hands before sitting straight with his eyes closed while trying to open them; it was the same with Katharine, but as soon as she tried to sit up... BUM "Ack!?" She hit her head on the table, rubbed the top of her head and rubbed her eyes trying to open them which shut tightly due to the tears which had dried all night. "...." Eshwar gradually opened his eyes and gazed at Katline, who was blushing violently with her hands covering her face. He then tilted his head slightly, his head covered in question marks. ''Ahhhh!!!!!'' Katline screamed inwardly in embarrassment as she peered at his face through the gaps between her fingers. "Let''s go....we had nned to go to the spawning grounds...." Eshwar mumbled while scratching the back of his head. He was speaking as if he wanted to go on an early morning walk. "O-ok." Chapter 225 224. Changes. ?(AN: Omniscient POV) In front of the spawning ground. Though it was a ce filled with dangers, it was still bustling with people. There were tons of stalls, weapon stores, dismantling teams, and shops that auctioned tokens. And among them, many squads of different guilds were also moving with a different air around them; yers were buying and selling all the basic requirements for a dungeon raid; and, though unwanted, even guides were present, guiding all the people where they wanted to go. "Looking for a healer!!!" "Looking for a tank!!" "We''ll pay the one fifth of what they are willing to pay,e with us, sir." "Join us, we have the highest probability of survival!!!" "We need a damage dealer!!!" People who had made their way towards the gate were searching for the party members; people associated with the guilds were ignored for obvious reasons, while they haunted people moving solo or in a team of three like ghosts, some managed to escape them, but since not everybody could escape, they were baited into an unfair deal. Then slowly the ce began to turn silent as if a wave had passed, then they slowly made way and saw three people walking without any protective gears on them, all there of them a different aura surrounding them that made others to make way for them. A handsome white-haired man walked in the middle with two otherworldly beauties next to him. Of course, the man''s charm was even more higher than the women''s, even though that was enough to ignite envy and jealousy in all the men while igniting lust and affection in women. From the way the women next to him were fidgeting, it seemed like they were his lovers, and that made both men and women turn green in envy. Of course, the man didn''t mind them as they made their way towards the gate. Many gasps and murmurs filled the area, and a few people even started to grin at them, widely. The people who had somehow survived the spawning ground began to think that those three were newbies who underestimated the spawning grounds due to their high self-esteem about their slightly superior strengths. "Do they want to die?" "Gasp!! I can''t believe they want to enter the spawning ground with only three of them." "Tsk, tsk, tsk, it''s as they say, people with beauty don''t have brains." "Hahahaha, let them go, they''ll know once they get inside that they are nothing but a frog in the well." "Tsk, good looking people should just die." Manyments were being thrown at the trio; the man didn''t seem to mind any of them, but a dark-brown-haired woman next to him was gritting her teeth with bloodshot eyes, while the ck-haired woman was calming her down. They then stood in front of the gate, and the people''sughter andments mocking them grew greatly, but the trio ignored them, and the trio talked amongst themselves before walking into the gate with red-coloured tokens in each of their hands. And then suddenly, the white-haired man held both of the women''s hands and stopped them from jumping into the gate before turning to face the people who werementing about them. "...." then suddenly absolute silence descended upon the area and they felt a sudden chill run down their spines when they met the white-haired man''s gaze and then.... TAP The white-haired man raised his right hand slightly and tapped his index finger in mid-air. He held both of their hands again before jumping into the gate with his back facing the people. "What just happened?" A mumble was heard, but neither of them answered; they were dazed in confusion. What did that man just do? Was that a show? If yes, then how did he tap mid-air, and what was that sound? Where did ite from? All these questions cruised through their minds, but then they ignored that weird man and got back to work, and... CRACK They halted as soon as they heard a cracking sound; all of them nced around before halting at the spot where the handsome man had just stood. CRA-CRACK The space cracked from the spot where the man had just tapped, and the space started to expand and continued to do so until it was at the size of a boulder. The inside of the crack in space waspletely ck, and slowly a dark purple hue began to ooze out of it. The temperature dropped by a few degrees, and they felt some kind of pressure bearing down on them, but it wasn''t anything they couldn''t bear. And then something moved in that space, and that something shot wide open, revealing a bright orange iris with a vertical golden slit like pupil; the ground abruptly began to tremble, and a golden-ck ripple shot out from the space, knocking all of them unconscious; it wouldn''t have been strange if they died from the amount of fear they felt; it would be a fun sight to see when they wake up. Not even a second had passed after the hue oozed out of the space; if it had stayed there even for a millisecond more, all the people around the area would have died in fear, without even knowing what had just happened. Whatever the man had just done, it strangely inflicted fear in the souls of the people who saw it. It would be great if the man never used it again, but looking at how he used such a technique at people who simply badmouthed him, it certainly doesn''t feel like he would stop. * (AN: Back to normal.) Inside the "random" dungeon. In a dense forest area filled with lush greeneries. A handsome white-haired man, a ck-haired gorgeous woman, and a dark-brown-haired stunning woman stood next to each other with dazed expressions on their faces as the scent of mud, flowery aroma, fresh air, and the slightly ironic scent of blood trickled on their nostrils. as the waterfall''s sound came from their right. "What a beautiful dungeon." Katline mumbled as she relished the feeling. ".....yes." Katharine mumbled with a small smile on her face. "Certainly. As much as I''d love to stay here for quite some time, prepare, wolves iing." Eshwar''s nonchnt voice sounded. *** (AN: Hello, this is Eshwar (The Author.) Due to something happening I kinds stressed out about it and the story had started to awry, so from the next chapter I''ll be back at my own pace, their won''t be any noticeable changes though. Anyway, just wanted to let this be known, thank you for reading and. [Peace]) Chapter 226 225. Facts. ?(AN: Omniscient POV) Let''s go back to the past a bit, shall we? Eshwar, who had awakened into a hero, was brought back to the human domain by Quinn Walker, who had also helped him a lot in understanding how to live in the human domain, though his efforts were purely unnecessary because Eshwar knew about it and even then, he would act the way he wanted to. And as you already know, after he returned to the human domain, he made friends, who were still with him as the Uncharted, a few lovers who interested him at the beginning, a sh*t ton of enemies, and he had even learnt many things to refine himself, as he began to understand that the world he lived in was the novel world he had written when he was still a human without any mana. And after he learned about the fact that the world he was living in now was a world he himself created, then as a story writer himself, the first question that appeared in his mind was, "What if, just like me, somebody else is writing my story, making me dance in the palm of their hands?" Though he never showed it on the outside, this question haunted him to this day, and soon his head started to make up sh*t, making him paranoid about his existence. It was also a way he had thought about making Jiwoo''s mentality weak, just as he was doing with Violet and the others. And recently another question and different thoughts were appearing in his mind: "Why am I getting stronger?" "Why is it that I am being forced to get stronger?" "Why am I getting dragged here and there and getting stronger?" "Am I getting stronger on my own free will?" "I haven''t done anything to get stronger myself." "Why are things like this happening to me?" and after these questions, he was forced to think back on his first question, "Is there somebody who is writing my story?" "If then, was it also them that messed with Eunomia, no, the system?" Eshwar, who was thinking that he wasn''t scared of anything, began to tremble in fear at these thoughts; such things were too much to bear with a sane mind. The question about, what if, was also the reason he didn''t want to interfere with the lives of the people "living" in the world he created, and that was also the reason he wanted to kill all the viins, who had potential to be those who could destroy the world. Though notpletely, he had hoped to create a peaceful world, but soon he realised that by doing that he was interfering with the novel, he stopped whatever he was doing and only focused on his own life, trying to hold in his obsession with "mine," which was set loose when he saw Isha get hurt by those he had created. Anyway, that was another matter, the answers to these questions of his seemed to not be THAT far away from him. And that poses another interesting question: "What would he do if he found answers to these questions?" If the answer he wanted to know turned out to be yes¡ªthat somebody was responsible for his past, present, and future turning out like this¡ªthen he would do everything that could "definitely" destroy whoever was doing this, but at the same time, it wouldn''t be that different if the answer turned out to be otherwise, since the situation right now was definitely on the path of destruction. As the obsession with "mine" he was trying to hold in broke loose at the very moment Isha was hurt. Of course, it was a natural reaction that would be expected from him, because he, who had lived thousands of years with very few lives he held precious, would definitely want to protect them, which had gradually turned into "his," which he thought he was responsible for. Ahem, anyway, moving on.... *** On the mana less Earth. On a normal city road filled with vehicle sounds, exhaust odours, lights, and other things. Snow was seen stacking as it lightly rained down, and people were seen in front of food stalls, eating and warming themselves with the heat from the food being cooked. A beautiful woman with delicate facial features and an hourss figure walked down the street as the mouth-watering scent of food from the nearby food stalls trickled into her nostrils. She had rosy cheeks and red ears due to the cold, she was wearing a thick navy-blue hoody over a full-sleeved t-shirt that was beneath another sweatshirt. She also had tight ck leather leggings and boots. "Haaa...." She breathed out hot air and warmed her uncovered hands as she rubbed them against each other; she then tapped on the smartwatch she was wearing. [10:33 pm.] GROWL "Ah...." She then rubbed her stomach which was growling loudly. ''...What should I eat?'' She thought and nced around at a ton of food stalls with people filled around it. "There is a restaurant around the corner...." She mumbled and paced up. And as she arrived near the corner, her gaze stopped on the bookstore, which had tons of books on disy, including one of her own. [The survival story of a viin (Fanfic, in remembrance of the original author, Sir Eshwar)] ''I shouldn''t have published this fanfic....'' She thought. "Haaa.... I lost my appetite." She mumbled, but still bought a ton of food before walking back the way she came, back to her home. * CLUNK "Hmm...." She walked into her dark room and locked the door behind her. It was a single-bedroom apartment. In her room, where almost everything was, there was a small bed that was surrounded by books, novels, clothes, a few kitchen utensils, a few cups of instant noodles, a PC, a wardrobe, and dust. She tossed the food on her bed, took a few, and ced them near the PC before turning it on. As soon as it turned on, the monitor screen disyed the dashboard of her novel, which was one of her sources of ie. [A viin for my own novel''s main characters.] [Author: Seol So-Young] (3.78 stars) [Words: 478.15 K] [Views: 124 M] .... She scrolled down and clicked on reviews. ShAdoWmoNarch: (2.5 stars) Author! What is this sh*t? Why the hell is Eshwar (the character) so freaking strong? I mean, seriously? A single chapter to exin how he got so strong? And there was even a sh*t load of plot holes, and many things were never mentioned again! I began to read this after I read that published fanfic, but no, this isn''t what I came here for. This story is as bad as the fanfic was good. I am dropping this novel, not for me. PervyDemoN: (3.5 stars) If you want a he strong MC, even though if the story doesn''t have any content, then this story is for you. cki69: (4.5 stars) This is quite good to be honest. ShaDOWcoP: (1.5 stars) Nah, what''s this? There are many parts of the story which are never mentioned in the story again, many things that are left unattended. If you want a brief summary of the novel, this is it: Eshwar (the character) is a super-strong MC; how he became that strong is not known properly. He and his one and only lover get manipted by someone stronger than the MC, who was supposedly the strongest. They both hate each other at the beginning, and though both of theme to love each other, they are unable to open up. Eshwar bes sadistic as he desperately tries to hold on to her. Many strong characters appear out of nowhere, and all of them hate Eshwar for reasons that were never mentioned. He then gets the "absolute" weapon named karma, and bes an absolute being, but somehow he still isn''t stronger than the one manipting him, who then turned out to be his own father, he then for reasons unknown begins to manipte the main characters of the novel, that too very sloppily, but somehow nobody realises it for whatever reason. Bruh, that f**king karma weapon is so strong that MC gets x times stronger ording to the karma of his opponent. Does that even make sense? If his opponent''s karma is 50, then MC bes 50 times stronger than he already is! Even then, he couldn''t defeat his own father! Who is a freaking human? And what is with the gods and goddesses? They are only mentioned here and there. That''s f**king it!!! Do you want to know what the best part is? All of the above is mentioned literally in a single chapter!! And in another world, MC defeats all the gods! This flipping MC couldn''t even defeat his own father!!! AARGGGHHHH! I am still continuing this story because I am still hoping it will get better, sh*t. Anyway! Respects to the deceased author, Sir Eshwar. ..... ... "Haa....what do you guys want me to do? Read it or f**k off! I write what I want!" Seol So-Young yelled in outrage and stuffed her mouth with the Chocova cake. "And f**k off, don''t criticize my darling Eshwar! I make him as strong as I want! Hmph!" Seol So-Young snorted; reading thosements was like taking in a daily dose of criticism. Why? Even she doesn''t know, but she would read all those old reviews and get pissed off about it. "Arghhh!!!" She yelled in outrage and began to stuff herself with eight more fist sized Chocova cake. "Akh!??" And began choking on her favourite dessert. ''F**k...I can''t believe... I''m chocking on a... flipping chocte cake....'' she thought as her vision turned blurry. Chapter 227 226. Player. ?* "Argh...." Seol So-Young groaned in sleep. "!" She snapped open her eyes and sat straight. "Cough.... cough...cough?" She coughed instantly to get out the Chocova cake, but she then coughed awkwardly because she didn''t have the suffocating feeling anymore. "I am never buying ever again.... except for today and tomorrow...." She mumbled under her breath and looked up at the sky.....sky? "Huh? Where...am I?" She mumbled while gazing at the beautiful blue sky and trees surrounding her. ''Have I been kidnapped? What? What is this? A hidden camera?'' She gazed around as her mind ran at full speed, trying to find a conclusion for the predicament she was in. "Did I unknowingly buy THAT brownie, instead of a Chocova cake?" Seol So-Young mumbled, panicked. SNIFF "Hm? What''s that?" She sniffed, and some kind of irony scent trickled into her nostrils. She frowned and quickly hid behind the tree, her back facing the tree. BA-THUMP (5x) She wanted to scream if it was a hidden camera or something, but since the moment she opened her eyes, there had been a certain ominous feeling that was stopping her from doing anything. CRUNCH (3x) A crunching sound sounded from the opposite side of the tree she hid behind; yes, if she hadn''t taken any action and stood back there motionlessly, then the crunchy sound would have sounded right in front of her. BA-THUMP (6x) Her heartbeat instantly sped up by a notch, she ced her hand on her chest while covering her mouth with the other, and she nced back with cold sweat forming on her forehead. ''Shut it! I''m going to die because of you!'' She thought¡ªshe didn''t exactly know why¡ªbut she knew that she would die if she made too much sound. ''What kind of nightmare is this? Was that brownie too much?'' She thought. Yes, she had already epted the fact that what she ate thest night was brownie and not a Chocova cake, or there is no way in hell, that she would dream of such absolutely terrifying things. She had unknowingly drugged herself to sleep in her room, and whatever was happening right now was due to its effects, or that''s was the conclusion she came to. And she was now tripping without even knowing whether it really was day or she was sleeping in room at night. "Grr...." A growl sounded behind the tree and Seol So-Young froze, and.... GROOOOWWWLLLL "...." Her stomach too growled in hunger and silence descended upon the area. ''F**k! F**king....please shut up!'' She cursed inwardly and took a deep breath before covering her nose to halt her breathing for a while. "Oup...." And an "oup" sound escaped her mouth as she closed her mouth after taking a mouthful of extra air. "Grr...." Another growl sounded as sniffing sounds sounded behind the tree she hid. And.... GRRRROOOWWWLLLLL "...." Her stomach growled again. "...." ''F**k!'' She cursed inwardly and.... "Grrraa!!!" A loud wolf''s growl sounded, and Seol So-Young understood that she had been found out; she removed her hands and dashed forward without looking back. CRUNCH (9x) "....." She involuntarily closed her mouth as she dashed. "Rruff, grrfff, grrra!!" Soon not one but four wolves'' growls sounded behind her, but without even trying to get a glimpse of the danger behind her, she dashed. ''F**k, f**k, f**k!!!'' * A very few minutester. "Huff...huff...huff...huff...." Seol So-Young huffed and gasped for air while still dashing with a mini pack of wolves on her back that were, unfortunately for her, very persistent. DING [Establishing a connection....] [Connection to the ''yer'' system sessful!] [System influence increased by 20!] [Current System influence on ''Earth'' is: 102.] [''yer'' system initializing....] [''yer Shop'' function initializing.....] [Connection of the transcended beings establishing....] [The user "unknown" has been granted a level boost because of the extra "2" point increase in the system''s influence..] [System initialized!] [yer ''Seol So-Young'' has awakened in a high ranked dungeon!] [Additional trait has been rewarded.] [Please try saying ''system window'' to check your awakened traits.] "Argh!!! F**k off!! I can''t see what''s ahead!" Seol So-Young yelled amid her huffs and puffs. "Ah... goddammit, alright, alright, system window!!" She yelled, thinking maybe it would clear up the sh*t ton of holograms in front of her.... holograms? ''System? Huh? WTF?'' She then realised that this.... the holograms were yet to be invented on earth, what is this? Is this a prank? Nah, it may not be; maybe she was just dreaming; yes, that is the only exnation for this unknown situation. ==== [Status window] [Community] [yer Shop] ==== ==== [Profile] == Name: Seol So-Young Level: 1 ss: Warrior Rank: F == [Image of Seol So-Young] [Headgear (-)] [Slot (1x)] [Body Armour (-)] [Slot (1x)] [Arm Guard (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Trousers (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Boots (-)] [Slot (1x)] ==== ==== [Stats] == Strength: - (+) Agility: 1 (+) Endurance: - (+) Intelligence: 1 (+) Perception: - (+) Dexterity: - (+) Magic power: - (+) Constitution: 1 (+) ==== ==== [Traits] (more info) [Skills] (more info) [Misceneous] (more info) [Inventory] (more info) ==== "Huff...huff....huff...huff..." She stopped running and turned around to face the wolves. "Yuck...." She spat in disgust, the wolves had ten eyes and were three meters tall, they had a strange yet clear smug grin on their faces that disyed that they were ying around with her and could have killed her whenever they wanted to. Her gaze was fixated on the wolves, which weren''t moving for whatever reasons, but Seol So-Young''s gaze wasn''t exactly fixated on them; it was fixated on the status window in front of her. She had clicked on the [Traits] and [Skills] options disyed on the status window. ==== [Traits] are now turned into [Skills], which are easily essible. [Skills] are added with three new functions: [Passive Skills], [Active Skills], and [Cool Down]. ==== ==== [Skills] == [Mind''s eye]: Can view the status window of the yer who is a lesser or (1) level higher than the user. [Active Skill] [No Cool Down] [Sprint]: Increases the user''s agility by 10% for 1 minute. [Active Skill] [Cool Down: 30 min] ==== DING [''Titles'' have been added!] [''Outsider'' title has been rewarded.] [Outsider: Laws of the physical world will not apply to the user. [Can only be activated once a day] [Surrounds the user in an otherworldly aura when equipped] [''Desires'' can be added to the aura]] ''Equip, Outsider. Activate Sprint. Mind''s eye.'' She activated all of her skills and titles because she thought she should go all out and enjoy to her heart''s content, at least in her dream. "How dare you think you can y with me. I''ll kill you, you sons of a bit*hes!" She yelled, and due to the title, an extremely fierce aura surrounded her weak a*s body, and due to her roar, the desire added to that aura became a killing intent. A pale ck aura began to ooze out of her body; even So-Young, who saw her aura, could tell it was too weak to do anything, but the wolves'' gazes said otherwise. The wolves flinched and took a step back while growling loudly. Looking at the sight in front of her, So-Young gained some confidence, and because she was feeling all of her leg muscles tensing due to the sprint skill activation, she thought she shouldn''t waste time and "dashed" forward. WHOOOSH Maybe it was because of her mind''s eye skill, but her gaze didn''t avert while she "dashed." She saw the wolf''s gaze still in the spot where she previously stood, and though she didn''t understand why, she used that opportunity and... BAM! She added all her body weight, which wasn''t much, and punched at the wolf that seemingly stood at the front. Then suddenly, the wolf''s body flew back and hit the tree very loudly! Or that''s what she narrated in her mind, but the wolf was slightly pushed back by foot distance with a small whimper before ring down at So-Young. "Ha, haha, ha...." Sheughed awkwardly and turned around while maintaining eye contact. "Kyaaaa!!!!" and dashed. Chapter 228 227. Outsider. ?The wolf was only slightly pushed back by a foot''s distance with a small whimper before ring down at So-Young. "Ha, haha, ha...." Seol So-Youngughed awkwardly and turned around while maintaining eye contact. "Kyaaaa!!!!" and dashed as if her life depended on it, no, it literally was! * After 30 seconds of running. "Huff...huff...huff..." She huffed in a low voice, as low as she could, while trying her best to take a breather as she rested atop a branch of the tree she had somehow managed to climb after juking the wolves. ''Thank you, sprint.'' She thanked her skill because it was the reason, she was able to juke the wolves. CRUNCH (3x) The crunch sound sounded again, but this time it was from below. She nced at the wolves again and activated her mind''s eye again, but this time a bit more focused, and soon... ==== Name: Unnamed Level: 3 Race: Beast [User level is too low] ==== DING [''Race'' function has been added.] [Please choose a race.] ==== Human (select) Elf [Hearing and vision] (select) Dwarf [Touch and smell] (select) Undead [Taste, smell, hearing, touch, vision. (random)] [Vampire, zombie, skeleton] [Hidden] (select) Beast-man [Taste, smell, hearing, touch, vision. (random)] [Hidden] (select) [Newly added to the Earth] ==== DING [Alert: Based on the selected race, user''s mentality will be altered ordingly.] [User can choose to remain human.] [Alert: Stats are increased ording to the selected race. If the user has chosen to remain human, the stats will remain the same.] [Alert: User will undergo a body modified ording to the selected race.] [Alert: The race selected will be halved. (Ex: selected race Elf = current race Half-Elf.)] ''F**k, are you serious? Isn''t this exactly like a game?'' So-Young thought and clicked on the most famed race. [Elf race has been selected.] [User''s race will be modified to Half-Elf.] [Elven mentality is being imprinted in the user''s mind.] "Arghhh!!!!" So-Young screamed in agony as her body began to undergo the new body modification ording to her selected Elven race. The wolves on the ground noticed her scream naturally, and before they began to climb up the tree, So-Young''s aura began to burst out of her body, and due to the pain she was undergoing, the aura turned more fiercer and made the wolves shudder. While the wolves were hesitating, So-Young, who was undergoing the body modification, screamed in anguish as her ears grew longer, her delicate facial features became more defined, which added a certain charm to her beauty, and her sensitivity towards nature, natural mana attributes, sense of earning, and vision heightened. * After a few minutes of experiencing insane amount of pain. "...." She had slumped on the tree without any energy left in her body; she wasn''t even able to let out a peep. But still, she was feeling at ease because of the shade the tree was providing her. She was thankful for the air, sunlight, and shade that nature currently provided her. She was able to feel the mana cruising through the air and was even able to circte it inside her body. Though she couldn''t see herself, she also knew that she had be a lot more beautiful. ''As expected of a dream, no matter what, I will be what I want.....'' So-Young thought, but her thought process instantly halted when she finally realised something, that was too obvious since the beginning. "Wait, I feel pain...." She mumbled and began to tremble at the realisation that, because of her "writer''s" head, she had been narrating everything in her mind. She was thinking that everything that she was feeling right now was just her imagination; as absurd as it sounded, she had been doing exactly that from the moment she woke up until now! "No, no, no, I''m too dumb for not realising this fact until now, but what in the actual f**k? Where is this? Aren''t I stranded? Not a single human is in sight! No, wait, aren''t I an elf now? Will humans ept me? Of course, they will, and I''m flipping Elf! No, f**k, this is Earth? Didn''t the system mention that this is Earth? What the f**k? Huh? Where is this? Where am I? Are those real monsters? Am I going to die? Should I run? Should I stay? Won''t I die if I stay? But where should I run to?" she mumbled in panic while trembling profusely. "What should I do? Help! Hel, haa, help!!" Without realising she was already out of breath, she gulped down air as she screamed, in a buzz-like voice, for help. "Some.... around there." A man''s hoarse voice sounded from a distance. ''Human, no, a living being!!'' Seol So-Young thought and her eyes regained hope. ''I am an elf, so seducing them into bringing me with them won''t be a problem. I have to act like I am a wh*re until I see civilization, after that, if I can, I''ll knock them out and steal everything they have with them, if they are stronger, then I''ll run away, hopefully, sprint''s cool down would have ended by then, if they are a lot more stronger than I expected, then I will no choice but go together with them, while keeping any kind of physical contact at a limit.'' Seol So-Young nned the future n of action, and suddenly... "Aaaaa!!!" She loudly screamed in anguish because she felt as if somebody was ripping apart her limb. She nced down and noticed that a wolf had climbed up the tree and was biting her feet. She fumbled around, found something she could grab, broke it, leaned to her left, and stabbed the wolf''s eye! THUMP "Kyun?!!!" The wolf let out a strange whimper and fell off from the tree. "Argh!! Aa...aaaaa...waaahhh...." She held her leg and began to cry in agony as her left foot bled profusely. * A minuteter. SLASH (4x) THUD "There!!" A man''s hoarse voice sounded from beneath, and Seol So-Young, who barely held on to her consciousness, nced at the hot-looking trio, which contained a man elf who was a godly beauty without a doubt and two gorgeous women who could easily rival So-Young, but inparison to the man, they paled, but by human standards, they were more beautiful than many idols. The man instantly jumped on the tree, grabbed Seol So-Young and slowlynded on the ground, he then fed her a thick green coloured liquid form a volumetric sk, though So-Young didn''t understand what it was at the start, she soon felt the pain subside, she then understood that it might be what a potion is. Her hazy vision returned to normal and her entire body froze when she looked at the most handsomest man she had ever seen. ''Goddamn, he''s like a literal piece of art....'' So-Young thought while staring at man. ''I don''t think, I would mind being a wh*re for this man.'' She thought. Then.... "Eshwar. Is she alright?" A ck-haired woman asked, and So-Young''s whole world froze when she heard that name. "I... don''t know, she is a bit strange...." Eshwar said while staring at So-Young with a weird look on his face, since Seol So-Young was having a nosebleed with a perverted grin on her face. *** Chapter 229 228. System Influence. ?A few minutes earlier. A handsome white-haired man, a gorgeous ck-haired woman, and a stunning dark-brown-haired woman walked side by side, while the ck-haired woman carried a bow and arrow and the dark-brown-haired woman carried a great sword, and the man was bare-handed. "It''s clear." I said. ''Of course, I only said that there is nothing up to 10 metres around us; there are still a ton more.'' I added inwardly. "You seriously won''t fight?" Katline asked while facing me. "Mhm." I nodded. "....." Katharine simply stared at us for a brief moment before trying to sense her surroundings. I had told them that I wouldn''t be fighting and that they''d be "escorting" me out of this dungeon, safe and sound. Of course, I also added that I would help them if it seemed like they were in trouble; I didn''t say it in one sentence because I wasn''t really nning on helping them in any way. And I had nned to annihte every single wolf in this gate before I left here. ''All these beasts are from ''there.'''' I muttered in my mind. DING [System influence increased by 20.] Current System influence on ''Earth'' is: 102.] [''yer'' system initializing....] [''yer Shop'' function initializing.....] [Connection of the transcended beings establishing....] [The user "unknown" has been granted a level boost because of the extra "2" point increase in the system''s influence..] [System initialized!] [Congrattions, my lovely daughter!] I spoke to Eunomia telepathically. The connection between us was formed in an instant, even though I didn''t have any mana anymore. It was because I recently "understood" that even without mana, I could use mana because of the order authority. Not having mana didn''t have any actual impact on me because of the order authority; it basically made it so that I could use mana even if I didn''t have any. Of course, in this case, my concentration on the system and Eunomia should be stronger, while Eunomia''s willingness to ept the telepathic link would also y a vital role. But the powers I have now are exactly three, which are my authorities and "karma." The name of the 3-meter-long line I obtained from THAT white space where my mana was depleted. It was because, in order to use "karma," I was seemingly supposed to have absolutely no mana. ''Maybe that weapon is dumb. How hasn''t it already realised that I am using mana?'' I wondered inwardly. It was very strange that I "knew" everything about this karma, but I ignored it because of all of the strangest f**king things that happen in my day-to-day life. And while I was busy cursing my goddamn life... [Thank you papa.] Eunomia''s reply came almost instantly and snapped me out of my trance, then I remembered the system notification just now. [But why did I get rewarded?] I asked, puzzled. [An intruder from another world has appeared out of nowhere, for the unforeseen danger, you have to get stronger and that intruder is...what should I say, kind of strange (?)] Eunomia said in a serious yet puzzled voice. [An intruder?] I asked curiously. [Hmm...not exactly an intruder, more like an outsider, but her memories are....] Eunomia was saying something, but she abruptly paused. [Are?] I asked and slightly furrowed my brows. [... You should look at it yourself, you have THAT now anyway, it should be quite simple for you.] Eunomia said. ''How did she know?'' I wondered inwardly, but ignored it because she supposed to be omniscient, so it wasn''t that strange for her to know. [Alright.] I replied and as I was about to terminate the link..... [It really was you!!] Eunomia''s loud excited childish voice sounded. [You rascal. I can''t believe you! I thought you would know about it because you are omniscient. Oh my god, I can''t believe my own kid outsmarted me.] I said in grumbling tone and cut off the telepathic link. DING [It is not like that!! T-T] Eunomia sent a message through the system. [I know, I think I found this outsider you just spoke of, I''ll contact youter.] I reconnected the telepathic link, informed her the reason and ended the telepathic link again because my facial expressions change from time to time if I am speaking with Eunomia. [Ok.] Eunomia sent a message through the system again. [I''m adding in the new updates.] And after another message, she stopped. [[Traits] are now turned into [Skills], which are easily essible. [Skills] are added with three new functions: [Passive Skills], [Active Skills], and [Cool Down].] [''Race'' function has been added!] [''Titles'' have been added!] [Please choose a race.] ==== Human (select) Elf [Hearing and vision] (select) Dwarf [Touch and smell] (select) Undead [Taste, smell, hearing, touch, vision. (random)] [Vampire, zombie, skeleton] [Hidden] (select) Beast-man [Taste, smell, hearing, touch, vision. (random)] [Hidden] (select) [Newly added to the Earth] ==== ZZZT-ZZT ==== ??? [Taste, smell, hearing, touch, vision.] (Select) ==== DING [Alert: Based on the selected race, user''s mentality will be altered ordingly.] [User can choose to remain human.] [Alert: Stats are increased ording to the selected race. If the user has chosen to remain human, the stats will remain the same.] [Alert: User will undergo a body modified ording to the selected race.] [Alert: The race selected will be halved. (Ex: selected race Elf = current race Half-Elf.)] ''Well, for me, the answer is pretty obvious.'' I muttered in my mind and clicked the one on the glitched system window. WHOOOSH "...." I simply stood still as my ears grew longer and slightly smaller than those of the elf, and as my eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and even my skin hurt, but since this much was bearable, I didn''t even groan. DING [???''s mentality is being imprinted in the user''s mind.] PANG A strange pang appeared in my mind which soon subsided. SWISH "...." ''Was that it?'' I thought because my mentality got slightly more twisted than before and now I got some new impulses, those that makes you want to kill somebody. ''So there isn''t anything new? But I do feel like I have all the other races'' traits.'' I had senses of an elf, a dwarf, a vampire''s blood thirst, and even the new beast-man''s dense muscles and skin. "Stats." I called out aloud. (AN: I''ll be showing Eshwar''s entire status) ==== [Status window] [Community] [yer Shop] ==== ==== [Profile] == Name: Unknown (Eshwar, Max) Level: 12 ss: Mage Race: ??? Title: Human Hunter: When equipped, increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or humanoid monsters. (Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 394/500 to next stat increase.) Rank: SS == [Image of Eshwar] [Headgear (White Parasite)] [Slot (1x)] [Body Armour (-)] [Slot (1x)] [Arm Guard (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Trousers (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Boots (-)] [Slot (1x)] ==== ==== [Stats] == Strength: 9/10 -> 10/10 [+20] (Rank-S -> SS) -> 30 (+90) [NEW] Agility: 5/10 -> 8/10 [+20] (Rank- SS) -> 28 (+90) [NEW] Endurance: 6/10 [+20] (Rank-S -> SS) -> 26 (+90) [NEW] Intelligence: 10/10 [+20] (Rank- ???) -> ??? Perception: 10/10 [+20] (Rank- ???) -> ??? Dexterity: 6/10 [+20] (Rank-S -> SS) -> 26 (+90) [NEW] Constitution: 8/10 [+20] (Rank- S -> SS) -> 29 (+90) [NEW] Karma: 45% Evil, 54% Love, 1% Kind. ==== (AN: The "+" 80''s and 90''s that I have added are "+10" for each "rank." And in the next chapter when I add a system window, it will be the numbers like the above. Normal beings stat numbers will be 1-10 with (+10)''s as they don''t have Eshwar''s human hunter trait.) ==== [Skills] == [PASSIVE SKILLS] == [Good with hands]: Dexterity increased by 12%. [Passive Skill] [Hand to handbat]: Combat sense increased by 10%. [Passive Skill] [Taboo]: Devouring rate increased by 50%. [Passive Skill] == [ACTIVE SKILLS] == [Frost Fire]: [Active Skill] [Mana required] [???]: Can locate the added party member (the party member cannot be removed once added.) [Active Skill] [Mana required] [Cool Down: None] [Pause]: User''s moments can be paused. [Active Skill] [Cool Down: 30 sec] [Release]: umted damage can be released by 50%. [Active Skill] [Cool Down: 30 sec] [Break]: User can break anything that''s wished for. (2 uses) [Active Skill] [Cool Down: None] ==== [Misceneous] == Free stat points: 41. Achievement Points: 122,000. Monster hunted in the past week: 2689. Humans hunted in the past week: 24. Number of living the user has hunted is: 859,879. Current number of living is: 3,004,469,864. Current System influence on Earth is: 102/100. ==== [Inventory] == Trishul [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: TRIDENT]: Skills: Crescent moon, Third eye.] [Devil''s Shotgun [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: GUN]: Skills: Quick reload, Burst.] [ITEM: SKILL LEVEL INCREASE SCROLL.] (5x) ==== ''When did I even reach Rank-SS?'' Chapter 230 229. Outsider (2). ?''When did I even reach Rank-SS?'' I pondered, because I didn''t know that I had already reached Rank-SS, while staring at seven different status windows in front of me. "E-E-Eshwar! I can''t believe you choose to be an elf." Katline''s flustered voice sounded I nced at her, and she instantly turned a brighter shade of red in embarrassment. I got confused by how flustered she was and nced at Katharine, who had the same exact reaction. "What''s wrong and what race did you guys choose?" I asked. "Y-yu-you t-turned more h-h-handsome, s-so much so that my h-heart is a-aching, a-and I ch-ch-chose to remain human." Katline could somewhat answer even while extremely flustered. "Really?" I asked, and Katline nodded while gasping (?) for air. I frowned in confusion and nced at Katharine, whose hand was crawling down towards her.... "Katharine!!" Katline followed my gaze and yelled before her friend embarrassed herself. ".... maybe we should return and find a solution for this....." I said and paused mid-sentence with a deep frown on my face because "just now" I felt something. "Eshwar?" Though still flustered, Katline frowned at my strange actions and called out. "I felt a human''s presence!" I yelled and dashed back at the direction of where we walked in from to "help" the outsider, who was at the opposite direction. "What!!" Katharine eximed and followed after me. "....how...did another human other than us, enter? Shouldn''t it be a random gate?" Katline observed closely and mumbled with a deep frown on her face. I smirked inwardly. I had hoped either of them would notice, and I purposefully ran back in the same direction we entered, even though this "outsider" was in the opposite direction. This way, they won''t properly notice even if I change the direction in the middle and circle around before reaching the outsider''s location, they won''t know about it, since this gate ispletely new and there is no proper information about it and there never will be, and be suspicious of this outsider thinking that they followed us in. ''The spawning grounds are able to store monsters only if they are killed by yers in gates and dungeons like these, and arepletely random, no body can "follow" anybody into these gates, using these spawning grounds and dungeons, I n to cause many dungeon overflows.'' I remembered my n and the information Eunomia had given me; it was also the reason I''m hunting in the spawning grounds rather than the sh*t ton of gates that are spawned outside. If humans realise that fact and stop hunting, then everything that is being caused by the monsters may stop, but I can''t let them be like that since I have no intention of stopping once I set my mind to it. ''Destroy the sh*thole ''they'' are trying to protect!'' * A few minutes of circling aroundter. "Somewhere around there! Let''s go!!" I yelled and directed them towards the location of the outsider. "Are you sure? We''ve been running around for minutes!!" Katline''s doubtful yell sounded from behind. I could feel suspicion in Katharine''s gaze too, but it was just that she didn''t voice it, and... "Aaaaaaa!!!" A woman''s voice filled with anguish resounded from the direction I was taking them, and that cleared up all the doubts and suspicions they had. ".... sorry for doubting you...." Katline''s apologetic voice sounded from behind, but I ignored it as I didn''t hear it and paced up by a notch, leaving them behind. ''Expand mana senses.'' I ordered, and my entire surroundings were visible, like I myself had a 360-degree view. ''Not to be ungrateful or anything, but does this order authority even make sense? I have no mana, right? Then how the f**k is this mana sense working? Aren''t I the mana''s centre point? Shouldn''t I have some mana that allows me to control or order the mana surrounding me? Am I thinking too much?'' I questioned myself as I noticed Katline biting her lower lip and lowering her head. TRRRRUM "!" I opened my eyes wide in surprise. My entire body trembled violently for an instant, and since I "knew" and "understood" karmapletely, I now knew about something called "Aether" that karma informed me about. The aether is an energy residing in the Blind Eternities, although it is present in some nes to a lesser or greater degree. The Blind Eternities is a termmonly used by neswalkers to refer to the space between nes in the Multiverse, which is filled with chaotic energies. The aether takes part in summoning creatures; when they materialize, they are pulled from the aether. Raw aetheric matter is referred to as the very stuff of the cosmos. Aether shapes the natural world into swirling patterns and is harvested and refined in order to fuel the various constructs and inventions. ''You bit*h, aren''t you a goddamn thing that''s "absolute?" Why the f**k are you stuck on my soul? Can''t you get the f**k out and do what you want?'' I asked karma. Because it just answered the question, I was asking myself. ''Go kill some gods and take their goddamn ce to be ruled under the system, you f**kturd! Get off from my soul!'' I grumbled at Karma inwardly. I had also learned something about "the right," which is supposedly something only I have and that I am not bound by time and stuff like that, but I couldn''t care less about such things; this goddamn parasite-like thing is stuck on my soul and has been trying to corrupt it ever since. ''Anyway, about the aether, that I have in my control. Couldn''t I use it more proficiently with my creator''s domain, which has a space maniption skill? Since aether is the space between nes. I certainly could try that.'' I thought inwardly. "There!" I yelled and pointed at the outsider, who had a slightly relieved expression as soon as her gazended on me. And within a few seconds, Katline and Katharine rushed next to me. SLASH (4x) THUD Katharine shed the heads of the wolves below the tree where the outsider hung on. I jumped high up until I was able to reach the woman, gently picked her up, carried her like a princess, and jumped down while trying to manipte the aether to slow down my speed instead of directly ordering it. I took out a higher-grade healing potion from my subspace, popped off the lid, and fed it to her as gently as I could. I couldn''t let her die as I needed information about whatever she knows, since Eunomia sounded so serious yet confused when she asked me to check this woman''s memories out myself. "Eshwar. Is she alright?" Katline''s voice sounded from behind and she had a nervous look on her face. I nced at her and nced back at the woman, who was in my arms with her eyes wide open in surprise. Gradually a perverted smile appeared on her beautiful elf face; though it felt perverted, it also had a certain allure to it, anyway.... "I... don''t know, she''s a bit strange..." I replied and raised my left hand to p the woman''s cheek lightly, hoping that would snap her out of her daze. PATTT "...." "...." ".... She didn''t die, did she?" Chapter 231 230. Elven Mentality. ?* ".... She didn''t die, did she?" Eshwar''s hoarse voice sounded in Seol So-Young''s head after she got pped really hard. At first, she couldn''t understand why Eshwar had just pped her, but when she heard his voice, she understood that it was done unintentionally, so she didn''t think much about it as she lost consciousnesspletely. She then had a dream where she was sleeping with Eshwar, woke up before he did in the morning, and walked out of the room with messy hair while wearing Eshwar''s big baggy back t-shirt. She smiled warmly while sniffing his t-shirt, went to the white, sleek, modern kitchen, cooked food, ted it before cing it on the dining table, tied her hair up into a bun, and walked to the room before pouncing on Eshwar, who was naked on the bed with a white nket covering his lower half of the body. She shook him violently to wake him up with a smile on her face, and Eshwar woke up, pined her on to the bed, and cuddled, disappointingly. They both enjoyed each other''spany, and days like that continued, and... CRUNCH "....Hmmmhm~" So-Young heard a crunch sound from her right side; she slightly flinched, hummed in sleep, and because the dream had ended without a proper ending, she frowned deeply and slowly opened her eyes. Soon, her hazy vision turned normal, and her gaze fell on a white-haired elf man''s godly, beautiful face. His face was twisted with a certain indescribable emotion; it felt ominous, terrified, angry, disbelief, shocked, and a few more. Everything was felt at once, so she couldn''t quite grasp it. Soon his hateful gazended on her, but in an instant, it changed and... "Hello love~" Eshwar greeted Seol So-Young with a gentle voice and the most charming smile she had ever seen. Seol So-Young shuddered in fear at the sudden ominous feeling, but soon forgot about it because of the handsome face that was right in front of her face. "H-h-hello, Eshwar." Seol So-Young greeted back. "Hm? Did I introduce myself? Ah, you followed me into this gate because you had already been stalking me for quite some time." Eshwar said it in a teasing tone and walked back. "N-no, I, I, I am your...." Seol So-Young wanted to rify the misunderstanding but stopped because she suddenly realised an important fact. ''Wait! What should I say? I came from another world because our love was too strong? Should I really clear up his misunderstanding? Wasn''t I just about to make another kind of excuse? And what''s a gate? Is this the same gate that the fantasy novel writers write about in their novels? If so, then it would kind of exin the monsters from earlier.'' She thought, and... "Looking at my baby Eshwar in front of me...." She mumbled something under her breath involuntarily, so that Eshwar couldn''t hear her. "Have I transmigrated into my own novel!!?" Seol So-Young eximed loudly, involuntarily. "Hm? My, my, did I p you too hard?" Eshwar stared at her with a pitiful look on his face. ''He''s so f**king hot!'' She forgot about other things while drooling over Eshwar, inwardly. * (AN: Omniscient POV) Seol So-Young drooled over Eshwar inwardly, forgetting about her life on the mana less Earth, though if given a choice, even right at this very moment, So-Young will choose to stay in this world rather than returning back, there were many reasons to it. One being that she didn''t exactly love her parents; she had be a money wallet for her parents, so she really didn''t care much about them. The second reason was, of course, Eshwar, whom she had loved even before she began writing about the character she created based on him, and no, she didn''t really know him or meet him in her real life; she had just seen his face and added her own preferences when creating his character, though she hadn''t really expected him to be more handsome in real life than her own imagination. And the third reason is that, because of her elf''s mentality that was imprinted on her mind, she had dreamed about what she wanted for her future, and due to the elf''s obsessive nature, it will be harder for her to stay away from him from now on. The love that she had felt towards the character, Eshwar, had always been of the "like" type, an iffy kind of attraction that can easily turn out to be nothing if looked into more closely, but now, it was different. She had an elven mentality, which has a natural obsessive nature over the ones they love, and the character she liked had turned into a reality, so NOW, she won''t leave that man be; she''ll do whatever she can to make him feel the same about her. She was unknowingly trying to make a man, who loves his love so much that he would do anything to keep her safe, now love her¡ªthe very woman who had knowingly or unknowingly destroyed his entire life. This might get a bit... DANGEROUS. * (AN: back to normal) "N-no, no, it''s j-ju-just that.... Yes! I was trying to find an excuse, and those words popped up in my mind because I was reading a novel of this genrest night. So as soon as these words appeared in my mind, I mumbled them out without thinking much. Haha, ha!" Seol So-Young made a perfect excuse which she herself was proud of andughed awkwardly at the end, that.... was something even she didn''t know why she did it. "Oh, mhm." Fortunately for her, Eshwar nodded his head in understanding. Or not. "So, I did p you really hard." Eshwar mumbled with a apologetic look on his face. "No! ....." Seol So-Young eximed with a flushed face and got up to deny it more strongly, but she didn''t budge an inch. "?" She nced down at her body and noticed that she was tied up to a tree with strong green veins. SWISH "Who are you, love? Hmm~" Eshwar instantly appeared in front of her, leaned forward, brought his face dangerously close to hers, and asked ominously with a charming smile on his face while a hollow glint appeared in his bright orange eyes. ''This...is a bit, no, a lot dangerous. If he asks like this, I might really do anything for him.'' Chapter 232 231. First Ever. ?Meanwhile. In sector five. Sector Five was still being built because only Sector Seven, Six, and Five were being rebuilt because only these areas had a higher human poption. The Sectors Four, Three, and Two had fully developed into major guild properties, those Sectors responsibility was now in the hands of the guilds, and it would only be rebuilt into a fortress if the major guilds decided so. People in Sector Five''s still-unbuilt areas were making their own small houses that were big enough for a family of four to live in. All the necessary things were being sold in the stalls at the street sides. Among all the people that stood in front of the stalls to purchase the daily things they needed; a certain bulky man stood out. He had copper coloured hair with deep blue eyes. He was 6.3 feet tall with broad shoulders. He was slouching his shoulders as he moved forward, hoping that he wouldn''t cause any inconveniences to the other customers. The people around him were thankful for the man''s consideration, but since the scene was too funny, they couldn''t stopughing as they patted the man''s back and sent him forward to purchase the necessary things first. "Thank sir, thank you madam." Louie thanked the people around him while trying to make his way back out of the crowd with an embarrassed expression on his face. "Hm? What do you want, kid?" Aftering out of the crowd, as soon as he was about to walk away, a certain boy stood in his way with a lollipop in his mouth. ''He kinda reminds me of Core. Should I buy her a lollipop?'' Louie wondered inwardly while the kid pointed his index finger at him with an astonished look on his face. "Big brother!" The kid yelled loudly, and the people around Louie began tough out loud. Louie too smiled brightly, crouched down and pointed his index finger at the kid. "Tiny kid." Louie said while smiling brightly. "No, I am not tiny, you are just big!" The kid eximed. "Really?" Louie tilted his head and asked, smiling brightly. "Mhm!" The kid nodded his head vigorously. "What''s your name kid?" Louie asked. "ir!" A sweet woman''s loud yell sounded from a distance. She gazed at Louie because he was a bit too noticeable, but soon her gaze halted on the kid in front of him, and she rushed towards him with a relieved yet worried expression on her face. "ir!!" She dashed up to him, picked him up, and lightly spanked the child''s arse. "Young man, do you know how much trouble and worry you have caused your mother!?" The woman eximed and kissed the kid''s cheeks. "I am sorry for the inconvenience, good sir. Thank you." She thanked Louie and turned around to leave. "But Mama, that brother is big." ir said and leaned towards his mother''s ear. "I thought you liked big guys like this brother." He whispered in her ears, but his words were heard by everyone in their surroundings, even though the street was bustling. The woman flushed red in embarrassment and covered ir''s mouth. "Hahaha, may I apany you, mydy?" Louie said and offered to walk together whileughing heartily. * Louie was walking next to the dark brown haired and eyed woman with ir sitting on his broad shoulders. "May I ask why ir said what he said earlier?" Louie asked involuntarily while ying with ir, who sat on his shoulders. "!" Louie''s eyes snapped wide open when he realised what he just asked, and right when he was about to apologize.... "... because I had told him that a man who is big can carry both of us on his shoulders and protect us from the outside dangers." She exined with a slightly embarrassed tone. "Ah! Haha, ha, is that so?" Louie mumbled and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "You can leave us here." The woman halted and said while gently picking up ir. "Thank you, big brother." "Thank you." ir and his mother thanked him, turned around and left before Louie could even respond to them, he felt that it was pity, but since he knew that they were somewhere around here, he cane back againter. "!" He blushed violently when he realised the kind of thoughts he was having. ''Have I gone crazy? That woman is married....'' He thought, but halted. ''But she doesn''t seem like her husband is still alive....'' He thought and began to walk off, dazed. * After a long, loooonnnggggg circle, he was back at the spot where he had left them earlier. It hadn''t even been that long since he left, but yet there he was, seemingly waiting for someone. "Why am I back here!!" Louie mumbled under his breath and.... "Mama! It''s big brother!" ir''s loud voice sounded from behind. Louie nced at them and involuntarily smiled brightly; soon, his gazended on ir''s mother, and both of them blushed. "Big brother!!" ir yelled and dashed towards Louie. And the next course of action seemed to make Louie''s entire world stop. "Big....." SLASH THUD "Kyaaaa!!!! Allaaaaiiiirrrrrr..." SLASH THUD "...." An eerie silence descended on the street. "Huh?" Louie mumbled in a daze while staring at ir''s and his mother''s heads rolling on the ground. Everything happened so quickly that Louie wasn''t able to react to it. "What.... happened?" Louie mumbled, and his body began to tremble at the sudden sense of loss and anger at himself for not being able to prevent the loss from happening. "Hey, how could you kill this bit*h? We could have enjoyed a delightful meal if we had captured her alive!" A hoarse voice sounded, which Louie ignored because something he didn''t like was happening right in front of his eyes, something he absolutely hated. STEP "It doesn''t matter who it is; orders are to kill everybody that is rted to Louie Robbins before, and of course, you guys know what I''m talking about." Another hoarse man''s voice sounded, and Louie froze as soon as he heard his name from the mouth of a man, who was stepping on the woman''s head. This absolutely disgusting thing was happening to that strong mother because of Louie, and even after she died, she was being disrespected just because she had walked with him once. This was happening right in front of him, and... ".... These disgusting things dare?" Louie mumbled under his breath, girt his teeth, and clenched his fists as his body oozed a strong killing intent, which was enough to force the surrounding things to tten. "How dare you step on a dead person''s head? And how dare you to harm my...." Louie mumbled under his breath while ring at the vampires in front of him, but halted mid-sentence because even he didn''t know what he was about to say. And the next words that came out of Louie''s mouth were not what he ever expected to hear. ? "I''ll kill you," Louie dered. It was the first time he himself wanted to "kill" someone, and as soon as those words came out of his mouth, a strange shiver cruised through his body, and his killing intent exploded out of his body. BOOM! "Hahahahahahahhahahahaha!!!!!!" Louie''s first ever ominousughter reverberated throughout the area, and the goddamn mosquitoes in front of him shuddered in fear. "You!" Chapter 233 232. Troublesome Things. ?"Hahahahahahahhahahahaha!!!!!!" Louie''s first ever ominousughter reverberated throughout the area, and the goddamn mosquitoes in front of him shuddered in fear. "You!" A cold voice resounded in response to Louie''sughter, but Louie, who wasn''t in his right state of mind, ignored it and dashed at the nearest mosquito. The strange thing that Louie observed was the fact that he was sane, but he wasn''t at the same time. He could think straight but couldn''t control his actions; this was the first time something like this had ever happened to him. His berserker state had always been another him, one who was filled with undying rage, but now he felt like he had be one with his berserker state. Anyway, the matter at hand was far more serious, so he didn''t bother to think anymore and gave into his instincts. He pounced on the nearest mosquito, grabbed his head, and mmed it to the ground. BOOM SPLATTER Unsurprisingly, the mosquito''s head exploded into pieces, and though the sight shocked the other mosquitoes, they soon red at Louie and rushed towards him with a nonchnt smile on their faces. Louie nted his left foot in the ground, took a martial art stance, and punched at the heads of the mosquitoes that rushed at him, and without fail, the mosquitoes'' heads exploded on impact. Louie jumped in the air and kicked the headless bodies of the mosquitoes that were still rushing at him while slowly regenerating. Soon, half of their heads regenerated and they still had a smile on their faces, and since Louie knew about how vampires fight, he didn''t think much about it and began to use his mana, and now his punches had turned far more terrifying; with each of the punches that connected, the vampires'' bodies exploded, but this time they didn''t regenerate. * (AN: Omniscient POV) An hourter. "Huff....huff.....huff...." Louie was tired from fighting for an hour straight; he had almost depleted all of his mana; he was so mentally and physically tired that it wouldn''t be strange if he fell unconscious right then and there; but his rage had yet to die down, even slightly. Hundreds of blood lumps were seen sprawled out on the ground; almost the entirety of the street had turned bloody; ir''s and his mother''s bodies were dried uppletely; and even the few humans in the surrounding buildings had died because of the vampires, who dragged them out of their homes and fed on them while fighting Louie. And now in front of him was a single vampire with an uninterested look on his face. He was almost 7 feet tall, with a bulky build and dark crimson-red hair and eyes. As he stared at Louie in front of him, his killing intent stayed as fierce from the start till the end as it had been in the beginning. "I am a Rook." Rook introduced himself and stood with his arms crossed. What he just said to introduce himself was both his name and his rank in the graveyard. Due to the orders of his majesty Azazel, he had brought 176 vampires, who were his subordinates; he brought them all with him, but all of them were dead by the hands of the man in front of him. At the gruesome deaths of his subordinates, Rook was just... DISAPPOINTED. Even amid his huffs, Louie was standing tall while ring at the man who called himself Rook. Rook suddenly frowned, and Louie tensed up, reading himself for what was toe. Rook fiercely raised his arm close to his mouth and... Yawned. "Hyyyaaammm~ mmm." Though unintentionally, his actions seemed to have provoked Louie, whose re intensified and rushed towards Rook with all of his mana concentrated on his fists. BAM (7x) He soon appeared in front of Rook and punched at him, his punches shooting out at him as if they were from a Gatling gun. And up on impact, his fists produced some sort white sparks that covered Louie''s field of vision, together with a thick circle shaped wind pressures were shot out, behind Rook''s back and sides. And even while taking all of these terrifying punches, Rook didn''t even dodge, as if he were already dead, but even then Louie didn''t stop his gatling, because his rage had yet to subside, even though he had killed all those vampires. After a while, every drop of his mana reservoir had run out, and he was forced to stop moving. He slowed down gradually and halted, while staring at the white sparks on Rook''s body with hazy vision. "You done?" A hoarse voice sounded from the figure, which was nketed in white sparks, and even though Louie didn''t have even an ounce of strength to disy any emotions, his eyes slightly opened wide in shock. ''I guess he is ranked "Rook" for a reason....'' Louie thought inwardly. ''...f**k...'' He cursed inwardly and lost consciousness. THUMP "...." Rook gazed at Louie with a expressionless look on his face. Even though they said that Louie was the target, Rook knew better, and he knew that the real target of this mission was White Swan, who was supposedly in the spawning grounds right now. ''I heard that the time difference between the spawning grounds and the outside is 3:1.... Will he be out after two more days from now on?'' Rook thought. Even though he didn''t show any other emotions on his face, there was this certain madness that drove him, and it was his madness to grow stronger, which was also the only reason he had be a vampire, because he could fight against the strong, even though the methods were very different from just fighting, and he wasn''t much bothered by it as the killing intent of his opponents would thrill him. ''Will the White Swan be stronger?'' Rook questioned inwardly, but looking at how "weak" hispanion was, he didn''t have much hope and was beginning to get more and more disappointed as he couldn''t fight anyone strong. ''Maybe I should begin to "hunt" those in the graveyard.'' He thought and remembered how strong Azazel''s aura was, which his body unconsciously oozed, and grinned savagely as his eyes arched and his madness took over while his killing intent, which was 10 times stronger than Louie''s, oozed out of Rook. BAM He instantly appeared in front of the unconscious Louie, kicked his abdomen, forcing his body to jump mid-air, Louie unconsciously coughed out a mouthful of blood and when he was four feet above ground, Rook zoomed towards him and punched at Louie''s head. BAM! Louie''s body mmed to the ground loudly, and a massive crater appeared beneath his flopped body. Louie''s head, face, broken elbows, and knees were bleeding profusely. Rook sighed deeply and controlled his excitement before picking up Louie like a wet rag and carrying Louie''s broken body on his right shoulder. "With this, I have cleared my mission...." Rook mumbled under his breath and disappeared with Louie on his shoulder. * While the trouble some things were happening with the Uncharted. An average-looking man sat in the corner of a 20-foot-long, semi-furnished room with a lost look on his glum face. He had buried his head in his knees, which were hugged at the same time. It has been quite a few days since he drowned himself in depression. He was having a hard time holding himself sane as he had started to doubt everything, even his entire life, which he had a clear memory of living. The room waspletely dark, so dark that even the man''s figure might not be visible if not entirely focused on finding him. But the man himself wasn''t bothered much by that fact, as he thought that only his problems were more burdensome than the others. He had been theorising about the entire world just to ept the simple fact that he too was created by somebody who had nothing else to do. And soon another ominously fanaticugh resounded in the room, which definitely wasn''t the first time it had happened. "Haha, ha, hahaha, of, of course, of course, everybody was created by God, and Eshwar is also a God, so it isn''t that much of a shock, because all living "things" were made by gods. Right...haha, hahaha, ha." Jiwooughed out fanatically, trying to convince himself for the umpteenth time of the fact that he too was living and was very much alive, though the state he was in right now couldn''t be called living. He slowly raised his head and stared at the ceiling with hollow eyes that had lost all of their glint of life, and at the state he was in, he would have definitely weed death more warmly. The thoughts of weather he was really living or if he was just another one of the pawns that were made to move the way its yer wanted, haunted him every day whenever he began to think ever so slightly. He would have a nightmare about the fact if closed his eyes to get some sleep, at the day, he would get scared of all the "pawns" that were moving around as if they their own free will without even knowing that somebody else was the reason they were going on a walk, buying groceries, eating food, making love, and even caring for others. Everything the people did without even knowing that they were moving ording to someone else''s will horrified him, and the worst part of it all was the fact that Jiwoo knew. He knew who this "someone" was, and that was none other than Eshwar. "I, I, I, I should have a talk with him." Jiwoo mumbled under his breath and trembled in fear of his doubts turning out to be the truth. Just the thought of Eshwar confirming Jiwoo''s doubts terrified him, and he didn''t dare to move elsewhere; he was too scared to even think about it, and his fear made him hesitant to go and voice his questions and... Unfortunate for Jiwoo, his terrified life continued to strive for the next day. Chapter 234 233. Troublesome Things (2). ?(AN: Thank you for bearing with me and sorry for the irregr uploads this week. I was checking the contents of the contract; it isn''t that much of a big deal, but it sure is a headache, maybe because it was my first time. Anyway, thank you for bearing with me, and now that the matters rted to it are almostplete, chapter uploads will return to normal. Thank you for reading and [Peace]) *** Inside of an dessert themed dungeon. A beautiful ck-haired woman stood in the middle of a massive, blood-dyed sand patch. She had obsidian ck eyes with vertical pure white slits instead of normal human-like pupils, and her turtlenecked white top was dyed with blood, of course, from her fight with human-like monsters and a few other monsters that were themed ording to the dungeon. And few secondster. A shadowy wolf-life creature rushed towards her with a humanoid figure in its mouth, while ck and golden paw prints were left behind as the shadow wolf zoomed towards the woman. THUMP And with a thump of the humanoid body slopping in front of the woman, the shadow wolf disappeared into her shadow, returning to its massive pack. She lifted the flopped man''s body above the ground with a wave of her hand, employing mana and divinity that had unnaturally merged together. She knew he was a vampire, and if she killed him then there wouldn''t be much time before he turned into a blood lump, so she waved her index finger, and the man''s neck did aplete 360-degree turn. In that instant, she ced her hand on his head and mumbled, "Gaze of the Divine." It wasn''t what she called it before, but after her ascension, the skill name had be godly, and its name changed ordingly. Isha sighed and shook her head, muttering, "Eshwar caused trouble again...." She saw the memories of the now-bloody lump, as well as the orders given to an entire army of vampires associated with the graveyard. Not that she was surprised about anything, but she couldn''t believe that they found out about her rtionship with him. And by the news and rumours her heard whenever she got out of the dungeons, she knew that Eshwar was doing something unnecessary again, but since she knew that he wouldn''t be under any danger she ignored the matter as it wasn''t anything of any significance, though her ignoring that matter was only limited until she was satisfied with her own strength. She frowned deeply. "I have to teach him a lesson to not fool around with other women...." She mumbled and mischievously grinned when she remembered that it wouldn''t be long before she would get to meet him; it had been a few months since they met, and though she missed him, she knew that the longer she stayed weak, the bigger burden she would be to him. ''If you are strong, I''ll speak with you about everything and bring you around with me all the time; the stronger you be, the longer we can be together, through thick and thin....Together.'' Those were the most cheesiest and the most heartfelt words that Eshwar had said in theirst life, and they resounded in Isha''s mind, and she smiled brightly as her cheeks turned rosy. At that time, she thought he was underestimating her and asked for a spar. After noticing how easily and effortlessly he defeated her, a demi-god, she understood that it wasn''t that he was underestimating her; it was just that she was overestimating herself. And at that time of period, there were times he would disappear from their home and return only a few dayster, and when she asked him where he had been, his answer had always been, "to get the spot you deserve," as he kissed her lovingly with his ice-cold lips. Isha suddenly felt a pleasurable shiver cruise through her body as she remembered how cold her teeth and tongue would feel whenever they kissed, and imagining how it would feel now that Eshwar had a human''s warmth, she smiled warmly. But suddenly, she pouted cutely when she remembered that it wasn''t going to be his first kiss, while it was hers, even in this life! She had thought that she was his first kiss until she "saw" his past and him fooling around with women to manipte them, sadistically. But she felt slightly better when she understood that she was the first kiss of Eshwar in his Frost Devil form. Though she felt slightly better at the revtion, it didn''t make her feel much better, and her pout deepened. "Hmph." She suddenly snorted, and her shadow expanded wide enough to cover everything in sight. "Finish it." Shemanded her shadows and walked towards the exit of the dungeon. *** In Sector Five. In a ranked highest quality guild building. In an ordinary room, a woman with sunflower blonde hair and bright hazel eyes stared at the ceiling with hollow eyes while lying on the bed. No, it wasn''t lying; it was as if somebody tossed her on the bed. Her arms, legs, and shoulders were visibly bruised; they had turned ck and blue, as if they had been left unattended. Her cheeks had also turned a darker shade of blue, and her neck had finger marks on it as if somebody had tried to choke her to death. She had worn a white rag-like t-shirt and shorts; her t-shirt had a few dripping blood marks on it. The more she began to think about what was unfairly happening to her, the more tears welled up in her eyes before beginning to stream out. Her tears rolled off her face, stinging the bruises and making her cry even more, hupping. Her previously loving parents had begun to mentally and physically abuse her, mentally pressuring her about the guild''s maintenance and management, and even when the smallest mistakes were pointed out by guild members who purposefully created problems and pointed them out, it made her parents angry at her and punished her by beating her until their own stress was relieved. It all began after that incident with assistant professor Isha. No, it wasn''t that she was ming anyone except for her parents, she just remembered that incident as a mark that brought disaster in her life. Though after that incident, she ignored everything and everyone around her and began to work her way up in her guild, but as soon as she brought up the matter of joining the guild, her father, the guild master, forced her to be a vice guild master, who could also be seen as the one who looks after the entirety of the guild. She had noticed a change in their aura and the way they looked at her, but since she had always been loved, she ignored that, thinking that maybe they were stressed, and the torturous mental pressure began from then on. A few dayster, when she began to make too many mistakes because of the pressure, physical abuse started; though they seemed reluctant and the level of abuse was small at the start, it wasn''t as if they didn''t hurt her, and then gradually the hesitation in her parents faded and the level of abuse jumped higher and higher, until a level where she wasn''t even able to move. While all of this was happening, she noticed that her parents were bing more and more healthy. When she wanted to know why they were behaving like that and went to ask them about it, she caught them making violent love while the room they were in was filled with blood flowing everywhere. With guild members around the room, they too were making love with each other, and after a few minutes, they were beginning to "join" her parents in the process. That disgusting scene got imprinted in her mind, and from then on, she stopped doing anything when she understood that her parents had turned themselves into monsters that desired nothing but blood and pleasure. She knew that nothing she would do from then on would appease her parents, so she gave up on everything while bearing with the abuse that her own parents brought on her because they were irritated that she wasn''t doing anything but feeding on the money they earned with blood, sweat, and tears. "A few more days..." Violent mumbled under her breath, her voice just sounded in hisses because more than that, her throat would start to hurt. She needed a few more days of tolerance because she was going to contact Eshwar to help her; he was the only person that appeared in her mind when she wanted help. Not a single one of her so-called friends came to mind, and there were many reasons she could think of for asking, "Why?" one was that they were far too weak to help her, and the main reason was that she couldn''t trust them; she was paranoid about what ifs, what if they sided with her parents, and what if they had already known about all this and purposefully didn''t contact her to ask how she was doing or anything, and even among such thoughts, she trusted Eshwar because he didn''t have any reason to contact her and ask her about her wellbeing, which was understandable because there wasn''t such a rtionship between them to begin with and he wouldn''t gain anything from harming her, while her other friends have their own family guilds that would benefit from this, of course, with the exception of Gang Jiwoo. She turned over to the right and began to sob uncontrobly before mumbling, "Please help me." Chapter 235 234. Playing Hard To Get. ?*** Inside a dungeon filled with dense lush greenery. "Who are you, love? Hm~" Eshwar asked in a yful tone as he leaned dangerously close to Seol So-Young, who was having a hard time not to lean forward and just kiss the man in front of her, regardless of the consequences. She leaned forward with a dazed expression and continued until the vein tied her neck tightened, since Eshwar was leaning back as she leaned forward with a yful smirk on his face. "I''ll give you what you want." Eshwar said and leaned forward towards her ear. "Only if you answer my question~" he said as his lips slightly touched Seol So-Young''s right ear, unknowingly, before he leaned back to look at her in the eyes. BA-THUMP (5x) Her heartbeat rose sharply in response to his words, and in her daze, "I am..." she mumbled, and before she continued her words, she snapped out of it and said, "Seol So-Young." Shepleted her sentence with her name. "...." She noticed Eshwar''s face twist in ire, but since it was only for an instant, she thought she saw it wrong. "Hm~ is that so? Alright, since you gave me the answer to my question...." Eshwar said and leaned forward towards her ear, and "I''ll give you what you want." He whispered in her ears, leaned back stared at her in her eyes before leaning forward again, as if he would kiss her, keeping his promise and giving her what she wanted, maybe because of his yfulness, he brushed his lips past hers and pressed against her, she was pushed back to the tree and this time his arms moved, brushing past her slim waist and when she readied herself for what''s about toe as her expectation rose, she felt the veins that tied her to the tree loosen. She thought that Eshwar didn''t like to y with his ''things'' tied up, and, of course, she wouldn''t deny anything if it meant that she would get what she wanted. She raised her arms to hug him tightly, but Eshwar instantly disappeared and appeared a few steps away from Seol So-Young. "...." Seol So-Young frowned in confusion as disappointment welled up inside her, and when she opened her mouth to question him, "I gave you what you wanted in return for your answer." He said and his yful smirk widened, turning slightly ominous. And in response to his question, the frown on her beautiful face deepened. "What? You didn''t want to get free from the ropes?" Eshwar asked and killed the entire mood and anticipation that she deluded herself in. ''ying hard to get, are we....'' Seol So-Young smirked inwardly and determined herself that she would make sure to make him fall in love with her. *** Meanwhile. A red-long-haired handsome man stood in front of a massive guild building, and it was without a doubt at least ranked high in quality. He wore a causal outfit, containing a red coloured t-shirt, ck coloured trousers, and a pair of red loafer shoes. His face seemed like he was in his mid-thirties, filled with dark circles below his eyes; his shoulders had slouched forward; and he seemed like he was under a lot of stress, but instead of decreasing his charm, it increased it in a certain way. He walked into the guild building and fell prey to the curious eyes of the guild members. Of course, it was natural because even though he wore a casual outfit, there was a certain demonic charm about him that seemed to incite the opposite sex. He gradually made his way towards the receptionist of the Bronze Scars Guild. Even she seemed dazed as she didn''t respond even though he stood right in front of her. "Excuse me, can I visit the guild master?" Vinny asked the receptionist in an almost lifeless tone. "YES!!?" She yelped in a high-pitched tone and looked around before taking out a ledger. "Your kind name, sir?" She asked professionally as if the earlier embarrassment was a lie. "Vinny Grover." He said and noticed the woman flinch. She bit her lower lip with her head down, raised her head to look at Vinny, and her face turned serious. "You need an appointment to meet the guild master." She said it in a cold tone, and her earlier respect and politeness diminished as soon as she heard his name. Vinny clenched his fists and bit his lower lip in shame; he dangerously red at the receptionist, and when he noticed that the woman didn''t even flinch, he took a deep breath and calmed himself before nodding his head. "....I have aN APpointment." He spoke as calmly as he could, but a squeak in his voice betrayed him and aroused a round of snickers filled with mockery. "Yes?" The receptionist tilted her head innocently, pretending not to have heard what he had said. GIRT He gritted his teeth strongly and red at the woman, who wore a confused expression on her face. "I HAVE an appointment." He said. "Oh! Is that so." The receptionist feigned surprise and nodded to herself before ncing at the ledger. ''F**k! A mere receptionist dares....'' Vinny thought inwardly; his inner voice had a strange hoarse, demon-like voice mixed with his own, but Vinny wasn''t surprised in the least because it wasn''t the first time something like this had happened. BEEP (8x) She dialled a number on the small square-shaped device on her desk, which was a manamunicator. Soon a bearded man''s hologram popped up from the device, he had dark brown hair and ck eyes, he was the guild master and Vinny''s very own father, Norvin Glover. And a conversation took ce, but not a single pep of voice sounded out of it and after a few seconds, the woman bowed and ended the call. "The guild master said he is busy and asked you to wait for a few minutes." The receptionist said and sat back on her seat,pletely ignoring Vinny''s existence. ''Where the f**k did he seem busy! F**king son of a bit*h, is he ying hard to get (?), if I could, I would have killed everyone in this guild.'' Vinny thought. "Haa...." Vinny sighed and waited right in front of reception because he knew more than enough about his father, who would find a reason in anything he does and kick him out of the guild building saying that he was being disrespectful. * A few minutester. "If I don''t get the answer I require from him, by tomorrow somebody else may need to take over the guild master''s position." Vinny said it under his breath, but loud enough for the receptionist to hear, and she froze when she heard his words. "What?" She asked with deep frown and waved at the guards toe there. "You heard me?" Vinny feigned surprise, acting the same way the receptionist did before; she knew what he was doing and she couldn''t help but re at him. "Toss him aside and make him kneel." She ordered the guards. Her words took Vinny by surprise and made the guards grin widely before dragging Vinny out. He simply let them do what they wanted because he definitely had to get his answers today and swore inwardly to make them pay for this humiliation. "1 hour!" Vinny announced, and everybody present flinched at how cold his roar sounded. "You have 1 hour, after that the massacre will begin from the bottom to top." He announced and everybody felt a chill run down their spines. Chapter 236 235. Your Harem? ?In the Bronze Scars Guild''s guild master''s room. Norvin Glover frowned deeply upon hearing his son''s announcement. He was looking at everything from the cameras but couldn''t help but have an uneasy feeling at his son''s words. At the time when he abandoned Vinny, giving him everything he would need to survive on his own, he thought that what he did was for the best, and he even suffered a lot when he convinced his wife to agree with his decision. There were two specific reasons that prompted his decision regarding Vinny''s abandonment. One was that Vinny was born without mana, meaning that he had no talent and wasn''t going to survive in a world where only the strong survive, so instead of seeing his own son die in front of him, he chose to abandon him, cutting off every connection with him except for their blood connection. Andstly, the most important reason was that there was this certain ominous air around his son that sent shivers down the cores of anyone who dared get close to him other than Sumithra Glover, his mother, and Norvin''s wife. He thought that maybe his son was cursed or blessed by a demon, so he chose to abandon him to keep his ''family'' safe. Norvin couldn''t bear the ominous feeling he got when he heard Vinny''s words, so he contacted for help, and when he wanted to ask for help, no reasons shed in his mind, and he suddenly remembered that Vinny was said to be a human spy nted among the humans by the graveyard, and when it came to vampires, there was only a certain mercenary group that was famed for hunting them down, so without any further ado, he contacted the Uncharted to hire White Swan. *** Meanwhile. Katline stared at Eshwar walk back towards them, and behind him was the female elf that they had rescued, and by the re she was giving to Eshwar, Katline frowned quite deeply. "I am back~" Eshwar said yful and walked towards her and Katharine with his arms wide open for a hug, looking at him act like that Katline felt a little warm in her heart, but since it seemed like she wasn''t the only one getting a hug, she pouted inwardly. Though she felt disappointed, she didn''t have any ims to reject him, and she then nced at Katharine, who had a slight blush on her cheeks, but she too didn''t seem to want to reject him. FHUMP He hugged them both, brought them close before leaning towards both of their ears. "She''s suspicious; be on guard." He whispered in their ears, and they slightly tensed but didn''t show it on the outside. "Now then, let me introduce this woman." Eshwar said this while pulling Katline closer to him by her waist; she blushed violently when she realised that he was only pulling her while only holding Katharine''s hand in his. "Her name is Seol So-Young." He introduced So-Young, who had been frowning at his intimate actions. And then, surprisingly, Seol So-Young red at Katline and Katharine instead of at Eshwar, who was doing everything on his own. "Katline." Katline introduced herself, coldly. "Katharine." Katharine too introduced herself in the same way as Katline. "What''s this? Your harem?" Seol So-Young asked with a deep frown that she couldn''t hide. "And whatever your problem is." Eshwar scoffed at her instead of denying her, which made both Katline and Katharine blush. "...." So-Young turned silent at his rude behaviour. "And she is a stalker that has been stalking me for quite a while now." Eshwar suddenly said, and his words made Katline frown. "No! I am n...." Seol So-Young yelled in outrage but halted mid-sentence when she saw Eshwar stare at her with a smirk. "I am." She said and pressed her lips. "Anyway, let''s ignore her." Eshwar spoke up, walked in front, turned to face Katline and Katharine, and smiled. "Please, escort me outside." * Katline and Katharine fought with perfect teamwork, of course, it was because of Eshwar, they were ughtering all the wolves that rushed towards them, and when they were fighting so fiercely, Seol So-Young and Eshwar stood next to each other, while the former had her mouth wide open in utter shock. They had been fighting for more than twenty minutes, and it seemed like they had no ns of stopping anytime soon, though it was very hard to keep up with everything that had been happening right in front of Seol So-Young. She was focusing hard on them to imprint the horrifying scene in her mind. She had already puked a couple of times at the sight of blood and flesh flying around mid-air, but after everything had been thrown out, she began to calm down gradually as she quite quickly began to get used to the gruesome scene. And she had been trying to see everything, and though notpletely, she was able to "see" with the help of her mind''s eye skill, and now she was curious to see what notification would appear if she used that skill on Katline, Katharine, and... She halted her thoughts there and nced at Eshwar from the corner of her eyes. He simply stood next to her with his arms crossed. Then abruptly he sighed and shook his head as he ruffled his hair roughly as if he were disappointed at something. He had been warning Katline and Katharine about everything from the beginning, and he had been guiding both of them to fight more properly and teaching them how to fight "as a team" by making use of every action of their partners, all while standing behind. "Four more. Switch!" Eshwar yelled, and they obediently did as he said. Katline and Katharine switched positions; Katline jumped on the tree and fired her remaining arrows to keep thest four wolves at bay, while Katharine collected the arrows on the ground that had fallen after the dead wolves de-spawned. "Move it!" Eshwar yelled when Katline fired herst arrow, and Katharine zoomed towards her, pulled her back, and took the lead after tossing the arrow in the air, which Katline somehow caught perfectly. ''Mind''s eye.'' Seol So-Young muttered in her mind as she nced at Katline and Katharine. ==== Name: Katline [User level is too low] ==== ==== Name: Katharine [User level is too low] ==== ''Hmph.'' She snorted inwardly and her gaze slowly moved to face Eshwar. [ERROR] [ERROR] [Insufficient level] [ERROR] "!!!" Seol So-Young felt a soul-chilling shiver that seemed to proim her DEATH. WHOOOSH A massive ck-scaled king cobra manifested into her reality out of nowhere and zoomed towards her, she stared at deathing at her; she couldn''t even flinch at the sight and her soul had already seemingly left, and for the second time at the same day, Seol So-Young experienced death, one was unknowingly and theter was where she could feel, see, and even hear her own death. BA-THUMP Her heart thumped and she felt like that was herst heartbeat, and suddenly.... PATT She felt a strangely familiar stinging sensation on her cheek, and her reality instantly crumbled. She was back in front of Eshwar, Katline, and Katharine when Eshwar pped her, again. They were staring at her with weird looks on their faces, she slowly reached her hand out towards Eshwar whileying quitefortably on Eshwar''s right arm that held her from falling down, and finally her hand reached Eshwar''s face, and as soon as she felt his warmth on her fingers, she broke down at all of the fears she hid inside while acting brave on the outside. "Waaaaa!!!" *** (AN: Hello, Eshwar here, first of all, thank you for reading, I don''t know if I''ll upload any new chapter tomorrow, but from tomorrow or from day after tomorrow, I''ll lock chapters from ch101: Going all out. I wanted to let this be known, from next week onwards uploads will return to normal. Again, thank you for reading, hope you enjoy the future chapters and [Peace]) Chapter 237 236. Black Hole. ?* A few minutester. Seol So-Young eventually stopped sobbing, but because she felt embarrassed crying out like that, she simply said it was nothing and that she wouldn''t bother them in the middle of their fight against the monsters, before standing back with Eshwar, who was still staring at her with a strange expression on his face. "Don''t look at me like that; I''m already embarrassed as it is." Seol So-Young said as she averted her gaze from Eshwar''s. Eshwar turned his attention back to Katline and Katharine, who had begun fighting again, and, "Is that right?" He mumbled. After a few hours, night fell upon them. Eshwar said it wasn''t a good idea to fight at night because beasts and monsters have a bit more advantage at night, and it was more dangerous because it was their territory that they invaded, which meant that the wolves were more aware of their surroundings than them. And because his reasoning and worries were eptable, they agreed to it and decided to get out of the gate. * ''Of course they have to agree to it because what I said was logical and reasonable .'' I thought. And when we neared the gate, I pushed them into it first, saying it was dangerous if the monsters ambushed us when we had our guards down. Since I was a lot stronger than them, they quickly found it reasonable and jumped into the gate without a second thought. WHOOOMMM "It''s good that you guys have your trust in me." I mumbled under my breath with a small smirk. I employed aether, which was being "attracted" towards me even without me even doing anything; well, it is kinda understandable (?) because I am the only one who can use it when it is almost, no, it is basically limitless. I concentrated on collecting it on my right palm, and soon a dull, greyish aura-like something surrounded my right hand, but it didn''te into contact with my hand as if it was scared of me, but since I was "unexpected," it didn''t bother me much. When I looked closely at the greyish aura-like something around my right palm, I noticed that "aether" was a mix of whites and cks, what were those? Even I had yet to find out. "What is this? Divinity and demonic energy?" I mumbled under my breath and observed Aether more curiously. CRA-CRACK "?" Izily nced back and noticed that the gate was cracking. "Why?" I brought my right palm, with aether surrounding it, towards the gate because I was curious to know if my thoughts about aether and space magic being connected were true or not. By the looks of it, it definitely seemed to be true, then shouldn''t I know exactly what reaction it would have, if I brought close two different types of space maniption? WHOOOOMMM CRA-CRACK "....." I stared at the mesmerising phenomenon taking ce; the space was being distorted yet regenerating at the same time. The space was being distorted because the density of the aether around my right palm was higher, but at the same time, because of the aether''s spatial nature, the gate was being regenerated as soon as it broke. The gate in front of me right now was sucking in everything and throwing up everything it sucked in at the same time; it seemed like a magical tornado ring, but different from that by a vast margin. WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH "?" I tilted my head in confusion because the blueish purple gate was turning grey, increasingly morphing ck as milliseconds passed by, and soon time stopped. ''Authority of the ck ink!'' I muttered in my mind right before the timepletely halted and because I felt that something dangerous was about to happen. The entirety of my reality turned white, while all the "matter" turned into ck-coloured sketches. The phenomenon was still continuing, morphing even my authority, the gate in front of me waspletely ck, but with the coloured reality in its surroundings, that was being sucked into it. ''What''s going on? Did I create something unbelievable?'' I thought inwardly, and though it was extremely dangerous, I was slightly proud of it. "Eunomia." I called out, because I wanted to know what was happening. WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH "...." ''Is the system not working? No, no, it shouldn''t be possible for the system to not be working; that just doesn''t make sense.... Just like me.'' I thought with a self-mocking smirk. "This, is a new space? Should I try calling out my domain?'' I pondered leisurely. Because being under a life-threatening situation wasn''t anything new, but it definitely had been a while since I have actually been in one. "Well, isn''t this exhrating." I mumbled with a wide grin, and suddenly my face muscles twitched. I raised my hand, brought it towards my face, and touched it as a strange feeling welled up from the depths of my very being. It was familiar yet unfamiliar. "Why....." I mumbled with a deep frown and then realisation struck me. "Ah. I haven''t done this for at least a few thousands of years, no wonder it felt unfamiliar....." I muttered. WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH ''Ah, now''s not the time for this....'' I observed the gate a bit closely and noticed that it was sucking in everything even while time had stopped and seemingly nothing was being devoured by that ck hole... "A ck hole?" I muttered under my breath, and then something strange happened, maybe it was because my authority over the order was still active. WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH!!!! The sounding from the gate abruptly soared, and it was painful just to hear it. "!" An ear-deafening sound resounded from the gate, and since I was so close to it, it felt like my mind was numbing from the insane amount of pain. My ears began to bleed, together with other holes on the face, the bleeding from the ears alerted me, and I subconsciously called out karma and controlled the aether more efficiently. ''...'' I cursed continuously; I think? Because nothing sounded in my mind even though I was thinking of everything, I didn''t even know if I really was thinking. Though confusing, that was exactly how the situation I was in seemed to me. Since nothing seemed to be working, I simply gave in to my instincts and instantly zoomed in. Hahaha, I loved it, because everything seemed like a sketch. I even had those lines that I left behind as I zoomed forward; I ignored the gate and continued to move forward until the sketches of the ten-eyed wolves were in my sight. I immediately ughtered a pack of 23 wolves, jumped mid-air while swinging karma fiercely, and karma trembled in my hands as if it were excited. Of course it would be exciting; doing nothing for tons of thousands and thousands of years is too goddamn boring. Goddammit, though it wasn''t as long as Karma''s, it was like that for me too, so I understand karma better than everybody else. While mid-air, I released Karma from my grip, raised my head and closed my eyes, stretched both of my hands wide to my sides, tensed all the muscles in my upper body, nced down, and noticed Karma paused right in front of me. Maybe because I was still under the authority of the ck ink, I looked so goddamn cool. I grinned widely, tensed my palms, employed aether, covered the entirety of my sketched body, and... pped. I brought my hands together and pped with karma in the middle, while greyish aether surrounded my body with an inch away. A strange, horizontal ripple shot out from the impact and halted as soon as I and Karma were in it; the ripple ttened, forming a small, pitch-ck thin ring around us, and... BOOOMMM The loudest ''boom'' I have ever heard resounded, and the ring expanded, covering everything¡ªand when I say everything, I mean absolutely everything¡ªthat was covered by the ring. MOOOOIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!! A strange sound, a sound as if the loud boom sounded in reverse, resounded, and the ring instantly shrank. A ring that could urately fit my ring finger materialised in front of me, and even though I didn''t do anything, the ring shot out and fixed itself on my left ring finger. And while I was curiously staring at it,... CRA-CRACK "!" The gate''s cracking sound sounded again. Ahem, it seemed like while feeling so cool about myself, I forgot about the important thing. "?" The crack instantly fixed itself, and the ck-coloured gate really began to suck in everything as if it really were a ck hole; it was even sucking in my authority! "..." I cursed out loud because I thought that ck hole was my skill, but looking at how it was sucking up my authority, it didn''t seem like it. "!!!" And of course, now I too was feeling a strong pull, the same one I had felt a long time ago, though it was much weaker at that time. "...." I nced at Karma and said that I''d believe in it, and after saying that, I didn''t resist the pull but instead pushed myself towards it while stepping on a footing made of aether. I instantly appeared in front of the ck hole, and I felt my skin stretching for the split second I resisted the pull. I knew that it would be more gruesome if I didn''t resist, so I ignored the excruciating pain and shed the mini ck hole with karma. "...aaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" As soon as the ck hole was cut in half, my own scream sounded loudly, and I was out, standing right in front of Katline, Katharine, and Seol So-Young, who had strange expressions on their faces. "Eshwar!!!" I heard Katline''s loud scream, and I winced in anguish because I was still having a hard time hearing normally, and then the dripping sounds of my blood sounded in my ear; everything was so painful that it was irritating. DING [User is the first to clear a spawning ground.] [Levelled up by 1] [Skill: "ck hole" has been rewarded ording to the user''s achievements.] [Title: Inheritor has been rewarded.] [Inheritor: The "Aether" recognises the user as it''s master.] [Active even while unequipped] THUD Chapter 238 237. The Gruesome Art. ?(AN: Omniscient POV) Two days before, a few hours after Eshwar and the others entered the spawning ground, A red-long-haired handsome man was seen kneeling in front of the Bronze Scars Guild building. He had his hair ponytailed, and there were two guards next to him with mana armour covering their bodies, seemingly making sure the red-haired man didn''t dare get back on his feet. The entire guild, except for the guild''s guild master, was rxed despite the red-haired man''s warning. The guild master, Norvin Glover, was anxious because he knew that "Vinny Grover," his son, had be a monster and was very dangerous; he might even do what he said he would. He didn''t exactly know if the rumours were true or not, but in his mind right now, the rumours were true, and the man who''s kneeling out of his guild right now was a monster. He had already called the Uncharted for help, and though they said that White Swan wasn''t avable for now, Red Reaper would arrive at the guild to provide it. Norvin knew that the Red Reaper was an assassin, and it didn''t make sense to send him to "protect," but since he didn''t have any other option, he agreed to it. Little did he know that even Red Reaper agreeing to a sh*tlike mission when two of the Uncharted members had yet to return home was really unexpected; one could even say that Norvin was extremely lucky this time. Maybe not so lucky. "Your hour is up." Vinny announced while kneeling; it was ironic that a man who seemed to be kneeling in submission was threatening them, but even then, all the guild members felt a sudden chill run down their spines, and they instinctively readied their stances. The receptionist felt like she had to do "this," and without even asking for the guild master''s permission, she clicked on the button that would broadcast the CCTV cameras'' recordings directly in the system''s "[NEWS]" tab in themunity. "Devilization." Vinny mumbled out loudly, and with a loud "boom," an ominous ck aura exploded out of his body. L-shaped horn grew on the right corner of his forehead, and a strange, ominous yet "warm" bat wing protruded out through the left corner of his shoulder bone. His right hand grew long ws, and ck goo that oozed out of his fingertips began to climb up his right arm until his right shoulder, where an inverted "C"-shaped spike protruded out. Though trembling, the guards next to him remembered their duty and rushed in for the kill. Vinnyzily stood back up on his feet and cracked his neck and knuckles with azy yawn. "How long has it been since I came out?" Vinny, no, Vassago mumbled in a hoarse demonic voice. "I can''t believe I had to twist his personality this much~" Vassago mumbled with a wide, ominous grin. Yes, Vassago, to whom the chains from the void were bound, broke when Vinny''s consciousness was forcefully pulled out and Vassago "offered" a master and servant contract, while using his authority of kindness, to Vinny''s despair-filled soul, which was craving for mana at the moment when Vinny''s soul was at its weakest. Due to the mana control''s teachings from Eshwar, which had unknowingly put a certain pressure on Vinny, and the future situations where he was vividly desperate in the past, Vinny''s soul craved for mana more desperately as the days passed. Vassago, who used the opportunity that presented itself to him and offered a contract with himself as the master and Vinny as the servant, with the condition that Vinny be able to use mana, his soul epted the contract so readily that even Vassago, the contractor, was taken aback, of course, it was only for a moment. From that moment on, the system seemed to have learned about the contract and offered Vinny his "Devilization" skill. BAM! And a solid punch from an A-ranked yer hit Vassago''s face and snapped him out of his trance. Vassago stumbled for a split second before ring at the guard, who felt his entire body freeze in fear. Vassago noticed that and, without giving the guard any time to react, instantly wed his head, and the guard''s head was horizontally slit in four. SPLAT (4x) THUMP "!" The other guard''s pupils dted in fear, but he soon regained his focus and red at Vinny, whom he couldn''t find anywhere. "You shouldn''t get distracted in front of a demon, my pitiful child." Vassago whispered in the guard''s ear; he flinched and elbowed back instantly, but his elbow hit nothing as Vassago had already appeared in front of him. Vassago raised his right hand and pierced the man''s chest until his heart was beating in his hand. SPLURT! BA-BUMP (5x) And before the man''s mind could even properly registered the danger he was in, Vassago snatched out his heart and stared at it as it continued to pump blood for a few seconds before slowing down. THUD BA.....BUMP (2x) ".....Eh? That''s it?" Vassago eximed with a disappointed look on his face, and everybody who saw that scene was covered in cold sweat; some guild members and the people watching this live had even wet themselves in fear. The live broadcast has been watched by almost all of humanity, and even elves and dwarves were watching this video. Among the few who weren''t watching this were a few vampires, Eshwar, Louie, Violet, Jiwoo, Katline, and Katharine. "I believe, it''s your turn now." Vassago disappeared and reappeared behind the receptionist and mumbled in her ears; she was absolutely terrified when she heard that voice, but soon calmed down because, surprisingly, she epted her death quite quickly. She then nodded her head and raised her hands in submission, "I believe so too." She mumbled and readied herself. "Hm? You''re surrendering?" Vassago''s cold breath trickled on her neck from behind; the woman was confused because she felt sadness in Vassago''s voice. "... Yes, because I know I am weaker than them." She spoke and pointed at the dead guards while her hands were still raised above her head. "Is that so? Pity." Vassago''s saddened voice sounded again. "But...." Vassago said, but this time it sounded yful, and she felt a chill run down her spine and her throat dry in fear. "What should I do? You are making me not kill you in this instance~" And that was what she heard before her mind registered the excruciating, mind-numbing pain of her limbs being ripped apart. "Aaaaaaaaa!!!!!!" She screamed in anguish and floundered in the middle of her own blood puddle. "Hahahahaha!! Good~ this is it. This how it should be~" Vassagoughed hysterically with a delighted expression. "And I''ll be there pretty soon~" Vassago nced at a CCTV camera and said to Norvin Glover, thinking he was the only one watching the gruesome "art" he had created. Chapter 239 238. Lack Of Communication And Tower Defence. ?After a few minutes long "enjoyment." Vassago walked up the stairs while hopping excitedly, making his way towards his contractor''s, no, his "free" servant''s father. Maybe because Vassago had Vinny''s memories, he didn''t think that the world was that fun to be in. Of course, Vassago was the only one who was able to think like that; if it had been any other demon, then they would have roamed around making the lives of the humans more pitiful than they already were. And that was also why Vassago had mentioned in the contract that he would be in control only when the "Devilization" skill was active and that he would let his servant be "free" without any restraints. KNOCK, KNOCK "Hello, father~ your son ising in." Vassago said and walked in to the guild master''s room without waiting for any answer from the inside. Inside the room, Norvin Glover was seen trembling in fear while leaning back on his armchair. "Hm? Hahahaha." Vassagoughed heartily when the odour of pee trickled into his nostrils. "Hahaha, haha, haa..." He had a greatugh. He then wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes and nced at Norvin Glover. "There is only one question my contractor would like to know." He said this while staring at Norvin, who was staring back at the demon who imed to be his son. ''I made the right decision that day.'' Norvin Glover gave a pitiful smile; Vassago didn''t know why, but he didn''t like it one bit. "Did you contact White Swan?" Vassago asked. ".... Yes." Norvin replied, what he said wasn''t exactly a lie because he had contacted the Uncharted for White Swan''s help, but it wasn''t exactly true either because he had never even talked with White Swan; it was just that he had slightly hoped that the name White Swan would scare him off. SPLURT! And Norvin''s head was chopped off, instantly. "I can''t believe your father killed your friends, Vinny." Vassago patted his left shoulder in a consoling manner and walked out of the room. It was also for Vinny that he killed off Norvin without much pain. Though both of them didn''t even know that they had just misunderstood things without a proper conversation. Vassago had asked the question about the time when, ording to Eshwar, White Swan had killed Vinny''s friends, and ording to the vampires Vinny investigated, Norvin Glover was the only one who knew about the fact that Vinny''s friends had turned into vampires. Connecting both of them, both Vinny and Vassago concluded that the "client" White Swan mentioned was Norvin, who requested Vinny''s friends be killed. "The devilization skill will wear off in a few seconds; let''s go and stare at a beautiful scenery to get this disgusting scene off of our minds." Vassago said and disappeared. *** 2 weekster. A gorgeous ck-haired and red-eyed woman opened the door to a 20-foot room and nced at a handsome white-haired elf-man lying on the bed with a peaceful expression on his face. The woman''s brows trembled at the sight, but she held her tears in and walked back before closing the door to the room. "He hasn''t woken up yet?" Katharine''s saddened voice sounded in front of Katline, who was walking with her head lowered. Katline raised her head and smiled pitifully at her friend, shook her head while walking towards her, and hugged her tightly. "What could have happened inside after we left?" Another sweet woman''s saddened voice sounded in the living room at Katline''s house. "Haa..." A sigh escaped Katline''s mouth when she heard that annoying voice again. "Why are you here?" Katline released the hug, walked in to the living room, and asked while ring at Seol So-Young, who had beening to Katline''s house ever since they rescued her from the spawning ground. "Whhhaaatt? Why can''t I? I am also worried about my baby, I mean, Eshwar." Seol So-Young said this while taking an apple from the fruit basket in the kitchen. "Look! First, this is my house, so don''t you dare enter it without my permission. Second, Eshwar is not your baby; he is..." Katline said and added, ''mine!'' inwardly. And as if to save her from the embarrassment that was about toe at her due to her stopping mid-sentence, DING [Wave (level 2),mencing in: 00D: 00H: 00M: 59S] "Sh*t." Katline cursed under her breath, and her mind spun at top gear as she tried to find a way to protect Eshwar even when in the middle of the wave. But nothing came to her mind, and to ask for help, she nced at Katharine, and as if she knew what Katline wanted to ask, she shook her head, answering Katline''s silent question, since there didn''t seem to be any other option. She then nced at Seol So-Young for a solution, but looking at the solemn pondering expression on her face, Katline gave up on her and began to rack her mind for a solution, when, "Tower defence." Seol So-Young mumbled under her breath, jumped back on her feet, and stared at Katline and Katharine with a serious look on her face. Katline then remembered reading about the "safe house" being able to protect people from the wave, but she had forgotten about it because it had been a few weeks since thest wave. Though it wasn''t something she would ever be able to forget, she had forgotten about it due to her worry about Eshwar. ''I can''t believe that I couldn''t think of something this bit*h was able to!!'' Katline grumbled inwardly. "Hey, your thoughts are written on your face!" Seol So-Young pointed out Katline, whose face was constantly changing its expression. "Thank you." Katline said with a deadpan expression on her face and rushed to Eshwar''s, no, her room to grab her weapons. "At least be actually thankful!!!" Seol So-Young''s yell was heard from behind. Both Katline and Katharine ignored her and rushed to get their weapons. * They discussed the n and took their positions: Katline was positioned in the windows of the one-story building, Katharine was positioned right outside the main door, and because Seol So-Young had been practising a sword art Katline had given her with the permission of her father, Seol So-Young was positioned right next to Katharine. Seol So-Young pleaded to defer, but of course, she was dragged out by Katharine while Katline pushed her out of her house. Katline stared down at Katharine, who was resting on the wall while leaning against it, and at Seol So-Young, who was trembling and sweating profusely while pointing her sword at the street in the front. "Good luck! I''ll ''probably'' protect you from above!" Katline said with a bright smile while showing off her bow to Seol So-Young. "Wh-what do you mean "probably?" Oye!! Oii!!" Seol So-Young''s terrified yell sounded from below, but Katline ignored her and took out the arrow, preparing herself for the swarm of demons and disgusting-looking zombies. "Get ready!! Time''s up!" Chapter 240 239. Tchorts Ploy. ?(AN: Omniscient POV) "Get ready! Time''s up!" Katline''s loud yell sounded from above. And at the abrupt warning, Seol So-Young got a bit more anxious and clenched the sword in her hands. Katharine, who was staring at Seol So-Young, couldn''t help but shake her head at her clumsiness; those were the few moments that had actually been able to cheer her up after her parents'' deaths. Even unbeknownst to Katharine, Eshwar''s presence had made her mind at ease, and even she didn''t know how; she just thought that being in Katline''s, her friend''s home, was easing the heaviness in her heart. Katharine then smiled slightly and walked towards So-Young, tapped on her shoulder, and said, "Don''t worry too much; I''ll protect you, and you''ll protect me, and even though she acts like that, she''ll help if you are in a situation where you cannot handle it by yourself." Katharine said with a bright assuring smile. "Katharine....." Seol So-Young eximed with a bright face. "You do know that your words caused the stress in my mind to increase rather than decrease?" So-Young''s face instantly turned into a deadpan one while she said that. Katharine, who had gotten slightly smarter, now knew when to ignore people''s words, so she did that. ".... Take care of me, partner." She ignored Seol So-Young''s words, walked in front of her, and mumbled. "Hey! Hey! Get back here, you said that you''ll protect me! Where are you going?" So-Young''s yells sounded from behind, but of course, she was ignored,pletely. * While Katline, Katharine, and Seol So-Young were joking around and lifting the tension in the air, the people on other sectors were tensed out of their minds and preparing themselves for the demonic wave toe at them. The yer Association, under themand of SS-rank yer Seo Hana, had spread out their forces to all the sectors to lower the number of casualties as much as they could, because if they couldn''t even do that, why should they exist in the first ce? Of course, those were only the naive thoughts of a few people, including Seo Hana. [Wave (level 2)mencing.] It was the same asst time: but slightly stronger demons spawned, pixted. Though the people were able to kill them, their numbers were still a problem, and there were even times when, exactly like the name suggested, the demons swarmed in on the humans in a massive tide. But still, with the help of the forces of the association, humans were able to defend themselves against the wave of demons, and now it was time for the second phase of the level 2 wave. [Phase 2 of the Wave (level 2)mencing.] [ERROR] RUMBLE! This time, the sky andnd began to tremble; maybe it was because the same thing happened at the second phasest time too, and the people had readied themselves for something like this, so they weren''t that worried about it. SWISH And then abruptly, a literal army of demons spawned pixted, everywhere. Not even an alleyway was spared; the demons had spawned everywhere. When they noticed closely, they saw that demons had their hands ced on each other''s shoulders and had spawned entirely, and somewhere in mid-air, a handsome white-haired man with pitch-ck sclera and bright white eyes stared down at the human domain with an ominous grin on his face. "I was right!" The Demon King, Tchort, mumbled in delight. "The demons in my domain are selected at random and are selected ording to the wave''s level! So, my idea worked! Hehehehahaha!!" Heughed hysterically at the sight of demons covering the entirety of the human domain. He had thought of a way to use the wave''s spawning mechanism and understood that the "spawning" worked just like a gate, and opening one wasn''t that big of a deal to him, the Demon King, so since he "knew" everything about gates, he "understood" its mechanism quite easily. The location of the demon domain bes the entrance of a gate, and the human domain bes an exit at the time of spawning. Then all Tchort had to do was mand" the demons to ce their hands on each other''s shoulders to form a "link", and theyplied with themand as none of the demons had the ability to ignore the Demon King''smand, and even if his thoughts turned out to be wrong, a few weaklings would die, and there was nothing that Tchort had to lose in the experiment. But still, "It feels so great when the entire nes into y very nicely." Tchort mumbled and grinned ominously. The ploy in his y was that a few ranked demons and one high-ranked demon were among the demons that had spawned right now, so he just couldn''t wait to see the despair-filled faces of the humans when they found out the real horrors of the demon domain. "What will the humans, the Elves, and the Dwarves do now that the chaos of the demon domain has been unleashed into their domains?" Tchort mumbled, raised his head, and dropped it back, gazing at the direction where the Elven domain existed. "Hehehehahhahahahaha!" Heughed hysterically and disappeared. Meanwhile in the human domain. People were trembling in fear at the insane number of demons spawned right in front of them, and before they could regroup and form new ns to, at the very least, put up a fight against the demons, a war, no, a massacre would be the right word, a massacre began. And among them, with an easy-to-forget face, a ck-haired demon sat atop a dead human''s body, his sword piercing the body''s chest. The ck-haired demon had bright hazel eyes, two goat-like horns protruding from his forehead, demonized arms and legs with armour stuck to them, and a blood-red bipyramid-shaped crystal embedded in the middle of his bare chest. If considered from the "yer''s" perspective, the demon could easily be ranked SS, but in the demon domain, he was the weakest of the "high-ranked" demons, and his name was Tuwile. There were other five high-ranked demons still in the demon domain, together with another army of a simr size to the demons present in the human domain right now, but a lot stronger. Which was also the army that Tchort had nned to use while invading the human domain, in a year at most. Maybe the humans got confused and assumed Tuwile to be a human, there were some foolish people that yelled at him to run while they hold back the demons from attacking him, what kind of fool? No, if those humans just looked a bit closely, no, even without looking closely, one could tell at a nce that Tuwile was a demon. "Does this pest think of me as one of its own?" Tuwile mumbled under his breath and nced at the human''s back that was protecting him. Tuwile''s face twisted in madness at the sight of some "thing" trying to show him its pity; in an instant, he unsheathed his sword from the human''s body that he sat atop and shed it 360 degrees, horizontally. SLASH! SPLURT Chapter 241 240. Hopeless Hope. ?Tuwile''s face twisted in madness at the sight of some "thing" trying to show him its pity; in an instant, he unsheathed his sword from the human''s body that he sat atop and shed it 360 degrees, horizontally. SLASH! WHOOOSH A ring of reddish ck coloured mana shot out from his swing. SPLURT SPLATTER BOOM! Everything up to 50 feet around him was destroyed; nothing was spared¡ªdemons, humans, and even buildings that stood in the way of his sword sh simply exploded. And at that horrifying scene, humanity''s doom seemed to have been made known, but the demons, even though many of their own kind had died at the hands of one of their own kind, they ignored it as if it weren''t anything new and pounced on the humans, who were immobile due to the fear Tuwile had instilled in them without even trying to. And soon, silent screams filled with anguish descended upon humanity. The throats, limbs, heads, eyes, ears, fingers, everything that can be bit off, was being bit off by the demons, killing the humans slowly and as painfully as possible, while some simply enjoyed to massacre with blood sttering everywhere, and some were in seen relieving their s*xual urges on the humans that they took a liking to, while all of these horrifying things were happening, humans began to lose hope and some even gave up on fighting back. But right now, unfortunately for them, Tuwile''s madness has yet to calm down. "How dare you, how dare you, how dare you, how dare you, how dare you...HOW DARE YOU!?" Tuwile yelled at the top of his lungs and lunged himself forward to wherever the "pests" were seen. "Ra!" He roared with a sh. WHOOSH A 6-metre wide, reddish-ck coloured, horizontal mana arc shot out from his sword swing, killing at least 40 humans in its path and well over 70 demons who were slowly eating away the humans in front of them, and a massive arc even got imprinted on the ground beneath the dead bodies of both humans and demons. * Soon, when almost all of the humans in the area where Tuwile was, were about to be annihted, a strong heat wave struck the demons and pushed them back, away from the humans. The humans instantly recognised that heat wave and knew that they were going to be rescued soon, but their eyes didn''t gain even a glint of life and lookedpletely dead. It seemed like they didn''t really want to be rescued; they just wanted to be killed sooner so that the mental torture they were experiencing would just end. They just wanted everything to end, so what if the reinforcements came for them? What would they do, exactly? All the horrifying scenes that they saw were seemingly imprinted in their minds, and it was simply impossible to wipe them out. With all the things they have seen today, they were sure that they wouldn''t be able to live, as the scene wasn''t something that could be forgotten so easily. And then, a warm sensation engulfed the survivors'' bodies, but they didn''t show even an ounce of change in their mental and physical state, and their gaze was drawn to the brave woman''s small yet huge back that seemed to be bearing the responsibility of the entirety of humanity; that was the kind of back that would give hope to whoever saw it, wanting to share even the slightest of the heaviness of the burden the woman in front of them was carrying, but... The people who were looking at that back didn''t want to be part of the burden "that" woman had to bear, so... A young woman dared, clenched a short sword that was in her loosened grip, and slit her throat in a single, strong sh. SPLURT! "!!" Seo Hana''s eyes shot wide open when she heard the sound of something sttering behind her; she thought that there was a demon that had slipped her senses and had killed a human. She instantly snapped her head in the direction of the sound in hopes of saving at least one more life, but her eyes widened in shock and her gaze trembled when she noticed that a young woman had killed herself even when she had arrived to help them. She was already having a hard time holding in the stressful emotions that just wanted to burst out when she saw the state Sector One had turned into, but this sight in front of her was thest barrier that helped her hold in the emotions. "Ah...." Tears streamed out of her eyes, and a strange sound that was stuck in her throat escaped. SPLURT "Ah...." ''No.'' Seo Hana yelled inwardly, but she didn''t have the strength required to say those words out loud when she looked at the lifeless eyes of the people she had just rescued. The scene in front of her was something she had never experienced, and by the looks of it, she hoped that it was just a dream and the scene in front of her would never ever happen, but of course, reality won''t change with a simple thought of a human. "HOW DARE YOU!?" A loud yell continued to sound behind her, but Seo Hana just ignored it and stared at the people killing themselves, one after another. She hoped somebody would stop and tell them not to kill themselves, but no, none of the humans she rescued wanted to live, and atst, none of them did. BOOM With a loud "boom," Seo Hana''s massive bright orange me wings popped out of her back without her even realizing it. She looked down at her own hands; to her, the scene that just happened in front of her was because of her; they killed themselves because of her. At that thought, it seemed like her hands were stained with the blood of the innocent humans; she herself had killed them. She felt disgusted with herself; she brought her hands close, ced them on her face, and said, "I''m sorry." She mumbled while tears streamed out continuously. She then abruptly pressed her face with her nails, wing them until they bled. "I''m sorry." She mumbled again and pulled down her nails that were pressed against her face, and six long, bleeding w marks formed on her face as the voice that sounded behind her got closer and closer. "How dare you?" The loud voice sounded in her ear this time, and Tuwile swung down his sword, hoping to cut off the phoenix wings that were on Seo Hana''s back. "How annoying." Seo Hana mumbled, and Tuwile''s world turned upside down in an instant. BOOM! Seo Hana did a reverse kick to Tuwile''s head, in that instance due to the force behind her kick, Tuwile''s body flipped vertically and his head was mmed at the ground very strongly, so strongly that Tuwile didn''t even get back up for a brief moment. Because he was too shocked and dumbfounded by what and how something like that had happened¡ªand that too by a human¡ªbut it didn''tst long because this wasn''t the first time he was knocked to the ground; it was something that happened on a daily basis while he was in the demon domain, but this and that were different. WHOOSH He soon got back up on his feet and red at Seo Hana, who was burning like a torch. Her mes had reached at least 10 feet tall and were burning so strongly that even the debris of the buildings Tuwile had destroyed was melting. "How dare you, you pest!" Chapter 242 241. Tuwile. ?02. Intruders (Frostine and Frost dragon image) 06. The new world (Eshwar''s and Katharine''s image) *** "How dare you, you pest!" Tuwile red at Seo Hana, who had a lost expression on her face but, at the same time, her fighting spirit burned brighter than any other. This was the first time a person''s aura took shape while they were conscious and in the middle of a battle, because the aura just gets shaped inwardly or explodes outward for a split second before the person loses consciousness due to severe exhaustion. But Seo Hana was standing still while her aura was taking shape; it was a phenomenon that shouldn''t be possible for humans, or so it was thought. "You''re noisy." Seo Hana mumbled under her breath and disappeared. She reappeared behind Tuwile, who was ready for it and elbowed her, but she disappeared again. Tuwile didn''t lose hisposter that returned after being knocked to the ground once, and he turned back thinking that she would appear behind his back again. Since he couldn''t find her, he began to search for her by looking around, but then, again, in an instant, he was staring at the ground. He was shocked and dumbfounded by what happened, but before he coulde to a proper conclusion, BOOM! His face was mmed against the ground, and from the impact, a 10-foot-wide crater appeared beneath his head. Without minding the grumbling soundsing from beneath, Seo Hana just stood on Tuwile''s head while staring down at him with a lost look on her face. But the w marks that were on her face were healing while the blood dripping down from her face was so hot that it was melting everything that it dripped on. There were even a few that were dropped into the back of Tuwile''s head; though painful, he ignored them because regeneration was something he was good at, even whenpared to the other high-ranked demons in the demon domain. Suddenly, Tuwile released his grip and tensed his palm. WHOOSH! Seo Hana kicked off from the back of Tuwile''s head and jumped in the air to avoid the sword, which had dropped out of Tuwile''s grip when she had kicked him earlier, that came at her, cutting through the air while swinging horizontally. Tuwile used the opportunity he created to get back and be on guard against the human pest that was seemingly on par with him. "I shall stop underestimating you, human girl." Tuwile said, and Seo Hana''s gaze trembled when she heard his choice of words. He dared to call her a "girl." A girl! That wasn''t meant to be disrespectful, but Seo Hana despised being called that; if it had been any other time, she would have beaten the sh*t out of him without thinking twice, but she wasn''t in the right frame of mind to care right now, and her trembling gaze was just a subconscious action, but even then, the aura surrounding her got a slight but abrupt boost that Seo Hana wasn''t even aware of. ''Her aura can still burn fiercer?'' Tuwile thought, and for the first time in his life, he wanted to fight the woman in front of him with everything he had, and he wanted to let that woman know what despair really feels like. Unbeknownst to Tuwile, the reason Tchort still kept Tuwile in the ranks was exactly because he had never seen Tuwile fight against anyone seriously. And his persistence in not fighting back intrigued Tchort and continued to keep him in the high ranks even when he knew that he was being beaten to the brink of death on a daily basis. Of course, there was a reason for Tuwile to be in the high ranks; it was because he was "interesting," and that was it. He at least had to be interesting; it wasn''t like Tchort didn''t have plenty of weaklings under him already. If a demon in the ranks was weak like Tuwile, they would be killed, no exceptions whatsoever. It always seemed like there wasn''t anybody that was able to incite Tuwile''s fighting spirit, rage, or his basic demonic instinct to kill and destroy. Tchort was curious to see how and what would happen if Tuwile fought seriously for the first time. BAM WHOOSH Tuwile kicked off the ground, leaving behind a 5-foot-wide crater beneath his feet, and zoomed towards Seo Hana, in front of whom he instantly appeared with a wide, ominous, savage grin on his face and swung down his sword at her diagonally with all the force and weight he could muster up in that instance. WHOOSH Seo Hana took a step to the side and dodged his attack, and she noticed that his sword swing was able to cut off her fighting spirit even though it wasn''t really Tuwile''s intention. BOOOOOMMM! A loud "boom" resounded in the area when Tuwile''s sword swing''s mana arc came in contact with the half-broken building, and when she nced at it, she thought that she should stop thinking about other things and focus on dealing with the demon in front of her first, as she understood that she would die if his sword really hit her, because what she saw was just pure devastation. The building had seemingly disappeared without a trace when it came in contact with the mana arc that shot out from Tuwile''s sword, and it had even left behind a massive, at least 50 feet tall, 20 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, diagonal sword swing on the ground, and everything that was present in the area of impact had been simply obliterated. The caved-in buildings from the mana arc could be seen falling into the massive pit of the sword swing carved into the ground. And while Seo Hana was staring at the destruction his sword swing had caused, Tuwile frowned deeply, thinking that she was ignoring him, and punched her in the head. "!!!" Seo Hana barely dodged Tuwile''s fist when she felt the killing intent that was oozing out of his body. "How dare you ignore me?" He seemingly lost his sh*t when he thought that he was being ignored; he lunged towards her with a strong p of his bat wings. Perhaps it was because he had used his wings to speed up, so Seo Hana couldn''t properly see the demon approaching her, but she was able to instinctively dodge his attack on her abdomen. But notpletely. SPLURT! "Argh." She groaned at the sharp stinging pain at her abdomen and looked at it to get a proper glimpse of the damage she had received, and she was shocked to find her left arm disappeared up to her bicep, and at the spot where she was having a stinging sensation was the left corner of her stomach that was torn off. Only then did she see that Tuwile had simply stabbed her using his mana; if her instincts hadn''t warned her and she hadn''t been able to dodge the attack, then she would have died, disappearing without any trace, just like her left arm. She didn''t even have the heart to think of what would have happened if she hadn''t been able to dodge it, and while she was dazed in pain, Tuwile, who was still pissed off about being ignored, pulled back his sword-holding arm and stabbed again, a lot more fiercely this time. "!!!" Chapter 243 242. Phoenix Kin And SS-Ranked Players. ?Tuwile, who was still pissed off about being ignored, pulled back his sword-holding arm and stabbed again, a lot more fiercely this time. "!!!" Seo Hana''s eyes snapped wide open when she noticed him getting ready to stab again; though she was ready for it, it seemed a bit too fast, and she had to use everything in her arsenal to just dodge a single attack from Tuwile. WHOOSH SWISH BOOM (2x) "Argh!" Seo Hana groaned and dodged another one of Tuwile''s wild sword swings. WHOOSH BOOM She was concentrating on her left arm because she needed that arm to bnce herself and to actually put up a fight against him, so she now understood properly how hard it is to concentrate on two important things at once. "F**k it." Seo Hana suddenly yelled and concentrated only on her magic power and not on healing her left arm. WHOOMM And then suddenly, a wed arm made of her magic power materialised out of nowhere, and though she didn''t exactly n anything when concentrating on her magic power, she now had a phoenix''s left w as her left arm, with perfect weight and mana flow, and it felt like her own arm had regenerated perfectly, but she knew her left w was a lot stronger than her actual arm ever was. "Thank you." She thanked Tuwile, who was staring at the mesmerising arm in a daze, and before he could even recover from his daze, Seo Hana punched him with her left w. BAM! BOOM And his body flew down and crashed to the ground due to the force behind Seo Hana''s arm. Both of them were shocked at how strong it was, but one was more shocked than the other, and that was Seo Hana, because she knew that she didn''t really put in any actual strength behind it as she wasn''t someone who trained much physically. "Do not think that you can now defeat me just because you just gained another strong ability." Tuwile said after standing back up on his feet and wiped the ck blood that trickled down from his mouth. ''No, I didn''t really think anything like that.'' Seo Hana grumbled inwardly. And due to the shock, her mind slightly cleared, and her eyes regained their light, but it was only for a moment before she realised that fact, and the faces of the humans who were killing themselves reappeared in her mind and her eyes lost their glow again. "Heh." As soon as he noticed the glow in her eyes turn dim, he scoffed at them. * And meanwhile. The humans in other sectors were being killed mercilessly, and the yers of the past¡ªa very few SS-ranked yers¡ªappeared out of nowhere and killed the demons off. Dwayne Knight, Kane Romero, and Lanna Romero were the only ones that appeared to deal with the demons. There were more: Katharine''s parents, Quinn Walker, Violet''s parents, and Stan Walton, but they didn''t appear. Why? Because Katharine''s parents were killed, so was Quinn Walker, but Violet''s parents were made into vampire thralls by Samantha or Kensa Pawn, and Stan Walton, well, he just had other things to deal with as the association chairman, or so he said. ? Dwayne Knight was also one of the association chairmen, and thest of the association chairmen was Reynard Tyler, the grandfather of Violet Tyler; he had abandoned everything and gone into the mountains in the pursuit of "greater strength." He loved his granddaughter, but he couldn''t quite show it because he didn''t know how. The situation Violet is in right now would be cleared in an instant, but since he didn''t know anything about his family and Violet''s luck didn''t seem to be that high either, she couldn''t do anything but wait for her chance to contact Eshwar, which is what she was doing. In a highest quality guild building. Violet had somehow managed to sessfully sneak in her smartphone from her mother''s possession. BANG, BANG, BANG Loud banging on her room''s door fell on her ear, and tears began to stream down her face, which was in a pitiful state. Since it didn''t seem like she was going to get a chance to make a proper call, she sent a message for help to Eshwar''s contact number and quickly threw her phone at the corner of her room, where it broke into two due to the force with which she flung it. Hoping that she wouldn''t get beaten again, she walked towards the door and opened it before it was broken down. She saw a guild member ring at her from outside; she was in the group that "joined" her parents'' intercourse that day. PATT She pped Violet as soon as she opened the door, scoffed at her, and walked away as if nothing happened. Violet red at the back of the woman walking off in the distance, and when she was out of sight, she rushed into her room, grabbed the broken phone, rushed back, and flung it in the direction the woman just walked off. ''With this, nobody would doubt me, and I have a perfect excuse as to how that phone got there.'' Violet thought after locking the door behind her back. * The SS-rank yers that had appeared to help sensed the ominous energy from sector seven, but since they were informed of Seo Hana going there to deal with it, they weren''t too worried about it and returned to their guilds and homes. But the Romero couple returned to their daughter''s home to check up on her and her friends, for whom she had asked for a book of light sword art. It wasn''t that strong of a sword art, and the only use was lessening the weight of the sword, but that wasn''t what they were worried about; what they were really worried about was what if their daughter met a scammer, and after listening to a fake pitiful story, she fell for it and was getting scammed by someone who she thought of as a friend. Of course, they knew that this "friend" Katline mentioned was a woman, and there wasn''t really anything to be worried about, but they just couldn''t help but think about it as they felt like their daughter was hiding something. Yes, these were the thoughts running through their minds while a literal massacre had just taken ce. * BOOM Back at Sector Seven. Seo Hana was lying on the ground, bleeding profusely, while Tuwile stood ring down at her, his sword pointing at her neck. He didn''t seem to be injured by a lot, as all his wounds had already healed, but he was seen huffing and gasping for air while Seo Hana had a ton of sword cuts on her body, which were also seen to be healing as they weren''t too deep. "Huff....huff....huff...." Tuwile grinned in triumph while huffing, and suddenly, out of nowhere, he took out a strange ss sk filled with some kind of strange-looking liquid, drank it, and stopped huffing and gasping for air. With the intake of some kind of healing potion, Tuwile was back to the state he was in at the beginning. ''Hah, of course, a demon who can use some kind of summoning magic.'' Seo Hana thought because she felt some mana disturbance when he summoned the potion, and he did it again to toss the sk back in, but instead of going back in, it dropped to the ground and shattered. "...." "...." Seo Hana knew that it really wasn''t the time to beughing, but she couldn''t help it as she stared at Tuwile, who embarrassed himself while trying to act cool. She needed sheer will power to hold in herughter. "Give up, human." Tuwile ignored whatever happened just a second ago and said with a serious look on his. ".... really?" Seo Hana couldn''t believe that he got over something so embarrassing so easily. But at that instance, the faces of the humans from before shed in her mind and all the other thoughts she was having, haltedpletely, and despaired. Chapter 244 243. Eshwar? ?"...." "...." Seo Hana knew that it really wasn''t the time to beughing, but she couldn''t help it as she stared at Tuwile, who embarrassed himself while trying to act cool. She needed sheer willpower to hold in herughter. "Give up, human." Tuwile spoke with a serious expression, ignoring whatever had just happened. ".... really?" Seo Hana couldn''t believe that he got over something so embarrassing so easily. But at that instance, the faces of the humans from before shed in her mind, and all the other thoughts she was havingpletely halted, and she despaired. ''For the first time ever, I hate my trait....'' Seo Hana thought; she knew that her trait, "Phoenix Kin," was an emotionally dependent kind of trait because phoenixes were known to be very emotional creatures. Seo Hana would always feel even the normal emotions very strongly; her trait has always been like that, and due to this, many traumas still remained, but she had managed to hide them well under her cheery personality. But the sight from earlier was the first time for her; it was the first time she had actually seen something like that, and it was showing no signs of fading any time soon. At these thoughts, her eyes turned dead as the images of the scene repeated themselves continuously; it was as if she were falling into somewhere deep where nothing except her would ever be able to exist. She curled up and hugged her knees as the dark slowly began to envelope her body; it felt good because those traumatising thoughts were gradually bing dimmer and dimmer, and she reached the point where absolutely nothing remained; she wasn''t hearing anything, wasn''t seeing anything, wasn''t touching anything, and she wasn''t smelling the nauseating scent of blood. Unbeknownst to Seo Hana, it was what a phoenix feels when it wants to give up on life, preserving the smallest yet brightest me within to give birth to another life, and while all of this was happening, very strong, fierce, and destructive mes were erupting out of Seo Hana''s curled up body. It was so strong that the entire Sector Seven could feel the heat, and Tuwile, who was standing right in front of her, had already burned to a crisp without even knowing how or what had exactly happened. Suddenly, Seo Hana''s Phoenix Wings snapped wide open and hugged the small body and turned into a hardened shell with mana sheild surrounding the entire shell, to protect her. As hot as the me erupting from her was, the scene where her wings enveloped her to protect her was just as "warm." BOOM! Suddenly, a ck-haired handsome man zoomed out of nowhere and punched at the shell as strongly as he could. A hot ripple shot out from the impact; it was so strong that the mes that almost the entirety of the area were almost blown out. It even stayed burning faintly for a few seconds before burning more fiercely than it had initially. The cocoon-like shell shot towards the ground and due to the force behind the blow being so great, it didn''t stop and sheathed into the ground. After travelling quite deep into the ground, a loud implosion reverberated throughout the entire sector, but the ck-haired man ignored everything and dove into the hole that Seo Hana''s shell had formed, and when he reached the spot where the shell was, he noticed that a cave had formed from the implosion from earlier. He then zoomed towards her, tensed his back and shoulder muscles, and three-meter-wide, ominously burning wings manifested on his back before he shot towards Seo Hana, leaving behind a trail of thick ck smoke. BOOM! BOOM! .... He continuously punched at the phoenix''s wings until he saw a gap, an opening from which he could rip open the phoenix wings if he really wanted to. Of course, he hadn''t handled anything with care since his appearance until now, but he knew he couldn''t keep acting like that now that the phoenix''s instincts would be at an all-time high. If he wanted to get Seo Hana out of there without activating her phoenix instincts or harming her, he had to show her phoenix instincts that he meant no harm and he wanted to protect thest phoenix kin. If it were any other person, they should really give up on even trying to do anything, but the ck-haired man was different; one could even call him an expert at faking emotions. He gently flew towards her, stroked the wing''s ming feathers with absolute care and love, the wings slightly trembling as if they were enjoying his touch, and soon slowly moved to the sides, revealing the petite naked figure sleepingfortably, but if he did not act faster, Seo Hana would perish in a matter of seconds. Then he gently, softly, and very lovingly, reached at her face, and..... PATTT! "Ackh!!?" Seo Hana was jolted awake at the sudden stinging sensation on her left cheek. She looked around while rubbing her cheek, but soon her gaze halted at the ck-haired man and her entire body froze. Instantly, all the memories of the people killing themselves returned and her eyes turned misty. "Max...." Seo Hana mumbled under her breath, and tears began to stream out. She slowly crawled towards him to findfort in him, but halted when she connected the stinging sensation with his slightly raised hand. "You pped me?" Seo Hana mumbled in disbelief, but she wasn''t really mad about it, but she won''t show it on the outside. "Is that really what you are worried about right now?" Max mumbled and his gaze moved lower than the spot where her eyes were; though perplexed, she followed his gaze and noticed that she wasn''t wearing anything on her, but she still needed a brief moment before she realised the true problem. With a flushed face, she nced at Max in hopes of seeing him avert his gaze with a flustered face, but what she saw was entirely different from her expectation; he was staring at her without even blinking once, as if he were imprinting her body in his mind, and then he noticed her gaze, and when he met her eyes, he smiled charmingly and licked his lips seductively, making Seo Hana turn more flustered. "Y-yu-you pervert!" She yelped, jumped back and covered her body with her arms, and following her instincts, her wings also covered her body. "Hahahaha." Maxughed heartily at the sight and began to walk towards the dazed Seo Hana; it was the first time she had seen himugh like that since Faye died, and she stared at him approaching in daze. "Oi." Max called out while looking down at her. "Huh?" She snapped out of her daze at his call, but when she realised the situation, she began to blush violently but didn''t do anything and maintained eye contact, slightly expectant. He gently ced his right hand on her neck and rubbed her left cheek with his thumb. He leaned forward until their foreheads touched, but both of them maintained eye contact. He slightly raised his head and tilted his head. Seo Hana''s expectations soared at his actions, and her lips trembled and moved into a small pout, subconsciously. "Mmmhn~" As soon as he kissed her, her wings subconsciously opened up and hugged him; of course, he knew that and sheathed his wings to not cause any inconvenience to her wings. "Let''s go, people are gathering above." Max broke the kiss, said and walked back before looking up at the hole, leaving Seo Hana dazed and perplexed, not because of the kiss, but because it felt strangely familiar. ''Eshwar?'' Chapter 245 244. Eshwar. ?"Let''s go, people are gathering above." Max said and walked back before looking up at the hole, leaving Seo Hana dazed in confusion, not because of the kiss, but because she felt that it was strangely familiar. ''Eshwar?'' Seo Hana thought inwardly, but shook her head to dismiss that thought. ''I shouldn''t think like that, it is disrespectful to Max.'' She thought and shook her head thinking that maybe all handsome guys kiss like that. Eshwar''s words at the time of breaking up shed in her head, "I find you boring because you hide behind this...." at the word "this," he pointed his index finger at her, top to bottom, "because you hide behind this mask of "Seo Hana," you created for yourself." He said and walked away, though nobody may find any sense in those words of his, Seo Hana knew that his words were true. She had always hid herself away because all the emotions she had pent up would drive people away from her, she didn''t want that, so she had been living like that ever since her awakening, she wasn''t going to change or anything, but a part of her always thought about his words from that day. "Wear this ande out." Max''s voice snapped her out of her trance and she nodded timidly before covering herself. "!!!" Her eyes snapped wide open when she felt the mana disturbance near Max, it was exactly how it felt when the demon from before took out a potion out of nowhere. "Here." Max said as he offered her his t-shirt. "How....did you do that just now?" She couldn''t hold back her curiosity and asked with her brows furrowed at him, she wasn''t really expecting the truth or anything, she just wanted to hear his answer, she''ll decide what to do after hearing his answer. "This? A t-shirt?" Max asked with a confused look on his face. "No, not that, where did you take it out from?" She asked because she was cautious about the fact that what if, just what if, even the demons are able to ess the system. "Oh! You meant this! It is just space maniption magic." Max answered truthfully, without even bothering to hide the fact that he can use some strange magic. "I did talk about this with you before....." He mumbled under his breath and pressed his lips as if he said something he shouldn''t have, and though he realised it a bitte, it was true, he really did say something he shouldn''t have. ''This is space maniption magic, it really isn''t that big of a deal, I can teach it to you if you want, wanna learn it?'' Eshwar''s words shed in her mind again, and this time she even began to notice a lot of simrities between Max and Eshwar. And that was it, she didn''t doubt it anymore, now she knew for a fact that he was Eshwar. "Eshwar....." She called out and he nced at her from the corner of his eyes and sighed deeply when he saw tears well up in her eyes again. "Yes." He nodded his head in agreement and tears streamed out of her eyes. "Why?" She asked that question subconsciously, but she wanted to know why he hid his identity, why he behaved so coldly thest time they met in the association building, why he acted as if he forgot her that day, why he was acting like that when they met again in the press conference, why he behaved so disrespectfully when they met at the orphanage even though she was just doing her job, why he was behaving so lovingly now, when she wanted to end everything, just why? Though she couldn''t voice all of these questions, she felt like he would understand her, and it seemed like he really did. "I didn''t really hide my identity, let me introduce myself again, I''m Max Knight, son of Dwayne Knight, a SS-rank hero, and a father who abandoned me, and hello, I''m Eshwar Frost, it is name I gave myself, because I didn''t really want anything to do with the Knight family." He introduced himself with a polite bow when he introduced himself as Max, but when he introduced himself as Eshwar, he had a arrogant and a certain otherworldly aura surrounding him. "...." Seo Hana didn''t get all the answers she wanted, but she was shocked beyond belief at the revtion. She was so shocked that she forgot everything about Faye. "Do not speak about it else where." Eshwar said like it was a threat, but his nonchnt tone indicated that he didn''t really care much about it. "Why did you kiss me?" She too didn''t care much about it when she heard the tone of voice he spoke in, and then asked something that really mattered to her. "Just ''cauze." He replied and it irked her to no end, but without releasing her anger at him, she began to tremble and cry. ''I can''t believe I fell in love with the same guy twice, without even realising that!'' She grumbled inwardly. "Hey, hey, hey, don''t cry, it wasn''t my fault now, was it?" Eshwar asked as he rushed towards her and hugged her tofort her, and when she feltfortable in his arms, she began to sob loudly and her knees buckled up, making her fall into his arms. "Hey, hey!" Eshwar''s yell sounded, but she ignored him and continued to cry. "Haaa...." He sighed deeply, slowly sat down, picked her up and ced her on hisp, hugging. "I don''t care anymore." He mumbled and leaned back with Seo Hana on his chest as she continued to sob. "Hey, I''m not really against it or anything, but could you wear anything, please?" He asked and at his question, "Waaaaaa!!!" She began to sob more loudly at his teasing and yful tone. "Ok, ok, ok!" * Approximately an hourter. SNIFFLE "Done?" Eshwar asked while looking down at Seo Hana, who had cried until half of his t-shirt was soaking wet. "Sniffle, mhm." She hummed in agreement and hugged him morefortably. "? Aii, get off, I need to go somewhere." Eshwar''s grumbling sounded, but he didn''t really push her away. "You, sniffle, kissed me, so take responsibility." She mumbled under her breath, she knew that she was acting like a spoiled child, but she didn''t really care about it because she knew that he wasn''t the type to think anything about it, and she felt really, really light as if all of her burdens were lifted. ? Of course, she would feel like that, she had cried out everything that had been pent up till now, and it wasn''t like they disappeared or anything, but she just epted them, and she wouldn''t continue to well on them anymore. "If you had been like this at the time we were dating, maybe I wouldn''t have suggested a break up, but you should know that I won''t love you anymore, no matter what." Eshwar said, his every word hurt her, but she didn''t really me him, she raised her head to face him, but noticed that he wasn''t looking at her, but somewhere else even though his hand was on her head, patting andforting her. ".....I know." She mumbled and hugged him tightly as if it was goodbye hug, and heplied with her and hugged her back, pulled her up and nted a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you." Seo Hana mumbled under her breath and snuggled on his chest. "Get off." He yelled in her ear yfully and began to push her away, she smiled warmly when she realised that he doing it to lighten up the mood and she too got ready to y along but his next words earned him a bite on his right bicep. "Hey~ it actually feels good, even though there really isn''t much there. Ack." Chapter 246 245. Live-In Relationship? ?A few moments earlier. "Mmm, mm?" I woke up from afortable yet "enlightening" sleep; it was the mostfortable sleep that I had in, like, a million years, I guess. "Who is that man?" A loud hoarse man''s voice sounded from the living room. "Don''t tell me you are in a live in rtionship?" Another angry yet sweet woman''s voice sounded. "Hm? Who?" I mumbled in a daze, woke up, and walked towards the living room. I noticed Katline standing in front of her parents with her head down, while Katharine stood near the kitchen, and Seol So-Young stood at a corner..... I stared at her while trying to calm down the rising rage. "Y-you! Who are you?" Katline''s father, Kane Romero, asked while staring at me. "Huh? Me?" *** Kane Romero and Lanna Romero rushed towards their daughter''s house, saw three young women fighting against the small horde of demons, and soon Katline and Katharine stopped fighting, teasing the female elf that they didn''t know. At the way Katline giggled and teased the elven woman, they understood that she was the "friend" their daughter talked about. They smiled slightly when they realised that they were worried about in vain. "Katline, you shouldn''t tease your friend like that." Lanna said and hugged the grumbling elven woman while Kane killed all the demons in the sector. "Uncle, Aunty." Katharine greeted them with a polite bow. Lanna and Kane suddenly remembered the incident where her parents were killed; though they felt pity, they didn''t show it on the outside and zoomed towards her, hugging her tightly. "Hello, Katharine, it''s been so long since I have seen you; you have grown up into a fine woman, I see." Lanna spoke in a proud tone while staring at Katharine from top to bottom. "Yes, aunty, thank you." Katharine hugged them slightly and replied politely. "So, who is this beautifuldy?" She asked and turned to face the elven woman while her hand was still over Katharine''s shoulders. "Ah, she is Seol So-Young, we rescued her from the.... back alleyway when she was being bullied by some men." Katharine replied. Though suspicious about the gap in her sentence, Lanna didn''t pry in any further and looked at Seol So-Young with a concerned face. "Are you alright now?" Lanna asked Seol So-Young, and nced at Katline after Seol So-Young nodded her head. "Baby, won''t you greet your parents?" Lanna asked with a dejected look and tone. "M-mamma!" Katline yelled, faking delight to the best of her ability, but of course, a child''s acts cannot be hidden from a parent''s eyes. Lanna furrowed her brows at her daughter, who was acting very strangely. Katline nced at Katharine and eyed inside the room, and as if understanding her friend, Katharine turned stiff, Lanna, who still had her hand over Katharine''s shoulders, noticed that and her frown deepened. Kane, who noticed everything while standing on the sidelines, frowned and spread his senses wide, concentrating mainly on his daughter''s house. "!?" He soon felt another presence in the house, and his eyes opened wide in surprise and confusion. Confusion because the "safe house," rendered with his mana sense when he tried to peer into the house without the permission of the house owner. Noticing the changes in her husband''s expression, Lanna looked at Katline from the corner of her eyes and smiled brightly on the outside, but unfortunately for Lanna, everyone noticed the ominousness she tried to hide behind her smile. "My daughter~ won''t you invite your parents into the house?" Lanna asked, and though she made it sound like a question, Katline knew that it was more of amand. "Hahaha, haha, ha." * "...." "...." An eerie silence descended in the living room after Kane and Lanna saw a handsome white-haired man sleeping peacefully in their daughter''s bed. "Pfft, ahem, ahem." Seol So-Young held back herughter with tears in her eyes. Katline red at her from the corner of her eyes, but since she was in front of her parents, she couldn''t even curse at her. "You better exin what''s going on, Katline Romero." Kane asked in a strict tone, making Katline flinch. ''I am sorry, but I can''t just let this be....'' Kane thought inwardly. * A few minutester. Kane and Lanna were more suspicious of Katline''s rtionship with the handsome man in Katline''s room because of how reluctance she seemed to speak; they didn''t stop her from dating or anything, but living in the same house was still forbidden, at least until they married. But to keep a man in the same house without even knowing what he had in his mind was something only a naive person would do, though they trusted their daughter and knew that she won''t do something stupid or something that would put the Romero couple at shame, they obviously couldn''t trust an unknown man whose intentions are unknown, and that too a handsome man, who had the charms to have any woman he desired to. Kane couldn''t handle his daughter''s silence and the expression as if she had done something wrong and yelled at her, "Who is that man?" Though surprised by her husband''s sudden outburst, Lanna thought she should back him up on this: "Don''t tell me that you are in a live-in rtionship?" She asked, and her words not only surprised Kane but also Katline, who had a pained expression on her face. Kane absolutely hated to see that look on Katline''s face; he got so angry at her, for not even trying to exin herself, that he couldn''t hold it in anymore and raised his hand at her. Lanna noticed that he wasn''t taking things in with a sane mind, and when she was about to stop him from acting so rashly, she noticed him raise his hand at Katline, something that had never happened before, and now he was acting like that at his own daughter, because of an unknown man. Though she wanted to stop him, she was a bit too slow. Suddenly, both of them felt a strong killing intent that wasn''t exactly directed at them, but due to the pressure that bore down on them, they halted, nced to the side, and noticed the handsome white-haired man standing at their daughter''s room''s pathway with an expressionless look on his face. "Y-you! Who are you?" Kane asked while pointing his finger at the man, who had a confused expression on his face. "Huh? Me?" He asked and tilted his head in confusion. "E-Eshwar!!" Katline finally opened her mouth with tear-filled eyes, and though they felt guilty for acting like that, they wanted to see what expression the man would make when he saw tears in their daughter''s eyes; that would tell them what the next course of action would be. "Eshwar!!" Seol So-Young suddenly eximed with a delighted expression on her face, hopped towards the man and hugged him tightly. "Ai, get off!" The man called Eshwar said to Seol So-Young in amanding tone, but that woman simply shrugged it off and continued to hug him. "So-Young! I''ll kill you!" Katline yelled and rushed towards them, showing her ws like that of a cat''s. That was entirely out of Kane and Lanna''s expectations; they hadn''t expected to see something like this in their lives, never. They were looking at a scene where three women were fighting over a single man. Though Katharine didn''t act out like the other two, from the jealous and envious look on her face, it was clear that she too wanted ignore everything, rush over and hug him. "Katharine. Help me." He said in a burdened look on his face, though delighted to hear her name being called, Katharine simply walked towards him and joined in the group hug. "Haaaa...." Eshwar sighed, raised his hands above his head in surrender, disappeared, and reappeared at the other end of the room, escaping from the clutches of those crazy women. Katline''s parents'' eyes widened in shock because they couldn''t even catch the sight of the man''s movements; it was too fast and efficient. Then they suddenly noticed his expression, which turned serious, and without any forewarnings, he jumped out of the window and zoomed out towards Sector Seven. Chapter 247 246. Do I Have The Right? ?A few dayster. A handsome white-haired man walked down the street with a pondering and longing expression. "Hmmm...." I pondered quite deeply on if I should go to rescue her now or when she asks for it. ''How is she enduring so much? I can''t believe Violet had this much endurance in her; she should have contacted me or somebody that can actually rescue her, like me. Of course, there are other options like, me, or me, or me, nah?'' I asked myself in confusion. "Or has she already been rescued?" I halted in my steps and mumbled with a slight frown. I took a step forward to rush towards Violet''s parents'' guild building, but I instantly halted when I remembered the enlightenment that I received when I was unconscious for most of two weeks. The realisation that I had was the fact that I am absurdly strong. Heh, of course, everybody knows that, but... ''I use none of it except for my brute strength, I have a sh*t ton of abilities in my arsenal, but I simply swat through everything without using any of my actual abilities....'' I muttered in my mind, scolding myself. I tried to manipte aether into my eyes, just like I used to manipte mana. Though I can''t see my own eyes without a mirror, I knew for a fact that my iris should be glowing bright golden with vertical ck slits, while my sclera would have turned ck as well. Now that I was able to "see" the mana flow and the different coloured attributes of mana, I looked down at my body and activated the mana veins that I copied when I fought against the werewolf in Sector One, before it turned into a gate. I manipted the aether in them and felt a strange stinging sensation. (AN: from ch 13: Sector One (3)) ''Why is it hurting?'' I frowned, because I knew that I wouldn''t feel anything if it wasn''t anything extreme, though confused, I continued until aether was freely circting in my lower half of the body. ''Wouldn''t it be better if I just go through it all at once?'' I pondered inwardly, but before I even reached a conclusion, I shrugged it off and manipted the aether in all of the mana veins that were there from the start and the sh*t ton of new ones I created in order to move even one step forward, faster, so that I could survive and hunt down those whom I saw as my enemies. "Argh???" I groaned in pain, as I felt a strong dose of pain after quite a while. "Hahaha, argh, it''s been a while...." Iughed merrily while groaned in pain, I received quite a few odd expressions from the pass biers, but of course, it wasn''t a matter of any proper significance, so I ignored it and continued with keeping my concentration on manipting aether throughout my body. WHOOOMMM "?" And with a strange sound, I suddenly feltfortable, I nced down and noticed that I was "glowing" in ck (?), I looked around and noticed that the people who met my eyes froze in fear while those who didn''t, didn''t even bother to nce at me, me! a man glowing in ck! "Or is it that they can''t see this...." I mumbled under my breath. This conclusion was something that seemed quite possible, so I went with it. "Now, it''s time for my Trishul, guns, and finally THAT!" I remembered quite a few things I never used even though I kept them because I wanted to. ''Trishul, I''ll take it outter, so, guns and THAT are remaining.'' I muttered in my mind, took out an AR and the silver pistol that Louie gifted me from my white parasite mask. CLUNK "It feels quite good to hold it." I mumbled under my breath, tucked the silver pistol in my baggy ck trousers, held my AR in my right hand, and took a step forward while manipting aether in my mana veins. WHOOSH "!!!!!" Thendscape in front of me instantly changed, and for the first time, I was d that I shot out towards the sky. I took exactly two steps: one forward to shoot up, and after reaching the height of a skyscraper, I took another step mid-air on a footing made of aether and shot out straight. ''Fast!'' I muttered in shock. SPLASH! I halted right in the middle of an ocean, in a spot I have never actually been, and before my mind even realised what had just happened, I fell into the ocean. "Blubolbloubloub??" I mumbled underwater while swimming up. "Phutui!! Cough! Cough?! WTF? Where am I? Don''t tell me that I left the human domain with merely two steps." I mumbled in utter disbelief and looked around; fortunate for me, there was a pitch-ck trail left behind which I could use in order to get back to the human domain. "I never been this fast in both of my lives; sure, I was strong enough to destroy the entire world, but never this fast. Damn, I feel like sh*t when I say it out of my own mouth, no wait," I suddenly realised something. "I didn''t really destroy sh*t, I did absolutely nothing, did I? All my life, which I thought I did my best to survive, pushing through the limit, in ever second of my life! Nothing! None of it was actually true!! Hahahaha, Seol So-Young, Seol So-Young, Seol So-Young! I swear on my name that I''ll kill you as painfully as possible. I swear." "I was wondering why I was getting stronger and stronger without even trying; I can''t believe all of that was just a delusion! Karma is the absolute weapon? Absolute my a*s! She couldn''t draw or imagine a certain shape for that weapon, so she drew one long line and named it Karma! And what was that? How did anybody believe that sh*t anyway? I disappeared without a single trace? Goddammit, at least make some, damn, sense! How can a healthy, normal person disappear without a trace?" I yelled out aloud, and though it may seem gibberish, I wasn''t really finding the right words to describe all the things in my mind, about Seol So-Young''s "reality" on the mana-less Earth. The same Earth that gained mana and was destroyed by me! Me! Because I couldn''t handle my repetitive lives! "Haaa....f**k." After taking out all the sh*t that was on my mind, I was slightly relieved and began to go through all the good things I saw in Seol So-Young''s memories. My father, Vishnu, was alive and well, taking care of my mother, Elena, and my little sister, Luna, who had grown up into a fine beauty, even though she was working now, taking care of both father and mother; she was the one that gave Seol So-Young the permission to publish the remake of my book, even using my name and a small portion of the information about my "original" character. Which was the "healthy" version of the current me, a sh*t ton weaker too. "But do I really have the right toin about a thing like that?" "I mean, I am the creator and destroyer of the world I created, creator because, well, you know, because I am the one that created this world, and destroyer because, if I think properly about it, it seems like my existence, it is actually the cause for thews of this world, changing. Maybe it is because of me, that thosews are bending ording to my wishes." I mumbled, closed my eyes, and sighed deeply, remembering what I actually wanted to do. ".... Violet...." I sighed again and disappeared from the spot where I floated as soon as I took a step forward, under the water. Chapter 248 247. Return. ?I arrived at Violet''s parents'' "Shadow Guild" quickly, no, instantly; it had previously ranked second in the world guild ranking, but thanks to me, it was now just a guild that was simr to a factory, but this one produced thralls. ''Right, I recently noticed the news about Vinny Glover bing a demon and killing his own father, Norvin Glover, and though I was the one who made Vinny conclude that Norvin was the client that I, White Swan, spoke of, it wasn''t that satisfying as I wasn''t there to watch it.'' I muttered in my mind to distract myself from my earlier outburst, which I didn''t know where or on whom I should take it out on. ''Katline''s the only one left now, but by the looks of it, it seems like she would despair as much as she would despair at her parents'' deaths, just from my rejection.'' I mumbled inwardly; even though I was the one who thought of it, somehow it felt too true. I walked in without caring much about the looks of disbeliefs on the faces of the guild members, would any vampires let a human walk into their guild, that too without permission? Of course not; there will be one or two fools who wille at me. "Like this." I mumbled and swatted away the mosquito that pounced at me. SPLATTER! "...." ''I didn''t really put that much strength into it though (?)'' Though even I was surprised, I didn''t show it on the outside and acted as if it wasn''t anything new, since it really wasn''t. I suddenly halted when I remembered that the AR I had taken out was still in my hand, dripping down water. I manipted aether and dried off all the water in it, pointed at the receptionist, and fired with max power, while number 10 was disyed on the disy screen, and used fire-attributed bullets. DRURURURU BOOM (2x) Two ear deafening ''BOOM''s'' resounded throughout the entire building, altering everybody in it at the same time, since nobody is foolish enough to sit still and simply do nothing while their guild was being attacked by an unknown man, all the goons, I mean, guild members rushed to the ground floor before rushing at me. "This is cool." I mumbled with my gaze fixated on the AR; I had only fired four bullets and the entire reception had turned into dust, so I couldn''t wait to test out what results it would have against human-looking mosquitoes. DRURURURURURU ¡­. * After few minutes. "That was fun." I mumbled while looking at the almost destroyed ground floor. I would like to make the entire building copse, but since Violet was still here and I wanted to know what had happened, I held back quite a bit. Blood had sttered everywhere on many boulder-sized, half-exploded walls. I had killed exactly 54 thralls, and had fired two magazines containing 30 bullets each. But I could still feel a ton of undead magic power signs above, and one life sign in a corner, which I knew was Violet. ''There aren''t any presences near her.'' I noticed and began to walk towards the stairs, determined not to stop until I had reached the guild master''s room. "Uckh!!!?" I groaned in pain at the "return" of a very familiar pain. ''My head is hurting again.'' I muttered in my mind and began to think, "Why?" But at that thought, it began to hurt even more. I didn''t understand why it returned and why now, I had almost forgotten about this mind-splitting headache. "Uckh!!!" ''the f**k?'' I was surprised at the levels, the pain was escting; it was just unbelievable, not once from the day I have been going through sh*t like instant power ups had I experienced this much pain. Except for the time when manipting aether, it always felt like I had almost be immune to pain, what in the f**k was happening right now?! "! Arrrrrrggggghhhh!!!" I screamed in anguish, making all the undead mana signatures flinch. ''!!, My cigars!'' I abruptly remembered the stockpile of cigars I had in my subspace. I instantly grabbed one, ced it in my mouth, and lit it by manipting the fire attributed mana in the surroundings, using aether. PUFF "Haaa...." I took a deep breath and puffed once; though it was still stinging, it was bearable. It would have been very dangerous if the same phenomenon of abrupt calming down took ce in a "normal" human, but since even Eunomia doesn''t know what I am, I guess it is fine for me. "What was that?" I mumbled with a deep frown and began to move forward with trembling hands. PUFF * A handsome white-haired man elf, walked up the stairs, while his entire body was covered in blood, he was smoking a cigar that was held in his left hand and an AR in his right, the strange thing that Violet''s parents, father, Hugo Tyler, and mother, Sonia Tyler, noticed was that the bullets the man fired were moving as if they had their own will, every bullet that he fired moved and pierced the hearts of every thrall that was in front of him. They just couldn''t believe that their forces could be destroyed so easily, with seemingly no actual effort. "E-Eshwar." Sonia Tyler recognised the man and mumbled from the side. "The former Switch academy''s professor?" Hugo Tyler asked with a deep frown, because he couldn''t quite grasp the predicament they were in, it wasn''t long until they found the connection. "Violet!" Hugo mumbled under his breath and gritted his teeth strongly. "Correct." Suddenly, they heard a voice from behind; they shuddered, jolted from their seats, and nced back, only to find Eshwar standing behind their seats. "Y-yu-you!" Hugo mumbled as his face turned more paler than it already was. He couldn''t understand a thing that was going on right now, how did the man in front of him appear out of thin air? Did he teleport? But that shouldn''t be possible, as even the association only knows it in theory, in confusion, he nced back at the screen where Eshwar was previously seen, but now he wasn''t there. PUFF "Are you dumb? Why would I be there, when I am already here?" Eshwar said it as if he knew what Hugo was thinking, with a shocked expression on his face. "How...." Hugo yelled loudly, but his voice instantly stopped, and his world turned upside down. Then his own headless body came into his sight, and he watched Eshwar walk towards it and pierce Hugo''s right shoulder, where his heart was. Though Hugo was hanging on a final thread of consciousness and couldn''t hear anything, he saw his wife sit on the desk and open her legs for the man in front of her with a lustrous expression on her face, and Eshwar walked towards her with a smirk. That was thest scene that entered the sight of Hugo''s rolling head. * SPLURT "I''m sorry, but I''m not really in the mood today." Eshwar''s voice entered Sonia''s ear; she had asked him to make love to her before he killed her, and of course, he didn''t really answer to her plea, but since he walked towards her and grabbed her thighs, she thought he agreed to it. He then sensually ced his hand on her abdomen; though it was just a simple touch, she felt a strange pleasurable shiver cruise through her body, and when her expectation soared through the peaks, he pierced her abdomen and destroyed her heart. And while she was falling back, she saw a small smile on his face. ''Pity....'' She thought and her consciousness slipped. * PUFF I zoomed forward and instantly appeared in front of Violet''s room, which was a floor below. The mana veins were now a lot easier to control; maybe it was because I began to control them while moving at high speeds, but I was now a lot morefortable manipting aether in and out of my body. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK "Violet. It is me, Esh..." BAM "ESHWAR!!" Violet opened the door she stood against as soon as I began to mumbled out my name, and she jumped out of the room and hugged me. I noticed that her face, shoulders, thighs, and calves were all bruised, and her white rag-like clothes had a lot of blood stains on them; her sight was just too pitiful¡ªexactly as I wanted it to be. [You did a great job, Samantha ~] I said to Samantha telepathically and cut off the connection instantly. "Tha-thank y-you foring, hic, I, I, I thought I, w-w-wa-was gu-gu-going to d-d...." Violet said while trembling and sobbing. ''She contacted me?'' I guessed because it felt like she had been expecting me to arrive. "Shhh... It is alright now." I said, gently stroking her back, and noticed how she flinched at even the slightest touch. ''Damn, just how much did they abuse her....'' I was slightly surprised. [I think your thralls enjoyed abusing her a bit too much~] I said to Samantha telepathically again, but this time she replied almost instantly. [Why does it sound like you don''t hate it~] She said in a cheeky tone, but.... [.... true, but I do slightly hate it, so I killed all of your thralls.] I replied. [Even my baby girls?] She asked in shocked tone. [Yup, bye, I''ll contact youter.] I said and cut off the telepathic link. [You son of a....] Was what I heard right before the link was cut off. "Here, take the healing potion; I''ll exin other thingster." I handed her a healing potion and knocked her out as soon as she drank it. I contacted Katline, and after a few minutes, she arrived. I handed over Violet to her and asked her to handle the matters here. * A few hourster, it was already night, and the moon shone brightly. PUFF I sat atop the Shadow Guild''s guild building, smoking my fourth cigar because the pain showed no signs of stopping, while staring down at the media and other people rushing towards the building''s entrance. PUFF "Here you are." "!!!, Cough! Cough, cough!" I chocked on the smoke as soon as I heard a extremely familiar, and a voice I very much longed for, sound behind me. Chapter 249 248. Matured. ?PUFF "Here you are." "!!!, Cough! Cough, cough!" I chocked on the smoke as soon as I heard a extremely familiar and a voice that I very much longed for, sound behind me. I turned around to nce at the beautiful ck-haired woman stand behind me; she had obsidian ck eyes, and she had worn a ck turtleneck top that reached her thighs and ck tights, which entuated her perfect hourss figure perfectly. That was the same outfit that she wore when I saw her for the first time "in this world," but there were a few different things from that time. Then, she approached me to get into the office room behind me, but this time she was approaching me, and the most important difference is the fact that I am pretty sure that she had no wings behind her back. "You have wings now." I mumbled as I looked Isha in the eyes, ignoring the most stunning pair of pitch-ck wings on her back. "Yes. Yes, I do." Isha nodded her head with a bright smile,nded right behind me, and sheathed her wings, which seemingly disappeared. "Isha...." * "Isha...." Eshwar called out, and Isha frowned because, though she could feel relief in his tone, it was also very sad. "Yes?" Though confused, Isha asked. PUFF "I...." He puffed his cigar once and nced back at his hands that were trembling. ''What happened?'' Isha''s frown deepened because she had never seen him so...weak. "I, I, haa.... I don''t know what to do." Eshwar mumbled under his breath. His tone and the way he gulped down air as if he were struggling with something that was stuck in his throat¡ªeverything about the state he was in seemed painful. "...." She couldn''t say anything, because there were a lot too many matters where he was supposed to not know what to do, but he always acted childish and had always pushed through everything that was thrown at him, and even if she wanted to console him, she didn''t know about which matter he was talking about. "I don''t regret anything that I have done; I don''t even feel I''m in the wrong for doing so, but I feel like I became like this because I thought there were no humans, but instead they were just an imitation that behaved ording to what I did, because except for me, everybody always died but still came back to life, it was either that I was really under an illusion, or I was simply deluding myself into thinking that they weren''t humans, but instead just a few imitations of the humans who have died previously, maybe it was because I didn''t want feel any guilt of killing other humans. And even now, I have always thought that this world is just a novel and none of the people "living" here are actually living, even though I had been deluding myself into thinking that I was thinking of them like humans, but inwardly, I know that I don''t really think of them as humans or as characters either..." Eshwar said. And it was then that Isha understood that he was talking about both his previous life and this life, though she didn''t really know why he was revealing everything, even though he didn''t really know that she had learned about his past. She even thought that maybe her theory of Eshwar seeing the dead person''s past due to the curse was true, and he had learned about her past while she learned about his. It was the only conclusion that she coulde to because if it had been "Isha Walker," he wouldn''t really have revealed or trusted her, but he had trusted "Isha," "the demi-god," andter "the goddess of death," whom he had met in hisst life. If Isha wanted to describe the way Eshwar was acting in simple words, then it would be that he had matured. His childishness still remained the same, but he had be someone who was responsible but didn''t really know what that feeling really was. Maybe because of his trust in her or because she remembered all the things he had been through, she couldn''t and didn''t want to hold in her emotions, and tears began to stream out of her eyes. "This.... wasn''t the kind of reunion I was expecting." Isha said with a smile, walked towards him, and sat down next to him before leaning on his left shoulder. "Hahahaha. I am sorry for ruining our 178 days reunion." Eshwarughed and said with a cheeky smile. "But as I said, I don''t really feel anything about the things I have done; this matter has been on my mind for a few days, and I just didn''t really know where to take it out." He said this as he gently pushed her head back and slumped back, staring at the beautifully shining moon. "It has been exactly 178 days?" Isha asked, pulled his left hand, and slept on it as if it were a pillow while staring at his beautiful, bright orange eyes. ''It has been a long time since I have seen his eyes.'' She thought inwardly and noticed Eshwar nod his head in agreement to her question. "Whoa, I thought it had been two months or so...." Isha mumbled under her breath. Then suddenly, Eshwar leaned towards her, wiped off her tears, and brought his face dangerously close until they could feel each other''s breaths. Isha''s lips trembled and subconsciously moved closer into a small pout, and, "So, Miss Cyclops, how have you been?" Eshwar asked in a whisper, slightly touching her lips with his. BA-THUMP (6x) Two loud, war-drum-like heartbeats mingled rhythmically. Isha blushed violently, and though she wanted to open her mouth to answer him, she couldn''t, and she felt a strange lump of air stuck in her throat, which was making her unable to speak. Even though things were streaming up, Isha just couldn''t help but cry at the thoughts that filled her mind. "Waaaa...." She began to sob. Surprised by the sudden change in the situation, Eshwar fidgeted around before hugging her tightly while sleeping with their legs dangling from the skyscraper''s edge. "Um....I don''t really know why, but it is alright now." Eshwar whispered in her ear in a soothing voice, causing her to rx due to the warmth he excluded, and the warmfort she received from his care caused her to sob louder. "This is the first time after I remembered my past, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME, I have ever felt your warmth." Isha mumbled amid sobs, and at Eshwar''s next course of actions, she quickly understood that he had indeed seen her past, and she remembered that the curse was slightly diverted due to her godly physic, so there was even a possibility that he had "felt" her past. "I''m sorry, I''m sorry. I acted like a jerk in our past life, but I wasn''t really prepared to see you die right in front of me while I continue to live on." He whispered in her ear, slightly rolled over, pushed himself back, and brought her onto his body, tightening the hug around her. "Aaaaaa...." Chapter 250 249. The Clock Of Fate. ?(AN: Omniscient POV) Then, even though they hadn''t moved an inch, they were talking about all the things that were going on with them; both of them revealed the fact that they had indeed seen each other''s lives, and at that topic, Isha began to cry again; she talked about Frostine, her life as Isha''s maid, and the way she had to sacrifice herself to help Isha run away, among other things, with a small smile on her face. and even after she stopped, the tears continued to stream out of her eyes when she remembered how hellish Eshwar''s life had been. They then began to talk about their time together, but because Isha suddenly remembered how he died because of her, she began to cry again. While all of this was happening, it had already turned mid-night. He then told her some slightly shocking news to stop her from crying. "I recently met a woman named "Seol So-Young," who is supposedly the author from Earth, that wrote "my" story." Eshwar said, and though Isha frowned deeply upon hearing those words, but soon her brows ceased to furrow. She then told him about the existence of "the clock of fate"." That was the reason for his repetitive lives, then she began to exin what could have really happened with Seol So-Young. "She could have just suddenly thought of those things, like a simple yetplex, abrupt thought that doesn''t leave your mind until you clear it up." Isha continued on with her exnation. She exined the things about "fate" that she had learned about when she became a God, and she began to link all the things that happened in hisst life with the clock of fate that bound him, and to make it easier for him understand, she exined why, how, and what, the golden coloured clock he saw every time he died was, then he began to understand things far more easily, and then he too began to link the things that she hadn''t seen while under the curse''s influence, she had even exined what the curse actually was, and a ton more things. "So, you must understand that none of the events in your life were the fault of anyone else; since you became an existence that escaped the cycle of fate, it did everything it could to bring you back on track, but with your unexpected actions, you have just been forcing through everything." Isha answered, and Eshwar realised something. "That was why, I was reborn as a "viin" that died in the first half." He mumbled under his breath. "!!'' Both of their eyes suddenly snapped wide open, when Eshwar''s body suddenly trembled violently, but before Isha could ask what was happening. "Domain of Vignce!" Eshwar mumbled, and Isha''s consciousness instantly blurred before turning ck. She closed her eyes tightly, then slowly opened her eyes and found herself in outer space. She had seen this before; it was Eshwar''s conscious domain, or a domain created with his consciousness. "Why did you bring me here? What if somebody attacks our bodies while we are here?" Isha expressed her concern and saw a cheeky smirk on Eshwar''s face. "I have partners that can protect me all the time, their names are Pyre and Erebus." Eshwar slowly floated towards her and said with a reassuring smile. "But if you are still worried," He said and, SNAP With a snap of his fingers, a kilometre wide "reality" materialised around her, and there she could see everything that was happening in that radius while Eshwar''s body wasid on the skyscraper''s edge and Isha''s wasid on his. Though she was reallyfortableying on him, now that she was looking at the scene, she couldn''t help but blush. "Maybe I should have activated Devil''s Domain." Eshwar mumbled under his breath, and instantly snapped his fingers. "!!!" Isha''s eyes widened in shock, because if one switched between the mental and physical domains like Eshwar had just done, then it didn''t matter if it was a demon or a transcendent being; they would perish! WHOOOMMM Isha''s vision instantly turned ck; she thought it was over and that she wouldn''t be able to spend even this life with Eshwar. "Follow me." Suddenly, she heard Eshwar''s voice, she snapped out her trance and stared at him float in the pitch-ck space lit in golden coloured mes. The most unique divine mes that Isha had never seen before were burning right in front of her, but she didn''t even nce at them because her mind had nked after witnessing how effortlessly he switched between the mental and physical domains. "You monster." She mumbled and received a smug grin in response. She slightly smiled and began to look around the beautiful yet ominous domain. She then abruptly remembered how hot he looked when he sat on the ck throne when he created this domain for the first time. "Eshwar! You will do me a favour and sit on the throne when we arrive there!ive there!" Though she made it seem like she was asking a favour, her demeanour, the way she spoke, and the small twinkles in her eyes said that she would make him do what she wanted no matter what. ".... Alright." Eshwar shook his head in defeat and agreed to her "favour." "Yay!" She eximed in joy and observed the surrounding more closely, this time, the mes caught her attention, since she had already seen this, though a lot weaker, it didn''t matter much to her right now, she soon arrived the "three" massive structures that floated behind and above Eshwar''s pitch-ck coloured throne. One of the three structures was the Earth, which had many golden rings that were spinning around in their own respective directions. She then nced at the that they had met in their past lives; it too had a single golden ring around it. Below thes, she saw the majestic golden clock that had ruined Eshwar''s entire life. "Karma." Eshwar mumbled, and a 3-meter-long ck coloured line materialised in front of him; if not for the aura that was oozing, it wouldn''t have even been visible to her because of how dark Eshwar''s domain was. And in the next instance, when that line disappeared and reappeared right in front of the clock of fate andbined itself with the clock, bing another hand in the clock, they couldn''t do anything but stare at the clock of fate repair itself. Chapter 251 250. The Clock Of Fate (2). ?"Karma." Eshwar mumbled, and a 3-meter-long ck coloured line materialised in front of him; if not for the aura that was oozing, it wouldn''t have even been visible to Isha because of how dark Eshwar''s domain was. And in the next instance, when that line disappeared and reappeared right in front of the clock of fate andbined itself with the clock, bing another hand in the clock, they couldn''t do anything but stare at the clock of fate repair itself. This phenomenon was taking ce because Eshwar realised the clock of fate''s existence and connected Seol So-Young, his novel, and even karma with it, connecting everything that happened in his life after the avnche that struck the entirety of India when his world seemed to stop for the first time. "So, this was the "right" that karma required; it was just a part of the clock that decided my fate." Eshwar''s mumbled words sounded in front of Isha, and though she didn''t know what he was talking about, she noticed that he was bing weaker and weaker, until the entirety of his overpowering aura disappeared. "Eshwar...." Isha called out in a concerned tone. "I know." Eshwar just nced back at her from the corner of his eyes with a small smile, which reassured Isha. And soon the entire clock was fixed and gave off an overbearing aura that forced Isha to her knees, but Eshwar didn''t seem to be affected by any of the aura that the clock oozed. "Return everything that you took from me." Eshwar said, in amanding tone that Isha had never heard before. It made her shudder in fear, but because she knew that he wasn''t really like that, she calmed down. But even though her head was forced to stare at the ming ground, she could hear some kind of clunking sound. Unbeknownst to Isha, Eshwar was crushing the clock with aether. The power he gained because of "the clock of fate''s" hand and the consciousness, karma, that merged back with it awakened its sense of self. If it hadn''t had a consciousness, maybe Eshwar would have been nothing but an "error" or a "bug" that needed to be removed, but since it unfortunately just gained a consciousness, it began to fear him. Because though it had lost its ability to converse and the biggest part of its consciousness when the clock lost karma, but it still had been with him, seen him so far, so it knew that if it didn''t do what he asked for, then this crazy basta*d, Eshwar, would do absolutely anything to take back what''s rightfully his. <%?£¤£¤¡é€`?¡ã£¤~€@_''''¡ê¡ê+;"#€¡é?%> The clock''s voice, with its low ticking sound, sounded in Eshwar''s mind, and though the words seemed indescribable, he was able to understand them. ''It goes against thews, so it cannot be returned, but the ability to control aether that you gained can be with you, huh....'' Eshwar repeated the clock''s words in his mind and grinned inwardly. "It doesn''t matter; I know that I gained the ability to control on my own cord, and the abilities you "ate" away were also something that I gained on my own cord," Eshwar replied. The clock knew that, that wasn''t all he had to say, so it simply sensed him without saying anything. "So, because it is against thews or whatever, I needpensation," Eshwar said and continued. "Information. Give me information about aether and everything else that you have about it, so I can use aether in the same way as I used my other abilities that you took away." Eshwar said, though the clock knew that he was asking for something absurd, because aether was something that "controlled" absolutely everything; not even divinity was able to do such a thing, but even though something felt off, the clock couldn''t find any words to refute him, because except for looking after the fates of all living beings, the clock didn''t know about anything else, and due to it not being an omniscient one like Eunomia, it wasn''t really in a position to do anything but agree with his "conditions." conditions, because it was also a price for letting the clock go without destroying it. DING [User is given a new Skill: Wish (1 use), for fulfilling the requirements for the "Clock of Fate''s" rebirth.] Eshwar frowned deeply upon reading the system notification, thinking that the clock of fate was messing with him by indirectly asking him to use the "Wish" if he wanted the information about aether. He got ready to crush the clock of fate for real this time, and his intentions were clearly visible through the killing intent that oozed out of his body, slowly beginning to take the shape of a ck king cobra. The clock''s voice sounded in his mind again, and as soon as he heard those words, his brows ceased to furrow, and without waiting for Eshwar''s response, the clock of fate disappeared, freeing him from the worst possible curse. ''Thank you very much, huh....'' Eshwar repeated the clock''s words in his mind. "How can you be so grateful to me when I was just about to kill you...." Eshwar mumbled with a touched expression on his face. Unbeknownst to him, the clock of fate wasn''t really able to feel the killing intent properly because it had yet to get used to its old but new consciousness. But well, because of this small misunderstanding, Eshwar seemed to be getting better, so it wasn''t really a bad thing. "Uckh!!!" Soon, even without using the wish, a massive flood of information rushed into his mind, and the information about how to manipte aether rushed in. His thoughts about how his control over aether had improved were instantly crushed by theplexity of the information that forced itself into his mind. Due to mind-numbing pain, he fell on his knee, and Isha, who was free from the pressure that bore down on her, stood back up and zoomed towards Eshwar with a concerned look on her face. "Huff, huff...haaa.... hahahaha." Eshwar huffed for a split second before beginning tough while holding his head. "I''m back." Eshwar mumbled and fell on his back while staring at Isha with her eyes; she didn''t know what, but something seemed to have changed in him, and she liked him like that. "Why did you choose to be an elf?" Isha ignored whatever had just happened because from the look on his face, she knew that everything had gone well, so she asked what she was most curious about. "Huh?" Eshwar stared at her with puzzled look on his face. Chapter 252 251. He Would Do What To Me!!? ==== [Status window] [Community] [yer Shop] ==== ==== [Profile] == Name: Unknown (Eshwar, Max) Level: 13 ss: Mage Race: ??? Title: Human Hunter: When equipped, increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or humanoid monsters. (Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 432/500 to next stat increase.) ¡¤Inheritor: The "Aether" recognises the user as it''s master. [Active even while unequipped] Rank: SS == [Image of Eshwar] [Headgear (White Parasite)] [Body Armour (-)] [Slot (1x)] [Arm Guard (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Trousers (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Boots (-)] [Slot (1x)] ==== ==== [Stats] == Strength: 30 [+90] (+) [MAX] Agility: 30 [+90] (+) [MAX] Endurance: 29 [+90] (+) [NEW] Intelligence: ??? (+) Perception: ??? (+) Dexterity: 28 [+90] (+) [NEW] Constitution: 30 [+90] (+) [MAX] ==== [Skills] == [PASSIVE SKILLS] == [Good with hands]: Dexterity increased by 12%. [Passive Skill] [Hand to handbat]: Combat sense increased by 10%. [Passive Skill] [Taboo]: Devouring rate increased by 50%. [Passive Skill] == [ACTIVE SKILLS] == [Wish]: Can wish for "anything" once. [1use] [ck Hole]: Can summon a small block hole. [Cool Down: 2 Days] [???]: Can locate the added party member (the party member cannot be removed once added.) [Active Skill] [Mana required] [Cool Down: None] [Pause]: User''s moments can be paused. [Active Skill] [Cool Down: 30 sec] [Release]: umted damage can be released by 50%. [Active Skill] [Cool Down: 30 sec] [Break]: User can break anything that''s wished for. (2 uses) [Active Skill] [Cool Down: None] ==== [Misceneous] [Inventory] ==== "So, even though you don''t know what race you belong to, you have all the other race''s main traits?" Isha mumbled while staring at my status window as if she were reading a report card; it was simr to a report card, but... meh. After I showed off a bit of my tyrant-emperor-like attitude, we were out of my domain, and we sat cross-legged on the ground, having a small Q and A. "Yes, ma''am." I replied with a cheeky smile. "But what about the "world energy" that you took control of?" Isha asked. "Ah that, I learned how to control it in our past life, but I began to control it after I remembered our past and the nk te in the back of my head broke down when I saw myself in your past." I replied. (AN: The reason that I purposefully didn''t mention in ch191: Act One: Complete!) "And you lost your mana and the world energy due to that karma or whatever?" She asked with a slight frown. "Yes, ma''am." I replied again. "Now you lost that too, but in exchange of something far stronger?" Isha asked, but this time I simply nodded my head, humming in agreement. "And now I know why I wasn''t able to pick "Unknown" as my nickname when I first ascended to godhood in this life." Isha mumbled under her breath and gave me a stern look. "Don''t look at me like that, I didn''t even know anything, maybe this too was because of that clock of fate." I said. * (AN: Omniscient POV, because I thought it would be better like this.) "Anyway," Eshwar said with a bright smile, and disappeared, soon Isha felt herself being gently lifted up, using some kind of unknown force, since those kinds of nonsensical things were only possible to Eshwar, she didn''t resist and patiently waited to see what he would do. Her eyes instantly snapped wide open when she felt something warm andfortable beneath her bum. She turned to face him and noticed that she was now sitting on Eshwar''sp, while he sat on the skyscraper''s edge. "I have two questions and a lot of things I''m nning to do with, hmm, "with" might not be the correct word, ah! There are a lot of things I''m nning to do "to" you~ so, let''s begin with the questions." Eshwar whispered in her ear while hugging her waist from behind, but her mind didn''t really register his touches as it was stuck thinking through the words he had just uttered. ''He would do what to me?!! D-d-don''t tell me....'' She couldn''t continue that thought as all kinds of steamy thoughts cruised through her mind and her body gradually turned hot while she blushed violently, but then she suddenly remembered something and smiled mischievously. "Eshwar...." She called out, but for some strange reason, his entire body stiffened at the call. He nced at her face and felt a chill run down his spine because of that! That ominous grin was something he remembered very well! It was the same ominous grin that she had when she made him run behind her without using mana when they met for the first time in this world! (AN: from ch08: Assistant professor) ''Wh-what should I do?'' Eshwar thought inwardly, terrified. "I heard that you have been going around doing this and that with other women." Isha said and Eshwar instantly froze. "N-no, no! Absolutely not, I haven''t done anything with any of them! I swear!" Eshwar justified himself. "Hmm...really?" Isha asked with a frown and an ominous smile on her face. "Y-y-yes, except for a few kisses...." Eshwar said and his tone lowered at the end as he averted his gaze. "Hm, and?" "Except for the women from the rumours, I have slept with a few, 23 to be exact, but I just brought a few of them to a hotel and sent a lot of them away, for reasons even I didn''t know." Eshwar truthfully answered with his eyes closed, because he didn''t want to lie only to find outter. And thought that even if his words slightly hurt her, it would still be a lot better than her getting hurt after finding out the truth after he lied about it. "...." And for a few minutes nothing happened, so Eshwar, who was ready to hear an earful, slowly opened his eyes and peeked at the expression on Isha''s face, but he suddenly closed his eyes when he saw that she was looking at him. "Pfft! Hahaha!" She couldn''t help butugh out loud at his cute actions. "Haaa...." Eshwar heard herughter and sighed in relief. "Hahahaha, haha, haa.... but don''t do it again, if you ever do, then you will have to face the consequences." Isha said it with the same mischievous smile that sent shivers down his spine, knowing it wouldn''t be a joke the next time. "A-ahem, back to the beginning, my first question is, how did you find me?" Eshwar asked after letting out a few fake coughs. "Hm? Oh, you don''t remember leaving behind your smartwatch in the room that day?" Isha asked and showed him his smartwatch that he had left in the room that day when he was trying to console Isha about Melissa''s, Anuke''s and the orphanage kids'' deaths. (AN: from 144: Announcing their return.) "Sorry for that day, and I didn''t really now where you were, I just came here to help Violet, but you know what?" Isha apologised in a glum tone before brightening up by the next second. Eshwar knew that she was still notpletely over it, but since she didn''t want to speak about it, he decided to ignore it for now. "Yes?" Eshwar asked, ignoring about Violet''s request for help because he had already rescued her and for him, it didn''t really matter what she had sent. And Isha, too, understood his thoughts about not wanting to pry into her thoughts about the orphanage incident and was relieved that he didn''t talk about it. "I found out that you were White Swan thanks to your smartwatch." Isha said in a cheeky tone and leaned back on his chest. "So that''s why I wasn''t able to learn about the client requests until I didn''t speak with Core about it; it seemed like she continued to send messages to this watch out of habit, even though I told her that I changed my smartwatch." Eshwar said. "Now, for the next question, how would you like to celebrate our reunion, for the first time after remembering our past." Eshwar said, and without waiting for her answer, he lifted her up and ced her back on hisp, making her face him. She subconsciously locked her legs around his waist, ced her hands around his neck, hugged him, and looked down at his face, which was looking up at her. "I hope you will kiss me, as you know, I''m shorter than you~" Eshwar said and straightened up, gradually trying to reach her lips. Though she wanted to tease him, something in her wanted to kiss him first, as teasing can always be der. She then subconsciously leaned down to kiss him, when even their lips were an inch away from each other''s, they stopped, stared at each other''s eyes, they didn''t know why, but both of them had a strange fulfilling feeling in them, maybe because it was going to be the first kiss they were going to share, at least in human forms. And after their breathing rhythm matched each other''s, they brought their lips close again, (AN: Badabing, badaboom, BAMM!!! [>_<] :p) [Eshwar! Louie is in danger!] Core''s loud voice filled with fear, concern, and despair sounded in Eshwar''s mind. Chapter 253 252. Frost Phoenix. [Eshwar! Louie is in danger!] Core''s loud voice filled with fear, concern, and despair sounded in his mind, and Eshwar''s entire body stiffened. Isha noticed that, backed off, and stared down right into his eyes that had dted in shock. "What happened!?" Eshwar yelled out aloud without thinking straight. "Eshwar!" Isha called out and cupped his face, forcing him to look at her, and he soon calmed down, gently picking her up before standing back up, making her stand, and looking her in the eyes. ''What could have happened....'' Isha muttered in her mind as she gazed at Eshwar. "Louie, is in danger, Isha. I''m sorry, but I need to go...." Eshwar said and turned around, even though Isha wanted to stop him and ask him to take her with him, she couldn''t bring herself to do so, but Eshwar suddenly halted in his steps and turned to look at her with a small smile on his face. "Let''s see, how fast you can fly." Eshwarmented, and with a loud "whoooom," a pair of fiery wings popped out from his back, oozing thick ck smoke, indicating that it was really burning. Though Isha was confused as to what it was burning, she ignored it because he was asking her toe with him. With some kind of strange sense of aplishment, she shed a lovely smile, and her pitch-ck coloured wings protruded out from her back. BAM Eshwar kicked off of the skyscraper''s edge; after he was 3-meters in mid-air, he leaned right, and when his body was positioned horizontally, he kicked off on air, causing a strong gust of circr wind pressure to shoot out. "Show off." Isha mumbled, smiled bright and shot off, following right behind him. * In sector seven, that was in ruins. In a small, cosy wooden house, panic ensued as the Uncharted''s temporary base was ringing loud rms that were warning them about how low Louie''s health was.r Henry, Core, and Arngrim were pacing around in panic, waiting for Eshwar''s arrival. It had been only a few seconds since Core called him, but they couldn''t help but feel like hours had already passed and think that their friend was already on the brink of passing away. BOOM A loud "boom" resounded outside that shook the entire building. With simultaneous sighs of relief, they zoomed out of the house and found Eshwar, standing with his girlfriend, Isha. "Hello, Isha. In the graveyard." Core greeted Isha with a nod; though it might seem rude from the outside, they knew that they didn''t really have much time at hand, and soon after she finished getting Isha, she nced at Eshwar and reported Louie''s location. "It seems, I have left Azazel alone for far too long." Eshwar mumbled, and his lips curled up into an ominous smile that none of them could ever get used to. Then suddenly, Eshwar raised his right hand with his gaze fixated on Arngrim, who nodded his head in agreement. Though Arngrim had no actual aplishments to his name, when it came to fighting, he was like a "joker" card in Uncharted because he was someone that could easily turn the game around, and he was also the only one that was on par with Eshwar, who had just reached rank-A at that time. WHOOSH With a strong gust swirling the surroundings, a golden spear materialised in Eshwar''s hand, which excluded some kind of divine yet destructive aura. "Grab on, cover yourself with mana, make a wind cutter or something in front of you to create a slipstream, because if you don''t, you''re going to die." Eshwar instructed; if it were anybody else, they would have probably ignored it as a joke, but they knew Eshwar wouldn''t joke around in serious situations. "Alright, but what should I grab on to?" Arngrim asked after drinking few potions. "The Trishul." Eshwar answered without waiting for an answer, and he walked towards Arngrim. Then he looked at something in front of him for a split second; they thought that he was looking at his status window for reasons they didn''t yet know, but after everything seemed to be decided, Core and Henry rushed to the backyard of the house and hopped on Louie''s bike before driving off on it, as Eshwar told them the location, telepathically. DUDUDUDDUDUDUDU "Huuu....." Arngrim breathed out, and before hugging Trishul tightly, Eshwar raised both of them, Trishul and Arngrim, above his head, aiming in a certain direction. "30%" Eshwar mumbled, and in an instant, his right arm muscles bulged and tensed; he then leaned back with a serious re on his face. "As soon as you seend, grab your scythe." Eshwar''s mumbled words tricked Arngrim''s ear, but before he could answer, thendscape in front of him changed. WHOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH ''F**king basta*d! You should have warned me that I was going to be traveling at such high speed!!'' Arngrim was inwardly cursing at Eshwar, but he was only safe because he had drunk an elemental negation potion that he made using the dragon''s core that Eshwar had gotten from an SS rank dungeon. The potion that Arngrim made had even surprised him, because he never expected to make something this f**king awesome. The effects were about negating every elemental property, EVERY ELEMENTAL PROPERTY, that was in the surrounding mana, meaning that now nothing except for kic force could harm him. Soon, the ever changing scenery changed again, but into a lot more terrifying one, there were at least about 20,000 people in his sight, no, since he was arriving at the graveyard, they''re vampires and not people. Arngrim frowned and squinted his eyes upon finding a strange cross that was nted in the ground, in front of the army. Soon, his gazended on a few vampires that were snickering, stabbing, and shing at something that was hung on the cross; he couldn''t figure out what or why, but he had this certain ominous feeling that yelled at him to hurry up. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!! And with a loud "boom," the Trishul that Arngrim had hugged tightly as if his life depended on it,nded. While he was distracted by the ominous feeling he was having and by the sheer number of soldiers in the army, the Trishul pierced its spearhead into the ground. Arngrim walked out of the dusty smokescreen with a deep frown, ring at the army, and soon his gazended on the figure that hung on the cross, and Arngrim mind nked in that instance. He didn''t know when he had arrived, but he had arrived in front of the cross and swung his scythe at the seven vampires that stood in front of the cross. SPLATTER!! Which caused blood rain to descend upon him, though it seemed like he only swung his scythe once, but he had swung it at least a few dozen of times, and the seven vampires that were just minced were the cause of the blood rain, without even ncing at the shocked looks on the vampire army''s faces, he turned to face the figure hung on the cross, and reached out at him with trembling hands. The bulky figure hung on the cross had both of his eyes gouged out, with his entire body covered in bruises that had turned ck, his right arm had everything sucked out, only his bony, skeletal arm with grey coloured veins popping out remained, his fingernails and toenails were ripped off, many bones had shattered, joints had popped out, his muscles seemed to torn from the inside, but the strangest thing was, the figure wasn''t groaning, while just the sight of it made Arngrim feel pain. "Louie..." Arngrim reached out, but didn''t dare to touch him, scared of making him feel more pain than he was already in. "Oi, who gave you permission toe here as you please!" Arngrim snapped his head back to face the figures that were spewing bullsh*t, but that''s not what irked Arngrim; what did was the fact that they were the culprits that brought his friend to this state. "You!!" Arngrim mumbled under his breath and released a strong killing intent, which forced the vampires toe to an abrupt halt; they soon trembled in fear and kneeled on the ground. Though confused by their actions, he ignored them and took a step forward to ughter those vampires. WHOOOOIIINNNNNGGGHHH "!!" Arngrim''s eyes shot wide open when an ominous feeling he had got stronger, and he halted in his steps, when a strong killing intent oozed from behind him, making it hard for him to breathe. But the state of the vampire army in front of him was far worse, because their faces were nted into the ground due to the pressure that bore down on them. "Y...''re l....te....war....." Louie''s low, hoarse voice sounded, and just like the half-dead Louie, Arngrim also guessed why the vampires kneeled at the beginning. With a slight sigh of relief, Arngrim grinned and brought out healing potions from his subspace magic to feed them to Louie. "Descent of the Frost Phoenix!"r Chapter 254 253. Times Up. (AN: Previous chapter has been edited.) *** "Descent of the Frost Phoenix" A cold and indifferent voice resounded throughout the area, and Azazel, who sat on his throne inside the castle, disappeared from his seat and reappeared behind the massive army, gazing up at the sky and squinting his eyes. "KKKKEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIII!!!!" An ear-deafeningly loud screech sounded; it felt a lot like a screech from a mighty white-headed eagle, but a lot louder, lot more mightier, and a lot fiercer. WHOOOSH And by the next instance, something translucent light blue, shot out, piercing through the skies, the closer it came therger it seemed, and soon, at least a 100 foot wide massive phoenix zoomed, crashed into the castle and screeched again before shooting out high into the sky, so high that it looked like a normal bird from below, it suddenly opened its translucent wings, pushing way all the clouds in the area, screeched loudly and disappeared into thin air, causing a massive snow strom. All the vampires that were wry at the start began tough at the waste of such an amazing spell; if it had hit them, at least half of them would have died. While everybody wasughing mockingly, Azazel gritted his teeth and red up at the clouds. Because except for him, nobody knew that if he, the attacker, Eshwar, wanted to, the attack would have hit and killed not just half but every single one of them, including Azazel. And him destroying Azazel''s castle in such an extravagant way was nothing but provocation on his part. Because the clouds were pushed away, a handsome white-haired figure was visible in the spot where Azazel had been staring from the start. "Your time''s up, Azazel." A soft yet loud, ominous voice sounded from the sky, almost causing all the vampires to kneel in fear alone. There wasn''t an ounce of the suffocating aura, oozing from the figure that would make them feel that he was stronger than them, but there was something, something that was telling them to flee. "You have been gone for long, my friend, I have gotten a lot stronger than you will ever be." Azazel said in loud roar that restored his vampire army''s morale in an instant. "Is that right?" Eshwar mumbled as he gazed down at the Azazel, indifferently. Soon, his gazended on the army, and he slowly raised his right arm. "Divine heal." But while they were distracted by Eshwar, a gorgeous ck-haired woman was healing Louie. As soon as she mumbled those words, a pair of translucent golden wings materialised out of nowhere and enveloped Louie into its embrace, his joints snapped back into its ce, bruises healed, and all torn muscles rebuilt themselves, but his gouged out eyes and his right arm weren''t able to heal, unfortunately. Isha shook her head, gazed up at Eshwar with an apologetic expression on her face, and said, "He doesn''t have enough life force that I can use to heal his arm and eyes; if I use too much then he''ll die with a perfectly healthy body." Isha exined. "It''s fine, thank you." Eshwar thanked her with a small and polite bow, and though there wasn''t any change in his expression, Isha could tell that he so angry that there was soon going to be a sea¡ªno, ake¡ª created with the blood of these vampires here. ''He can control his expressions and emotions now, huh....'' Isha thought inwardly. TAP "?" Isha gazed up at Eshwar and noticed that he had simply tapped mid-air once, though she didn''t know what, but his actions felt ominous, a bit too ominous, even among everything strange that was happening, Isha had a question, which she wanted to know the answer to: ''How did that minimal action produce such a loud noise that it was heard all over here?'' A small, thick, dark purple square appeared beneath his index finger, which he used to tap mid-air. Soon, thick, dark purple-colored circuit veins spread out of the small square, and after spreading out until they were at least a few inches long, they stopped. And with strange static electric sparks, five gun tips began to pop out, until every single one of them waspletely out, floating above his head. And, BANG DUDUDUDDUDUDUDU ..... .... All the weapons, including dial pistols, a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, a mini gun, and a silver pistol, fired, raining down tons and tons of bullets, seemingly not even reloading as they continued to fire away, and soon Azazel''s gaze was drawn to the first bullet that was soon approaching its first target, and as Azazel didn''t doubt Eshwar''s strength and his cunningness, he was sure that it was going to be the first kill. "!!!!!" Azazel''s eyes snapped open wide as soon as he noticed the sniper rifle bullet moving in a strange way, and it instantly killed its target, and, BOOM!! A loud ''boom'' resounded, followed by the bombardment of the explosive bullets. Azazel gritted his teeth and red up at Eshwar. "Eshwar!!!!" He yelled loudly, causing a small tremor that was noticeable even among the bombardment. "Come." Eshwar said in an indifferent tone, which unintentional provoked Azazel. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!! Azazel instantly appeared in front of Eshwar and punched at him, but strangely, he didn''t feel his first connecting, even though the blow was so strong that a massive circr wind pressure was shot out. "I am going to be too disappointed, if that''s all you had when you said, "a lot" stronger." Eshwar said with mocking smile. "Eshwar!!!!" Azazel roared loudly and zoomed towards him. "You. I have a few questions for you, so don''t waste my time, and" Eshwar said and disappeared as Azazel failed to punch Eshwar. PATTT "!!!" Azazel''s body was shot down towards the ground due to the force behind Eshwar''s p. BOOM "Uckh!!" Azazel coughed out a mouthful of blood, which floated above his face before sttering on it and being sucked into his skin. "You are disgusting." Eshwar''s mumbled sounded from above, Azazel red at him while standing back up. "Hahahahahahaha!!!!" He suddenly let out a loud hystericalughter, sending shivers down the spines of his own vampire army. "I can see why master parted me with this power, I guess I will have to use it against you." Azazel mumbled. "I will now...." Azazel continued on with his rambling but was cut short by Eshwar. "Haaa... I don''t have all day, I just had a reunion with two people that were away for a while, can''t you just get on with it before I kill you?" He asked with a deep sigh. "Devilization!" Azazel gritted his teeth and mumbled as he red at Eshwar. Chapter 255 254. Arent I Right? "Devilization!" Azazel mumbled while ring at Eshwar, who had an indifferent expression on his face. BOOM A massive crater appeared beneath Azazel''s feet as heunched himself up at Eshwar, leaving behind a dust trail. He instantly appeared in front of him, grinned widely, and punched his face, which seemed like it connected but Azazel still couldn''t feel his first connecting, but now it didn''t matter anymore because it seemed like Eshwar was indeed taking damage, so that was enough. He now had "C"-shaped horns that protruded out from his forehead; his crimson-red hair had turned ck; his forearms and legs, too, had turned ck fading the more they climbed up, and his body oozed a maroon-colored, ominous aura that was a mix of blood and demonic energy that made him feel omnipotent, it felt like he could even survive without his heart now, a heart that''s the most important part for vampires, he didn''t feel it''s need anymore, of course, it was because the demonic energy was running rampant in his body, clouding his judgement and making his opponent, Eshwar, seem weak. "BLOOD RAIN!" Azazel roared. And thousands of blood arrows manifested above his head; he raised his arm and pointed at the spot where Eshwar was seen free falling, and with thousands of sounds of those arrows cutting through the wind, they shot out towards Eshwar. "Blood spear." He mumbled, and a spear materialised in his right and left hands. Without even waiting for his previous attack to connect, he zoomed at Eshwar, aiming at his neck, which seemed to be begging to be cut off, at least in Azazel''s eyes. SWISH And right when Azazel''s spear de reached Eshwar''s neck, his entire body froze in FEAR. WHOOOSH A massive pitch-ck cobra materialised out of nowhere, coiling around Eshwar while mid-air, and began to manifest into reality; its scales, fangs, and flesh¡ªeverything about the ck cobra came to life as it gazed up, seemingly "feeling" its manifestation. "You sure have gotten stronger, but slightly, since thest time we met." Suddenly, Eshwar''s cold and indifferent voice sounded inside the cobra''s coiled body, and at his words, the snake gazed down at Azazel as its glowing bright orange eyes with vertical white slits and it seemed to be... smiling. "HISSSSS!!!" The snake hissed loudly and Eshwar hopped up at the snake''s coiled body from the middle, and stood on it with his hands in his pockets and a ominous grin on his face. PAT-PAT "How have you been?" Eshwar ignored Azazel''s existence and spoke to the cobra while patting its scales while the snake enjoyed his pats. "Hissss....." The cobra hissed again, but in a slightly cute manner which didn''t suit its ominous demeanour, whatsoever. That, the snake was a "aura materialization," a stage where aura is able to physically manifest, though there weren''t any people that were every able to do so volentarily, because unlike Eshwar not everybody is goddamn monster, no, I''m not talking literally. "Hahaha, chomp on those mosquitos below while ying with Isha, I''ll be back in a bit." Eshwar said while smiling at the snake. WHOOSH And by the next second, the cobra was seen slithering through the air as it made its way towards the army that Isha, Arngrim, Core, and Henry were fighting against, while Core, Arngrim, and Henry were having a hard time holding out against the ranked vampires. Arngrim was fighting against Rook, whom Louie had lost against, with his face twisted in madness. Isha herself was handling two knights on her own, while Core fought against a bishop, and Henry supported each of them while dancing across the battlefield with daggers in his hands. Pyre, who appeared out of nowhere, was zooming through the army, killing off all the "pawns" that were spotted, while Erebus chomped on another Rook. SNAP SPLURT "Cough!!!" While Azazel was distracted by the ck cobra and Eshwar''s mercenary group members'' battle prowess, a snap of Eshwar''s fingers sounded in front of him, and his heart was gouged out. "You shouldn''t get distracted like that." Eshwar said, as a cube of an unknown force held Azazel''s heart, which was still beating. "Aren''t I right?" Eshwar turned to face somewhere else as he spoke those words, and Tchort, who met Eshwar''s gaze, shuddered in fear and teleported away in fear by the next instance. He had stood far, far away while gazing at the battlefield in hopes of analysing his future troublesome obstacles, but when he met Eshwar''s gaze, his instincts screamed that he would die, and without thinking of anything else, he "ran" back to the demon domain. ''I, I, was going to die....'' Tchort muttered inwardly, but he stopped that thought right there, and his entire body stiffened in confusion and shock. "I was scared? Of a mortal...." Tchort mumbled under his breath in disbelief. [Do not worry, I''lle at you soon enough.] Eshwar''s voice sounded in his mind and his entire world turned upside down, but returned back to normal by the next instance. ''He sent his "intent" through telepathy?'' Tchort muttered in his mind, because just now he felt his head cut off at her heard Eshwar''s voice in his head, that was something Tchort had never thought of to be possible and it was AMUSING. "HA! Hahahaha!!!!" He began tough maniacally, causing the entire demon domain to tremble. He wasn''t scared of death from quite long time, but now he was. "This time," he had nned to destroy the humans, elves, and dwarves from within before he ruled over this Earth "again." "How amusing, after returning to the past for the tenth time! Something, something amusing is happening; the mortal who would die as soon as my reign began, is now fighting against an army!! How amusing, how very amusing!!!" Tchortughed while roaring in amusement. * "Aren''t I right?" Eshwar asked while gazing in some other direction, while Azazel coughed out several mouthfuls of maroon coloured blood. "Ah, don''t worry, I''m not going to crush it before I have had my time with you; of course, don''t you dare think, you can have an easy death; you touched what''s mine, so you should be prepared to die a very painful death, and when I say very, I mean very, vvveeeerrrrryyyyy." Eshwar mumbled, and Azazel shuddered at his proimed death. ''My heart.....'' Azazel muttered in his mind while staring at his heart, which continued to pump blood even though the cube it was contained in had already been filled to the brim as it floated next to Eshwar, who imed not to destroy it until he had his time with Azazel. "Uckh!!!" Azazel groaned in pain because he could feel his heart getting crushed under the blood it was pumping. With a smirk on his face, Eshwar loosened the walls of the cube, causing the blood to pour down. "F**k!!!" Azazel cursed his bad luck and the vampire who gave him the idea to kidnap Eshwar''s friends. "Dawn of the white blood!" Chapter 256 255. Dawn Of The White Blood. "F**k!!!" Azazel cursed his bad luck and the vampire who gave him the idea to kidnap Eshwar''s friends. "Dawn of the white blood!" He mumbled under his breath. And with a subtle explosion, both of them disappeared from the sky, into Azazel''s domain. The domain was aplete white space, but as soon as theynded in the domain, Eshwar''s face winced in disgust; hisnding caused a ripple on the thick gooey substance that was "white blood," ording to Azazel''sst words. "Congrattions, you, a f**king mosquito got a massive upgrade into a f**king cockroach." Eshwar congratted Azazel on his "growth," with his face twisted in disgust. He then nced at Azazel''s heart that floated next to him and saw a grey heart pumping white paste-like blood, which was sttering on the white blood below. "Bleargh!" Eshwar made a puking action and red at Azazel with a disgusted expression on his face. "ENOUGH!!!" Azazel roared, causing his domain to tremble. "Anyway, you can heal as long as the blood is dripping into this disgusting surface, right?" Eshwar asked, and in confusion Azazel furrowed his brows at him. "I''ll take that as a yes." Eshwar mumbled and nodded to himself. ''What does he want to do? Does he have some kind of trick up his sleeve? He is definitely a lot weaker than before; why is he so confident? Azazel questioned inwardly, ring at Eshwar. CRACK-CRACK "?" ''Why is he cracking his knuckles and neck?'' Azazel tilted his head as his confusion deepened. "Get ready," Eshwar mumbled while twisting his right wrist. "And clench your teeth." Eshwar said and simply, Disappeared. "!!!?" Azazel looked around in fear, but only for a split second. He then came to an abrupt halt because he remembered that he would be aware of anything happening in his domain, so he focused on it, trying to find Eshwar, but his brows furrowed involuntarily because no matter how hard he searched, he couldn''t find Eshwar, who had seemingly vanished. "I warned you." Suddenly, Eshwar''s voice sounded relight in front of Azazel, but before his could register what was happening, BAM SPLATTER A strange barrier covered Azazel''s body, which he was sure he didn''t cast; of course, he didn''t know how to cast such a strong barrier in the first ce, but he didn''t really have that much leisure to think because his entire head had just exploded due to the force behind Eshwar''s indirect hit. The blood had simply sttered inwardly on the barrier that covered Azazel. "PLOP," and with a strange sound, freshly pumped white paste-like blood sttered from the white blood surfaced domain, instantly regenerating Azazelpletely. And before his mind registered the horrifying sight of Eshwar''s first flying at him, BAM! SPLATTER Azazel''s head exploded again, then the "PLOP" sound sounded again, and Azazelpletely regenerated, again. And, BAM! "UCKH!!!!" Azazel eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets when Eshwar''s punchnded on his abdomen. BAM!! SPLATTER PLOP BAM!!! SPLATTER PLOP BAM! ..... .... ... * After half an hour, that felt like an eternity for Azazel. Azazel had turned into a punching bag that Eshwar was ying around with; Eshwar''s barrier, which covered Azazel, was there so that his body wouldn''t simply explode, killing him. Eshwar''s thoughts were filled with rage, so the fact that they were in Azazel''s domain, so Azazel would be able to heal even if his entire body had exploded within a matter of seconds, and also the fact that as long as Azazel''s heart was with him, he couldn''t die, all these facts had just simply slipped from Eshwar''s mind. Bring them into the current situation. And because these facts were slipping Eshwar''s mind, he created a barrier to cover Azazel''s entire body so that he wouldn''t die from the force behind Eshwar''s punches that woulde in direct contact with Azazel''s body. So yes, Azazel''s body was exploding over and over and over again because of kic energy, or simple "physics." "Uckh!!!!" Azazel coughed out a mouthful of blood for the umpteenth time. He was now scared of hearing the "PLOP" sound because he knew that he couldn''t die as long as his heart wasn''t destroyed or if he didn''t run out of blood; both of them were almost impossible because the entire domain that Azazel himself initialised had an abundant amount of white blood, which meant him running out of blood was impossible, and his heart, which was his second hope, was impossible to retrieve and destroy because it was next to the monster Eshwar, who was right in front of Azazel, as his grey heart pumped away fresh blood like crazy. BA-THUMP (6x) And unfortunate for him, due to the emotions Azazel was feeling, his heartbeat sped up every time, pumping more and more blood. "S... UUCCCKHHH!!" Azazel wanted to ask Eshwar to stop, but he couldn''tplete his sentence because he was getting bombarded with Eshwar''s fists, which exploded a big chunk of Azazel''s body upon every single impact. "Uckh! S... top!!" Azazel finally managed to mumble out what he wanted to say while experiencing a sh*tload of numbing pain that he felt every time he remembered it, traumatising him. PLOP BAM!!!! SPLATTER "UCKH!!" With the loudest ''BAM,'' Eshwar listened to Azazel''s plea and stopped hitting him after half of his body exploded inside the barrier. PLOP Azazel breathed heavily, while shuddering whenever the "PLOP" sound entered his ears, scaring him to death. "Your heart just skipped a beat." Eshwarmented, and Azazel shuddered like a wet cat in rain when he heard him speak. PLOP "!!" Azazel shuddered again. "You scared?" Eshwar suddenly appeared in front of Azazel, leaning forward and nced up to meet his trembling gaze. "Eeekkk!!!" Azazel jumped back and fell butt first on the white blood surface, causing it to ripple. Eshwar walked towards him, while Azazel began to crawl back in fear, but soon his back touched something like a wall, stopping him from crawling back anymore, but he didn''t care and continued to push himself back as Eshwar continued to walk towards him and crouched down to stare at Azazel''s trembling, tears-filled gaze. "How many days has it been seen to brought Louie here?" Eshwar asked in a cold, indifferent voice, which sent chills down Azazel''s spine. Eshwar continued to re at Azazel, whose face was filled with snot, saliva, and tears, weakening his mentality more and more. "How many!!" Eshwar suddenly roared, Azazel''s entire existence shuddered. "M-m-m-m-m-month." Azazel answered without thinking. "Yet you have the audacity to ask me to stop when it''s only been a few minutes?" Eshwar asked, and though Azazel didn''t really understand why, he paled, pissed his pants, and due to how weak his mentality had be, his domain wasn''t able to hold on and began to crack, crumbling into pieces. And soon after, they were back up in the sky. Azazel had forgotten everything due to the fear that Eshwar had engraved upon his very existence, and he began to free fall to the ground, dly. Because for him, the free fall was something that was helping him to escape from the nightmare known as Eshwar. BOOM! Azazel slightly smiled involuntarily when he fell to the ground, and without even looking at his surroundings, he got back up, while his body involuntarily healed from the blood of the ughtered vampires as he rushed back towards the crumbled castle. "Where do you think you are going?" Chapter 257 256. I Will Bite You. BOOM! Azazel slightly smiled involuntarily when he fell to the ground, and without even looking at his surroundings, he got back up, while his body involuntarily healed from the blood of the ughtered vampires as he rushed back towards the crumbled castle. "Where do you think you are going?" Suddenly, Eshwar''s nightmarish voice sounded right next to him, he jerked to the side, noticed Eshwar and, "Eeeiiikkkk!! Pl-pl-please spare m-m-m-me!!" Azazel kowtowed with a loud shriek, causing the remaining few vampires, Isha, Henry, Core, and Arngrim, to nce in the direction of the loud shriek. They noticed Azazel kowtowing and frowned, not only the vampires but also Isha, Henry, Core, and Arngrim. "Your majesty?" A vampire mumbled. Among the remaining vampires, only two Rooks¡ªone of them was the one who had brought Louie here¡ªand a bishop remained; everybody else was killed¡ªno, ughtered. Pyre, Erebus, and the king cobra were around Louie, who was unconscious, protecting him. "Didn''t I say, I had a few questions?" Eshwar ced his right leg on Azazel''s kowtowed head and asked, receiving a vigorous nod in response. "Yet you dare run?" Eshwar asked and pressed his foot on Azazel''s head, almost crushing it. "Pl-pl-please s-s-spare me...." Azazel''s plea resounded in the ears of those who heard it even though it was only a mumble, and they could feel the terror in Azazel''s tone, making them shudder. "Hahahaha," Eshwarughed, and everybody present felt a chill around their heart, unintentionally instilling fear in them. "Don''t worry, I''ll give you a quick death if I''m satisfied with your answers." Eshwar said. "Th-th-thank you." Azazel thanked Eshwar, and those who heard it could tell that he was really d that he was going to die. *** A few hourster, at night. DING! [yer "Eshwar" has killed the vampire lord, Azazel.] [Rewards will be given!] [Skill Holder ticket (1x)] (AN: It''s the same but only its name changed from the trait holder ticket from before) [Rank up (+1)] [100,000 Achievement Points rewarded.] [yer Eshwar is the first user to reach Rank-SSS.] [Achievement Points will be rewarded.] [1,000,000 Achievement Points are rewarded.] Earth will be blessed with a mana boost.] [Selection process withmence.] [SSS rank gates will be spawned from today onwards.] [Time limit for the selection process: 2Y: 28D: 00H: 00M: 59S] ["Events" function unlocked.] ["Tournaments" will be added.] [System prompts the tournaments to the Great Tri-raced Alliance.] [Rewards will be given ording to the achievements and win streaks in the tournaments.] [Rewards: Lesser blessing, recipient selection rank boost, achievement points, (1 random pick)] (AN: The above notifications are all notified world-wide) * A couple, a handsome white-haired elven man and a gorgeous ck-haired woman, walked side by side, while the woman rested her head on the man''s right shoulder with a nk look on her face while they walked. "Isha." Eshwar called out with a concerned tone, and Isha raised her head to nce at his face with a mncholic look on her face. "You''re going to copse like this." Eshwar held her waist and pulled her up and close to make her stand properly because she had leaned so much that her head was on his shoulder, even though he was the shorter one. "Why?" Isha asked, and tears welled up in her eyes. Eshwar knew why she asked that question and pressed his lips. "....I don''t know." He mumbled under his breath. "Hic...." Isha couldn''t hold back her tears anymore and began to sob, as the answers Azazel gave lingered in her mind. "Waaaa...." Isha sobbed, kneeled on the ground, clenched Eshwar''s cors with both of her hands, pulled him closer while pushing her head against his chest as she cried, and Eshwar simply hugged her, trying tofort her. "Isha...." Eshwar''s brows trembled when he saw how weak she seemed, he tightened his hug around her and waited for her to stop crying without speaking anything. * After a few minutes. Isha finally stopped crying and had passed out while leaning on my chest. "....." I nced down at her, slightly leaned to the left to get a better look of her face, but since her ck hair covered her face, I tucked them behind her ear and saw her sleeping peacefully. ''Damn, she really cried for 45 minutes, huh....'' "Where were those tears evening from?" I mumbled under my breath, gently pinched her cheek, and smiled when she wrinkled her nose. "Fuuu...." I blew a gentle breath at her and smiled when I noticed how quickly her brows and nose ceased to furrow. I gently manipted the aether and lifted her up, because I knew that she would wake up if I did it physically. When she floated above ground right in front of me, I positioned my arms in a way that they would support her knees and her back; basically, I was trying to princess carry her. ''Sess!!'' I pumped my fists inwardly. But then, I, suddenly, noticed something, "I can''t believe you are awake." I muttered and saw her lips twitch before curling up into a small yet beautiful smile. "I can''t help it, I''m a goddess, you know." Isha pouted cutely. "You want to know something?" I asked at stared at her in the eye. "Mhm." "You are the only one I ask permission before doing anything, so do think carefully before you act, because as much as I want to hold back, your actions are, not one bit, making it easy for me." "And if you do remember, I mentioned that my desires have gotten stronger due to the demonic mix in my new race, and there was a certain desire that has enhanced twice because of both demonic and vampirc mix, and that is," I said with a smile and noticed how red, her ears and cheeks, were turning at my words. I raised her up slightly before leaning toward her ear. "Lust." I mumbled with my lips touching her ear which turned hotter by the second. "Y-yu-you!" Isha stuttered and pushed me back. "Hahahaha." * After joking around for a few minutes. "Isha." I called and looked down at Isha, who was grumbled with a pout while I princess carried her. "Hmph." She snorted and puffed her cheeks. "I will bite you." I warned and noticed how wide her eyes went when she heard me. "I''m serious. Anyway, want to join The Uncharted?" I asked. ".... What?" "I want you to join The Uncharted." "Really?" "Really." "You''re not joking around?" "Why would I even joke around in this matter?" "Because you''re Eshwar." "...." "...." ".... That''s true." "Hahahaha." "So, what do you say, will you join?" I asked again. "Mhmn." She hummed in agreement. "...." ".... What is it?" She asked after noticing that I was staring at her. "I want to kiss you so badly." "Eh!!!!??" Chapter 258 257. Answers. (AN: I am outside so only one chapter today; I will edit it tomorrow as it is unedited right now) (A raw chapter?) *** A weekter. After finishing a few of the necessary and unnecessary things, A handsome white-haired elven man walked up a hill that led to a huge mansion. "I can''t believe I''ming back here again." I grumbled with a deep frown. However, while I was disying extreme emotions on the outside, I wasn''t particrly bothered by the situation on the inside, which was just a tinny tiny bit annoying. A guard who was guarding the gate frowned deeply when he saw me walking towards the gate; maybe he recognised me since his face tensed at the end. "Stop! This is a private area; you cannot enter without a permit!" The guard said without stuttering, which was quite brave of him, but channelling mana in his body right in front of me wasn''t very brave. Well, I guess he can''t help but be tensed when he sees a Rank-SSS hero appearing in front him out of nowhere. "Haaa..." I sighed and started to rethink if I really needed to go into this goddamn mansion. "Shoo, go and talk to your "madam" or "sir" and say that "Max" has returned." I shooed him away, but he just stood there staring at with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Go." I said in amanding tone this time, causing him to flinch before rushing into the mansion to report with a terrified expression on his face. "Hhyyyaammm~" I yawned, leaned back, while manipting the aether to hold me floating above ground. * (AN: Omniscient POV) A few minutester. TAK-TAK (5x) The guard rushing towards the floating handsome white-haired elven man with an anxious expression, while the entire mansion was in chaos, a certain couple, wanted to rush out towards the gate, but stopped themselves when they remembered their status. "The masters are waiting inside for you, young master." The guard bowed overly politely; the way the guard called him; the respectful tone; the guard''s attitude; everything had changed, but none of it mattered to "Max," so he just ignored him and walked into the building with his otherworldly aura surrounding him. After a few minutes, his domineering figure was visible to the couple, who stood at the door, slightly minding their status, but looking at Max, who seemed healthy, they ordered the servants and walked into the waiting room where they nned to receive Max. The man was Dwayne Knight, a SS-ranked yer, one of the three, yer association chairmen, and a father who abandoned Max and left him to die in Sector One when Max was just a three-year-old kid. And the woman was Eli Knight, an A-ranked yer, and the mother who birthed Max. "Wee, young master!" The servants bowed to Max when he entered the house; because he wasn''t raised in a proper higher-ss house, they expected him to get flustered, but Max simply ignored them as if they weren''t worth anything and walked towards the waiting room without anyone guiding him. BAM He kicked the door, which fell off of its hinges, and walked towards the couch, sat on it, leaned forward, and started the Knight couple in their eyes without any familial love, care, respect, or emotion of longing in them, which surprised the couple, who had expected a touching reunion, ignoring everything about Max and his feelings. * "Hello, Max Knight...." Unable to bear the awkwardness, Dwayne Knight decided to initiate the conversation and ask his long-lost son about his well-being, but was instantly cut short by Max, who closed his eyes as if to not show the annoyance in his eyes. "Eshwar. Eshwar Frost, is my name." Eshwar said. "....." Dwayne frowned deeply at Eshwar''s attitude, but then abruptly remembered the name of the world''s first person to ever reach Rank-SSS. So he ignored Eshwar''s arrogance and inwardly gloated, pridefully. About what? Of "his son," of course. Yes, he hadpletely ignored the fact that he had abandoned Max, no, Eshwar, in Sector One, but Eli was furious at her son''s behaviour and couldn''t hold it in. "Max! What is the tone you''re using when speaking with your father!!" Eli Knight roared, only to receive a scoff in response. "Ha! Let''s talk properly, alright? I don''t need your family bullsh*t after you dared to abandon a child in a monster''s den." Eshwar almostughed out loud when he heard their way of speaking. "Max! You...." Eli red at Eshwar but was quickly cut off by Eshwar when she seemingly wanted to lecture him, giving their reasons for their actions and whatnot, but, unfortunately for them, Eshwar didn''t care about any of it. "Eshwar. This''ll be thest time." Eshwar warned, staring at Eli in her eyes and said, shutting her up and saving himself from her rants. "Good. Anyway, mister Dwayne Knight, your son, Elmer Knight, is the person responsible for the cadet ughter incident that happened a while ago, and I had said that I would be responsible for everything that happened in my ss, so your son killed the students I was responsible for, so hand him over." Eshwar casually mentioned the reason for his visit. "What for?" Dwayne had absolutely no intention of doing anything Eshwar had just asked, but he asked only because he was curious to hear the answer he would receive. "Kill him, of course." Eshwar replied with a shrug, making the couple freeze in rage. How did Eshwar learn about this matter? Because of Azazel. Eshwar had asked only a few questions that day, one of which was, "Who was responsible for the cadet ughter incident?" Two, "Who was the one that prompted the attack on the academy?" Three: "Who was responsible for the orphanage ughter incident?" The answer to the first question was Elmer Knight, who felt humiliated on that day and asked the vampires'' help to kill all those who hadughed at him. That was all the answer that Azazel gave to that question, but Eshwar knew better, of course, because he was the one who created this world and those who live in it. (AN: About the topic mentioned in ch 45: The Artificial Dungeon (2)) ''Tchort. He was the one responsible for the incident; he had somehow made contact with Elmer Knight while he had infiltrated the academy and incited and manipted Elmer into his ways, which was what was supposed to happen to Max in the original story. Max, who was abandoned by his father, would be rescued by the Knight family''s butler, who raised him like his own son and made him join the academy. Max, who saw his brother in the same academy, would be blinded by rage and falls into Tchort''s ploy, where he maniptes Max against his own family. This is how the story would go if Max existed, of course.'' Eshwar remembered the original story, or whatever it was, since now nothing about it mattered or really made much sense because of Seol So-Young''s past "reality." And the answers for the other two questions were: Heath Walker, who was Isha''s half-brother, which was also the reason Isha cried when she learned about this fact; though there wasn''t really much familial love between them, they didn''t hate each other; no, it was more like they didn''t care about each other; and Isha, who never really spoke to him, didn''t have any reason to hate him; and even if their parents somehow influenced them, it was never to the point that they would want to kill each other. And Eshwar, who heard the answer, frowned before connecting Isha''s features to imagine how her brother would look, and a certain face shed in his head. ''NOW PRESENTING THE 33rd MATCH OF THE NIGHT. TO MY LEFT, TODAY''S 33rd CHALLENGER!! DIEMOS!!'' The voice of the announcer from the Obituary Colosseum sounded in Eshwar''s head, and he remembered what that Diemos guy had been mumbling about that day¡ªit was something about killing his sister when Eshwar incited jealousy and rage in Diemos, who was supposedly Heath Walker, Isha''s half-brother. (AN: character introduced in Ch 39: The Obituary Colosseum (3), ch 122: Loss, again in ch 204: New System, and finally in ch 220: Targets (2)) Even this time, Eshwar suspected Tchort to be the one manipting these small pawns from behind. The reason for his suspicion was simply because Tchort craved the destruction of Earth, which bound him to itself, hoping that it would free him ifpletely destroyed, or so Eshwar remembered writing about it as such. ''But considering Heath Walker''s negative emotions towards Isha, I don''t think that Tchort had too much hand in it.'' Eshwar seriously pondered inwardly, ignoring the raging Knight couple in front of him. ''Us, the vampires, plotted to kill our target, Quinn Walker, but yes, he was the one who dealt the final blow to Quinn; he made use of the opportunity that opened up and killed the orphanage kids, but the reason behind it wasn''t known.'' Azazel''s answer sounded in Eshwar''s head, where he connected the dots to all of Heath Walker''s actions. ''Let''s just say, he didn''t want Isha to be happy, so he slowly destroyed everything around her, blinded by his jealousy.'' Eshwar concluded in a much simpler terms, but he was still very engaged by the fact that, Heath, that son of a bit*h dared to make "his" Isha sad! "I dare you say that again!" Dwayne Knight abruptly roared, snapping Eshwar out of his trance. "Huh? What?" He mumbled out in confusion before remembering the topic at hand. "Ah! Mister Dwayne Knight, your son...." Eshwar went back to serious mode and began to speak, but was cut short by Dwayne, who was outraged at Eshwar''s behaviour. "I don''t need you to repeat that bullsh*t!!! How dare you say that you''ll kill my son right at my face!!!" Dwayne yelled and released his killing intent, which put the entire mansion under immense pressure, including his wife, but that pressure was something that was happening because bits of Dwayne''s intent that were wandering while the real deal waspletely focused on Eshwar. "Quite strong, aye." Eshwar mumbled under his breath with a smirk; the pressure he was under was so strong that any human would be crushed to death by just being near it, but Eshwar wasn''t "any human," and even if he were, they seemed to be forgetting about the fact that he had reached rank-SSS, with a tiny bit of control over the aether, and not even the ground beneath his feet had cracked. SNAP WHOOSH "!!!" Chapter 259 258. A Great Brother. (AN: Previous chapter has been edited) "Quite strong, aye..." I mumbled under my breath with a smirk, slightly raised my right hand to the side and, SNAP WHOOSH With a single snap of my fingers, Dwayne Knight''s aura disappeared. "!!!" I noticed Dwayne''s eyes widen in shock¡ªnot only his but also those of Eli Knight''s, who was feeling pressed under her husband''s aura. There were not so many things that happened after I reached rank-SSS; even without mana, I felt like if I wanted, I could reach the strength I had before my rebirth, maybe even stronger, except for this: everything that happened to me recently was a bit too anticlimactic. That goddamn clock disappeared without a trace; my strength also disappeared with it; and that son of a bit*h, Azazel, also died too easily. That f**king son of a bit*h!!! I wanted to use "Frost Devil" in my fight against him! Aaarrrghhh!!! ''When will ever get a chance to use my other form!!! F**king hell!!'' I yelled inwardly. "Wait! Why am I....no, no, no, I''m too strong in that form, so it hurts my pride to use it in insignificant situations." I mumbled aloud, involuntarily. "Y-you!!!" Dwayne''s yell resounded throughout the building. I, who was unintentionally biting my fingernail for whatever reason, nced up at him while continuing to bite my fingernail. "Huh? Ah! Right, so..." I returned to serious mode. ''It seems like Isha''s return has made me go back to the way I was, I can''t believe I''m forgetting the matters at hand.'' I muttered inwardly. "Ahem, I...huu.... Madam." I wanted to ignore them, but since I was here, it seemed like that wasn''t entirely possible, and there were a few things I wanted to say to Eli... "F**k, I don''t really want to say it, but it feels like I''m nothing but a petty and ungrateful bit*h, maybe I am petty? Anyway!!" I mumbled to myself. "M-m-mother! Haa...f**k." I cursed at myself because I seriously felt like crying when those words came out of my mouth. I knew that my attitude had taken a literal 180 degree turn from before, but no matter what it was¡ªa novel or a fan-fic¡ªit was an undeniable fact that the woman in front of me gave birth to me, so I lowered my head, pretending not to have seen the shocked and tear-filled face of Eli Knight. "Mother, thank you for giving birth to my body." I said, though I wanted to say "me" at the end, I couldn''t bring myself to say so. "I am sorry, but your other son killed those for whom I wanted to take responsibility, and I want to kill him before killing those who made him like that." I said with my head done, though I was speaking of something else and me lowering my head wasn''t really necessary in this situation, I wanted to because I wanted to respect her, Eli Knight, a mother. "The cadets he killed cold blood, too, had families, though I am just doing this for myself and my word that I have the cadets in my ss that day, though I hadn''t really showed any of my feelings about that matter on the outside till this day, I had inwardly sworn to kill the one who was responsible for their deaths, I think I just don''t want this kind of burden so if you let me kill him," I knew my words weren''t making much sense and I was ranting away, but I seriously did feel like that. I had thought of killing everybody responsible on that day when I heard Matthew Smith say that there was some unknown caller. (AN: ch 55: Unidentified Caller) "If we let you kill him?" Dwayne asked in a mocking tone. "Then, I won''t have to kill you guys, those 11 people behind the walls behind me, and those 25 above and 14 below this room, armed to the teeth." I said in an indifferent voice. "...." Maybe Dwayne realised that I wasn''t joking, because I noticed him stiffen as soon as those words left my mouth. "I''ll be taking your son from the next room." I said and got up, leaving everybody dazed in fear. * I grabbed Elmer Knight from the next room and dragged him without giving any heed to his yells, questions, and pleas. Though very lightly, I could feel a vampire''s and also a demonic scent on him, which was simr to Azazel''s. Since I knew that Azazel turning into a demon had something to do with Tchort, I concluded the scent of Elmer to be Tchort''s. ''How did he do it?'' I muttered in my mind. And that was the question that presented me with absolutely no answers; there wasn''t anything like exchanging their initial traits in the novel I wrote or even in the fan fiction Seol So-Young wrote; something entirely else is happening, and it''s kind of, Exciting. ''The system, the gods, the fallen, Antino¨¹s, the being opening gates to this world while messing with the system, stronger monsters, and finally Tchort.'' I muttered in my mind and grinned savagely, no matter what happens, this hunger to get stronger and fight the stronger doesn''t subside so easily. "Like an addiction, hahaha!!" Iughed hysterically, holding Elmer''s ankle and turning him upside down while I stood at the skyscraper''s edge. "Please don''t, why are you doing this, please let me go." Elmer, who was dangling upside down from the edge pleaded while looking down at the long drop. "Elmer, do you know that I''m your big brother Max? I was abandoned when I was a three years old in sector one because I had no talent whatsoever; I survived by myself, and was saved by Quinn Walker, the hypocrite, and when I was 19 he offered me a job to work as a professor in the switch academy, and it was then that I saw you guys, my brothers, I didn''t feel anything, but now I wanted to grant you anything you asked for, so," I exined myself, and as soon as I was done, I released my grip on his ankle, letting him go as he wished for. "AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Elmer''s loud scream was heard as he dropped down. Couldn''t he just use mana to do something and escape, you say? It won''t be possible because I had ced a weak aether barrier around him, which would prevent any mana from moving in his body, and even though I say weak, it won''t crack even if it hit the ground from the drop from all the way up here, but physics still exists in this world to assist with things like this. What would happen when a human bodyes to abrupt halt while moving extremely fast? THUD Trust me, you don''t want to know. "What a great big brother I am." * Chapter 260 259. The Queen. A few weekster. Rank-SSS gate spawn rates have been going up recently, and the mana density has also increased, pushing a whole rank of the low-ranked yers. Some even wondered what would have happened to themon people if they hadn''t awoken as yers; if they had still stayed as the same rank-F or E-ranked heroes from before, they would have undoubtedly died under the mana pressure in the atmosphere. Coming back to the main topic, the Rank-SSS gates, which posed an extreme level of danger to the people who were prompting members of the yer association to do their job properly, And these remarks thrown at the association, brings us to the current predicament. In a sleek, spotless white room, 6 figures, 3 men and 3 women sat around a roundtable with solemn atmosphere around them. Stan Walton, Dwayne Knight, and Lenna Romero, the association chairmen, sat with serious expressions while going through a small booklet of a report on the situation in the human domain. And those who sat next to them were, Seo Hana, Elise Ryan, and Alex Turner, the association squad captains, while Hana had a deep frown on her beautiful face, feeling uneasy about something. "We are in dire need of preparing a squad to raid a Rank-SSS gate, to at least get information on what to expect from the SSS rank gates." Lenna Romero said with a sigh. And it was something that would naturally be agreed unanimously, but of course, if Seo Hana wasn''t there. "And who do n to send in? Don''t tell me you n to sacrifice a few dozen people just for your "greater good."" Seo Hana said with a snort. I received five deep sighs in response. "What?" Seo Hana grumbled and elbowed at Elise, whose sigh was a lot louder. "Please don''t talk; it isn''t the time to think too deeply about such matters; if we don''t do this, then a lot more people will die." "Can you take responsibility for that when it happens?" Lenna Romero asked while shaking her head, slightly disappointed with the young woman''s naive way of thinking. CRA-CRACK SHATTER "!!!" The entire room was alerted by the sudden crack in space beside them, and the gate was a bit too familiar to them; it was something only vampires and fiends used when attacking the human domain. "Ie in peace, at least for this time." A woman wearing a bright red maxi dress walked out of the crack; she had dark brown hair and eyes with soft facial features. "Mair¨¦ad!" Seo Hana mumbled under her breath while gritting her teeth and employing mana in her body. Mair¨¦ad was "the queen" of the graveyard, the vampire association. Though Azazel was killed by Eshwar, they weren''t sure about this woman, who was far more terrifying than Azazel himself, because every time the human domain faced massive losses, this woman was behind every single one of them. "Why did youe here if you weren''t here for a fight?" Stan Walton spoke up. And Seo Hana''s frown and uneasiness got heavier, because he, Stan Walton, the weakest of the six present in the room spoke up, and to Seo Hana it seemed like Stan Walton had expected it. "Eshwar. I want the head of the person who dared to kill my beloved." Mair¨¦ad said in a overbearing tone. "How dare y...." Seo Hana roared with a re but was cut short by Stan Walton. "And how do we do that? And what do we get in return?" Stan Walton asked with a nonchnt expression and a small smile on his face. ''This son of a bit*h had already made contact with the vampires to plot against Eshwar!!'' Seo Hana understood why she was feeling uneasy from the moment she entered this goddamn room! "About the matters from before, send him into the Rank-SSS gate and blow up the gate from outside to lock him in it, and in return for killing him, the graveyard will form an alliance with the human domain. If you reject this offer, I won''t call off dering war against the human domain!" Mair¨¦ad said, though everybody had already understood that Stan Walton had made contact with the graveyard before calling for this meeting, but the offer wasn''t something that they could pass on, especially at this moment, and they definitely cannot afford a war against the vampires right now. "What? You didn''t say this before!!!" Stan yelled in outrage, causing everybody to sigh in disappointment, but he suddenly covered his mouth as if he had just realised that he had just misspoken. "This goddamn son of a bit*h even sucks at acting." Seo Hana yelled loudly, "involuntarily." "Hana, you''re speaking your thoughts aloud." Elise said from behind. And Seo Hana covered her mouth as if she too misspoke, acting exactly like Stan Walton. "We rejec..." Seo Hana roared, but was cut short again, but this time it was Dwayne Knight. "We''ll agree to it." He said, catching everybody off guard. * After Seo Hana tried to reason and argue with everybody even though she too understood their reasoning, but, "He is Rank-SSS hero! Who can be the only hope of the human domain, and you want to sell him out? You guys are out of your goddamn minds!!!" Seo Hana roared at them with annoyance, but her argument was ignored because they thought that sacrificing a few people ording to their earlier n was something they would have to do for the people, so adding Eshwar to the expedition team won''t bring any major losses to them, and if they could have an alliance with the vampires, then their forces would increase and they can fully focus on the Rank-SSS gates. And this discussion was done right in front of Seo Hana, who was more disgusted by the association than ever before. She felt sick just by being in their presence, and before theypleted the meeting with Mair¨¦ad''s presence, she barged out of the room after cutting her friend ties with Elise Ryan and Alex Turner, who were agreeing to the plot against Eshwar. BAM "F**king disgusting people." Seo Hana roared loudly, causing a strong tremor in the association building. She had determined to resign from the association, and if they didn''t agree to it, then she decided to destroy the association building. And she instantly called Eshwar to warn him about their plot against him. [Hello.] Eshwar picked up the call and greeted her, but she abruptly realised that she was still in the association building and, [Hold on a minute.] Hana said and jumped off of a window, flying off towards the sky. WHOOSH [I need to speak to you, now.] Seo Hana said, and maybe because he felt the seriousness in her voice, he agreed to it, calling her over to a certain ce. Chapter 261 260. The Expected And The Unexpected. (AN: Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for the irregr updates from the past few days, it was because my rtives are marrying left and right, I don''t even know a few of them!! Ahem, food was good so noints, anyway I don''t think there are any more from now on, so updates will return to normal with Saturdays being an exception because I am not sure if I''ll update one chapter on that day or none, anyway, thank you for reading, and [Peace]) (AN: Ah! And this chapter hasn''t been edited) *** A few moments before. A white-haired, handsome elven man stood in front of an average-looking man whose vibe screamed depression. He was sitting in the corner of a king-sized bed in a gloomy room. "Jiwoo, I won''t know why you called me if you don''t speak." I said to the depressed Jiwoo, by the looks of it, it seems like he wants an answer from me, of course, I know what it was about. "E-Eshwar.... who am I?" Gang Jiwoo asked without looking at me, while I stood at the other end of the room. "You are Gang Jiwoo." I replied in a stern tone. Jiwoo abruptly jerked up, got back on his feet, and zoomed towards me with a frantic expression on his face while gritting his teeth. Of course, from my perspective, he seemed like a snail, but that isn''t important right now. "YOU!!!" Jiwoo grabbed and clenched my cors, his face twisted in madness. "You!! What nonsense are you talking about? You know what I''m talking about, don''t you? Then answer my f**king goddamn question!! Who am I? Am I even living? Or am I one of your f**king "characters"? Huh? Answer me, you f**king...." Jiwoo roared with tears streaming down his cheeks. ''Yes!! This what I wanted!! This is it! Jiwoo! You make me feel exhrated!! This what I wanted to see, now, I don''t have any regrets of not being there to watch simr madness in Vinny''s case!! Hahahaha!!!'' Iughed hysterically, inwardly. ''You....are the perfect piece, Jiwoo. This is what makes me want to continue to break you guys! How dare somebody so insignificant try to harm my Isha. Doesn''t matter in what way, you don''t respect what''s mine, then you guys are bound to be.... destroyed.'' My version of a frantic voice roared in my mind. I knew that they did nothing but watch as Vinny harmed Isha, but that too wasn''t eptable; they should have tried to help Isha, no, stop Vinny! After I used [Alter] on Vinny, I checked the others "thoughts" too, but as soon as they left the room, everybody thought, "It wasn''t any of my business anyway, and she was the one that was in the wrong in the first ce." Those were the exact thoughts they had; they thought of nothing else! At that time, they were trying to push their own me and guilt onto Isha, who wasn''t even ming them in the first ce. They walked into her room, picked a fight with her, and when she fought back, she became the one in the wrong, the bad guy. The weird thing was that everybody med Isha for it, even though they were the ones who picked a fight with her. And that fuelled my rage, which was already soaring to new heights when I saw Isha''s head bleed. ".... please.... answer me, Eshwar...." Jiwoo''s sobbing voice trickled in my ear and snapped me out of my trance, helping me calm my slowly rising rage when I remembered Isha''s blood trickling down her face. "You are Gang Jiwoo, Jiwoo." I looked down and answered his plea. He raised his head to look at me with slightly hope-filled eyes, "But...." I said and smirked savagely, inwardly when I noticed his hope in his gaze tter, almost instantly. "You are indeed a character that I created for," I replied and continued. "Entertainment purposes." I said, and despair shed in Jiwoo''s face as thest glint of hope diedpletely. "Y-you.... You!!!" Jiwoo roared loudly and stood back up, clenching my clothes to help his ttering legs. ''Jiwoo, haaa.... this is... this is the expression I wanted to see!!!!'' I gazed at him in delight, inwardly of course. I maintained a serious expressionless expression on my face on the outside. "Why!? Why? Why? Why? Why me? WHY ME!!!??" He roared loudly, and suddenly a huge burst of an extremely familiar killing intent oozed out of his body. I rolled my eyes when I remembered that he still had onest use of "Eshwar''s rage" that he had stolen from me. ''Haaa, is he dumb? Why would my own skill do anything against me?'' I gazed at Jiwoo in pity; maybe it was because of his depression, but he had lost his ability to think, which was the most important and one and only amazing thing that he had. "Shut up." I said in a low,manding tone, and Jiwoo froze. "Jiwoo, think carefully. If I knew that my writing would be another person''s reality, why would I ever write anything? What I wrote was a novel, a fantasy, and if you don''t even know what a fantasy is, then I can''t exin anything to you." I exined, but of course, I knew he wasn''t listening to a word of it. "I don''t care; send me back to Earth! The same Earth, I have 34 years of memories of!" Jiwoo roared in a stubborn tone, throwing a tantrum. ''Hahaha, then at least act like a 34-year-old man!" I chuckled inwardly. "Jiwoo, that isn''t possible...." I said it in a "concerned" tone, trying to calm him down. "F**k off, you brought me here, so just send me back!" Jiwoo yelled again. "Because the Earth is no more!" I suddenly roared, and Jiwoo froze, turned to face me with a tear and madness-filled gaze. What I said waspletely true, at least to me, but the Earth still existed, and its live proof was Seol So-Young. "What?" he asked. "Why would I, an author,e into my own novel? And that, too, as a viin that dies in the first half! Instead of a protagonist?" I roared again, and Jiwoo turned silent as his mind registered my words. "Th..." He opened his mouth to ask a question, but I cut him short. I can''t have him questioning me when I want to manipte him in the way I want. "The Earth, I lived in, was exposed to mana one day, and dinosaurs from the past resurrected and killed people before humanity could prepare itself, and after surviving for a long time, I, too, was killed by something that I didn''t even know!!! Didn''t you find it strange that I, an author who wrote stories, am able to fight strong monsters as if I had done this all my life? I had fought almost half my life to survive, so of course I would know how to fight!" I yelled loudly, and Jiwoo had stopped speaking anything, trying to process everything I just revealed. "I, too, want to go back to Earth, but..." "Tears" welled up in my eyes and began to steam out as my body trembled in "sorrow." "But... the Earth that you and I have in our memories is..." I walked towards him, hugged him, and sobbed in "sorrow." "No more. No matter what I do, nothing changes; my rage against the monsters that killed my parents right in front of my eyes is still so fresh that I can''t help but feel helpless and powerless." I wept, resting my head on Jiwoo''s right shoulder, slowly raised my head, and stuck out my tongue. I said those words for many reasons, one of which was to give him a reason for "Eshwar''s rage," which he had acquired when he tried to copy or crook my traits. All the words I had just said were to give reasons for everything I am right now¡ªa reason behind my strength, a reason behind my rage, and finally, a reason for him to despair, yet help him get out of his depression, because "I, too, am just like you; I also don''t know what I am, but I do know that I am Eshwar, so I''ll always be Eshwar." * And back to the present. I "consoled" Jiwoo for half an hour straight, allowing him to sob in despair. I had asked him toe to me if he ever felt like that again and added, "Even though I can''t do anything now that we''re in this story, no, in this world, let''s just be there for each other and survive." I said while walking out of his room, receiving a bright yet sad smiley nod in reply. WHOOSH TAK "You are here." I smiled at Seo Hana, whonded in the warehouse I stood in. "Eshwar!!" Seo Hana smiled brightly as she walked towards me, hugged me tightly, and then let go, but her face instantly turned solemn by the next second. "Eshwar...." Hana called out and began to exin all the things that had happened in the association¡ªabout the Rank-SSS gates, the expedition team, and the ploy¡ªand only then, when shepleted her exnation, did I understand where that "Queen" had ran off to when I, no, we attacked Azazel to rescue Louie. "No, do not resign from the association; since you hate the association anyway, can you help get me any information from the inside?" I asked with a yful smile, walked towards her, and stared at her in the eyes. Suddenly, I felt a chill run down my spine; Isha''s mischievously smiling face shed in my mind; her words and gaze when she said that there would be consequences if I did something like this again resurfaced in my mind; and I slowly moved away from Seo Hana, who had a dejected look on her face. RING-RING "Excuse me for a sec." I said, turned around and picked up Arngrim''s call. [Eshwar, I found a way to treat Louiepletely, but...] [I think, I''ll need a Rank-SSS or at least a higher Rank-SS grade monster core.] Chapter 262 261. Jumpsuit? (AN: previous chapter edited) *** "Excuse me for a sec." I said, turned around, and picked up Arngrim''s call. [Eshwar, I found a way to treat Louiepletely, but...] I was ted to hear that Louie can be cured, but I didn''t like the way Arngrim halted mid-sentence; it felt like he was underestimating me or something. [I think I''ll need a Rank-SSS or at least a higher Rank-SS grade monster core.] As soon as those words entered my ears, I nced at Seo Hana''s innocent face. It wasn''t that I doubted her, but the timing was too convenient, ah! Maybe that sly queen, Mair¨¦ad, nned for things to go like this. "It''s alright, I''ll take care of it. Focus on all the other materials, and I''ll do something about the core," I said. "No matter how much time it takes." I mumbled under my breath and hung up. "What is it?" Hana asked. "I''ll be participating in this expedition; let them do whatever they want to." * An hourter. I somehow managed to make her go back to the association after a long nagging session, and since I was determined that I would be going to the dungeon and ying along with their bullsh*t, Seo Hana couldn''t do anything about it and left grumbling with a concerned look on her face. What she felt, it doesn''t matter right now because there was someone else who was going to nag me. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK CLUNK I knocked on my room''s door in Uncharted''s underground facility and opened the door without waiting for an answer because I knew nobody except for Isha would enter my room. BAM And I instantly closed the door... ''Wha....what did I just see?'' I mumbled in my mind, and my whole body turned hot; I even felt my face burning up. As soon as I opened the door, I saw a figure leaning forward toward their knee or calf. I didn''t get a proper glimpse of it, but the figure''s body was... skin....coloured (?) with a slightly paleplexion, and of course the long silky hair was ck... ''Nobody except Isha would enter my room, right? Then, that was Isha?'' I muttered inwardly. "Ah, maybe she was wearing a skin-coloured jumpsuit, but for what though?" I mumbled under my breath at the realisation, nodded to myself, and opened the door again. CLUNK I took a peek in and froze when I saw Isha staring at me with a bewildered and flustered expression on her face; by the looks of it, she didn''t seem to understand how to react in this situation, and... "Kyaaaaaaa!!!!" BAM! "Guh!!!" My nose was hit by my room''s door, which was shut by Isha, who used divinity for it. ''She.... was naked.... right?'' * After a few minutes, I got the permission to enter my room, and when I walked in, I saw Isha sitting in the middle of the bed, covering her entire body except for the head with the thick ck coloured nket, while ring at me with a red face. Of course, I wasn''t one to talk as I, too, felt my face and ears burning up. "A-ahem, umm, mhm." I cleared my throat, walked towards the bed, and sat next to her with my left leg on the ground. "Did you see?" Isha asked, blushing violently. At that question, I, too, felt my heartbeat speed up; maybe from her perspective I was also blushing violently. "N-no, I didn''t get a proper glimpse..." I said, shamelessly, and got hit on the head with a pillow. FHUMP ".... But I saw your back and your bu..Mhhffp." I was about to say what I saw, exactly, but Isha covered my mouth without letting me exin with a scarlet face. "S-stop." Isha mumbled in a low buzz-like voice, hiding her face in her nketed knees. And at that moment I got a crazy idea to tease her, and of course, since it wasn''t a chance that came every day, I decided to act on it without hesitation. "!!" Isha retracted her hand as soon as I licked her palm. "Salty~ hmm~ you are sweating, I see...." I mumbled with a yful smile, leaning closer. FHUMP "Fast, are we now...." I mumbled with a smirk when she hit me with a pillow again, and, FHUMP FHUMP ... .... ... And after that, maybe because I teased her a bit too much and she began to hit with a pillow, stood up, and began to swing the pillow more and more, I don''t know why, but I wanted it to stop, so I rose up on my knees, grabbed her wrists, and pinned her down. And now, BA-THUMP (5x) "...." "...." A pair of hearts began to beat in a strange yet pleasant rhythm, while Isha gazed up at my eyes and I gazed down at hers. I held her wrists above her head, making them stay put, and supported myself with my left hand that was right next to Isha''s neck, as Iid on top of her. (AN: Omniscient POV) Their breaths mingled rhythmically, as did their loud heartbeats; both of them were blushing violently, and maybe Eshwar snapped out of his daze, but he slightly fumbled around and his gaze wandered on her face, seemingly not knowing where or what exactly to look at. Her eyes, which were fixated on his, her nose, which was only breathing in, her cheeks, which were burning scarlet, her ears, which had turned more red than her cheeks, her mouth, which was slightly open with her small tongue above her lower incisors, breathing out hot air at his mouth, and finally her lustrous pink lips¡ªand when his gazended on her mouth, his mind stopped working again, with only a few words before, ''Why not...'' And with that, his mind stopped working,pletely, and without him even realising it, he began to lean in to kiss her. Unbeknownst to Eshwar, Isha too snapped out of her daze at the exact moment he did, and her gaze wandered on his face in the same pattern, but the thoughts that ran in her mind were far different from his. ''How cute.'' She would think when she saw how flustered he was, with his long elven ears burning scarlet. But of course, she was able to think straight only because there was a thick ck nket in between them; if there was even a bit more skin ship, then she wouldn''t be able to think of anything; no matter how and what it was, Isha still hadn''t experienced any proper intimate skin ship! But her mind too stopped working when she noticed him leaning forward. While this hot atmosphere surrounded the couple, three pairs of eyes were looking at them through the forgotten open door. The onlookers were none other than Henry, Core, and Arngrim. They all had rushed towards this room when they heard Isha scream but stopped when they noticed Eshwar standing in front of the door. But looking at the state he was in, they decided to follow him, sneakily, while he stood dazed by the sight he had just seen. But now, looking at the atmosphere between them, they unanimously decided to let the couple enjoy their moment and that they would close the door so that they too could get a good night''s sleep. "I''ll close the door, so move back a bit." Core whispered in a very low tone and shooed them back; they nodded their heads and tiptoed back. CREEEEAAAAAKKKKKKKK "!!!" Eshwar and Isha jerked back at the loud creaking sound and nced around before their gazesnded on Core, Arngrim, and Henry, who were closing the door, and at the next moment, everybody''s expression turned deadpan as they stared at each other, while the door was still closing slowly and creaking loudly. CREEEEAAAAAKKKKKKKK "...." "...." "...." TAK "...." "...." Chapter 263 262. Promise. After a while of extremely awkward silence, Eshwar exined everything to Isha; he told her all the things he heard from Seo Hana. Though Isha found it suspicious at first, she didn''t address it, and after everything he had to say was done, "I promise to return to you, no matter how long it takes." He promised to Isha, and she abruptly teared up. ''He is going away from me, again. He isn''t bringing me with him, again.'' She thought and felt her heart clench at such thoughts. And then, everything she had "seen," everything that made him suffer¡ªall the loneliness, all the self-torture, all the self-istion, all the physical and mental pain he felt when he was alone back in the past before they had even met¡ªeverything she had seen under his curse''s effect resurfaced in her mind, making her sob louder than before. And though Eshwar didn''t really know why she was crying, he just simply hugged her, kissed her head, and rubbed her back as if she were a kid. (AN: Isha image in paragraphments) "Aaaa...." She hugged him tightly as those thoughts began to resurface more clearly, gradually. * After at least an hour of crying, Isha stopped only because she seemed to be out of tears, shocking Eshwar at how long she can cry in the process. "Please....hic..." Isha said, clenching his palms tightly. "Pleasee back to me." She said. She too knew that he wasn''t going to change his mind on it since it involved Louie, so even if she wanted to stop him, she just couldn''t bring herself to do so because, just from the determined look on his face, she understood that he would go into that trap by himself, doing whatever it took, and she also knew the weight of his promise, so she would just believe him and wait for him. ''No matter how long it takes....'' She muttered in her mind and lost consciousness due to exhaustion. "I will." Eshwar answered and walked out of the room. * In the middle of the night. The thing I found fortunate was the fact that the Rank-SSS gate dive was going to be attempted at night, behind the eyes of all humanity. Of course, there were quite a few reasons for it. One would be that they don''t want people to know about the disappearance of their only hope, me, and if I disappear so suddenly, then they would think that their only hope had abandoned them in the time of difficulties, and if I''m right, these people in front of me would start spreading rumours about me and branding me a traitor of humanity. The next reason would be that they wanted to hide that fact about sacrificing people for the "greater good," as that would be something that would make the people spit on the association''s way of doing things. And let''s not divulge ourselves too much into the association''s way of thinking. ''Whatever they do, nothing is going to go the way they want.'' I scoffed inwardly. I had brought Core and Henry, who stood far away, recording everything that''s happening in front of me, where a minimum of 50 people stood with their hostility openly directed towards me. Among the people were: Stan Walton, the son of a bit*h. Dwayne Knight, another son of a bit*h. Lenna Romero, the dummy dum dumb mum. Alex Turner, the cool son of a bit*h, no offence. Elise Ryan, the lesb*a friend, again no offence. And Seo Hana, the naive, righteous bit*h, no, woman. Together with a lot of other people who I haven''t seen all my life, I stood next to the association people, who were ring at me. "What?" I red at them for a split second, and they all shuddered in fear before averting their gazes, because no matter what, none of them would ever dare go against a Rank-SSS yer. And from what Seo Hana had informed me, it was Dwayne Knight who agreed to trap me. I guess he was petty for losing his son without getting anything in return. ''Nothing can ever be done to people like this.'' I muttered in my mind and shook my head, disappointed. * After an hour of bullsh*t, they stopped instructing the instructions that nobody was listening and ordered people to get ready to dive into the Rank-SSS gate and spoke some more sh*t about honour, saving humanity, and being the proud warriors that are going to be attempting the first Rank-SSS dungeon raid, marking our name in history, and whatnot. ''Time limit is 2 years.'' I muttered in my mind. "You can enter." Said a cheerful voice, that was none other than Stan Walton''s. THUMP "Move it." Somebody pushed me from behind; of course, I was feeling everything before they even did anything by the "sounds" produced by their muscle movements, but I wasn''t going to do anything until I was in the dungeon, why? Just cause. They are just asking us to go die, but maybe they used my rank to assure these people; if they believe that I and them are enough to deal with a Rank-SSS dungeon, then I alone would be more than enough, and the less baggage there is, the more freely I can move. WHOOOSH I took a step and entered the gate, my vision blurred, and I let it, the gate, do whatever it wanted now because if I tried to interfere with the flow then the gate was definitely going to crack, whose consequences weren''t known. Ah, yes. I "can" interfere with "natural" things if I want to, now. Of course, I was able to do that even before, but now, hmmm...how should I exin? Ah! I can interfere legally now. Like I have that privilege now. Anyway, The dungeon waspletely dark, with thick ckish smoke covering the sight in front of me; I wasn''t able to look even 10 feet away from the spot I stood, and, SNIFF "Ashy scent...." I sniffed the air once and mumbled under my breath. ''This... I don''t like this.'' I grumbled inwardly, and with a small poof, a weak, greyish ripple of aether shot out from my feet, but it stopped. "?" I frowned in confusion when I felt the aether''s flow stop, as if something were restricting it. And now, even with the help of aether, I wasn''t able to feel anything beyond the 20-foot distance from myself. "This... is too strange..." I mumbled, and BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!! ''There goes the exit; it is not like I didn''t know about what they had nned, but the predicament I am in right now changes too many things.'' I thought. Because I felt weak, like a bottom feeder, the longer I stood in this dungeon, and that was a feeling I hadn''t felt in a long time, and there was something eerie, a bit too eerie, about this dungeon, and it was making me tremble, not in excitement but in fear. "Hahaha.... F**k." Chapter 264 263. Rank-SSS Gate. (AN: Isha illustration in ch 262: Promise.) *** I felt weak, like a bottom feeder, the longer I stood in this dungeon the weaker I felt, that was a feeling I hadn''t felt in a long time, and there was something eerie, a bit too eerie, about this dungeon, and it was making me tremble, not in excitement but in fear. "Hahaha...f**k." "!!" I snapped my head back to where I felt a presence walking towards me, "Hey, who is..." A strange man''s low mumbled sounded behind me, and I recognised that voice; it was the same voice that "ordered" me to move before entering the gate, into this dungeon. And, BAM I punched at his head as soon as he entered the 10-foot distance and heard the sound of his head sttering. A total of 19 people entered the gate except me, so I walked straight back to the direction where the gate was previously, since I had yet to take out eighteen more. * After a while. "10 more to go..." I mumbled under my breath while moving alerted. ''Wait! Should I use wind magic? Is there any wind elemental property mana in the surroundings? There should be, right? Since it is a smoke cloud...'' I thought inwardly and manipted the aether to collect the wind elemental property mana from the surroundings after putting an aether barrier on myself. ''If only my authority of "The Order" didn''t disappear...'' I grumbled in my mind, because only recently, when I tried to use that authority, I realise that I couldn''t use it anymore and it had disappeared. How? What? And why? Even I didn''t know, but I wasn''t able to use it anymore. I was slightly disappointed because I was able to use mana without using aether or anything, but now I have to go through the slightly troublesome process of manipting the aether to get the same result. "Haaaa..." I sighed. FTHUUOOOO "!!!" I jerked to the side in surprise when I felt something fasting at me, and TING With a ting, the poison needle or something simr crashed against the aether barrier and fell on the ground before disappearing without a trace. ''Damn, what the f**k?'' I cursed inwardly and lowered the sound of my breathing and heartbeat. WHOOOSH Without thinking of anything else, I zoomed towards the direction that something came from, and after half an hour of dashing straight, I found myself in front of a pile of bodies that I recognised as those who came with me, and surrounding those bodies were ten horrifying things that seemed like clowns, no, they were clowns. I felt horrified when all of them abruptly snapped their heads to face me with a smiling masks on their faces. ''Damn, clowns are terrifying as always....'' I muttered in my mind and took a step forward, disappeared, and reappeared behind a clown that held a hatchet and punched down at it, and, BOOM! The smoke cloud flickered and stabilised itself when my fistnded on the ground, and all the clowns that surrounded the dead bodies disappeared as if they didn''t exist as soon as I punched at it. Baffled by the predicament, I jumped to the side and gazed at the spot where I stood, hoping that something from the smoke would attack and I could grab hold of it. "...." But even after a few minutes, absolutely nothing happened, baffling me even more. ''What was that?'' I squinted my eyes as I gazed around, finding absolutely nothing, and it has been around five minutes since I began to gather wind elemental property mana from the surroundings, and only now has it reached the eptable amount. ''Too long....''I mumbled in my mind and gathered everything beneath my right foot, which I raised in the air. ''Tempest stomp!'' BAM WHOOOOMMM A massive ripple, a ring of wind pressure, shot out from my feet, pushing and carrying the thick ck smoke, clearing the area of 100-meter distance. And then I saw 45 disgusting-looking creatures, flying around mid-air with greyish translucent bat wings, spreading ck coloured smoke out of nowhere. They were a metrerge blobs, a circr mass of something disgusting; it had some gooey substanceing down from the side that faced the ground; they had many mouths covering their entire bodies; and they had two branch-like horns protruding out on their heads or bottoms. I didn''t understand properly since it was simply a blob with a sh*t load of mouths. Since they had a tonne of mouths, they could scream and alert the other monsters, which would be bad for me, so ''Ring of Extinction.'' I mumbled in my mind, and the ring, that appeared on my left ring finger that day when I cut through a ck hole, widened and floated mid-air above my head; it was about 2-metres wide circle, and by the next instance the ring simply shot out without making any sound as it cut through matter and shrunk back into a small ring and fixed itself back on my left ring finger, turning invisible again. SPLURT SPLATTER Everything happened before even a second had passed, and the disgusting flying creatures were dead on the ground with their bodies cut in half, leaking yellowish liquid that seemed to be their blood. ''Ummm...on second thought, should I empty my stomach before going in? Because I think I''m going to hurl.'' I thought inwardly. * I felt disgusted by the yellowish liquid that came out of the blobs whenever they were killed, but since I couldn''t do anything about it except kill them, I kept moving on. There were quite a few things I found out about the fog, which I named "Curtain of Nightmares," because it''s exactly what you would expect when you hear the name: the fog creates illusions of what you fear or hate the moste true, and the bodies I saw earlier were the remaining ten people I was searching for. And NO, I am not scared of clowns..... Ok, just a little bit. They are terrifying, okay! If you like clowns, then stay away from me! Hmph. Ahem, that got a bit personal. Anyway, I killed 163 of those blobs. I don''t know if they were weak or if the ring I have is too strong, but I killed that many. I didn''t test for any other ways of killing them because they were a bit too disgusting for my liking. "When does it end?" I mumbled under my breath, and FTHUUOOOO!! TING ''Ah, I forgot about this....'' That thing, whatever that is, would shoot out every time I made any sound from my mouth....mouth? Is there some sort of connection between the mouths? And why a mouth? "Aaa...." FTHUUOOOO!! TING ''Hmmm.....'' BAM! I raised my right leg and mmed it on the ground, but this time there was no attack, so I understood that it did have something to do with mouths; though slightly creepy, I ignored it and walked in the direction from which these needle-like things wereing. * After an hour of walking straight, I arrived in front of a massive door that screamed "boss room." It was at least 50 meters tall and maybe 5 meters thick; there were strange witchcraft-like patterns on it, and in the middle, a small cauldron with a strange smokeing out of it was imprinted on the massive door. ''Maybe that''s the ck smoke.'' I thought inwardly. I walked towards the door and ced my hand on it to push it, but I shuddered in fear as soon as I ced my hand on it. My face muscles twitched as my whole body trembled as I felt a chill run down to my very core, and as soon as I realised that I was scared, I subconsciously grinned widely. "Fuuu...." I took a deep breath and exhaled. WWWOOOOOIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGHHH With an ear-deafening screech, the door dragged on the ground, making me stop pushing the door. I massaged my ears for a few minutes before the "beep" sound in my mind halted, employed aether to cover my ears, and pushed the door again, but this time I heard no noises thanks to the aether, but the vibration cruising through the door into my hands was a bit too much. And a thick cloud of dust covered my sight as I walked into the boss room, slightly trembling. I waved my hand in front of my face to make room for breathing. A secondter, I got irritated by how much smoke there was and flung my left hand diagonally upward to clear out the dust cloud in front of me. And my entire body stiffened as soon as my gazended on the tall, faceless, slim ck mannequin figure that sat on a huge throne wearing a ck suit, whose luxury seemed out of this world. Though the suit was great, that wasn''t what grabbed my attention; no, it did actually, and I mean seriously. Ahem, there was a ck cloud of smoke surrounding the huge mannequin figure, more dense than the one I saw outside. The figure was easily 50 metres tall, even while sitting cross-legged. It had rested its faceless head on its right wrist while resting its right elbow on the armrest, simr to how I sit on my ck throne in my domain, but a lot, lot more menacing. It abruptly moved, albeit slowly, but even that moment was enough to make me shudder. It simply pointed its right index finger at me while I stoodpletely tensed, on guard. Then slowly, the thick ck smoke around it moved towards its right arm, covering its palmpletely before growing back towards its shoulder like a tree root, expanding forward and forming long ws that seemed approximately as long as a small aerone, or 10 metres long, and then the figure slowly floated up, standing straight. "Goddamn, it''s tall." I mumbled under my breath involuntarily as I gazed up at the 120-meter towering figure, but the figure abruptly froze when I spoke.... Ah! It has no mouth! ''Ah, I f**ked up....'' I muttered in my mind at the revtion, and the smoke that was slowly covering the figure''s entire body abruptly began to move faster, and though it had no face, I could tell that it was pissed off just from the killing intent that was oozing out of it. ''No!!! Stop! You don''t have eyes, nose, and ears too!!! Why are you getting mad? No, maybe it has ears since it is hearing my words!'' Rooty wings, arms, ws, and legs¡ªeverything was formed by the ck smoke that covered everything since the moment I entered this dungeon. (AN: Image) FTHUUOOOO!! TING "Aw sh*t." FTHUUOOOO! (5x) TING (10x) ..... ... *** (AN: Hello people, this chapter will mark the end of vol.3 Destruction. And the new chapter(s) wille on Sunday.) Chapter 265 264. 2 Years. *** (AN: Omniscient POV) Two years. It has been two years since Eshwar went into the dungeon, and he has yet to return. And the one who was promised about his return continued to wait while getting stronger to face whatever was thrown at her. And there were a lot of things that happened in these past two years, so talk about some of them. Different variants of monsters have been wreaking havoc in the world; the monsters were stronger and more sentient, so the humans, elves, and dwarves found it harder to deal with them at first but began to fight back after they got ustomed to it. Of course, the wolf variants were those that Eshwar and Isha had run into a while back in the artificial dungeon. Tournaments began to be official events, and fierce rival battles began between the three races; now the first ce belonged to the Elves, and the second and third ces belonged to humans, because for some reason the dwarfs didn''t really show much interest in the tournaments. And "ck Raven," Isha made her first debut as an Uncharted member a week after Eshwar went into the Rank-SSS gate; of course, she had hidden her identity. She too was specialised in hunting vampires, just like White Swan, who was assumed to be taking smaller requests to boost the newbie''s reputation. Though the rest of the Uncharted members tried to ask her to specialise in a different field, Isha rejected them outright as she needed answers about Heath Walker, her half-brother''s actions against her; she wanted to kill those who were with her half-brother when they ughtered the kids from the orphanage, and if she found that son of a bit*h of a half-brother, then she would kill him together with the vampires who fed on the blood of the kids, without any hesitation. And after she had begun her search, she had killed a sh*t ton of vampires and Mair¨¦ad, who was the new monarch of the vampires, was enraged by the ck Raven''s way of hunting down the vampires even though Mair¨¦ad had went out of her way to form an alliance with mere blood packs, soon after, Mair¨¦ad began to find out ck Raven''s identity, but she came across Isha''s, who was Eshwar''s lover and by connecting both of them, she concluded that the ck Raven''s identity was Isha. And then Mair¨¦ad "ordered" people of the alliance to spread rumours about Isha being a sacrifice that could kill the demon from the prophecy, saying, "Isha Walker, the granddaughter of the hero, Quinn Walker, is born as a sacrifice; if she is killed then the demon from the prophecy too would die." Was what the association between humans and vampires spread the word as. Of course, the people began to exaggerate about it and began to call Isha a demon herself, scorning her behind her back, and even at her sight, those who knew about her began to spread word about her cursed eyes, adding fuel to the fire. And she was scorned whenever she went outside and her cursed eyes didn''t make it any better for her, since she could tell that the people had begun to hate her from the depths of their hearts and wished for her death. Though hurt, she still hunted down vampires because she realised what was actually important to her, and she was quite taken aback when just a simple and single word defined what was important to her, and that was "Eshwar." Nothing more and nothing less. She then began to focus on getting stronger because the next time something like this happened, she didn''t want to be left behind, so she began to work harder and harder to get stronger with her godly physic. She knew that getting stronger will help her in many ways, so she hunted vampires and monsters alike to get stronger, if possible stronger than Eshwar when he destroyed Earth. Arngrim had done everything he could to find the perfectbination of the potion to heal Louie''s eyes and right arm, and he had finally found it. The only ingredient missing was a Rank-SSS dungeon monster''s core, and after he tried to find thebination, he learned that it wasn''t possible even with a higher Rank-SS dungeon monster''s core, which he thought to be a possibility previously. Henry and Core were busy with their own things, one of which was warding off rumours about Eshwar''s disappearance, and they had even warned the association that they had proof, and if they tried to put me on any innocent person then they would reveal everything about the association to the people. Katline, Katharine, and Violet had somehow made up with each other, and though worried about Eshwar''s disappearance, they, together with Seol So-Young, did their best to get stronger. Jiwoo too came out of his depression after his talk with Eshwar, and he too had been focused on getting stronger as Eshwar had asked him to, saying that there would be many strong monsters in the future and even he himself wasn''t strong enough to deal with them. And Vinny, haa... That guy, too, had disappeared and is yet to return to the human domain; what he is doing and where he is, nothing is known about him. And after a few weeks passed, thest tournament was being held in the Elven Kingdom, which had gotten a lot friendlier with humans in the past few years. [Time limit for the selection process: 00Y: 15D: 19H: 34M: 52S] Today was the day of the final tournament, which is said to be celebrated for 10 days straight. Why? Because, why not? They didn''t know what the day after these 15 days held, so they wanted to celebrate to ease the tension. At least that was the reason, but because of their beneficiaries, the recipients knew that the uing days wouldn''t ever be peaceful, at least until everything was over. People made their way to the Elven Kingdom through the previously constructed gates, and two mysterious kinds were said to be participating in this tournament, so the people were slightly excited about this "Last Tournament." One was the Dwarfs, who said they would be taking this tournament seriously and the Elves should be careful about their first ce being stolen, and the other group was the Uncharted mercenary group, the vampire hunters, who were participating in a tournament and showing off everything they had, so of course people would be excited. And soon after, the humans began to set foot in the Elven Kingdom and were dazed by the atmosphere, beauty, grace, elegance, and the thick, tall trees filled with greenery. At a nce, it might even seem like a giant''s greenhouse. Each breath they took seemed to relieve all of a lifetime''s stress; the mud patch paths, the scent of freshly trimmed grass with a slight humid touch to it, mixed with the freshly bloomed flowery aroma, and the dandelion-like small elemental spirits that were jumping and flying around without a care for the onlookers, everything about the Elven Kingdom seemed peaceful; even the buildings they lived in were short; some were carved into the massive trees, making a natural skyscraper out of it; there were even many dream treehouses that were carved on and into the trees and tree branches. All the long-eared people had bright smiles on their faces as they conversed and moved around, carrying on with their daily lives, and unlike many had read, both dark elves and the normal elvish elves were happily conversing together, but what made them different was their abilities. While the dark elves were more warrior-like people, the other elves were more mage-like people; only their affinities with the elemental mana differentiated them. The elves that were guiding the humans and the dwarfs were very polite and had a friendly yet respectful demeanour, which helped them ease people''s worries and converse with each other. After thest batch of humans arrived, everybody, including elves, dwarves, and humans, stood dazed as they stared at a beautiful ck-haired woman in a d ck suit walk in between the dazed onlookers while being surrounded by all the nearby small, medium, andrge spirits, circling around the woman''s head and snuggling to her cheeks with cute cheery squeaks and giggles. She had a bluish-red sword hanging from her belt; she had obsidian ck eyes with dimmed vertical pure white pupils, as if she wanted to hide them; she had a well-endowed, perfect hourss figure; and there was a certain grace and elegance about her that added an irresistible charm to her. The woman smiled bitterly at the cheery squeaks of the small spirits while walking to where they were leading her, and suddenly many wind elemental spirits that were snuggling to her flew towards her left and, WHOOOSH "...Is there anything you need from me?" Isha asked with an expressionless look on her face, ncing at the newly arrived figure from the corner of her eyes, and the nearby Elves snapped out of their trance when they saw who had just presented them with their presence, and without caring for Isha''s rude behaviour, they bowed to the being''s omnipotent presence. They ced their right hands on their chests, bowed 90 degrees with their left hands behind their backs, and said, "We are honoured by your presence, your majesty." They said in unison, and as if to rapturous their greetings, the elegantly beautiful woman released a strong yet calming aura with a slight nod and a mesmerising smile. "I, Cnis, greet the goddess." The woman who appeared out of nowhere greeted Isha with a small yet respectful bow, and everybody present was taken aback by the way the woman, who seemed to be a queen or a princess of the Elven Kingdom, referred to Isha as. The woman had bright golden coloured silky knee-length hair, with deep golden coloured eyes with vertical white slits that seemed to see through everything; the woman was endowed with a perfect hourss figure, simr to Isha''s, but somehow still seemedcking in some manner; her name was Cnis, the woman of light, and the one and only ruler, the Queen of the Elven Kingdom. But Isha, who heard Cnis address her as a goddess, didn''t even have a change in her expression. She had expected the scorn and disgust-filled gazes to be directed at her, just like how the humans behind were ring at her even now after kneeling in respect for Cnis once, but even though she hadn''t expected her identity to be revealed by an elf, she had no change in her expression. Why? For whatever reason, she recently found herself unable to properly feel or show any other expression. Why? Because the feeling of losing Eshwar again had somehow subconsciously appeared in her mind and had been eating her away from the inside since then, now she wanted to see him and just hug him once, no matter the price. ''I miss Eshwar.'' She thought that this was actually the first time she had actually named that thought in her mind. WHOOOOMMM "!!!!" Suddenly, a ck, blurry figure appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Isha''s face, and threw her high into the air. ''I couldn''t sense it, even with the divine pulse and godly physic. Is that person using an artefact? And don''t tell me that this is another one of their assassination attempts, again this time?'' Isha mumbled in her mind, ced her right hand on the Ice Blood Katana sheathed and hanging on her belt. SWISH She unsheathed her sword in an instant and swung at the ck-coloured blur that appeared in front of her without a hint of hesitation in her horizontal sh. ''Blood reaper.'' She muttered in her mind, and in an instant a reddish-coloured mana climbed up to the tip, covering the entire katana with a blood-red coloured glow, and, TING "!!!" Her eyes shot wide open when she felt the force behind her sword swing instantly diminish and stop after it connected with the assassin that attacked her out of nowhere. ''This is dangerous.'' She muttered in her mind, and without a second thought, she activated her godly physic, which she recently found out that it was actually a skill while mastering it. Though she had always found it strange that it was ''physic'' and not ''physique,'' but when it actually activated, she felt like an entirely new being. ''Godly Phy...'' She was just about toplete hermand phrase but froze when she heard the next words of the ck blur. "Hello~ Miss Cyclops." Chapter 266 265. Planetary Devastation. Back when Eshwar stood in front of the giant monster, shuddering in fear, A handsome white-haired elven man red at the huge, suited mannequin figure floating in mid-air with thick ck smoke covering it from top to bottom. It had a pair of root-like wings on its back, wed forearms that reached its knees, and long legs; everything it had was formed from the ck smoke it was surrounded in. ''I can''t hold back against whatever it is.'' Eshwar muttered in his head, gazing up at the huge, ck mannequin figure. The mannequin figure gracefully raised his hand and pointed at Eshwar, who dazed out from the grace the figure excluded, and in an instant, the ck smoke seemingly twitched before floating up next to the mannequin''s shoulders, circling; soon, 16 circles surrounded the figure, and ck spikes protruded out from the circles made from the ck smoke. WHOOOSH And they began to spin, forming tornadoes that were aimed at Eshwar, and by the next instance, they disappeared. "!!!" Eshwar''s instincts screamed at him to run like never before, and he zoomed towards his right without a second thought; he was so fast that not even his blur was seen as he circled around the hall, but even then, BOOM!!! Loads and loads of ear-deafening "BOOMS" resounded right behind him. He slightly increased the area of his senses using the aether and noticed that he was barely, by a metre distance, dodging tornado-ed ck spikes that were sucking him in from their spinning force. ''Frost Phoenix!'' He muttered in his mind, and the air next to the mannequin began to chill, turning visibly white, and with a loud creaking sound, two massive phoenix-like birds materialised and shot towards it, but the mannequin didn''t even nce at it as the ck smoke moved towards the massive birds and devoured them until there was nothing left, and Eshwar''s attack, which took a second to materialize, was devoured before the next second even passed. ''That''s... impossible." Eshwar half thought, and half mumbled out loud, involuntarily. Not once had he ever seen something like that. And though it was unintentional, Eshwar still spoke out loud, enraging the mannequin. BOOM!!! ''F**k!!'' Eshwar cursed inwardly and paced up with great difficulty, clenching his teeth. ''Dwarven Sword!'' He mumbled inwardly, and again the air chilled in front of the mannequin, but this time the smoke zoomed towards the chilling air and devoured it before the technique was evenplete. ''Sh*t, it is sentient.'' He cursed inwardly. He then willed for a sword to materialize, and a light, blue-coloured katana materialised in his right hand. And ''Ah right, that won''t work with this.'' He realised, and took a katana from his subspace, jumped into the air, made a sheathing motion, ''Snowkes.'' He mumbled, stood on it, leaned forward, and Disappeared. SWISH ? and reappeared behind the mannequin''s neck as the katana he held shattered into a million pieces, TING "Of course, it didn''t work." Eshwar mumbled in irritation without even looking back since he knew that his sh didn''t work on the mannequin as soon as the "ting" sound sounded. WHOOOSH And in an instant, the roots on its root-like wings shot out towards Eshwar''s turned back, SPLURT At thest moment, Eshwar disappeared from there and reappeared back on the ground, ''Damn, I can''t believe I got careless.'' He thought when he noticed the fist-sized, inch-deep hole on his back. He was a split millisecond away from death, and he only realised that after he survived it. ''It devours everything that seems troublesome and shuts off things that seem dangerous. What should I, !!!!'' A cue of death rang in his mind as his body and instincts screamed at him to move and ''BLINK!!'' BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!! A massive, at least 100-meter-radius crater appeared in the spot where Eshwar stood previously. The ck smoke spikes that had been shooting out at him from the beginning were slowly reforming behind his back after they hit the ground, and now, suddenly attacked him after regrouping in one ce, after the mana in them concentrated before overloading in a split second and causing a massive explosion, and the crater was the result of it. And Eshwar, who had reappeared at least 500 metres away from the explosion, dodged the ck smoke spikes that were still being thrown at him, relentlessly. There was no time for him to think, not even a second for him to even take a breather as the bombardment of the spikes continued, while the ck mannequin figure moved its faceless head everywhere Eshwar was, as if it were gazing at him even without any eyes or even eye sockets. "?¡ê#@#!?$£¤#&?" Eshwar suddenly roared indescribable words that made absolutely no sound, but in that instance, the ck smoke stopped whatever it was doing and zoomed towards the mannequin figure, covering and shielding itpletely. DHOOOOOMB!! In an instant, a loud implosion, from the shielded mannequin, reverberated throughout the kilometres-wide room as a violent tremor cruised through it. Eshwar was flung to the other side of the room, hitting his back before slumping down on the ground, after a few metres wide crater formed on the wall from the impact between the wall and Eshwar. MMMMMMMB A sound that seemed to be the reverse of the implosion just now rang out from the covered mannequin figure and, BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM! "AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGH!!!" Eshwar screamed in agony when the attack he initiated just now came back at him in full force. His skeletal structure, muscle structure, and everything in his body jerked and misced to the sides, making him wail in an unbearable amount of pain. The technique he had just used was ary Devastation," which was the technique he would use to destroy the in space while staying on Earth, but for whatever reason, his voice would nevere out when he used that technique, and now he had just experienced a force that could absolutely destroy a¡ªA PLANET! So how in the hell did his body not explode into trillions of pieces? I have absolutely no idea; maybe because he wasn''t as strong as he was in the past, so the skill reduced to his current level, and because the technique worked ording to the selected target''s mass. Eshwar was now weak, much weaker than he was in the past, and his mass definitely won''t ever be matched to that of a''s. His eyes, nose, ears, mouth, fingertips, and toe tips bled profusely, together with the other holes that are not mentioned; everything in his body was a mess; even a sudden involuntarily twitch in his body made him wail in pain, and his regeneration rate didn''t make it any easier for him because everything was healing, was being re-adjusted, and was being reced, inwardly, making him feel a pain that he never, not once in his life, expected to feel. ''I can''t! I don''t want to! Stop! ....'' He pleaded his body to stop healing, at least until he wasn''t in any more pain, but no, it didn''t listen and continued to heal, until his entire body was numb from the pain, and he felt like he would die just from the amount of pain he was experiencing. THWAK "Ukhh!!?" His lower jaw abruptly broke, snapping his body into consciousness and making him go through the pain again. His blood filled gaze snapped towards the direction from which he felt his lower jaw snapping and he noticed a small fist-sized blob of thick ck smoke floating next to him and shuddered in fear because there was absolutely no rule why his opponent shouldn''t kill Eshwar right now, and by the looks of it, the mannequin figure would make sure he would die a very painful death. Chapter 267 266. The Fallen. A white-haired man with an almost disfigured, long bearded figure had slumped down, leaning against the wall and gazing at the ground with his head down and lifeless eyes. His white hair''s edges had turned ck from the dried-up blood stuck on them; his face too was covered in dried-up blood that looked ck; his clothes were riddled with holes and cuts, along with his body, which was also in the same state and covered in dried-up blood. And at least up to a kilometre distance around the man was covered in his dried and fresh blood. BAM THWACK "...." Eshwar''s lower jaw broke and dangled again, but in the next instance, it healedpletely. THWACK "...." THWACK And the process continued. It had been months since he was actually able to move; if he moved, tonnes of spikes would protrude or shoot out from the mannequin figure, piercing his arms and legs, rendering him unable to move; if he spoke, the nerve that would help him speak would be cut off; if he tried to use mana from the surroundings, they would be devoured by the ck smoke; if he used the aether to pressure or do something else, he would be bombarded with killing techniques that would leave him at death''s door; so he could do absolutely nothing except stay seated and entertain the mannequin figure that had kept torturing him, and had seemingly kept him alive only to destroy everyst of the hope that remained in him, for amusement. THWACK The mannequin figure was a "fallen," a god or a transcended being who fell from grace, though it was on the weaker side even though it was on top of the food chain. To try and ascend back to godhood, it made "worshipers" thinking that that was why it fell from grace¡ªbecause it had no worshippers even though it had an abundant amount of divinity. and because there wasn''t really any living being in the vicinity, it fell, except for the ck blob with a lot of mouths. The mannequin made them its worshipers, giving them a chance to rise in the food chain of the world they lived in, and then beings that felt simr to Eshwar''s, humans, walked into the Fallen''s territory and killed all of the mannequin''s worshipers, calling them monsters. Enraged by the way the humans ughtered its worshipers, it killed each and every one of them, except for one human, hoping he would rely on the message saying not to mess with its worshipers, but everything backfired on them as more and more humans came to ughter the mannequin and its worshippers. And when the mannequin killed the humans in response to them killing its worshipers, the mannequin too began to be called a monster; humansing to ughter its worshippers got stronger and stronger, until one day people called "God Hunters" began to appear in its territory, hunting down its gradually growing worshipers. The humans called the mannequin figure a "god" and its worshippers the "god''s servants," only to kill them mercilessly, and then a day came when a white-haired, beautiful woman with bright blue eyes appeared out of nowhere, gazed at the mannequin and its worshipers, before sealing them into the room they were in, saying, "A day wille, when an insane guy mighte kill you. If you find him, tell him to prepare for the dangers that wille his way." It was also an offer for the mannequin to be free, away from the humans that seemingly caused the ughters of its worshippers without any real reason. And the mannequin epted it because it somehow knew that white-haired woman wouldn''t kill it nor its worshipers, and it had been a few months since that incident took ce, and if the mannequin had to think of that "insane guy" its saviour mentioned, then it would be the white-haired man in the corner, because it had never seen a human as persistent as him. Even though it seemed like he had given up on the outside, he was doing something unbelievable inwardly, and though the mannequin couldn''t quite grasp what it was, it knew whatever he was doing was dangerous. Then, if he is the guy that its saviour mentioned, why was it torturing him, you ask? Because no matter what, the humans had killed its worshippers just like him, so he ought to get punished like them, and he was getting tortured because it had learned from experience that a swift death isn''t enough to satisfy its rage. And the skill the mannequin used to reverse the technique thrown at it was "ck Mirror," a skill that reflects 100% of the skill back to the sender. And Eshwar, who was staring at the ground with a dangling lower jaw, continuously manipted aether in his body to create a strong enough core to "store" aether in his body just like mana. From the information he received from Karma, he knew that it was absolutely impossible, but he had no other choice, because he had been trying to use "Frost Devil," but the ck smoke would instantly zoom towards him and devour all the mana he managed to umte with the months of effort, so the aether core was hisst chance, so no matter how long it took, he would make it, kill that goddamn mannequin, and return to Isha. * Almost a yearter. Eshwar''s hair had turnedpletely ck; why? Even he didn''t know, but even the newly grown hair was ck. THWACK He was still forced to stay still, and his regeneration had almost be instant; no matter the damage, he seemed to be healing instantly. How he found that out was, well, he just used that explosion technique again and almost seriously died this time, but one use of the messed-up state was that aether moved a lot more easily if he concentrated on it even amid the pain he was experiencing. Though this was an impossible task even for Eshwar, he did it before hepletely healed, so the core he was building was almostplete. THWACK ''1%'' He mumbled and felt his muscles tense very slightly. And he remembered "stat control," which had somehow slipped his mind, and, ''100%'' he mumbled in his mind, and his entire body tensed, bulged to an extreme degree as if his body was going to explode, and abruptly dted until his muscles seemingly stuck to his muscles, boosting all of his race''s traits and also buffing all of his abilities, together with his recovery and control over the aether. And, BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! A loud ''boom'' resounded because of the aether core that abruptly gotpleted, causing the ground to ripple as if it were water and pushing off everything that was near him. And Eshwar''s face muscles, which hadpletely healed, twitched violently before his brows raised and his lips curled up into an ominous grin. His face was twisted in absolute madness and chaos as a strong killing intent oozed out of his body, causing the ground to tremble, and all the blobs in the dungeon were killed just from the strong ripples his killing intent was causing. Of course, all the torture he had been through had boosted his killing intent to a new level, and the mannequin felt a chill around its heart and felt its divinity tremble, as well. "Frost...." "Devil." Chapter 268 267. God Hater. Because the strongest core to ever exist got created so abruptly, the entire dungeon''s existence came under threat. And since a dungeon is also a ce where even godly beings could do nothing but watch, all the gods and goddesses became aware of the supernatural abnormality, but when they gazed into the dungeon to learn about the description and identity of the new existence, they noticed that they couldn''t see the existence''s face or feel his presence, even though they were directly looking at him. None of the gods, goddesses, or transcended could see Eshwar''s face because of the trait he took from Vinny, the "God Hater," which had been hiding him from the gazes of the gods and goddesses, who may try to make him their recipient, which he found to be too bothersome. Of course, since Eshwar is the creator, he knew that the gods would peer into him, so he had taken a countermeasure, the "God Hater" trait, and he was sure it was enough to ward them off. "Frost...." "Devil." Hepletely recited themand phrase for the first time in a while, and an extremely familiar chill cruised through his entire body, which made him grin in delight. The "Frost Devil" form required "mana," which the current Eshwar didn''t have, and he wasn''t given a chance toe into contact with the mana in the surroundings until now. Now that the explosion had pushed off the thick ck smoke that surrounded him, he finally came into contact with the mana. Though hising into contact with the mana was for an entirely different reason, the reason why he did it was to crack the "Frost Devil''s" shell he had subconsciously created around himself; well, it wasn''t really a shell or anything, but it was a bit hard for him to tap into his other form. Because no matter what, even if it has only been 9 years since he returned to the human domain as a human in reality, he still hasn''t used his other form for all those years. And if you include all those times when he was dragged away somewhere only to be thrown in isted spaces where he would try to find a way to escape, the years he spent as the Eye, looking at Quinn Walker''s life, the years he spent looking at Anuke''s life, the years he spent looking at Isha''s life, and finally the years he spent trying to find who he was, everythingbined would be at least a few million years, and all those years he was in his human form, and it became harder for him to manifest his Frost Devil form since it wasn''t a technique, it was him, the other side of him. ==== [Name: ] [Level: 1] [Rank: ???] ? [Type: Item (Bound)] [Skills: , , , ] [Effects:] -> Physical damage reduction (5%) -> Magical damage reduction (5%) -> Mana regeneration -> Mana amplification ==== He abruptly remembered the white parasite''s effects and blinked away, reappearing behind the mannequin''s huge throne and activated , hoping the regeneration and amplification would work with the aether too, and was grateful to Nhifrogr for this artefact when he felt dense aether cruising into his body and settling in his new core. ''This is a bit too dense.'' Eshwar clenched his teeth and fists, trying not to groan in pain. The greyish-coloured aether was settling down in his core in a ck colour; that was how dense the aether was bing. CRE-CREAK (4x) ''What''s the use of hiding if you make all this noise?'' He grumbled inwardly; even though he acted tough on the outside, he was still very scared of things going wrong and getting tortured again, without any hope for survival. Just the thought of how hopeless he felt for the past year and months made him shudder, making him realise that he was only jumping around freely because he was among weaklings; if he went onto that while being this weak, then he would be crushed without even having a chance to lift his finger. WHOOOSH Suddenly, a tsunami-like wave of thick ck smoke rushed at him behind the throne, and realising that he had been found out, he rushed out of there, circling around the room again. ''Faster....'' He mumbled in his mind involuntarily while manipting aether throughout his body, hoping his core to get filled to the brim, while only his fingertips had turnedpletely white as he was still in the middle of morphing into his Frost Devil form. The mana in the surroundings had been too dense from what he noticed after entering the gate; it also seemed like it was refusing toply with the mana wielder''s will, which was also the reason mana gathering was taking months while it took seconds back on Earth. That was also the reason Eshwar''s senses were limited, because due to the aether being too dense, it was almost impossible for him to manipte it. And the reason why he was able to create such a strong core even when it was impossible, why the dungeon was under threat because of it, everything was because the thick mana made even the impossible possible, and from what Eshwar took into ount of how the mannequin was able to cast such strong spells in the short amount of time, it seemed like it was already used to the density of the mana in this dungeon. If that too had such dense mana, then all the people going there will need artefacts, simr to those of the white parasite, to employ mana even for basic techniques and spells, but since he already had one, he was going to make full use of it. ''Will I be able to do any damage to it?'' Eshwar thought for a split second before jumping into the air, facing the ck mannequin figure that had already surrounded itself with ck smoke. CRE-CREAK Now, his palm had turned white while his fingers turned into translucent, light blue-coloured ws. Though it was too slow, the ws felt stronger and denser than it had ever been, so he was willing to take the risk for thest time. "Snowkes." Eshwar mumbled under his breath, since snowkes didn''t really required that much mana it formed almost instantly, and he ced his right foot on the snow-ked footing mid-air, crouched down and lunged himself forward, towards the mannequin. And with a ck blur, he disappeared, reappeared right in front of the ck mannequin''s faceless face, and grinned widely when his fingers held on. "Heh." Eshwar grinned widely when he saw his fingers hold the faceless face of the ck mannequin. He turned off the invisibility on the white parasite mask, opened his mouth wide, concentrated on gathering mana only on the razor-sharp ends of the mask, leaned forward, and bit the faceless face. Chapter 269 268. Release. "Heh." Eshwar grinned widely when he saw his fingers hold the faceless face of the ck mannequin. He turned off the invisibility on the white parasite mask, opened his mouth wide, concentrated on gathering mana only on the razor-sharp ends of the mask, leaned forward, and bit the faceless face. ''What is this, some kind of metal?'' He thought inwardly, when he noticed that its faceless face was too hard. And his mask couldn''t bite through even when the razor-sharp, shark-fang-like edges were coated with mana. He knew that it was some kind of metal because of the Dwarven trait mixed into his race. ''F**k it.'' He released the bite, held himself with his left w, pulled his right fist back, and BAM! He punched at it as hard as he could, rode the pressure from the impact, and jumped back, standing on the snow ked footing and gazing at the unscathed mannequin in rage with a hint of noticeable fear in his eyes. "I will kill you." Eshwar dered abruptly, as if to solidify his determination, and zoomed towards the faceless head before the ck smoke entered his range. ''That goddamn karma, if only it didn''t take every single ability of mine, this f**ker would have been good as dead, mana, demonic energy, aura, and !!!!'' He was cursing at Karma and the clock of fate inwardly and suddenly remembered something he noticed when he was an eye, which he had thought to have lost after his rebirth in this world. [Stop!] Hemanded the ck smoke around the mannequin in "dragon tongue," the reason his eyes morphed when Mana cruised through them. "COUGH!!!" Eshwar then coughed out a mouthful of blood that felt strange; his entire body shuddered, the mana surrounding him disappeared, and he began to free fall, leaving the bbergasted mannequin. His vision turned bloody and blurry as he gazed at the upside-down mannequin figure while calling down; his nose, mouth, and ears bled; he continued to fall to the ground, and soon, BOOM CRACK His neck cracked as he fell headfirst to the ground, and his body slumped, leaning forward with his head still on the ground. What happened? He didn''t know; he just simply slumped on the ground like a wet rag, with only his lower part of his body covered with a cloth. The mannequin tilted his head and a dumbfounded expression could be seen even on its faceless face, it slowly floated towards him, crouched down, and poked at Eshwar''s seemingly dead body, leaving behind the frozen in time ck smoke in its ce. Eshwar wasn''t really dead; he was just unconscious due to the sudden use of dragon tongue, and the crack that sounded just now was simply the nitrogen bubbles in between his neck bones. The dragonic mana had been cruising through his body since his rebirth, and not once has it left him. Even now, him losing his consciousness was just the result of him using dragonic mana that didn''t have a proper container. The mannequin raised its left hand at his shoulder and pointed at Eshwar; abruptly, a ck smoke spike materialised and shot out at him, piercing through his abdomen and jolting him back to consciousness. "Urrrrggggh!!" Eshwar screamed in anguish, jerked back to his feet, and fumbled around in a daze before his bloodied gazended on the crouching mannequin and he shuddered before zooming out of there, leaving behind a trail of red blood. ''What is going on?'' Eshwar thought inwardly, panicking. Soon, he healedpletely as the spike in his abdomen dematerialized after he removed it and threw it to the side. Only 15 seconds had passed since he used the dragon tongue, which froze the ck smoke for about 4-5 seconds. ''Is it ying around with me?'' He mumbled in his mind, and by the next second, he halted abruptly. ary destruction.'' He mumbled in his mind, casually. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM! The mannequin figure seemingly exploded, covered in thick ck smoke, and again, the same process repeated, and Eshwar experienced the same pain again, but this time he clenched his teeth and didn''t scream. He remembered quite a few things he had forgotten, and now he would face his fear. He didn''t know where the confidence wasing from, or how he was so sure that he could face his fear, but he won''t run away anymore; he can''t show his face to Isha like that; he can''t be a pathetic person when he is with her, and if Eshwar died here and that mannequin basta*d got out of this dungeon, then Isha would be the one facing it, and considering the mannequin''s strength, she would die together with everything else that was slightly important to him, though nothing was more important than her, not that something would ever be.... But no matter what, in the end, Eshwar HAD to kill this mannequin right here, right now, and he HAD to return to her; he had made a promise after all. And, ''Where should I run to? There isn''t even a ce I can run to. Why am I running in the first ce? I haven''t been using mana and have only been brute forcing myself through everything, haven''t I? Then why does having no mane matter now? Don''t I have my own skills? I have killed beings that could instantly kill me before, haven''t I? Then what has changed now? This mannequin can kill me in an instant...'' All those thoughts cruised through his mind among the others, but everything halted, and his mind abruptly dazed when thest thought cruised through his mind. Eshwar had always been at the top of the food chain, but.... he too was once a bottom feeder. He was a person who ate the rotten flesh of the monsters he hunted just for his survival; he became a monster to survive among monsters when it came down to his survival, so... He looked up at the ceiling, and "It''s not that different now, is it?" he mumbled, as his head snapped back, diagonally, ring at the ck mannequin figure, which shuddered at the abrupt change in his aura. Another smoke spike materialised next to the mannequin, ready to shoot out at its prey, and as soon as the mannequin pointed at Eshwar, both the smoke spike and Eshwar disappeared. "!!!" The mannequin shot up into the air when it couldn''t feel his presence anymore. Eshwar had activated blink and stealth simultaneously, reappearing right behind the mannequin and following it up into the air, and now he stood right behind the mannequin''s neck with a leisurely look on his terrifyingly bloodied face with unfocused, bright orange eyes with vertical ck slits. He had his left hand behind his back, raised his right hand to the side elegantly, and ced it on the mannequin''s neck. It shuddered when it felt his hands on its neck, but before it could move, "Release."Eshwar mumbled, and 50% of the umted damage from theary devastation was released at the mannequin''s neck. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!! ''0.9'' Eshwar began to count milliseconds as he gazed at the changes in the mannequin, nonchntly. Its faceless head snapped up at the abrupt pain, the mouth area slowly opened with some kind of gooey substance stretching, and "....." The mannequin, that was caught off guard, screamed, or so it seemed, but no sound sounded to Eshwar, who manipted the aether inside him to cover his ears, but looking at the ripples that were forming from its mouth, they seemed to be quite high pitched, or maybe in a certain frequency that could make his brain burst like a watermelon, just like a ss that shatters when an opera singer sings in a high-pitched tone. ''1.'' As soon as a secondpleted in Eshwar''s mind, a small crack appeared on the mannequin''s neck, which didn''t stop until it came back to the start after circling around the mannequin''s neck. Chapter 270 269. State Of Indifference. As soon as a secondpleted in Eshwar''s mind, a small crack appeared on the mannequin''s neck, which didn''t stop until it came back to the start after circling around the mannequin''s neck. The mannequin''s head jerked back slightly, beginning to fall off. BOOM! With a loud boom, ck-coloured smoke seeped out of the crack and formed a spear-like spike that shot out at Eshwar, who was gazing at it as it happened. ''Slow.'' He muttered in his mind, gazing at even the smallest of the ck smoke''s particles as they moved to one spot, slowly forming a spear. Unbeknownst to him, the aether was continuously rushing into his mind after he made way for it to cover his ears from the high-pitched scream of the mannequin. No, that wasn''t necessarily a bad thing, but it was making all of his calctive, perceptive, instinctive, and other naturally developed traits run at their highest possible potential, and Eshwar''s mind too was running at top gear, analysing everything that he could see and feel, and in the corner of his mind he was also analysing everything he could about the aether. Though everything seemed slow to him, when he tried to dodge the spear, he found himself unable to do so. Unbothered by the predicament he was in, he began to create new "mana veins" in his body, or, since it isn''t appropriate to call it mana, "aether veins" in his body, which were a lot stronger, sturdier, and something that would push his body to the limits. And also something that could go against thews of the world that restrict everything in existence, and also of the system''s which restricts humans to grow above a certain limit, aether''s existence itself is like a taboo or something forbidden, because aether is something that "controls" everything in existence, and now, there was somebody who was actually able to control it, that was against everyw that defines all of existence, so Eshwar is bound to fail in whatever he was doing, and everybody, the gods, goddesses, transcended, and including Eunomia would do everything possible to stop anything more absurd from happening.... Or so they thought, but when they tried, The system''s indifferent voice sounded and informed every god that tried to stop Eshwar, by any means required. (AN: mentioned in ch 110: Void energy) Eunomia was dumbfounded by what she had just heard. She didn''t know what she should do, whether she should be happy for her father or scared because it was about her father, but her thoughts ceased when she remembered why and how the restraints on him broke so easily. ''He is the one that created everything after all, so maybe his Creator''s Domain acted when the third demon prince involved himself with Papa and broke thest restraint that was there to keep his very existence safe. I have to warn Papa because now that his soul is no longer confined to anything, if he dies now, his existence may disappear or be another "chaos" itself.'' Eunomia thought and didn''t bother trying to stop Eshwar anymore. "I just hope he doesn''t change too much." Eunomia mumbled under her breath while floating in a pure white space she created for herself because she somehow liked white better than other colours. Though even those "likes" were something she recently discovered as she talked with her "mother," Isha. Eunomia was a blob of pure white aether-like energy, but a lot stronger than aether itself. Since she could take whatever form she wanted, she had never bothered with appearances before, but now that she was interacting with Isha a lot, she had been feeling "curious" like a child even though she was omniscient. (AN: just like me, hahaha, only in this story though T-T) "Haa.... Papa is getting hurt!" Eunomia grumbled with a calm heart because she knew that no matter what, he would win. ''He was already an unfathomable existence.... I don''t know what he''ll be now.'' Eunomia thought with a sigh. * And the being who was causing the uproar among the godly beings felt something in his mind click in, as if the final piece of the puzzle fell into ce,pleting the puzzle and snapping Eshwar out of the trance he had been in. "...." His senses felt profound. His gaze was now wise and calming, as if it hid profound chaos in them. [elerate.] Eshwar suddenlymanded in dragon tongue, as he disappeared, dodging the spike shot out at him, and reappeared right in the middle of the room, floating in mid-air. Andplying with hismand, the aether zoomed towards him, cruised into his body, and settled in his core, filling it to the brim. And everything about Eshwar had changed by the time the mannequin had healedpletely with the ck smoke. Unbeknownst to the mannequin, Eshwar had realised that the ck smoke that covered the entire dungeon was nothing but the mannequin itself, and as long as the smoke remained, the mannequin wouldn''t die. ".... You shall apany me until I get used to my current state." Eshwar mumbled with his left hand behind his back and raised his right to the side as a massive wheel of greyish aether swirled a centimetre away from his translucent, light blue-coloured wed palm. He was once again in the state of indifference; he had been in this iplete state quite a few times before, but never in the state he was in right now. The first time he felt what he was feeling right now was when he returned after being under his curse for quite a long time; at that time, his indifference stayed with him for only a few days. The second time was after looking at Isha''s life under his curse''s influence, where he faked emotions to attract Faye yton; that time too he was in this state of indifference for a mere few days, and finally after he realised who he was, that was also a time he was in the state of indifference for quite some time before the "Eshwar" returned, but now it felt different, it feltplete, yet he realised one thing that he wasn''t really surprised about, ''I will always be "Eshwar" if I''m with her.'' He mumbled in his mind, and his lips curled up into a soft yet genuine smile. And he disappeared from the spot where he floated, together with the massive wheel of aether. Chapter 271 270. Frost Devil. Eshwar disappeared from the spot where he floated, without a trace, together with the massive wheel of aether, stunning the stupefied mannequin. This time it wasn''t as careless as before, and before it felt Eshwar''s presence, itpletely covered itself with the ck smoke. But soon it felt Eshwar''s presence right in front of its abdomen, and since it was already covered in the smoke, a sense of relief passed through its mind. BAM It felt an extremely strong blow at its stomach before it could snap out of its shock. It felt some kind of strange energy enter its body, making it shudder in fear of the unknown. Eshwar hadpressed the massive wheel of aether until it was a fist-sized prism that was spinning at a terrifying rate, and he reappeared right in front of the mannequin''s suited stomach with his half translucent, light blue left hand behind his back and pushed his translucent light blue, wed right palm at it with the dense ck coloured aether prism spinning a centimetre in front of his palm, and due to the prims spinning force, the smoke in front of the mannequin''s stomach dispersed upon contact with a loud bam, and Eshwar moved forward, towards the mannequin''s stomach as if he had already expected the oue. And as soon as the prims came into direct contact with the mannequin''s stomach, Eshwar''s bright orange eyes turned ck for a split second, and the prism seeped into the mannequin''s body while spinning as his palm came into contact with the mannequin''s stomach. He felt the mannequin shudder, but since he knew that it wouldn''t die, without a hint of hesitation, he spun his palm to the right, vertically, till it was upside down, and at hismanding actions, the seeped aether abruptly expanded, spinning in the way Eshwar''s palm spun. BOOOOOMMM WHOOOOMMM! And by the next instance, the huge ck mannequin figure was shredded without a trace as arge amount of ck smoke percted, covering the kilometres-wide room entirely. Suddenly, Eshwar frowned when he abruptly remembered something, and while keeping his guard up, he concentrated on his body, trying to find where the dragonic mana followed in his body, and was surprised when he noticed it being stored in his mind. ''I hope I don''t get a dragon''s pride, ignorance, or greed for shiny things due to the dragonic mana''s influence on my mind.'' Eshwar mumbled in his mind with a sigh but kept an expressionless expression on his face. "Authority of the ck ink." Eshwar muttered, and his reality turned white as everything existing turned into sketches sketched in ck ink. Now, everything in Eshwar''s sight was covered with trillions of ck coloured dots, which were the smoke particles; however, soon, the ck dots flitted before bing concentrated on a few spots, surrounding himpletely. WHOOSH (15x) And many ck spikes shot out at him from everywhere. Since the entire room had be the mannequin''s domain, he couldn''t really move elsewhere without the smoke noticing him, so without another choice, he willed for the trident to materialise in front of him, and abruptly, golden-coloured divine energy concentrated in front of him. Though he was slightly surprised that the divine energy was still golden even under his authority, he didn''t really show it on his face. And since the mannequin too was a divine being, it didn''t really care about its opponent using divinity, and the spikes sped up beforepletely disappearing from sight, but Eshwar could quite easily follow it, gazing at the spikes zooming towards him at "normal" speed. Soon, the Trishul manifested in front of him, and he clenched it tightly before spinning it in between his figures and around his body, shielding against all of the spikes. "The third eye." He casually addressed, and another eye opened up on Eshwar''s forehead, vertically, expanding his view, which wasn''t really much use since all of his senses were already higher than anyone else''s. And before he actually used it on the dotted smoke in front of him, he clenched his Trishul tightly as ck coloured aether seeped out of his translucent, colourless palm, climbing up until the entire bright golden trident was covered in pitch-ck coloured aether. Eshwar loosened his grip on it, and it slightly dropped down, about a centimetre away from his palm, and spun extremely fast, tearing apart the air with its spinning force. Eshwar pulled it back as it continued to spin and tensed his right arm, right shoulder, and WHOOOOMMM! BAM He pushed his trident forward in a strong thrust. A loud bam and a ring of strong gusts produced when he abruptly stopped the spinning trident, and after a split second of stillness, WHOOOOMMM!!!! An ever-expanding, ck-coloured aether beam shot out from the trident''s head, annihting every dot in its way until 15% of the room waspletely cleared of any ck dots, but soon, KKKKEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!! All but the remaining 75% of the dots screeched in a high-pitched tone, causing ripples to form. Maybe it was because they were of the same frequency, cancelling each other out. Yes, it was extremely loud, loud enough to cause Eshwar''s ears to ring, but it wasn''t loud enough to make his head explode as he had previously thought. [Shut up!]Hemanded in dragon tongue, irritated by the ringing sound in his mind, and the screaming died down in a sh. Eshwar raised the pitch-ck Trishul above his head, spun it horizontally until only a pitch-ck disc was seen, and shed it diagonally downward on both sides while spinning, sending out two thin, pitch-ck rings that annihted everything in their path. Everything was so fast that the now-smoky mannequin wasn''t able to follow any of Eshwar''s moments. BOOOUUUNNNNNNGGGGGGH [STOP!] Hemanded the dots of smoke. And the sudden ripple in his body made him freeze, as an extremely familiar chill cruised through his body, and he realised that he was now used to the density of the mana in the surroundings. BOOOUUUNNNNNNGGGGGGH Another ripple shot out on his body, revealing his Frost Devil form as it cruised through. He relished that feeling of coldness that washed over him; no matter how cold it was, to him it was extremely familiar andfortable. CRA-CRACK SNA-P! BOOM! With a few cracks, the sound of something snapping, and a loud boom, an extremely cold white ripple shot out from his hand, freezing the ck smoke that was reading itself to shoot out at him. The madness was climbing up to his mind but was cut offpletely by the dragonic mana that was settled in his mind and his indifference about the madness. [Stop.] Hemanded again, halting the rest of the smoke, though only for a few seconds. His arms that were half white turnedpletely white in a sh, turning translucent along the way, and he noticed that he couldn''t see the changes in his surroundings due to his authority and deactivated it. Soon, his reality turned colourful again, but half of it was still ck due to the mannequin''s smoke. He shrugged it off and focused on his surroundings, noticing the visibly chilled white air surrounding him, simr to how the ck smoke surrounded the ck-suited mannequin. CRE-CREAK With the air and his translucent light blue w-y fingers creaking, a final cold ripple shot out from his body, and his entire body turned white, except for his already translucent light blue forearms and ws. CRA-CRACK The white icyyer on his body began to crack before shatteringpletely, revealing a white-haired, translucent figure gazing at its surroundings with three eyes, each with a bright orange iris and a vertical ck slit. The figure''s forearms, legs below the knees, and abdomen had turned translucent light blue; its toes and fingers had turned into ws, slightly longer, with everything else covered in white snow. TING With a snap of Eshwar''s fingers, a sleeveless, snow white long coat materialized on his body, there really wasn''t any meaning behind his actions, he just felt like wearing a coat right now. WHOOOOMMM "!" Eshwar''s eyes slightly widened inwardly in surprise when abruptly ck coloured mes erupted from the middle of his chest,pletely engulfing him in it. ''Right, I had merged the ck me attribute with my Frost.'' Chapter 272 271. Prince Of Destruction. TINGr With a snap of Eshwar''s fingers, a sleeveless, snow white long coat materialized on his body, there really wasn''t any meaning behind his actions, he just felt like wearing a coat right now.r WHOOOOMMMr "!" Eshwar''s eyes slightly widened inwardly in surprise when abruptly ck coloured mes erupted from the middle of his chest,pletely engulfing him in it.r ''Right, I had merged the ck me attribute with my Frost.'' He thought with an indifferent expression, but soon twitched when a stinging pain cruised through his body, as thick ck coloured veins began to be formed in his now translucent, light blue body, and then his white hair turned ck, his coat turned pitch ck, and other parts of his body that were covered in pure white turned pitch ck, while everything translucent turned greyish translucent with several ck coloured veins in it.r ''I didn''t think that my other form would get an upgrade either, but why are all the other Frost skills I use still light blue then?'' He pondered inwardly but found his answer quite easily.r ''Because I used ice to attribute mana from the surroundings, there wasn''t any change because it wasn''t mine. And now it somehow got merged with the aether.'' He thought, noticing the air around him still turning white, before focusing back on the ck smoke in front of him.r He took a deep breath, puffed up his chest, focusing on the aether in his core that was surging up to his neck. He then focused on the opened White Parasite mask before channeling aether into the mask, which then formed a pitch-ck, twisting blob of aether in the middle of the razor-sharp ends.r "Ha!" He yelled out loud. And an ever-expanding ck beam shot out from his mouth, which seemed like a dragon''s breath, that destroyed everything in its path. He then turned his head as the beam shot out from his mouth continuously; soon, approximately 50% of the ck smoke was pulverized.r [Shut up!] Hemanded before the ck smoke began to screech. But instead of screaming like he had expected, the remaining 25% of the ck smoke zoomed in on a single spot before manifesting back into the mannequin, which, without wasting a single second, pounced at Eshwar, with a huge sword materializing in his arm out of nowhere.r And the mannequin soon zoomed towards Eshwar and swung its sword down, vertically, to which Eshwar held out his Trishul to defend against, but he wasn''t really nning onpletely blocking the attack because he knew that the weight behind the sword was enough to change the oue of the sh, so as soon as both of their weapons made contact,r He slightly loosened his grip on the Trishul, making it fall in the direction of the mannequin''s sword swing''s weight, deflecting the sh, but the mannequin''s stance didn''t tter as Eshwar had expected it to, and it attacked him with an upward diagonal sh, to which Eshwar was forced to step back.r ''Crescent Moon.'' Eshwar mumbled in his mind, and with a blindingly pure white glow, a crescent moon manifested on the left side on top of Eshwar''s head, and damn, did he look a lot simr to Lord Shiva, and he too felt like that, so he released his killing intent in full force.r BBBBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!! r The entire room was put under immense pressure, causing the mannequin to tter at the amount of killing intent oozing out of Eshwar''s small ck figure. And though he didn''t really know why or what had happened, whenever Eshwar released more than half of his killing intent without much restraint, this white snake with a silver iris and vertical ck slits would slither up to his neck before coiling around it, just like now.r "If you were ck, then I would have been a literal imitation of Lord Shiva himself." Eshwar mumbled, ncing to his right at the white snake that had coiled around his neck, staring back at him with a bright silver iris and vertical ck slits and flicking its tongue at him.r ''..... Cute.'' Eshwar stared at it for a brief moment before subconsciously muttering in his mind.r ''Since me calling myself a God of Destruction will be disrespectful to Lord Shiva...'' "Prince of Destruction." Eshwar mumbled under his breath involuntarily. Since the name quite clicked with him, he didn''t waste time thinking of other titles for himself, and because it wasn''t really a legitimate title, he didn''t dwell on it too much.r DINGr [Title: Prince of Destruction acquired.]r "...." Eshwar stared at the notification with a deadpan look on his face, thinking he would have thought of a different, cooler-sounding title if he was going to get one this simply.r [Title: Prince of Destruction: The user can imitate the Lord of Destruction''s abilities.] [Proficiency: 0%] [When equipped, the user''s imitated abilities proficiency increases by 30%].r ''Tandava, the cosmic dancer. God of medicine and poison, I have some knowledge about them. God of Time, I am the best, second to only Lord Shiva, in this matter. The Great Yogi, I think I qualify for this too. Then I can use other dance styles, merging with my spear-wielding abilities, to create my own style, though it might never be at the level of the Tandava of Lord Shiva, but I''m not him, so it doesn''t matter much.'' Eshwar contemted the uses of the title and ways to use the title proficiently; his analysis was done before even a second had passed, and then he nced at the mannequin, whose stance had already ttened due to the pressure that bore down on him, but Eshwar could feel that the mannequin had yet to give up, sor "ck Hole." He mumbled in an indifferent tone, raised his left arm in the air, and a droplet of concentrated aether dripped from his middle finger. After travelling down about half a distance beneath Eshwar, it halted mid-air and began to expand.r SWISH r WHOOOOMMM r The mannequin sensed somethinging from its left, and "!!!" it was stunned to find Eshwar''s leg zooming in at an extremely fast rate, and before the mannequin could react,r BAM! r A massive ring of wind pressure shot out from the impact between the mannequin''s head and Eshwar''s right feet, and the massive mannequin shot out, diagonally downward due to the force behind Eshwar''s kick, and crashed against the wall with a loud boom.r BOOOOOMMM!r "?¡ê#@#!?$£¤#&?" Eshwar mumbled and initiated theary devastation again.r BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!r With a loud boom, the mannequin exploded into pieces, turning back to the ck smoke, which made it easier for the activated ck hole to suck in everything that wasn''t Eshwar.r WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH r "....." Eshwar stared at the ck smoke getting sucked into the ck hole with an apathetic expression on his face.r Chapter 273 272. A Reunion With An Old Friend? After all of the ck smoke in the room was sucked into the ck hole, Eshwar destroyed the boss room''s door because he knew that the mannequin existed until there was his ck smoke, so he waited until everything was sucked into the ck hole while trying to merge the dance steps with the footwork techniques in his memories. Though it was slightly awkward, he didn''t mind it one bit because he knew he was getting stronger. Stronger without anybody''s influence, not even Seol So-Young''s, who had directed his life up to a certain extent. And with the help of Seol So-Young''s memories, he knew everything in that story, including the strengths of the fallen that were mentioned in the story. The fallen need to be killed to make them ascend back to heaven with their divinity intact, so there really wasn''t much to the fallen except for them being absurdly strong, strong enough to beat Eshwar even when he had the karma with both mana and aether, which he would have forcibly gained control over, with a lot of terrible consequences, if he hadn''t learned about the clock of fate''s existence. Of course, he willingly let go of that opportunity because it felt like the right thing to do.....but the real reason was that he didn''t really want to y along with some kid''s imagination. And what shocked him was the fact that he was defeated without a chance to fight back against the fallen in the novel Seol So-Young. Though it was absurd of him to think he could easily defeat a god, you couldn''t really me him because the story had taken a turn for a clich¨¦ novel''s plot in the middle, with a sh*tload of the insane abrupt power-ups without any sense whatsoever and whatnot. And what was even more absurd was the fact that it was happening to him in real life, since in realitymon scenese into y so the abrupt insane power ups weren''t possible, hence the reason he would abruptly get dragged into different spaces where he found power ups due to the plot armour. And during his time in the dungeon, Eunomia spoke to him quite a lot and also warned him about his existence disappearing or turning into "chaos" itself upon death, which motivated Eshwar to train a lot harder since he knew the dangers the fallen posed, though it was only verbally. Much to Eshwar''s annoyance, it took nearly another half a year for every single particle of the ck smoke to get sucked into the ck hole, which he destroyed soon after. BOOOMMM! A long-ck-haired and long-ck-bearded manly figure destroyed the ck hole with a flick of the golden-colored trident he held in his right hand. He only had a small pair of torn trousers to cover his lower body. He had a perfect lean and chiselled body that seemed ready tobat from a nce, but with another nce, one could be terrified to notice that his skin seemed to stick to his muscles, highlighting all of the scars that were previously hidden beneath the perfectly healed skin, which only Isha had noticed till now. WHOOOOMMM Soon, a portal manifested in the middle of the boss room, and Eshwar frowned in surprise because he hadn''t seen anything like that before. DING [User is the first yer to clear a Rank-SSS dungeon.] [All stats increased by 10] [1,000,000 Achievement points are rewarded to the yer] [Skill Holder ticket (+3)] [User is "selected" by the system.] [Time limit for the selection process: 00Y: 00M: 16D: 05H: 45S] [User will be directed transported to the "Last Tournament" location.] "Stats." Eshwar mumbled. (AN: it takes up too much words to show it two times, so I''ll show it once, below) ==== [Misceneous] == Free stat points: 79. Achievement points: 2,222,000. == [Inventory] == [Devil''s Shotgun [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: GUN]: Skills: Quick reload, Burst.] [ITEM: SKILL LEVEL INCREASE SCROLL.] (15x) [ITEM: SKILL HOLDER TICKET.] (5x) [ITEM: BLACK TOCKENS.] (100x) [Rank-SSS monster core] (78x) [MOR, the Fallen god''s core] ==== "Distribute 11 stat points to each, and I don''t know what this is for, but hold [Wish], [ck Hole], [Pause], [Release], and [Break]." Eshwarmanded, andplying with hismand, only 2 free stats remained, all the skills he just mentioned got a [Held] characters written in front of them, except for that there wasn''t much difference in it. ==== [Status window] [Community] [yer Shop] ==== ==== [Profile] == Name: Unknown (Eshwar, Max) Level: 15 [NEW] ss: Mage Race: ??? Title: Human Hunter: When equipped, increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or humanoid monsters. (Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 432 -> 433/500 to next stat increase.) ¡¤Inheritor: The "Aether" recognises the user as it''s master. [Active even while unequipped] ¡¤ Prince of Destruction: Prince of Destruction: User can imitate the Lord of Destruction''s abilities. [Proficiency: 78%] [When equipped user''s imitated abilities proficiency increased by 30%] Rank: SSS == [Image of Eshwar] [Headgear (White Parasite)] [Body Armour (-)] [Slot (1x)] [Arm Guard (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Trousers (-)] [Slot (2x)] [Boots (-)] [Slot (1x)] ==== ==== [Stats] == Strength: ??? [+131] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Agility: ??? [+131] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Endurance: ??? [+131] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Intelligence: ??? [+131] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Perception: ??? [+131] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Dexterity: ??? [+131] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Constitution: ??? [+131] (+) [MAX] [NEW] ==== [Skills] == [PASSIVE SKILLS] == [Good with hands]: Dexterity increased by 12%. [Passive Skill] [Hand to handbat]: Combat sense increased by 10%. [Passive Skill] [Taboo]: Devouring rate increased by 50%. [Passive Skill] == [ACTIVE SKILLS] == [Wish]: Can wish for "anything" once. [1use] [HELD] [ck Hole]: Can summon a small block hole. [Cool Down: 2 Days] [HELD] [???]: Can locate the added party member (the party member cannot be removed once added.) [Active Skill] [Mana required] [Cool Down: None] [Pause]: User''s moments can be paused. [Active Skill] [Cool Down: 30 sec] [HELD] [Release]: umted damage can be released by 50%. [Active Skill] [Cool Down: 30 sec] [HELD] [Break]: User can break anything that''s wished for. (2 uses) [Active Skill] [Cool Down: None] [HELD] ==== ''It is time to return to her.'' He muttered in his mind, and a small smile crept up on his lips just from the thought of meeting her. He walked into the gate that appeared in front of him, and soon, he walked out from the other side of the gate, which was in a forest area with tall trees, and it was night. The trees in front of him were tall, almost as tall as the skyscrapers in the human domain. He then abruptly remembered how he had described the Elven Domain in the novel and understood that he was now in the Elven Kingdom, so he slightly made his presence known, and within a few minutes an entire army of Elves and Dark Elves surrounded him. Soon, his gazended on a familiar figure that stood in vanguard; he then disappeared and reappeared behind him with a slight smile on his face, while he continued to make his presence known. So as soon as the familiar figure sensed him appear behind him, without a hint of hesitation in his shes, he swung his daggers aimed at Eshwar''s neck, which he perfectly dodged and weaved, getting a perfectly trimmed full beard from the attacks of the dark elf, who was dumbfounded and enraged at his enemy when he realised what Eshwar was doing. "Chill, dude, I don''t have any malicious intent, and if I had any..." Eshwar mumbled while dodging, and the dark elf slowed down his shes when he heard the familiar dialogue, and suddenly, the long-ck-haired figure in front of him disappeared. Then the figure suddenly reappeared behind the dark elf, who did nothing anymore when he remembered Eshwar, the very first human that he himself had acknowledged. Soon, the familiar scene unfolded, but with a cold, ck-veined dagger at his neck this time, as Eshwar leaned back. "You would have done this." The dark elf mumbled with a smile. "Exactly." Eshwar said with a slight smile and turned around to see the Dark Elf, who was staring back at him with a smile. "How have you been, Legolin?" Eshwar asked Legolin, the dark elf that came to the human domain, to deliver the elven king''s opinion on joining the alliance. "Very well, it is good to see you again, but from the looks of it, you don''t seem to be doing that well." Legolin spoke with a concerned look on his face. "I''ll exin about it in a bit, if they lower their weapons against me. I really don''t wish to fight and identally kill somebody right now." Chapter 274 273. Finally!!!! Though Eshwar''s words hurt the pride of all the Elven warriors surrounding him, they were ordered to stand down by Legolin, so they simply gritted their teeth and lowered their weapons, of course, only after throwing a re at Eshwar. After that, Legolin took Eshwar to a nearby restaurant and an inn, helped him get into the room without any problem, and since Legolin noticed the dark circles under Eshwar''s eyes, he didn''t stay there too long and went back to his own house after saying that they could talkter. Eshwar slept like a log until the next day''s afternoon; after that, he filled his stomach with food and talked with Legolin. They both talked with each other about their daily lifestyles and some other things concerning other matters. And when they talked about Eshwar, he talked about the Rank-SSS dungeon raid and how it led him to the "Last Tournament" location, earning himself Legolin''s respect. Andter, Eshwar asked Legolin about the matters concerning the human domain, and Legolin nodded his head in understanding and informed him of all the matters that he knew about the human domain, except for one. "Ah, and there has been a rumour going around, you humans, about a sacrifice concerning the demon from the Goddess''s prophecy." Legolin informed andughed at the foolish things people created to divert themselves from the concerns and worries that troubled them. "Huh? Who?" Eshwar asked as he gazed at the portals that the elf people were curiously looking at while humans wereing out of it. "Hahaha, I don''t remember the name properly... Ah! Some woman named Usha or something." Legolin said with a confused look on his face, and Eshwar''s entire body stiffened, and he felt a chill around his heart when he heard that name. Though he hoped that the woman''s name was indeed "Usha," at the corner of his mind he knew that that wasn''t the case. THROB "Isha." Eshwar mumbled under his breath, hoping that it wouldn''t be about her and that she wouldn''t be involved in the unwanted things that surround him, but Legolin looked at him with a surprised expression, and THROB "Yeah, you are right; it was Isha, Isha Walker, and not Usha. Are you sure somebody else didn''t inform you of this?" Legolin confirmed Eshwar''s thoughts and chuckled while nodding his head, while thetter felt a chill around his heart, engulfing him in a painful throb. Legolin stopped speaking when he noticed an indifferent look on Eshwar''s face. He didn''t know why, but his back was covered in cold sweat when he noticed that expression. Eshwar had worn the same expression since yesterday, only smiling lightly from time to time while taking with Legolin. Even though it wasn''t anything different even now, Legolin felt like the calmness on Eshwar''s face would bring chaos soon enough. THROB ''Who was it? Who framed her? There must be someone I missed. Legolin said that there was a new member in the Uncharted named ck Raven; considering that, I''m sure that it''s Isha and not somebody else because they won''t even consider adding somebody else without my consent first. So, who was it?'' Eshwar''s mind ran at full speed, trying to analyse every scenario, but his mind nked when he saw a beautiful ck-haired woman walk out of the gate, from where the humans had beening out for a few hours. THROB Eshwar stood up to approach the woman, who had been in pain for two long years because of him. He took a step forward but halted when he saw a golden-haired woman float towards the ck-haired woman with a bright smile on her face. The elves in the surrounding area, including Legolin, who was right next to Eshwar, bowed to the woman as if they were delighted just to be in her presence. THROB ''She... is Cnis, the Queen of the Elven Kingdom..... Wait! Queen? Mair¨¦ad!!!'' Eshwar remembered the Elven Queen''s description he wrote in his novel and recognised her in an instant when a soothing aura brushed past him. But when he thought of the queen, he remembered his talk with Seo Hana from two years ago and remembered the "Queen" pawn that had escaped when he attacked "the graveyard" that held Louie captive, torturing him. THROB ''Mair¨¦ad!! So that''s how you want to y, huh? Let''s see if you can survive by the end of this event.'' Eshwar promised himself that he wouldn''t let her see the light of a new day after this event is over. THROB ''I need information...'' Eshwar muttered in his mind and noticed Cnis bow politely to Isha, almost seeding in making Eshwar feel guilty that he was going to cover the Elven Kingdom in blood. THROB ''It sure does hurt when something happens to someone about whom you actually care, and it hurts a bit too much when it is because of you....'' Eshwar shook his head, dismissing the negative thoughts in his head. Since he couldn''t meet her in a pathetic state, there wasn''t anything wrong with it, but he didn''t like himself in that state when he was in front of her. He kind of just wanted to be the best when he was around her. THROB ''Stop.'' He muttered in his mind, asking his heart to stop hurting. THROB "Haa...." Eshwar then sighed and zoomed towards the ck-haired woman, who had yet to reply to Cnis, the elf queen''s bow. ''I shouldn''t reveal my identity to others yet, since she is framed by Mair¨¦ad, she would have tried to assassinate Isha quite a few times, just like she tried to when she targeted me.'' Eshwar mumbled in his mind as he zoomed forward without making a single sound, WHOOOOMMM Except for the winds. He could make it so that even the wind sounds silent, but he decided to let the people know that the ck-haired woman was getting attacked. Observing their reactions, Eshwar would decide who would die and who would not. He manipted aether into his palm, grabbed the ck-haired woman''s face, and threw her into the air before pushing himself off of the ground, leaving the Queen and the Elven warriors bbergasted for not sensing the presence of the approaching threat. The Elven Queen, Cnis, soon snapped out of her daze and ordered the warriors to search for and protect the goddess, who disappeared into the sky after getting caught off-guard by the ck blur, while the humans who recognised the so-called goddess smirked disgustingly, hoping this time''s broad daylight assassination attempt would seed. Well, unfortunately for them, they got listed on Eshwar''s "to kill" list. After arriving above the clouds, the ck-haired woman clenched her katana and swung it at Eshwar, who caught it, dismissing the kic, mana, and divine energies behind the swing with a gentle smile on his face. Then suddenly, the ck-haired woman''s hair began to be dyed white from the top of her head, and Eshwar''s heart clenched painfully when he saw that, because he knew from experience that the hair turns white only when a person has been through a painful situation, a bit too painful, actually. A near-death experience or traumatic experience causes a person''s hair to turn white, and the process doesn''t take long. THROB ''She is using divinity....'' Eshwar sensed divinity cruising through her hair and body. Though the phenomenon of her hair turning white seemed to be under control, it doesn''t change the fact that she had been through a tough situation, which was caused by him. THROB ''But now is not the time for this;st time she said she hadn''t expected that kind of reunion, so I can''t ruin it for her this time too.'' Eshwar thought as he remembered what she had said when they had met on the rooftop back when he rescued Violet. "Hello~ Miss Cyclops." Eshwar greeted Isha with a yful smile on his face before her hair turnedpletely white. "!!!" Isha''s reality froze when she heard Eshwar''s voice for the first time after 745 days. She nced at him with her eyes wide open, looking at his bright orange eyes with vertical ck slits. Her eyes turned misty, and her lips trembled before curling up into a smile when she saw his yful smile tter, because of the tears in her eyes. "H-ey? What''s wrong? Isha?" Eshwar stuttered as he floated towards her with a flustered expression. Isha pounced at him, grabbed his head, pulled him closer, and Kissed him. Chapter 275 274. I Love You. "Mnmh~" Isha''s mind hadpletely nked after she pulled Eshwar into a kiss. She just pulled him with the ns of giving him a peck kiss to show him how much she missed him, but after she initiated it, it was over. When she pushed him back at the beginning, he pulled her closer by her waist before kissing her so passionately that her mind nked; she didn''t snap out of it until she was out of breath and was now struggling to breathe as he kissed her, only giving her time to take a single puff of breath before kissing her again. "Mmhff~" Tears welled up in her eyes from being kissed so intensely; of course, she liked every bit of it, and just when she got hooked on a certain intoxicating taste, Eshwar broke the kiss and stared at her tear-filled eyes. "It''s your fault. I did tell you that I was doing my best to hold back." And he med her, making her even more flustered when she remembered he had indeed warned her. "I missed y.... Mmphf!!?" Eshwar was about to say he missed her, and though she felt warm when she heard it, she cut him off by pulling him into another kiss. This time, she wrapped her arms around his head and hugged him tightly because she was afraid that he would go away again. Isha pushed him back with her hands on his shoulders, stared at him in the eyes before tears streamed out of her eyes, looked down as if she didn''t want him to see her crying, and said, "Please....please, don''t leave me behind." She bit her lower lip and said while sobbing. "I....I-I''ll get stronger, so plea... Mmphf." Eshwar painfully pulled her by her wrists, forced her to stare at him as he pulled her by her chin, red at her because she had started to plead with him while trembling, and kissed her without giving her a chance to speak anymore. "Mmhnm~" Isha noticed Eshwar trembling as he hugged her. Soon, something salty tasted in her mouth, and when she opened her eyes to see what it was, she froze when she noticed tears streaming out of Eshwar''s eyes. "Ah..." He bit the corner of her lower lip, then gently pushed her back, looked at her in the eyes, clenched his teeth, and bowed his head at her. "I''m sorry. I am sorry for acting selfishly, and I promise to take you with me for everything from now on, with the exception of just once, onest time." Eshwar promised her, and since she knew that he wouldn''t break a promise, she believed him. "When is this one time?" Isha asked after wiping off her tears and his. "Soon." He replied with a gentle smile. Since she knew that he wouldn''t give her an answer even if she asked him more, she swallowed back her other questions. "I missed.... No, no, wait." Eshwar was about to say he missed her again but stopped himself with a face that had just attained enlightenment. WHOOMM A pair of pitch-ck wings materialised from his back, but unlike Isha''s feathered wings, his were bat-like and massive. 10 FOOT WIDE, they were 10 foot wide whenpletely opened. Feeling challenged by his wings, Isha opened hers and pped. WHOOOOMMM FLUTTER "Beautiful...." Eshwar mumbled, gazing at her 8-foot-wide pitch-ck feathered wings; satisfied by his reaction, she smiled brightly, and when he noticed that smile on her face, he couldn''t help but chuckle. "Ahem." Eshwar cleared his throat and waved his right hand gracefully. "Haaa...." He abruptly halted, sighed and nced back over his wing. Isha frowned at his actions and used a divine pulse from her foot, and she noticed a few elves flying up to them with great difficulty. "Let''s get out of here; I have something important to talk about." Eshwar said he floated towards her with a yful smile on his face, ran his index and middle fingers along her waist, which earned him a small giggle, hugged her with his hands around her waist, and slightly looked up at her eyes. "This is why I wanted to be tall, you know?" Eshwar asked, grumbling. "Hahahaha." Isha chuckled at his words, but her body stiffened when he pulled her even closer. "E-Eshwar?" Isha blushed violently when she felt something up her thigh and nced down at him, noticing him enjoying himself from the softness of her body. "Ignore that for now." Eshwar said. ''What do you mean? How could I ignore that!! And what do you mean "for now"?!!!'' Isha yelped inwardly but was unable to voice them. "Hahaha." Eshwar chuckled and pped his wide bat wings once. And by the next instance, the bright view in Isha''s sight changed into a darker shade. She nced up and noticed they were flying up at an extremely fast rate with a greyish translucent slipstream of some unknown power that she knew was Eshwar''s. Soon, as they seemed to reach space, Isha looked around in confusion and curiosity, enjoying the beautiful scenery. And he only stopped when they were right below the Earth''s atmosphere, created a greyish translucent barrier that covered both of them in a single shell, and pulled her by her chin, making her look in his eyes; he then abruptly kissed her passionately yet lightly. "Domain of Vignce." Eshwar mumbled with his lips touching hers. Since she knew that it was hismand to initiate his consciousness domain, she didn''t resist the pull and blur of her consciousness and closed her eyes, and when she opened her eyes, she found Eshwar staring at her with his long ears blushing bright red. "Huuu...." Eshwar exhaled deeply and opened both of his arms wide. Thinking he was asking her for a hug, Isha took a step forward, but WHOOOOMMM Hundreds of Earths manifested behind Eshwar, spinning in their own respective directions, and then they abruptly shot out towards Isha, who stared at them without even flinching. And within a matter of few seconds, hundreds of Earths spun behind Isha. Eshwar then waved his right arm, and hundreds of screens manifested, coiling around her, and she noticed that both she and Eshwar were smiling brightly in all the screens, but in different scenarios. Walking around while holding each other''s hands in some, sleeping in some, cuddling in some, eating food in some, kissing above clouds in some, ying around with a kid that looks beautifully simr to Isha in some, Isha being pregnant in some, crying in some,ughing in some¡ªmany different scenarios of a normal human couple''s life ran on the screens in front of her. Every single scene she saw warmed her heart; a few made her tear up, and some made her giggle, but every single moment of it was beautiful, and she enjoyed every second of it. Soon, the screens moved to the sides, revealing Eshwar, who stood in front of her with beautiful red roses in his hands, staring at Isha with a slight blush. "I love you, Isha." Eshwar proposed, knelt on one knee, and nced up at Isha''s tear-filled eyes. "I promise that our lives will be filled with the moments you just saw. I will do my best to keep you happy as long as I exist, I...." Eshwar spoke out his heartfelt words, and Isha could feel them. She knew that everything in here was his imagination, so she believed that their lives would be exactly like what he had shown here, and he would do his best to make sure of it. Though she knew that he loved her with all his heart, being proposed to like this was...just... she had absolutely no words to describe how precious everything felt to her, but Eshwar wasn''t done yet. "I... want you, Isha. I know that is very selfish of me, but I need you. I love you." He said while looking down, but then he took a deep breath and looked up at her crying. "Will you marry me?" Eshwar asked. "Really?" Isha said after taking a deep breath. "Yes." Eshwar said without a hint of hesitation in his voice. "I-I am very stubborn, you know? You may not know this, but once mine, it''ll always be mine, no matter what." Isha said, staring at him in the eyes. Eshwar only smiled in response, but Isha understood what his smile meant even without him saying it: "Do your worst." ''Of course, he would mean that; there is no way, somebody else who is more obsessive than him exists.'' Isha muttered in her mind. "Really?" Isha asked again. "Yes." Eshwar replied again, and Isha walked towards him as ck roses popped out with each step she took. Of course, even though it felt over the top, she didn''t mind it, and once she was near him, she kneeled in front of him, stared at him in the eyes, and took the red roses from his hands. "Yes." Isha agreed and kissed him. She poured everything she learned from his kiss just a few moments ago into the kiss and kissed him as passionately as she could, but still failed when Eshwar kissed her back. "You still have a long way to go~" Eshwar broke the kiss, whispered on her lips, and "I love you." He said so and kissed her again. Chapter 276 275. A Child. Ten dayster Thest tournament''s celebrative events were already over, and from today onward, the next five days were filled with 1v1 tournament matches. With the winner fighting the other match''s winner until only one remained. Since there were several matches going on at a time, a minimum of 100 matches, the event took five whole days due to the number of participants being at an all-time high. The stages or arenas were 500 metres long, 50 of which floated in mid-air while the rest were on the ground, with 100 metres between the ground and the tforms that floated in mid-air. [Time limit for the selection process: 00Y: 00M: 05D: 21H: 36M: 07S] *** At 3AM morning. In a 20-foot-long semi-furnished room, on a king-sized bed with its nkets, bedsheets, and pillows wrinkled beyond belief, as if something extremely naughty had taken ce on it, two long-ck-haired figuresy on it with peaceful looks on their faces, covering their entire bodies except for their heads under the nket. CREAK "Mm...." Isha hummed in sleep and furrowed her brows at a pleasurable shiver that cruised through her body when she turned to the other side. CRE-CREAK She then slightly opened her right eye when a warm breath trickled on her face and hugged the handsome, full-bearded man gently under the nket when she noticed him sleeping with a peaceful expression on his face. Then, her brows trembled when she felt the big scars on his back that were now clearly visible, and then she remembered the sight of how many scars she saw when he removed his t-shirt while being on top of her. She felt like crying when she remembered all the scars on his body, but soon her mind drifted to all the steamy things they did soon after, and her face drowned in a beautiful yet violent blush. CREAK ''.... but how did thingse to that?'' Isha grumbled inwardly, but she snuggled close while in his arms. CREAK She didn''t remember anything after they kissed again after she epted his very precious proposal until she was on this very bed! They then made love for ten days straight; if not for her godly physic, she didn''t know what would have happened! Of course, he was very gentle with her, giving her time to recover her strength from time to time, but even so! The poor, perfectly fine king-sized bed was creaking with the slightest of moments. She then raised her head to look at his face, noticing the peaceful expression on his face, "Hmph!" She cutely snorted. ''.... We did it until just a few hours ago! How dare you sleep peacefully while leaving me haggard like this?'' Isha thought with a blush, With the cutest pout, she leaned forward and bit his neck, leaving a hickey that faded away by the next instance, but of course, it certainly did wake up the peacefully sleeping man. ".... You want to do it again?" Eshwar asked in a husky, erotic whisper with his eyes closed, causing Isha to blush violently. "....." She wanted to deny, but she couldn''t bring herself to. Eshwar just slightly chuckled and kissed her forehead before leaning down and hugging her tightly, with his breath trickling into her bosom. She gently wrapped her arms around his head and yed with his long, ck hair, which seemed darker than hers. "You won''t cut it short?" Isha asked in a whisper. "You want me to?" Eshwar''s muffled, husky whisper sounded as his beard tickled her, prompting a soft giggle. "Mhm. I don''t want apetition over it since I know you like long hair. What if you like yours more than mine?" Isha exined her reasoning with a pout. "You can do what you wantter then. Maybe I should get a proper shave too." Eshwar mumbled, and Isha nodded her head to his words. "It does look good on you, making you look more manly, but it also attracts too much of the opposite sex, so no bread." She said, and Eshwar nodded in response. "Ah! Maybe I will let you keep your beard, when we are in "my" home from our previous life, or that home, you showed in your consciousness." Isha muttered while ying with his ever-untangling raven hair. "Nobody would be able to see me like that, since we would literally be isted from society?" Eshwar asked in an understanding tone, to which he received a joyful hum as a reply. "Just shave off my bread for now; we''ll see what we''ll do when the timees." Eshwar mumbled and took a deep breath of her scent, just like she had been doing from the moment she woke up. "When''s the "one time" you talked about?" Isha asked the question that abruptly popped up in her mind. "After I get up." Eshwar answered and snuggled in, listening to her soothing heartbeat that began to speed up, reacting to his body heat that was gradually getting hotter. "E-Eshwar, I-I am s-still tired!" Isha stuttered, but Eshwar ignored her and continued to hug her as if she were his body pillow. She then felt his hands wander on the back of her waist, slowly making their way down. "Mhnm." Isha let out a soft, muffled moan. ".... Th-tha-that! H-how di-did you slip past my s-senses, back then?" Isha asked, and "Anh~" Isha let out a soft moan, wiggling, trying to escape Eshwar''s clutches. "Because...." Eshwar raised his head, looking at her right in the eyes. "I got stronger..." Eshwar answered, but Isha still continued to look down at him with a red face since she knew there was more to it. "... stronger than the "me" from the past." Eshwar replied, causing Isha''s body to stiffen, and only a few soft moans filled the room for a few minutes as her mind finally registered his words with great difficulty. "R, mhnm~ really?" Isha finally managed to get out a word from her mouth, gently pushing away Eshwar''s hungry arms. "Mhm." Eshwar didn''t mind her trying to escape his teasing and let her go since he knew that she was still very tired. "H-how? Eunomia said there were limits on every living being." Isha quickly managed topose herself and narrowed her brows at him in confusion. "Mhm, she was right, but due to, Vassago, the third demon prince''s interference, the worldly limitations that were ced on me to protect my existence broke; yes, it also means that my existence wouldpletely disappear if I died even once from now on." Eshwar exined, which made Isha feel slightly scared but relieved when she remembered Eshwar''s words from earlier, that he was stronger than the past him, meaning he could defeat a few of the minor gods without even lifting a finger, but not all gods were that weak, and a few of "the fallen" were among thetter, making her drown in anxiety. "Don''t worry too much; I am not that reckless, am I?" Eshwar massaged her narrowed brows and tried to reassure her, but the deadpan look on her face said otherwise. "You are." Isha replied without a hint of hesitation in her voice. "Guh." "You''re reckless as hell." "Uckh." "And you dare ask me if you are not that reckless?" "Geh." (AN: conversation reference from ch 10: assistant professor (3)) "And you told me how you survived against that goddamn mannequin, and you dare think you''re not reckless?" Isha yelled with tears threatening to fall off. "....." "...." "..... I''m sorry." Eshwar apologized, scooted up and kissed her. "Mhmnf~ Mhmpha!" Eshwar broke the kiss, letting her let out the hup that seemed to be stuck in her throat. "... Don''t do, hic.... anything reckless again." She mumbled as Eshwar kissed her eyes and forehead with a hum. ".... Do you remember the simr conversation...." Eshwar asked, trying to change the topic, but Isha cut him short. "I do. I thought you were dumb at that time, not that it has changed even now." She spoke while giving him a stern look, but her own words caused her to smile. "I can still grow stronger, with the help of the system." Eshwar replied, and though surprised by his words, Isha nodded her head in understanding. "Get a lot stronger. The Fallen continued to stay as transcended beings before because none could defeat them; no, none even dared to even think about trying to defeat them." Isha exined and continued. "There are ranks even among gods. You may be strong, but you are still nothing but a child in front of the real gods. No matter what anybody with a bit of strength ims to be, it won''t ever amount to anything in front of a god." "Even though I was a minor god in our past, it didn''t matter if you had an abundant amount of divinity or strength; it won''t matter to anything." "You are able to destroys now, just like you could in the past. Now, tell me, what can you do against those that are able to destroy universes with a single thought?" Isha asked and waited for Eshwar to understand what it meant to stand against a god, and she waited for him to understand the seriousness of the situation that would linger upon them soon enough. "I.... don''t think, I..... would be able to do.... anything." Eshwar pondered for minutes before answering with his brows furrowed. "Exactly. That''s the reason Eunomia warned you about your existence being under a serious threat. Look at me." Ishamanded, and Eshwarplied. "Do absolutely everything you can before you even think of fighting against the fallen, I...." Isha bit her lower lip until it bled. "I definitely cannot handle losing you again." She answered with tears streaming out of her eyes and kissed him without giving him a chance to assure her, because she knew that his assurance would mean nothing if he stood in front of a god. She had ascended to godhood in their previous lives, and even now, who would know how strong these gods were if not her? Who could literally feel the gazes of the gods gazing down at their respective recipients even now? Many of the elf warriors were already chosen by the gods and goddesses, who were preparing them to get ready for the fight or what could be a one-sided massacre even now. "I definitely cannot lose you again." Isha said in a determined tone again, and she rolled on top of him, kissing him again. Chapter 277 276. Her Villain. At 10 AM, with only a day remaining before thepletion of the selection process. The ck-haired couple finally exited the room; they made love onest time before walking out of the room. Isha straight up burned the whole bed before exiting the room because she thought that somepensation was better than the embarrassment she would feel when the female elves appeared for room service. Afterpensating for the bed, they left the inn before flying off somewhere without even bothering to check their names on thest few tournaments'' list of matches. Somewhere in the clouds, above the Elven Kingdom Eshwar manipted aether to form a thin aether de that he used to cut off his hair as Isha stared at him curiously. What she was so curious about was something both Eshwar and Isha were trying to figure out. "Anyway, take this." Eshwar then abruptly threw a ck-coloured mist-filled crystal ball at her, trying to distract her from talking too much, which worked a bit too effectively. "What''s this?" Isha asked with a bright smile as she curiously gazed at a small orb in her fist. "A God''s; Mor''s core. Mor is the name of the mannequin I killed." Eshwar replied and continued. "It had the same abilities as you do¡ªthe ck mirror, which redirects the skill back at its sender. I thought you would get a minor orrge boost in your abilities if you ate or absorbed that." Eshwar said as he continued to cut off his hair until it was medium-sized and stored the cut off hair in his sub-space because it was a bit too strong to simply throw away, which was also the reason he himself was cutting his hair, because he knew that no barber would ever be able to cut his hair, normally. He shaved off his full beard andbed his hair with his fingers until it seemed good enough for him, then floated towards Isha, who was still curiously gazing at the orb. "I can''t believe I''m already being ignored." Eshwar''s grumble sounded in front of her, and when she gazed up at him, she froze. "....." "...." ".... Hello?" Eshwar mumbled as he shook her by her shoulders, snapping her out of her stupor. ".... You look.... great." Isha tried, but still failed to find any words to express how handsome he looked with his current hairstyle, though messy; it was what made him look even more...hot. Isha quickly used water and wind magic to clean off the small hairs on his shoulders and chin before pouncing on him for a deep kiss. ".... Well, haven''t you gotten bolder?" Eshwar teased her with a yful smile. "Well, the final wall that made me flustered broke just a few days ago, so I''m more... m-mo-morefortable, n-now." Isha replied with a scoff but began to stutter when Eshwar leaned closer and closer, until their faces were just an inch away. ''W-Why am I getting so flustered?'' Isha wondered inwardly but wasn''t able to find an exact answer. "This is...." Eshwar mumbled with his gaze fixed on her, leaned forward, and "Mhm~" Isha stared at his gaze as she was abruptly kissed; though she wanted to close her eyes, something in her didn''t want to shy away from his bright orange eyes that were staring at her. "This is.... the Isha I know...." Eshwar said with a gentle smile and backed away. Though dissatisfied with how he stopped kissing her, Isha only pouted cutely, gazing at Eshwar as his white mask materialised out of nowhere, covering his mouth. "The onest time is now." Eshwar said while looking at Isha in the eyes, and after she nodded her head in agreement, he dove down, instantly appearing near the ground with his feet facing the ground. *** A while back. The second day after Eshwar''s return, he had gone to visit the Uncharted''s hideout, spoke with them for a few moments, checked up on Louie before tossing ten Rank-SSS dungeon monster cores at Arngrim, and headed out back to the Elven Domain after somehow escaping from Core''s tear-filled head lock, which Eshwar received when he was talking to Henry. And at the present, a few moments ago. In the topmost room of the tallest tree in the Elven Kingdom. The Uncharted''s members were gathered around a small roundtable. Of course, Louie was with them, standing as the strong and proud heart of Uncharted''s Big Brother. "Eshwar said nothing, except for asking us to gather all the information about the rumours calling Isha a sacrifice." Core said and sucked on her lollipop while sitting on Henry''sp. "I think a ughter is going to take ce here." And she continued, expressing her thoughts, at which Louie, Arngrim, and Henry could only nod in agreement. "I wanted to show off a bit." Arngrim grumbled under his breath, but it was loud enough for them to hear. Today was the day they, the Uncharted, were going to make their appearances, taking the top spot by tomorrow, which now belonged to a Dwarven warrior that fought and won against the prideful, top-ranked, Elven warrior. "Don''t worry, you can show off even after the tournament." Louie consoled Arngrim, who seemed like he wanted to go and sit in a corner and hug his scythe. "And we have to get stronger, because the monsters we''re going to face in the future would be stronger even for Eshwar, who defeated a Rank-SSS boss monster by himself." Henry reminded them of Eshwar''s words from before; though they raided the coliseum relentlessly, they weren''t that sure they could defeat a single Rank-SSS monsters by themselves, even though they grew a lot stronger than their own previous selves. "Right. And what was that about the thing he said about making Isha sit in the ce she deserves?" Core asked Henry because even though Eshwar only mumbled those words under his breath, Henry and Core were able to hear them. "And why has he be so... indifferent?" Louie asked with a frown of confusion on his face. And the others turned silent, since even though they too noticed Eshwar''s indifference, they didn''t know what had happened to him, and from their talk with Henry, they knew that something was going on with Eshwar, and whatever it was, it was breaking Eshwar from the inside, so without an answer, they couldn''t help but turn silent at Louie''s question. "And from the information I gathered, almost all of the humans seem to hate Isha; I don''t even know how almost all of humanity came to hate Isha... How is that even possible?" Henry said after a few minutes and it seemed like he wanted to exin something, but he frowned deeply when he spoke out those words. No matter how one sees it, something like that shouldn''t be possible, since half of humanity doesn''t even care about things like that. But in this case, it was different, a bit too weird. "As if some kind of unknown force was ying its part...." Henry mumbled, he wasn''t that religious, but even if things were different now that the gods were literally interfering with the humans, no matter what, the only exnation he could think of was the goddess''s prophecy. The prophecy seemed to be making humans believe whatever was rted to the demon in the prophecy. That was the thought that cruised through their minds, somewhat in unison. "What scary power..." Arngrim mumbled, but Core still had a frown on her face. "Why are we...." Core mumbled, and though she didn''tplete her words, all three of them understood what she wanted to say. Somehow, for whatever reason, the prophecy didn''t seem to be working on them. "Maybe because we are living with the demon from the prophecy," Louie said. And his words caused them to frown. "Don''t re at me; think about it. We know that soon a massacre will take ce here, maybe right now. And now, what did the prophecy say?" Louie exined and asked them. "A demon stronger than the demon king will bring destruction to earth." Core, Arngrim, and Henry mumbled in unison, and Louie noticed their eyes slightly open wide at the realisation. "Yes, I am saying that Eshwar is the demon from the prophecy. I don''t know how strong the Demon King is, but with Eshwar''s strength, he could definitely be the demon from the prophecy." Louie concluded, but strangely, there was one who was still not convinced. "Or it could be that kid, Vinny Grover; he killed his own father, and by the looks of it, he definitely could be the demon from the prophecy." Arngrim said, but Louie''s next question made him shut his mouth. "He is stronger than Eshwar?" Louie asked, and nobody could refute his words. "It doesn''t matter who he is or what he does; even though Eshwar wouldn''t like it, I''ll dly kill you guys if you stand in his way." Suddenly, a sweet woman''s not-so-sweet words sounded behind them, and all of them turned to find Isha staring at them with an indifferent expression on her face. "Who said anything about standing in his way? We''re just discussing our thoughts." All four of them said this in unison with their brows raised. None of the members of the Uncharted ever cared for human lives because their lives since childhood were f**ked up before meeting Eshwar. They then began to survive in the society under his care, finally forming the Uncharted mercenary group. They simply named their group without any interest in fame or things like that, but the things they did garnered the attention of the people giving them the fame they never asked for, but even with all the fame they received, they didn''t really care about it as they continued to live their lives together with Eshwar without an ounce of care for human lives. "Don''t worry about our muttering. And you''re right about Eshwar not liking it, our deaths, I mean, and that too with your hands." Henry said with a chuckle. "But I also don''t like it, that he''s doing it because it''s me." Isha mumbled under her breath, and Louie, who heard her, sighed. "He is doing it because it is you. I don''t know everything about Eshwar, but I know that if something hurts him, he will hurt it back." Louie said, and all of them nodded their heads in agreement, including Isha. "It doesn''t matter even if it is the world itself." Isha mumbled, but this time no one could hear it, as she remembered how he destroyed the earth because it was hurting him repeatedly. "My Viin." Isha mumbled with a mesmerising smile before letting out a delighted giggle. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!! Chapter 278 277. Conclusion. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!! I quicklynded on my feet with my hands behind my back, and as much as rage was boiling inside me, my expression remained indifferent. I didn''t really know the proper reason for the indifferent expression on my face, but if I have to, then I will conclude that it''s because I am now away from Isha. I intentionally made my entry shy because this world didn''t have the "strongest" yet, so they haven''t yet learned everything about power control. I had to make my entrance shy, since I wanted to make them feel like they were standing in front of somebody strong, so that they wouldn''t do stupid things and end up getting killed early. We don''t want petty young masters now, do we? I... think I''m pretty petty... aren''t I? Covered in the thick dust cloud, I remembered that I had to change my hair colour now since I am ying my part as the White Swan. I used [Alter] and changed my hair to white. I raised my hand and waved it once, WHOOOOMMM Clearing the dust cloud that covered the curious gazes of the humans, the elves, and the dwarves. And with a wave of gasps from the humans, the whole Elven Kingdom turned silent. However, Cnis, the Elven Queen, snapped out of her daze and ordered her people to confine the intruder, me. Of course, she would do that, since in reality no one would wait for the antagonist or the protagonist to bber their feelings or deliver their well-written speeches. However, soon, a soul-shuddering killing intent oozed out of my body, with only a single thought cruising through my mind. ''Kill.'' When that thought cruised through my mind, I couldn''t help but remembered "that" vision, where I killed Vinny after killing everybody in Sector Five. The vision got me thinking about when, where, how, and why such a thing would have happened. (AN: about ch 31: the vision.) But soon a theory formed in my mind. Considering all the situations that I have been through, somehow, one way or another, everything would have gone the way it was going on right now, but I would have trusted Vinny Grover and the characters that I myself have created. The theory goes like this: I would have asked Vinny Grover and the others to protect Isha while I was gone, like the past two years. Once, when I and Isha fought when the orphanage ughter incident took ce, which broke her from the inside, and the other being about the past two years when I disappeared. These were the only two cases in which I was away from Isha, and in that vision, since I trusted Vinny and the others, I had left Isha in their care. And they failed to protect her, the first time the deaths of the orphanage kids ate her from the inside with nobody to seekfort from, and the next time she couldn''t bear the people continuously hating her, hoping for her death, which ultimately drove her to the path of suicide, or so I concluded by remembering the words that came out of my mouth in the vision. I don''t know why, but I remembered that vision when I was at death''s door as the Mor, the mannequin, tortured me. Keeping those thoughts in mind, I nced at all the confirmed kill targets. Stan Walton, Dwayne Knight, Lenna Romero, Elise Ryan, Alex Turner, and Mair¨¦ad, who sat next to the association chairmen as the vampires representative with her eyes wide open, looking at my mask, of course, for the same reason all the humans present here had shut their mouths. The White Swan was here; who would dare open their mouth? "You! Get out of the my stage!!!" Except for sh*ts like this, they don''t even know how to read the room. I nced back at the human who was ring at me with a sword in his hands, trembling like a wet puppy in rain, since I was, as he said, standing in the middle of the arena and he and an elf warrior were about to start fighting. "...." My gaze drifted to the darker shade of the stage beneath the man''s kneeling figure. He had pissed himself under the small amount of killing intent that oozed out of my body. What would happen if I increased the density of my killing intent by a notch? Since the idea was not in the least amusing, SNAP SPLATTER I snapped my fingers and crushed him to death. "Think it through Cnis, the Queen of the Elven Kingdom; I have no intentions of harming the Elven Kingdom if you summon your contracted spirits right now...." I raised my head and nced at Cnis, whose magic power was flowing in her surroundings, but as soon as my words resounded, the flow stopped and Cnis''s body froze. "I''ll raze the Elven Kingdom to the ground by the next instance. The same goes for you, Carodoc, the King of the Dwarven Kingdom." My voice resounded, making it clear that many words won''t just remain as words if they act out. "Esh...." Dwayne Knight spoke up with a deep frown, but before his words werepleted, DING! [The alliance leaders of The Great Tri-raced Alliance have broken the agreed pact.] [All three races shall face the consequences for the breakage of the pact.] [Punishment willmence....] [Wave (level 27) -> Wave (level 30)] [Wave (level 30) ismencing in: 00S] CRA-CRACK SHATTER!! A massive crack appeared in the sky before shatteringpletely, revealing a pitch-ck coloured space from which mana in the atmosphere trembled violently before small humanoid figures jumped out of the crack before flying to the ground at the speed of a bullet, pping their bat wings. "D-Demons!!!!" A loud yell resounded throughout the entire Elven Kingdom, snapping people out of their trance, and soon, chaos ensured. "See? Even the goddess''s prophecy came true." I mumbled under my breath as I remembered the details Faye yton had described before I killed her, and there was definitely the crack in the sky that a translucent, light blue, mountain-sized crystal had blocked, dripping ck demon blood, in the details Faye yton mentioned. Everything wasing together, and the most annoying thing about my vision and the goddess''s prophecy was that I was at the centre of it. ''Somebody still dares to pull my unavable strings of fate, I see....'' "How annoying." Chapter 279 278. Overwhelming. Silence. Absolute silence descended upon the Elven Kingdom¡ªmaybe the entire world, but none of the living, except for one person, were that strong, so they didn''t really know, and not even a single squeak of sound sounded. Until, DRIP PITER-PATER The sound of heavy rain surrounded the people present in the Elven Kingdom, as the Elven Queen, Cnis, and the Elven King, Aegnor, protected all of them with a massive, translucent tomb covering the entire Elven Kingdom, which was soon getting dyed in the ck blood of the demons that were raining upon them. And the person responsible for that simply gazed up at the barrier that was created by the elven king and queen. SNAP With a snap of his fingers, the barrier shattered into a million pieces, letting the blood and shredded flesh of the demons rain down on those present in the location while something prevented anything from falling on the person responsible. * ''Since I don''t really like when somebody decides how to do things...'' I muttered inwardly as I continued to stare at the massive crack in the sky, whose end wasn''t visible even to me, but once I spread my senses wide, I learned that almost half of the world''s sky was cracked. Aura of des, a skill I created while in the Rank-SSS dungeon. It is simr to my previous "rainfall" skill, but the Frost needles were reced with aether, and the range was also expanded. It was basically a terrifying amount of small, needle-sized, translucent, greyish des with my will imbedded in them. I used "Aura of des," which caused a ughter of the demons that jumped down from the crack in the sky. [Wave (level 30) cleared.] [Phase 2 of the Wave (level 30)mencing...] ''Should I try something else?'' I muttered in my mind, gazing up at the crack that was slightly widening and the mana density much stronger as ones that could easily be assessed as Rank-SSS demons began jumping out of it. ''Nah.'' I then called upon the ring of extinction, aiming at the crack, and soon enough the ring expanded above my head before shooting up into the crack, and only after it waspletely inside the crack did the ring expand, killing off all the demons in the crack. [Wave (level 30) cleared.] And then the ring returned to me and turned invisible again, as a waterfall of ck blood formed from all the demon blood falling out of the crack in the cloudy blue sky, which looked ominously beautiful, for me of course, but only if I ignored the grunts and puking sounds of the people near me. I soon nced at Mair¨¦ad, the person who is responsible for the pain my loved one felt, which pained me because, in many ways, it was because of me that Isha got hurt. "You will die the most painful death here." I said it in a loud enough voice for Mair¨¦ad to hear, then gently raised my right hand as the wind made way for me, causing Cnis to frown because she could feel the changes taking ce in the atmosphere thanks to her contracted spirits. I held Mair¨¦ad''s neck¡ªno, not physically, but I gripped my hand, which was facing her, and "Ackh!!" With her loud grunt, all those who heard it turned to face Mair¨¦ad, only to see her chocking as she tried to push something away from her neck, even though there was nothing really gripping her. Some even used their mana sense to check if I was using mana to grip her, but soon, deep frowns adorned their faces. WHOOOOMMM I then slightly pulled my hand back, causing Mair¨¦ad''s body to shoot out towards me, and soon her neck and my palm made contact. Considering the speed, she was shooting out towards me, it wasn''t that unexpected to see her head burst like a watermelon upon contact, but she healed soon after. "Aaarrrrggggggh!!!!" She held her neck and began to scream her lungs out. "You dare hurt her?" I gazed at Mair¨¦ad, who was iling in pain. I loosened my grip on her neck, making her fall slightly, but I gripped her head as soon as it appeared in front of my palm. BAM! SPLATTER The arena I stood on top of cracked when I mmed Mair¨¦ad''s head on it, which busted in my palm again, but she healed again. Why? With a literal waterfall of demon blood near us, it was almost impossible for her not to, because before she could even think about it, her instincts would have healed herpletely. BAM! SPLATTER ..... ..... .... And the cycle continued until Mair¨¦ad lost all hope in both life and death; she wasn''t even screaming, but Nothing. Absolutely nothing seemed to satiate my rage. I want to run wild, but I couldn''t. I wanted to zoom in on each and every one of those involved and shred them to pieces, but I couldn''t. I wanted to vent out my rage, but I couldn''t, as it only continued to boil inside me, as if it were waiting for something. Nothing I did was satisfactory, but I still didn''t want to let any of the humans live. BAM!!!! SPLATTER "...."I gazed at the blood covered crater that had webbed cracks continuously expanding, with a nk look on my face. ''What is this?'' I muttered in my mind, and even that seemed strange¡ªwhy was I thinking so much? Soon, even anger itself seemed like a waste of emotion. If.... it is a waste, then why bother about it? Why not just throw it away? Yes, I should just throw it away. "....." I raised my head, exhaled deeply and nced at the sky. The calmest breathing, I have ever heard was heard from my own nose as I breathed. "Alter." I mumbled, and my hair turned ck again. Everything seemed ominously peaceful, and I ced my foot on Mair¨¦ad''s regenerated head, and a strong ripple shot out from my feet, pushing people of both Elven and Dwarven races up into the air. WHOOOOIIINNNNNGGGHHH!!!! And soon after, another ripple shot out from my feet, destroying everything in its path, thendscape of the Elven Kingdom changed, as the ground opened up swallowing everything that stood on it, and with a wave of crushing sounded, everything had ended. Leaving everything in absolute devastation. None of the humans remained by the end of it, as did the elves, and the dwarves slowlynded back on the destroyed ground with despair-filled faces. And except for the bloody waterfall, nothing else sounded. CHAP-CHAP With another exception being the footsteps that got closer and closer to me as I continued to stare up at the cloudy blue sky. Soon, I felt a warm embrace as Isha''s face, looking down at my face, appeared in front of my sight. She had a gentle, beautiful smile on her face, and only then BA-THUMP Only then did I feel my heartbeat, which seemed to have stopped for quite some time. "Isha." I mumbled, and as soon as those words left my mouth, I felt a warm sensation in my heart that felt as if it didn''t even exist a few moments ago. Without another word leaving my mouth, I hugged her. Chapter 280 279. A God. It was terrifying. It was absolutely terrifying not to feel anything; it may sound cool from the outside, but it was just terrifying. Speaking from experience, a minute was enough to break me as a person. One may get addicted to a certain emotion and search for it without even knowing it, but everybody feels something, and if that disappears, then there won''t ever be any meaning for that soul, never. I promised Isha that I would bring her with me wherever I go; it was for her since she wished to be with me all the time, but now, I NEED her to be with me all the time, because I don''t know if I''ll be able to be "me" without being able to feel anything. "You''re taking the first step to bing a God." Isha''s whisper trickled in my ear, snapping me out of my trance. I gently pushed her back from the hug and stared at her in the eyes. "What do you mean?" I furrowed my brows at her and asked in a mumble. "Let''s go somewhere else." Isha said while looking around. Ignoring everything, I hugged her again and pushed myself off of the ground; after shooting up into the air, I opened and pped my wings, and by her next instance, we were above the clouds. "Haaa...." Isha sighed and shook her head at my urgency. "....." I simply stared at her with my brows furrowed. Then she began to exin that the Gods I know are semi-gods with semi-omnipotence and semi-omniscience, "semi" because they too can be killed and they too don''t know everything, unlike Eunomia. A god with emotions doesn''t really exist, as those with emotions are only gods and goddesses in name, and they tend to remain a transcended being or a constetion. Because a real God cannot be biased towards its creations or everything beneath them, there are only two cases when a real God is involved: either creation or destruction, nothing more, nothing less. A real God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, without any sugar coating. Now, if you think about it, such a being cannot possess absolutely any emotion; if they did, then there would be nothing left. What if an ABSOLUTE being gets angry? What if the ABSOLUTE being doesn''t like what you are doing? What if the ABSOLUTE being doesn''t like how the person opposite to you reacting the way they are? What if the ABSOLUTE being doesn''t like how the world works? It could just destroy universes in a fit of rage or in a stubborn tantrum because it didn''t like how you talked about it. With such cases being involved, a God cannot possess absolutely any emotion. "Just like the chaos-holding calmness I saw on your face for a split second before you killed off every human being in the Elven Kingdom," Isha exined. "Can I not be one, then? I would like it if I had my emotions with me." I asked after nodding my head in understanding. "I do not know. I have only seen up to the highest ranks of the gods; all of them possessed their emotions, but they had them under control. And what I just told you was a myth amongst the gods and the goddesses." Isha exined, and I nodded my head in understanding. "Stats." I mumbled under my breath. ==== Name: Unknown (Eshwar, Max) Level: 20 [MAX (on Earth)] [NEW] ss: Mage Race: ??? Title: Human Hunter: When equipped, increases all stats by 10 percent when fighting humans or humanoid monsters. (Increases all stats by one when condition is met (condition: 433 -> 1,274,684/1,666,500 to next stat increase.) (AN: 433/500 before. 500->1,000->5,000->10,000->50,000->100,000->500,000->1,000,000 so +8 stat increase, and 1 level up= 2-3 stat increase, so at random 17 free stat points) ¡¤Inheritor: The "Aether" recognises the user as it''s master. [Active even while unequipped] ¡¤ Prince of Destruction: Prince of Destruction: User can imitate the Lord of Destruction''s abilities. [Proficiency: 78%] [When equipped user''s imitated abilities proficiency increased by 30%] Rank: SSS ==== [Stats] == Strength: ??? [+139] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Agility: ??? [+139] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Endurance: ??? [+139] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Intelligence: ??? [+139] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Perception: ??? [+139] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Dexterity: ??? [+139] (+) [MAX] [NEW] Constitution: ??? [+139] (+) [MAX] [NEW] ==== [Misceneous] == Free stat points: 19. Achievement points: 2,222,000. ==== "I don''t even know how strong I am." I mumbled under my breath and nced at Isha when an almost crazy idea popped up in my mind. "What?" Isha asked with a small smile, seemingly understanding my gaze after connecting it with my words earlier. "Shall we see who''ll win? Since the tournament is still going on?" I asked with a yful smile on my face. "Hmm, I think you will lose though? I''m a god, remember?" She, too, said it with a yful smile on her face. "So was the mannequin I killed in the Rank-SSS dungeon." I said and noticed her smile tter, slightly. "You asked for it." Isha said with a mischievous smile that sent shivers down my spine. "Don''t hold back." "Hohoho, you bet I won''t." She said with a strangeughter. ''Maybe I should run while I still have a chance? She''s a bit too pissed off.'' "Then...." I mumbled with my hands behind my back, but before I couldplete my mumbling, WHOOOSH BAM! "Offf...." I, fortunately, blocked her punch at my chest and got serious when stinging sensations cruised through my arms. "You have gotten stronger.... A lot stronger." I mumbled, keeping my eyes on Isha, who was unsheathing the ice-blood katana I gave her with elegance. "I know; get ready. I''m about to get serious." Isha said and disappeared from my sight without even taking a step. "F**k, I couldn''t even sense you because you have no killing intent directed at me." I said to Isha, who had abruptly appeared behind me with her katana at my throat. "I warned you~" Isha said, biting my earlobe. "Again." I muttered and disappeared from the spot. "As you wish, Mortal." Now that, that sounded cold yet, goddamn, did she sound sexy. Chapter 281 280. Against A God. (AN: OMNISCIENT POV, heeeeee''s backkkkkk!!!! Lol!) BAM! Eshwar''s fist and Isha''s katana connected as they both shot towards each other with a p of their wings; a strong gust of circr pressure shot out from the impact, pushing off all the clouds around them. Isha pushed her, slightly loosened her grip towards Eshwar, causing both of them to pass each other due to the weight of their attacks being on opposite sides, and when he looked at his knuckles, he noticed a bleeding cut that healed by the next instance. "You shouldn''t get distracted when you are in front of your enemy," Isha''s cold words trickled into Eshwar''s ears from behind, but she had already disappeared when Eshwar turned to face her. "Much less against a god." Isha''s words sounded from behind her again, but this time she was still there when Eshwar turned to face her, and the smile on her face sent a chill around his heart. SWOOSH Eshwar managed to step back and avoid the sword, but he still got a small cut on his neck, and before he could sigh in relief, WHOOOOMMM!! A massive, strong gust of wind in a horizontal arc shot out at him, producing new clouds from thepressed winds and covered himpletely. "Now that sh feels like a sh from a fantasy story." Eshwar mumbled and sighed. "I''ll be going all out too!" Eshwar roared, and a thinyer of aether covered him as Eshwar muttered, ''Second skin,'' in his mind. And soon all natural forces began make way for him, and abruptly, a ck-haired figure zoomed towards him, through the clouds covering him and swung the sword she held in her hand with a smile on her face. "Good for you." Isha said, and before Eshwar blocked her sword, she disappeared again. She had seen him diminish the force behind her sword; she would be a fool to let him touch it again. She then reappeared at Eshwar''s right, swinging horizontally at his neck, but before her sword reached him, he blocked her swing with one finger and diminished the force behind her swing. "Wha...." Isha''s brows narrowed at him in confusion. "Not everything is under your control. No matter how many times you see it and how many times you avoid it, I just need to touch it once to kill the force following your swing." Eshwar said with a smile, but an ominous grin crept up on Isha''s face, and in confusion, Eshwar followed her gaze and noticed that his index finger, which he blocked her sword with, was bleeding. "So, I just have to make it so that you can''t touch it, isn''t that right?" Isha asked and disappeared. ''How did her swing go through the aether barrier?'' Eshwar pondered, but still he nodded at her question. "Godly physic." Isha mumbled; whether she was answering his question or not, Eshwar concluded it might have something to do with her skill, Godly physic. Since Eshwar couldn''t see Isha, he waved his right hand and cleared the cloud covering him. He found Isha standing in front of him with a calm expression on her face as her silky, fluttering ck hair turnedpletely white. And Eshwar simply stood in his ce and stared at everything that happened, not because he didn''t want to disturb her but because something restrained him in ce. "Nature...." Eshwar muttered, and hearing his muttering, Isha smiled and nodded her head as if agreeing with his thoughts. Isha''s skill, Godly physic, gave her control over nature¡ªnot control, butplete knowledge of nature, to be precise, and due to her "godly" nature, she was able to control nature however she wished. But how did Eshwar know? Because of his soul contract with Pyre, a forest spirit, a beingpletely connected to nature and is also a being that is the very definition of nature. "Maybe you can help me with the poison part of my new Prince of Destruction title." Eshwar said this loud enough for Isha to hear him, and noticing Isha nod her head in agreement, Eshwar smiled. "It seems like you have no intention of attacking me if I cannot get out of your restraints." He asked with a smile. "Mhm." Isha hummed in agreement. "Very well. Partial Assimtion." Eshwar mumbled, and unbeknownst to him, a massive, green wolf''s head materialised behind him, ring at Isha with a pair of ominously, mesmerizingbination of all-natural colours in the wolf''s eyes, which made Isha take a small step back with a gasp. While strange, ancient, indescribable words materialised in Eshwar''s arms as green fur grew on them, and with a snap of his fingers, the sky''s restraints on him broke, snapping Isha out of her trance. ''This goddamn monster....'' Isha grumbled inwardly and pouted when she remembered all kinds of different powers that he held from what he had told her about. Dragonic mana, aether, and now nature! He had control over all of these! Of course, she would pout; it was straight up unfair! "I don''t like to use Pyre''s powers, you know?" Suddenly, Eshwar mumbled, causing Isha''s pout to lengthen. ''Are you saying that he won''t use it even when he has it? Then why not just give it to me when you have all other monstrous powers!!'' Isha grumbled inwardly, because if she voiced them then he might really give them to her. "I feel like I''m connected with nature when I use his powers, and there is this certain ominous calmness that builds up in me.... as if a calm before the storm." Eshwar said and mumbled hisst words, but Isha was able to hear them since, in one way or the other, he was connected to nature, which she was in control of. "I understand that feeling..." Isha said, then disappeared again. "Well, since you broke out of the restraints, I''ll attack!" Isha said as she appeared behind Eshwar and swung her sword at him. "Do you know that your presence couldn''t be felt before? Well, I can feel it now, maybe because of the partial assimtion." Eshwar mumbled, and as he turned to face Isha, staring into her eyes, he said, "You should know that the same attack pattern won''t work." Eshwar said and blocked her sword, diminishing the force behind it again. BAM "Offff..." She literally knocked all the air out of his lungs when her punch connected with his stomach. "You speak too much." Isha said and kicked his head, diagonally downward. But just as his body shot down, she grabbed his bat wings, ced her foot on his back, and ripped off his wings. "Argh!!!" Chapter 282 281. The Reset. "Argh!" Eshwar''s groan trickled into Isha''s ears when she ripped off his wings. THROB ''.... I have to do this, or he''ll be ignorant, thinking that he is strong enough! I don''t want to lose him again!'' Isha thought, ignoring her throbbing heart. "I''m not used to those wings yet...." Eshwar''s mumble sounded, and in an instant, the wings she held in her arms shot out towards Eshwar. Eshwar grabbed the ripped-off ends after killing the force behind the wings, and Isha noticed that his wings were not real wings, but the wings made out of his power, aether. It was painful for him when Isha ripped them off because they were still merged with him just like normal wings. Even though she knew that his wings were made out of his own power, she couldn''t help but be surprised by how Eshwar used his ripped-off wings. He brought both ripped-off ends together and merged them with each other, making a massive double-edged weapon or a shuriken-looking weapon out of it, with both ends morphing into des. Eshwar then stood mid-air, held one end of the massive, double-edged, winged, iprehensible yet cool-looking weapon, spun mid-air, and with all the gathered force, he threw it at Isha, as it spun at an extremely fast rate and cut through the winds and the clouds in its path. WHOOOOMMM WHOOSH And by the next instance, it was in front of Isha, threatening to cut her in half. "Ack!" Isha barely dodged the weird yet cool-looking weapon by leaning back with her gaze fixated on it; after a second of travel, it abruptly halted and shot back towards her. "!!!!" Isha pped her wings upward and pushed herself down to dodge the iing weapon. WHOOOOMMM As soon as the weapon was in front of her, it halted again, causing Isha to think of another way to avoid the weapon, but instead of shooting down at her, it split in half and stuck themselves back on Eshwar''s back as he appeared in front of her out of nowhere. "Dodge it." Eshwar said calmly, pulled his clenched right fist back, and inhaled sharply as he looked straight into her eyes. Without any other thought cruising through her mind, Isha listened to her instincts and Eshwar''s words, pped her wings, dodged his attack, and PAT A small balloon burst sounded when his fist stopped, and for a split second nothing really happened, but a small gust of circr wind pressure shot out from the ends of his knuckles, and that simple phenomenon made Isha shudder. WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHH! With a loud rming sound, some kind of ever-expanding ck coloured beam shot out from his fist that was aimed at the ground. Several gusts of circr wind pressure shot out as the beam made its way to the ground, and the process continued for a few seconds before it stoppedpletely. ''It is fortunate that we had somehow appeared above the ocean while fighting, or else the Elven Kingdom would have disappeared because of him.'' Isha thought inwardly, with her back covered in cold sweat. The water in the way of the beam had disappeared, who knows where, and even thend at the bottom of the ocean had caved in from the force behind his punch.... Was that really just a "punch?" With those thoughts in mind, Isha nced at Eshwar with a wry smile, curious about what he just did. ''But'' "What was that?" Isha appeared behind Eshwar and asked with her katana ced on his neck. "..... I lost?" Eshwar asked for confirmation, and Isha finished their "spar" with a nod before sheathing her sword. "Whatever you did took time, and if I had been your enemy, I would have definitely used that opportunity to cut off your head. You should know that for beings like you and me, even a split second is enough." Isha exined, but Eshwar didn''t seem satisfied with it. "Why did you hold back?" Eshwar asked, and before Isha spoke, he continued. "You''re a mage, Isha. You didn''t use a single spell," he said. "And a goddess. A single spell of mine now is enough to kill you." Isha answered. "So, you held back, without even giving me a chance to see if I can dodge them or not?" Eshwar questioned. "And my skills are specialised in a surface more." Isha ignored his question and exined. ''Though I don''t think I need to be on thend anymore....'' She kept that thought in her mind. "Ha. Who''re you trying to fool?" Eshwar said with a scoff. "Haaa.... Alright, I won''t hold back now, so do you want to spar again?" Isha offered. "Ye...." Eshwar was about to agree, but Isha cut him short. "Your wings are a part of you, like another limb, so don''t forget about them just because they are made up of aether." Isha offered advice, receiving a nod in reply. "Good, then let''s go again." Isha said and disappeared. *** A handsome ck-haired manid on a pitch-ck, 10-foot-wide footing, while a pitch-ck, shadowy woman sat on his back with her sword ced at the man''s neck, as he stared straight at a ck-haired, beautiful woman looking at him with an amused look on her face as she floated mid-air with ominously yet beautiful looking pair of pitch-ck feathered wings on her back. 10 Seconds. My fight, no, spar against Isha,sted mere 10 seconds before she immobilised me with a single shadow summon of hers, which was unique in its own way and was even able to use its own, unique magic and martial arts techniques. "Don''t underestimate me, Eshwar." Isha said. "Like hell, I was underestimating you! I was overestimating myself, thinking that I had a chance against a god, just because I survived against one." I said with a self-mocking smirk on my face that continued to widen as I thought of how strong I could get and how strong the humans could get, because they were needed to fight against the Fallen Gods, though they seemed to be receiving blessings that boosted their growth by their beneficiaries, while I had none, yet had everything I could ever ask for. Because I''m "selected" by the system, maybe I''ll get a benefit too, but looking at Isha in front of me, I don''t think I''ll need one because I can feel myself getting stronger the more, I fight against her. "Let''s fight again." I grinned savagely and tried to move, only to be restrained more by Isha''s shadow summon. "I like your arrogance, Mortal." *** (AN: OMNISCIENT POV) The next day at, 00:00. [Time limit for the selection process: 00S] DING! [Selected recipients will be teleported to a selected.] [Selected: Antino¨¹s] [All the constetions hope for the recipient to do their best as they support you from behind.] [You have all been chosen as "yers" to save the world, Antino¨¹s, from the Fallen.] [From now on, all the selected yers will be teleported to an area called "The Safe Zone."] DING [System will go through a "Reset"] [Warning: All individual skills and sses will be lost.] [yers with "Skill Holder Tickets" can hold the prioritized Skills.] [yer ranks will start from "F" by default.] [Ranks and level ssification: ¡¤Level 1 is Rank-F. ¡¤Level 2 is Rank-E. ¡¤Level 3-5 is Rank-D. ¡¤Level 6-10 is Rank-C. ¡¤Level 11-15 is Rank-B. ¡¤Level 16-20 is Rank-A. ¡¤Level 21-25 is Rank-S. ¡¤Level 26-30 is Rank-SS.] [A yer that is currently at max level, level 20, will revert to level 5 after arriving at Antino¨¹s.] [yers will receive new sses and ss-exclusive skills on Antino¨¹s.] [Weapons are ssified into ranks of F, E, D, C, B, A, S, and SS.] [ss and skill ranks are ssified into Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary.] [Various weapons and supplies required for your survival will be there in the safe zone. Bear in mind that the ranks of the provided weapons will be Rank-F.] PING!!!! With a loud ping, a ripple of strange energy shot out from the centre of the world, scanning everything in its way, and after a few moments, DING [Few yers with "tokens" detected] [Tutorial difficulty function added.] [Token colour ssification: orange¡ªhard, red¡ªvery hard, ck¡ªimpossible.] With that world-wide notification, another individual notification popped up in front of Eshwar, who was staring at everything that was happening as he sat above the clouds with Isha. DING [You are in possession of all the avable ck tokens (100x)]. ZZZT-ZZT With a familiar static sound, another glitched system notification window popped up in front of him. [You canbine the horded ck tokens; would you like to continue? Y/N] Eshwar scoffed at the message and clicked on Y. ZZZT-ZZT [Abyssal Token (1x)] DING With the pop-up in front of Eshwar now gone, another message appeared in the air, which was visible from everywhere on Earth. [yers will now be teleported to Antino¨¹s.] [Please have a safe journey.] BING-BING! And a ripple shot out vertically in front of Eshwar, who resisted the urge to pass out as he continued to stare at the mesmerising phenomenon take ce, while all of the living passed out with a wave of thuds, including Isha and other powerful individuals. "Fascinating...." Chapter 283 282. Pocket System. With the first few ripples, only the colour of the earth was turning dimmer and dimmer, and soon after, the ripples got stronger, adding more vibrant colours to the earth as ripples passed, and thest few ripples changed the location of the people into an early morning, bright, vibrant colours-filled...box. Yes, all the remaining 2 billion and more people were teleported into a lush green, grass-filled field with a single mud path in the middle that led to nowhere, since they were trapped in a box, a massive, translucent box or barrier, but still, it doesn''t change the fact that they were in a box, where nobody except for Eshwar was awake. "They are like dead bodies; it would be great if that were really the case, though." He mumbled and woke Isha up, and both of them went in search of weapons and supplies that were mentioned in the system notification from earlier. "Stats." Eshwar mumbled to check what the "reset" was. "....." But was only met with silence. Though bothered by the fact that the system wasn''t working, he and Isha continued to walk towards the middle, where the weapons seemed to be ced together with the other supplies. Isha chose a sword that fit her while Eshwar checked on what he should pick or if there really was a need for a weapon. While pondering this, a band-like armament caught his attention. He walked towards it, picked it up, and put it on his wrist. With a prick, the smartwatch-like band, without anything written or carved on it, fixed itself on Eshwar''s wrist after absorbing a drop of blood from his body. DING Now, a system''s notification windows popped up in front of him. <"Pocket System" acquired!> "Goddamn." Eshwar said with a deadpan look on his face. "Hell no." He mumbled and clicked N. "Stats." "Stats." He mumbled again after clicking Y. [Status window:] === [Name: Eshwar] [Race: Cosmic human.] [Title: Human Hunter, Inheritor, Prince of Destruction. (All usable slots filled)] [ss: ----] [Age: 1721 years.] [Level: 5] [Rank-D] === [Stats:] [Strength: 5 (+39)] (+) ? [Agility: 6 (+39)] (+) [Defence: 5 (+39)] (+) [Perception: 7 (+39)] (+) [Intelligence: 6 (+39)] (+) (Stat limit 10 for all races) === [ss-exclusive skills:] [-----] === [Held Skills:] (Held skills are not ranked) === [Wish], [ck Hole], [Pause], [Release], [Break] === While Eshwar was checking out his status window, people began to wake up and a loud wave likemotion swept through the unconscious people, waking them up. Since his mask was invisible, he didn''t really mind, and it wasn''t going to change anything even if they did recognise him, so he just stood next to Isha and checked his status window. ''It looks like the stats are the same.'' He thought as he clenched, and unclenched his fists. ''But I can''t believe I''m a cosmic human....'' Eshwar muttered inwardly and walked back, blending in with the crowd that had began to choose their weapons. Well, with his face, it didn''t seem to be working that much. As he gathered all the unwanted attention, among which Cnis and Seo Hana recognised him, Cnis was able to connect the two and two together and conclude that the ck-haired man was the one who ughtered his fellow humans, because at the end of everything, Eshwar had changed his hair colour back to ck, ignoring the still-alive Elves and Dwarves. While none of them were in the state to notice all the changes, Cnis wasn''t one of them, because she kept her gaze on him, trying to find a chance to strike him. While Seo Hana was someone who Eshwar intentionally left alone, just like he did with the members of the Uncharted, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Gang Jiwoo, and a son of a bit*h, who were present there in thest tournament event. Just like how he "buried" the main culprits deep underground, covered in a thinyer of aether that ate away all the mana inside their bodies without actually killing them, forcing them to suffocate to death. "Hm?" He then nced at Isha, who was clenching her fists, as she stood cross-armed and staring at Eshwar, who was walking towards her. "What''s wrong?" He could tell that she wasn''t angry with him or the onlookers, so he couldn''t help but be curious about what got her so agitated. "You must have killed that son of a bit*h, unknowingly." Isha mumbled, and even without her mentioning who she was talking about, he was able to guess it. "No, I left Heath Walker alive, just like I left the main characters of my novel alive." Eshwar spoke with a smile on his face. Yes, he was the "son of a bit*h," which Eshwar had left together with Katline and the others. "Really?" Isha asked with a bright smile. "Really." Eshwar smiled in response. "Hoh, aren''t you being thoughtful~ How about I give you a reward for it?" Isha asked and walked sensually towards him, making the onlookers turn green with envy, both men and women, no matter the race. And Isha who was trying to tease Eshwar was screaming in embarrassment, inwardly. ''Kyaaaaaa!!!!'' Isha screamed inwardly, because no matter what, she wanted to see Eshwar get flustered! She knew that she was being a bit shameless, hoping to get Eshwar flustered, but she couldn''t help it since she knew no other method! Her heart was beating so fast that she wouldn''t find it weird if it popped out of her chest right now, and as if that wasn''t enough, she also had to control her facial expressions! And why is she doing all of this? Even I didn''t know; well, I guess she hadn''t seen him get flustered, but we have seen him, right? And some were in front of her too... Hmmm... Maybe she doesn''t remember it? Or she just wanted to see him get flustered because they were in a rtionship now? "Is that right?" Eshwar, instead of getting flustered as she wished, walked towards her with a yful smile on his face. "So? Please give me my reward now." He asked shamelessly as he pulled her close by her waist, hugging her and staring up at her in the eyes. "Hmm~" He hummed yfully and leaned closer towards her lips, making the onlookers stare at them, holding their breaths in anticipation as if they were the ones kissing their lovers. "I-I found the inventory function!!!" Isha yelped loudly as she tried to escape his clutches. "Is that right~" Eshwar continued to tease her, and when his lips were an inch away from hers, he zoomed forward, pushing Isha back, and disappeared from the persistent gazes of the onlookers. "Tch, the show was just about to get spicy." Core, who was among the onlookers, grumbled with a pout and got hit on the back of her head by Louie, who was standing behind her, Arngrim, and Henry. "Booo...." Core ignored him and continued to pout. "Well, not as passionately and alluringly as them, but we could try." Suddenly, a voice sounded behind her. With surprised expressions on their faces, they nced at Henry, who had just spoken. This was the first time Henry was initiating something like that! It was always Core who clung on to him, so that was something unexpected from Henry. "Let''s go away from these old geezers first!" Core happily clung on to his arm and dragged him away, poking her tongue out at Louie and Arngrim, who were dumbfounded by Henry''s abrupt change, while Core thanked Eshwar and Isha inwardly and continued to drag Henry along to where people weren''t there. "Well, that was unexpected." Louie mumbled as soon as Henry and Core were out of sight. "Anyway, old geezer, I''ll go find myself a woman, you... never mind." With that, Arngrim rushed towards an elf woman, spoke with her for a few moments, and then walked away somewhere, leaving behind Louie, who was stupefied by the absurdity that had just urred. "Am I stupid, or do they just not understand the situation we are in?" Louie mumbled under his breath but still nced around in search of a woman who was to his liking, though he remembered ir''s mother every time he tried to find himself a woman. "Ha! I don''t even know her name...." Louie scoffed at himself and mumbled under his breath. Meanwhile, "Mhnmf~" Isha and Eshwar shared an alluring kiss that seemed to have been going on for a few minutes now. "Mhnmpff~" Isha patted his shoulders in hopes of stopping him; of course, Eshwar, like a gentleman, broke the kiss and let go of her. "Haa...haa...haa..." Isha breathed heavily, ring at him with tear-filled eyes. "So, this is how you do it?" Eshwar asked as a ck-coloured, triangles-filled, abstract orb appeared, floating a centimetre above the smartwatch-like band that was supposedly a pocket system. "Haa...yes..." Isha nodded. "Hmmm...." Eshwar ced his hand "in" the blob that expanded wide enough to fit his fist; he then grabbed what he wanted from his inventory and pulled it out slowly, gazing at the coolest phenomenon he had ever seen take ce right in front of him. Eshwar held a gun''s grip as he slowly pulled it out, watching as tens of abstract trianglesbined themselves with one another, taking the shape of a shotgun as he pulled out his Devil''s Shotgun from his inventory, and after it waspletely out of the triangles-filled, abstract orb, with a satisfying wave of clicks, all the triangles joined themselves, finally turning into his original Devil''s Shotgun. "Whohohoa!!!!" Eshwarughed in amusement and satisfaction with genuine, child-like twinkles in his eyes as he put his shotgun in and out of the inventory. "That''s so f**king cool!!!" Eshwar eximed, looking at Isha. "Is it?" Isha asked, even though it was indeed cool, she couldn''t understand why he was so excited about it. "Of course, it is! I''m a big fan of the guy who transforms into ten different aliens with the help of his watch; it''s like a dreame true!!" Eshwar eximed again as he yed with it, but Isha noticed something weird with the abstract orb and nced at her own watch. "It can''t be...." Chapter 284 283. Obsessive Love. After ten minutes of waiting, all the people took out their own pocket systems, together with the supplies and equipments, and understood a few basics of how to call upon the system and whatnot, but they didn''t really learn about the inventory function that Isha learned with just a few nces. "Haa...haa....haa...." Breathing heavily, Isha red at Eshwar, who was licking his lips seductively as he stared at her with a yful smirk on his face. ''I don''t know whether tough or cry at this! I mean, he is literally ki-ki-kissing me with every chance he gets! I like it, but still! I don''t want to stop him, not that I can, but shouldn''t he at least have some restraints? I know that we are officially in a rtionship, but hasn''t everything been moving too fast? I have read a few stories in which there is romance, not as passionately or intensely as I feel when I''m with Eshwar, but they take too much time....'' Isha grumbled inwardly, but as her thoughts neared their end, she began to ponder about it a bit too seriously, with a solemn look on her face. "Is there something wrong with us? Are we the odd ones?" Isha mumbled out involuntarily, gasping for air. "Hahahahahaha!!" Eshwar couldn''t help himself andughed heartily at her words, making Isha pout. "We definitely are the odd ones, but don''t worry; whatever you are thinking, I know for sure that there is nothing wrong with us." Eshwar said and kissed Isha''s left eye, gently. She didn''t know why, but his gentle kisses would give her butterflies every single time. Thinking that she might be the only one, she decided to voice the question that popped into her mind, "I get butterflies every time you kiss me; is it the same for you?" Isha asked quite bluntly. "Of course." Hearing Eshwar answer without a second of hesitation, Isha felt butterflies again, but he wasn''t done yet, "I feel this warmth that I know wouldn''t get enough of, whenever I''m with you, I feel like I would and will do anything for you, I feel like I want to protect you as if you were something precious that would break if I touched it, but yet I feel the urge to make love with you, I feel like confining you so that only I would be able to see you, yet I feel like I shouldn''t, instead I feel like I should show you to the world and say that I love you and warn the world that it''ll suffer if something happened to you, I feel like... mhp!" * (AN: OMNISCIENT POV) Eshwar was going on, trying to express his feelings to the best of his abilities, but the confused frown on his face was showing that even he didn''t know what he really wanted, except for being with her. All those overwhelming emotionsing from someone as strong as Eshwar would be terrifying, but Isha loved every bit of it, because she too was feeling the same. She couldn''t understand what emotion she was feeling that was making her so confused, but one thing she knew was that Eshwar was at the centre of all of her thoughts, so she gave that feeling a name: ''Obsessive love.'' With that thought, she ced her hands on his jawline and behind his ears and pulled him into a passionate kiss before he could evenplete all of his thoughts. Now that she knew that he too was feeling the same, she didn''t feel like holding back her emotions and slightly began to loosen her grip on those obsessive feelings that she had so desperately been trying to hold back. And both of them could feel that something in them was getting excited, and that was definitely not an emotion of lust. Both of their powers exploded out of their bodies, expanding their senses wide and beyond; Isha could sense what Eshwar could, as if she were the one sensing the things herself. EVERY GRAIN, she could feel every goddamn grain of the mud, every fibre in a grass leaf, how many people were there, how they were breathing and at what rhythm, how the dense mana in the atmosphere moved and how it flowed, everything, she could feel everything in the box they were trapped in and felt like she would be able to know what''s past them if she focused a bit more. While Isha was experiencing what Eshwar could at first hand, she was terrified at how absurdly strong he actually was, and while she was admiring the new world that opened up for her with his senses, Eshwar wasn''t any better or too different. He was now seeing a new dull world through her senses; he could feel all the emotions of the people there; he could see their emotions in the form of colours. Since he knew about that, he wasn''t THAT surprised about it, but knowing how hurtful it was for Isha, who had been in this kind of world from the start, and knowing whatever they were feeling while speaking with you, was terrifying, even to him, who wanted to "throw away" all of his emotions. And that wasn''t all; he could feel the gazes of the gods and goddesses surrounding them, gazing at their recipients, and a few res upon himself, since he was the one that had killed their recipients. And because he hadn''t "held" his God Hater skill when the system asked him to, and despite their res, they hadn''t realised he was the "supernatural abnormality" they couldn''t feel before. And even after feeling all of these absurd things, they had yet to stop kissing; instead, their kiss got more and more intense because they had stopped holding their emotions back, and due to their powers being on a level of their own, none of the people could feel Isha''s and Eshwar''s godly presences. Isha''s broken soul abruptly healed,pletely, because of her connection with Eshwar, getting stronger, and a hint of divinity from her first godly form manifested back in her, and as if a dam had burst, the purity, density, and amount of her divinity rose sharply, up to a point that the divinity she held previously seemed like dirty water. (AN: slight hint-like info about her soul is mentioned in chapter 47: The Artificial Dungeon (4)) As if their souls themselves were merging, tonnes and tonnes of strings shot out from their souls and fixed themselves on the each other''s, and a few of Eshwar''s unruly (?) strings of fate expanded out and cut off all the strings that manipted Isha''s divine soul, and they broke the kiss as soon as they felt that. "Mhnmfpha!!! Haa....haa....haa..." Both of them breathed heavily in a strange rhythm, dazed. Eshwar snapped out of his daze and hugged her tightly, with his right hand on her waist and his left on the back of her head, as if she would disappear if he released his hug, and tears began to stream out of his eyes. Feeling his chaotic heartbeat, Isha''s calmed down. She knew what had just happened and also knew that, now, her existence too would disappear if she died once, just like Eshwar, and even without Eshwar saying anything, she knew that he was ming himself for it. "I''m alright; it''s alright; you don''t need to worry. Though I am not strong enough to sever the strings of fate, I would have done that if I could. If you don''t remember, let me remind you that I hate the divine realm because of what happened to you, so now I''m thankful for you because, even though my soul ispletely healed, I don''t really have to ascend to use all of my divinity now." Isha spoke out after calming down for a few minutes, and what she just said was true, and that was also the reason she was still on Earth even though she had already ascended into godhood, even when the rule of a "higher beings not being able to interfere with the worldly affairs," still existed. "But..." Eshwar opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to say anything, but when he finally spoke, he was cut short by Isha. "Stop! Are you underestimating me already? Even though you got your a*s handed to you just a day ago?" Isha asked jokingly. "I''m sorry." Eshwar apologised and kissed her neck, since no matter what she says, it was because of him that she became like him. Isha giggled lightly andforted him. CRA-CRACK Soon after, cracks began to appear on the barrier that trapped them. Realizing that their powers were still oozing out, which was the cause of the barrier cracking, they hurriedly retracted and hid their powers in themselves. ''Oi.'' Eshwarmanded "his" system inwardly, and ZZZT-ZZT [Yes?] He was slightly relieved to know that his system was still working, and since he knew it still worked, ''Nothing.'' He said and closed the system prompt. [Understood.] DING As soon as "his" system window closed, another system''s notification sound sounded around him. ncing up, everybody noticed a massive system window up on the barrier. [Commencing tutorial...] [Transporting people ording to the "tokens" held.....] [In 3, 2, 1.....] ZA-P!! Chapter 285 284. The Real Beginning. A handsome ck-haired elf man gently kissed the forehead of a gorgeous ck-haired woman with a bright smile on his face. "I''ll see you ''there,''" he said and disappeared, pixting. With my eyes closed, I let myself be teleported ording to the system''s wishes. DING [Special token detected] With that notification, instead of teleporting into a certain ce, I began to float in a nk space. [Perks are activating...] [First perk "synchronise" initializing...] [Skills "pause", and "release" are synchronising...] [Skill: "Pause-y" created!] [Skill: Pause-y (Rank-Epic): User can stop and let a "motion" continue in its tracks. (Any "matter" can be paused and yed.) (Proficiency: 0%) (Cool Down: None)] [Titles "prince of destruction," "human hunter," and "inheritor" are synchronising...] [Title: Indifferent Berserker of the Twilight created!] [Title: IBOTT: An emotionless berserker who grows stronger the more indifferent he/she stays. (Stats increased by 2x at twilight.) (10% stat increase at all times) (Activated when equipped)] (currently equipped) [Second perk "selection" initializing...] [Common sses are being disyed ording to the perk!] [Warrior, swordsman, spearman, archer, martial artist...] The list continued to extend, giving a ss to all weapons, individually, and I was quite satisfied by the sses because I didn''t really want to choose a mage ss, again, and with the title I gained from the first perk is quite good for me. If I want to choose from these, then I need to decide between a warrior and a martial artist because only these two sses don''t seem to have certain weapon requirement, hmmm... "I''ll choose this." I mumbled and clicked on the ss I found most suitable for me. [ss: Martial artist has been selected!] I chose martial artist because the "warrior" ss gave off these serviceman-type vibes, and I definitely wasn''t that type. [ss-exclusive skills initiating....] DING! [Skills [Martial Body], [Energy maniption], and [Martial footwork] are engraved in user''s body.] "WTF?" I mumbled with a stoic expression on my face. The basic moments of a fist martial art technique were imprinted in my mind, and what shocked me was the fact that all of the basic techniques could be turned to my own convenience, ording to the weapon I wield. Even though I had learned many martial arts techniques myself, they were nothingpared to the basic moments engraved in my mind; the moments were very simple and very lethal if connected. The energy maniption skill allowed me to manipte aether in every inch of my body, and a lot more smoothly than how I was doing it till now. If my proficiency increased, then my body would involuntarily create an aether shield around my body, just like in those martial arts novels! While martial body skill changed my entire skeletal, muscle, and nerve systems entirely, footwork was simple stride techniques that I was familiar with, but it still felt slightly different, but overall, everything was.... Underwhelming. I mean, they were lethal and better, and were definitely martial art-y like, but my own techniques were far better. [User''s body adaptation of the newly adjusted statspleted.] [Lowering user''s stats.] [cing restrictions!] [Restrictions can be broken at MAX level, level 20!] "!!!!" I suddenly felt all my strength leaving my body and felt like my own body was a burden that I had forgotten about; my dense muscles and intelligence didn''t really feel like they changed all that much, making it a bit more harder for me to get used to it. And these are the times that Nhifrogres to mind, rescuing me from my abrupt predicament. And his knowledge about a human body helped me a lot in understanding the martial art techniques and manipting aether ording to the energy maniption skill far more efficiently than the skill itself, and much more, albeit a bit slowly, I found myself getting adjusted to my current state. [Third perk "Growth" initializing...] ''There''s more?'' [ss, skills, and user are being engraved with "Growth" status permanently!] [With the user''s previous body constitution, Martial Body will go under new changes ording to the growth status!] "ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs¡ªgoddamn, did it hurt like hell! ''Why????? Why, why, why, why, whyy, why, why!!!'' I yelled inwardly since I wasn''t able to yell outwardly. I abruptly lost all the pain endurance I had earned while in pain, so how could I just let it go when I abruptly lost all my pain endurance? How much pain I had been under to earn that! And they dare take away what''s mine? Inwardly, with a loud boom, the cue of my death reverberated throughout my head, as my body shuddered in pain. I scoffed at the cue of my death. Though it had been a long time, it wasn''t as if I feared death; that''s just bullsh*t. Why would I fear death... As my thoughts neared the end, my body trembled when I abruptly felt scared of death as a certain face shed in my mind. Who else would it be except for Isha''s? As soon as her face appeared in my head, my thoughts changed. Even now I am not afraid of death, but I was afraid of what would happen to her if I did die. How would she take the news of my death? I don''t want that! How would she react? Would she kill herself? But I don''t want that! Would she try to harm herself? Would she me me? I don''t want that! Would she... ''NO!!! I don''t want that! I don''t want that! I don''t ...'' Those words reverberated in my mind like a chant, overwhelming all my other thoughts as if they weren''t of any significance, and for the first time in all of my life, I wanted to fight against death. I would have always weed the thought of death with my arms wide open, but not now. I couldn''t even bear the thought of leaving her alone, leaving her behind again; no, that wasn''t going to happen ever. "Uuuurrrrggggggggh!!!" I clenched my teeth and endured the pain, so what if I lost my pain tolerance? I just have to endure it again until it''s back to the way it was! DING! [Skill: Heaven Defying Martial Body (Rank-Legendary) created!] BOOM! And unfortunate for me, the pain I just felt was the icing on the cake; a lot more wasing my way as my bones broke, muscles tore, nerves snapped, and everything that was unwanted and somehow still remained in my body began to be expelled from the pores of my skin that expanded up to a millimetre! And due to my ss being a growth type, the other higher levels of the martial art ss ranks appeared in my mind; it wasn''t really thatplicated. Taking the example of Rank-F, the first was Rank-F (-), the second was Rank-F, and finally it was Rank-F (+), which was thest rank before breaking through to the next rank, which would be Rank-E ording to the example. And with the other information, I also learned that skill utility will be limited ording to the ss, so I was slightly relieved, even amid the insane amount of pain, that I would be able to use mage-like skills under the name "projectiles" in the martial art techniques. "Uuuurrrrggggggggh!!!" With onest loud scream of anguish, the changes happening in my body finally stopped, but the pain was still there, lowering as time passed as a sigh of pained relief escaped my mouth. With a few gasps of air, my face turned back to stoic again, as if nothing really happened. ''Now, that hurt.'' I muttered in my mind as the painpletely subsided, and my face didn''t even flinch anymore as ckish, sh*t-like goo fell down from my body, into nothingness. DING [Body rebuilding ispleted under the influence of the Heaven Defying Martial Body skill.] [All impurities inside the user''s body have been expelled!] [Energy Maniption is taking effect.] My body felt slightly lighter, and I was unable to take my sword from my sub-space due to my aether signature and the amount I was able to exert not being enough. ''I should have just taken a weapon when I had a chance to.'' I muttered in my mind, but I wasn''t really bothered by it because, ''Link.'' I muttered in my mind, and with a few static electric sparks, my dual guns materialised in my hands, which I held in one hand before a silver pistol materialised in my free hand. I held my silver pistol in my right hand and a handgun in my left as another handgun dematerialised. "Good." I muttered. DING [The user is being transported to the designated destination!] ZA-P! My body pixted before Ipletely disappeared from the spot I floated, and before I even knew it, I was in front of a massive horde of weird-looking yet familiar monsters, ring at me with drool-filled mouths, "Should I have chosen an AR?" **** (AN: Eshwar''s current status window) [Status window:] === [Name: Eshwar] [Race: Cosmic human.] [Title: Indifferent Berserker of the Twilight (IBOTT)] [Perk: Growth] [ss: Martial Artist (Proficiency: Rank-F) (Rank:mon)] [Age: 1721 years.] [Level: 5] [Rank-D] === [Stats:] --- [Strength: 5 (+39)] (+) [Agility: 6 (+39)] (+) [Defence: 5 (+39)] (+) [Perception: 7 (+39)] (+) [Intelligence: 6 (+39)] (+) (Stat limit 10 for all races) === [ss-exclusive skills:] --- [Heaven Defying Martial Body], [Energy Maniption], [Martial Footwork] === [Skills:] --- [Pause-y], [Wish], [ck Hole], [Break] === ==== [Inventory:] --- [Devil''s Shotgun [BOUND ITEM] [Rank: ???] [Type: GUN]: Skills: Quick reload, Burst.] [ITEM: SKILL LEVEL INCREASE SCROLL.] (15x) [Rank-SSS monster core] (68x) === [Misceneous:] --- [Free stat points: 19] [Achievement points: 2,222,000] ==== Chapter 286 285. Gods Bounty. In a majestic, divine-looking 200-foot-wide room. The aura of the divine beings oozed, covering the entire room, as a few people who gave off "royal" vibes walked towards the perfectly carved and carefully ced statues of the divine beings to which they, the humans, gave a form. The people who walked into the room were the royals: the king, the queen, the prince, the crown prince, the princess, and a priest, which one could easily identify them as just from a nce at their attire and their demeanour. After arriving at the middle of the five statues of the divine beings, the men of royalty knelt with their right fist on their chest, as the women in royalty bowed extremely politely with the sides of their luxurious anarkali dresses raised, and the priest fully kowtowed. Almost without any sound, gentle pirs of golden-coloured divinity befell upon the statues, and a pressure at which all of those present felt like they would be crushed was felt as an extremely gentle and lightyer of golden, translucent nket-like divinity caressed them. While the humans felt like they would be crushed to death even though the oozing divinity was extremely gentle, they all knew that it was a sign of their gods caring for them, so they didn''tin and stood like that even if they felt like dying. [My children.] A gentle, soothing voice, whose gender they weren''t able to figure out, resounded around them. [Humans from another world are being transported to your home, even as I speak; those are people who areing here for you, to protect you from The Fallen; they do not know the way things work in your world, but they''ll adapt to it and be there for you when the Fallen rampage, so support them, raise them into strong knights and mages, and prepare for the final war.] The voice spoke and disappearedpletely, as the pirs of divinity disappeared along with it. Even though the news they heard wasn''t something unexpected, they couldn''t do anything but do as their gods told them to and "train" the humans who would being into their homes from another world, and the most annoying thing about the news was that the gods ordered them to train as knights and mages, while the Royals were nning on creating "war weapons" and "disposable tools" for the uing war. Even now, they could do as they wished, defying the wishes of the gods they believed, behind their backs, as they have always done, and a few additions to their greedy needs won''t be that much of a bother; well, those among them there are bound to be people, whose chances of rebelling against the royalty are higher, but with the "disposable tools" they have currently, it would be more than enough to deal with a few bugs that even dared to think about rebellion. And as if their god heard their thoughts, another stronger pressure than the previous one fell upon them. [The Gods and Goddesses have decided to ce a bounty on the human that will very soon be in your domain; your entire kingdom shall befall the wrath of the Gods and Goddesses if you dare not hunt down the human, upon whom we have ced a bounty!] The voice and pressure disappeared just as strongly as the voice resounded in the room. And as if a thunderbolt struck in the heads of the Royals, even though they were extremely terrified, they began to think of ways to use it against the gods even while continuing to work on their military power, which wouldter be used to conquer every corner of the world in which they resided. Of course, the Gods and Goddesses knew everything about them, and it was just that they didn''t really care what happened to them if theypleted the orders they gave to the humans. That wasn''t all; the same words with the same voice were repeated in all the different kingdoms and empires of all the different races, together with the God Hunters Association and the organisation called "Veil." "Veil" was an organisation that had been hunting down noble households for almost thirty to thirty five years; nobody knew how this organisation came into existence nor what they were nning to do, but all the kingdoms and empires were aware of their existence and feared it, since just from the activities they took part in, they were sure that whatever the organisation''s goal was, they weren''t somebody to be messed with, and definitely not when nothing is known about them. Leaving that story forter. Now, the target of the bounty was Eshwar, no, what else did you expect? === [God''s Bounty] --- [Target: Eshwar Frost] [Race: Human] [Gender: Male] [Bounty: 1,000,000 Achievement Points] [Dead or Alive: Dead] === The notification was sent to all the hunters, yers, heroes, or whatever you call them, though they had absolutely no idea who he was, how he looked, what he did, why was the bounty on his head so high? Nothing was known about him, but they began to search for him; why? Because of the insane amount of achievement points they would get from hunting a rookie or a newbie, if it was that much, then they would be able to live for however long they desired without worrying about achievement points ever again. And in the middle of nowhere, in the underground facility, ten silhouettes were seen seated in their designated seats with a suffocating aura surrounding them, but not one of them seemed to be bothered by the other''s domineering aura. And the dress of a silhouetted figure, who sat on the "main" seat, fluttered as an overpowering aura oozed out of his or her body, which made the other nine figures auras seem like nothing, but not one of them minded as their auras too began to burst out as soon as their gazended on the bounty, on the bounty target''s name to be precise. "Tell me, it is him." A figure sitting on the main seat spoke with a gentle yet overbearing tone as mana in the surroundings began to tremble, but the rest of the figures ignored the voice as their bodies began to tremble in excitement, enthusiasm, anticipation, and rage, as ominous grins crept up on their faces when they imagined what was going to happen from now on. WHOOOOMMM!!! BOOOOOMMM! With a loud explosion, everything that surrounded the ten figures exploded into bits before turning into dust, unable to bear the insane amount of pressure that bore down upon the things that surrounded them as a tremor that grew stronger and stronger cruised through the ground they stood on. "Finally!!! All the things, all the hard work I did for the past twenty years is, finally, bearing fruit!" A figure that stood next to the other nine figures, yelled out loudly, and the mana that his or her voice carried caused ripples to be shot out from his or her mouth, while a glitched system window floated in front of the figure that seemed to be the leader of the group. *** Meanwhile. In an ominous, gloomy room that blocked everything inside from the outside world, a handsome ck-haired figure stood with a silver pistol in his right hand and a handgun in his left, gazing at the strong but disgustingly familiar creatures, no, monsters, in front of him. KAT-TAK (100x) With a sound of something sharp tapping on the ground, the seemingly hybrid monsters of Scorpios and centipedes surrounded me from all sides, leaving no way to escape. These monsters in front of me were called "Scorpio-pedes." The goddamn disgusting monsters were familiar to me because I had hunted them together with Isha when I was transported into an unknown, which was unfortunately fortunate to be Antino¨¹s. A that''s at least 100 times bigger than the Earth and even looked like Earth that had gotten a saturation boost, but in this world, kingdoms and empires existed, and the world was annoyingly but fascinatingly more advanced than the Earth. Beast-men, demi-humans or demon kins, lizard-men, elves, dwarves, and dragons included other mythical creatures existed in this world, with the most annoying part being the density of mana in the atmosphere and the strengths of the people living in this world, that are never to be underestimated. You never know what you''ll find here, so it''s better to always be careful. Anyway, enough about that; I should focus on the predicament I''m in right now. The exoskeleton of the Scorpio-pedes are strong, much stronger than they seem, even some Rank-C hunters would find it hard to crack the exoskeleton of these monsters, and now, as a current Rank-D hunter, I am now trying to survive against thousands of them. KAT-TAK ''Their annoying habit of being wary of their prey is still the same; I can''t believe they are waiting for me to make a move even though there are thousands of them....'' I sighed inwardly. ''Tsk, I can''t pour aether into the guns, meaning that I can only use the normal bullets....'' ''This is why I like those martial arts novels where you have to get stronger by yourself to actually achieve greater strength or something ordingly, but being in this kind of situation, it definitely is kind of annoying. Now, I know why most of the MCs gain enlightenment or break through to the next rank while fighting against a stronger opponent.'' I inwardly praised the authors of the weak to strong genre stories. ''Now, I have guns and my own strength to rely on....'' "Closebat with guns?" I mumbled, and with a few action ns, I zoomed forward, towards the closest Scorpio-pede. BANG! Chapter 287 286. Hunt. (AN: Please check the review I have posted recently, no, that isn''t really required.... Anyway, from here on, the novel''s genre is going to be Weak-to-strong, not extremely weak though, so from here on the story will get slightly serious, thank you for reading, happy ugadhi, hoping you enjoy reading, [Peace!]) *** BAM! With an uppercut, I pointed up my pistol at a Scorpio-Pede''s exoskeleton-covered neck, and BANG! I pulled the trigger, and with a subtle ting, the bullet stopped without piercing through. "Tsk." I clicked my tongue and backed away, and just as I expected, after assuming their prey, me, to be weaker, they began to rush towards me. Well, I could tell their "assumption" was right on point, but they shouldn''t underestimate me too much. BANG! (2x) I pulled the trigger of my handgun twice, aiming at its hand joint, hoping to at least form a crack that I could break, well, not everything will work as intended. With two subtle tings, the bullets dropped without even leaving a scratch. ''I should try other guns....'' I muttered in my mind, and using [Link], I took out an AR as the pistol and handgun in my hands dematerialized. DADADADA.... ..... ... ''Not that effective, but still, it does the job... slightly.'' I muttered as I looked at the crack that appeared on a Scorpio-Pede''s arm joint, and without further ado, I zoomed towards the Scorpio-Pede I had been targeting from the beginning. With a small toss, I grabbed the barrel of the AR and swung it down at the Scorpio-Pede''s cracked joint. CRACK ''Hot....'' I mumbled in my mind, feeling the hot sensation on my barrel-held palm. And again, with a small upward toss, I grabbed the grip with my index finger on its trigger, I shoved the muzzle into the Scorpio-Pede''s broken arm, and with purple blood painting my AR''s barrel and disgusting flesh noises, I pushed in a bit deeper, ignoring the bug''s screech, and pulled the trigger. BABABABABA... ..... [Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been in.] [5 experience points acquired] "...Tsk." I jumped back after killing one bug, while the endless swarm of bugs still remained in front of me. [Level 5 (1005/1250)] "250 exp per level up?" I mumbled under my breath. ''We''ll see if that really is the case.'' I muttered in my mind and using [Link] I changed the AR''s magazine. BAM! "!?" Inded right on a Scorpio-Pede''s back when I was abruptly hit on my back, though the blow was strong, I didn''t receive as much as damage as I expected. ''I guess, heaven defying martial body isn''t a legendary ranked skill without a reason....'' I muttered in my mind, and at that thought, I suddenly remembered [+39] next to my stats. ''Will I know how strong [+1] is now?'' (AN: Question from ch 11: Sector One) With the AR in my left, I pulled back my clenched right fist, inhaled sharply and tensed my muscles, BOOM! CRACK! The exoskeleton on the Scorpio-Pede''s back cracked together with my knuckles, as a strong gust of circr wind pressure shot out from the impact. [Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been in.] [5 experience points acquired] ''I guess I am slightly stronger than these bugs around me.'' I muttered and pushed myself off of the dead Scorpio-Pede''s back, and with my AR''s stock supported on my left shoulder, and its barrel rested on the back of my right wrist, I pulled the trigger without much thought. DADADADADA... ... .... A few minutester. After emptying a few magazines, [Level 5 (1060/1250) I had killed ten of them, twelve of them in total. I only stopped because I understood that, except for wasting my bullets, I wasn''t doing much; hence, I stopped firing any as I stood on top of three Scorpio-Pede dead bodies. How should I kill these bugs? With that question in mind, I dodged the w attacks thrown at me by the Scorpio-Pedes. Slowly but surely, small, minor cuts were getting umted on my body, since even though I could dodge them, I couldn''tpletely avoid them, and I definitely couldn''t dodge everything while being in the middle of that many. ''I would have at least swung down a sword if I had picked one.'' "I guess I have no other choice." I mumbled under my breath and activated my newly gained martial arts skills as the AR in my hand dematerialized. With a small shiver and a few subtle snaps, my bodypletely rxed as my senses sharpened, and maybe it was because of my IBOTT title, but I couldn''t help but see the bugs in front of me as nothing but prey. BOOM And even though it wasn''t intended, a strong killing intent oozed out of my body.... I felt, Disappointed. I was disappointed because my killing intent felt so weak and my aura manifestation and all the other abilities hadpletely disappeared, but I wasn''t that bothered by it since it wasn''t the first time, but I was disappointed because of how disappointingly weak the aura oozing from my body felt. With a sigh, I released my killing intent. BOOOOOMMM!!! "!" With a few strong ripples, reddish-ck ominous killing intent exploded out of my body, and even though my ck king cobra''s aura manifestation had disappearedpletely, I felt the same amount of killing intent I had previously. Ignoring the screeches of the bugs around me, ''Then? the previous aura wasn''t my killing intent?'' I asked myself inwardly and retracted my killing intent. ''Is it something like the presence of the strong or something like that?'' "Doesn''t matter, I guess?" I mumbled and pushed myself back towards the cunning, naughty Scorpio-Pede that was closing in on me from behind. ''They are sentient?'' I didn''t know that fact, since I hadn''t ever really "fought" against these bugs; I would just go around on a ughtering spree whenever I went out on a "hunt" in my previous life. With a backflip, I aimed my foot at the bug, and using [Energy Maniption], I employed aether into my foot, and BAM! Crushed the bug''s head, deflected its stringer''s attack with my right wrist, and punched at the headless bug''s whip-like tail with my clenched left fist, and gazed at the whip-like tail spurting out purple blood from in between the cracks in its exoskeleton. [Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been in.] [5 experience points acquired] I picked up the dead bug and threw it in the air, and as it was flung up into the air, I activated [Stealth] and zoomed away. Since I didn''t know if my actions caught the attention of all the bugs, I searched for a corner so that I wouldn''t have to worry about my back and a corner where there were the fewest bugs. It wasn''t long until I found a perfect spot for myself. I zoomed, and with my back facing the wall, I took out the Devil''s shotgun from my inventory, and "Grrrrraaaaa!!!" And a loud, angry growl sounded out from my Devil''s shotgun. It was angry at the bugs because of the cuts on my body and my cracked right knuckles, which were caused by, and because of them, the bugs. Since I have remembered my past lifepletely, I also remember it being with me sometimes. Well, why would I keep it with me when all it does is roar and growl all the time? Though it only gets angry only it involves me, every time, I couldn''t really exin "everything" to it, so I kept it in my inventory most of the time. And again, without me even pulling its trigger, thin, ck veins shot out from the shotgun''s grip, and since I held it in my left arm, itpletely wrapped around my left arm, until my arm looked like a ck-dyed robot''s arm. Small thrones formed on the veins, pricking into my left arm entirely as ck-coloured, cold smoke rose from the gaps in the veins, and after a few subtle squirms, the veinspletely settled down on my left arm. Only now, after everything it had to do was done, did I pull the trigger. "Gruuu!!!" With another loud, angry roar and growl, BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! With a loud ''boom,'' ck-coloured, cold smoke shot out from the muzzle, which soon covered my view. Only after the smoke cloud died down after a few seconds, could I stare at the 20 or so frozen bugs in front of me with an apathetic expression on my face. [Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been in] [5 experience points acquired] [Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been in] [5 experience points acquired] [Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been in] [5 experience points acquired] .... ..... .... [Level 5 (1175/1250)] "Well, you did a great job...." I nced at my shotgun and felt it snuggle around my arm in joy, while my arm hurt from all the pricking. The throns on the veins that shoot out from its grip are used to suck in energy directly from the blood stream, so since there won''t be any blood loss, it''s not that dangerous. "But your energy consumption is crazy." I mumbled with a stoic expression on my face. TAK-KAT (67x) "We still have quite a lot of prey to hunt." Chapter 288 287. A New Development. A few dayster. A handsome ck-haired elf man sat on top of a huge pile of dead bugs, and even though the entire room was covered in a foul stench, the man didn''t seem to mind it, as if he had gotten used to it. He was covered in dried-up purple blood from top to bottom; his clothes were in tatters; and there were a lot of new cut scars on his already scar-filled body; his left arm up to his shoulder had turned into some kind of ck-dyed, robot prosthetic arm. He had blood trickling down from the corners of his lips, and his bright orange eyes were gazing at everything in a cold, indifferent, and calctive manner, but even though he was in tatters, there wasn''t a single change in his face, which remained stoic, as his very presence indicated that he was dangerous. [Level 7 (7490/12000)] After umting 1250 experience points, my level became 6, which then required 6000 experience points to level up, and now I was level seven, from killing above 1000 Scorpio-Pedes; if I''m right, then it is 1263 bugs to be exact. Now, I''m a rank C (-) hunter, with a 2-point increase in all my basic stats. ''Stats.'' [Status window:] === [Name: Eshwar] [Race: Cosmic human.] [Title: Indifferent Berserker of the Twilight (IBOTT)] [Perk: Growth] [ss: Martial Artist (Proficiency: Rank-E (+)) (Rank:mon)] [Age: 1721 years.] [Level: 7] [Rank-C (-)] === [Stats:] --- [Strength: 7 (+39)] (+) [Agility: 8 (+39)] (+) [Defence: 7 (+39)] (+) [Perception: 9 (+39)] (+) [Intelligence: 8 (+39)] (+) (Stat limit 10 for all races) === [ss-exclusive skills:] --- [Heaven Defying Martial Body (Legendary)], [Energy Maniption (Rare)], [Martial Footwork (Common)] === [Skills:] --- [Pause-y], [Wish], [ck Hole], [Break] === ==== [Inventory:] --- [ITEM: SKILL LEVEL INCREASE SCROLL.] (15x) [Rank-SSS monster core] (68x) === [Misceneous:] --- [Free stat points: 19] [Achievement points: 2,222,000] ==== ''No matter the numbers in the basic stats, it''s the ranks and levels that mostly describe your strength....'' I mumbled, because even though my stats seemed higher, my knuckles still cracked when I punched at Rank-D Scorpio-Pede''s back. ''Distribute my free stat points....'' Imanded and stopped without saying anything else. I wanted tomand it as "distribute my free stat points and make my basic stats to ten," but stopped myself because thatmand was like adding a condition. With a "what if" in my mind, I stopped myself as I asked myself, "What if that wasn''t really the limit for the stat increase?" ==== [Strength: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Agility: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Defence: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Perception: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Intelligence: 10 (+39)] (MAX) (Stat limit 10 for all races) ==== [Free stat points: 8] [Achievement points: 2,222,000] ==== ''Well, that''s that, I guess.'' Though slightly disappointed, I didn''t reallyin. With a few twitches, my entire body shuddered as the skin on my body tensed, shrinking; my movements were stiff since it was ufortable to move in a tight-fit jumpsuit.... I don''t even know how to feel about this; there isn''t anything wrong with skin sticking to our bodies, since it is supposed to be like that, but I....f**k, it''s ufortable. It was ufortable, but still, the amount of energy cruising through my body was toofortable, sofortable that I didn''t want to lose that feeling. It was strangely addictive, but I already have someone I''m addicted to, so it didn''t affect me much. DING [Transporting to the Boss Room...] "....." ZZZZZAAA-P! [ERROR!] [WARNING!!] * And with those errors and warning notices from the system, I was teleported somewhere, and now I was in front of a petite demon woman who was covered in a thin, slightly translucentyer of white cloth. With a paleplexion, her red eyes glowed like rubies, with a pair of goat-like horns protruding out from the corners of her forehead, and there were strange ck coloured patternsing out from right beneath her horns, covering almost her entire eye sockets, as she stared at me with an apathetic look on her face, which was very simr to mine. "....." "....." BOOM! Without any forewarnings, she shot out towards me, with her fist raised right next to her head which seemed like she going to use it to punch at me, and as I expected, she punc.... BAM!!! "Cough!" I coughed out a mouthful of blood as I was abruptly punched in the stomach. BOOM! I hit my back against a wall behind me and coughed out another mouthful of blood, but before I could even slump on the ground, I felt imminent danger to my right. I instinctively raised my right hand, covered my head, and nced at whatever wasing at me from the corner of my eye, only to see a slender left leging at me in full force. "!!!!" BAM!!! My eyes slightly dted when I saw the demoness''s slender leg flicker for a split second, and before I could react to the abrupt change, the blow connected right below my ribs, cracking a few in the process. BAM! I collided against the other side of the wall, or so it seemed, but when I looked at it, there was nothing but a translucent barrier that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. ''What''s going on?'' I inwardly muttered in my mind, and at that instance, my face muscles twitched. But before I could understand the sh*t that was going on, the demoness instantly appeared in front of me, floating. She gazed at me with an apathetic expression on her face and stretched her arms wide as if she wanted a hug. BANG!!!! ''QQQQQQIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'' My mind nked, and a strange sound rang in my head, killing off all the sounds in my surroundings. The demoness abruptly mmed her palms against each other with my head in the middle. My vision blurred. I felt some kind of liquid trickling down beneath my ears, which I concluded to be my blood. The weird thing was that I could feel the same sensation beneath my eyes and nose too. I felt like my eyes would pop out of my eye sockets, but it didn''t seem like the demoness had any intention to kill me off just yet. Cursing at my fate, I let my instincts that screamed at me to run take over as my eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and before I could find a way to snap out of it, I fell unconscious. THUD **** [ERROR!] [WARNING!!!] Eunomia zoomed to her sides in her blob form, and, understanding the difficulty of the situation, she disappeared and appeared in front of a man with a canine-head, who was none other than Anubis, a God, The Protector of Graves. Anubis was writhing in pain, and Eunomia needed but a nce to understand everything that was happening. Anubis was a god who was spreading his influence on Antino¨¹s with wolf variants as a starting point, but since somebody was interfering with the system, Anubis''s strongest believer or recipient was teleported into a strange world known as Earth, which he located soon after, and after finding which all his believers had disappeared to, he began to look after them. However, a few humans appeared out of nowhere and began to kill off his believers. Blinded by rage, he cast a curse upon the one who killed his believers in the most brutal way, which was none other than Eshwar. (AN: mentioned ch 51: F**ked up) A curse that showed the pasts of whoever he killed, but due to the system intervening, the curse was modified and became a skill that included party function, and then the curse began to show only the pasts of those that died after he added them as his party members, which then activated properly a few times before a goddess, Isha, broke the curse, which was directly connected with Anubis''s life force, and from then on, Anubis had been under constant pain, unable to bear to see the one, who was responsible for killing off his believers so brutally, enjoy his life, he used a bit of a god''s ever-overflowing life force to change the Boss Room''s teleportation to the strongest being''s grave he, the protector of graves, had protected. In the grave, anything could happen, and not even Anubis could interfere; annoyed by the minute ws the damaged system was causing, Eunomia erased Anubis''s existence with but a single thought. By the next second, Eunomia was back in her domain. "Please be safe, papa." She mumbled with a slight sigh; even though she was omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, she was limited by thews of the world, which she could break if she really wanted to, but it would destroy everything, so she hadn''t yet thought about it. But if, just if, something happened to Eshwar, her papa, she wouldn''t hesitate to break thews. Whose consequences would be too dire but yet nothing would happen to her. "Issue a warning." Eunomia mumbled. [Initiating...] [Those who dare to interfere with morals shall face dire consequences.] Eunomia ordered the system, and by the next instance, that warning was in front of all the gods and goddesses in existence, making them shudder in fear as they soon learned about what happened to Anubis. Eunomia zoomed towards a certain space, and with a single thought of hers, a system window that disyed Eshwar''s actions appeared in front of her, and something in Eunomia shuddered when she saw Eshwar''s head get mmed in between the hands of the demoness. From then on, everything slowed down for Eunomia, as she stared at Eshwar''s body slump down on the floor before he had seemingly lost consciousness. Eunomia''s blob of energy trembled slightly, and on cue, the entire space she was in began to tremble because Eshwar hadn''t just lost consciousness; he had, DIED! "So? He died again?" A familiar yet unfamiliarly hoarse, mncholy voice sounded behind Eunomia, and that snapped her out of her daze. In a second that felt like eternity, Eunomia''s thoughts ran at full speed, but the most important question of them all was, "How did somebody other than Eunomia enter her domain? That too without her, the domain owner, knowing?" But as soon as she knew who that was, her energy blob form froze, unmoving, as if she were really frozen in time. "Papa?" Chapter 289 288. A Stronger Being. TAK-TAK Eunomia was stupefied when she felt an extremely familiar energy from the being that appeared inside her domain as if it were his own; the energy belonged to none other than Eshwar, her papa''s. "Papa?" Eunomia mumbled out, involuntarily. The colour of the being''s soul was the same as Eshwar''s, but something about the being was different from Eshwar; no, everything about the being was different than Eshwar''s. The more she continued to look at the indescribable being in front of her, the more ominous the being felt, and the most shocking part of the being was that no matter how hard Eunomia tried, she couldn''t see through him. The being''s face was covered in some kind of ever-scribbling mask that had two white scribbled circles as eyes, and nothing was there on the being''s face except for those. He had pitch-ck, abyss-like hair that seemed to be devouring light, and his skin was pale. He wore a pitch-ck shirt, with the top three buttons unbuttoned and folded sleeves, and pitch-ck ankle-length trousers and pitch-ck loafers; they could be seen as normal if not for the shadow-like smoke rising from them; with every step the being took, the pure white space darkened slightly. [Who are you?" Eunomia asked, and both hers and the system''s voices resounded in the pure white space; she red at the being in front of her, seething in rage. "Nothing has even started yet; he is already dead?" But the beingpletely ignored her and appeared behind her, gazing at the screen Eunomia was looking at Eshwar from. Only then did Eunomia notice some kind of ckening on the being''s nape; she thenpletely observed the being and noticed that his wrists, ankles, and neck had the same ckening mark, but before she could analyse them even further, without her even noticing, the being that stood in front of the screen disappearedpletely. Shuddering, "Universal Gaze!" She activated her skill and scanned the entire universe to find the being''s existence, but she felt nothing; it was as if the being didn''t even exist in the first ce. "You shouldn''t look into everything, my daughter." The being''s voice sounded in front of the screen again. Eunomia shuddered in fear when she felt the being''s existencee into existence. "Who are...." Eunomia asked again but was cut off before she could evenplete her questionpletely. "What.... I give him?" The being mumbled in a whisper, which Eunomia couldn''t hear. By this time, she wasn''t even surprised as she contemted how such a being, a being stronger than her, existed. No one except Eunomia could ever enter the domain she created, and that too without her noticing; that wasn''t just impossible! And she wasn''t exaggerating when she thought that, if she removed all of her useless emotions then she will literally be a true God, but she kept her emotions only because her papa, created her with emotions, that was it, and did she have the power to remove her emotions? Yes, she certainly did. Everything happening in one''s domain is felt by its creator, so what was happening right in front of her was something that''s supposed to be impossible. There was only one theory that she could conclude with all the variables in front of her, and it was the fact that the being in front of her was stronger than her, a lot stronger than her. The being''s head abruptly snapped towards Eunomia, and she felt a chill run down to her very core, but that wasn''t all; she felt some kind of mncholic emotion rise up from the depths of her very existence when she looked at the being''s gaze that was looking at her. "What more should I give him?" The being mumbled, asking Eunomia a question that seemed like one for which he was in very desperate need of an answer. "I gave him everything that I was "allowed" to; I even gave him my strongest attributes, but he failed, every time, EVERY GODDAMN TIME!!" The being roared, and even though his voice was low but loud enough for only Eunomia to hear, it was powerful. So powerful that she could feel everything in existence tremble at each and every word that came out of the being''s mouthless mouth. But by the next instance, everything had calmed down, as if the earlier outburst hadn''t even happened. "!!!!" Suddenly, Eunomia saw a bright, white, scribbled, ominous smile creep up on the being''s masked face, which made her shudder in fear. "Haa...." He sighed, and the smile on his facepletely disappeared as he nced back at the screen, where Eshwar was seen slumped on the ground, dead. "How many abilities did I give him? How many more should I give him? Why does he not use everything? Should I just take away everything? But if I did that, then he would be too weak to fight against "them" and too weak to protect...." The being mumbled with a sigh. "Well, I help him onest time since he did free me from all the shackles...." The being mumbled as he massaged his neck and wrists. While he was mumbling something on his own, Eunomia was drowning in her own thoughts. She was extremely confused by what was happening, and she felt a lot of familiarity with the being, much more than what she felt with Eshwar, but no matter how much she racked her brain, she could figure out why and how she was familiar with such a dangerous figure, but whenever she nced at the being''s broad back, she felt strangelyfortable as if she were under a father''s protection, and while she was dazed as if waking her up from her stupor, "Pause." The being murmured. And by the next instance Eunomia looked around as if something was amiss, since her space was exactly the same as it was when she had gone to erase Anubis''s existence, she didn''t mind to much about her instincts that screamed that something was amiss, since now wasn''t the time for it. She ignored everything and zoomed towards a certain space and with but a thought of hers, a screen that disyed Eshwar''s current situation appeared in front of her, and something in Eunomia shuddered when she saw Eshwar''s head getting mmed in between the demoness''s hands. From then on, everything slowed down for Eunomia as she stared at Eshwar''s body slowly slump down on the ground before he lost consciousness. But before Eunomia took some drastic measures, Eshwar''s lips twitched, and "Let me borrow this for a while." Chapter 290 289. How To Use The Abilities, Properly. "Pause." The being mumbled, and everything stopped. "System, erase all existences'' memories of the past few seconds since my arrival." The beingmanded the system. [Initiating...] [Initiated taskpleted.] The system responded. "Good. Erase all data of my arrival from your memory after I leave this ce." Hemanded again. [Initiating...] [Timed task initiated.] The system responded again. "This will be thest time I''ll help; from the next time, I''ll take things into my own hands." The being mumbled while gazing at the dead Eshwar''s figure, coldly. The being raised his hand and brought his middle and thumb fingers close, as if to snap his fingers, but as soon as both of his fingers connected, it began to emit a blinding light. The light was so bright that it seemed like looking at a star up close. A prism-shaped, thick concentration of pure energy manifested between his fingers; it was so small that it seemed like a dust grain. The being pressed the prism-shaped grain in between his fingers as if to crush it. SNAP With a snap of his fingers, the grain turned into a million new shinning, stardust-like crumbs and scattered along with the massive, golden, ck-coloured ripple that shot out from the snap of the being''s fingers, and as ifplying with the being''smand, everything in existence moved in reverse for a few seconds and halted when the demoness stood, floating in front of Eshwar, who was cornered. "Stupid son of a bit*h, you will die regardless." The being mumbled while gazing at Eshwar''s pathetic state, but the being abruptly froze when a crazy thought cruised through his mind. "Should I show him how it''s done? Since the shackles have been broken, what''s holding me back?" The being mumbled, and his crazed, ominous, white-dyed, scribbled grin appeared on his masked face again. "Let''s just take over from here on out, since I have waited long enough." *** BANG! ''QQQQQQIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'' Eshwar''s mind nked, and a strange sound rang in his head, killing off all the sounds in his surroundings. The demoness had abruptly mmed her palms against each other with Eshwar''s head in the middle. And his vision blurred at that moment. He felt some kind of liquid trickling down beneath his ears, which he concluded to be blood. The weird thing was that he could feel the same sensation beneath his eyes and nose too. He felt like his eyes would pop out of his eye sockets; thest sight he saw before his visionpletely blurred was the figure of the petite demoness retreating with an apathetic expression on her face. He cursed at himself for not listening to instincts that had been screaming at him, asking him to run away. Since he could do nothing about that, he continued to fall down, towards the ground, as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and before he could find a way to snap back into consciousness, he fell unconscious. DING [Title: Indifferent Berserker of the Twilight (IBOTT) activated.] ''What''s there be "activated" when it''s just a title?'' Eshwar mumbled in his conscious state, and abruptly his eyes snapped wide open, and he knew for sure that he wasn''t the one in control of his body; his lips twitched again. "Let me borrow this for a while." Eshwar''s mouth moved and mumbled out a few words that Eshwar hadn''t intended. "[Link]" Eshwar''s mouth moved and mumbled, activating the white parasite''s ability. ZTKRAT-RAKT With a static of electric sparks and sounds, all the guns Eshwar had on him materialised above his head, and his gazended on the expressionless demoness that was staring at him with fear written all over her face. "Wait." Eshwar''s mouth moved again, but this time in amanding tone, causing the demoness to flinch, stopping her right when she was about to lunge herself towards Eshwar''s body. "Eat it." Eshwar''s body moved on its own as it raised his left arm that Devil''s shotgun had wrapped itself around towards the other guns above his head. ''What nonsense?'' Eshwar mumbled inwardly, but his consciousness stiffened when the Devil''s shotgun began to wiggle,plying with themand. "Graaaoooo!!" The hoarse growl resounded as the veins covering Eshwar''s left arm got released and turned into razor-sharp shark fang-like teeth that soon chomped on the guns, eating them, as a clunking, metal-crushing sound resounded in the barrier-covered room. CLUNK-CLINK With a metal clunking sound resounding in the room, the Devil''s shotgun began to morph, until it became a small fist-sized ball of metal veins in his palm, then his body moved on its own again and bit his index finger, gathering a droplet of mana-filled blood that was then dropped on the metal ball of veins that was previously an ominous aura oozing shotgun. TISSSSSSS... "Graooo!" The veins shot out again and pounced on Eshwar''s face, which was guarded with his left forearm, and it wasn''t long before the veinspletely engulfed Eshwar''s left forearm, pricking into his arm and sucking almost half of his aether directly from his aether core. CLUNK-CLINK Now, whenever Eshwar willed, his seemingly robotic left forearm would form a desired gun''s small barrel and muzzle above his forearm, which he could use to fire aetheric bullets instead of physical, different, custom-made bullets. But the weird thing was that the barrels and muzzles of different guns were forming above his forearm without his will right now, as if they wereplying with an entirely different will. "Good." Eshwar''s mouth moved and mumbled as if satisfied by the result. "Oh, martial arts? That''s a surprise." Eshwar''s mouth mumbled again, and soon Eshwar''s consciousness nked in confusion over whatever was happening. "Now, shall we continue?" His gaze thennded on the demoness, who had been frozen still in fear of the being in front of her. "Since, it''s been a while I''ve been outside, let''s use a wider space, and we definitely need a few audiences," Eshwar''s mouth mumbled, and before Eshwar''s snapped out of his stupor, he had appeared behind the demoness''s back, gazing at her nape. "Don''t we?" His body asked, and as soon as the demoness turned to face him, his right arm moved and grabbed her face with a bright, ominous smile on his face. "Heh." He ominous smile widened, he kicked off of the ground, pulled the struggling demoness''s head back, spun, and threw her at the barrier. BAM!!!! The demoness''s face showed a great deal of surprise, and when she nced forward to find Eshwar''s body, her eyes widened when she saw him right in front of her with an ominous smile stered on his face. BANG!!! His body punched at her stomach with his clenched, left fist as he saw her eyes go white for a second before her consciousness was forced back when arge amount of aether gathered in Eshwar''s left forearm, but before the demoness could react to it, BOOOOOMMM!!!! Eshwar''s body used Devil''s shotgun''s "burst" skill at point-nk range. "Let me show you how to use every ability you possess." Chapter 291 290. How To Use The Abilities, Properly. (2) (AN: edited) *** "Let me show you how to use every ability you possess." My mouth moved by itself as it mumbled, as if it were talking with me. With a flicker, my body disappeared and reappeared in front of the demoness as my gazended on hers and she red into mine. That was the fourth time I had noticed a change in her expression aftering here, and another thing was that I could feel that my body was smiling¡ªno, more like grinning from ear to ear¡ªeven though there were many emotions disying on my face ording to the will of the being controlling my body, I hadn''t felt a single change in my indifferently beating heartbeat. And as if trying to agitate the demoness, my body flickered and reappeared in another corner of the room with my back against the barrier that trapped me and the demoness inside. ''F**king!!! Get out of my body!'' My body flickered, appearing in front of the demoness only to disappear by the next instance. The same process repeated back and forth as I began to resist with everything I had, but nothing happened as an abrupt thought appeared in my mind. ''As if there is nothing to resist.'' Simrly, to resist a poison, the poison must first be present in the body; it was either a case simr to that or the being in control of my body was too strong, way too strong, for any of my resistance to work. ''!!!!'' Taunted by my body''s actions, the demoness appeared right in front of me and punched at my face, making my consciousness shudder in fear. ''What!?'' I was confused beyond belief because my consciousness really did tremble; if it was only trembling, I wouldn''t have minded it that much, but for me to tremble in fear just because someone was slightly stronger, THAT, that was uneptable. "Heh!" With a loud, amused chuckle, as if it had nothing to do with my thoughts, my body cocked my head to the right, dodging the iing fist by a hair''s width. BOOOOOMMM!!!! With an ear-deafening ''BOOM,'' the demoness''s slender arm''s fist connected to the barrier, and my body drifted to the other side of the room from the ripple caused by the impact. CRA-CRACK SHATTER ''Wha....'' While I and the demoness were shocked beyond belief, noticing how easily the barrier cracked, my body moved as if everything had gone ording to n. "Now that the area has been extended, let''s start for real." My mouth mumbled and zoomed towards the demoness, who stood dazed, gazing at another space beyond the barrier with a lot of indescribable emotions welling up in her eyes as she gazed out into the other side of space. While she was in her own world, my body pounced on her and kicked her straight on her right cheek, without a single trace of hesitation. BAM BOOM "Come on,e on, you shouldn''t lose force while fighting against someone stronger than you." My body mumbled with a scoff, shaking my head with a disappointed sigh, while my consciousness itself was trembling under the influence of two different kinds of emotions: one was fear, because the being controlling my body dered itself to be stronger than the demoness that I could see, while I wasn''t even able to put up a fight against her. The other was rage, which was directed at myself because I was really getting scared. "Authority of the ck ink." My mouth mumbled again, activating the authority that I had forgotten to use. "Partial Devilization." My mouth moved again. With a familiar chill around my right forearm, my hand morphed into a translucent, greyish arm with ck-coloured veins in it. ''The authority?'' The world in my sight was still colourful, so I couldn''t help but be confused. ''!!!!'' But to my surprise, my right, devilized index finger was dyed in pitch-ck ink that seemed to be dripping on the ground, which was disappearing soon after. "Authority of the ck ink: White Canvas." My mouth mumbled, and as if a giant held brush, dipped in white paint, was stroked, a massive, Chinese brush''s white dyed stroke appeared in front of me, and in that stroke, the world seemed like what I would normally see when I was under the influence of the authority. There weren''t any halo-like horns protruding from the corners of my forehead, and there were no ck lines to define my body or anything else. There was only that massive brush stroke in front of me, while everything in that stroke was scribbled in ck and white. "Dye mana." My mouth mumbled, and everything in the white strike turned ck with dotted spots; if I take my body''s mumble into consideration, then the dotted ck spots were definitely mana. "Energy Maniption." My mouth mumbled again, and with an abrupt surge of power, I felt all the mana in the atmosphere concentrating on a certain spot ording to the will of the being who''s controlling my body. ''Why isn''t that demoness attackin...!!!!!'' Only then did I notice the amount of killing intent oozing out of my body. ''N-n-no, no, no, no, th-th-that''s n-not my killing in-intent??'' My consciousness was shuddering in fear, ignoring my will to resist the fear. And though I didn''t want to believe it, not one bit of "my" killing intent was mixed with the killing intent that was oozing out of my body right now. "Huuu...." With a deep exhale, the killing intent oozing out of my body halted. "You cane at me now." My mouth mumbled, gazing at the trembling demoness. "Come." Even though it was only a low mumble, the words that came out of my own mouth carried a certain power that I was sure I won''t be able to do the same anytime soon. Complying with themand, the demoness rushed towards me, trembling in fear. "Good." My mouth mumbled with a wide grin stered on it, and my gaze narrowed at wherever the demoness stepped as I looked through the white stroke in front of me. "Aaaaa!!!" A painful shriek escaped the demoness''s mouth when a wide, gaping hole appeared in the middle of her foot; maybe she couldn''t see it, but I was able to. A spike of purely concentrated mana had protruded out of the ground right beneath her foot when my ck ink-dyed index finger traced on the white stroke in front of me. "This is how you use it. Now, the next part." My mouth mumbled. By that time, my consciousness hadpletely ignored my will to resist, so in fear, I subconsciously nodded my head in understanding, in my consciousness. And before I couldpletelyprehend the situation, the white dyed stroke in front of me disappeared. "And then there is Pyre, Erebus, Trishul and its skills, ring of extinction, if I summon even one of them, the fight will be over in an instant, so let''s leave them alone for now, and let''s stretch for a bit, since I havee out into the world of the living after a long while." My mouth mumbled again, and I appeared in front of the demoness, punched her straight in the face, and due to the force behind the punch, her body shot out of the massive hole in the barrier that had opened up somewhere in the middle of the sky. WHOOOOMMM Jumping out of the hole and with a deep breath, the being controlling my body relished the moment as we were free falling, and it wasn''t long until a subtle thud sound sounded beneath me, indicating how much of a fall remained. BOOM I thought that the being controlling my body was strangely simr to me when I noticed my body pushing itself down after stepping on an aether footing. WHOOSH With a series of flips, my body fast approached the ground, channelling a lot of aether on my legs, and with a seeminglyst, strong flip, my bodynded on the head of something, crushing it entirely. SPLATTER DING [Level 9, Rank-A Scorpio-Pede has been in.] [200 experience points acquired.] [Boss monster in.] [200 Achievement points acquired.] [Level 7 (7690/12000)] [Please wait for a safe teleportation pathway to be initiated...] After calming down ever so slightly, I reasoned that the wait was because my previous teleportation pathway was messed with, but my calmness didn''tst for long, as the demoness, who survived the fall just like me, zoomed in and kicked at my head. "Well, well, well." My mouth mumbled with a wide smirk, and I dodged the kick without much effort, while I wasn''t even able to sense the demoness''s moments. "Martial Footwork." TING (7x) With seven ringing steps, my body had instantly appeared in front of the demoness, who flew past my body without being able to control the force she put behind her kick. Arriving in front of her, my clenched right fist was thrown at her, with a proper martial art stance. BOOM A ring of wind pressure shot out from the impact, ignoring her groan and the dust cloud surrounding the demoness''s body, and my palm extended out towards the ground where the demoness''s head had mmed, and by the next instance, her face was in my palm, as my body, which wasn''t under my control, flung her to the other side of the room, but before her bodynded, my body had already appeared there, smoothly flowed and held the back of her head, before clenching and bashing her head against the boss room''s wall, that cracked upon impact, grinning, my palm clenched her head more tightly than before, and ignoring her groans, my arm bashed her head at the wall again and again, until, CRACK BAM!!! CRUMBLE Soon after, the wall broke, and my body jumped into the hole after throwing the seemingly bloodless demoness outside. The sight outside left me baffled; everything, as far as my eyes could reach, was covered in a dense white smoke, through which millions of ck, no, greyish-coloured towers protruded, and when my body jumped out of the hole, free falling down to catch up with the thrown-out demoness, I noticed that even I was inside a greyish tower, whose end I wasn''t able to see. "Tsk." My body abruptly clicked its tongue, and with a wave of my aether-channelled right arm, a thin, fading roll of aetheric thread materialised above my palm and disappeared before my body could use it. "F**king low life." My mouth abruptly cursed; for reasons unknown, I could tell that it was directed at me. "Oh." With a strange sound that came out of my mouth, I felt like I was slowly gaining control over my body, while at the same time, I could feel my body bing slightly powerless. Though it was only slightly, I felt like I had lost all of my strength again. "No!!" "I regained control after a long time; do you think I would let it go so easily?" With a loud roar, the being controlling my body began to resist and gained control over my body again, due to which I felt an unbearable amount of pain and wasn''t able to hear the words my mouth mumbled clearly. ''ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGH!!'' I felt like my consciousness would disappear if I let whatever was happening happen, so mustering everyst bit of willpower I could, I began to take control over my own body. Maybe it was because two separate energies shed against each other; with a loud ''boom,'' my body shot out, upward, in a random direction, while I felt like somebody was slowly ripping my limbs apart. "Arrrrrrrrrgh'' My voice came out of my own mouth, sometimes back in my consciousness, but the process continued for a few seconds until a burst of extremely terrifying aura exploded out ording to the will of the being controlling my body, at which point my consciousness was quickly subdued. "AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGH!!!!" The being screamed loudly while floating above the greyish towers in a misty white space, and with another burst of its terrifying aura, a familiar but forgotten golden, ck-coloured ripple shot out from my body, due to which the ends of the towers cracked. WHOOOOMMM BAM! It was then, the demoness abruptly jumped out of the dense white mist beneath my body and kicked my back; my right arm extended out, grabbing the demoness''s leg, and "100%" My mouth mumbled. ''!!!!!!'' BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!! Chapter 292 291. Are You Ready For More? (AN: Not Edited) *** The Antino¨¹s had a lot of continents and peninss. But almost half of the hadn''t been explored due those regions are called "BLANK," it would have been better is those regions were as simple as their name sound. nk regions were filled with monsters, mostly of "cmity" ranked monsters, together with the fallen. Cmity rank was for monsters above Rank-SS. The explorednds were divided amongst an Empire and seven kingdoms, five of which are allied with the empire, while three man-made floatingnds were upied by the God Hunters Association, The Violent Fanatics, and The Veil. An association that''s working on making sure that the humanity survives, an association that''s working on making sure that the humanity doesn''t, and an association that''s working to make sure the royal families stay in their limits. And among all these powers: an empire, seven kingdoms, and these three associations, there were two more, one which was the temple, the corrupt fanatics that held the same power, second to only the king, and the other was the academy. The academy nurtures "hunters" from all over the world, race, gender, age, nothing except for skill and talent matters in the academy, and after the gods had spoken, they, together with the agreement of the major powers, had opening the gates of the academy for the people from another world. The people of Antino¨¹s knew that the mana in their world was a lot denser, so dense that even though they, who had born in that world, weren''t able topletely tap into the mana in their surroundings, they needed monster cores to be able to wield mana, which was why, the mages were treated as a very rare oddity. While this being the case, they were sure that none of the people of the other world would be able to utilise mana, hence they decided that those people should be brought to the academy first, from where, after at least one year, they would be left alone to roam around their world. Well, with nobles and other powerhouses being active, nobody would work without a single ulterior motive. "Well, that''s none of my concern. I should simply enjoy the entrance of "the viin" to my heart''s content. And meet up with "him" in the academy,ter on." A sweet woman''s voice rang as she walked amongst the crowd without them even realising her presence. She had wavy white hair, and bright blue eyes that seemed to be glowing under the afternoon sun. She had soft and innocent facial features, with a pair of slightly pointy ears, and lust inciting lips that had slightly curled up, forming a small smile. She wore a ck sweater dress, ck leather leggings, boots, and a ne that disrupted the views of those looking at her. "Haaa.... Poor people, I can''t believe all of them will die today." She mumbled, ncing around at the millions of people living in the small city there. The buildings in the city seemed verymercial and suffocating, as they were congested-ly built. A lot of holographic disys were ced, by the looks of it, everything was disyed with the help of the holograms and slightly unsurprisingly, almost all of the transactions were happening through the holographic disys. * Since Antino¨¹s was extremelyrge, so were the numbers of living in that world. There were three moons, so the nighttime was longer and a full day cycle in Antino¨¹s consisted of 36 hours, 24 hours being the night and 12 hours being the day. A day there was 1 and half days on Earth, a year contained 547 days and every two years once, a month had a day extra, on the leap year. * She shrugged with her mouth, and it wasn''t long until she witnessed what she was there for. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! Then, abruptly the sky above the city cracked, and a figure shot down, no, it was more like that figure was thrown out of the space, it wasn''t long until a handsome ck-haired elf man descended through the crack, he had a strangely suffocating aura surrounding him as he descended upon the world with an ominous smile on his face. Shuddering, the woman smiled lightly as she gazed at the Elven man. BOOM! It was only now, that the thrown figure collided against the ground, shaking it. A strong tremor cruised through the city, causing the weakly built buildings to copse within a matter of few seconds. "Well, well, well, hasn''t it been a while?" The Elven man said in a loud voice that made everybody hearing it shudder. ''He is scary.'' The woman too shuddered together with the other normal people around her, gazing up at the man. And it didn''t even take a second for the people to learn that the man floating mid-air was weak, extremely weak, and that fact was enough for them to snap of the illusion that man, who came out of nowhere created. "This weakling dares?" A hoarse man''s mumble resounded, and as if a wave had swept through, all the people in the vige began to murmur while trembling in rage and slightly fear from the still lingering pressure. ''Haaa.... If only you people could just shut up.'' She thought and shook her head knowing that the man had intentionally lowered the intensity of his killing intent, so that the soon to die people would calm down. BOOM! The figure that had sprawled out on the ground woke up and shot up, towards the man leaving behind a massive crater beneath the figure''sunch and a trail of ck coloured beam of aura. BAM The figure''s fist connected the man''s face as a circr wind pressure shot out from the impact, but as soon as the demoness''s figure retracted her hand, an ever-scribbling pitch-ck coloured mask was visible on the man''s face, making him unrecognisable to those gazing at him. "You sure took your time; I was just about to get bored." The man mumbled behind his mask, clenched the demoness''s wrist and pulled her close as he hugged her by her waist, taking a waltz-like stance while floating mid-air. With a small whistle, the woman fanned herself as if she was getting hot by their innocent yet slightly indecent actions. "Since I don''t have much time, let''s end this here. We''ll continue thister, only if you are still alive, of course." The man said and continued. "Ring of Extinction." The man mumbled, and though the woman and the demoness didn''t know what it was, they shuddered, jolted back and zoomed out of the way. The demoness zoomed down, hoping to hide between the horde of people of the vige. While with pair of mesmerizingly beautiful, white feathered wings protruded out of the woman''s back, which she pped and shot up into the sky, gazing down at the absurd phenomenon take ce. The thinnest line the woman had ever since shot out from the man''s body and disappearedpletely, by the next instance, the man descended upon the ground and began to walk off, ignoring the rage filled gazes of the people residing in the city. SPLURT With that sound, a wave of simr sounds cruised throughout the city, that was bathing in blood soon after, and of course, the demoness too had died as her headless body fell to the ground with her head next to her body. The woman floating mid-air used her senses and noticed that a thin line, that wasn''t visible to the naked eye, had covered the entire city, people had their heads slide off their bodies only because they moved,since the buildings weren''t capable of moving, they didn''t fall even though they too were cut at an height of an average person''s shoulder. ZZZT-ZZT [GOD WITH A_SHOTGUN_IS AWARE OF YOUR EXISTENCE.] An extremely glitched, slightly indescribable words on a glitched system window appeared in front of the woman, warning her. "Hmph, yet you didn''t even nce at me!" The woman muttered with a pout and disappeared with another p of her wings. *** ''ARRRRRGGGGGGH!!!!'' I felt my consciousness disappearing even as I resisted to the best of my abilities, when I abruptly remembered something, ''Deactivate the IBOTT!'' I roared in my consciousness and waited, screaming in pain. "Pfft!!!! Hahahaha, you really thought that would work?" With a mockingugh, the pain I felt disappeared as the voice sounded in front of me. "..." With the silence that descended by the next instance, the entire mood changed from a slightly cheery one to an insanely suffocating one, it literally felt like somebody was choking me by my neck. TICK It was then that an extremely familiar tick sounded, it was tick that I heard whenever I was about to regress which had absolutely traumatized me. Thinking that I was going to regress again, I don''t know where, at what time, I would be going back to, and I didn''t know if I''ll form any new rtionships, or I''ll go in search of my old rtionships, maybe I''ll have a better life this time, with those throats cruising through my mind, TICK ''.....?'' The ticking sound sounded again. TICK I opened my eyes in confusion, since nothing happened except for the ringing tick sounds of THAT goddamn clock. "Are you tormented by your memories?" The man in front of me muttered. He was wearing an ominous set of pitch-ck coloured formal clothes with top three buttons of his shirt unbuttoned as shadowy smoke rose from his clothes, and the figure was seen wearing an ever-scribbling pitch-ck mask with a pair of ever-scribbling white scribbles as eyes. "....." "Now, the real question is," The man said and continued, ignoring my silence. "Are you ready for more?" And that question, THAT VERY QUESTION, was enough to terrify my very existence. With another ever-scribbling white grin forming on his masked face, "If you are, then we need to talk." He spoke and pushed forward the ominous golden clock towards me, the clock was none other than the CLOCK OF FATE. Chapter 293 292. Settling Down. "Now, the real question is," The man said and continued, ignoring my silence. "Are you ready for more?" And that question, THAT VERY QUESTION, was enough to terrify my very existence. With another ever-scribbling white grin on his masked face, "If you are, then we need to talk." He spoke and pushed forward the ominous golden clock towards me; the clock was none other than the CLOCK OF FATE. With a deep breath, the man leaned back before his gazended back on me. "This," the man mumbled and continued. "This contains my power." The man said when the clock of fate floated right in front of my face, inciting me to grab hold of it. ''I should grab hold of it. If I have this, then my powers will return, and I won''t have to worry about things going wrong ever again; if they do, I will just kill myself and regress to the past, making things right. Yeah, if I have this...'' With those thoughts in my mind, I looked back and forth at the man and the clock with the slightest hint of hesitation. And then I grabbed it, "Hahahahaha. Go along." The man abruptlyughed. It was a charmingugh, but it was enough to send chills down my spine. ''This contains my power.'' The man''s words resounded in my mind again, and with a violent shudder, my grip around the clock loosened. Because as far as I remembered, every horrible thing that happened in my life was due to this clock, and with that thought, many other thoughts began to run amok, with many what-ifs overwhelming my mind, and amid those, my entire life shed in my mind, thousands and thousands of years of suffering, up to the movement where my Frost Devil form cracked, unable to handle the divinity, everything shed in my mind, and extreme rage, at a level I never thought I would feel, bubbled up in me, Only to burst and disappearpletely by the next instance. "You are most intriguing." The man said with augh and released an unbearable amount of killing intent, forcing me onto my knees as my entire consciousness trembled violently as if it would break apart anytime soon. "Now, let me tell you a story." The man mumbled, walked towards me with his hands in his pocket, and gazed down at me with an indifferent look on his masked face, but I could feel that the man in front of me was extremely disappointed in me and was feeling disgusted by my pathetic state, as rage bubbled up in me again for reasons I didn''t know. It was only then that I realised that I was feeling different emotions even though I was away from Isha. But as if ignoring my pathetic existence, the man continued to look down on me, releasing an unbearable amount of killing intent that seemed to render me unable to breathe. "Long ago, this naive vessel of mine spoke about devising new spells and bringing new forms of magic into the world, so he did, unable to contain his curiosity, and devised many new spells and spread them across the divine realm, hoping for the betterment of humanity, but did you know?" The man said and abruptly leaned down, ring at me. "That the gods never forget? And that every new thing they learn bes their trait from the past?" He asked, and before I could muster up the courage to answer, he continued. "Due to that being the case, all the new spells and different magic devised by my vessel turned into skills that those gods then began to grant to their recipients as if they were the ones who created it, and" At those words, the intensity of the man''s killing intent rose sharply, and that ominous grin on his face widened. "It wasn''t long until a heaven-defying destruction descended upon the world, which then created," The man said and leaned back as his killing intent continued to rise until I was on the verge of losing my consciousness. "Me." That was thest word that I heard before losing my consciousness. *** A weekter. News about the vige massacre incident began to spread across all the powerhouses, and though they were slightly wary about the being who did that, if they had a chance, they would put a leash on him and pin him down to their families. Since the territory wars among the noble households were at an all-time high, they needed all the power they could have in their hands; if only the academy didn''t restrict scouting talents, almost all themoner, talented students would have already had at least one noble house''s backing. All the surviving people of the other world were teleported directly to the Academy''s entrance, which was the set teleportation destination, after which they got admitted ording to their experience in fighting against monsters and humans. If spoken bluntly, they were awfully disappointed with the people of the other world; many seemed to have lived veryfortably under someone else''s protection that they didn''t even know how to protect themselves properly against unpredictable beings, such as humans, sentient beasts, and monsters. Though many imed that even the monsters in their world were unpredictable, almost none believed them. Of course, why would they believe them when they couldn''t even defeat a single Rank-A spectre, even though that monster does nearly no physical damage? Only after thorough evaluation did they understand that the levels of monsters in the other world were lower due to mana being rtively lower in densitypared to their world and that the "beasts" in their world were called "monsters" in Earth. Ifpared to Earth''s ranking of people and monsters, a Rank-AA monster on Earth was ranked C in their world, and ifpared to humans, a Rank-SSS yer on Earth was a Rank-A hunter in Antino¨¹s. If that wasn''t enough, the levels and ranks of all those who came from Earth were lowered to the lowest point at which they could survive against a, at most, Rank-E monster if they fought in a group. On the Antino¨¹s, Rank-SS monsters were something that should be fought by a group of Rank-SS hunters. It was like that for all the other ranks too; for a ranked monster, a group of the same ranked people were required, and since the strong only targeted the strong, there weren''t any problems for the lower ranked hunters to grow. *** A beautiful ck-haired woman walked in the corridor that led to her dormitory room, with a few women''s envious gazes drilling holes in her back, which were thoroughly ignored by the woman as she was lost in her own thoughts. She wore a ck, formal suit with a choker around her neck¡ªthat wasn''t really a choker; it was just her pocket system that she wore on her neck since her gaze was getting attracted to her wrist when she wore them there. Thinking that it could distract her when she''s in the middle of a fight, she wore it as a choker. ''Why hasn''t Eshwar appeared in the academy yet?'' Isha muttered with a deep frown on her face. She was in ss E, the lowest-ranked ss that didn''t receive much proper training on anything except the physical one, and almost all of the boys and men in that ss were already fanning over her. She had already adjustedpletely to this world, unlike all the other people; since it was once a ce she had been in, it was only natural that she gets adjusted to it first. But she was still slightly sceptical about this whole academy thingy, because this was the first time she had been to an academy in this world, and it had been merely twenty years since she died in this world. Though a lot had changed, nothing too much had really changed, if she remembered correctly, she needed to be wary of the "factions" in the academy if she didn''t want to get caught up in something disturbing. And even though there weren''t any restrictions on the ages of people joining the academy, most of the older people felt like it was an humiliation to learn among kids and hadn''t joined the academy, which was simr to even those that came from the other world, from Earth, together with her; only those that had recently left the academy due to Switch Academy being closed decided to join the academy, while the rest decided to find homes and join mercenary or guilds or any other groups to get stronger as they got used to the new world, which was a good decision from Isha''s perspective. ''I''ll see you ''there.'''' Suddenly, Isha remembered hearing Eshwar mumble when the so-called tutorial began when they were getting teleported to this. "Don''t tell me he really went ''there'' first?" Isha mumbled under her breath as she nced back, unintentionally making the woman gazing at her flinch before taking a step back with an audible gulp. "Sh*t!" She cursed and zoomed towards the elevator. Chapter 294 293. Settling Down. (2) [UP] [DOWN] Isha clicked [UP] on the holographic disy window as soon as she arrived in front of the elevator, and it wasn''t long until the elevator arrived with a chiming sound. TING WHOOSH [LG, UG, G, 1, 2, 3, 4.... <56> ...100] With another unnecessarily high-tech holographic disy screen pop up, Isha clicked on [1] and turned around to face the open back of the elevator. WHOOOOMMM With a calming breeze sweeping past her face, she took a deep breath and looked out at the beauty-filled, orange twilight-dyed clouds with a honey-dripping smile on her face. ''No matter what, I can never get enough of such sceneries.'' She muttered in her mind and stretched out her arm, trying to grab hold of the clouds, only to have her arm stopped by the invisible, semi-cylindrical barrier. ''I forget that there is a barrier here.'' She sighed and continued to enjoy the scenery. * She arrived at the first floor of the academy, ran and slid across the pristine white floor as she gazed at the only few people roaming here and there; they were security, guarding and looking after any troubles that were caused by the annoying cadets of the academy; most of them were beast-men and dwarves that weren''t as short as they are described in the fantasy stories from Earth. She rushed towards the receptionist and tapped on the white, spotless, waist-length table, [Please do a bio-metric scan] "Haaa...." With a sigh, Isha ced her hand on the table. [Scan initiated....] [Scanplete.] [User: Isha] [View additional data] [Please enter your request] [Voice] [Keyboard] Clicking on [Voice], "I wish to leave the academy premises for a few days for personal, urgent reasons." Isha said. [Assessing the request....] [Permission granted!] [Please pay 50 academic points or achievement points and purchase the [Card of Vac]] [Academic points] [Achievement points] Clicking on [Achievement points], Isha paid 50 AP''s and waited for the card. [Payment confirmed] [Please receive your card by the nearby receptionist.] [Thank you for essing the Academic stem.] "Alright." She mumbled and nced at the receptionist sitting behind the table. The receptionist too was a beast-man.... beast-woman? Beast-woman, she had long hazel hair with a pair of cat ears on her head, with brown spots behind them; yes, she was a cheetah by the looks of it. With a bright blue glow covering her palm, which soon morphed into a paw, she then ced her w on the rectangle-shaped white card, and with a subtle yet strong poke, a strange vibration cruised through the card, and soon, different kinds of patterns appeared on it, which she then handed to Isha, who grabbed it, thanked the seemingly polite receptionist, and zoomed out of there. * From a distance, the academy''s building seemed like a hammerhead shark''s head, while the dormitory behind the academy seemed like four fingers pointing up, while the rest of the floatingnd was filled with lush greenery. (AN: Ahem, I know that I f**ked up while exining that, but that''s what the image I''m adding here looked to me) All in all, the whole academy was futuristic and had everything one could ever need, and since this world was capitalised with achievement points, there wasn''t really any need for money, and though the academy contained everything one needed, if they took it seriously and remained there, then it was just a waste of all the other opportunities this world had to offer, together with all its glory and beauty. Directly rushing towards the gate that connected to the outskirts of the capital, she jumped in without wasting too much time afterpleting all the necessary requirements. And with the ring contrast of what Isha had just been looking at, the vige on the outskirts of the capital was filled with some kind of strange gloomy atmosphere; the area was also dark, but even then, there wasn''t any less involvement of the unnecessary high-tech technology. The vige seemed like some kind of back alley that''s filled with massive, neon-coloured banner-like hoardings. There were many activities taking ce in the busy street. The people there were so busy that they just bumped into Isha and went their way without even turning back, and what did one man do after bumping into Isha? He walked towards a strange hotel, dragging along a woman who didn''t seem to be too willing to go, but looking at how she put up no resistance even when she was stronger than the man, Isha didn''t know what to think about it. ''What kind of fetish....'' Isha thought and stopped her thoughts there. * She then brought a bike nearby, receiving all kinds of weird gazes in the process, because the bike had be something that onlymoners with rtively low mana could use, since they couldn''t properly control and circte their mana while using a hoverboard, a hover bike, or a hover car. All the means of transportation that used mana had height limits set, for many reasons. BOOM-VROOOOOOMMMMMM!!! VROO-VROOOOM!!! "Nice." Isha mumbled with a smile and rode the bike, gauging her memories as she tried to remember the exact location she needed to go. Since the bike only required recharges with mana from time to time, she wasn''t that worried about not having enough fuel. And, PITTER "Really? Now?" Isha mumbled as it began to rain. She thought of using a mana shield while continuing to travel, but since it had been a long time since she had been able to enjoy a simple, peaceful ride or enjoy the things nature had to offer, she decided against it and enjoyed the pouring rain. * After hours of riding under the moonlight, she soon arrived at a long pathway that led to a cosy wooden house in a kilometre''s distance. The fresh scent of wet mud, some floral scents, and the scent of freshly trimmed grass trickled into her nostrils, and knowing who did it, she enjoyed every moment of it. VRUUUUUUUUUUUU... It didn''t take long for her to arrive in front of a cosy wooden house. After parking the bike in front of the wooden fences around the house, she walked towards the door on the wet mud path leading to the door. With a self-sufficient farm to her left, a mini, red rose-grown garden to her right, and a few well-maintained trees inside the fences, with the smallest being 3 metres tall. "This brings back so many memories...." She mumbled under her breath, and in the memories, she mentioned, some were heart-breaking and made her gaze turn misty. CLUNK CREEEEAAAAAKKKKKKKK "Wee home, love." And weing her was a handsome ck-haired elf man, adorned with a bright smile and a pink apron that Isha used to wear when they stayed there. With tears streaming out of her eyes, Isha rushed towards Eshwar and hugged him as tightly as she could. "I love you." Isha proposed from the bottom of her heart, and without acting arrogant, "I love you too." Eshwar proposed just as heartfeltly, making her feel warm around her heart, and hugged her back, not minding how soaked in rain she was. Chapter 295 294. Putting On Airs. (AN: OMNISCIENT POV) After Eshwar... After Eshwar''s body defeated the demoness, he fell unconscious on the blood-dyed vige, and after he woke up, there were several system notifications in front of him. [Level 12, Rank-S ------ has been in] [800 experience points acquired] [Level 7 (8490/12000)] [Level 8, Rank-B Zack has been in] [30 experience points acquired] [Level 4, Rank-E Tom has been in] [Hunted hunter level is too low, 0 experience points acquired] ...... .... ..... [Level 2, Rank-E Shawn has been in] [Hunted hunter level is too low, 0 experience points acquired] [Level 10, Rank-A Ben has been in] [200 experience points acquired] [Level up] [Level up] [Level 9 (24,091/96,000)] "F**k....." Eshwar mumbled while trembling in fear; whatever had just happened, there was a possibility that it would happen again, and he didn''t want that. He was moving ording to somebody else''s will.... This was the first time he had experienced something like that, and he was absolutely terrified of it. It was only now that he understood how terrifying it would be to be moving ording to somebody else''s will while actually being aware of it. ''Fate.'' That was the word that came to mind, because some just shrugged it off, the negative or positive things, by ming something that was supposedly non-existent, but now that wasn''t the case, because even though fate really did exist, none believed in it, and even if they did, it didn''t matter as long as they weren''t aware of what was about to happen. But in Eshwar''s case, he knew that something he experienced moments ago would happen again, so he was terrified. He didn''t know what he should do or how he could avoid it, but he knew that the same thing would repeat itself again and that there would be absolutely nothing he could do about it. ''I can''t avoid it no matter what.'' Eshwar thought, slowly falling into a pit of despair, it was then, DING The system''s chiming sound woke him out of his daze. [Title: One from the Infinite acquired.] [One from the Infinite: Peer into the possible future. (Active even when unequipped)] [Title: Murderer acquired.] [Murderer: Gives off an aura of a killer. (Blood lust level ¨C 5) (Active even when unequipped)] Thin, blood-red lines formed around Eshwar''s pupiry zone, and even though he wasn''t really releasing his aura, the air around him had turned threatening, which Eshwar was able to hide with a slight focus. ''....stats.'' Eshwar mumbled in his chaotic mind. [Status window:] === [Name: Eshwar] [Race: Cosmic human.] [Title: Indifferent Berserker of the Twilight (IBOTT), Murderer, One from the Infinite.] [Perk: Growth] [ss: Martial Artist (Proficiency: Rank-D (+)) (Rank:mon)] [Age: 1721 years.] [Level: 9] [Rank-B (+)] === [Stats:] --- [Strength: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Agility: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Defence: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Perception: 10 (+39)] (MAX) [Intelligence: 10 (+39)] (MAX) (Stat limit 10 for all races) === [ss-exclusive skills:] --- [Heaven Defying Martial Body (Legendary)], [Energy Maniption (Rare)], [Martial Footwork (Common)] === [Skills:] --- [Pause-y], [Wish], [ck Hole], [Break] === Eshwar shuddered when he saw the IBOTT title in his status window, but remembering how the being didn''t disappear even when he deactivated it, he thought that it wasn''t what helped the being take control of his body. He decided that he should use everything in his arsenal to get stronger. Thinking about the words the being spoke, he couldn''t help but shudder violently; the fear instilled in him was so great that he was continuously feeling terrified, even though he was in a state of indifference. To calm down, he wanted to rest in a ce that he could call his, and without wasting another moment, he rushed towards the outskirts of the capital, since he knew the way to ''that'' ce only from there. *** Now, I was contemting whether I should speak about what happened a week ago or ignore it. ''If I decided to ignore it, then it would mean that I was breaking my promise, but if I decide to speak up about it, then Isha would be caught up in something troublesome.'' I muttered in my mind as I cuddled with Isha, as shey on top of me, facing the ceiling, while I slept on the couch, hugging her from behind. I had spoken about how I got out of the tutorial as she kept asking about why I hadn''t teleported directly to the academy''s entrance, and I had also spoken about how I got a murderer title and other things with made-up stories that were slightly on the low end of the probability scale but seemed believable. "Alright, what are you hiding?" Isha asked, Heh, how could she not notice when I was being so obvious? "Haaaa...." With a deep sigh, I decided to speak about it since it would seem like I was looking down on her if I hid it. "You are inciting me to grow a kink with that choker around your neck." Imented with a yful smile, trying to change the topic, because no matter what she thought about it, I absolutely couldn''t bring myself to talk about it. It wasn''t that I was embarrassed about losing; the being in question was too strong, maybe stronger than Isha in her perfect goddess form. "T-that!!! Don''t change the topic!!!" Isha elbowed back towards my stomach, prompting a chuckle. ''F**k my luck.'' I cursed inwardly. "The thing is..." * ... No, I didn''t say it the first time. I tried my best to change the topic and spoke about something else in a roundabout way too, but nothing worked. Isha seems to be a bit too smart for me. After a half hour or so, under Isha''s persistence, I couldn''t help but open my mouth, and after I revealed everything, Isha was speechless and terrified beyond belief. I just truthfully told everyone everything I felt. I didn''t know if I exaggerated or underestimated the being''s strength, but I knew for sure that not one thing I said was a lie, even though everything I said seemed to be exaggerated. "..... What should we do?" Isha asked in a slightly trembling voice. At this point, I didn''t know how to feel about this; I know that I too would be in the same condition as her if she were in this kind of predicament, but I really hoped she wouldn''t get involved in it. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but the moment she said "we," I knew that she would involve herself in this matter no matter how I pursue her not to. "Haaa.... Getting stronger is the only way." I mumbled under my breath; I didn''t know if it was because of my twisted mentality, but I had no other way through this predicament except strength. "Do you want to use it?" Isha asked, pointing at my left hand as she sat on her knees on the couch in front of me. ncing down, I saw the clock of fate in my grip. Maybe it was intentional, but I had this in my hands after I woke up. * After a few minutes of pondering, "No." I shook my head, dismissing all the annoying thoughts that were forcing me to use it. ''If I use it, I get back all of my powers, mana and all, but'' I thought, and at the end of my thoughts, ''This contains my power,'' I remembered what the being had said. I should at least learn from my past, so no matter what, I never want to regress, again. "No, I won''t use it." As soon as those words left my mouth, the clock trembled violently as its hands began to turn at an extreme rate. SSSHHHHHHIIIINNNNNNNN... BOOM With a subtle explosion, the clock busted, releasing a pitch-ck smoke that engulfed both Isha and me in it. "!!!!" [One from the Infinite activated.] I, Isha, and the ever-scribbling, pitch-ck masked figure stood in front of each other; no one spoke for a few seconds until Isha took a step forward, towards the masked figure, who instead flinched and took a step back as his gaze and indifference ttered, soon turning into one of mncholy. "Eshwar?" Isha mumbled, covered her mouth with her trembling left palm as she tried to reach the masked figure with her extended right arm. Confused by the situation, I, unable to bear her calling someone else by my name, held her wrist, pulled her back, and red at the masked figure as I yelled, "What did you do to her, you basta*d?!!!!" "!!!!" With a loud gasp, I snapped out of my daze and noticed that the pitch-ck smoke had yet topletely engulf us. ''What was that?'' I muttered in my mind. And then the smoke engulfed uspletely. With a sense of deja vu, I looked around, finding ourselves in a strange ck space filled with stars. It was strangely simr to my domain of vignce, but entirely different, as it was stronger and a lot more omnipotent. Yeah, it felt something like that. "Who would have thought that would reject my power..." The masked man materialised in front of us, but his words halted as soon as his gazended on me and Isha¡ªno, only Isha, to be more precise. "You, why have you brought her here?" The masked man abruptly yelled at me, but I couldn''t figure out his intent behind those words, as it felt both d and terrified at the same time. Neither of us spoke another word after that. "Eshwar?" Isha mumbled and took a step forward, and the scene I saw when I was under the title''s influence began to repeat itself in front of me. Since I too wanted to know what was going on, I held in the urge to pull Isha back, since no matter what, she was stronger than me now, as she was a goddess, and the system''s reset hadn''t really affected her while the pocket system only helped her grow stronger. "Answer her." I mumbled out loud involuntarily, speaking out my inner thoughts without even being aware of them. My voice carried a strange,manding power, slightly simr to that of the masked man. With ttered steps, the masked man began to pace around. I didn''t know why, but I felt like he was pondering how to handle the situation, just like I did when I didn''t want to answer Isha''s questions just a few moments ago. "You... you are me?" Unable to hold it in any longer, I mumbled out aloud, only to notice the masked figure halt in his steps. "Y-yu-you said you''d speak to me no matter what how dangerous it was, so if you don''t speak to me, then I won''t ever speak to you again, "Eshwar." And you know how stubborn I can be, so speak." Isha said, and both mine and the masked figure''s bodies froze as we gazed at Isha as if she had betrayed us. ""You can''t do that; it was that son of a bit*h''s fault!!!!"" Both I and the masked figure spoke in unison, pointing fingers at each other. "....." "..." "..." "Why were you putting on airs then?" Chapter 296 295. What Really Happened. After contemting on whether I should just reveal the truth or just erase their memories and send them back, I decided to reveal the truth because, except for traumatising my other half, there was no other benefit in hiding the truth since I was already free from thews of the world. "Answer for the first and most important question: Yes, I am Eshwar." I said, ignoring the surprised expressions on my other half''s and Isha''s faces, and I removed my ever-scribbling pitch-ck mask. "Are you sure you can reveal your face so dully?" My other half asked, to which my mouth twitched in annoyance. "I apologise; continue." My other half apologised quickly with an annoying smirk on his face. "Eshwar." Isha called out, and ""Hmm?"" Both I and my other half nced at her with our brows raised. "N-no, no, umm, eh? Huh? Y-yu-you? No, you!! What should I call you?" With the cutest and most confused face, Isha asked, pointing her finger at me. "Hm~ What do you mean? You should call me Eshwar~" I appeared behind Isha with a yful smile on my face, picked her up, ced her on myp, and hugged her tightly from behind, as my gaze turned misty involuntarily. "Hahahaha, how much I missed you!" I mumbled as I relished her warmth, thinking of how many gods I had fought against just to feel this warmth, how many times I had died for it, just to be with her; for once I had seeded, someone other than me had enjoyed herpany. With that thought, I nced at my other half with hatred. "Hoho, how much I want to kill you for hurting her." I mumbled, gritting my teeth, as I red at my other half with tears filling my eyes. While I did everything I could just to be with her again, that as*hole had hurt her more than the gods themselves. "E-Eshwar!" Isha mumbled, and when I looked down at her, I noticed that she had an extremely worried expression on her face, making me furrow my brows at her. "Are you hurt?" I asked and noticed her flinch in my arms; only then did I notice the involuntary killing intent that was oozing out of my body. "S-sorry." I apologised and ceased the entirety of my presence, scared of scaring her. ncing at my other half from the corner of her eyes, Isha gently pushed my arms back, slowly got up, and sat down next to him before giving me a stern gaze that demanded answers. Though my heart clenched at her actions, I did my best not to show it on my face, but looking at how Isha''s face twisted in regret, I realised I had failed. "You could say that we, he and I, are the different sides of the same coin." I began to exin with a bitter smile. "He is.... a part of my soul, while I am the entire, original Eshwar." I said, ignoring their shocked looks, and I continued. "You only have memories until you, no, my body began to crack from all the divinity that descended upon me." I said, staring at both Isha and my other half, who nodded their heads in response. "Let''s keep you aside for now, since you really did die at that time." I said this to Isha with a bitter smile. "I...." Isha opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself, pressing her lips. "Why did you think that you died at that time?" I asked my other half. "Huh? What''s that supposed to mean...." He said with a frown, but he was cut short by Isha. "You could have just regressed.... Like you always did." Isha said this with an enlightened look on her face. "At least she is smarter than my dumb half." I scoffed at my other half. p¦Á§ád¦Á §«?¦Í¨º|,§ã¨°§® "You!!! What are you? How are you? Are you alright?" My other half gently pushed Isha off and zoomed towards me. He clenched my cor and red at me with a pained expression on his face. PATT! "What was that for?" My other half red at me after getting pped by me. I simply pointed my finger at Isha, who was more shocked and terrified by the revtion, scared to even imagine the hell I have been through again. "Don''tpare my life with that. At that time, I didn''t have a reason to fight, but after you died, I had a reason to hunt down the gods." I said and made the trembling Isha float towards me, and I ced her in the middle after slightly pushing back my other half, and I stared at them as my other halfforted her. * After a few minutes. "What''s wrong?" Isha asked, looking at me. "Well, you seemed scared of me." I said in a teasing tone, looking at her apologetic expression, I felt like a jerk. "And... I am looking at you after a very, very, very, very long time. I don''t think you know how heavenly I feel right now that I''m looking at you." I expressed my emotions, and it was just the tip of an iceberg that came out of my mouth, and I certainly did feel extremely happy looking at her. I mean, I hadn''t seen her for trillions of years, and as tedious as fighting the gods was, the more tedious it was not being able to see her again. I had even thought of why I was doing what I was doing just for a single woman, and by the next instance, something within roared, because she was "my woman." And that was it; from then on, that question never appeared in my mind. "I.... I know how horrifying it is to watch everything repeat themselves over and over and over again, until all of my emotions go numb, not being able to do anything but look at those terrifying things happen again and again. I know how it feels to look at the graves of those who once I thought to be precious, until you be horrified to love somebody, I know..." My other half continued to ramble, but "I. I am Eshwar; I do not need self-pity, definitely not from somebody who''s my literal half. I tolerate everything I know I can, and I will tolerate it if something that''s mine is on the line, doesn''t matter how little significance it has." I said in a low but powerful enough tone, putting an end to his ramblings. "What?" I asked Isha, who was looking at me with a sympathetic gaze. "Nothing...." Isha shook her head with an audible gulp, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Anyway, let''s continue; where was I?" I asked, even though I remembered it. "Why he thought that he had died at that time." Isha said it with a serious look on her face. "Yes, I hadn''t died that time; instead, even though I was crumbling, in my mind I thought it was supposed to be like that, so I hadn''t resisted whatever was happening to me. After a few days, I finally stopped receiving divinity, so when I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of densely grown grass, and in front of me was still apletely healthy and sleeping, beautiful goddess, Isha....or so I had thought, until I caressed the cutely sleeping Isha''s cheek, only to find a perfectly healthy, but cold, dead body of Isha." I mumbled, and I felt dead inside as I remembered that day as if it were yesterday. Without looking at the expressions on their faces, I continued. "Drowning in despair, I began to sniff out the traces of divinity, and soon I felt traces of your divinity spread out all over the world, and from then on, I began to look for the strongest source of your divinity, but when I found it, I was in front of a god, a fallen god to be precise, and after a long devastating fight, I killed it and got a piece of your soul, so creating a theory of my own, I was enraged at the gods, who were responsible for your death, and began to hunt down every single one of them." I said, and just the thought of it enraged my entire existence, but I controlled my anger because I had be a being whose rage could destroy literal universes. "Collecting the piece of your soul, I ended up a few pieces short, whose traces I couldn''t find; with a mere thought of eptance, I ascended to godhood and fell into the divine realm, only to begin my hunt again. It wasn''t long before I felt my strength surpassing the few minor gods around me, and that was enough for me to dere war against the gods. Since I was just a minor god at that time, none of the gods took me seriously, and since they had underestimated me, I had the upper hand, and I was able to catch many off guard and kill them off." I said it in a huff, as just the thought of those gods aggravated me. I was still hiding many facts in the story I was narrating to them, like how many times I had died before being able to kill those fallen gods, how petrifying it felt just being in their presence, and many other things, but if I went into much detail, I knew they wouldn''t be able to handle the consequences that would befall themter on. "As time passed, I received the title Berserker, and as my indifference while massacring the gods grew, my title also began to change ordingly, until I was called the IBOTT, the Indifferent Berserker Of The Twilight." I exined the facts behind the title while staring into my other half''s eyes. "By that time, I had half of your soul, and it wasn''t enough for the "cycle of rebirth" to ept you as a plete" existence, so I continued to search for the pieces of your soul, and at the end, I couldn''t defeat all the gods and died." I said, and as soon as my words ended, I looked at Isha in her eyes, "It was then, and only then, did I find another piece of your soul." "Which was stuck to my soul." Chapter 297 296. What Really Happened. (2) (AN: edited)r "Almost half of your soul was stuck on mine." I revealed, but I didn''t receive the surprised look on Isha''s face that I was expecting, meaning that she knew, and she intentionally did something like that. I didn''t know why she did what she did, but the small smile on her face indicated that whatever she was trying to do, she seeded in doing so.r "I need an exnation." I demanded. r With a long, deep sigh, "I..." Isha began to exin her reasoning.r "I just wanted to "reincarnate" in which ever world you were going to reincarnate in." She exined, and knowing that there was more, I simply continued to stare at her.r "But I hadn''t expected nor thought about what would happen if the cycle of rebirth didn''t consider my existence as a whole. I just thought that if we reincarnated into the same world, then you being you, you would have definitely searched for me, and when we be...." Isha exined, but turned beet red when her words neared the end. Though confused by her behaviour, neither I nor my other half spoke.r "W-w-when we b-be-be "one," m-my s-soul would have healed itself,pletely." She said, even though I understood what she was trying to say, I couldn''t help the urge to tease her, andr "What do you mean by bing "one?"" I asked, and my other half, who had his cheeks and ears red, pressed his lips together, trying to hold back from chuckling.r "Y-yu-you!!!!" She roared with a red face.r "I mean, I haven''t been in touch with the human domain for a "lot" of years, so I don''t know what you younglings are talking about." I acted like an old man with a small smile on my face.r "Intercourse!!! I was taking about intercourse!!!" She yelled in a huff, with a flushed face.r "Hahahahahaha, in... hahaha, intercourse!! Hahaha!!!" Unable to hold hisughter any longer, my other halfughed his a*s off, not literally.r *rplease visit After a few minutes, a deep, eerie silence descended upon the world of consciousness.r So, I decided to continue on with my story. "Well, I didn''t know that at that time, so I, in a crazed killing spree, continued to hunt through the gods, just to die again, and again, and again, until I had gotten numb to pain and death, gotten rid of the emotions, such as fear of death, fear of loss, feelings of love, affection, almost everything, except rage, and stood at the apex of the gods, and I was even close to annihting all the gods from their existence, but I wasn''t able to at the end, and I died again." r "Enraged by that fact, my body busted out all the divinity in my body together with the killing intent, which was just as intense as the divinity that I umted over the years of fighting against the gods. Unbeknownst to me at that time, with both of my powers oozing out, something unexpected happened, and both of them merged together, gaining me a new ability called Divine Intent. None of the gods themselves knew what that was, and not understanding how to use my divinity with my killing intent, I continued to use it however I saw fit. Later, I learned that, as long as I had divinity, I wouldn''t be able to kill the gods entirely."r "As long as divinity exists, the gods will be resurrected, no matter how many times I kill them."r "But after far, far, far long constant hunts and deaths, I understood that it wasn''t the divinity nor the gods that mattered, but thews of the divine. The divinews had proimed my existence as a threat to the divine realm, so no matter what I did, nothing but death awaited me. It doesn''t matter if I annihted the gods except for a single god; the divinews would put a halo of 100% luck on the god, only to get me killed. After learning about the entire truth, I died, but I didn''t ascend to godhood after regressing; instead, I began to think of ways that would guarantee my survival in my war against the gods, as I lived amongst the mortals of Antino¨¹s while deriving a foul proof n. After thousands of failed ns and after learning about the Antino¨¹s inside out, I finally managed to create one, a single n with no n B, and I acted on it."r "The n had a single goal, and that was to make it so that the worldly restraints on me would be broken. The requirements for that n were me, a world of the lower realm, and an existence that had already defied at least a minorw of that world."r "Exactly when thatst thought popped up in my mind, my novel''s character, Vassago, came to mind. It was a character that had defied thews of the world by defying the most basic demonicw, and since that existence, Vassago had a "host" without even forming a contract with the host first. Such a thing shouldn''t be possible, well, a lot of things shouldn''t be possible in my novel, but that''s besides the fact."r "With such thoughts in my mind, I decided to "create" a world, Earth to be precise, and since a world was the most basic requirement ording to my n, I created a world with my novel as its outline."r "Every piece of the puzzle was in ce, except for one: me."r "It was at that moment that I got greedy.... Since I was creating life, defying the divinews, I thought, why not? Just why shouldn''t I create an existence that''s strong enough to hold Isha''s soul? Though it wasn''tplete, I, at least, had the most of it. Maybe it was that greed of mine that kept me afar from her?"r "With that, I created the world resembling Earth and my novel; I gave it the "value" a "world" deserves; I gave the world a past and a present; but the moment I was about to give it a future, my divinity had almost depleted; with ast push, I managed to give that world a future up to a certain limit; but after connecting my existence into that world, I noticed my consciousness slip, and that was it."r "By the next moment I woke up, I had turned into a chained rabid beast." Chapter 298 297. What Really Happened. (3) (AN: Edited)r ***r "By the next moment I woke up, I had turned into a chained rabid beast."r "I was trapped inside a being who was me, yet he wasn''t me at the same time; the being only had the "crazed" part of "me"; he was crazy, a mentally retarded arrogant f**k...." r "Ahem!!!" Clearing his throat loudly, my other half gave me a stern look. r "Anyway, I, too, am a being who was born a human; I have a lot of emotions, except for just being a mentally retarded prick. Even though he was a lot like me, he wasn''t even the strongest half of me. By the looks of it, he had only received my strongest emotions.... Let''s stop going off topic."r "After that, being unable to do anything but watch from the inside, I watched his life unfold; he met you, while I wasn''t even able to show my happiness on the outside, he got stronger, madepanions, who were just the people influenced by my novel, fought against many monsters, demons, humans, vampires, fiends, and finally the demon king, and won, but he wasn''t, at any point, even close to being strong enough to even make an influence on the divinews; being unable to bear it any longer, I used a bit of my strength and killed him." r "Just like old times, he regressed, but he didn''t have his memories while I had them, and since I was the "original," I didn''t need to think about why for a long while. Even though he was existing "physically," that was all he was "allowed" to; everything about "him" was mine, since he was, at the end of the day, none other than me." r "At his next life, I gave him hints and visions of what he had to do, only to have myself chained more and more. Initially, I, who had five chains around my neck, wrists, and anklesbined, at that time, I had at least ten chains restraining me from using my powers to do anything."r "After many simrly passing lives, I had learned everything about my world inside out. At a certain point in time of life, he had trusted the novel-influenced characters so much that he had left you in their care, but since you don''t feelfortable with anyone except for me or a part of me, they weren''t of any help, and finally, unable to bear everything by yourself, you killed yourself. It was at that time that I finally had enough, and with the intent to destroy the world, I roared from the inside. I, who had turned into a chain-covered doll, noticed the chains around me crack as my divine intent slipped through the holes in the chains, before engulfing my chained self entirely. But before the chains brokepletely, they reinforced themselves and trapped me inside again, but this time I had a very few chances to interfere with my physical self."r "Using that, I made the current him, Eshwar, my other half, have a vision, and I guided him whenever it involved you, slightly influencing his emotions and thoughts, but what I hadn''t expected was that he would get my indifference state."r (AN: talking about the inner thoughts, words, and vision mentioned in vol 1: introduction.)r "I have be an omniscient being in this world and in the Earth that you guys stayed in before; well, I am omniscient entirely now." With that, I closed my exnation. I could "know" how they would react if I wanted to, but since I wouldn''t be able to handle hearing them, I held back from doing so. I needed only a mere thought to learn about how everybody would feel; of course, I should. If I couldn''t, then how would I narrate it to you guys? Heh. r (AN: "OMNISCIENT POV" I have been mentioning from the beginning is narrated by that omniscient existence. I could just use chapter breaks to change the POV, but I kept mentioning it because of this (slightly unnned). XD)r "I have a few questions." My other half said but began to ask without waiting for my consent.r "Are you the one who took away my abilities?" He asked, and I simply nodded my head in response.r "How many times have you regressed?" he asked with his brows furrowed.r "At least a zillion times." I replied honestly.r "The flow of time is vastly superior to the mortal world, so it would be better that you don''tpare it." I advised, at which, though dazed, Isha nodded her head in agreement.r "You were the strongest?" Surprisingly, this time, it was Isha who asked a question, but I wasn''t that surprised because I knew she would, since she''s the one who knows more about the divine realm than my other half.rplease visit "Yes." r "Why couldn''t you kill the gods then?" She asked again.r "Because of the divinews, as I exined previously. In the fight, I noticed that the lucky halo seemed to stack from god to god. If I somehow manage to kill one, the next one would get the dead god''s luck, and I noticed that the attacks with which I was able to kill the first good wouldn''t work on the other." I exined.r "How did you defy the divinews in the first ce?" She asked again.r "Find a loophole, as simple as that. As you already know, the divine realm didn''t have a "true" god." I said, to which she subconsciously nodded her head.r "What.... would happen to me when our souls merge?" My other half asked.r "You wouldn''t even know it." I smiled brightly and continued.r "Because you are just returning to me, to your rightful ce, but since I know that isn''t the answer you''re expecting, I will remain, or it''s right to say that the maximum of me will remain."r * r After a few minutes of silence,r I exined that all the abilities he had before and which he has right now were something I had given him in hopes that he would get reckless and do something that was worth something simr to defying the divinews. Though I could feel his disappointment and depression, I didn''t do anything and let him face reality.r "It would take time for our souls to merge back." I said with a sigh.r "I am too strong to simply use the current body, so I''ll slowly get ustomed to it; it was also for that reason that I have you and those new skills of yours." I said to my other half.r "I will show you the parts of the future I know, and you will act in the best possible way and make it so that nothing is going off track; if things go off track by too much, then the consequences would be dire, because while I''m strong, you are extremely weak; you would die by the time you stand in front of a "proper" god, not a minor one that was killed by you." I exined. r "The present is something even I haven''t seen in many other pasts or futures, so you are on your own for a small, little while." I said and turned to face Isha. Walking towards her, I gently took her hand and, with a polite bow, kissed the back of her hand.r "I love you, though it was slightly underwhelming, and everything I, no, my other half, had said when he proposed to you was true." With that, I sent them back. Resisting the urge to pass out, my other half wobbled in front of me. Of course, I knew that, and I only tried to knock him back to consciousness, lightly. I had nned to not send him back if he even posed the slightest hint of resistance.r "Were you the one that created Eunomia?" He asked, and with a smile,r "Yes," I answered.r "Remember, I do not want to use force, but if you even think of denying my existence as our souls merge back, I''ll kill you without an ounce of hesitation, since that isn''t something new to me, neither is killing you nor is killing myself."r Chapter 299 298. Ulterior Motive. With that warning, I nced back as my gaze peered through the universal stars, gxies, and cosmos, until itnded on a certain glowing, blinding white blob that had its gaze peering back at me. "You heard everything, right?" I asked, but I didn''t really need an answer as I knew what it would be, so without waiting for an answer, I continued. "Well, that''s the whole truth, which they should know about for now. I told them about the divinews and other things because they are already at a god''s level. While Isha is already a goddess, the same can''t be said about my other half, who is as strong as a god without even bing one." I exined, noticing the extreme fluctuations in the blob''s emotions, and with a flick of my fingers, I appeared right in front of it. Flinching at my actions, the blob backed away. With a hurt sigh, "System. Retrieve the deleted data. Make Eunomia remember me." Imanded the system. [Initiating....] [Initiated taskpleted.] With a massive wave of emotions, Eunomia turned herself into a cute, doll-like child, wearing a fairy dress, before she lunged herself towards me, embracing me with her small hands around my neck, as I supported her by cing my right arm behind her knees and patting her back while she began to sob. With that, she should have remembered all of her "deleted" memories, in which existed all the moments we spent together as a father and daughter, every single moment from the moment I poured her a consciousness. I had showered her with all the love I had for her, not in the least excessively as I spoiled her like crazy. Of course, I would! She was my daughter, and she had every moment a daughter should have with her father, sadly, which included even parting. I deleted her memories, hoping she won''t be burdened by it too much. If she went crazy since I went missing, many gxies and universes would have ceased to exist, but once I was sure where I was, I hoped to have her retrieve her memories, but since I was trapped inside my other half, I wasn''t able to. She, who was burdened with the responsibility of an omniscient being, gained a sense of self and her childlike nature because of me, since there was no way in hell that I would have left my daughter with all that sh*t tonne of responsibilities. I had even gotten very angry when my other half was cursing at the system in the beginning, not that I was able to do anything. It was also because of my influence on his emotions that he was able to ept the fact that Eunomia was his daughter without even questioning it, neither thinking too much about it nor finding it weird. "Now, now, why is my sweet daughter crying? I didn''t ask the system to make you remember who I am for this!" I patted her back gently. "How dare I make my lovely daughter cry?!" I muttered in a huff and knuckled the back of my head, prompting a soft giggle from Eunomia.please visit "Why didn''t you tell them theplete truth, papa?" Eunomia asked, ignoring her own hurt state. "Well, there are only a few things I hid from then. I haven''t told them of the fact that it was only after you came into existence that the divinews were forced to take a step back, which then finally allowed the gods and the goddesses to interfere with the worlds in the higher realm." I said, pretending to not have noticed how embarrassed she was from crying like a kid. "Then, why didn''t you tell mama about "that" truth, papa?" Eunomia asked as she leaned back with her back supported by my hand, staring at me with a small puff on her cheeks. Resisting the urge to bite her puffy cheeks and knowing what she was talking about, "Because if she knew that she is the reason that the loopholes in the divinews exist in the first ce, then she wouldn''t hesitate to go on a hunting spree, killing all the gods that betrayed her, the instance that she knew of that truth. I didn''t; no, I couldn''t bring myself to talk to her about it because she isn''t strong enough yet, it wasn''t that I thought she was weak, it''s just that I definitely don''t want to see her get hurt again. I exined my reasoning. "Then why did you lie to your other half and not take over the body instantly? I know that there is nothing like a strong soul that wouldn''t fit in a weak body. If something like that existed, then none of the humans would be able to live in their bodies right now. And you would have been able to get ustomed to that body of yours by the end of the day." Eunomia looked at me with her eyes twinkling with curiosity. Patting her head, I said, with a crazed, cruel smile creeping up on my face, "Hope. To give him a hopeless hope¡ªthat he could do something to be whole without me. Which was also the reason I warned him before sending him back entirely. nting a seed of a "possibility" in his mind, as he doesn''t even realise that he is me and that there is absolutely nothing he could do without my knowledge, no matter what and no matter how." "Why go that far? He is you, and you are him...." Eunomia said, but I cut her short. "No, Eunomia, he is me, but I''m not him. I won''t say that he is inferior to me or that his suffering is lesser than mine, or some bullsh*t like that, since while my suffering was mine, his suffering was mine too. It''s not that I''m ming him or asking him to share my suffering as I did; those are just facts. I know too much about the world to be him, while he knows nothing to be me; if he knows everything and he manages to retain even a bit of his ignorant personality at the end of it, then I would praise him for it, but he can never be me, nor do I want him to be like me." I exined. ''It just hurts too much. If I am given the option to give up and move forward on the same thorny path, then I would rather keep moving forward than give up my previous experiences, wasting them.'' I kept those thoughts to myself. "And I will go that far because he is yet to be punished for hurting Isha like that." Chapter 300 299. Playing Right Into "His" Hands. Jolting back into their consciousness, Isha and Eshwar sat dazed in front of a broken, golden, divine-looking clock. Suddenly, "Oh, I forgot to mention the "hero" or "protagonist" of this world; you''ll know who it is with a mere nce at the academy. And remember that I am an omnipotent being that''s free, meaning I can do whatever I want." It was then that they heard "his" voice in their minds; while Eshwar shuddered in fear for a split second, Isha''s lips curled up into a beautiful smile, involuntarily. * My mind was in aplete mess; how could anybody stay calm, sane, and still, knowing that their existence itself was under threat? I don''t know about the others, but I definitely want one of them. They say that if one repeats a lie in their minds for a longer period of time, then they themselves will begin to believe that lie as if it were the truth. "I''ll just lie to myself." I mumbled out loud involuntarily. Hearing my words, Isha frowned deeply, but with my mind being in chaos, I didn''t care about it right now. With a mind-numbing headache, I was entirely immersed in my thoughts, when "ESHWAR!!!" Isha''s loud yell snapped me out of my reverie, and as I looked down, and found myself drenched in cold sweat. "Haaaa...." With a deep sigh, I could only clench my hands and, ''F**k!'' I cursed inwardly. "I''m alright." I said and calmed down myself from thinking too much bullsh*t. ''These are the times when I should like myself. If he is me, then I''ll just ept it, just like I did with myself when I was trying to figure out who I was.'' I thought inwardly, and my chaotic mind calmed down, albeit slightly. (AN: Mentioned something simr in ch 214: Who am I? (2)) After thinking about what and all "he" had said, ''Oi, if the gods couldn''t be killed with the divinity, then what did you kill them with?'' I thought inwardly. ''The power of my soul.'' And just as I had expected, he could hear my thoughts, which would be troublesome even if I started the game of my survival. And what''s the power of a soul? I was thinking about all these thoughts while rejecting his existence, and I wanted to try something bybining my theory with what he had said at the end. "....." ''There isn''t a reply!'' I thought in joy, and ''For what?'' I shuddered when I abruptly heard his voice in my head, but I was too overjoyed about my theory turning out to be true. ''What''s the power of a soul? Isn''t there an anime about this? I love the action scenes in that anime, though.'' I thought, and sure enough, this time the answer came. ''Of course, that was also the base of the technique I created, and though it works simrly, it is a lot different.'' He, my original, said,please visit ''Since magic spells are nearly useless on Antino¨¹s, whenpared to martial arts, the techniques I created could be said to be the best, but I don''t think you can learn them yet.'' He said, raising and killing off all of my hopes at the same time. If it''s simr, then I can create my own too. With that thought in my mind and a grin on my face, I nced at Isha, and my grin turned soft. ''F**king hell, my mind was so messed up for a split second that I even thought of using Isha to hurt him, making him submit.'' As soon as that thought cruised through my mind, my existence itself began to tremble in fear, knowing who the cause of it was. ''I know, and I''m sorry. I wasn''t in the right state of mind after hearing everything you said.'' I apologised inwardly. ''Urckh!!!'' It felt like something was crushing my very existence. Shuddering violently at that experience, I passed out¡ªno, I was about to¡ªbut the pain stopped right at that moment. "What''s wrong?" Isha asked with a concerned look on her face, and thinking that I really don''t deserve her, I scooted over and hugged her tightly. ''You are right about you not deserving her.'' My original said with a scoff. "It''s alright. Now that we know that he is none other than yourself, we don''t have to worry about being scared of him." Isha consoled me, and since I wasn''t really looking for constion, ignoring my original''s existence, I bit her neck, which earned me a soft moan from Isha. * The next morning, Isha and Eshwar woke up and made their way to the capital''s outskirts, from where they nned to use a gate to get to the academy''s premises. "I''ll drive!" Isha said joyfully and sat on the front seat without waiting for an answer, while Eshwar sighed with a smile on his face and sat in the backseat, as Isha started the bike and drove off. It was only after a few seconds that Isha realised what would happen if Eshwar sat in the backseat. As his hands flitted around her waist, his right hand slowly slid downward while his left hand climbed up, sending a subtle yet pleasurable shivers through Isha''s body. ''Th-this... this....this guy!!!'' Isha roared inwardly as his hands continued to make their way towards their destination. "Stop! I can''t drive like this!!!'' Isha yelled at the naughty, no, h*rny man sitting on the backseat! "Are you sure?" Eshwar asked cheekily, pretending to not know what she was talking about. "Yes! Sit still like a good boy!" Isha said in a huff and pouted cutely as Eshwar''s hand moved up and held her chin, making her turn to face him as he captured her lips as she drove the bike. "!!!!!" With her eyes wide open, ''You can kiss like this? I.... didn''t know about this.'' She thought and looked at the road ahead from the corner of her eyes, but it wasn''t long before she found it hard to resist the kiss, so she broke the kiss, stopped the bike, turned around, and sat on hisps, kissing him as he drove the bike. Well, the bike had yet to move, even though there were only a few hours before the academy started, but now it was the least of their concerns. Chapter 301 300. The Academy. The young masters and the youngdies of the noble households were all at higher levels. Because, for the honour of their households, they were asked to get stronger than the "others" from other noble households, under this fierce, unhealthypetition amongst the noble households, the ignorant and arrogant children of such houses were forced to get stronger, no, "level up," as the master of the household had their military forces bring in the higher-ranked monsters that were beaten to the verge of death, with the thoughts of abusing the system''s levelling up function to the fullest. Then, when the monsters were killed by the young masters or the youngdies with a single stab or a sh, they, Levelled up! With such methods, the nobles got stronger as time passed, while themoners with actual talent and courage were forced to stay in their houses by theirmoner parents, who were scared of losing their kids. Well, it was the same with the few noble households in the beginning, as they spoke about the warrior''s pride and honour, not letting their kids take the same path as the kids from the other noble households, since in a world where the strong ruled, the weak had no option but to submit to the stronger power, which also applied to the kids from the noble households that refused to level up. Under constant peer pressure and constant, abusive bullying by the strong, they couldn''t do anything except submit to the strong, even though their own households held the higher power in the political fields of the empire and the kingdoms. A few bigger noble households soon implemented the tasks and trials for the session of the household, but when they faced major losses in resources and heirs in their families, they too couldn''t help but have their heirs'' level up using "different" means, just like the other noble households. It wasn''t that there weren''t any consequences for levelling up like that, but since the academy existed, they weren''t in the least bothered by such insignificant things. The consequences for levelling up in those measures were that none of those who levelled up had any control over their strengths and magic power, which oozed out constantly, and since they weren''t trained properly, things only got worse continuously. Such consequences always did more harm than good, for which the nobles soon got adapted to the academy, which soon after became a prestige in itself and a matter of honour all around the empire and the kingdoms. While none of the academic staff, who got stronger through hard work and by pouring blood, sweat, and tears into training themselves for years, liked that fact about the nobles, they absolutely despised the nobles for making their kids go through such experiences. Just think about it for a moment. How would a child feel about killing a terrifying-looking monster, and what would they feel after killing it? Even if they were forced to do such things, it wasn''t like they didn''t feel anything! *** After kissing for a few minutes, Isha noticed that they weren''t moving and pped Eshwar on his shoulder, before scolding him and getting off to drive. Well, she tried, and it wasn''t like Eshwar was going to let her go so easily, but due to her pouting, he used [Link] on the bike and rode it while he continued to kiss her. It was alreadyte when they arrived at the academy. Only then did Isha remember that she had taken a leave, so it wasn''t necessarily necessary for her to be there so hurriedly, but since they were already there, she thought that it was a chance to get Eshwar admitted to the academy, so she spoke with the polite receptionist from yesterday. * In a room filled with sections for each professor of the academy, two figures were seen chatting, standing in front of each other while leaning back against the nearby sections. "That''s exactly what I''m saying! They are worse than the young masters of the noble households! How did they survive in their world with such poor strengths?" A man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes grumbled in a huff. "They did say that their world''s monsters were a lot weaker, and that their world didn''t have many variants of different monsters and beasts in the first ce." Another man with purplish ck hair and purple eyes said with a slight sigh, understanding his friend''s frustration.please visit "I was hoping to have at least one talent that can be polished into an unbreakable gem that shines brighter than the rest, like that guy.... What was his name again?" The dark-brown-haired man asked. "Charlie. Charlie Rowse was his name." Neal, the purplish ck-haired man said. "Yeah, Charli-" Reynolds, the dark-brown-haired man, mumbled, but his mumbles were cut short by his smartphone''s subtle chime. "Hello, Lady Grace! Why did you call me? Did Lady Grace miss me? Oh m-" Reynolds began to flirt with the receptionist as soon as he took the call, but he was cut off before he continued his rambling. "Haaa...." Neal couldn''t help but sigh at his friend''s yet another futile attempt to woo thedy cheetah. [Enough. There is a new admission; since the tests have been closed for a week already, I didn''t have a choice, so I contacted you, so get your a*s down here and take him to the sparring ground.] Grace, the "polite" receptionist,manded Reynolds extremely "politely." "Aye, aye-" Reynolds smiled at her usual behaviour, and just as he was about to agree, he heard something he never thought he would hear. [The new cadet is quite handsome; if you don''t get here fast, I think you''ll lose your chance to woo me.] Grace said and hung up. BEEP-BEEP "....." Reynolds, who was a handsome man himself, found himself fuming at Lady Grace''s words, since not once had she said something like that about anybody till date and had nowplimented a man for his handsomeness, knowing full well that Reynolds wouldn''t be able to handle it. "Hohoho, you''re done for now, buddy. I don''t know who you are, but you messed up." Reynolds mumbled with a constant train of scoffs. "For what? For being born handsome?" Neal mumbled under his breath, but Reynolds, who heard it, red at his friend and stomped out of the room. "Hahaha!!" Chuckling to himself, Neal followed after his friend. Chapter 302 301. Adapting. Chapter 302 301. Adapting Aftermanding Reynolds, Grace introduced herself to Isha and Eshwar before taking them to the sparring ground, since it seemed like it would take some time for Reynolds and Neal to get there, after Isha rejected her offer to show them around the academy since Isha herself had already memorised most of it in the past week. The sparring ground was as big as a coliseum from Earth, and the inside was very coliseum-y like too. The inside was arge, pristine, matted field that had tonnes of seats for the onlookers surrounding it. The ground seemed to be at least 1000 feet wide, and the ceiling above was filled with lighting that lit the whole coliseum. ''I must say, I wasn''t exaggerating when I said he was handsome, and the woman next to him and her goddess-like beauty¡ª1 is eptable, but two insanely good-looking people? Haa.... Where do these stunning-looking peoplee from? It''s like there was a continent that was filled with people like this that I didn''t know of?'' Grace thought inwardly and shook her head with a sigh, then abruptly, with an audible gasp, ''Is there a continent with people this good-looking in the other world? No, no, but the people that came here weren''t this good-looking, but they were still many handsome men and beautiful women.'' Grace thought, and if somebody else knew what she was thinking, then they would have stared at her with deadpan looks on their faces. Since she herself was so gorgeous that even some beautiful women in the academy were envious of her! "I can''t see any weapons. Should I have brought one of my own?" The ck-haired man''s charming voice sounded behind Grace, who was walking ahead. With a bright smile, she turned to answer him, but looking at the bright smiles on the couple''s slightly serious faces, Grace couldn''t bring herself to break the atmosphere around them. ''Th... they don''t seem like siblings?'' Grace thought, and "But they both have ck hair?" She mumbled out involuntarily. "Hm?" The man called Eshwar turned to face Grace, and just as he opened his mouth to answer her question, "Who is that newbie that dares to ask for an exception?" With a loud roar that resounded throughout the coliseum, THAT annoying man stomped into the sparring ground with his chuckling friend following behind him. "Haaa...." With a loud, exhausted sigh, Grace nced to the side at Eshwar and Isha, who were frowning at an unknown person''s appearance. "The annoyingly loud one is Reynolds. And the one behind him is Neal; both of them are best friends and the professors who are in charge of physical training." Grace introduced them, and with a small nod, their brows ceased to furrow. Walking towards them, Reynolds suddenly ignored Eshwar, who stood at the front, and walked towards Isha, who was standing behind him, "Ho? Who is this beautiful woman? Hello,dy, I''m Reynolds; nice to meet you. Are you free for a tea, mydy?" He said, and continued to close in on Isha, ignoring the man who was ring at him from the corner of his eyes. Seeing the gaze, Grace slightly flinched because the closer Reynolds got to Isha, the darker Eshwar''s bright eyes turned. "Where are the weapons?" Eshwar''s cold, hoarse voice sounded, and Grace, Neal, and Reynolds slightly flinched for reasons they couldn''t quite grasp. Narrowing their brows, they nced at the man who just spoke and noticed him ring at Reynolds with subtle killing intent oozing out from his body. ''Ho! Look at him!'' Grace thought with a smile on her face. Almost all of the people who came from the other world had killing intent, but none of their intents were even close to what was seeping out of the body of the man in front of them, and by the looks of it, they could understand that the man was doing his best to suppress it. All of the staffs in the academy were people who had fought with their lives on the line, and few were even among the very few who had participated and survived in the fourth God-subjection army, and the three of them had survived all four of them, so to make them flinch, the man in front of them sure was something else. ''Well, I could tell with a nce that he was dangerous, but I didn''t think it would be this much. It seems like the people of the other world didn''t have to fight much because of him.'' Grace thought. ''But having a killing intent doesn''t mean one''s strong; maybe he too is a dud like the ones from the other world.'' She muttered in her mind, and with a tap of her feet, a bright blue glow lit up beneath her feet, before a thin blue line extended out and a rectangle shape appeared on the ground that shot up soon after. In that hidden section were all kinds of weapons. Unfazed nor fascinated by the futuristic tech the academy disyed, Eshwar walked towards the weapons shelf and picked up different kinds of swords, which he swung twice before cing them back in the disy, before he picked up a broad sword and walked towards Isha.please visit "You okay with this?" He asked Isha, making Grace and the others frown in confusion. After swinging it around a few times, she handed back the sword to Eshwar and said, "It is. But why did you ask me?" With that question, they understood that even Isha was confused by Eshwar''s actions. "Well, I have a promise to keep, so I should at least change my weapon, so it won''t be an inconvenience for us when we fight together." Eshwar answered while looking at the sword in his hand, then walked to his side without noticing the warm expression Isha had. WHOOSH SHWOSH SWISH ..... ... * After a few minutes, he adapted himself to the broad sword at a frightening rate, which left Grace and others mildly shocked. WHOOOSH!!! With a small ripple, the sword swing came to an abrupt halt, even though the veins on Eshwar''s arms were popping up. Not a single shiver was seen on the broad sword, which he held as if it were his unflinching will. "Ready when you are." And with the words that came out of his mouth, they understood that he wasn''t in the least bit underestimating anyone present in front of him. With a prideful, confident, and threatening warrior-like aura oozing out of his body, Reynolds walked towards Eshwar with a smile stered on his face. "I''ll apologise for trying to provoke you earlier." He said, and all of his yfulness from earlier disappeared, and a solemn look appeared on his face. With an ominous, suffocating aura oozing out of him, "Come at me." Reynolds said. Chapter 303 302. Everything For The Great One. In a 200-foot-wide room, lit with chandeliers and scented candles burning in blue-coloured mes, except for a door in a corner and the air outlets surrounding the room, not a single window or another door was present. In the middle of the room was a pristine white metal board floating in mid-air with exactly sixteen chairs surrounding it, while four random seats were upied by two pairs of men and women who seemed to be waiting for somebody. TAK-TAK The door of the room opened and closed without making a single sound, as a hooded figure walked into the room with a heavy aura surrounding him. "You are here." A woman with bright blonde hair and clear blue eyes said as her icy gazended on the figure that walked in. She was wearing a heavy, luxurious set of clothes that seemed to belong to some higher-ranked person; her head stood tall with a straight back, as her elegance, grace, and confidence oozed out of her, giving her an overbearing yet respectful demeanour. Her name was "Zu''e Cerr Daemor," and she was the Queen of the Daemor Kingdom, which was the second allied kingdom of the empire. "Could you please stop with your disrespectful way of speaking, Queen Daemor?" Spoke a man with light blue hair and deep ocean blue eyes, as he narrowed his eyes at Queen Daemor. He too wore simr aesthetic clothes; his posture was upright; and the aura he was giving off was that of a warrior''s, which definitely did justice to his scar-filled hands, which were exposed since his clothes were sleeveless. His name was "Okisada Gon Amorreoryn," and he was the King of the Amorreoryn kingdom, which was the fourth allied kingdom of the empire. "Hopefully, King Amorreoryn also stops picking on somebody who is minding their own business." Spoke a woman with wavy red hair and blood red eyes, sharp yet delicate facial features, and a small scar on her right jawline. Her aura, too, was that of a warrior; it dominated King Amorreoryn''s. Her palms were filled with calluses and cut scars. Her name was "Marcia Sevada Eahavesite," and she was a Queen of the Eahavesite kingdom, which was the fifth allied kingdom of the empire. "Haaa...." Sighed a man with long, ponytailed blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. He had a calm yet slightly suffocating and respectful demeanour, but he wore the most luxurious clothes amongst all those present in the room. His name was "Alexandru Cynan Aewozia," and he was the King of the Aewozia kingdom, which was the first allied kingdom of the empire. "Please stop bickering amongst yourselves." Said the hooded figure, as he removed his hood after taking a seat at the edge of the floating, white metal board, revealing his shoulder-length raven ck hair and bright purple eyes. He has an overbearing, cunning, and tyrant-like demeanour, and that ominous smirk on his face didn''t help ease it. His name was "Godred Lemo Toyivalon," who was the King of the Toyivalon Kingdom, which was the third allied kingdom of the empire, and also the master mind that nned to overthrow the bnce of the empire. The rest of the kingdoms were dragged into his plot, but with their own cord since the deal was just too alluring to decline. "Says you? Who wants and enjoys it when things are going this way?" Marcia asked mockingly; she was confident that if it came to a brawl then she woulde out on top, and even though she absolutely despised Godred, she had still agreed to the deal because the end goal he proposed was something that aligned with hers. "Yes." Godred replied with a smile that made a vein pop up on Marcia''s forehead. "Anyway, why did you call for a meeting? If it''s nothing, then I''ll leave." Zu''e said with a bored look on her face. "We will soon be going to war." Godred said, and, understanding that he had piqued the interests of the rulers, he continued. "The recent vige ughter incident will be med on the fanatics." He revealed his reasoning and noticed frowns adorning the faces of the rulers present, so he decided to exin it first. "There weren''t any traces of the attackers; it was done with a single sh of an unknown power. That vige was the neutral point of all the kingdoms, so no kingdom is crazy enough to dye that vige in blood, knowing what the empire that''s backing us is capable of. And none of the people from the other world are strong enough to do even a percent of that, so we can''t me it on them when this news is known to every single person alive. Since these are the cases, we can only me that incident on the "Violent Fanatics" to make our n progress." Godred exined. "Your n, you mean." Okisada said, not liking how Godred made them a part of his own master n. The rulers present knew that they would be used as pawns before being thrown out, but since it wasn''t like anything was stopping them from doing the same, they didn''t mind as long as they benefited the most from the deal. Ignoring Okisada''s words, Godred looked at every single ruler in their eyes; they were looking back at him with annoyed looks on their faces. "How are you nning on doing so?" Alexandru, who had been silent this whole time, spoke in a hoarse voice. "Simple really. They are called the Violent Fanatics for a reason; they are simr to a ho''s hive, which will hunt down those who poke them to the depths of hell. We, the allied kingdoms, are going to demand the empire show justice to the millions of people in the neutral vige. Since I have already left the traces of the fanatics there, it won''t be long until the ho''s hive would be poked at." Godred exined, his hysterical chuckles escaping his mouth amid his words, as a pure, bliss-filled expression appeared on his face. ''Disgusting f**ker.'' The rulers thought in unison, but since the most simple ns like this are the ones that reap the most needed results, they didn''t find a reason to back off from the n, so instead, with a train of nods, they got up from their seats and walked out of the room, one after another, leaving behind Godred, who was stillughing hysterically. "Hahahaha, haha, haaa..." And his smile disappeared as soon as everybody left, and an extremely calm, expressionless expression reced his perverted look from before. "This is why I like dumb people; they just nod at you whenever you ask them to do something without even questioning why or what. I wonder how they even became rulers at this point." He mumbled under his breath in an annoyed tone, and abruptly his expressionless face was reced by a fanatic expression. "Everything for the "Great One!"" Chapter 304 303. Hes Not That Weak. Suffocating. It felt as if somebody was chocking me by my neck, and in front of me was a demon that reeked of thick blood, and I could tell for sure that it wasn''t a scent that a person who fought monsters would reek. I will meet stronger people in the future, so I can''t tter now, not even slightly! With that thought in my mind, I exhaled sharply, and with my right foot in the front, I raised the broad sword, which I held with both of my arms, and with a slight flinch, I abruptly appeared in front of Reynolds and swung down at him, vertically, without wasting a single snap. TING BOOM! With a slight tap of his double-edged sword at the centre of the broadsword, he deflected the swing, and I stopped the sword before it hit the ground, as a small force behind the swing dispersed with a loud ''boom'', as I didn''t want to damage the property or struggle if my sword stuck in the ground. WHOOOSH! Soon after, a strong gust of wind pressure came crashing down, which was the dispersing force behind my swing, which none present found amazing and wasn''t something one couldn''t do; even I wasn''t impressed by it. "Not bad."With a small, twisted smile, Reynoldsmented, and with a sharp inhale, he swung his sword at me. * Eshwar swung his sword in all directions, relentlessly, which would be difficult for any normal warrior to block, but unfortunately for him, Reynolds, his opponent wasn''t a "normal" warrior. Reynolds blocked, deflected, and country attacked in an extremely precise manner while also using his swordsmanship skills, which quite honestly surprised Neal and Grace, who were staring and analysing the spar. Reynolds never used his swordsmanship skills except against those whom he deemed worthy. Eshwar was giving the fight his all, yet not a single sh of his connected, but they still couldn''t help but be slightly taken aback by his swordsmanship because Eshwar''s sword was extremely simple, containing a stab, a vertical, a diagonal, and a horizontal sh; these were the only moments that he was using; he hadn''t used a single shy moment since the beginning of the fight, yet they couldn''t read how he was going to sh until he himself did so. "An open book that can''t be read." Neal mumbled with a small smile. With an indifferent look on his face, Eshwar swung his left arm at Reynolds in a crude manner. Thinking that Eshwar was frustrated with his attacks not connecting, Reynolds was slightly disappointed by Eshwar''s actions, so he thought of ending the spar with the next move. It was then that Reynolds felt an extremely cold gust of wind surround Eshwar''s arm, as it morphed into a translucent ckish demon-like arm by the next instance, with which he wed at Reynolds, who sensed some ghastly threat iing, jumped back, barely dodging Eshwar''s w. Neal and Grace were shocked beyond belief when they saw Reynolds jump back! But the fight wasn''t over yet, and Eshwar didn''t seem to have any intentions of stopping there. Eshwar''s moments, which were slightly stiff at the beginning, had gotten smoother the more he swung his sword; his frustration for being unable to bring out his strength could be seen in his simple yet reckless sword swings, but neither his breathing nor his martial stance ttered. Reynolds, who seemed to be impressed by the man''s tenacity, decided to show what it is like to reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship. His double-edged sword began to get covered in a bright red hue; the colour of his hair and eyes changed simrly; soon after, Reynolds could be seen as a walking humanoid dyed in a blood red hue. With a bright red glow swirling around his sword, Reynolds red at Eshwar with a bright, blood-dyed gaze. "I don''t know how you''ll take it, but if you make it your goal and work for it, you too can reach this stage one day." Reynolds said and disappeared from the spot where he stood. With a sigh, Grace created a barrier around the entire coliseum and nced at Isha from the corner of her eyes, trying to find a shocked expression on her face, only to be disappointed since Isha still had an indifferent look on her face. Determined to get any kind of reaction out of Isha, Grace took a step back, stood next to Isha, and "Seems like you''re not worried about your lover getting hurt." Grace said, provoking Isha bluntly. "You don''t have to worry; that much is nothing." Ishamented without a single change in her expression, without even thinking about it for a second. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! "Neal! Call a healer!!" Grace yelled loudly, ignoring Isha''s words with a sigh, thinking Isha was underestimating them just because they were the staff of the academy. As the mountain-like dust cloud began to clear up, slowly but surely, it revealed a humongous, expanding "V"-shaped sword strike carved into the ground, reaching up to 6 feet deep in the ground. "There won''t be a need. He''s not that weak." Isha said and waved her hand, clearing out the huge dust cloud in an instant, surprising Grace and Neal, who were thinking about what to do. After the dust cloud cleared out, it revealed two immobile figures standing right in front of the sword strike that was carved into the ground. Reynolds had a surprised expression on his face, while Eshwar was right in front of him, with his right knee nted into the ground, and the hilt of Reynolds'' sword was on Eshwar''s right shoulder, as his back bled. "That hurt." Eshwar mumbled with an expressionless expression on his face and stood back up,pletely unfazed by the sword swing and his bleeding back. "What was that sword''s name?" Eshwar asked. "Bloody Mary." Reynolds answered, dazed. "Wow, your naming sense is worse than mine." Eshwar mumbled with a small chuckle. "Anyway, I guess a little more damage won''t do that much harm. And that''s not what the pinnacle of swordsmanship looks like." Eshwar said, snapping the three academic staff out of their stupor. Slightly taken aback and enraged by Eshwar''s words, Reynolds re intensified, but unbothered by his gaze, Eshwar held his broad sword with both of his hands and raised it up to the back of his head. Taking a deep breath, Eshwar tensed all of his muscles; his bright orange gaze dimmed before it waspletely dyed pitch ck. "I have be extremely weak now, so I don''t know how much I''ll be able to exert myself, so pardon me." Eshwar said. "I call this "World Splitter."" That was it; as soon as they heard those words, the worlds of those who had their gaze on Eshwar''s sword darkened, until nothing else was visible except for Eshwar''s sword-held figure in front of them. They noticed fluctuating ck magic power trying to climb up the sword; in a second that felt like an eternity, a thinyer of ck magic power covered the upper edge of the sword that was behind Eshwar''s head, which he swung down, WHOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM! Their worlds were abruptly dyed white as a thin, pitch-ck, light-devouring line descended upon them, and THUD With a subtle thud, their worlds returned to reality, and their gaze fell on Eshwar''s figure that had dropped on the ground, unconscious. CRA-CRACK SHATTER! And the barrier that covered the coliseum shattered, snapping the people crowding the coliseum out of their daze, while Isha calmly walked towards Eshwar, picked him up like a princess, and walked back towards the dazed Grace. "Can we stay in a single room? We are a couple, and we need some privacy, you see." Chapter 305 304. Charlie Rowse. In arge, 500-foot room filled with training dummies, weapons, and equipment. A handsome man with golden blonde hair and bright, cyan-coloured eyes had sweat trickling down his well-toned martial body, while his fierce gaze was fixed on the immobile training dummy in front of him. TAK-TAK "Huff...huff...huff...haa!!" With a subtle yell amid his huffs, he stopped swinging the wooden sword at the training dummy. Picking up his sweat-drenched towel that was dropped on the ground next to him, he wiped off his sweat and looked at his hands, which were filled with calluses. "Not enough." He mumbled under his breath. His name was Charlie Rowse, Charlie Rowse Sheovaria, the heir, the crown prince of the Sheovaria empire. Since he was not seen outside the empire, no one knew what he looked like or if he really existed, so it wasn''t that difficult for him to join the academy without garnering too much attention. In his childhood, there was an assassination attempt on him, and unknowingly, Charlie''s body moved on its own and he killed the assassin. The mental trauma he received from that was too much for a child to bear, and he had socially isted himself, too scared to witness something like that again, until that happened. One ordinary night, when he had just turned eighteen, somebody or something said, "Wake up!" Those were the words he heard before waking up in a huff, drenched in cold sweat. After that night, the fat,zy, good-for-nothing crown prince changed. Why? Because he learned what his fate held for him. He was "chosen" to defeat the "Fate-less." An existence who held his fate in his own hands was called the fate-less or the fated enemy. Charlie was fated to fight many strong opponents in the future and an endless number of enemies, so he neededpanions who would fight Charlie''s enemies together with him, which was the reason he joined the academy, where great talents were gathered. The same fate that determined Charlie''s reason for existence also tied his fate to a woman who was created to be his. "His" woman would appear in front of him as the soon-to-be wife of the emperor, Charlie''s father. Charlie''s father, the emperor, was a person who lusted after Charlie''s fated woman and forcibly married her, and Charlie, the chosen one, would kill the emperor and take away his fated woman, who, due to her traumatic experience with Charlie''s father, doesn''t love him. Onlyter, after years pass and they spend time together, does she finally ept him. ''Everything will start from this day forth.'' He thought there were only a few months before the fate-less would be revealed to the world, so before that fated day, Charlie had to get stronger, a lot stronger than anybody else. Clenching his fists, Charlie nced back at the training dummy, which was a few steps away from him. He didn''t know what the Fate-less or his fated woman looked like, but since he trusted his fate and knew he was bound to meet them very soon, he just focused on getting stronger. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!! With a loud ''boom,'' a strong tremor cruised through the training ground Charlie was in. Frowning, Charlie rushed towards the door, and as soon as he opened the door, he noticed many people rushing towards the sparring ground, so without wasting too much time, he joined the crowd and zoomed towards the sparring ground. * In a matter of minutes, half of the seats in the sparring ground were filled with cadets, professors, other academic staff, and a few higher-ups of the academy, gazing at the physical training professors in the middle of the sparring ground. The dust cloud soon cleared up and revealed five figures: two standing in front of each other holding swords in their hands, two professors standing immobile, gazing at the sparring figures with their mouths wide open, and another goddess-like, beautiful woman standing there with a smile on her face. BA-THUMP! "!?" She was so beautiful that Charlie''s heart skipped a few beats as he felt a chill around his heart. Even though he was mesmerised by her beauty, he couldn''t help but follow her gaze that was fixed on the now standing figure, who was insanely handsome as well; he was so handsome that Charlie felt inferior to him. The man slowly raised his broadsword behind his head, directing all attention towards his sword. "I.... "World Splitter."" With those words, their worlds darkened, making the weaker ones shudder in fear, which included Charlie, who was already stronger than the rest with his level being 15. WHOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!! He saw a thin, pitch-ck, light-devouring line fall down on him in the middle of a white-dyed world, but suddenly, the world returned to normal, and their gazes were instantly drawn to the figure who was responsible for the phenomenon they just witnessed. But they could only see a figure that had slumped down on the ground, unconscious. "Can....room? We are a couple, so.... privacy...." The beautiful, ck-haired woman said, breaking a lot of people''s hearts with just a few words. "Lucky basta*d!" Somebody in the crowd cursed, and it was unanimously agreed by the crowd. * A weekter. "Exactly! I saw a literal demon swinging his sword down at me!!" Said a man surrounded by his group that was listening to his words with twinkles in their eyes. "Do you even know how handsome that man was? Kyaaaa!!" Yelped a woman with a bright blush on her face, as the group around her also blushed slightly, listening to the exaggerated rumours that have cruised throughout the academy in the past week. ''At least keep it real!'' Charlie scoffed inwardly. He was feeling a bit bitter whenever he heard the exaggerated rumours, which were only about him before that man appeared. "Whooooo.... Do you know how hot that woman was? I''m getting a bone-" Charlie heard a manmenting with a disgusting tone. Charlie knew that if that man continued his words then it would get too disgusting, and he didn''t if he''ll be able to leave him alone then. Unable to hold back that abrupt urge, Charlieshed out at the man who had just spoken out those words, held his cor, and lifted him up into the air. "Watch what you say." He said it in a cold tone, dropped him on the ground, and walked off without looking back. * After arriving at his ssroom, he sat in the middle row with his face buried in his arms. ''F**k! Why did Ish out like that? I have learned to control my emotions since I was a kid; why did I lose control now? What''s wrong with me!!!?'' Charlie thought and ruffled his hair roughly with a sigh, and smiled bitterly, ncing at the humongous white board and screen behind the podium. The room was semi-circr, as the benches were spread out in a circr manner and arranged in descending order from the back bench. The ss was filled with a few people that were chatting among their friends, while some women and girls stole nces at Charlie, whose charm wasn''t to be underestimated. "And they agreed to your suggestion?" A cold yet cheerful voice resounded throughout the ssroom, carrying a certain power and charm in just the man''s words that soon silenced the entire murmur-filled ssroom. Soon, a handsome ck-haired man walked into the ssroom through the open door; his eyes were bright orange, slightly arched together with the bright smile on his face, and his ears were slightly longer, but not enough for him to be considered an elf. He was walking in reverse as his hair fluttered, increasing the charm of his bright, smiling face. He wore simple, formal clothes with the top two buttons unbuttoned, which made him look erotic in the eyes of all the women present in the ssroom. Following after him, walked a godly beauty with ck hair and obsidian ck eyes. With innocence and confidence disyed in them, her smile enticed a lot of emotions in the men present, but that was killed as soon as they noticed an ominous gazending on them. They felt like a small prey in front of a humongous predator as soon as the gazended on them. It wasn''t until the woman spoke that the ominous gaze averted. "Stop, you''re scaring the kids." The godly beauty with a kind heart spoke, saving them from the predator. "What did I do? It was their fault for gazing at you in that way." The man spoke with a scoff. "You won''t be able to make friends like that!" Said the woman with a sigh, and she dragged the man towards the podium and asked him to bow, only to be rejected outright. "Haa... Ah, hello!" Greeted the woman with a smile on her face, but it was only when they looked closely that they could tell that the woman''s smile didn''t reach her eyes, which were cold and indifferent, unlike how it was when they talked to the man. "I''m Isha." Isha introduced herself and nced at the man, eyeing him to do the same. "Eshwar." Said Eshwar and gently pulled Isha by her waist and walked to the back bench, sitting in the right corner before his focus waspletely on her, ignoring the different gazes he was receiving. "....." Looking at the couple giggling joyfully, Charlie involuntarily clenched his fists. "Oh, look at you, love birds; you aren''t leaving each other even in the other world." Chapter 306 305. Cheater. "Oh, look at you, love birds; you aren''t leaving each other even in the other world." A cheeryment resounded throughout the ssroom, attracting the attention of those present. "Arngrim." Eshwar''s voice sounded as a bright smile appeared on the man''s face. The man had a normal athletic build; he had light golden blonde hair and hazel eyes. Next to him was a bulky man who stood silently with a small calming smile on his face. Seeing the curious gazes of the cadets, he turned towards them and bowed politely. "Hello, I''m Louie; nice to meet you." Louie introduced himself, bringing a small smile to the cadets faces, who nodded their heads, returning a polite bow. "Where are Henry and Core?" Eshwar asked with a slight frown. "Hm, I don''t know; I haven''t met them since we came to this world." Arngrim said and turned to face Louie. "We thought they would already be here." Louie said looking back and forth at Eshwar and Arngrim. "Oh, almost everybody is in the same ss." A sweet woman''s mumble sounded behind Louie, and a group of seven walked into the room and made their way towards the podium. "I''m Katline." Katline introduced herself in a depressed tone. "I''m Violet." Violet introduced herself in a confident tone. "I''m Seo Hana." "I''m Katharine." Seo Hana and Katharine introduced themselves in an emotionless tone. "I''m Se-Seol So-Young!" Seol introduced herself, stuttering. "I''m Gang Jiwoo." Jiwoo introduced himself with a confident and reliable aura surrounding him. "I am Vinny." Vinny introduced himself with extreme malice hidden behind his words, which was felt by everyone present even though Vinny seemed to be hiding it extremely well. It was only for a split second, but Vinny''s gaze turned malicious in the instance that itnded on Eshwar. "How are the people from the other world so good-looking?" Mumbled a man in the middle of the ss, to which the ss agreed unanimously, thinking they had a chance with the new ones, but the hope slightly dwindled when the gazes of the newly introduced womennded on Eshwar, who had an innocent look on his face. They walked towards the bench where Eshwar and Isha sat and sat next to and in front of them before turning to face Eshwar in unison. "Hmph! You cheat!" They said it in unison with a scoff, as if they had practised it previously. "Wha-" Eshwar spoke up with an innocent look on his face, but his expression froze when another indifferent voice sounded next to him. "Eshwar...." Isha called out with a smile on her face, which made those who looked at her smile flinch for reasons they didn''t know. "Ye-Yes?" Eshwar asked with a slightly pale expression. "Hahahaha, I can''t believe THAT Eshwar is getting scared." Arngrimughed and found himself a seat nearer Eshwar''s, with Louie sitting next to him. Soon, their desks were crowded with curious kids who were interested in what the other world was like and also had the intention of bing their friends. * Minutester. The crowd calmed down; everybody except for those who were already in a "faction" made friends with the people from the other world. As soon as the crowd cleared up, Arngrim''s searching gazended on two figures that sat in front of Vinny. The man chatted cheerfully with Vinny, while the petite figure next to the man sat in a fearful manner. With a frown on his face, Arngrim elbowed Louie with his index finger on his lips, indicating Louie not to speak out loud. "Why is Core like that?" Arngrim whispered with a slight lean towards Louie. "And why is Henry speaking with Vinny so friendily?" Arngrim asked in a whisper, as the recently appearing frown on Louie''s face deepened. "Except for the times he was with Eshwar, I haven''t ever seen him speak so cheerfully, even with me." Arngrim said, suggesting that everything about Henry now was suspicious. "Shall we talk with Eshwar? Or Isha?" Louie suggested, thinking it would be better to look into it together than by themselves; it was the kind of suggestion that Arngrim would agree to, but this time, he leaned back, nced at the happily chatting Eshwar, and leaned towards Louie again. "I.... don''t want to disturb his rose-tinted world, at least this early." Arngrim said with a small smile, to which Louie nodded in agreement with a slightly bright smile. "We''ll follow them first then." Said Arngrim. "You want to follow an assassin?" Louie asked in a whisper, with his brows raised and a mocking smile on his face. "Ho? Is that a dare?" Arngrim looked at Louie with a confident smirk on his face, and noticing Louie''s nod, Arngrim nodded in agreement to Louie''s dare. "We''ll see who wins." Louie replied and offered a handshake. "Well, even though I know I''ll win, good luck to both of us." Arngrim shook his hand, sealing the pact in which the loser had to do any favour the winner asked for, no matter what it was. * After another few minutes. Reynolds walked into the ss carrying a heavy, suffocating aura, making the ss go silent with each step he took, and the ssroom was suffocatingly silent by the time he reached the podium. His gaze flitted on the cadets, who sat with solemn expressions on their faces; since Reynolds'' entrance was like that, they couldn''t help but try to match his atmosphere. Soon, his gazended on Eshwar, and the memory of Eshwar''s sword''s light-devouring line falling down on him shed in his mind, enticing his greed for strength and enlightenment to reach the true pinnacle of swordsmanship. With a childlike expression and stars twinkling in his eyes, he said, "From today onwards, we''ll have serious bat trainings!"" Reynolds announced, ncing at everybody with an apathetic expression, which made his previous childlike expression seem fake. And with those words from his mouth, as if a wave had swept through, the cadets began to scream and murmur in excitement and anticipation. "Silence!" Reynolds roared, silencing the entire ss. "I have another announcement to make." "We''ll be having new cadet-professor events from this month onwards, like we had in the academic starting years. It was an internal event that gave cadets the chance to be and feel like professors, giving them an opportunity to improve and make a name for themselves, but since the activities of the fanatics had been active in the few previous years, the event was halted abruptly due to the busy schedule of the academic staffs, but in this year''s batch, we have many greater talents gathered here, so it was unanimously decided that we''ll host that monthly events again." Reynolds announced, which garnered a loud cheer of excitement from the cadets; some inevitably even nced at Eshwar, thinking he was the reason for the event to start again. "The first month''s cadet-professor will be decided by an interss tournament, or you could simply call it a sparring contest." Chapter 307 306. Training. While Reynolds was announcing the newly implemented old events, Charlie''s gaze was fixed on an odd couple. The couple were the ones that had introduced themselves only to the people surrounding them, by what Charlie heard, the man''s name was Henry and the woman''s name was Core. Core could be seen flinching at each of Henry''s touches, even though he seemed to introduce himself as her boyfriend. Core was seen gazing at Eshwar with pleading gazes a few times, as she looked away whenever Henry, her boyfriend, nced at her. These were the obvious signals for help, but the people at whom she was gazing weren''t looking back at her, perhaps unintentionally. So, Charlie decided to confront Henry in the training ground, where they were asked to go now. And the most suspicious person among this couple was Vinny, who was pretending not to notice anything even though everything was happening right in front of him, and the shes of that ominous grin on his face from time to time made him even more suspicious, up to the point where Charlie was considering him to be the fate-less. "Alright! Follow me! We''ll train you for a week before starting the event officially." Reynolds roared with a smirk that seemed to hide another meaning behind it. With a loud "Yes, Sir!" The cadets got up from their seats and followed after him, while Charlie''s gaze danced from one person to another, observing each and every one of his new "ssmates." A few among them were going to be his futurepanions, so of course, he had to look for them and nurture them before taking responsibility for them; in other simpler words, he nned to create his own "faction." ''First, I need a separate room. My room would be good. Second, how could I make sure they join my faction? Third, how do I make sure that there are no spies in my faction? Damn, even though I have already learned all these, applying them in reality seems to be a pain in the a*s.'' Charlie thought, looking down, when he bumped into someone. "Oh, sor-" Charlie apologised almost instantly, but the other figure stopped him before hepleted his words. "No, no, don''t apologise; I bumped into you on purpose." Eshwar said, ncing at Charlie from the corner of his eyes, making Charlie lower his gaze. Isha was walking at Eshwar''s right, while Charlie was at Eshwar''s left. "You, I don''t like your gaze that''s been wandering around my woman." Eshwar said, making Charlie flinch with his back covered in cold sweat. "T-that''s n-not..." Charlie tried to make an excuse as an unknown fear crept up his heart. "I know how beautiful she is, but I''m saying this for your own good. Ah, in case you misunderstand, I won''t do anything, but if you get ufortably close, then your existence may disappear before I even get to know what had happened." Eshwar advised and walked in front, while Charlie stood dazed, not understanding a bit of what just happened. ''What does he mean? I''ll die before he knows what had happened? Does that mean that woman is stronger than him?'' Charlie thought and pondered for a bit before reaching a conclusion. ''Doesn''t that mean I have to get her in my faction, together with him?'' He thought, and an unknown greed crept up in his heart, and it wasn''t long until Isha looked back at him while walking ahead with Eshwar. BA-THUMP "!!!!" For a split second, his heart fluttered, skipping a few beats, but by the next moment, he heard a requiem of his death at the back of his mind, feeling like he was in the middle of a death god''s palm. Shuddering, Charlie shook his head and began to follow after them, believing and understanding the meaning behind Eshwar''s advice. ''I-is he w-with her out of f-fear then? S-should I help him?'' Charlie thought. * It was only after a few minutes after arriving at the training ground that the cadets understood why Reynolds'' smile felt suspicious. The entire room was filled with loud huffs and gasps as the cadets ran, circling around the entire 500 square foot room. It had been a few minutes before their current predicament. When they were asked to run around the room, in excitement, they lunged themselves forward ahead of everyone else, but it wasn''t long until the gravity surrounding the massive room got heavier and heavier, until it came to a point that themoners, whose levels were extremely low, began to have their calf bones broken before they were carried away to have them healed. Among all the huffing and puffing cadets, a few noble heirs, and the very few humans from the other world, continued to run around the ground without even opening their mouths to gulp down air. Eshwar, Isha, Henry, Core, Arngrim, Louie, Vinny, Jiwoo, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Seo Hana, Charlie, and three more noble heirs continued to run, with the noble heirs'' and Seol So-Young''s stamina almost hitting rock bottom. "This is hell." Seol So-Young eximed amid huffs before dropping to the ground. ''I was a goddamn author! How could one ever do something so cruel to me? Waaaa!! If I didn''t train with Katline and the others in the past two and a half years, then I too would have broken my legs.'' So-Young thought with a tear-filled gaze while sobbing inwardly. ''But how to woo Eshwar? Even though his gaze, his speech, everything about him is the same, Isha being next to him is kind of... infuriating.'' Seol So-Young thought, gazing at Eshwar''s and Isha''s iing figures. ''I definitely do think that it is a shared feeling among us women. But she is definitely more beautiful than us.... did he fall for her due to her beauty, maybe he did.'' She pondered while Grace walked up to her and picked her up like a princess before taking her out of the gravity-effected field. ''I have to develop my skills before focusing on my beauty.'' She nodded to herself, ignoring the weird gaze Grace was giving her. "Pst." Grace indicated for Neal to lend her an ear as he walked next to her with another male cadet in his arms. "Does the gravity field affect one''s mind?" Grace asked with a frown. "Huh?" "I can hear you, I''m literally in your arms remember." Chapter 308 307. Planning. A dayter. Charlie walked around a table in a 20-foot room, waiting for somebody, while mumbling to himself. His muscles were aching from all the exercises he did for the past two days, and even though they were tough, he didn''tin because he knew he would benefit from them in the long run. ''What should I do about the other two factions of the royal families that aren''t allied with us? Should I even do something about them?'' Charlie pondered inwardly while walking around. ''Rudolf Find Ophalia, the prince of the Ophalia Kingdom, and Anne Sedek Bedia, the princess of the Bedia Kingdom, I won''t have to worry too much about them since they aren''t the heirs to the crown, and also because they are the neutral kingdoms that don''t pry into any other kingdom if they aren''t provoked first.'' Charlie thought and nodded his head, removing the thoughts about being worried about them. ''Hmm.... The heirs of the allied kingdoms are already making a name for themselves in their kingdoms after graduating from the academy, so I am not responsible for prying into their lives; the empire can take care of it.'' "Haaa...." With an exhausted sigh, "I should think about everything around my own faction first-" The doorknob clunked while he was mumbling to himself, as a muscr man with a moustache walked in, wearing a training outfit. "Your highness, the prince." He went onto his right knee and spoke in an audible tone. "Please stand up, Sir Eardwulf; you have been promoted to Grand Marshall rank recently; you don''t need to be so stiff when we are not even in the Pce." Charlie said with a sigh. "That''s exactly why I should be even more like this, my prince." Eardwulf said so in an upright manner. "Haa... do what you want." Charlie said with a sigh and shook his head. "Yes, your highness the prince." "....." Charlie stood silent, staring at Sir Eardwulf to see if he would show any changes in his expression if he didn''t say anything. * After a few minutes. Getting enough of the silence from Sir Eardwulf not speaking even for a few minutes as he knelt, Charlie decided to voice his concerns. Charlie had described his thoughts about creating his own faction, things he might need for that, potential candidates that he wanted in his factions, information about them, and information about other factions he needed to be careful of. "....." Eardwulf stood silently, staring at his highness, the prince. ''I can''t believe that such a young boy had thought ahead of all the pros and cons he needed to consider in creating his own faction. Now, I can understand why his majesty, the Emperor, favours the prince so much over the "others" he could have "chosen."'' Eardwulf thought, facing Charlie in awe. "Hm? What''s wrong, Eardwulf? Is it too much?" Charlie asked with his brows raised. "N-no, no, your highness, I''m just in awe of his highness''s perspicacious mind." Eardwulf replied, snapping out of his trance. "Is that right? Okay, then, I want the information as soon as possible. Now, go on your way; I''ll summon you againter. A professor can''t be away for too long." Charlie said and turned his back at Eardwulf. "Yes, your highness, the prince!" With a loud, respectful salute with his right hand on his chest and a tap of his right foot, Eardwulf turned back and walked out of the room. CLUNK As soon as he stepped out of the room, his respectful demeanour shattered, reced with a slight frown as he turned to gaze at the shut door. ''He is still normal even with "THAT" in his bloodstream? I should report it to the emperor; maybe "it" failed?'' Eardwulf thought as his frown slight deepened. ''How is it still not busting out of such a young child''s body?'' "Even I almost died a few times with "THAT" in my bloodstream." Eardwulf mumbled out loud, realising his mistake, he zoomed out of the spot without wasting a single second more. *** On another floating ind. In a shaking humongous room, thousands of figures were seen kneeling on the ground with a spider web-based pattern on their necks, oozing an absurd amount of killing intent from each of their bodies, which was enough to shake the entire humongous and majestic room. A horned, demonic figure sat on the throne, gazing down at the thousands of figures staring back at him with a fanatical expression on their faces. The demonic figure had a handsome face with white hair, ck sclera, and bright white iris, wearing a crazed look on his face. "Let''s try this one more time." He mumbled to himself in a low tone while trying to hide his ominous smile behind his palm as he slowly and ominously leaned forward. TAK-TAK With the sound of footsteps next to him, a figure walked and bowed extremely politely at the figure sitting on the throne. "There is new information from the spies nted in the academy-" The figure spoke but was cut short by the next instance, when he felt a tremendous force descend upon him through a single man''s demonic gaze. "Who...gave you the permission to speak?" The demonic figure sitting on the throne asked, ominousness oozing through each word he spoke. "I, I apolo-" SPLATTER! "Disgusting." The demonic figure spat in disgust, wiping off the droplets of blood sttered on his face due to the man being crushed by the sheer force behind the demonic figure''s magic pressure. A wave of audible gulps sounded in front of him. "I am "the order" here! You do what I say, you do what I want, and you obey everything I order you about." The demonic figure dered, and his tone indicated that he was asking for nobody''s permission, neither their agreement nor their understanding. "Now, report." Hemanded. "Y-yes, yes, Lord! There is information about there being an event in the academy; I believe it would be an opportunity for us to attack!" A figure in the middle of the kneeling crowd reported "Let''s do that then." The demonic figure nodded with a smile. "Thank you, thank you very much, Lord Tchort!" Chapter 309 308. Hellish Mode. Two dayster. The first two days of the week were spent exercising under the gravitational field; the next two days were the same, except that time they were asked to wear a pair of mana-suppressing wristbands and a pair of anklets. Today was the start of sparring sessions, with their mana suppressors on. Thebat training professors, Grace, Neal, and Reynolds, said that the next two days would be devoted to the sparring sessions, with the remaining day being a rest day before the academic event officially starting. "You can train, go into the gravity room or illusion room, exercise, or spar with the opponents of your choice; we''ll be watching over all the programmes you want to take part in, so you can go all out without worrying about the dangers you might face or the mental and physical overload you''ll feel at the end of your training, because we have healers on standby!" Grace announced in her alluring voice, pping her hands. She wore a set of training outfits that entuated her perfectly endowed, lustrous figure. "Hm? What''s it, Eeshwar?" Grace asked, looking at my raised hand and finding it slightly hard to pronounce my name. "Esh-war. It''s Eshwar. I''ll go to the illusion room." I said it without a change in my expression and nced at Isha, who stood next to me. "Join me, so that we can improve our switch." I said and walked out of the crowd, wearing a skin-tight, ck-coloured training outfit. I had given my baggy hoodie to Isha because she too was wearing the same set of clothes. I definitely didn''t want anybody looking at her with their eyes ogling. There was one thing I had yet found hard to believe, and that was the fact that how did my baggy hoodie that''s thigh length when I wear it be almost knee length when Isha wears it? Even though she is taller than me? "What? Don''t look at me like that." Isha mumbled in a buzz-like tone, with slightly flushed cheeks and ears; only then did I realise that I was the one who was looking at her with my eyes ogling. "Don''t get all flirty here; you can do anything in the room assigned to you guys." Grace said with a meaningful smile, that didn''t really hide what she meant by that. With a simple nce at her, I looked away without replying to her sarcasm. "Booo, can''t you smile a little at me too?" Graceined and walked back towards the cadets with a pout after handing something to Isha, whose face had now turned scarlet. "Let''s go." With a bright smile, I offered my hand with a slight bow. "W-what?" Noticing how Isha yelped at the slightest call, I figured Grace had handed her something weird. "Oh! O-ok!" But before I could open my mouth to ask, she grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the illusion room. * In a 200-foot-wide room, we stoodpletely silent in front of the closed door, without a single peeping out of our mouths. Nothing sounded except for our subtly loud yet rhythmical breathing. "..... What did she hand you?" Unable to bear the curiosity, I asked Isha, noticing the violent blush on her face. I couldn''t help but get more curious. "A-a, a cond*m." Isha said, and with that, my mind nked. ''A what?'' I thought, thinking I heard it wrong, I nced at Isha. "Huh?" "A cond*m!" Isha yelled with a bright blush on her face. ".... Why?" I barely managed to get those words out of my dried-up throat. "I don''t know? She said there weren''t any cameras here, and I already checked..." She mumbled, her blush turning more and more bright. ''She already checked?'' "C-calm down. You''ll pass out from a nosebleed if you blush so much. Calm down and..." I spoke and tried to calm her down with my hands on her shoulders. "There weren''t any?" I asked, unable to understand where our training session was going. "N-no, no, I, I mean, y-yes, n-no? N-no, there were." She said it with confusion clearly visible on her face, not knowing how to answer. "There were cameras?" I asked, noticing Isha nod her head in agreement. "Should we kill Grace?" I asked. "NO! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT TO KILL ME? I JUST WANTED TO TEASE HER!" Grace''s loud voice resounded throughout the room from a speaker. "Maybe I wanted to watch you both do it, BUT STILL! YOU CAN''T JUST KILL ME!!" Grace yelled again, and hearing those words, I was now seriously considering whether to kill her or not, with the possibility of my answer being yes being extremely high. "Haaaa.... Let''s just train, and please check for cameras in our room once we return; I can''t trust that pervert." I said it in a loud enough voice. "I''M NOT A PERVERT!!" Grace yelled, but ignoring her, I walked towards the line that was a few steps ahead of the door. DING [Two PSs detected.] (AN: PS= pocket system) [Initializing illusion room....] [Rookie, Advanced, Expert] "Is there an option where the level of monsters continues to increase the more I kill them?" I asked Grace. "There is, call out "Hellish."" Grace informed. "Be careful, the levels continue to increase until you yell to stop or give up." Grace warned, and with a nod, "Hellish." I called out. [Initializing...] [WARING! HELLISH, ACTIVE GROWTH MODE ACTIVATING...] [Hope you throw away your pride and ego.] ''Heh, just those words added here are enough to wound one''s pride, enticing their arrogance.... maybe it was added for that purpose?'' I thought. [Level 1, Goblin created] SLASH! I saw its head slide off of its body as soon as it spawned. I nced back at Isha, who was walking towards me with a bright smile and a sly cat''s smirk on her face. "Let''s see who''ll kill more; the winner is going to have their way with the other, for today." She said, and though subtle, I could hear Grace coughing. "Though an unfair challenge, I''ll ept it since both of us have nothing to lose." I said, looking down at my pocket system. WRIIING--- With hundreds of small triangles forming a small sphere, I saw a translucent blue sphere pop up on my wrist band, cing my hand into it as it expanded wide enough to fit my arm. CLICK-CLICK With a satisfying wave of clicking sounds, the translucent broad sword in my hand materialised into a real, physical sword. "I already killed two." Isha''s voice sounded next to me. ncing at her from the corner of my eyes, I smirked. "Well, I''m just waiting for the monsters to get stronger; you can kill them now since you won''t be getting another chance to kill themter." "Hahahaha, we''ll see." Chapter 310 309. Unfairly Fair Deal. Isha killed the appearing monsters with a simple snap of her fingers, while Eshwar stood starting at her with a smile on his face. [Level 1, Goblin created] [Clear] [Level 2, Hobgoblin created] [Clear] [Level 3, Goblin veteran created] [Clear] [Level 4, Hobgoblin warrior created] [Clear] [Level 5, Goblin mage created] [Clear] [Level 6, A camp of Goblins created] [Clear] [Level 7, Kobold created] "Ki-" Noticing Eshwar move, Isha ceased her attacks, while the monster screeched loudly. SLASH! THUD "My turn now." Eshwar said after he zoomed towards the Kobold, a wolf-variant monster, and shed it, killing it in a single swing. [Clear] [Level 8, Pack of Kobolds created] "Kiiiiiii!!" A kobold that seemed to be the leader of the pack roared as soon as it spawned. Eshwar simply zoomed forward with his broadsword on his right shoulder, tossed himself lightly into the air, and swung down his broadsword at the Kobold leader just as he was about tond. BOOM! "Kik?!" "Kiiii!!" The pack fell into panic, noticing how easily their leader was killed. Not in the least bothered by the realistic illusion or the screeches, Eshwar swung his sword horizontally after taking a step towards the nearby Kobold, getting the Kobold into his attack range. His precise calctions and inhumane sword swings impressed Grace, Neal, and Reynolds, who were watching the fight through the cameras. Since Grace had already expected Eshwar to do something like that, she also prepared the required permissions from the higher ups to disy the fight to the other cadets, expecting Eshwar tosh out at them when he learned about it, but the benefits his fight would have on the cadets were enormous, so they didn''t hesitate to disy Eshwar''s fighting style and techniques to the other cadets even if they had to face the consequences without even thinking of "what if" the consequences were too dire, Since Eshwar didn''t really know about what they, the academic staff, were doing, he continued to y every monster that stood in his path. And it wasn''t long until [Clear] [Level 9, Spectre created] "Well, if you think I didn''t know what you were doing, then you are wrong. I will receive mypensation in martial arts skill books, a proper high-ranking broadsword artefact, and an apology from you guys and your academy." Eshwar abruptly said, causing everybody watching his fight to flinch in surprise and feel a slight uneasiness that was creeping up their hearts. "You dare notpensate and apologize, then the future consequences will be dire, maybe irreceable even." Eshwar warned, even though he was weaker than most of the people watching, but for some unknown reason, they didn''t dare think of another way out of the mess they created for themselves. After a brief moment of silence, "How did you know?" Grace spoke through the microphone in the observation room, which was filled with tonnes and tonnes of screens that were disying Eshwar''s fight from all angles. "Well, I didn''t before; it was just a hunch since you didn''t question anything when I, a cadet, "told" you what I would be doing without asking for permission from you, the professors, beforehand." Eshwar exined as he ran around, dodging the magical attacks of the spectre, and the subtle nce at Isha didn''t go unnoticed, so they began to suspect that something was going on that they didn''t know. ''Are they spies?'' Grace thought and shook her head, denying her thoughts, because she knew that he came from the other world, and it wasn''t that hard to figure out the people from the other world from those living in their own; it was like a natural instinct to recognise them, and just sensing how weak the magic power circting in the people from the other world was enough to make them recognisable. After turning off the mic, "Should we agree to his unfairly fair conditions?" Grace asked, ncing around at the higher-ups standing behind her. Unfair because the academy had much to loose, fair because the cadets of their academy were going to gain many irreceable things if they agreed to his conditions, so thepensation he asked for were reasonable. After pondering for a few minutes, "Alrig-" Right when they were about to agree to it, a voice interpreted them. "Add a condition saying that we''ll agree to his conditions only if he bes a temporarybat training professor!" Reynolds said this in a loud voice. "..... Why temporary?" Neal asked with a frown. With a wry smile on his face, "Do you think he would agree to it if he''s bound to the academy?" Reynolds asked back. "....." With a strange silence of understanding filling the room, they all nodded their heads in unison. "We''ll agree to it if you be a "temporary"bat training professor with us." Grace said. "Again? Are you kidding me? Why can''t I just enjoy my life as a goddamn student for once? And thest time I became a professor, I wasn''t even able to teach the sses, except for the two or so at the beginning!" Eshwar''s grumble resounded, prompting giggles from the humans of the other world. ''Hm? He has experience as a professor? Even though he is so young?'' Grace thought, noting down all the humans that had justughed hearing Eshwar''s grumble. ''Maybe they''ll be useful in the future.'' She thought after noting down the names and sending them to Neal, tasking him to bring information about them. "It''ll be great, since you already have experience teaching people." Gracemented with a nod. "Alright then, shut up for now, colleague~" Eshwar said in a teasing tone, and even though it was rude, Grace couldn''t do anything about it since, just as he said, she was his colleague now that they had agreed to the deal. "Pfft, ahem." The other "colleagues" behind her chuckled and cleared their throats, trying to cover up their blunder. Ignoring the fools behind her, Grace looked at the screens in front of her, that disyed Eshwar''s fight. WHOOOSH! With a strange gust of wind, Eshwar''s speed abruptly increased by a notch. WHOOOOMMM Many vein-like magical powers began to ooze from his sword-held fists, coiling around the sword and trying to cover it with mana, but due to his proficiency not being enough, the mana was continuously dispersing, and a lot of mana was being spent trying to recreate a simple sword technique. Even though it wasn''t working the way he intended it to, his persistence in trying to achieve his goal impressed many. In a second that felt like an eternity, Eshwar managed to ipletelyplete his replica of a sword aura on his sword. Clenching his teeth, trying to hold on to his focus, Eshwar zoomed towards his target, bing faster and faster by the second, until "Chapter 1," "Vertical sh." As soon as those words left his mouth, a dispersing, vertical, dark-coloured wind de shot out from his sword, and BOOM! A roughly drawn, dispersing sword swing was carved into the ground, killing, no, shredding the spectre into at least a few hundred pieces. [Clear] "Huff....huff.... huff, it...huff, it''s harder.... than I thought?" Eshwar mumbled amid huffing. "What do you expect? Do you even realise how weak you have be now? Ever since arriving here, you have been doing nothing but pushing yourself past your new bodily limits!" Isha yelled at Eshwar in a huff, and just from her tone, one could tell that she was extremely worried, sad, and angry at Eshwar. "Well, I''m not used to being so weak; what do you expect me to do? I''m trying to regain all the strength from my past! I won''t be able to save... anything if I continue to be like this." Eshwar yelled in irritation at first, but his voice lowered, and sadness began to ooze when his words neared the end. ''He wants to save something? What is it? What makes him look so desperate? Is there something personal going on that we don''t know?'' Grace thought, and it wasn''t only her; almost all of the people that heard his words pondered quite seriously, creating their own nonsensical theories in their minds. "I can''t afford to lose you again." Eshwar mumbled, and just his words were enough to make Isha tear up, along with many others, whose theories matched perfectly with his words. [Level 10, Ogre created] "What are you talking about? You won''t be losing me, or anything even close to that; you are the one that''s going to disappear! I''m the one that''s going to lose you!" Isha roared, tears streaming out of her eyes. FHUMP! Abruptly, Eshwar zoomed back, hugged Isha and patted her back gently before leaning back and looking at her in the eyes, wiping off her tears, and kissing her on her forehead, when "Graaaa!" The spawned ogre roared, disturbing them. "Shut up!" Ishamanded, and the ogre fell on its knees with its mouth shut. "....." Absolute silence descended in the observation room; few even had tears welling up in their eyes. ''What''s going on? What kind of tragic romantic story is going on here? Why is everything so out of context?'' Grace thought, even though she, too, was creating many theories in her head. * "Don''t cry, it''s not like you''ll lose me; I''ll just be merging with my original, that''s it." Speaking in a whisper, I tried to console Isha, who was going to bawl her eyes out any moment now. And continued, "While I, on the other hand, am losing you because I''m not sure if I''ll be me after merging with my other half, that was why I said it like that." I whispered. "I won''t even be able to save my own existence, and I definitely cannot save the very few things that are precious to me." I said it in a whisper, gently rubbing her back. "..... I don''t care; just don''t say things like that!" Isha said in a roar. "Alright, I won''t do it again." I kissed her forehead with a smile on my face. I didn''t really understand why I even said those things when Isha yelled at me; it''s just that I didn''t like the sadness I heard in her voice at that moment. ''I, haa... really don''t want to see her cry, ever again, no matter for what reason.'' Chapter 311 310. A Team Hunt. [Level 10, Ogre created] [Clear] [Level 11, Twin headed Ogre created] ''The aura that thing''s oozing is crazy.'' I thought inwardly, maybe it was due my stats affecting me; I could tell that it wouldn''t be an easy fight. Isha had killed the ogre before with a snap of her fingers because it was being annoying while we talked, and now, before I got adjusted to increases in the strength levels, I was now standing in front of a much stronger monster, well, I was fortunate enough to learn that the mana suppressors weren''t really able to suppress my aether. The twin-headed ogre was three, no, four times bigger than me, and with its bulky build, it looked menacing, menacing enough to scare the inexperienced, and with my current state, I knew it wasn''t an opponent that I could face without getting injured, so "Haa..." I sighed and held out my left hand, with my palm open, and "Erebus." I muttered; I wasn''t confident in having enough aether to summon him, but since the monster''s level had increased slightly and drastically, I had no other choice now. PUFF With a puff of ck smoke, a ck, cute cat materialised and slumped on top of my head, emptying almost 75% of my miniature aether reservoir. "Hey." I greeted him, caressing his head with my fingers, and was satisfied to hear him purr. "GROOOOWWWLLLLL!!!" The twin heads of the twin-headed Ogre roared in unison. ncing at it for a split second, I tapped on Erebus''s head, indicating him to transform. "Mrw~" WHOOOOMMM! BAM! "....." "....." "Pfft." "Gheth ofp!" I eximed with great difficulty while being buried under Erebus''s now transformed, huge, fluffy body. Thankfully, he got off and licked my face without my consent, "You could have gotten off first, you know?" I scoffed at him, got on top of his back, and sat on it. "I''ll ask about him after getting out of here." Isha''s voice sounded behind me, and with a nod, I tapped my right foot on his right, indicating him to rush at the monster in front of us. "Graaaaa!" Its right head roared and swung its chained Morningstar at us, but since I knew Erebus was smart enough, I didn''tmand him; instead, I readied myself to hunt the monster in front of me. It wasn''t long until Erebus was near the twin-headed Ogre with me on his back; he dodged and closed in on the monster extremely well, as if he had already pre-nned his and the monster''s actions. Thinking it may be rted to his abilities of some sort, I focused on the task at hand. "Stun!" I roared, and with a subtle golden glow, the twin-headed Ogre''s moments halted. Using the chance made for me, I kicked off of Erebus''s back, and with the broadsword on my right shoulder, clenching it with both of my hands, I swung it diagonally downward at the twin heads. CHUP THUD Unfortunately for me, my swing only managed to cut off one of its heads. Gritting my teeth, I morphed my left hand into that of my Frost Devil''s form and punched at its eye, piercing through it by the next instance. With a ripple effect, the golden glow dispersed, and understanding that Isha was doing it so that I could face a challenge, I continued to rip the insides of the remaining head of the twin-headed Ogre. "Grrrrraaaaaaa!!!!" It roared in pain and punched at me, stumbling. Using the small opening caused by its stumble, I pulled back my sword that was stuck in its remaining head''s neck and stabbed it at the previously cut neck to dodge the iing punch. BAM! "Gur...ga...." The now single-headed ogre stumbled in a daze due to its own punch, while I climbed up on its half-remaining neck and punched at its ear with my left, devilized arm. "Blergh...." Holding in my urge to puke due to the disgusting ear wax''s gooey sensation I was feeling all around my left arm, I clenched my first and [Burst] I used my shotgun''s ability. BHOOOM! SPLATTER! THUCK-THUCK "It''s disgusting." Isha''sment sounded behind me as I jumped off of the ogre''s dematerializing body; its blood sttered on me, and the flesh chunks spread out on the floor. "It''s a shared feeling." I muttered, ncing at my left arm, and noticed that the gooey substance around it had also disappeared, but still, the disgusting sensation remained, making me shiver in disgust. [Clear] "Sh*t." I cursed out, and Erebus, who was following me from behind, began to lick my right side of my face. ''Even he is disgusted.'' I thought inwardly and shrugged with my mouth. [Level 12, Minotaur created] "Ho?" I eximed and nced at Isha, who noticed my gaze and smiled beautifully. [So, you do remember my cooking.] I heard Isha''s voice in my head and nodded my head in response. [Unfortunately for you, it''s just an illusion; if you bring me a Minotaur you hunted, then I won''t mind cooking for you again.] She said telepathically, I loved the taste and texture of the Minotaur meat that''s cooked by Isha after removing its poison. Of course, even though the poison did no harm to me, its taste made it inedible. ''I have to n and go to ''nk'' when I have time.'' I noted this inwardly, because it was only there that one could find a Minotaur. Afterpletely materialising, "Raaammmmoooooo!!!!!" The Minotaur roared loudly, standing on its hind legs before zooming at me with arge axe in its hand. TING! And Isha appeared behind me, blocking the Minotaur''s axe swing with her katana. Understanding that she realised that I alone couldn''t handle it for now, at least without fighting with everything I have, she decided to act. Noticing the smug grin on her face as she looked at me over her shoulder, I understood that she wouldn''t fight together if I didn''t ask for it, so "Care to join?" I asked, and she pushed back that humongous monster with a simple, elegant swung of her katana in response to my question. "Our roles have switched this time around." I muttered with a small smile, as something I did simrly in our previous lives shed through my mind. "It certainly has; who knew I would get a chance to do something simr?" She said and stared at me in my eyes; understanding her thoughts, I rushed towards the stumbling Minotaur, clenching my sword. "What goes around definitely doese around." Isha mumbled and appeared next to me with a smile on her face. Noticing the red coloured glow appearing around the Minotaur, "ck Mirror." Isha mumbled. "Dance of the Dark Ink." Chapter 312 311. Demi-Gods. "ck mirror." "Dance of the ck Ink." The couple in the illusion room mumbled, and ck coloured smoke began to ooze out of Isha,plying with hermand, while dispersing, pitch-ck, light-devouring wind des that looked simr to a Chinese brush stroke swirled around Eshwar. Few of the cadets ignored Eshwar''s smart ways of hunting big monsters and had run off to train by themselves. Eshwar was killing the monsters that were many times bigger than him without exerting too much strength; one could tell that he was very experienced in fighting unpredictable monsters, and the deep scars that could be seen on him even though he was wearing his thick, skin-tight training outfit were the proof of his experience. Even Grace, Neal, and Reynolds, who were the most experienced except for the other few among the academic staff, didn''t have that many scars. No, getting hurt cannot be avoided even if you train harder than everyone else; you get hurt only when you fight against stronger, more experienced monsters or people, and Eshwar''s scars were the proof of his confidence and his undying pride to stand tall even in the face of death. Such people should never be underestimated, and someone like Eshwar should actually be feared because his past is unknown, and those scars of his are the proof of the near-death situations he had been through his life, and the strengths he holds in his arsenal, even though he is so young makes him more terrifying than many masters and monsters around the world. And the people who are able to understand these things that aren''t really visible to the naked eye would never be able to ignore someone like Eshwar. The professors, staff, a very few people from the other world, and a very few cadets continued to fill their sights with the existence called Eshwar. "A demi-g..." Reynolds, who was about to mumble something that he shouldn''t, was fortunately stopped by Neal, who appeared behind him and shut Reynolds'' mouth before hepleted his words. "Do you want the academy to be erased from existence?" Neal whispered in Reynolds'' ear, who shuddered in response, realising the mistake he was about to make. "God dammit." Grace, who heard their whispers, cursed with a sigh of relief, shuddering in fear. Demi-gods were an existence that weren''t revealed to the world, because of the dangers their existences would bring, one could also call them "controllers," because the order of the living beings was in their hands, yet their existences weren''t revealed to the people who were under their control. What gives them the right to control the world from behind? Their strength. They had the strength to destroy the entire empire, which covered half of the mapped world. Where they lived and what they did were unknown, even to the people who knew of their existence, but they couldn''t help but fear them. The demi-gods could hear everything if their names or titles were ever mentioned. Those that were aware of the existence of the demi-gods were bewildered when the existence of gods appeared on the world; it was from then on that the rule of the demi-gods began to tter, yet their existences weren''t revealed to the world, because all those that were called demi-gods were none other than beings who were once humans. The only thing that kept the intelligent beings from rebelling against the demi-gods were their strengths, which could aid in their fight against the fallen gods. ''Is it really possible for the living to be like them, the demi-gods?'' Grace thought inwardly. The only answers that the people who knew about the existence of the demi-gods could give to those who were curious were: ''There are things that are better off not known.'' ''I don''t have the authority to reveal those things.'' ''Get stronger, then you''ll learn about them by yourself.'' These were the only abstract answers they could give; it wasn''t that they didn''t want to answer, it was just that they couldn''t. "Haaa...." Grace sighed. ''There is no way Reynolds would make a mistake of speaking out things like that; it was likely that he zoned out and mumbled out things involuntarily, but what made him zone out?'' Grace asked herself. [Clear] "!!" Grace''s eyes dted when she heard [Clear]. She was honestly expecting Eshwar and Isha to fail in killing the Minotaur; it wasn''t that she was underestimating them, but she never thought they could defeat a Minotaur that was stronger than all the previously appeared monstersbined. "....." Gazing at the cheerfully chatting couple walking away from the dematerializing body of the almost shredded Minotaur with a menacing pet walking next to them. ''Demi-gods.'' Grace thought involuntarily and snapped out of it as soon as she had that thought, and she understood why Reynolds had just zoned out. "Ha, haha, ha...." Chuckling awkwardly, Grace turned to face Neal and Reynolds, who had surprised expressions on their faces. "No way." * A good-looking man stood in front of the training dummy, huffing. He too had worn a skin-tight training outfit just like the others; he had obsidian ck eyes and raven ck hair. "Haa...." With a deep, exhausted sigh, he slumped back on the ground and leaned back, supporting himself with his arms. He nced at his pocket system, in which a small window continued to disy Eshwar and Isha''s fight in the illusion room, noticing the ck hair on Eshwar''s head, He shuddered in fear when a sh of "him" destroying the entire elven domain, back on Earth, with a single stomp appeared in his mind. ''No, that can''t be him.'' He thought and shook his head, dismissing his absurd thoughts. ''That bit*h isn''t good enough to make such a strong person fall for her.'' He thought, and at that self-assuring thought, a cruel smile crept up on his face. "Then, will that bit*h despair if I kill that son of a bit*h next to her?" He mumbled, his ominous grin widening. "What''s making you smile so much, baby~ hm?" A sweet woman''s voice sounded behind him, and the smile on his face turned fake. "Trista." He called out, ncing back at the alluring woman walking towards him with sensual steps, twirling her well-endowed body covered in a skin-tight training outfit. She had dim orange eyes and dull golden blonde hair; her name was Trista Shanronad, the daughter of the Shanronad barony, a noble household from the capital. "Heath, you should also give me a cute moniker!" Trista demanded. "I already have." Heath Walker said with a fake smile on his face that the bit*h in front of him was too naive to notice. "What is it?" Trista asked with stars twinkling in her eyes. ''Bit*h.'' He said inwardly, "Buttercup." He said on the outside. "Hmm, hmm, is that so?" Trista smiled brightly, clearly happy about the nickname he had given her. ''Ha!'' Chapter 313 312. Different Perspectives. Heath Walker was the only person from the other world that was in another ss, separately from the others, which he thought was a fortunate thing because he could now keep an eye out for Isha, his bit*h sister, behind the scenes without being a creep. For some reason, Heath noticed that unlike the other people from Earth, he retained his strength, which had lowered for others, and he was still as strong as he was on Earth. And in the first week of arriving at the academy, he made contact with the fanatics and learned about many things, including the fact that Tchort, the demon king, was their leader. After that, he learned that there were no vampires existed in the current world, and it was also due to that he was able to retain his strength because he was different from what was "normal" in the current world,ter on he became the fanatics'' informant after a few constant train of contacts. Since he was the only vampire there was, he wasn''t worried about his identity as one being exposed, nor was he worried about his survival if his identity was indeed discovered, because all he needed was a chomp to win a fight, which with his sh*tton of tricks making his opponent bleed wasn''t that big of a deal. He flirted around with Trista to woo her in, creating himself an opportunity to acquire a golden goose that gave him authority, money, and blood. ''I wonder how her blood tastes.'' Heath thought inwardly, as his eyes glimmered blood red for a split second, scaring Trista. * On the other side of the training ground, Charlie stood, gazing at the mesmerizingly horrifying fight of the couple in the illusion room. It was only a few seconds ago that something Charlie never expected happened: he saw the couple switch their weapons with each other, mid-fight! Tossing around their weapons and ying around with a Banshee, a level 13 monster. It was a ghost-type monster, that could use both physical and magical attacks, the annoying thing starts as soon as the Banshee managed to touch its opponent, casting a curse on them, that chipped off the life force the more time one stayed under its influence, to remove a curse, massive amount of healing magic or holy power was required. The more Charlie watched and observed the fight, the more motivation boiled up in him. It wasn''t long until an unfound inspiration bubbled up in him, making him rush to the training ground to train. The timing, precision, calction, and perspective manner of Eshwar and Isha''s fight opened up a new world for him, who began to think of ways to change his martial arts stances and use different methods when the enemy least expected it, just like them. It was a perfectly coordinated fight that was filled with unhidden yet unpredictable trickery with each and every attack. Thinking of not wasting the opportunity and enlightenment offered to him, Charlie zoomed towards the training dummy with a sword in his hand and swung it with persistence and precision. *** Meanwhile. In a gigantic underground facility lit with bright, blinding white light. The floor, the ceiling, the walls¡ªeverything was perfectly, pristinely white. The facility was filled with materials used for research and experimental purposes, with more than hundreds of humongous cylinders in which humans were seen floating, dipped in a translucent, blue-green gooey liquid that was filled to the brim of the cylinders. Many people of different races were seen working on taking reports, observing changes, and adding or decreasing "its" density ording to the reading they got. They were in casual clothing, as if it were just another day''s walk in the park. Some of the people in the cylinders were seen growing some kind of strangely coloured, gooey scales, while droplets of blood or something simr to blood but thicker was being released into the cylinders, which soon after turned translucent. And amid everything, there were many who wore whiteb coats and seemed to be teaching each other about what to do and how to observe, which could be derived from a nce at their hand moments. "..... And like that, we will begin to develop more like "his highness," do you understand?" An old, bald man with a slightly longer beard said with a deep frown on his face, looking at the four newly "released," smart "tools." "Yes, sir." They spoke in unison, without a hint of emotion in their voice. Shuddering, ''Goddammit, even though they are the fruits of mybour, they are disgusting.'' The old man thought inwardly, feeling an ominous chill around his heart. ".... It''s good that you understand." With a few nods, the old man walked away, leaving the four emotionless tools on the spot, which didn''t move an inch without his order. "Now, go on your way, work on the experiments, look after them perfectly, and make sure they don''t turn out like you guys." The old manmanded as he continued to walk away. "Understood, Sir Ecrirn." They said it in unison and walked away, picking their designated paths. All four of them had the same colour of hair and eyes, dark brown, due to the experiment and gene modification. ''Fuuuu! Goddamn failures!'' Ecrirn cursed inwardly with a deep sigh; yes, all four of them just now were failures of the experiment to create a perfect being that grows constantly, while mingling around with people and feeling all the emotions just like a living being does, but something was missing, what it was, was yet to be discovered, and whatever that "missing something" was, it was the thing they needed to add "emotions" into the "perfect being," a "perfect hero," they wanted to create. Even though the experiment was falling continuously after a single sess, they did gain an absurdly strong army of failures. "If I create another perfect hero, then I myself will be able to make myself a "perfect container," so that I can finally get rid of this annoying, old body of mine." Ecrirn mumbled with a crazed expression on his face. With that thought, ''How was "he" able to awaken emotions?'' Ecrirn questioned, before a "perfect" existence''s destructive figure from 30-35 years ago shed in his mind. "Hahahaha, I''ll create an existence like that! I''ll, I, myself, will create an existence like you! Just you wait! I''ll be a perfect being just like you; no, I''ll be even more "perfect!!!!"" Ecrirn roared, crazed. *** Two dayster The cadet-professor event, the academic fest, had begun. Since that was the first time in a long while, the cadets'' parents were also invited, nobles andmoners alike. Though a few nobles with prejudice against themonersined, the academy ignored them, even warning them that they''d be held ountable for something that happened in the academic premises. Due to the academy''s authority and power being on the level of its own, they had no choice but to obey and act ording to the rules set by the academy. A group of ten walked out of the gate that was connected to the academy and walked into the academy without any issues after showing their invitations. Walking in the middle and in front of the group was an alluring woman; she had wavy white hair, bright blue eyes, soft and innocent facial features, a slightly pointy pair of ears, and lust-inciting lips. She was adorned in a ck turtleneck top, ck leather leggings, and ck boots, which were a stark contrast to her pale skinplexion and white wavy hair. Her name was Luna. To her right was a dark brown-haired man with dark green eyes; his name was Gerry. And to Luna''s left was a dark brown-haired woman with dark purple eyes; she wore sses that gave her a smart and nerdy look; her name was Belinda. On Belinda''s left was a man with dark raven hair and grey eyes; his name was Dominic. At his left was another man with dim blonde hair and dark brown eyes; his name was Clifford. On his left was a woman, who clung on to his arm; she had ck hair and light blue eyes; her name was Ash. On Gerry''s right was a dark-green-haired woman with bright green eyes; her name was Amanda. On Amanda''s right was another man with dark brown hair and eyes; his name was Greg, and next to him was a man with white hair and grey-coloured eyes; his name was Simon. "I can''t believe the academy didn''t notice such a poor imitation of their invitation, heh. The academy has stooped lower than it previously had, ain''t I right, Luna?" Gerrymented with a scoff. Starting from the Ash: Ash, Clifford, Dominic, Belinda, Luna, Gerry, Amanda, Greg, and Simon were the names of the ten people in the group, with Luna being the boss. "It''s not that the academy has stooped low; it''s just Belinda''s skills that have improved." Luna rified,plimenting Belinda''s ability while Gerry was trying to get a favourable response from Belinda. "Go out with me, maybe she''ll notice you then~" Amandamented in a whisper, leaning towards Gerry, who was desperately trying to woo Belinda. "R-really?" Gerry asked back in a whisper. "Don''t fall for her." Said Luna while walking ahead, resisting the urge to rush and meet "him." "Conceal your aura; don''t reveal who we are, at least not yet." Luna said and sped up slightly. "Ha! Look who''s talking; you''re stronger than us, so conceal your aura first, or else "he" will find you in an instant. And you''re not the only one that wants to meet him; we too want to rush towards him, but we''re only holding ourselves back because it''ll look suspicious." Dominic scoffed at Luna, who was pacing around in search of "him." "Well, it looks like you are underestimating your boss, just because I have been away for a while." It was then an indifferent, yet slightly cheerful, voice sounded behind them, which made them flinch and feel a chill around their hearts before their expressions brightened up upon recognising the voice. Chapter 314 313. I Dont Deserve You. The academy was filled with a festive vibe, with many different holographic screens adorning the ce for different needs. The curious people were being shown around by the staff and the cadets, and while many of them received and weed their own parents before showing them around, many cadets were bickering with their parents, saying that it was embarrassing to see them act like that. Even though Eshwar''s expression indicated that he wanted to punch them in their faces hard, he held back as much as possible while even getting impressed by his own tolerance. ''I can''t believe he became so cute.'' Isha thought while observing and walking next to Eshwar. "Oh!" Suddenly, Eshwar''s face brightened as he received some kind of enlightenment. ''His mind is as wander-y as ever, I guess.'' She thought with a smile on her face. But still, curious to what he just realised, Isha tapped on his shoulder twice and danced her brows up and down, asking him what it was that he just realised. Instead of speaking out loud with a smile on his face, he closed his eyes and "!!!" Isha''s pupils dted in shock; she wasn''t able to feel Eshwar''s presence even though he was right in front of her. Unable to hold her curiosity, she decided to voice it: "What did you do?" She said that if she was going to learn something this amazing, she wouldn''t shy away from it. "Hehehe~" Eshwar chuckled in a prideful manner before opening his mouth to answer her question. "Mana sense, or any other kind of sense, we use to sense our surroundings, correct?" Eshwar asked and received a nod of the obvious in response. "Meaning, we are sensing the mana signatures and fluctuations of the person in question." Eshwar said, and Isha stared at him with a nk look on her face because, even though it was simple to understand, it was extremely obvious, so she couldn''t understand what kind of enlightenment he just had. "Yes, that''s right." She answered, deciding to y along for now. "And not the person himself." Eshwar said, and it was extremely obvious and easy to understand for those who experienced using their senses first-hand, that, as he said, one would sense the mana signatures or the fluctuations of the person in question and act ordingly, while the person in question himself is ignored. "What would happen if a mana-less person approached you with the intent to kill?" Eshwar asked. "Then I will sense his killing intent and react ordingly." Isha answered with a frown, understanding yet not understanding where the topic was going. "The theory you just said is only applicable to those who haven''t been trained. What if the person in question is extremely trained and is able to hide his presence and intent? You wouldn''t be able to perceive it because there weren''t any mana fluctuations you could sense. Just like the current me, who has no mana, the only way to sense my presence is because I, myself, am not hiding it. Why? Because I don''t know how. I have always concealed my presence with mana or whatever power I had in my arsenal; I didn''t have to worry about someone sensing me because I was a lot stronger than them, due to which they wouldn''t be able to sense me even if they tried. But now it''s different; I''m weaker; anybody can sense my presence and gauge my strength, regardless of my will to hide it." Eshwar exined, though it made sense, it didn''t make any sense all that much. "You were able to sense my presence because I previously didn''t know how to hide my presence without mana, because all living beings in existence have mana. Except for two: the current me and my novel''s protagonist." Eshwar said it with a smile. "What use is it to me?" Isha asked, and she could tell from the way he exined it that he wanted her to do the same, but since she was a being whose mana and divinity had merged, she didn''t really know how to do what Eshwar could. "Hide your presence. The "divine mana" you have is something that belongs to you, so no one should be able to sense you if you hide yourself. With the divine mana being yours, it will hide itself if you hide yourself." Eshwar said, and even though she understood his exnation, ''Did he just name my... "divine mana?" As uncreative as it sounds, it is usable.'' Isha thought inwardly, ignoring that topic. Isha decided to try what Eshwar just exined, and as if to motivate Isha to try harder, "Your presence is easily felt by the gods, because at present you are as weak as you are strong, and you know it. Who knows what your enemies are plotting? Isn''t it better if you could hide yourself and get stronger than to feel your effort was wasted when you fight them?" Eshwar asked, and flinching at his words, Isha tried to dig deeper into herself, ignoring her divine mana. In her consciousness, she floated in a pitch-ck space that had star-like glimmering particles all around. She closed her eyes, imagining herself as she would look under her senses, and it wasn''t long before she opened her eyes and found a ck-dyed figure in front of her, which had a humongous amount of golden-coloured, ominous divinity surrounding her, like an ant that was in the middle of a zing campfire. ''That pitch-ck dyed figure is me? And isn''t divinity supposed to be soothing? Why is my divinity ominous?'' Isha pondered, looking at herself through her own senses. "Well, it''s quite good that the intelligent beings of this world are weaker, or else they would have been scared sh*tless." Isha mumbled. "I wonder what Eshwar''s presence feels like." She mumbled. "Answering both of your nonsensical thoughts, first, the intelligent beings of this world aren''t weaker; you are just absurdly strong; you are a goddess, remember? And I can try to get in, not hiding my presence from you, if you will allow me to enter your consciousness." Eshwar''s voice resounded throughout her consciousness, making her flinch slightly. "Am I speaking out loud?" Isha mumbled. "Yep, in a whisper." Eshwar''s voice resounded again. "....." "....." ".... Well, I''m curious so see if you can get in." Isha mumbled. ZAP-! ''Whoa! What was that? Why was I dragged here? Guh, I just remembered that annoying experience of being dragged around into different spaces, god f**king dammit. Ah, f**k those gods! From what my other, original self said, I don''t even want to use the word "god," even for cursing. But the curse, "God f**king dammit," is kind of... like it just rolls off the tongue, you know what I mean? Like-'' Eshwar''s nonstop thoughts sounded in Isha''s consciousness, sighing at his wandering mind, ''Stop thinking so much!'' She yelled in her consciousness. ''.... you can hear my thoughts?'' Eshwar asked in bewilderment. ''Yes, and aren''t you supposed to be indifferent now? Why is your mind so chaotic?'' She asked. ''Well, you can think of it as I missed my chaotic mind, and that silence when I''m not with you kind of scared me; just the thought of losing all my emotions was a bit... terrifying. As much as I too don''t like that my mind is chaotic, I can''t help it, I''ll show you how it is when I''m not speaking to myself inwardly.'' Eshwar exined. ''.....'' ''.....'' ''...'' ''.... Eshwar?'' Isha called out after finding the silence a bit ominous. ''Yes?'' Eshwar''s thoughts sounded, and nothing except for those sounded again. ''Why aren''t you thinking anything?'' Isha asked cautiously. ''Because there isn''t anything to think about. Nothing''s worth it.'' Eshwar''s thoughts sounded again, and that thought terrified her. ''What do you think about me?'' Isha asked, because she understood that one''s inner thoughts could never lie. ''Isha, you are the reason for my existence-'' Eshwar''s thoughts sounded, making her feel warm around her heart at how there wasn''t a single hesitation in that thought, but it was cut short. ''Hello.'' Eshwar''s voice sounded again, but this time it was extremely different, filled with mncholy. As soon as Isha heard the thought of "his," she felt a painful clench around her heart. She knew nothing about him, yet she knew everything there was ever to define him. ''Eshwar....'' Isha called out, and extremely mncholic and satisfied emotions filled her entire consciousness, and she knew it wasn''t her feeling those feelings. ''.... Yes?'' With a painful gulp, Eshwar asked. She felt extremely guilty and disdainful towards herself for the next thoughts that appeared in her consciousness: ''Where is the.... other Eshwar?'' Isha asked and felt a wave of hurt and despair sweep past her consciousness, which made her feel hurt for asking that question. ''H-he is there; pardon my intrusion.'' The original Eshwar said with a mncholic hollow chuckle. ''N-no, that''s not-'' Isha tried to rify herself with a pained heart, but Eshwar cut her short. ''I just heard an interesting conversation and thought of expressing my thoughts too.'' Eshwar said, and everything in her sight turned white. ''!!!!'' Startled by the phenomenon, Isha looked around before raising her head to look up and found a horned, faceless face gazing down at her, with his horns bent in an unnatural manner, creating an iplete halo on his head, and out of her pure godly instinct, her cursed eyes activated on themselves. A hysterical hollowness covered¡ªno, devoured¡ªthe gigantic figure in front of her. Simr to what she saw herself under the influence of her senses, she could see that the gigantic figure was covered in a zing ominous divinity that was fuelled by his pitch-ck killing intent, towering over him. The divinity was a lot denser and fiercer, like how a divinity should never be. Yet, She didn''t feel even an ounce of fear from the being in front of her, while her entire consciousness was overwhelmed with her own guilt and pity for the figure in front of her. She knew that the figure in front of her wouldn''t like what she was about to say, but still she thought, ''Please, please just leave me and be happy-'' As soon as her thoughts sounded, the figure in front of her shrank, simr to her size. ''Isha, the size you are in here right now is humongous on the outside world, and you can turn into something like that if you wish, and the gigantic figure in front of you just now is how humongous I originally am.'' Eshwar said, Isha didn''t even know why he was saying that right now, but she nodded her head in understanding. ''Eshwar! Please leave me and be happ-'' Isha yelled at him, trying to make him understand. ''Isha! Ask me to die, which is simple, and I would do so without hesitation because you asked for it, but don''t ask the impossible from me.'' Eshwar spoke and held her hands, gently tightening his grip before kissing her knuckles. Just hearing his words made her consciousness drown in sorrow. ''Haaa....'' And a sigh escaped his lips as if all those years he spent dying, fighting, and despairing were worth it just by holding her hand, as an extreme sense of happiness washed over her consciousness. ''You know, if I had to do everything all over again, just to hold your hands, I would do it without hesitation.'' Eshwar spoke truthfully and disappeared from her consciousness. ''B-but I''m not worth it.'' Isha thought, then broke down inwardly. She couldn''t even imagine how much pain he had been through just for her, who did nothing for him except love him for two decades. ''Why are you going so far for me? I don''t even know if I deserve you...'' She thought while sobbing uncontrobly. "Isha!" With a violent jolt, she snapped back into reality and turned to look at Eshwar, who was staring at her with a worried and concerned gaze. "Isha! Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened? I was suddenly kicked out of your consciousness. Are you okay? Why are you crying?" He expressed his concerns. Looking around, Isha noticed that they were around the academy reception''s corner, where not a lot of people roam, thinking that it might have been Eshwar, no, she was sure that Eshwar was the one who brought her there, so instead of answering his concerns, she walked towards him weakly; both of them knelt on the ground as she hugged him, trembling. "Eshwar.... do I deserve you?" She mumbled, sniffling and hupping in his chest. "Isha...." Eshwar called out in a mncholy tone and hugged her gently. "It is me who wants to ask that question." Eshwar said, burying his head in her neck. "I don''t know how fortunate I feel to have you in my life. Though I don''t like my original self, one bit, I respect him extremely for the steps he took. While I can enjoy everything due to not remembering anything, he can''t do the same, even though he did everything just so that he could hold your hand again. But for you, I can''t give up without a fight, even if it''s for my own, original self." Eshwar said in a whisper, and Isha could see many people walking towards them to call them out, but ignoring them and looking at their moods¡ªeven though they were getting weird gazes, they didn''t mind it one bit¡ªEshwar enjoyed her warmth while Isha buried herself in his chest in guilt, feeling extremely weak for the first time since ever. ''I really do not think I ever did something that I would even dare to deserve someone like you.'' Isha thought and began to sob aloud, surprising Eshwar and the other looking at them. They wanted to do something maybe because they thought Eshwar was bullying Isha but looking at how tightly Isha had clenched his clothes, they understood that that wasn''t the case and left them alone. Chapter 315 314. Reintroduction. After a while of sobbing, Isha finally calmed down, and we went around exploring the academic fest. Though her eyes were red, Isha had a bright, grateful smile on her face. I could tell that she was looking at me in a different light, though I wasn''t sure why or what had happened for her to change the way she looked at me. But since she was looking at me, I didn''t mind. Since I hid my presence, some bumped into me. It was fine the first few times, but it got annoying after a while, so I instead released my tyrannical presence and made way, which prompted a giggle from Isha as we began to explore the fest. We saw cadets receiving and weing their parents, friends, rtives, and backers; since I and Isha had none that came from the outside, we ignored them, or more like I ignored them because Isha hadn''t even spared a nce at the surroundings. Again, since she was looking at me, I didn''t mind, but I still showed her around, hoping that she would enjoy the festival with mypany. "Hmmm?" While making our way around, we arrived back at the spot where the cadets were receiving those that they knew. I saw a group of people speaking amongst themselves while involuntarily garnering the attention of onlookers. The group contained ten people, nine of whom I knew personally. "Isha, hide your presence and follow me; I''ll introduce you to a few people." I said and hid my presence, looking at Isha, who nodded her head in response and followed after me. "I guess you need time to actually apply it." I said, noticing Isha''s faint presence. Since it was an entirely new theory and something that one with mana would never need, I didn''t think there was a need to tease her, so instead I held her hand and walked towards the group. "Ha! Look who''s talking; you''re stronger than us, so conceal your aura first, or else "he" will find you in an instant. And you''re not the only one that wants to meet him; we too want to rush towards him, but we''re only holding ourselves back because it''ll look suspicious." A man with dark raven hair and grey cat eyes said with a scoff. "Well, it looks like you are underestimating your boss, just because I have been away for a while." I said, standing behind them and startling them. "Yo, old men and women, how are you all doing?" I asked with a smirk and looked at them turn around with a smirk on their faces that ceased as soon as their gazesnded on me. "Hm? What''s wrong? Ah! Is it because of my hair?" I mumbled and I ruffled my hair, right when I was about to change my hair colour. "Well, I didn''t recognise you because you turned so handsome." Said an annoying man''s voice, to which my mouth twitched. "You brat, I named your a*s; call me father and talk respectfully." I said, gazing at Gerry. "So young man~ wanna go out on a date with this big sister?" Asked a woman who abruptly appeared next to me since I said I was going to introduce a few people, Isha didn''t show much reaction to Gerry''s words, but she walked towards my right, pushed Amanda off, and hugged my arm with a huff. "Pfft." Augh sounded behind them, and as if a wave had passed, all nine of themughed, making me smile slightly. "Isha, from the left. Ash, Clifford, Dominic, Belinda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, and Amanda." I introduced the group. "Guys, this is Isha, my wife?" I said that even though I was confused when I said it. "Huh?" A wave of gasps of shock sounded, including Isha''s. "Right? I mean, you are, but not officially yet; that''s it, right?" I asked Isha, trying to clear up my own confusion. "I-if you put it that way, then you are right." Isha nodded after pondering for a bit. "Right!" I eximed, smiling brightly. "Then, it''s your turn. Who... is that woman behind you guys?" I asked. ''She feels familiar, but her familiarity is shared with two people who hold high importance in my life.'' I pondered. "Y-yeah, right. She is Luna, our new boss." Gerry said, introducing the woman, that as soon as I heard that name, my younger sister, whom I had buried at least a thousand times in my past life, shed in my mind, and even though my heart clenched at the memory, I frowned deeply. "Why?" I asked in a cold tone and noticed all nine of them flinch, even though they were a lot stronger than me. "S-she said she knew you and that she was your sessor." Greg, the silent one, answered. "I would have told you guys if I had somebody like that." I said with a scoff and red at the white-haired woman with a deep frown on my face. "You. Who are you? You better answer my question if you don''t wanna die-" I warned her, but FHUMP! "Huh?" That woman abruptly hugged me; who knows why, but for whatever reason I couldn''t bring myself to push her away. "How have you been?" She asked. "Huh? Y-yeah, I-I am good?" I said, perplexed by the turn of events. ''Who is this woman? I know I have met her somewhere, but where¡ª'' I thought, but my thought process was cut short when I felt Isha tighten her grip around my arm with a subtle shiver. "Excuse me!" I gently pushed the woman named Luna away and turned to face Isha, confused by why she was reacting that way; for whatever reason, I could tell that she wasn''t feeling jealous. "Isha, are you alrigh-" I asked her in concern, but instead of looking at me, Isha continued to gaze at Luna before her voice sounded, cutting my words short. "Let me introduce myself." Luna said, pissed off by her actions, I red at her, but the next words that came out of her mouth had me frozen. "I am Luna, but you have known me as," "Frostine." Chapter 316 315. Things She Did. After going into the room that Eshwar and Isha stayed in, Luna, aka Frostine, began to exin herself while Eshwar stood dazed, as if something in him was on the verge of snapping. After she died, saving Isha, she experienced something she never thought would be possible, and that was "rebirth." Who knows why and what it happened for, but whatever the reason was, Frostine found herself in the world of dragons. While she struggled for her survival, by the time she noticed it, she had be an elemental ruler, the ruler of Frost. It was an age of war in the dragon world, in which the elemental rulers themselves participated. Though none really noticed it, Frostine could tell that the world was falling apart; there were cracks forming in space whenever the rulers shed; and a few yearster, the dragon world was filled with cracks as the war was about to finallye to an end, but whoever, for whatever reason, pushed Frostine into a humongous crack in space. Her vision blurred, and enraged by the fact that she was betrayed, she used her strongest breath before passing out. Later, when she opened her eyes, she found herself in an unfamiliar world that had an extremely weak amount of mana, and the oddest thing she noticed was that everything around her was covered in white snow, which was the effect of her breath, which would turn any living being into crystals upon contact, without exception. She made herself air in the coldest mountain that existed near her, before a human-like being approached herir and challenged her to a fight. Due to her boredom and loneliness, she yed along with him, but before she knew it, it had be a routine, and that human-like being had be her friend. They both shared their stories, and she learned many interesting things about the world called Earth and about the mountain she made herir in, which was a great mountain that had a moniker attached to it as "Mount Everest." While enjoying her time with Eshwar, she learned about regressions and rebirths, which were described quite well even though it was just his theories, andter that "regression" kept happening to him and he had turned almost extremely emotional yet emotionless. And in that life, thest thing she remembered was dying to the intruders that intruded "their"ir while protecting Eshwar out of pure instinct. Even though she knew him for that long, she never felt her heart grow fonder of him, nor did she develop any affectionate feelings for him, because for whatever reason she knew in the back of her head that her feelings wouldn''t be reciprocated. After her death, she opened her eyes again and found herself in a small, bruised child''s body that was tossed next to the dumpster in the slums. Since it wasn''t her first time, she wasn''t that surprised, but after learning that a few nobles had killed that child for stealing a handkerchief that looked pretty, she got enraged at them and killed them before running away, taking everything that seemed valuable. She explored the human world for a few months and learned that she was back in the world where she and her master, Isha, once lived, on the Antino¨¹s. But it was extremely different from what it was when she was still alive in that world, so she continued to explore that world anew, because she had never really seen the outside world when she was serving Isha, while creating a dragon''s heart using the purest mana avable. The creation of a dragon''s heart from scratch was possible, but the knowledge about it was only passed on to the elemental rulers, which she was, so she didn''t have that much of a problem creating one. Later, when she was in search of Isha, she came across the pocket system, which had influenced the entire. Using it to the best of her abilities, she got stronger so that she would be able to protect Isha when she found her, unlike her past self. She searched for Isha for years but found her nowhere. Remembering how the nobles lusted after Isha, she began to hunt down the nobles and royals, nipping at the edges as she made her way in. But while she was in that process, she came across a group that was doing the same thing as her, but far more efficiently and effectively. Proving herself, she somehow managed to join the group, but it was still far from enough to finally be able to meet the group''s boss. Yearster, she finally learned that except for those nine people she saw from the beginning, no others really existed in the group, and she was stunned beyond belief when she learned that the boss of the group called Veil was none other than Eshwar. She then learned about his lover, whose name was Isha, her master, and finally about Eshwar''s promise to return. It was from then on that she began to notice simrities between the pocket system and the one from thetter part of the story that continued in his novel. The group waited for Eshwar as they maintained the group and kept the royals in check, and amid everything, her desire to help Eshwar in whatever way possible grew. And she thought of making a connection with the Earth. Due to her persistence, she began to cause mana explosions, which were the reason for the cracks that appeared in the dragon world, wasting her mana. After years of persistent efforts and mana explosions, she somehow managed to be the "head admin" of the system that influenced the entire Antino¨¹s, gaining herself a glitched system interface. She used that authority she gained and exploited all of its uses, finally making contact and establishing a connection with Earth. A crack opened up in front of her, and when she walked into it, she walked into a world where mana didn''t even exist. It was just like what Eshwar had always described in his stories: she was happy, thinking that she finally had the opportunity to meet him again, but she was unexpectedly caught by a human woman, who was wary at first but soon imed herself as Frostine''s friend while calling her Ms. Alien. Not minding the weird nickname, Frostine asked her about Eshwar, whom the woman fortunately knew as an author that died; after learning what she came for, she erased the woman''s memories after learning about her name, Seol So-Young, and left the before too much mana influenced the Earth. After returning back, she began to search for the Earth that contained mana; because she was used to searching for one, it wasn''t that hard to find another, and she found it not so long after. With more massive mana explosions that were influenced by the glitched system, she formed a connection with the other Earth, where she was sure Eshwar was, and the connection was formed through gates. But the gates were one sided, in which one could enter but they weren''t able to leave. Even though she knew nothing about what was happening on the other side, with him, since she had the head admin authority, she understood that if she abused it, the system would react to it ordingly, and the possibility of Eshwaring to their world to fix that problem would be high, which was the reason she abused it by making monsters and beasts of her current world enter the gates. Due to the mana limitation of Earth, she wasn''t able to send stronger monsters right away, but just like the level-up function, the mana limitation slowly expanded until she was able to make a minor god enter the gate. * (AN: OMNISCIENT POV) After a few minutes. "So, you did all that to make us enter this world faster?" Eshwar, my other half, asked, dazed, while Isha continued to stare at Frostine without a change in her indifferent expression. "Yes." Luna, aka Frostine, said with a bright smile on her face. "Let me ask you onest question. Why did you save me even when you knew how strong I was?" My other half asked in a daze. "Ah, t-that was out of pure instinct that I had developed when I was with my master, Isha. I always had the thought that you were a lot like her, so my body would move by itself before I even knew it." Frostine spoke with an embarrassed expression on her face. ''What''s there to be embarrassed about?'' I thought. "You mean I''m a lot like her?" He pointed at Isha. "Huh? What do you mean? I''m talking about my master Isha, who died, not a woman who has the same name." Frostine said with a frown. ''She is still as dumb as ever.'' I thought. "You know me?" My other half asked. "Hm? Of course!" She replied without hesitation. "And you know I loved Isha, your master?" He asked in a daze. "Yes!" "You know how I am. You also know that I loved Isha. Then why do you think that I loved another woman who has the same name instead of Isha herself?" He asked, making a valid point from my perspective. "How would I know? I don''t know where this topic is going, but if I''m right, then you only love one person...huh?" Frostine said and frowned in confusion. "Hi....Frosty." Isha called out, and by the next instance, tears welled up in her eyes. "N-no, no, she is dead; sh-she is supposed to be.... d-dead." Frostine mumbled while tears streamed out of her eyes. "I missed you...can I get a hug?" Isha asked, extending her arms. "Isha!" Frostine called out and jumped into her arms like a little kid. THUMP! "!!!!" The eyes of those present widened when they saw my other half''s body slump down. WHOOOOMMM-! Then, "Hing~" I took over, standing back up and cracking my neck and other joints before turning to face Frostine with cold eyes and a sweet smile on my face. "Devour her authority." Imanded the system in a mumble, ordering it to take away Frostine''s head admin authority, and [Initiating...] [Initiated taskpleted.] As soon as that message popped up, I knew that Frostine felt something disappear from her. "Copy her memories." Imanded again, but this time, I made it so that my mumble wouldn''t be heard, nor could it be heard even if they tried. [Initiating...] [Initiated taskpleted.] A few secondster, "I missed you too." I said, gazing at Frostine and Isha, before my gaze flitted on the others, unmoving. "Boss-!" The group of nine called out in unison. "Hahaha, I missed you guys too." I said it with a small chuckle, but there was no change in my expression. FHUMP "!!!!" Finally, my expressionless expression crumble down, into pieces as tears streamed out of my right eye. "Ah...." With a strange sound, I nced down and saw Isha hugging me tightly. With my brows and lips trembling, my arms moved, and everybody present saw my body trembling, and the hesitation in me as I thought whether to return Isha''s hug or not was extremely clear; they didn''t know why for what reason I was acting that way, but they felt their hearts clench painfully. "You...are not going to hug me?" Isha asked, looking at me with a smile on her tear-filled face. ''He is not the one from before...'' The group thought in unison. "C-can I?" I asked back with a pained expression on my face; actually, I was scared to even hear an answer from her. "Why are you asking permission? Aren''t I yours?" Isha asked. "I, I don''t know. You won''t be mine if I''m the only one who thought that, and I definitely said that you are the only person I ask permission from." I replied and waited for her to answer. "Please hug me." Isha said as her smile, too, trembled. Tears began to stream out of my eyes, and I could feel what the others around me were feeling, which was annoying since it was distracting me, so I controlled my omniscience. And, "Can I hug you.... please?" I asked, and noticing Isha nod her head, I hugged her. I HUGGED HER. A sense of relief and satisfaction washed over me; if I had to describe it in different words, then you could easily and honestly say that I felt like my soul was finally at peace. I took over my other half''s body for a different reason, but... well, not that I would everin if it included Isha. Chapter 317 316. Still As Terrifying As Ever...... "Gaze of the Omniscient." With a mumble, I nced down at Isha, who was in my arms. DOOOOOOM! And as if a cue of death rang, a pitch-ck, humongous, horned demonic demoness''s figure with a crimson hue surrounding it appeared, towering in front of me, ring at me with bright golden irises and vertical pure white slits. The entirety of its body was covered in cracks, through which Isha''s "divine mana" was seeping out, yet it still had a missing piece at its heart, through which I could see the pure white, celestial yet ominous power of one''s soul. ''Still as terrifying as ever...'' I thought inwardly. Its size was celestial; well, its existence was defined with a "Celestial" in front of it, and of course, I do not know its name even now. The demonic figure that I was able to see was Isha''s soul, which was at least a zillion times stronger than the gods that were in existence, even in its current state. Since the most strongest piece of its soul was still stuck on my soul. ''If I teach Isha how to tap into the power of her soul, then I won''t have to worry about her ever again.'' I thought, but still, since I didn''t know what came next, I wasn''t ready to take any risks without even learning about what kind of existence the celestial being in front of me was. ''.... I can kill it if I put my mind to it, but....'' I pondered. I didn''t know what would remain of the "Isha" I currently know if her soul healedpletely, but the ominousness yet the heavenly feeling her soul is giving off is... beyond what one could ever even imagine. With that thought, I nced at my arm that was wrapped around Isha and noticed the goosebumps I had. ''I am still getting goosebumps just from looking at it for a gap of time....'' I thought with a slight smirk. ''Should I reveal it or not....'' While I was stuck on that thought, Isha''s grip around me tightened, as her soul leaned in on me with an ominous grin on its face. ''Whoa....when did you start influencing her body?'' I thought inwardly and noticed how Isha''s grip around me was getting tighter and tighter. ''When I let my obsession, with you, lose.'' And unexpectedly, an answer came from the demonic demoness''s figure in front of me. Shuddering violently at the voice that seemed like a requiem, I deactivated my skill. "Eshwar? Are you okay?" Isha''s concerned voice jolted me back into reality. Only then did I notice that my back was covered in cold sweat as I trembled in Isha''s arms. "Huh?" I nced down at her face and flinched when the demonic demoness''s face reced Isha''s, but I held in my urge to run away and gently hugged her. "N-nothing. I am just a bit too happy." I whispered in her ear, making her burn with a violent blush. ''I have to live forever if I want to make sure that her soul doesn''t devour her.'' I burned with determination inwardly. Because as long as I don''t die, the final piece of her soul that was stuck on mine won''t be released, so as long as I live forever, the current Isha will remain the same, forever. But, ''I have to let her know at least something....'' "Isha, after hearing Frostine''s story, I understood the entire story, or you could call it the y of fate. I didn''t know what it was till now because you never existed in all of my previous lives because I regressed to the time after your death every time." I said them in an inaudible whisper, in such a way that only Isha was able to hear them. "Guys, please leave us for a few minutes." I nced at the members of the Veil, who were gazing at us with gazes filled with curiosity. "Hmph!" With a snort of unison, they walked towards the room''s door, including Frostine, whom I stopped by holding her wrist, indicating her to stay back. CLUNK "Domain of Absolute Istion." I initiated it, and with a ripple in space, not a single sound from outside was heard anymore. "Haaa...." With a deep sigh, I nced at Frostine before ncing at Isha. "In what format would you like to hear the story? I personally prefer a novel-like style because it is a lot easier to understand." I said it with a solemn look on my face. "You wouldn''t have mentioned that if you had given us an option in the first ce. But first...." Frostine said, even though she had something more to say, I cut her short because I couldn''t help but want to convey mypliment. "As expected, Frostine is smart." I nodded my head with a content look on my face. "Stop interfering." Frostine said, giving me a stern gaze. "Hm, hm." I hummed, nodding. "Huuu.... I missed you." She said with a deep sigh and pounced on me, hugging me. "I missed you too." "Don''t lie, I can tell "how" much you missed me just from your nd, emotionless tone!" Frostine roared. "If you do not remember, I have slightly be numb to emotions, and more so after meeting your master, who left nothing in me except for love and rage." I replied. "Hmph!" With a snort, Frostine tightened her hug around me. I smiled slightly and returned her hug, feeling her tears on my shoulder. "You. Frosty! You''re all grown up now!" Isha roared and pulled her back. "Alright, alright, master, I''ll stop cryin-" Frostine said in a flustered voice, but Isha simply hugged my arm as she nced at Frostine from the corner of her eyes. "You can''t just hug any man like that! That too with those!" Isha said, pointing at Frostine''s chest, making me and Frostine look at her with deadpan looks on our faces. ''True, if she hadn''t mentioned, I wouldn''t even have nced at her bo-'' "Where are you looking?" Isha''s stern tone snapped me out of my stupor. "Nowhere." I answered and nced around the room, whistling. "Master!!!!" Frostine yelled, crossing her arms over her chest as she red at Isha as if she had just betrayed her. "You should be mindful of your actions; we don''t know who is a pervert like your master''s soon-to-be husband!" Isha retorted. Realising she was indeed talking about me, "M-me? What did I do? I''m innocent!" I pleaded not guilty. "Hmph! Whose part of himself did all those perverted acts? Going around wooing other innocent women?" Isha asked, and with no real answer to her urately asked question, I lowered my head and received an earful of a well-deserved scolding from Isha. ''Wait, I had something serious to discuss!'' * After a few minutes of bickering, we finally stopped and got on to the serious matter at hand. "Novel like." Was the option they picked. "Afterbining the bits of memories I have of those involved in "our story," I figured out theplete truth." Chapter 318 317. No More Mysteries Left. From then on, except for Eshwar saying something about Isha being the female main lead, Charlie being the male main lead, Frostine being a side character, and Eshwar himself being the viin, he said nothing. "Even if you say all that, haven''t all your actions till now been "antihero"-like?" Isha asked. "Well, I can''t force myself to be a viin if you can''t see me as such." Eshwar replied with a shrug. "Okay, enough bullsh*t; exin." Isha demanded. "You have an extremely strong soul." Eshwar said and stopped with that, speaking nothing more. "What?" Isha, the person in question, asked with a deep frown on her face. "If you can, then exin it properly; if not, then I''ll leave." Isha said this in irritation, but she had no intention of doing anything she just said. "Fuuuu..." With a sharp exhale, Eshwar nced at Isha and looked at her with a serious, expressionless expression on his face. ''Wh-what?'' Isha thought inwardly, unable to voice her question. "You have an extremely strong "soul," an omnipotent soul." Eshwar said that except for adding a few more words, nothing in his words made any real sense. "Eshwar. My love. darling. Soulmate. Honey. Honey bun. Baby. Babe. Muffin. Cutie pie. I do not know much about souls, so exin in baby mode." Isha spoke with a cold smile on her face. "M-muffin? Honey bun? Cutie pie? Soulmate? Lovers are calling themselves that?" Eshwar mumbled with a strange look on his face. "I don''t know; exin!" She eximed, burning with a bright blush. "O-okay!" Eshwar nodded, even though he was clearly flustered by the nicknames Isha called him with. While Frostine enjoyed herself, watching the annoyingly greatbination of a couple in front of her, she was slightly sad that she didn''t bring any popcorn. From then on, Eshwar, with his basic and bad naming sense, named Isha''s soul an "omnipotent soul." Since both Frostine and Isha didn''t know what it really was, they kept quiet, allowing him to exin further. And with a story-like format, he began: Isha''s inherent trait, just like the few royals who received such traits in the lost past, Isha too had one: the "Omnipotent Soul." Due to which the fates of those around her also changed, ording to the emotions she had about them, which she could determine through her "cursed" eyes, the only one Isha favoured in all her life before she met Eshwar was Frostine, and due to her being exposed to such a strong soul for a long time, her soul was covered entirely with Isha''s soul power, due to which Frostine''s soul, too, gained an inherent trait, "Retain," the effects of which were her being able to retain the parts of her memories that she "remembers." Which was the reason she retained her memories even though she went through a full cycle of rebirth; after her rebirth, the effects of her trait weakened since she was not exposed to Isha''s omnipotent soul. And finally, in a life-threatening situation where Frostine had absolutely no idea if she could survive, she subconsciously used the power of Isha''s soul, which covered the entirety of her own, in her breath as she fell into the crack, and due to Eshwar being in the range of her breath and being the only one having a strong enough will and a strong enough soul to survive against such a breath, Eshwar''s soul involuntarily shed against Frostine''s release of excessively gained Isha''s soul power and he gained the trait of "Regression," or the"Clock of Fate." "I have a collection of the male main lead''s memories too. In his memories, he knows of his fate. Charlie''s reason for existence, his fate, had also tied his fate to a woman who was created to be his. "His" woman would appear in front of him as the soon-to-be wife of the emperor, Charlie''s father. Charlie''s father, the emperor, was a person who lusted after Charlie''s fated woman and forcibly married her, and Charlie, the chosen one, would kill the emperor and take away his fated woman, who, due to her traumatic experience with Charlie''s father, doesn''t love him. Onlyter, after years pass and they spend time together, does she finally ept him." Eshwar said, and though Frostine frowned in confusion upon hearing his exnation, Isha understood it entirely. ''I....I was fated to be forcefully married to the Emperor?" That disgusting lust monster?'' Isha thought inwardly and shuddered slightly. (AN: Mentioned in ch 78: Broken Reminiscence (2)) "The final boss he had to defeat is called "Fateless."" Eshwar said while pointing his index finger at himself. "You have no strings of fate connected to you...." Isha mumbled under her breath, yet in an audible voice. "Right...." Eshwar nodded in agreement. "Next, let''s have a round of Q&A." Eshwar said, and after a few minutes of pondering and silence over their lives, they opened their mouths, voicing their questions. "Why....the fallen?" Isha asked, slightly shaken up by the revtion. "Your curse, it was also an ability that you got due to your teait. "Celestial Hex," it was a curse that bends the divinews ording to the will of the caster, which was the reason the gods "rted and unrted" to "our" incident were "thrown" out of the divine realm. "Rted and unrted," because you didn''t really know your targets specifically, nor did you really try to control or consider the power output of your soul when you called that curse." Eshwar exined, but Isha didn''t react to any of his words as she continued to ponder. She had expected Eshwar to regress, but since she didn''t know if he would be able to ascend to godhood, she had brought the gods down to the ground so that he would hunt them down. Because she knew him well enough to know that he would do absolutely anything to hunt down those responsible for her death, she thought of helping him even a bit, and if she was still alive after his regression, she too would be able to exert revenge. And though he continued to regress after her death, he did exactly what she thought he would: he hunted down all the gods, rted or unrted to those who were the reason for her death. "Why did Eshwar, a part of yours, get headaches from time to time? And why did it lessen whenever I was with him?" Isha asked again. "Because I was trying to alter or influence his mind-set or mentality ording to my wishes, it eased whenever you were with him because I lived every moment I spent with you, even though I couldn''t physically, instead of altering his mind-set." Eshwar replied with a shrug. "Why is that woman, Seol So-Young, here?" Frostine asked. ncing at her, "Because she was influenced by the strong lump mana, you. She was exposed to a strong flow of mana, due to you being next to her. The involuntarily conducted mana cirction of your body is constantly purifying your mana, and the wastage is constantly oozing through a being with mana. And exactly when her body was used to the subtle amount of mana you oozed, you "used" "mana" to seal her memories." Eshwar spoke with an apathetic expression on his face. "Due to her sealed memories being strongly concentrated on me, she had visions and dreams about my other half''s life in the world I created which she used to write novels with. And on a certain day, she stuffed herself with a tonne of cupcakes and choked on them, due to which the subtle, feeble amount of mana that had umted in her exploded out and killed her. And since her subconscious mind was connected to my existence, she transmigrated into the world I lived in." Eshwar exined. "I.... apologise?" Frostine spoke with a confused look on her face. "Why did Frostine go through a rebirth only in this life?" Isha asked. "Because of me. Because of me, the Antino¨¹s was stuck in a time loop due to my constant train of regressions. Which was also the reason she didn''t instantly find out that the world she was reborn into was her own, in which she lived once." Eshwar exined. After another few minutes of silence, they took everything in and reluctantly epted the facts. "Since there are no more mysteries left, I''ll make it so that my other half learns the entire truth too; please focus on the things that areing up in the future." Eshwar said as he walked towards Isha. BA-THUMP ''Wha-what? Why is heing here?'' Isha thought as her heartbeat sped up. "Frostine, close your eyes and ears." Eshwarmanded, to which shockingly, sheplied with a smirk and turned her back on them. "W-why? What''re you about to do?" Isha asked, backing away. "From when did my Isha begin to talk informally?" Eshwar asked as he continued to walk towards her. "St-stop! Your other half should know that; no, you should know that." She said as her words became slightly formal again. "Well, I''ll take care of him soon enough. Hah. I can''t believe he did such a thing to my cute, innocent, and beautiful Isha." Eshwar said as he walked to Isha, who was backed up against the wall. "Pl-please stop...." She mumbled with her hands ced on Eshwar''s chest. "Really?" Eshwar asked in a teasing tone and took a step back, but Isha, who had her arms on his chest, clenched Eshwar''s clothes and stopped him from backing away too much. "I....I don''t know." Isha mumbled, looking down at his legs. "Hm?" He hummed questioningly and stopped only when he was right in front of her, looking straight at her slightly leaning figure. "I feel like I''m cheating on you, with you." She said. "I love you." Eshwar proposed, ignoring her words. "....." Her clench on his clothes tightened as she slightly pushed him back, only to pull him closer by the next instance. "I just wanted to let you know. I didn''t think you would be troubled enough to cry." Eshwar said and took a step back, noticing the tears falling from her eyes. "No! That''s not it!" She roared and nced at him with tear-filled eyes as she pulled him closer. Their faces were now only an inch away from each other''s due to Isha''s pull. "...." Looking into each other''s eyes, their breathing mingled as their heartbeats that sounded louder than the war drums began to form a strange rhythm. Eshwar''s head subconsciously leaned right as he brought his face closer to her, as something slightly bright shed next to them, and in a second that felt like eternity, their lips finally touched each other''s, as "Whoaaa...." Exactly, a "whoaaa" exmation was heard next to them(?), "!!!" Isha pushed Eshwar back when she nced at the blur of Frostine, who was looking at them with child-like twinkles filling her curious gaze. THUMP Ignoring Eshwar, who had just fallen butt first on the ground, "What was that? A kiss? Why was it so slow?" Frostine asked curiously. "Because it feels different, better, with the tension and mood slowly building up....Mmphf!" Eshwar, who was answering Frostine''s clueless, curious questions, was forced to stop when Isha crouched down and gave him a light peck before bolting out of the room, dragging along Frostine. ''Why are you even answering her childlike questions?'' "Haaaa...." And Eshwar melted with a deep sigh. Chapter 319 318. Event. A minute after Isha and Frostine left the room. GASP-! I jolted awake in the room Isha and I were living in; everything after Luna, aka Frostine, revealed herself had been a daze for me. ''I can''t believe Frostine''s alive-'' While I was about to sigh in relief, a mind-numbing pain assaulted me as a tonne of information forcefully flooded into my mind. With all the information about the "truth" in my mind, my indifference seemed to get deeper as an unquenchable rage bottled up in my very existence itself. DING [Title: Murderer activated] BA-THUMP-!!! My heartbeat sped up to an unbelievable degree as the bottled-up rage was gradually seeping out bit by bit. DING [Title: One from the Infinite activated] "I can''t believe you were able to stay sane with everything bottled up in you like this...." I mumbled, speaking with my omniscient half, that the rage bottled-up in me was at such extreme degrees that my indifference itself seemed to be unable to cope with it, even though it''s said to be at the level of a true god. "Will all these things truly happen?" I asked, because, as he has said, he hasn''t only given me information about the truth but also a sh of the entire world burning. [I have been through those things; if you don''t want to be in those that are burning, then get stronger.] A familiar, advisory voice sounded in my mind. The sh that appeared in my mind had the entire Antino¨¹s burning in an inextinguishable pure white me that, for some strange reason, felt familiar. In that me, everything in existence was being burned alive, yet none of it seemed to be able to die; no, it was more like that they didn''t have the "permission" to die. Amid the screams and wails of the living, a silhouetted being sat in mid-air with many space cracks surrounding him, as they oozed those inextinguishable pure white mes. "That silhouetted being definitely wasn''t me." I mumbled under my breath. BEEP-! With a subtle beep, my pocket system blinked bright blue twice before a triangles-filled abstract orb appeared above the wristband. [Match 10: Eshwar vs Vinny] "Right, the matches." I mumbled, remembering Grace''s promise to give me a greater reward than what I had previously asked for aspensation; of course, the "greater reward" was only applicable if I won and became a cadet-professor. "Let''s get going then." * In the seats around the 1,000-foot coliseum, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, the media, guild scouts, mercenary scouts, parents of the cadets, higher-ups of the academy, and a few random, verified people sat, gazing at the interesting matches taking ce. ''What''s so interesting about a few kids ying tag?'' Grace thought, gazing around at the cheering people. ''I guess the parents are proud about their kids, though minor, achievements.'' Grace thought. ncing at Neal and Reynolds, who were sitting with solemn expressions on their faces, "You guys too can enjoy the event for a bit." Grace said, as her dark brown eyes glimmered bright blue for a split second. In her eyes, she could see a gigantic purple and blood-red magical aura oozing from Neal and Reynolds, respectively. "Haaa, surveince can''t be done half-a*sedly." Neal said with a sigh. They were responsible for looking after everything that was happening in the coliseum, so they didn''t even have a second to spare. "Hmm. Do as you wish." Grace nodded her head in understanding, because what he said was true too, but she hoped they would at least enjoy the event a bit. ''I hope that the matches end soon; I want to see what the winning candidates have in their arsenal that makes them unique.'' Grace thought inwardly: the candidates that had the highest chances of bing the winner of this event were Isha, Vinny, Katline, Seo Hana, Charlie, Eshwar, and Dremin Strurt. ''Isn''t Dremin Strurt the heir of the most influential noble household of the empire? Why is he participating in the event when he is already a level 20 yer?'' Grace frowned because many of the chosen candidates had withdrawn from the fight, like Gang Jiwoo, Violet, Katharine, Seol So-Young, and a few heirs of the noble households. Isha had also only agreed to participate because she had nothing else to do. ''Do these noble households have no shame at all? Do they really have a kind of fetish to bully the weak?'' She thought, frowning in disgust. While she was pondering, the announcer''s voice resounded throughout the coliseum, saying something about the winner of the matches from before, moving on to the semi-finals, as the announcers announced the arrival of thest batch of today''s matches, thest two matches that were going to take ce now. ''Making two pairs fight was the right choice, since the time it consumes is also lesser and the excitement in the crowd is also maintained properly.'' Grace thought, nodding her head in satisfaction. "Edvin Irvine vs Charlie Rowse and Eshwar vs Vinny. Let''s see how it ys out." Grace mumbled under her breath. ''Aren''t Eshwar and Vinny friends? I hope their friendships won''t have a problem due to this fight.'' * "Hah." A hysterical chuckle filled with malicious intent escaped Vinny''s mouth when he looked at Eshwar walking towards him. "How dare you look so indifferent after killing everyone that''s precious to me..." Vinny mumbled under his breath as his re intensified, the horns protruding out from his forehead twisting dangerously, slowly. "Hello, Vinny. Long time, no see." Eshwar said in an indifferent tone as he walked towards Vinny with a broadsword in his hands, unintentionally pissing off Vinny even more. "Eshwar....." Vinny said in a cold tone. Vinny, who had been teleported directly to the academy''s entrance two weeks ago, was suspected of being a demon due to his protruding horns, which were there due to him selling his soul to the devil of kindness, Vassago. He had made an excuse of him being an hybrid between a bull beast-man and a human woman, after connecting his excuse with his aura which had shaped into a perfect neon green bull, his excuse was bought under suspicion, though he was being under a constant watch, he was able to have a ufortablyfortable life in the academy, well, he needed none of that as long as he was allowed to avenge his pitiful self. He, who was there when the tournament was taking ce in the elven kingdom back on Earth, had seen Eshwar taking off his White Swan''s mask; no, it wasn''t that he took it off; the mask on his face at that point had just dematerialized. After learning that Eshwar was indeed White Swan, everything that had happened to Vinny due to White Swan shed back in his mind as a rage that was on an entirely different level bottled up in him, and the "kindness" and fort" he received from Vassago when he was at his lowest helped him a lot. Which was also a time when Vinny decided to sell his soul to acquire a demonic trait, due to which Vinny was able to grow stronger at an extremely fast rate, even though he hunted low-level monsters. With this unexpected gain, he remained as strong as he was, if not stronger, even after arriving at Antino¨¹s, where all the other humans'' strength had lowered, bringing them to the bottom of the food chain while Vinny stayed at the top, like an apex predator. "How weak you have be Eshwar." Vinny mumbled in an audible enough voice, to which he received an indifferent gaze as a response. [Start] "Prepare yourself to die." Vinny said and disappeared from the spot he stood, reappearing right in front of Eshwar and kicking him in the abdomen. BAM-! Coughing out a mouthful of blood as he slid across the coliseum, Eshwar gazed at Vinny with an apathetic expression on his expressionless face after he stopped himself, enticing rage in Vinny. "How long are you going to stare at me with such indifference? Don''t you have any emotions?" Vinny roared, disappeared, and reappeared in front of Eshwar, punching him in the face. BAM-! THUD! SHUFFLE Eshwar, who flew back due to the hit, slumped on the ground before standing back up with the same indifference on his face. Wiping off the blood trickling down from the corners of his lips, Eshwar cracked his neck. "Do you know how it feels to regress while being unable to save those that I deemed precious? Do you know how it feels to be stuck at the level of your previous strength, even though you are giving it your all, just to get even a bit stronger than I was previously? Do you know how it feels to have a person, whom you thought of as if they were your world, taken away from you? Do you know-" Vinny continued to ramble and me Eshwar for his own ipetence, which he was unable to acknowledge even though he himself knew about it. He punched and kicked at Eshwar with each word he spoke, yet he couldn''t bring out a single groan from Eshwar, who had be a punching bag for Vinny. Finally, Vinny''s attack was blocked with his broadsword. BANG-! "Do you have any emotions?" Vinny asked coldly, ring at Eshwar, whose head was behind his broadsword. "Haaaa...." With a deep sigh, Eshwar nced at Vinny. "For humans, I have no emotions left, and there is only ''me'' for myself and for those that I deem mine. I have been through a lot of f**ked-up things. I have seen and been through everything you just mentioned, and I know what it means to regress. There is simply nothing one can do after they have regressed once. A regression carves bad luck into your soul and kills your loved ones right in front of your very own eyes. I have been through the things you mentioned at least a billion times; you could even consider the number as me being modest. Don''t you dare lecture me while you haven''t been through sh*tpared to mine." Eshwar said calmly, with his indifference stered on his face. ''What? What bullsh*t?'' "You have experienced regression?" Chapter 320 319. Unwise Choice Of Words. Without answering any of the questions thrown at him, Eshwar continued to dodge and parry almost all the attacks thrown at him, since the attacks Vinny threw at him were too strong topletely block them for the current Eshwar. "Answer me! Have you experienced regression?!!" Vinny asked in a loud roar, yet he didn''t receive a single answer. "You f**king retard! Answer me!" Vinny yelled at the top of his lungs, and noticing he didn''t get an answer, he decided to kill the son of a bit*h in front of him and took out a pair of broadswords from his inventory. Tossing a wooden broadsword at Eshwar, "Take it; it''s a sword you gave me, and this is also a sword you made for me." Vinny said as he tossed another broadsword at Eshwar. One was a wooden broadsword, and the other was a cracked ice attributed artefact-like broadsword; it looked mesmerising with the unfreezing ice holding the sharp shattered pieces of the sword in the corners, emphasising the whole sword. (AN: A sword Eshwar made for Vinny in ch 19: The Golden Dragon.) CLATTER Dropping the broadsword in his hand, Eshwar caught the pair of broadswords tossed at him and held one in each hand without much difficulty. "Thank you." Eshwar thanked Vinny, who could feel the sincerity in his words. "This f**ker." Vinny cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth. cing the wooden broadsword on his shoulders, Eshwar clenched the other with his left hand as his gaze turned sharper before itnded on Vinny, who noticed the challenge in Eshwar''s gaze and took out an ominous, ck longsword, burning in red mes, and zoomed towards Eshwar with his gaze fixed on his target. CLANK Parrying Vinny''s horizontal sh, Eshwar raised the wooden sword and swung it diagonally downward at Vinny, who gazed at the iing sword swing with a mocking smile on his face. "!!!" Suddenly, his eyes dted when he felt the force behind Eshwar''s sword swing increase. BOOM Vinny, who had disappeared from the spot, reappeared a few steps behind, gazing at Eshwar with a cold gaze. "Don''t be so surprised; you knew of the sword''s ability." Eshwar''s mumble sounded. ''F**k, I shouldn''t have handed him those swords; for a brief moment, I had forgotten that he was the one who taught me how to properly wield that sword.'' Vinny cursed inwardly. "It''s nothing if I just overpower you with my strength." Vinny scoffed and zoomed towards Eshwar. CLACK CLUNK CLANK Vinny''s shy sword attacked Eshwar in all directions; some of them were parried, some were tanked with his body, and some were dodged. Burnt cut scars began to pile up on Eshwar''s body as his cadet training outfit burned, revealing the gruesome burnt cuts stacking upon the other deep scars on his Greek god-like body. "You made me kill my own father!" Vinny roared as he attacked. "You killed my friends!!!" "You made my lover despise me!" "You are the reason, I''m like this!" Vinnyined. CLUNK-! "It seems like you are misunderstanding something here." It was only then that Eshwar began to speak. "You killed your own father, as you said, because you didn''t believe him or speak to him about anything that had happened to you, nor did you ask if he nned to kill off your friends and your family, of course, which YOU KILLED WITH YOUR OWN TWO HANDS because youcked basic trust andmunication." Eshwar''s cold, indifferent voice resounded throughout the entire coliseum. "Your friends were vampires, and I am a vampire hunter, so I did what I had to." He said, continuing to pin all of Vinny''s ims back on him with the name of "clearing up the misunderstanding." "You s*xually assaulted your lover, who foundfort with me at that time." Eshwar said, poking exactly where it hurt. "The real reason for you bing like the current you is your ipetence. You are just a man-child that''s throwing a tantrum right now." Eshwar''s said, and thatment sealed it; Vinny''s bottled-up rage exploded out, making those present in the coliseum flinch for a split second. Even though Eshwar was the target of the extreme killing intent oozing out of Vinny, he was struggling, but his confidence hadn''t ttered even a bit, nor had his indifference disappeared. Slowly, a neon green, raging bull materialised behind Vinny as it readied itself to rush at its target. "You...!" Vinny red at Eshwar, and by the next instance, he disappeared from the spot he stood and reappeared behind Eshwar, swinging his ming longsword diagonally downward. SLASH SPLURT-! "....." Stumbling forward, Eshwar gazed back at Vinny over his shoulder, only to be kicked right in therge, burning cut on his back. WHOOOOMMM-! Eshwar flew across the 1,000-foot coliseum, noticing that the other match wasn''t taking ce, before he flipped mid-air and BAM-! Colliding against the coliseum''s wall, just beneath the seating area, Eshwar slumped down on the ground with both of the broadswords clenched in his hands, coughing out several mouthfuls of blood, as Vinny walked towards him without his sword in his hands. He sat on Eshwar''sps and red at the almost knocked-out Eshwar, who had blood trickling down the back of his neck. "Oi," Vinny called out. PATT-! And pped upon not receiving any answer to his call, "Oi." Vinny called out again. PAT-! "Answer me." PAT-! "ANSWER ME!" PATT-! Blood trickled down from the corners of Eshwar''s lips, though it wasn''t that noticeable since Eshwar''s entire face had already turned bloody. *WHISPER* "Hm? Do you finally feel like answering?" Hearing a nearly inaudible whisper in front of him, Vinny asked in a mocking tone and leaned forward towards Eshwar''s bloodied face to listen to what he was saying. "Should I ask him to take over or not? If it''s "him," he''ll take care of him in an instant. No, no, I shouldn''t think in such a weak way; if I ask him for help then, it means I gave up, and he''ll be disappointed in me again. I have to think of other ways-" Vinny, who heard Eshwar''s mumbles and frowned deeply. "It seems like you are still overestimating yourself." Vinny said, standing and backing up before taking out his burning longsword and pointing it at Eshwar''s blood-dyed body. ''Hah! He is still acting all high and mighty even now; it seems like he is still on airs due to his strong past self!'' Vinny scoffed inwardly; he wanted to get a reaction out of Eshwar, which was harder than he expected; he wanted to see Eshwar beg and plead with him to stop, as he toyed with him, but he was yet to even get a groan from Eshwar, and Vinny couldn''t even feel angering from Eshwar, who was left in tatters. What could he do to make such a person feel despair? While questioning himself, he heard his own demonic but advising voice in his mind that said, ''Inflict more pain.'' Chuckling at the suggestion, a cruel smile crept up on Vinny''s face, and "Hellfire." He mumbled, and his burning longsword flickered, throwing a spark of red mes at Eshwar. WHOOOOMMM-! Setting Eshwar aze, yet nothing seemed to be happening. Vinny couldn''t even get an ounce of reaction from Eshwar''s now burning body. He could feel a few magical bursts in the crowd, which seemed to be the staff that were going to stop the fight. Well, Vinny had no ns of stopping now. "Eshwar! Use your trump cards; there is no real need to hide them!" An alluring woman''s cold, indifferent voice resounded throughout the entire coliseum, garnering the attention of the entire crowd. ''He had trump cards? Yet he hadn''t shown any?'' Vinny frowned deeply and nced at the ck-haired woman, whose voice just resounded. ''Isha....'' Vinny gritted his teeth and flinched when an ingenious idea popped up in his mind that had a 100% chance of getting a reaction out of Eshwar. "I forgot-" Eshwar''s indescribable words mumbled amid the burning sound, but his words stopped when he heard the next words that came out of Vinny''s mouth. "I''ll get a reaction out of you if I "s*xually assault" your lover publicly, won''t I?" Vinny muttered aloud with an ominous smile on his face, and as soon as those words resounded throughout the entire coliseum, the 1,000-foot ground''s temperature dropped by several degrees, abruptly. Sending chills down the spines of those present. FISSSSS.... Though Vinny didn''t know why, that fiss sound sounded like a requiem in his ears, and by the next instance, after Vinny blinked once, he saw the fire engulfing Eshwar blown out like a candle; smoke rose from Eshwar''s nearly roasted body, and from then on, Vinny could see Eshwar''s body was healing at a rate visible to the naked eye; the burnt cut scars too healed, but notpletely; they were just adding a few new scars to his already scar-filled body. Before the smoke entirely blew off, Eshwar stood up, dropped his broadswords, and walked towards Vinny, cing his hand on Vinny''s chest. Eshwar ripped off his cadet training outfit and, stumbling back, wrapped the cloth around the lower half of his naked body. Vinny, who felt the cue of his death, zoomed aside and picked up the broadswords, and PIERCE-!! Stabbed Eshwar''s back at his kidneys with both of the broadswords and left them there so that Eshwar wouldn''t heal. Stumbling forward, Eshwar stopped himself with one strong step, took a deep breath, puffing out his chest, and "GRAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" A monstrous roar resounded throughout the entire coliseum, forcing everybody to slump back. Chapter 321 320. Marionette. Grace, who was watching everything unfold right in front of her, didn''t know what to do. At first, when Eshwar was being thrashed around, she noticed the indifferent expression on his face and thought everything was under his control. But soon after the fight got gorier and gorier, as Eshwar''s blood sttered everywhere, yet not a single groan was heard from Eshwar, she didn''t know what to do. And the subtle exchange of dialogue between Eshwar and Vinny, which made Grace get disgusted at Vinny, made her think that if what Eshwar said was true, then everything Vinny had imed had happened because of Vinny himself, which prompted her to root for Eshwar''s victory. But as the fight unfolded, she didn''t know if she had to stop it or let it continue, but she moved when she saw Eshwar being lit on hellfire, and she wasn''t the only one; other strong, confident people also moved, but Isha''s cold, indifferent voice stopped them, also making them frown. "I''ll get a reaction out of you if I "s*xually assault" your lover publicly, won''t I?" Vinny''s voice sounded, and an eerie feeling enveloped her heart, enticing rage in her; she had not once thought that she would one day get angry at a cadet. "!!!!" Shuddering violently, she gazed at Eshwar. And it wasn''t long until she could feel the change in the atmosphere that was filled with an eerie silence, which was soon broken by the sound of Eshwar''s footsteps and the ripping sound of Vinny''s training outfit. PIERCE-!! "!!!" ''That cowardly basta*d!'' Grace cursed inwardly; it wasn''t that she didn''t want to curse out loud, it was just that she was unable to due to being under an extremely horrifying, suffocating pressure. It wasn''t a kind of pressure that rendered them unable to move; it was a kind of pressure that "the strong" gave off just by being present, involuntarily. "GRAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" It was then that a hollow, monstrous roar resounded throughout the entire coliseum; it wasn''t the roar of a person in pain, it was the roar of an enraged monster! She, together with all those in the crowd that stood up, slumped back into their seats in a state of fear. Soon, Eshwar''s hostile, crimson-coloured intent exploded out. ''It can''t be....'' Grace denied what she was witnessing, but "A murderer''s intent..." Reynolds'' mumble sounded next to Grace, who didn''t have a choice but to ept that fact since a murderer himself confirmed it. But before she concluded that fact, Eshwar''s intent turned darker and darker, until it was nearly ck. And it wasn''t long until another golden-coloured me-like intent enveloped Eshwar. It felt holy yet ominous as anotheryer of pitch-ck intent began to ooze out of him, which soon turned into the source of the golden-coloured, me-like intent. ''W-what is that?'' Grace questioned reality as Eshwar''s intent rose up, forming a humongous, ring eye behind him. The humongous left eye behind him was just shaped like that with the amount of intent Eshwar oozed, as it was translucent yet traumatising. The eye was ring at everything Eshwar could see, inflicting an inerasable fear in them. It wasn''t long until the humongous, coliseum covering left eye "shifted" before a right arm, muchrger than the eye from before, materialised above Eshwar with an open palm, facing downward. Strings connected with the humongous right hand behind Eshwar began to crawl down before connecting themselves to Eshwar, disying a marite being yed in a y. And the fingers of the humongous arm flickered, and the marite, Eshwar, shot out towards the wall at the other end of the coliseum and collided against it without hesitation. BAM-! Due to the sh, the broadswords piercing his back were unsheathed, whose handles Eshwar grabbed by twisting his body. His face was a mess due to him colliding against the wall, and his rib structure also seemed to have cracked; well, it wasn''t long until they healedpletely as Eshwar''s body shot towards Vinny, who stood in gape. ''W-what barbaric way....'' Grace was horrified. With that strange hypnotic voice, that sounded out of nowhere, resounding the entire coliseum, Eshwar''s body began to flit across the ground, swinging both of his broadswords in a strange, hypnotic, choreographed manner, with each of his sword swings sending dispersing ck ink-dyed des at Vinny. "Argh!!" Vinny dodged, parried, and defended, yet was forced to tank some with his body; each small windde shot out at him left a cut, no matter what size. With yet another hypnotic voiced words, tens of dispersing ck ink-dyed des shot out from Eshwar''s swords in all basic angles, attacking Vinny in all directions, relentlessly. (AN: Not reeeead but read!) "Arrrrrrggggghhhh!!!! F**k, f**k, f**k.....!!" Vinny groaned in agony, loudly. The hypnotic-sounding mumble sounded again, and a boulder-sized blob of ck ink materialised in front of him, which Eshwar shed without hesitation as the strings attached to the fingers above him flickered. SPLATTER-! SPLASH-!!! Sshing sounds of the ck ink that busted out of the boulder-sized blob oozing out sounded as the ck ink spread and dyed the entire floor of the coliseum in it, creating a domain of sorts. SPLASH-!! With the sshing sounds, Vinny rushed towards Eshwar, running on the ck ink with an ominous zing sword, initiating the attacks from his side and bombarding Eshwar with sword swings, which were parried due to the attacks being strong. It was then that everybody saw what they weren''t able to see previously: the arm above Eshwar "shifted." Soon, an ominous grinning mouth materialised behind Eshwar, as its lips folded inwardly, before The hypnotic voice sounded again, "pausing" everything in the coliseum. ''Tha-that...is than a whole existence?'' Grace, who was questioning reality, was able to finally draw a conclusion inwardly: it was exactly as she questioned; the size difference between the eye and the arm was massive, just like a humanoid figure''s. The intent behind Eshwar seemed to be an existence, considering how the eye and an arm "shifted." After pausing Vinny, together with the rest of those in the coliseum, Eshwar walked towards Vinny and ced the sharp edge of the broadsword on Vinny''s chest, slowly slicing downward, deep enough for him to feel satisfied. Again, the grinning mouth behind Eshwar widened as the grin on Eshwar''s face also widened, ominously. Chapter 322 321. Unique Priest. "Urgh...." Vinny groaned in agony, because except for that, he couldn''t really do anything. He felt as if somebody was forcing him to stay still, and he had no way to resist the power used to force him to stay still. He waspletely at Eshwar''s mercy; thinking back, Vinny had imagined an exact situation, except the roles of his and Eshwar''s were switched in Vinny''s imagination. The sword ced on his chest was yet to bepletely pulled downward by Eshwar, who had an ominous grin on his face that disyed how much he was enjoying what he was doing. Even though the cut was forming on his body, not a drop of blood trickled out of the wound, yet the pain Vinny was experiencing was immense. None, not a single person''s mana fluctuated in the crowd now; Vinny didn''t know what had happened, nor did he understand why they were favouring Eshwar over him, but their actions too irritated him. "Argh.... eet seeemps lyze uoo fffhorgth abhouth mmi thraith...." Vinny spoke between his gritted teeth, moving only his tongue. He wanted to say, "It seems like you forgot about my trait," but the words that came out of his mouth sounded like that. "Shelfphis phrysth!" Vinny initiated his title, "selfish priest." [Title: Selfish Priest activated.] Whoever gained a priest ss had to sacrifice something in order to use their skills, and some had no effects on themselves. But it was different for Vinny''s "Unique Priest" ss; due to the effects of that ss, Vinny was able to gain the title "Selfish Priest," whose effects increased by 25% when he used his skills on himself. [Selfish Priest: Heal is activated.] With a subtle fhump, a pair of translucent golden wings protruded out of his back and enveloped him, healing him entirely. The mouth behind Eshwar moved again, mumbling a word with its hypnotic voice. WHOOOOSH-! With a subtle ripple, everything that had "paused," began to "y," as if reality itself wasplying with Eshwar''smands. SPLURT-! "Argh!!!!" Vinny groaned in anguish, because Eshwar had initiated a newmand, everything began to move normally, and therge cut on Vinny''s body that had yet to bepletely healed spewed out the blood it wasn''t able to before. WHOOSH-!! SWISH-!! Swinging both of his broadswords vertically between his fingers, Eshwar walked towards Vinny, who was backing away, stumbling. "Alright, ytime''s over." Vinny said with his right hand ced on his chest, where arge cut was previously, stumbling. Even though the cut has healedpletely, the stinging and slicing sensation remained, making him feel like he was still being cut. ''If I had gotten at least a few new skills before our fight happened! I should have been patient!'' Vinny yelled at himself inwardly. "Unique Priest." Vinny mumbled; it was the only trait he was able to [Hold], due to him having a single ticket. This was going to be the first time that he was going to use that skill, and hoping it was a good one, Vinny clenched his zing longsword. [Skill: Unique Priest activated.] BOOM-! With a subtle yet loud boom, gold-dyed demonic energy exploded out of his body, turning into a golden and white dyed, nearly translucent helmet and armour, simrly, and turning him into some kind of pdin. White longhair could be seen fluttering behind Vinny, as it protruded out from the top, back end of the helmet that had materialised, covering Vinny''s head, as a pure, shining white cape adorned his back. ''Damn, White Ranger? Wtf is happening?'' Vinny muttered inwardly, looking at himself, before a huge force felt right in front of him. Maybe it was because of his armour-adorned body; Vinny didn''t even feel the need to dodge Eshwar''s wooden sword''s vertical, downward sh. THUNK-! "....." Vinny nced at Eshwar''s face through his helmet''s eye slit and scoffed at him behind the helmet; he couldn''t even feel something hitting him; his armour was just that overpowered. BOOOOOOM-!! It was only after a split second that the force behind the sword swing came crashing down right upon the armour, yet Vinny could feel nothing, absolutely nothing; it was as if he were in the middle of a cloud. "You have be weak, Eshwar." Vinny said and raised his right leg, kicking Eshwar right in the chest as Eshwar''s body flung back like a wet rag. BAM-! "You can''t defeat me-" As Vinny prepared himself to give a grand speech, BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM-! With an ear-deafening boom, the ceiling exploded and came crashing down on Vinny and the immobile Eshwar. Gritting his teeth in eerie since he wasn''t able to get any painful reaction out of Eshwar, Vinny disappeared from the spot where he stood, escaping the area before it got too troublesome. He took out a scroll from his inventory and ripped it; it was a [short-area teleportation scroll] he brought from the yer shop; it was able to teleport the user a maximum of 50 kilometres away, and just as he was able to teleport away, he noticed a ck blur in the middle of the coliseum, but before he could see what was happening, the scenery in front of him changed, and now, Vinny was free falling off of the floating ind. ''What was that?'' He asked himself, but soon ignored it, thinking that whatever it was, it would be buried under the debris that was falling down due to the ceiling exploding. "Why would anybody even think of attacking the academy? Are people dumb here too?" Vinny mumbled under his breath, behind his helmet. * In the coliseum. BOOOMMM-! CRUMBLE-!!! A humongous dust cloud filled the entire coliseum as coughs, groans, and wails of anguish filled the coliseum, and Reynolds zoomed around the crowd to see if there was anything he could help with. WHOOOOSH-!! Hundreds of figures among the crowd were seen jumping into the humongous dust cloud, thinking that they were running away from fright or rushing to the other side to check up on their children. Reynolds ignored them and continued to servile the seating area. CRACK SHATTER-!!! THUNK-THUNK "?" Noticing the weird sound sounding in the middle of the coliseum, Reynolds turned his gaze at the humongous dust cloud. As the weird sound continued to increase at a terrifying rate, it wasn''t long before Reynolds was able to make out what was happening. "!!!!!" Reynolds'' eyes dted when he felt the mana in the atmosphere increase, and it wasn''t stopping even after the entire coliseum''s atmosphere was filled with a rich amount of mana. Understanding what was going on, "STOP!!!" Reynolds roared as loudly as he could, causing ripples to form in front of him, but the sounds didn''t stop. Even though his roar''s purpose wasn''t to stop whatever was happening in the middle of the coliseum, he hoped to at least have them stop for a split second, buying "them" time. "Giant''s hurricane p!" A loud yell resounded throughout the coliseum, and by the next instance, BOOOMMM-! A massive gust of wind pressure shot out from the opposite direction as the humongous dust cloud hit Reynolds'' face, covering him and the crowd around him in dust. Reynolds gritted his teeth, knowing Grace did it on purpose, but since it wasn''t an ideal situation right now, he didn''t voice his dissatisfaction and peered into the middle of the debris and humans-filled ground with a sharp gaze. The people zooming around the debris-filled ground were seen throwing yellow and red coloured cores into the middle, while some of them were seen spreading the yellow and red dust around the coliseum. ''S and SS-ranked cores?'' Reynolds'' eyes widened as he felt a chill around his heart. Magic cores or monster cores, though rare, could be seen beginning with rank-C monsters, going up to rank-B, A, S, SS, and finally the god-ranked cores. The ranks could be derived from the colours the cores are in: white, silver, yellow, orange, red, and ck, respectively. The magic power stored in the higher-ranked cores is higher in quantity and quality, and the density of mana also increases as the cores turn darker, but Reynolds couldn''t believe that these people weren''t hesitating to throw away such precious treasures to massacre the people in the academy. "F**king basta*ds!!!!" Reynolds roared and jumped into the debris-filled ground as a red, crystallised sword materialised in his hands out of nowhere. Just as he was about to run rampant, six purple-coloured cores dropped from the middle of the broken ceiling, falling directly upon the pile of shattered red- and yellow-coloured cores. "Grace! Stop them!" Reynolds yelled as his saliva spat out; as soon as he saw the purple-coloured cores, his mind nked and he was unable to think of anything at that moment, and out of pure instinct of being unable to let the purple-coloured cores shatter from the impact, Reynolds threw his sword at them. And unfortunately for everyone alive, the purple-coloured cores shattered uponing into contact with the sword Reynolds threw at it, instinctively. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM-!!!! WHOOOOMMM Six purple-coloured gates materialised in mid-air, horizontally, and within a matter of seconds, a sea of S-ranked monsters began to pour out of them. Everything that happened just now had happened in a span of a minute that had yet to pass. Chapter 323 322. Monsters. Outside the academy. A horned demonic figure with white hair, ck sclera, and bright white irises was seen walking in the middle of a massive crowd that was seen rushing in and out of the academy. BUMP SPLATTER-! BUMP SPLATTER-!! "Just how many more do I have to kill before they understand not to bump into me?" Tchort mumbled under his breath in annoyance. BUMP SPLATTER-! As soon as anybody bumped into him, they were crushed to death by his overwhelming magic power. Even though he was already bathed in blood, none even noticed it as they stomped their way, even though the crushed bodies remained on the floor. ''This is exactly why I love humans. They care about nothing else but themselves when they are in a situation where their lives are on the line.'' Tchort thought inwardly. "Not that we, the demons, are any different; if I have to point out a difference, then it''s just that we don''t care about the other''s life or death at all." Tchort mumbled, humming to himself in agreement. BUMP SPLATTER-! "I heard that the humans from Earth have gotten weaker; I wonder how it would feel to kill "him" now." Tchort mumbled, humming a melodious tune that ran through his mind, remembering the white-haired, handsome man who had scared Tchort, the demon king, just with a gaze of his. "How very nice it would be to look at his despair-filled face before I kill him." "Hmm? Who''s that?" Tchort mumbled, gazing back at a distance where he felt a strong mana fluctuation. ''Somebody is running away. Smart human, no, a demon?'' Tchort thought and sniffed the air to get a whiff of the being who was running away. "A contractor? Which demon dared to leave the demon realm without my consent?" Tchort mumbled with a frown. [Zephyr] Tchort called out telepathically. "At yourmand, your majesty." Abruptly, a suited demon with ck hair, ck sclera, and blood-red irises appeared in front of Tchort, kneeling. "Look into the demon that''s roaming free here in this world without my consent." Tchortmanded. "By your order." With that, Zephyr disappeared from the spot where he knelt. "....." Tchort gazed at the spot where Zephyr knelt with a keen gaze, pondering. Zephyr, a demon, appeared in front of Tchort out of nowhere and began to serve Tchort even though he wasn''t really given the authority to be able to do so. Tchort couldn''t even tell how strong Zephyr was, and that was something that was supposed to be impossible. There were only two cases for something like that to happen: either Zephyr wasn''t strong enough to be recognised by the demon realm or he was too strong, stronger than the demon king, who was the second order of the demon realm. The former definitely wasn''t the case with Zephyr, because Tchort had observed him as Zephyr served him behind the scenes, and he was left to believe in thetter case, which makes Zephyr an extremely dangerous existence. Tchort''s crown was at constant threat with Zephyr next to him; if the demon realm, which had its own set of rules and orders, acknowledged Zephyr''s strength, then Tchort''s enjoyment would cease to exist as he would be thrown back to the spot where he would have to make contracts and umte souls to raise up in ranks. ''Who the hell is that basta*d?'' Tchort thought inwardly. On the day Zephyr had appeared in front of Tchort, he had said that he''d stop serving him if he found his childhood friend; hopefully nothing had happened yet due to Zephyr not finding his childhood friend. Tchort had even hoped that whoever Zephyr''s childhood friend was, he''d die so that Zephyr would keep serving him. "Well, ignoring the troubling things, let''s go look at something fun." Tchort mumbled and made his way into her academy, continuing his killing spree. * In the academy. Charlie, who was gazing at everything that happened in front of him, finally snapped back into reality when he saw six purple-coloured gates materialise mid-air, horizontally. And it wasn''t long before Minotaurs, Basilisks, Cyclops'', and Trolls fell out of the gate and stood in daze for a few seconds before the mana in the atmosphere increased by at least threefold. Being influenced by such a strong raw magic power, their eyes glimmered bright red before all the monsters spawned went into a berserk state. GRAAAWWWOOOOO-!!! With a loud war cry from the berserk monsters, an unexpected mini-war broke out in the academy. As the monsters ran rampant. ''Minotaur: A strong, brute monster. Skill: Strengthening. Basilisk: A snake-type monster, a serpent king with a fatal acid breath attack. Skill: Petrification. Cyclops: brute-type monster Skill: Heightened Hearing. Troll: brute-type monster. Skill: Regeneration.'' A series of pieces of information rushed into Charlie''s mind as the glimmer in his eyes died down for a split second. Soon enough, his eyes glowed bright red as he zoomed at the monsters, ignoring the cries of those around him. Reynolds, who noticed Charlie''s gaze, didn''t even think about stopping him; instead, he too joined Charlie with a smile on his face. "Aren''t you a hot-blooded youngin?" Reynolds mumbled, zooming at the monsters next to Charlie. "Exterm....ters" Charlie mumbled and continued to rush towards the monster without even ncing at Reynolds. "Is he in a trance?" Reynolds mumbled and shrugged. "Didn''t matter, I guess." He mumbled. "Ho? Ai, why are you bringing along a kid?" Neal roared, appearing next to Reynolds. "Does it look like he is?" Said Grace, appearing next to Charlie. "He''s in a trance; let''s leave him alone." Reynolds said. "..... Isn''t he weird? How did he get into a trance without even starting to fight?" Neal mumbled, and exactly at that, Charlie''s hearing nked. He kicked off of the debris, took out his sword, and swung it down at the Minotaur that was in his attack range. CLANG-! GRAAAWWWOOOOO-! Blocking Charlie''s attack, the Minotaur rushed at him as he jumped back, kicking off the Minotaur''s axe. Raising up the massive axe behind its head, held with both hands, it swung down at Charlie, who was still in mid-air. CLUNK Luckily, Charlie managed to shift his body and parry the axe that was swung down at him. BAM-! "Uckh!" Charlie groaned in pain, hitting his back against the debris on the ground, almost snapping his spine. "Argh, wha-what''s going on?" Charlie mumbled in confusion. "Whoa!! Aaaaaaa!!!!" And screamed, running back to avoid the axe strike that was swung down on him by the Minotaur. "Oh, he''s back. He gained nothing from his trance. Pity, truly a pity." Mumbled Reynolds, killing the Minotaur with a single sh from his crystallised blood-red sword. "Huuu...." Facing the current reality, Charlie exhaled sharply. ''What''s going on...'' Even though he snapped back to reality, his mind was still a mess. He didn''t know why, but his first instinct upon watching the monsters fall out of the gate was to y them, and he just couldn''t believe that his first instinct was to kill, even though it was against a monster. That thought or that instinct of his didn''t seem to sit right with his character. PATT-! ''Focus on the monsters first!'' Charlie thought, pping himself to dismiss the unwanted thoughts from his mind. "Alright, let''s go!" He roared and rushed towards the monsters that were being ughtered at a fast rate. WHOOOM-! "Sorry for beingte!" A figure said, jumping into the coliseum through the massive hole in the ceiling with a team of five. "Don''t worry about it, for now." Said Neal, and Hannah, a beautiful blonde-haired woman with bright blue eyes, visibly shuddered. "W-why? What''s with that "for now"? Why did it feel so ominous?" She asked, fighting against the basilisk and hunting them down before they could even use their skill, petrification. "Guys! Focus!" Grace yelled, and the slightly yful atmosphere around the others present, changed. "zing hurricane!" Grace mumbled, and a humongous, ceiling-high, zing tornado manifested, picking up and roasting many monsters at once. "Aura sword!" Reynolds roared, and a humongous blood red hue exploded out of him as he clenched his sword, pointing out at the monster horde in front of him, and soon, at least a few hundred blood red-colored swords manifested, floating mid-air, behind Reynolds, who instead of simplyunching them at the horde, raised his sword above his head and swung it down vertically. After a split second of silence, a huge, ever-expanding, blood-red sword sh shot out from his crystallised sword, killing off nearly half of the monster horde in front of him, while the rest of the monsters in front of him were killed by the floating swords. "de aura." Mumbled Neal, floating mid-air. A dark purple magic power covered his sword,plying with Neal''smand, and before long, the de in his hands grew, bing bigger than Reynolds ever-expanding sword sh, which Neal raised slightly and swung down at the monsters without much effort, killing off any monsters in front of him at once. "Dance of the Butterfly." With a soft, soothing mumble, Hannah, who stood aside to make way for her partners'' skills to hit properly, disappeared and reappeared mid-air with a rapier. WHOOSH-! With the sounds of cutting through the wind, Hannah disappeared again and reappeared on the ground while sheathing her rapier. Charlie gazed at her in confusion, but it wasn''t long until he felt the fluctuations in the wind that seemed to be gathering at one ce. ZUUUIE-!!!! And after a split second of stillness, the wind des shot from mid-air, from the spot Hannah stood, stabbing through the air and the monsters, almost dyeing the entire debris-filled ground in monster blood. ''I don''t know who the monsters are anymore...'' Charlie thought inwardly. CLAP-!!! "That was an amusing show~ Bravo." Said a cheerful voice that resounded throughout the coliseum. ncing around, Charlie finally looked up and saw a white-haired, handsome man sitting in a shattered corner, gazing at the fight, no, massacre, happening in the coliseum with an amused look on his face. He had a ck-dyed sclera with white irises and a pair of horns protruding out from his forehead. All in all, the figure seemed to be a demon that had an extremely ominous aura surrounding him. "Who are you!?" Grace asked in a roar. "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Tchort, the demon king from Earth." Chapter 324 323. The Demon King. Introducing himself, the demon king Tchort descended, floated down into the coliseum, and nced around, trying to find something or somebody. ''Tha-that''s the demon king from Earth?'' Grace thought, trembling in fear. ''Why is "it" so strong? "It" is stronger than the gods I have faced, no, killed...'' The strong recognise the strong. Was the thought Grace had, but in that thought she didn''t dare to call herself strong. She had fought against the fallen together with an army of millions for three times, and she had survived all three of them and even had the chance to kill a fallen, maybe due to the system, but she had gotten strong, strong enough to finally be able to "feel" and "assume" the strength of the fallen by a nce, and now that she saw Tchort, she had a guy feeling that he was stronger than the fallen she had ever seen. ''Thi-this "thing" is a monster even among the fallen...'' She thought, even though her thoughts were slightly iprehensible even for her, but she thought that was the correct way to describe the demon king''s, Tchort''s, strength. "The Earth had to face such strong beings?" Reynolds mumble sounded. And after a few seconds of eerie silence, ''But.... why are they so we-'' "But why were they so weak?" Neal mumbled, stealing Grace''s thoughts. "Because they never had to face "stronger" beings." Unexpectedly, Tchort replied to their mumbles. "... Why?" Reynolds asked, daring to open his mouth. "Because the "strong" were killed by the "stronger."" Tchort said with a smirk. "Without even having the chance to disy their full strength." Tchort continued. ''Wha.... Why? How? Who?" Grace half-thought, half-mumbled out loud, involuntarily. "Why? Because the "stronger" was bored that they took too much time to reveal their full strength. How? Because "he" is stronger. Who? ..." Tchort answered Grace''s mumbled-out questions with a strange sense of mystery and suspense. ''He who?'' "Eshwar." Tchort replied, revealing the name of the "strong." "Eshwar?" This time, it was Charlie who mumbled out loud, involuntarily. "Enough Q & A. Where is he?" Tchort asked as his irises slightly glimmered red. At his question, they understood who Tchort wanted even without him mentioning the name of the person. "He... is dead." Charlie replied in a sorrow-filled voice. "Pfft, hahahaha. HAhahahahaha!!!" Tchortughed out loud, holding his stomach as if he just heard the funniest joke in his lifetime. "You dare hide him from me? He is someone who made me shudder in fear! And you dare im he is dead? In this humongous yet insignificant world!" Tchort roared at the outrageous im he had just heard. ''B-ba-but wha-what char-Charlie sa-said is true.'' Grace muttered inwardly, not daring to voice the truth she, too, had witnessed. "Do you think he''ll back away from a life-and-death situation just because he has be weaker now?" Tchort yelled as if he had known Eshwar for a long time. "No, he is a being, whom I, the great demon king Tchort, acknowledged! I have observed him for a long time; I know him! He is the type of person who would jump into a death match exactly because he had be weaker; he is the type of person who loves his battle gore, so gory that even his own stomach would churn!" Tchort roared in rage. "Hell''s sword." Tchort mumbled. WHOOOOMMM A strong surge of demonic power exploded out of Tchort, pushing off the piled-up debris beneath him that shot out in all directions and stuck in the walls of the coliseum, killing many that were in the projectiles'' way. SPLATTER-!!!! With a widespread wave of stters, the bodies of those that remained in the coliseum exploded just bying into contact with the strong gusts of wind trails, that followed after the shot-out projectiles. Within a matter of seconds after the demon king''s descent, the entire coliseum had turned gory, forcing those alive to puke their guts out. The most unfortunate thing for those that remained alive was the fact that Tchort''s skill, technique, or whatever it was had yet to really be activated. Grace, who dodged the projectiles, thought she was the first to predict that the real thing had yet to be unleashed, and "DUCK!!!!" She yelled; she didn''t know why, but ducking seemed to be the optimum solution to dodge the iing attack. "Disc of destruction." Tchort''s mumble, which sounded like a death''s requiem, resounded throughout the entire coliseum. Before they could even realise what was happening, they saw Tchort bow his head slightly, and in that instance, a zing, bright red, double-edged sword materialised behind his neck and swung itself horizontally before dematerializing entirely. With a brief second of eerie silence, a horizontal, blood-red disc that seemed to have cut through the entire coliseum appeared out of thin air, and soon after, everything that was "cut" was seen thrown into the air, as if the lid of a pot had been removed. WHOOOOMMM-!!! It was only then that the very few that unfortunately survived noticed that the entire academy was cut at Tchort''s shoulder level, as they could see the cloudless night sky through the gap. And it wasn''t long until the "lid" turned into finely grinded dust that was forcibly blown away by the strong gust of wind produced by a wave of Tchort''s hand. The loud chaos ensured the cut academy as those that unfortunately survived screamed at the top of their lungs, running around like ants. "How annoying." Tchort mumbled, not even ncing at the five that survived his attack in the coliseum. Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, and Charlie were the only ones that survived and were absolutely terrified of that very unfortunate fact. "Blood Demon Domain." Tchort mumbled, and Grace, Neal, and Reynolds shuddered in fear. Never once in their miniature lives had they thought that they would enter a domain that could only be initiated by the high-ranking fallen, or the major gods, that were in countable numbers. Biting a chip off of his index finger, Tchort extended out his right arm as a smoky, pitch-ck-coloured blood droplet gathered in his index finger and dripped soon after. Instead of falling to the ground, the pitch-ck droplet dripped upward, in reverse gravity, and after reaching a certain height, the droplet sttered mid-air as a razor-sharp-ended mouth expanded wide, devouring the entire floating ind in a pitch-ck dome that had a strong ironic scent of blood. In the domain, everything stayed the same; even the moonlight falling on the ind stayed the same, except for the entire ind being covered in a pitch-ck dome. Though it was supposed to be a surprise that such a thing was possible, none had the leisure to be surprised about it. Tchort extended his right arm out, brought all his fingers close, and opened them up. "Puff!" he mumbled with a smirk, and with a wave of sttering sounds, everybody except for the five in front of him were ripped to shreds. "HA, HAHAHA, HAHAHAhahahaha!!!" Tchort began tough hysterically without stopping for a second. Even though the entire domain was resounding with hisughter, there was another sound that Grace was hearing continuously. BA-THUMP-!!! Inevitably, Grace nced in the direction the heartbeat sounded and saw Charlie sitting down on the ground with a slouched back and a dead expression on his face. He was bleeding profusely from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. There was also a small puddle of blood formed in between his crossed legs, but that wasn''t what drew Grace''s attention; it was his unnaturally pounding heartbeat, which nearly sounded like the sounds of the war drums. BA-THUMP-!!!! "Grr..." A low, hollow growl escaped Charlie''s mouth, that was heard even amid Tchort''s hystericalughter. "!!!!" Grace''s fear was subconsciously subdued for a split second when she saw "them" on Charlie''s body. "Scales!!??" She eximed involuntarily as she gazed at Charlie, who was growing scales on his body. ''Don''t tell me he is one of "those"!!!'' Grace''s fear was almostpletely subdued by the shocking revtion, and she almost yelled, ncing at Neal and Reynolds, but was stopped due to Tchort''s ominousughter slowlying to an end, and just a nce at his maddened gaze was enough to bring back the fear she lost in full force. "Dragon scales? There was someone else intriguing except for Eshwar? Well, he doesn''t seem to match Eshwar''s level." Tchort mumbled. ''Dragon scales!!!? He... Charlie is really one of "them"!?? They haven''t stopped yet?'' Grace thought, trying her best to suppress her fear. "Grrr...." With another subtle growl, Charlie''s body began to twitch uncontrobly as the red dragon scales materialized above his body, forcibly. "GRAAAAA...!!!" With a loud, pained roar, Charlie writhed in agony on the ground. "!!!!" Though unintentionally, Charlie''s roar instilled fear in Grace, Neal, and Reynolds, who flinched and shuddered, writhing in the middle of two ominous, fearful beings. A tail, a right horn, ws, and huge wed, scale-filled legs, that were unfit for Charlie''s humanly upper body, manifested on him. The scales covered his vitals, joints, and also the areas used for defences in close-range, hand-to-handbat. BOOOMMM-! With a loud enough explosion, Charlie''s dragonized body disappeared from the spot where he writhed and appeared in front of Tchort in a sh, as Tchort gazed at Charlie with a slightly amused expression on his face. "Exterminate monsters." Chapter 325 324. 32 Years Ago. 32 years ago. The age of The Fallen. Exactly 32 years ago, the gods that were worshipped by the people of the Antino¨¹s were finally able to "see" the existence of the beings that they called gods. These gods did nothing except gain believers on the Antino¨¹s, just like the people stereotypically thought that the gods only gathered believers to make themselves stronger, but that wasn''t it. Even though it was true that the gods would cease to exist if they didn''t have any believers, that wasn''t really the reason they gathered them; it was to show them that those that believed in themselves and their hard work would rise to the top as the things that they built for themselves wouldn''t ever betray their trust. As clich¨¦ as it seemed, it was the truth. And soon, approximately half a yearter, after the gods'' forcible descent, "fanatics," who believed only the god they worshipped to be the strongest, began to act hostile towards other worshippers as their own faith and belief towards the gods they survived began to turn violent, as the gods, who didn''t have the ability to make their believers stop doing such atrocious things, garnered the moniker "The Fallen." And it wasn''t even a monthter after these acts began that a "hunter" descended; nothing was known about him, but before long, he began to hunt down the gods in a certain pattern. He hunted down many "unknown" but strong gods, 12 to be exact, and disappeared entirely after collecting the cores of the gods he hunted, leaving behind an example for a "perfect being," as the fanatics called, and exactly nine of the gods for the world to hunt down. Enraged by the fact that a being that looked simr to a human dared to kill the gods many other races worshipped, the entire world itself was thrown into chaos. Other races, such as demi-humans, elves, dwarfs, and beast-men, dered war against the humans after years of a long, exhausting, meaningless war where the humans seemed to have had the upper hand due to the existence of the beings called demi-gods, and exactly when the entire world was drenched in a subtle scent of blood, an existence that none dared to ignore walked to the ruler¡ªthe emperor¡ªof the humans and bowed its head, surrendering itself even though it was hailed as the representative of the other races. It was a war that could have been easily won by the force of the other races if they had the help of the dragons, just like the humans had the help of the demi-gods, but since dragons were "neutral" beings that were restricted from doing anything that went against thews of the divine, the war was as good as lost. The representative that surrendered to the humans was none other than the dragon king''s daughter, who was dered to be a saint with the purest dragon blood. Due to her heart-breaking, noble sacrifice, the meaningless bad blood between the other races slowly but surely ceased. Due to some fanatics still revolting against the humans, the dragon king, who respected his daughter''s noble sacrifice, came forward and initiated a "World Pact." The pact stated that, with the dragon king''s daughter, the saintess, as an offering to the humans to cease the meaningless war, every race in existence would be allied with each other, and none would ever fight for the things that they deemed unnecessary, and the overseer of the pact would be the dragons. There was a hidden meaning in thest condition; it meant that the other races would be forced to suck it up if anything seemed unnecessary in the eyes of the dragons. As soon as the pact was agreed upon, the pact turned into particles of blinding golden, holy light, and the miniature dust-like particles seeped into the souls of every existence that existed in the world before they forgot every bit of the enmity they had built up over the years and began to live in harmony, as the dragons, who remembered everything, went into seclusion and abandoned the world, disappearing just like the hunter. (AN: OMNISCIENT POV) Or so the story of the world unfolded, but there was one more thing that none, except for those in the imperial pce and me, knew about. It was about what happened to the dragon princess, or the saintess, as they called her. "Hahahahahaha, haaa..." Iughed hysterically behind my ever-scribbling, pitch-ck mask and sighed as myughter neared its end, my face slightly twisted in disgust. "Disgusting." *** Present. A while back. On a humongous throne sat an ant-like humanoid figure with an exhausted expression on his face. He gazed at the humongous, dull, but lively city in front of him. Though he called it a city, it was nothing but mountains that surrounded his throne, towering over it. The mountains had several caves, at least a hundred of which were counted, and many dragons were seen flying around from one cave to another with solemn expressions on their faces, but the being sitting on the throne could tell that they were lively, burying the sadness deep inside their hearts. Even though it had been 32 years since then, which was a long enough time for humans to forget something or someone precious, it couldn''t be said to be the same for the dragons, for whom the time flew differently, extremely slowly. ''If I could.... if I just had an opportunity to go against thews of the divine, I would do whatever I could to get back my daughter!'' The dragon king, Mandrasath, swore inwardly. He regretted what he did 32 years ago. Sometimes he would think of many what-ifs and maybes. What if or maybe he should have made a deal with that "hunter" from that time to annihte the humans of this world with his own dragon core as the price, and just maybe he would have had chance to hold on to his precious daughter. "If only I could...." Mandrasath mumbled with a sigh and leaned back, slumping back on his throne with his legs dangling from the edge of the throne. "!!!!" It was then that he, together with every dragon present, felt somebody enter the barrier that concealed the entire ind, the dragons hid masterfully. Sitting back up on the humongous throne, as his aura adjusted itself ordingly to his actions, he waited for the being to enter. WHOOOOMMM-!!! Hundreds of humongous dragons flew towards the throne and stood in front of it in two parallel lines, facing each other while forming a canopy with their necks and heads. STEP-!! And before a minute passed, a silhouetted figure walked in a slow, calm, and confident manner, with an imperial aura surrounding him. Even though the figure walking towards them was akin to an ant to the dragons, they didn''t dare act recklessly because the barrier that concealed their ind couldn''t ever be passed through with mere luck or a coincidence. [State your business, human.] Mandrasath said in an irritated tone as he assumed that the figure in front him was a human with his body structure or a dragon like himself, and thetter case seemed slightly absurd because he was the dragon king and he knew of all the dragons in existence. Even though Mandrasath figured the being to be a human, he couldn''t discard his skill just because he didn''t like humans, so he thought of hearing him out first before deciding what to do with him. ''It is good news if he has some information that would get me involved in the matters of the outside world without going against thews of the divine.'' Mandrasath thought inwardly. His n now was simple: he was going to hear out what the person in front of him had to say, and if it didn''t pique his interest, then he would do a few humanly possible things to get out the information about the outside world. [Stop!] Mandrasath roared abruptly, and the being walking towards him continued to walk towards the dragonoid canopy, ignoring the dragon king''s roar. STEP-! [Halt, human!] A red dragon roared, ring down at the person walking into the canopy. [Did you not hear my Liege''s words?] The red dragon roared again. "He never spoke to me." The human spoke in an indescribable voice, which made a few dragons shudder subtly. [You dare speak informally!??] The red dragon roared again. [My Liege! At yourmand!] The red dragon roared with his head lowered more than before. [I certainly had not spoken to the human, Yong.] Mandrasath confirmed the human''s words in a calm manner, leaving the dragons slightly baffled by his actions. [How did you know, human?] Mandrasath asked, and just like the human head just imed, Mandrasath hadn''t spoken to him; his roar was directed at a dragon that was preparing to attack the human as he walked amid the canopy. No, Mandrasath wasn''t worried for the human; he was worried about what would happen to the dragon if he attacked the human, whose even subtle aura was giving chills to the dragon king. [You should never underestimate your opponent, Teera.] Mandrasath said, ncing at a brown dragon from the corner of his eyes because Teera was the one who had readied himself to attack the human. [My apologies, my Liege.] Teera apologised without a hint of sorry in his tone, showing how "very" apologetic he was. [Hmm. State your business, human.] Mandrasath nodded his head in approval and said again, ncing at the human that had stepped into the domain of the dragons. "....." Chapter 326 325. Mandrasaths Decision. The saintess, the dragon princess, who sacrificed herself for the sake of the world, was married to the emperor, who was a person who hadmitted all kinds of disgusting acts, and that fact was no secret. But the saintess with the kindest heart endured all kinds of mistreatment she was put through because she thought that it was nothingpared to the unique races fighting each other to their deaths until the entire world, which she loved, was covered in a strong stench of blood. Learning about her "weakness," the emperor ordered the servants of the pce to spread a false rumour about the empire nning to start a war with other races, to which, out ofplete desperation, the saintess begged the emperor not to do things like that. After enjoying the pleas of the most beautiful saintess, the emperor ignored her entirely. Despairing for days, the saintess continued to beg the emperor, uncaring for the things happening around her and the disgusting gazes she was getting from her surroundings. As if hermendable efforts had softened his heart, the emperor approached the desperate woman, and it wasn''t long before she was turned into a "toy," a "servant," which he used to fulfil his obscene carnal desires, which included many other men. And what happened after that was simple: he abandoned her after he got bored of her, fulfilling all the disgusting fetishes he had, and she was soon imprisoned in a small room outside the pce. Soon after, those who needed to fulfil their "frustrations" began to visit the small room, unweed. "And she is still in there." The human that walked into the domain of the dragons finallypleted his story as the entire ind trembled violently under the uncanny, imperial aura of the dragon king oozed, uncontrobly. [HUMAN!] Mandrasath roared, enraged after hearing the story of a woman who was none other than his own daughter. [ARE YOU SPEAKING OF THE TRUTH!?] Mandrasath asked, roaring. His eyes had turned bloodshot as the mesmerising greyish scales formed on his body that seemed to reflect a different colour at different angles; his fingers and toes turned into inhuman ws; and arge tail wiped out that was half the size of his human body. "I am a person from the pce; I worked as a servant in the pce for years as an undercover, and I know the ins and outs of the pce. I wanted to rush here as soon as I noticed the state of the princess, but it took many years to finally be able to earn the trust of the emperor and be his closest aide." The man exined himself. "I know that the dragons would turn into "undead" if they defied thews of the divine, but I just wanted to let a "father" know if the condition "his" "daughter" was living in. I wanted to "help" the princess in one way or another; its only now that I''m finally able to move by myself, so I''ll take her somewhere "far away" from the empire before something that "I''m not ready to watch," happens to her, again." Mumbled the human to himself as he walked away with his back turned to the enraged dragons, unfazed by the uncanny aura they oozed. [HALT!] Mandrasath roared. The human stopped in his steps but didn''t turn around to look at the dragons, who noticed his shoulders trembling in sorrow. Even before they could feel the heart-breaking sorrow and rage in the human''s tone, even though he seemed to have tried to hide his emotions behind his emotionless tone, one thing they could derive from the words he mumbled at the end and the sorrow in his voice was the fact that the human was desperate to save the woman he loved without even realising that fact himself, but Mandrasath, who noticed them, wouldn''t leave him alone, as no matter what, his daughter, whom he was about to save, needed apanion to live her life fully. [YOU SHALL LEAD US, THE DRAGONS, WHEN WE HAVE TURNED INTO THE UNDEAD!] Mandrasathmanded, and one could understand from his voice that there was no room for any further discussion. ".... Wha-" The human turned around abruptly. But his mouth was forced shut by the dragon king''s magic before he could evenplete his words. ''He was crying.'' Mandrasath thought, even though he couldn''t see the human''s face, he saw a water droplet that was flung when he turned around abruptly. ''I''ll leave the fate of my daughter in your hands, human.'' Mandrasath thought. With him being the dragon king, hismand was absolute, and though the other unwilling dragons could resist, none did so after hearing the human''s story about one of their own kind. With their egos as the dragons firmly built over the years, they weren''t one to back away from helping their fellow dragons even in the face of death. "B-but your majesty, the dragon king, if you take such a hasty decision, what about the princess, who would be forced to watch her own family turn into those disgusting undead-" The human tried to change Mandrasath''s decision, but nothing was going to change as the human was forced to shut his mouth once again. "I dere the extinction of the kingdoms and the empire." The dragon king, Mandrasath, dered and soon enough, hundreds of humongous, hollow, and ominous light-devouring pirs descended upon them from the heavens, and within a matter of minutes, the bodies of the dragons began to rot as their growls began to turn ominous. Massive chunks of melting flesh fell off the morphing bodies of the dragons. Their egos fought to preserve their lives as their natures turned acidic. Before slimy, green-coloured humongous cores began to form in their bony chests, where the flesh content was extremely low, their wings began to rot as many holes formed in their bat-like humongous wings. The world was about to witness what would happen if the "neutral" didn''t stay neutral anymore and why exactly they were called the "neutral race" to begin with. *** In the empire''s imperial pce. In the meeting room, sat Zu''e Cerr Daemor, Marcia Sevada Eahavesite, Okisada Gon Amorreoryn, Alexandru Cynan Aewozia, and Godred Lame Toyivalon, in a roundtable with six chairs, five of which were upied by the above-mentioned, with another person sitting with them, with a perverted look on his face as he scanned Zu''e and Marcia, top to bottom, ignoring how ufortable they felt being under his disgusting gaze. The "roundtable" was nothing but arge enough metal disc that was floating mid-air, sturdily, without even budging an inch. As the chairs, too, floated appropriately even without any legs attached to it. The room was brightly lit, yet without any decorations, it gave off an interrogation room vibe. The man with the perverted look on his face was the emperor; he had ck hair and bright blue eyes, with fierce yet calming and lustrous facial features. He looked like a reincarnated hero, but given his perverted personality, the hero part wasn''t considered as much as the perverted part was. His name was Ortharious nin Showiral, Emperor of the Showiral Empire. Ortharious was a smart but perverted man. With his astute mind, he had utilised his strengths properly and had formed alliances with the kingdoms whose rulers were in front of him. Ortharious, Zu''e, Okisada, Alexandru, and Marcia sat in a roundtable that only had six chairs, respectively, with both women next to Ortharious. "Your majesty-" Godred called out but was instantly cut short. "Alright, alright, I heard you. The entire Oyratbus City was wiped out in a single day. And it was done by the fanatics, ording to you, who found the traces of the fanatics." Ortharious said with a sigh, exhausted from the repetitive discussion, that it had been weeks since that incident happened and it had been in discussion for a week, yet not a single solution was sought. Though the topic was beginning to annoy Ortharious, since it was a matter of importance and since he was the emperor, his time spent on that useless incident would be inevitable. "I now understand the true strength of the fanatics. Who are more than capable of destroying a city that stomached many Rank-A''s." Ortharious mumbled under his breath, furrowing his brows, as his previous perverted look reced a serious one. ''Something is wrong.'' Ortharious thought inwardly and nced at the rulers with his brows ceased to furrow and a bright smile on his face that masked his seriousness. ''Godred didn''t have a reason to lie; I understand him because he is like me; though perverted, he too is smart, maybe smarter than myself, but it''s of no use since he didn''t know how to make use of it.'' Ortharious pondered inwardly, making ignorant small talk with the rulers. ''The fanatics are a careful bunch; there won''t ever leave a trace of their existence, even if they were the ones that were involved in that incident.'' He thought, flirting with Zu''e and Marcia outwardly. ''Somebody is plotting something, but who would dare do-'' Ortharious pondered, when a thunderous boom that was extremely far away resounded in the room that was made to be isted from the outside, worldly sounds. BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM-!!!! "!!!" Chapter 327 326. The Final Setting. *** [The "neutral" are revolting.] [World shall fall into a state of panic.] [Constetions are able to converse with the recipients.] [AN UNDEAD APOCALYPSE SHALL BEGIN, FOLLOWING THE WILL OF THE NEUTRAL.] [Extinction of all life is desired.] [The Constetions and the system are blessing the world.] [Magic power will be recognised as Ki from day forth.] [World''s Ki has increased exponentially.] [THE FINAL SETTING IS BEING UPDATED!] [The final stage is initiated forcibly....] DING! [The "FINAL" System updated.] [Call out "Status window" to check your stats.] [ording to the will of the creator.] An undead dragon that towered over an entire city appeared out of nowhere andunched its breath¡ªa stinking, gooey breath that seemed to be oozing out the devoured souls. It fell directly on top of the southern corner of the Daemor kingdom, which is ruled by Queen Zu''e Cerr Daemor. SLOP-! Nothing much happened even after the breathnded on the ground, except for burning through things in its way due to the breath''s acidic nature. Taking a deep breath, a man with brown hair and eyes opened his mouth. "Status window," he mumbled, and abruptly, he felt an excruciating pain in his lungs as if somebody was piercing thousands of needles into his lungs. Veins popped out on his limbs as they turned green soon after. "Gukh... guh...." Unable to even groan in agony, he fell face first on the ground with a subtle thud as he saw many next to him follow along as a wave of thuds cruised through the city in the borders. DING ==== [yer information] == Name: Lee (deceased) Age: 28 Sponsor: ---- == Title: ---- == Skills: [Basic Axe arts level-1], [Persistence level-1] == Overall stats: [Stamina level-2], [Strength level-3], [Agility level-1], [Ki level-1], [Physique level-1] ==== ZZZT-!! ==== Name: ---- (Undead) Rank: F ==== "Grrr...." With an anguish-filled groan, the body that had just died woke up in a strange zombified manner¡ªno, it literally had turned into a zombie, which could be derived from its pale skin, blood-dripping gaze, drool-dripping open mouth, hunchback, and strange, stumbling way of walking. Together with it, every dead body that was around him also woke up, zombified, as they walked, bumping into each other and biting each other to death to satiate their hunger as they continued to walk, following the alluring scent of life that seemed to be millions of kilometres away. It wasn''t just the Daemor kingdom; all seven of them were suffering the same fate, together with the empire. Ten city-sized undead dragons attacked each kingdom, while 32 undead dragons attacked the empire, all while being under the control of a single hooded figure. The breaths of the undead dragons were parasitic, as they inflicted the living with the undead parasites that were turning them into zombies. The billions of people that survived under the kingdom were turned into millions in a blink of an eye, and the powerhouses under the kingdom''sbels were also turned into undeads before they even began to fight back. Those that survived began to fight back, but not against the dragons who were spreading the parasites but against the parasites infected living beings, who tried to "eat" everyone that had the alluring scent of life. The royals panicked as the solution for such a situation didn''t exist, except for the emperor, who had aplicated but calm expression on his face. "Deploy the AT''s!" The emperor, Ortharious,manded, and by the next instance, with a strong gust of wind, a humongous mechanism activated outside the pce gates as a massive door nted into the ground slid off to the sides, and with the loud marching sounds, millions of expressionless soldiers walked out a gate, wearing sturdy sets of armour suited for war. Before the rulers next to Ortharious voiced their dissatisfaction and doubt, "Initiate the counterattack before the empire falls entirely." Commanded Ortharious in a authoritative tone, speaking to his pocket system that was connected with otherplex system that was under the empire''s control. [Yes, your majesty.] A voice sounded through his wristband as the expressionless soldiers, the ATs, began to attack the zombies that were rushing towards the gates of the imperial pce. At least ten undead dragons surrounded the pce, where Ortharious was, as if they knew exactly where he was, but they weren''t attacking; instead, they just pped their bat-like humongous wings to stay in their designated positions, waiting for something to happen. BOOM-! Abruptly, the isted room''s door busted open as a handsome, shoulder-length, red-haired man with obsidian ck eyes walked in with a calm andposed manner. Walking towards the emperor, he bowed respectfully. "I would like to escort you to safety, your majesty, and your highnesses." The man said he was none other than the emperor''s most trusted aide, Atman. "Very well." Ortharious nodded his head, agreeing, and the other rulers also nodded their heads, their questions pushed to the back of their minds. As they walked, none spoke for a few minutes, though it was awkward for the five rulers. Ortharious and Atman didn''t seem to feel that kind of atmosphere surrounding them as they walked with calm expressions on their faces. "Exin the situation outside as we walk, Atman." The emperormanded. "Yes, your majesty. The situation outside isn''t looking very good, as the people have turned into undeads, killing off everything in their way as they rampaged almost everywhere, except for a few hundred kilometres around the pce. It''s like a stampede, your majesty. A very calcted and precisely targeted stampede." Atman reported. "Why do you think so?" Ortharious asked, hearing the thoughts of his aide. "Your majesty, our pce isn''t really targeted, but everything the pce rules over is." Atman reported his suspicion, but except for those words, nothing more came out of his mouth, before "The noble households have sent their private armies to the battle without even realising the fact that their actions¡ªtheir actions of growing their own hidden private armies¡ªare considered treason. Those that have sworn their loyalty to the empire have sent a few of their knightage orders to support the pce; of course, the Dukes, the Marquises, and the Counts have also arrived in the pce and are currently waiting for your majesty in the throne room." Atman reported. "...." Realising how dire the situation was, the emperor, the kings, and the queens frowned, drowning themselves in their thoughts. "No, order them to start counterattacking and tell them that I''ll meet with them outside the pce." Orthariousmanded. "By your order, your majesty." Atman said and disappeared from the spot. Noticing Atman''s actions that could be considered rude, the rulers nced at the emperor to see what he would do now, only to notice the proud smile on his face that indicated how proud he was to have such apetent and authoritative aide by his side. "He knows how to act in these important times...." Ortharious mumbled under his breath. "Isn''t he just a rude brat?" Marcia mumbled out loud involuntarily. As she pointed out, Atman''s actions just now were rude, as anybody that had lower status than the emperor had to be respectful to him¡ªnot just respectful but overly respectful. And the rest of the journey to the outside continued in silence. * Walking out of the pce''s corridor, the emperor, the kings, and the queens rushed towards the garden, where Atman was reported to be with the nobles. "Gra!" Roared a luxuriously dressed zombie that pounced on the emperor, who didn''t even flinch, from the tree it hid behind. BAM-! And abruptly, a red sh appeared in blur and punched at the zombie in the face, rescuing the emperor in the nick of time. WHOOSH-! BOOM-! The luxuriously dressed zombie was shot out towards the pce wall like a wet rag due to Atman''s punch. "Haa... haaa. I apologise, your majesty." Atman said this amid his big gasps of air. He had many tares on his clothes, a few bleeding scratches here and there, and his slightly wet hair was dishevelled, sticking on to his handsome face. He was a sight that both Zu''e and Marcia were unable to take their gazes off. "It''s alright, what happened?" Ortharious asked without noticing the gazes of Zu''e and Marcia. "I brought the nobles outside, and soon after, a knight that protected the Duke began to behave strangely, but I was stopped by the Duke when I tried to check on him, and before long, he turned into a zombie and bit the nobles, who got infected by the parasites and became undeads. They pounced on me, but I was able to fend them off in a nick of time; if not, I too would have been inflected. I apologise for myck of attentiveness, your majesty." Atman said this and bowed respectfully to the emperor, holding his right bicep. "Is that so? I''ll go check the spot; you heal yourself in the meantime." Orthariousmanded and walked towards the garden, as Zu''e and Marcia stayed behind with Atman. "We''ll help you, Atman." Zu''e said with a subtle hint of blush. "Thank you, your highnesses. I apologise for showing such a pathetic side of myself." Atman said with a bow. "N-no, no, it''s quite alright. You can just call me Zu''e; even though I''m the queen of Daemor Kingdom, I''m not really married." Zu''e spoke with many hidden meanings in her words. "M-me too." Marcia also yed along. "Yes? Ah, is that right? Your highnesses are amazing; to rule over a kingdom alone, your highnesses are just awe-inspiring." Atmanplimented them, not really understanding their implications. "Hmm, hmm." Nodding in contentment, both Zu''e and Marcia nced at the naive and innocent Atman with an understanding gaze. "He''s my type." Zu''e whispered at Marcia, who whispered back the same words as Zu''e at the same time. "Come, let''s go. We''ll do things we haven''t done before, since we don''t really know if we''ll survive for long anyway." Zu''e said, making her well hidden intentions clear, dragging Atman towards a small house at the end of the garden as she nced back at Marcia with a meaningful smile that turned into a predatory grin that matched Marcia''s. BOOM-! BOOOMMM-!! And soon enough, before they even reached the house, loud booms began to resound. Estimating the distance from the sounds, they could tell that the sounds were from outside the pce, so they hurried before their time came. Chapter 328 327. Dark Devourer. The loud booms and the zombies shrills sounded in the distance, which snapped the emperor, Ortharious, out of his trance. "The great one is here...." Godred, who stood beside Ortharious, mumbled with an awed expression on his face. ''The great one? The same "great one" Godred always mumbles about?'' Ortharious thought inwardly, intrigued. Godred was "cursed" with the ability that gave him visions of the past and the future, and it was with that ability that Godred managed to get into the position where it is right now. Godred was a master when it came to matters concerning his ability; he could use it however he wanted, but only if he was able to face the consequences, consequences in which he would be forced to watch all the worst possible futures and pasts. Just by noticing his words and actions after he faced a consequence, one could tell that whatever past or future Godred was witnessing was absolutely horrifying. "I''ll finally get to meet the so-called great one. I''ll see for myself how great the great one actually is." Orthariousmented in a yful manner, hinting at ulterior motives behind his words as he gazed at Godred in amusement. Godred, who heard the emperor''s words, flinched and froze in ce before trembling uncontrobly. "N-no, no, no, your majesty, do not, DO NOT, do anything stupid that would garner us the great one''s wrath." Godred said, stuttering profusely, though Ortharious didn''t have any such ns to do anything silly. Hearing Godred''s "order," he began to have second thoughts, but soon they too died down slightly when he saw Godred''s condition. Godred was covered in cold sweat as he red at Ortharious with a hateful gaze as he trembled violently, like a wet puppy in the rain. "It would be better if you mind yournguage, Your. Majesty. Godred. If you get on my nerves, I may make you not hold on to your throne anymore." Ortharious warned in a ring tone. "F**k that goddamn throne and your bit*h a*s alliance; if you dare even have the thought of doing anything stupid, ignore the alliance and sh*t; I might just kill you this instance." Godred threatened fearfully, and Ortharious could tell from his fear-filled tone that Godred would really do as he said if Ortharious did anything he hinted at in his words earlier. Godred''s kingly aura that surrounded him earlier hadpletely disappeared, and what remained in front of Ortharious was a scared kid throwing a tantrum. Even though Ortharious was the emperor, it was due to his brains, not his strength, which was the reason he knew that he was no match for Godred, if Godred really put his mind into destroying the empire. And in the back of his mind, he already knew that if Godred hadn''t stopped with bing a king and doing "everything ording to the will of the great one," the current emperor would have been Godred, not Ortharious. But even if that really were the case, "You. When did I allow you to speak so informally with me? Huh? It won''t be you; it''ll be me that kills you, and that too before you even make a move. I am a smart person, Godred; it would be better to not mess with me." Ortharious warned informally. "..... F**k!" Godred cursed as he walked back. One could tell from the looks of it that Godred hadn''t backed away in defeat but in fear, and his fear definitely wasn''t about Ortharious. ''.... A 7-year-old alliance is going to be broken? With but a merement?'' Ortharious thought, he could already tell that the alliance between him and Godred had been broken. ''It''s all because of that great one! I swear to make you kowtow in front of me!'' Ortharious swore inwardly, and for his n to work out amazingly, he already had the very thing he needed in order to bring down the "great one" on to his knees and, if possible, even make him beg for forgiveness. From Godred''s words from earlier, Ortharious could tell that someone called the great one was somewhere nearer to them; all Ortharious had to do now was meet him and "invite" him to "that" room in the pce, and the so-called great one would be in the palm of his hands. "MARIONETTE!" A loud yell resounded throughout the entire empire, which forced the emperor and the others to snap their heads up in the direction where the hypnotising voice sounded. And what they could see in the night sky was a figure whose clothes were in tatters, with an ominous, humongous pair of reddish-ck-coloured hands manifested above the man''s figure, with their strings attached to the limbs and a few more parts of his body. "Pause." The hypnotic and softly soothing voice sounded from the figure as "everything" stopped except for the senses of the people. With a flicker of the hands above the man, the man''s arms rose sideways as his dazed gaze moved up. "Authority of the ck ink: Dark Devourer." The hypnotic and authoritative voice resounded as the man''s eyes ckened entirely and ck ink began to stream out of his eyes. With another flicker of the humongous fingers, the man''s right hand moved forward with elegance, as pitch-ck ink began to devour his right arm, starting from his index finger that was pointing out towards the undead dragons towering over the empire. The ink spread stopped as it neared his forearm as pitch-ck, hissing strings flitted on his right forearm before they were pulled towards the tip of his index finger as the string swirled, forming a fingertip-sized pitch-ck ball right in front of it. He then brought his index and thumb fingers close, seemingly ready to snap with the pitch-ck ball in the middle, and snap he did. SNAP-! With a thunderous snap, the pitch-ck ball in the middle of his fingers exploded and shot out towards the dragons in an ever-expanding, thin horizontal, triangle-like shape with razor-sharp shark fang-like ends, cutting through all the dragons in sight. "y." With another soft, hypnotic-voiced mumble, everything that was "paused" began to "y." Shuddering violently, the emperor and the others panicked at the abrupt predicament, where the undead dragons'' bodies were falling towards the ground at a bottleneck speed, as they saw a red blur zoom towards them, carrying three women in his arms, as he deployed a powerful barrier to protect the royals. WHOOOOSH-!!! BOOOMMM-!!! ..... .... With a series of loud booms, the cut undead dragons fell on top of the pce and its surroundings, destroying everything beneath and surrounding it. A dense cloud of dust covered the sights of the royals, as the only figure they could see was Atman, who had gritted his teeth, which bled due to the humongous amount of physical and magical strain he was under as he protected the royals with his life on the line. Chapter 329 328. Descent. A while back. The group of nine floated mid-air, enjoying the blood-filled scent carried by the strong breeze, and the dense clouds that covered the beautiful moons that glimmered brilliantly in the night sky. ".... Why did Eshwar want us to destroy the temples?" Frostine asked herself in a mumble. After their "talk," Eshwar had sent Frostine and the others, assigning a mission at his return after a long while. "Because they would be in the way of our goal?" Gerry asked in response to Frostine''s mumble. "No, if we killed off everything, what''s the point of aplishing our purpose?" Frostine mumbled. "Look down; you''ll understand why." Amandamented. Frostine and others gazed down as their gazes peered through the clouds before ominous creatures that were walking around killing the zombies came into their sights. "Humanoid chimeras...." Frostine mumbled with her face twisted in disgust. "Haaa.... Why do the holy kingdom and the temples act inspired by such novelty? Aren''t they just copying the novels?" Frostine, the novel lover, mumbled under her breath. Fleshy tentacles with razor-sharp shark fang-like teeth were protruding out of the seemingly human beings'' bodies; there weren''t just one or two; the number of chimeras seemed to be in the thousands, forming an army of their own. The pdins, the holy knights, the priests, and the pope stood in front of the great temple''s door, gazing at the intense battle that was under control. Humongous, golden-coloured holy hammers hammering the zombies, golden-coloured holy fists punching at the zombies, humongous, holy open palm shields that surrounded the entire temple, golden-coloured crosses that descended upon the zombies with the strong broadsword swings of the pdins, humongous holy shields with a cross in the middle manifested as the tanks in the frontlines mmed their shields into the ground, and golden-coloured holy long-range sword shes of the holy knights, forming a brilliant disy of mesmerising lights on the blood dyed ground. "Some should be the viins so that the heroes rise." Amandamented, and everybody agreed with that as they nced at Frostine. "Annihte the monsters wearing human skin as you send the undead dragons to their eternal, peaceful rest." Frostinemanded, and with crazed smiles on their faces, all nine that stood behind her dove down towards the ground lit with holy power. "Descent: Frost Dragon Angel." Frostine mumbled under her breath, andplying with hermand, the air around her chilled instantly, covering her in a visibly white-turned miniature cloud. FLAP-! With a p of the two pairs of her white feathered wings, the white, chilled cloud dispersed, revealing a majestically beautiful, human-sized, glowing white dragon. Due to her dragon heart being unnaturally formed in her human body, this form was the only one she was able to transform into; the humongous "normal" dragon-like transformation wasn''t really possible, but she was satisfied with her current state because all the power that a humongous dragon body holds was packed in her small figure, which was faster, stronger, and nimble than the normal ones. With a deep, sharp inhale, Frostine raised her right arm above her head, pointing at the heavens, and "Descent: Frost, a heaven-piercing sword." She mumbled, activating her signature skill, Descent. WHOOOOMMM-!!! With the humongous, strong gusts of wind cruising past her, a humongous, city-sized, translucent light blue-coloured sword manifested above the dense clouds that made way, swirling around the humongous tip of a double-edged sword as Frostine apathetically gazed at the sword, withstanding the strong gusts of wind that threatened to send her back, flying. "Descent." With another subtle, authoritativemand out of Frostine''s mouth, the sword tip that seemed to be piercing through the heavens stabbed down towards the holy kingdom, threatening to raze it to the ground. WHOOOOMMM-! Cutting through the wind, the humongous sword stabbed at the ground, and by the next instance, the sword came in contact with the longest, cone-headed tower on the great temple, and TING-! With a loud ting, a translucent light blue-coloured ripples shot out from the millimetre distance between the humongous sword and the temple as the sword dematerialized entirely. WHOOOOSH-! CRE-CREAK-!! The entire holy kingdom that was under the chilled, translucent light blue ripple began to creak as everything began to freeze, gradually turning into translucent light blue, crystallised figurines. The people of the temple began to cast holy magic in order to get rid of the "curse" that was freezing them, and it wasn''t long before they learned that everything they did was useless. In a state of fear and panic, the force began to disperse due to none being in the state tomand, and it wasn''t long before the zombies broke through their defences and rushed into the numbers, devouring those with the alluring scent of life Amanda swept through the army with arge war axe that made her look like a Valkyrie with a cute face, that was soon dyed in the blood of both humans and zombies alike. Though the others were also running rampant without using their mage-ss skills, handling everything with their physical, brute strength in a way that was ringly simr to Eshwar''s fighting style. Even though they all ran rampant, the only one that drew Frostine''s gaze was Amanda, due to her cute face that was washed with blood. Releasing her control over her levitating magic power, Frostine dove down before kicking off mid-air as she shot down towards the freezing kingdom. She slightly extended out her right arm as the air around her arm chilled, turning visibly white. With a strong swirl, the chilled air dispersed as a translucent light blue war axe materialised in her arm, which began to shift the concentration of her weight, which was soon adjusted by her as she continued to free fall towards the ground. WHOOOOMMM-! BOOM-! With a loud enough boom, Frostinended on her feet on the ground as she crouched down and lunged forward, causing circr wind pressures to form behind her back as she tore through the air as she rushed towards the temple soon after, sweeping through the numbers that were being culled at a fast rate. With a deep, sharp inhale, Frostine held her war axe behind her back as her chest puffed up, and "Hap!" With a loud roar, she swung her war axe horizontally at the army as a light, blue-coloured arc shot out, cutting through the numbers as it dyed the ground with more blood and the air with the strong scent of blood. Chapter 330 329. The Protagonist Type. (AN: Unedited) *** Within the matter of hours, the entire holy kingdom was razed to the ground, the undead dragons'' egos that persistently held on to their lives were cut off by Frostine, who used her Frost elemental ruler''s authority and froze them for eternity, before she used her sword and shed them into millions of pieces. The same was done with the zombies, but she hadn''t used her authority nor had she been merciful. 2/14, an entire part of the mapped world head been dyed with blood that night, as all nine of them, the members of the Veil, zoomed in different directions, going towards their respective targeted areas, to raze the "temples" to the ground. * While in the meantime, on a floating ind where shoulder length walls that were built in certain manner were seen dyed in blood, as Tchort, who had killed all those that followed him there, together with those that were there for an event in which their children''s participated, was seen "ying" with a dragonoid on arge pile of rubbles beneath him. "Grrrra!" Charlie roared as he wed at Tchort, who was dodging everything with an amused smile on his face. BAM-! Tchort raised his left leg and nted on Charlie''s chest, as thetter shot out like a wet rag before colliding against the wall with a loud boom. BOOM-!! "Ghak!" Charlie coughed out a mouthful of blood as the dead expression on his face slightly regained colour before it returned to the same state. CLAP-CLAP-!! With a series of apud, "Bravo! That was your 1,500 w swing that hadn''tnded." Tchort said with a bright smile. "Grrr...." Charlie growled in low tone, as he readied himself to lunge himself at Tchort on all fours. "Hmm...." Tchort gazed at Charlie in peculiar manner, as he felt something was amiss. "Ah! I get it!" Yelled Tchort, abruptly. "Your vigour is dying down, boy." Tchort said, pointing at Charlie, who seemed significantly weaker, overall, then he first started. Tchort seriously pondered on how to enjoy more, what he should do to rise the vigour of the dragonoid in front of him, he was having fun watching the desperation and the hope of the four, he left alive, fluctuating, he wanted them to despair more before he finally killed them, he wanted to look at their gazes that had lost all hope, as the small me that they desperately guarded from the winds, Charlie, slowly died in front of them. "Wait, aren''t you the protagonist type?" Tchort mumbled as a sh of realization shed in his troubled gaze. As soon as he concluded Charlie''s character, an evil n cooked up in his mind as he gazed at Grace, Neal, Reynolds, and Hannah with an ominous grin on his face, as his eyes arched simrly. Tchort raised his right arm above his head with his gaze fixed on the four, who were shuddering in fear, mumbling "it''s over, no one can survive in a domain," or things along those lines, their eyes had lost their warriors like lustre as they tried to find hope in others, and their only hope now was Charlie, who was the only one moving. "Blood needles." Tchort mumbled with an ominous smirk on his face, it was then that his gaze moved towards Charlie, as he hoped to see something "fun" again, as 72 blood needles manifested above his head. Disappointed after not finding what he was looking for, "Haaa.... I guess I was asking for too much." Tchort mumbled with a deep sigh of disappointment. "Rain down." Tchort mumbled as his right arm flung forward, towards the targeted four. PIERCE-!! SHING-! SHING-! SPLURT-! ..... .... With a series of impaling sounds and splurting sounds of blood, the foot long, centimetre sized dark red coloured "needles" impaled Grace, Neal, Reynolds and Hannah. Their throats, shoulder joints, knee joints, ankles, wrists, forearms, biceps, calves, stomachs, and right in the middle of their ribcage arch, were impaled by the blood needles, as they struggled without even being able to breathe properly. Although, eighteen blood needles had pierced each of them, they showed no clear signs of death, except for their seemingly futile struggle to die in that instant. "Graaaaa!!!!!" With a loud roar, Charlie''s aura of despair, desperation, and helplessness exploded out of his dragonoid body, amusing Tchort greatly. "As expected of a protagonist." Tchort said in a excited tone as his mind ignored the four beings that were begging for death. What they didn''t know was that, unfortunately for them, unless Tchort "willed" for them to die, they weren''t going to, and that was a long way off as Tchort''s mind, nearly forgot about them, if not for his domain, that notified him of the even slightest of the moments. BOOM-! BOOM-! BOOM-! With three loud booming steps, Charlie appeared in front of Tchort and pulled back his right fist to his extreme before punching at Tchort. BOOOMMM-!!! All the debris in the surrounding exploded out upon impact, covering both of their figures in a dense dust cloud, gradually the cloud dyed down, revealing Tchort, who was blocking Charlie''s fist that was aimed at his face, with a leisure smile on his face, as Charlie gritted his teeth in desperation. And exactly when he decided to jump back and create a certain distance between them, Tchort clenched Charlie''s right fist and forced him to stay in the spot. "Grr...gra! Ra! Ra!!!" Charlie roared as he tried to pull back his fist, in the attempts of escaping Tchort''s grasp, but to no avail. Charlie stepped on Tchort''s thighs as his pulled back his fist, doing nothing but wasting his breath in his loud, futile attempts and roars. "Haaa...." Tchort''s amusement ceased as he sighed disappointingly, he held Charlie''s right wrist with his left hand as his right hand crossed behind his back, before he raised his left that lifted Charlie along, and mmed on the ground. BAM-!!! "It seems like you have nothing more to show." Tchort mumbled as he mmed Charlie in the ground again, and again, And again, And again, Until not even Charlie''s groans sounded anymore. "How-" Tchort mumbled, and with a hint of cold feeling behind his lower back where his vampire heart pumped, "Boring." A voicepleted his words, as the hint of cold sensation on his back pressed forward, and before the signals of his instincts that were screaming at him to run registered itself in his mind, "Burst." A low yet powerful voice whispered in his ear, and with a cue of his death literally whispering in his ears, Tchort felt his vampire heart explode. BOOOMMM-!!! Chapter 331 330. Deja Vu. (AN: Unedited) Exactly when the ceiling of the academy''s coliseum had exploded, I, who had collided against a wall after being kicked at my chest by Vinny, was nearly buried under the rubble. But the humongous hand above, that was controlling my body, moved down as if to crush me, as Isha zoomed towards me to protect me before the debris piled up over us, and my vision was dyed in darkness. With a blink, I regained my sight and noticed that the humongous hand that controlled my body was protecting us, with the palm ced in a tomb like manner, as Isha who had zoomed towards me to protect me,id beneath me with a small smile on her face. "Hi." She said, with a cute, innocent smile on her face. I was on top of her, supporting myself with my arms and legs, making sure I wasn''t falling on her, the thought of her being stronger than the current me didn''t sh in my mind for a brief second, as I continued to "protect" her from being buried under the hard debris. Realizing that both of us were being protected by the palm, and that she was far stronger than me, I slumped on top of her with a sigh before biting her nose, "Ack.... What was that for?" Isha grumbled in a whisper, as I noticed few smudges of blood on her nose, where I bit her, and realised that the blood I had coughed out earlier was still there, so licking the corners of my lips with my wet tongue, I thought of spitting it out aside, but due the space between was small, I swallowed it, though I could feel the dust on my tongue, it wasn''t like I hadn''t eaten anything mudded before, so it wasn''t that big of a deal. "You are supposed to be the one protecting me." I whispered back, as I thought of putting back the broadswords in my hands into my inventory and the swords dematerialised,plying to my will. "It''s useless to do that when I know that you would instinctively try to protect me, so if I''m beneath you, you would try to do something so that I wouldn''t get hurt while you still have the strength to face off against the unprecedented situations that you assume that will follow after." Isha exined in a whisper. Happy that she understood well enough about me, I hugged her after a brief struggle, I felt our weights on my forearms and knuckles, they hurt, but her warmth made it worth the pain. "Not that I don''t want to stay like this, but shouldn''t we get out?" Isha asked as she yed with my hair, these are the small gestures that make everything worth it. "Haaa...." I sighed in her neck after inhaling her scent, deeply, which prompted a soft giggle from Isha. "I have to, something is happening outside and a lot of strong monsters are spawning, I can level up a lot and try to reach the max level, so that the seals are lifted off." I mumbledzily, though I hear enough reasons to get out and fight, gain exp, and level up, I didn''t want to get off from the position I was in right now. At that affirmation, thoughts about "me," disappeared, as the thoughts about my original self began to fill my mind, the thoughts of what he had gone through just to experience what I was experiencing again, no, that was too far fetched, he didn''t even want to experience what I was experiencing, he would have been content with just being near her, and I was sure of that. A person, who experienced every "ugly" thing the world and the gods had to offer just to be with the person he lived once again, not for a while lifetime, but just for a while, only to find out that his past, future, and present was being lived by another person with his loved one. Just the thought of the roles reversing made my soul shudder, and I, who was the "another person," wasn''t even cherishing the moment I could have, taking advantage of my original self''s efforts while also taking Isha for granted..... I don''t want to say granted, but I couldn''t really find another appropriate word. "I love you." I mumbled out what I had in mind. "I love you too." Isha said in a heartbeat, as I felt her heartbeat skip a beat before beginning to beat violently. "Oi, do not listen to what I''m about to say to Isha." I said to my original self, whom I assumed to be hearing and seeing everything. ''Alright, only for this once.'' And received a confirmation from him, secondter. "Isha, I....." * I continued to hug Isha, as I ignored Tchort''s rambles, since I had received my original self''s knowledge about Charlie, I wasn''t curious about his dragonoid form or things ordingly. [The "neutral" are revolting.] ..... ..... [ording to the will of the creator.] "This.....seems familiar....." I mumbled in a whisper, with a frown, gazing at the series of system notifications. I had a deja vu when I saw the series of notification, but I couldn''t really remember how I know about them. "That''s the final setting or so Eunomia says. What will happen now?" Isha asked in a whisper. "Nothing much. I''ll level up, reach max level, undo the seals on myself, and hunt down the gods." I replied, and rose back up with the intention to get out of here, because I will have to do the "necessary" things now. BOOOMMM-!!! With the loud boom, the debris that the palm guarded us from drifted slightly, making it slightly easier for me to lift it off. I hid my presence, I hadn''t covered myself in mana to hide my presence, but I had erased the presence of my physical self, which was the new "enlightenment" I gained recently. My mind dazed whenever the marite took control, but now that I was conscious of its existence, I could feel that it was abiding by my will, meaning I had to the ability to "control" my own body and exert far more terrifying outburst than I had previously, And with an abrupt sh of realization, ''25%'' I muttered in my mind, controlling and manipting my stats, but to no avail. ''As I thought.... The marite title is my stat control technique, but far more efficient and refined than my crude way....'' I thought but still frowned, when I used stat control, I controlled my stats, not my body, even though the stats are rted to my body, I don''t like how a mere skill or a title was able to control my actions. ''I gave up on my mana because it felt like somebody else was controlling my fate, now it''s my body.....'' I muttered with a sigh, inwardly. Lifting off the debris, whose sounds merged with the other sounds of the simrly falling debris, understanding that I hadn''t been discovered, I walked towards Tchort, whose back as facing me. ''Shotgun.'' Imanded and the mechanical prosthetic seeming forearm turned visible, subtly liquidized as it squirmed on my forearm before a finger sized barrel and muzzle materialized from the liquidized prosthetic. Though the barrel and the muzzle seemed smaller than required, the power packed was stronger than how they were when used separately. "It seems like you have nothing more to show." Tchort''s mumble sounded as he began to m Charlie''s body back and forth mercilessly, even though I was walking towards him, neither did he nor did Grace, Neal, Reynolds, and another woman notice me, even though thetter were looking at his direction. "How-" Tchort mumbled as I ced the "shotgun''s" muzzle on his back, exactly where he had his beating vampire heart. "Boring." I whispered in Tchort''s ear, and "Burst." I mumbled, using my shotgun''s ability, due to which Tchort''s bloody feel on the ground with a head-sized gaping hole in his abdomen. Since I knew he wouldn''t die just from that, ''AR, handguns, pistol, machine gun.'' I muttered inwardly, as five more barrels and muzzles materialized around my forearm. Though I tried my best, I couldn''t hold back the urge, and "Happy Diwali." I mumbled and tonnes and tonnes of aether bullets were fired, making hundreds of holes in Tchort''s slumped down body. Gathering veryst bit of my miniature aether reservoir, I concentrated it on my right leg, which I raised before stepping on Tchort''s head. "An Elephant''s Stampede." I mumbled and with an unbelievable amount pressure surrounding my leg, I crushed Tchort''s head together with my foot. CRACK-!! ''I should get stronger before I use it again, I can''t believe even my own feet got crushed due to the pressure that bore over my leg.'' I muttered inwardly, but before the pain receptors signalled my brain, my leg had already healed. "You shouldn''t do things like that against old acquaintance, hehehe~" Tchort''s sinister voice resounded throughout his domain, though I knew that he was nearly impossible to defeat in his own domain, I didn''t shy away from a life and death battle, and as Tchort had said previously, I like my matches gory and challenging, and even more so, in a situation like this, where I am weaker than them, while they are overwhelmingly powerful than me. "Don''t die on me so easily." Tchort and I mumbled in unison as the former zoomed at me after materializing out of thin air. Chapter 332 331. Ruler Of The Fastigium. With a wide-open uppercut, I gotunched into the air as I tried to counterattack due to how open Tchort seemed. A single exchange reminded me of how I used to fight previously when I was strong. I would always fight while leaving myself open to getting counter-attacked, because it was no fun to fight against opponents that couldn''t evennd a hit on me. It had be a bad habit that was making me get baited into the fakes of my enemies now. Even now, I have yet topletely ept myself as the weaker one. BAM-! "Weak!" Tchort said as he appeared in front of me, mid-air, as he punched me higher into the sky again. The fight will easily end if I ask Isha to kill him, but before that, I thought I should at least punish myself for my ignorance and arrogance. BAM-! Abdomen. BAM-! Right cheek. BAM-! On top of my head. BAM-! A kick on my right ribcage that shattered from the impact. BAM-! And a kick at my chest. "Cough!!" I coughed out several mouthfuls of blood as I shot back. I involuntarily nced down and noticed that I was off of the floating ind, as three beautiful moons shone brilliantly above my head, which I could see as my head leaned back, extremely. "Beau....tiful...." I mumbled, and my lips quivered before unconsciously forming a small smile on my face. Though my vision was half dyed in blood, the world still seemed beautiful, and for a split second, my heart felt warm as I felt happy. And that was when I remembered my indifference, which seemed to be breaking apart gradually as I fought in a death battle. "What is?" Tchort''s inverted face came into my blood-dyed sight, and before I spoke, I felt a sharp pain on my chin that made my mind nk out for a second. Tchort, who had punched at my chin, which was wide open, grinned savagely. "Ukch...." An unconscious groan escaped my mouth as my consciousness snapped back. WHOOOOSH-!! The strong breeze cruised, engulfing my whole body as I began to fall to the ground at bottleneck speed. After healing entirely in a split second, except for my blood-dyed vision, everything about my body remained as it was at the beginning of our fight. "That''s enough for the punishment." I mumbled and extended my right arm to my side. "Heed my call...." I mumbled as clouds began to gather above me, crackling exuberantly. "Trishul." Imanded, and the clouds above me swirled as a bright golden trident shot out from the middle, leaving a golden trail behind, and it was in my hand in the instant that I clenched my hand to hold it. I spun vertically using the force behind the trident and stood strong, up straight, as I gazed at Tchort, who was gazing back at me with an amused look on his face as he tried to hold in the escaping chuckles with his palm that was covering his mouth. "It was not an extravagant way of calling; it was just a way of giving respect to his entry." I mumbled, ncing at the exuberant trident in my hand. Extending the Trishul towards my right shoulder, I spun it in a clockwise manner, drawing a perfect golden ring mid-air in the middle of which I was. "Heed my call, elemental rulers, fire, wind, wate...." I called out as the elemental rulers manifested on the ring in blinks, and my mind nked that instance because I was too weak to really initiate that attack; you could even say that it was my ultimate move. ''I''m already at my limit? Dammit, I guess I''ll have to rely on Isha for this....'' I thought as my vision blurred entirely. * "Omniscience..." A hollow voice resounded throughout the world, and Eshwar, who had lost consciousness, continued to stand still as Tchort, who was unable to move from the moment he heard Eshwar mumble, "Heed my call, elemental rulers," gazed at Eshwar''s unconscious body that continued to stand strong as he floated mid-air with the Trishul in his right hand, fearfully. The ring in front of him, which should have dematerialized after Eshwar lost consciousness, continued to shine brightly. The fire, wind, and water elemental rulers shone brightly, as if trying to outshine the thin golden ring that was drawn mid-air. "....nd, darkness, light, and space." Eshwar''s unconscious body muttered, and all the elemental rulers manifested around the ring as they shone brilliantly, so brightly that they could even outshine the beautiful moons. "If it still hadn''t crossed your mind," Eshwar''s unconscious body said in a mocking tone that reverberated throughout the clouds that had gathered above him, making Tchort and those that were still alive flinch in fear, including Isha. She had only heard this voice once, which was also a memory that her mind had pushed to the back of her mind in attempts to forget that, she only remembered that now because a sense of Deja Vu swept past her consciousness. His angered tone was the same angered tone that reverberated throughout the entire city that had mocked and framed Isha before it was razed to the ground. It was also a time when he was the strongest without stepping into the domain of the gods. (AN: Mentioned in ch 88: Isha Walker (2)) "You are out of your domain." Eshwar''s unconscious body said, making Tchort shudder violently. "F**k-" Tchort cursed as he zoomed back towards his domain, but his words were cut short by Eshwar''s. "Authority of the ck Ink: Dark Devourer" Eshwar''s mumble resounded as the bright golden Trishul was devoured by the ck ink in an instant. As Eshwar pulled back the ck ink dyed Trishul, a ck, translucent sphere enveloped him entirely, and his body inside the sphere seemed to be dyed in inverted ck and white colours. "Elemental Soul Devourer" Eshwar''s voice reverberated throughout the clouds, and his trident-held hand flickered, together with the golden coloured ring and the elemental rulers before a "stab" was done with none of the eyes of those present following his actions. In that instant, they felt as if the world had lost its colour, and soon the world regained colour while Eshwar''s body began to free fall with his blood oozing out of the holes in his face, dyeing his almost naked body in his own blood as the veins in his right arm popped up before bursting. "Eshwar!" Isha yelled and zoomed towards his unconscious body, and before a second passed, Isha had appeared beneath him to catch him. Soon, she floated up towards the remains of the academy, princess carrying Eshwar. The wounds on his body healed before she reached the academic premises, and since the blood wasn''t wiped off of his body, his blood-dyed body remained blooded, making the scars on his body look far more terrifying than they already were. Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, and Charlie subconsciously gazed at Isha with a pleading gaze. Charlie''s limbs apart from his head were bent at an unnatural angle, while the needles piercing Grace''s, Neal''s, Reynolds'', and Hannah''s bodies began to turn slimy. It was only then that Isha nced back at Tchort and saw a huge hole form out of nowhere. The upper half of his face, a pair of forearms, and a pair of legs just below his ankles remained, as everything in the middle was stabbed out of existence. It was only secondster that they began to fall towards the ground, as if some kind of strong force continued to hold them still in mid-air. "Angel''s Embrace." Isha casted as she gazed at the injured five in front of her, who were gazing at her as if they wanted her to have mercy on them and grant them their deaths. Though she was tempted to gain a few more stronger shadow soldiers, since she already had more than enough and because they seemed useful for her and Eshwar to use, she healed them instead of killing them. Glowing, translucent golden angels manifested behind the five and embraced them from behind and healed them entirely, and soon after they were healed, they sat hollowly, gazing at nothingness as the domain that covered the entire ind began to crack apart. Hannah''s cry resounded first, followed up by three more as Charlie''s consciousness became clearer as he jolted back to reality and nced around in confusion. With an enlightened look on his face, hollowness shrouded him before tears streamed out of his eyes that seemed dead. They calmed down a few minutester and thanked Isha for her grace. "Are you guys demi-gods?" Neal asked after he gradually epted reality, though he was the only one who was really able to. "Hmm?" Isha hummed in bewilderment because she hadn''t heard the question properly because her concentration was fixated on Eshwar''s unconscious body, whichy on top of herp. "Demi-gods? Are you guys demi-gods?" Neal asked again, respectfully. "Huh? Those weaklings? Do we look that weak to you?" Isha asked with a frown, irritated that they even dared topare them to those bugs. "W-we-weaklings?" Grace stuttered, dumbfounded. They were the strongest "people" that existed in their world, and Isha was calling them weaklings without batting an eye. "Hmph." Isha snorted and turned her focus towards Eshwar as she caressed his face gently. "We, no, I am a God." Isha dered as if it wasn''t that big of a deal, which left the five gaping. "A-a-a, a God!!!?" They eximed in unison, but Isha just gave a nod without even ncing at them. "Wait! Eshwar is not a god?" Reynolds, who was the first to snap back to reality from his daze, asked. "No." Isha answered without even batting an eye at them, with a sweet smile that crept up on her face as she watched Eshwar''s face twitch subtly. "W-we-we have to fight you when the timees?" Surprisingly, Charlie was the one questioned this time. "There won''t be a need if you behave properly and don''t anger him." Isha said as she indicated Eshwar with a nudge of her face. "Hahaha." Isha giggled at Eshwar''s snort when she nudged his nose yfully. "Ummm...." With azy hum, Eshwar turned towards Isha''s stomach and hugged her, pushing her against his face. Turning back and forth for a few seconds, Eshwar woke up, and his first instinct was to find Isha. Noticing she was right next to him, he smiled brightly with his blood-dyed face and sat down before hugging her. Inhaling a deep breath of her scent, he leaned back and stopped himself right before he kissed her. A frown appeared on his face that vanished as soon as it appeared as his face brightened. BOOOMMM-!!!! With a loud, ear-deafening boom, the remains of the academy exploded as a few strong ripples in the atmosphere, whose control was being handed over to the strong, and a presence of the strong descended upon the ind, forcing Charlie''s, Grace''s, Neal''s, Reynolds'', and Hannah''s heads to the ground. "You''re back!" Isha said that because she could feel all of Eshwar''s strength return to him, she could now tell that Eshwar was back as the apex predator that ruled the fastigium. "I''m back." Eshwar said this and leaned in for a kiss, but Isha backed away after giving him a peck and pointed at the five that were kowtowing. "Oh, I apologise." Eshwar apologised and concealed his presence, and no one could feel his presence anymore, not even Isha. "Haaa.... and as always, he has be stronger than before." Isha said with a sigh, and a series of fear-filled audible gulps sounded. "Hm?" Eshwar frowned as he nced in a certain direction, and Isha guessed what it was because she had also felt the grieving screams of nature. "You felt it?" Isha asked. "Yes, and...." Eshwar mumbled and nced down at his body, which was glimmering neon green. "Pyre is...." "Crying." Chapter 333 332. Apocalyptic World. [Chapter one: Defeat the Demon Kingpleted!] [Rewards are being given.....] [You have defeated a godly existence on your own.] [Rewards are being given...] [Unbelievable achievement acquired.] [Rewards are being given...] [Achievement points are being rewarded!] [Calcting acquired experience points....] [User has devoured the soul of a devil!] [User has achieved an achievement that is unheard of!] [Rewards are being given....] [Level up] [Level up] [Level up] [Level up] ... ..... [Max level!] [Dividing the remaining experience points to the user''s perks and skills....] [Remaining experience points are being absorbed by a different source.....] ZZZT-ZZT [Retrieval is being initiated....] [Retrievalplete!] [Healing the system...] [All the damages contained over time are being healed by the abnormal amount of experience points umted by the user!] DING-!! [SYSTEM HEAL COMPLETE!] [yer shop upadate] [Contribution function updated] [Items are being updated] [Servers are being created] [Constetions are able to rely their thoughts through their message prompt] ["Thealmighty_God" is astonished by the development] ["Monarchofthedread" is enjoying and it''s looking forward to the new developments] .... ... There were series of notification streaming in front of me, it was all good that Eunomia was healing, I was back to being strong, and I was happy about the new updates, but there was one particr notification that drew my gaze. ["Goddess_whowieldsa_ice-sword" is gazing at the user with tender, loveable gaze] I could instantly tell that it was Isha''s, and an ingenious idea shed in my mind as I nced at Isha. Although I was feeling anxious due to Pyre''s pained cries, never have I ever heard him cry so much, it wasn''t like I was in a situation in able to do something over a spilled milk. And since he was directly connected with me through my soul, I could feel his pain and sadness of the lose of his loved ones, you could also say that the entirety of the nature was his loved one, but if he took everything to his heart, then he wouldn''t be able to survive, it wasn''t that he felt nothing, he just didn''t bother expressing his feelings as he carried in the pains of the nature. His loved ones he was grieving for currently were none other than the dragons, who had now turned into undeads. It wasn''t that I wasn''t taking Pyre''s condition seriously, but I didn''t try tofort him because the situation was already out of our hands. I couldn''t really do anything currently and he too was crying exactly because he knew nothing could be done now. "What is it?" Isha asked feeling my gaze. "Make me your recipient." I said. "What!?" Isha asked in surprise and disbelief. [You! You know that you can''t be a god of you be my recipient now, don''t you?] Isha eximed telepathically. [When did I ever say I wanted to be a god?] I asked back. [Y-yu-you! I can''t believe you!] Isha eximed, but since she knew that I wouldn''t change my mind, she sighed andplied with my request. ["Goddess_whowieldsa_ice-sword" is willing to be the user''s sponsor] [Y/N] Since I didn''t know much about it, I decided to trust Isha and clicked yes, because I knew she would ept my request. ["Goddess_whowieldsa_ice-sword" had be the user''s sponsor!] DING-! [User is the first to get a sponsor!] [500 achievement points are rewarded] [Rewards calcted] [Obtained rewards are: 1) ultist''s set (Level-42, Rank-S). 2) Level increase scroll 30x. 3) Achievement points (1,000,000). 4) Skill: Berserker. 5) Skill: Cold-headed.] ''The rewards seem good....'' I thought as I equipped the outfit that was given to me as a reward. A hooded, dark brown, long coat with a pitch-ck t-shirt, simr aesthetic cargo pants, boots, and gloves manifested, adorning themselves on my almost naked body. === [ultist''s Set] --- [Level-42] [Rank-S] [Durability: 100%] [Physical damage reduction: 13%] [Magical damage reduction: 10%] [Skill: One among the crowd] [Skill: Feathered weight] [Skill: Sprint] [Skill: Clean] [Skill: Killer hands] --- === ''Stats'' I muttered inwardly. ==== [yer Information] == Name: Eshwar Age: 1721 Sponsor: Goddess_whowieldsa_ice-sword Perk: Growth == Titles: IBOTT, One from the Infinite, Murderer, Marite. == Skills: [Swordsmanship (MAX)], [Weapons Master level-96], [Dual Wielding level-56], [Berserker level-1 (NEW)], [Cold-headed level-1 (NEW)], [Heaven Defying Martial Body level-5], [Martial Footwork level-8], [Energy Maniption level-13], [Pause-y], [Break], [Wish], [ck Hole] == Overall stats: [Stamina level-10], [Strength level-8], [Agility level-13], [Essence level-98], [Physique (MAX)] ==== ==== [Inventory] Level increase scrolls (45x) Rank-SSS monster core (64x) ==== [Achievement points: 3,222,500] "What is essence?" I mumbled with a frown. [Essence = Pure or innate ki] After I got the answer to my question, I understood that my stats were lower because I had started anew, but that wouldn''t matter much if I employ the essence with each and every moments of mine from now on, it would easily make up for myck of stats. I nced around, noticing the states of the five alive, but abruptly [Sponsor: Goddess_whowieldsa_ice-sword has sponsored the user''s actions, and will continued to do so without tying down the user, who has his free will.] "?" Tilting my head in confusion, I nced at Isha from the corner of my eyes, but she avoided my gaze as she looked around, whistling as if she found something interesting. [Be a god, Eshwar. Though it is annoying to join a faction, you can stay neutral and enjoy the battles between the other factions. And it won''t be all that bad since I''ll be next to you.] Isha said telepathically, assuring about an alternative choice which I came to agree albeit reluctantly. ''Calm down, Pyre. What''s done is done, we can''t do anything now and you know it.'' I mumbled inwardly. "Erebus." I mumbled and a small, cute, ck cat manifested into reality with a puff. "Mrew~" Erebus stroked his head at my arm as he purred empathetically, and I could tell by his actions that he was trying tofort Pyre, who was crying as he rested on my soul which was the only ce he could find sce in. "Let''s go. Let''s go give those poor souls their ends, so that they can rest in peace." I said as I tapped at Erebus''s head, meowing in agreement, Erebus became bigger than a bus with a loud puff, covered in arge magic power oozing cloud. Jumping on his back first, I nced at Isha and offered her my hand which she took in an heartbeat, I pulled her up and made her sit behind me as we gazed at a distance where the cries of the nature was stronger. "W-we, we''ll also join." Charlie said, and Grace, break, Reynolds, and Hannah nodded their heads in affirmation. I turned back in an unnatural angle, held Isha''s waist and lifted her up before making her sit in front of me and hugged her front behind, before ncing at the batch with a uncertain gaze. "Are you sure? You will die due to the speed he''ll run at." I warned as I pointed at Erebus, who began to growl and hiss in a lowmanding tone, urging them to get on of they nned to. "Y-ye-yes!! We''ll still go with you." They said in unison and I waved my hand with a sigh, lifting then up with energy maniption that was levelling up like crazy. If I used these skills, whose basic principles I was well aware of, it won''t take that long before they too be those of higher levels, like the few I already hold as proofs. I made them sit behind me with Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, and Charlie sitting respectively behind each other in a straight line. "Break through." Imanded Erebus in a low growling voice and Erebus shot out towards the empire. [Hurry up!] Imanded inwardly, themand just now was directed at the "Veil" to whom I, my original self, had given a very important mission to. And Erebus, who was pushing himself down, off of the floating ind began to run mid-air, lunging himself forward, faster and faster, the beautiful scenery in front of me changed continuously due to his speed, which had already reached to a level of breaking through the sound barrier. Isha''s scent infiltrated my senses, which I wasn''t able to realise until it was toote. My vision, that covered almost 180¡ã began to darken and soon nothing entered my sight nor did I hear anything from I surroundings, except for Isha''s broad but small figure and her rhythmic breathing sounds that overwhelmed and engulfed my senses, she soon nced at my face and smiled beautifully and nudged me with her shoulder, since I could tell that she was getting flustered, I shook my head in daze, asking her look front. And with a smile creeping up my face, I chuckled lightly as my senses returned, only then did I notice that Erebus was now running on the ground, making his way through the broken apart buildings that were in ruins, which themed the world, apocalyptic. Zombies rushed at Erebus, who was rushing at a speed of sound, and turned into shreds before they even understood what had happened after they rushed towards their opponents, that had extremely strong scent of blood and life engulfing then, which had made their mouths salivate. "Ha!" Imanded and patted Erebus''s back gently, but strongly enough for him to feel the urgency. *** (AN: Unedited.) Chapter 334 333. Natures Cry. ? Isha gazed at the zombies, who had rotten skin falling off of their bones, revealing them instead, as low, resentment-filled growls began to fill her ears. Though the sight in front of her was horrifying to say the least, not even a bit of concern or care shed on her cold and indifferent face. ''I should try to summon zombies like these, but stronger ones. I should also start showing off my powers so that Eshwar can rest assured as he fights his enemies.'' Isha thought inwardly. She could easily kill off every one of Eshwar''s enemies, she didn''t because Eshwar wanted to deal with them personally, which was the most unfortunate yet fortunate thing that could happen to his enemies. Unfortunately, because Eshwar shows no mercy to those he deems to be his enemies, and fortunate because he gets bored almost instantly in front of "weaker" enemies, since he has regained his previous strength, not many could be considered strong in his eyes. "Ha!" Eshwar''s loud,manding voice sounded behind her, which prompted her to lean back and enjoy his protective grip around her. Every ce they had been was in ruins; the buildings were broken in half either by bing weak or by ageing a lot in a short amount of time, like a post-apocalyptic world setting, with the only exception of the overgrown greenery. The nearer they got to the empire, the louder nature''s cry got to the point that it was clenching her heart, because unlike Eshwar, she had her emotions intact¡ªthough her thoughts seemed cold, it was an undeniable fact¡ªthat had also gotten stronger due to emotionless Eshwar''s disy of emotions. "It is getting annoying." Isha mumbled to Eshwar, who nced at her, noticing how her brows were wrinkling due to sadness. "Let it flow through you. You and Pyre are the only ways nature can show its pain." Eshwar said, and understanding his words Isha activated her "physic" reluctantly. Her hair glimmered under the moonlight as it turned white, simr to Eshwar''s hair from back when they were still on Earth. Her eyes glimmered bright, no, brightest green, only to dim after they morphedpletely, disying the pain through Isha''s bright green eyes. "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Isha screamed as tears began to stream out of her eyes without any sign of stopping anytime soon. Her heart hurt excruciatingly, and her very being itself seemed to cry due to the sadness; it wasn''t even strange because Isha''s head literally became nature itself, which was expressing its fraction of sadness through Isha. "Shhhhhuuuu. It''s alright." Eshwar''s concerned, love-filled, and saddened voice sounded behind her as he hugged her tightly from behind and kissed her forehead caringly. "Aaaaaaaa!!!! Aaa, aaaaaaaa!!!!" Isha''s pained screams only got louder amid her big gasps of air. Though the care, concern, and sadness in Eshwar''s voice continued to increase as he tried to sooth her sufferings, he did nothing to stop her from weeping for her loved ones. "I''ll.... I''m here; think of me as your delegate. I''ll make sure none of your kids suffer anymore. I swear to you on my authority as the creator." Eshwar''s authoritative and promising voice resounded throughout the entire world at a certain frequency, a frequency that all of nature''s creations except humans were able to hear. And it was only then that beasts in areasbelled "nk" calmed down without entering the state of berserk. Unfortunately for those alive, the beasts all around the mapped world in the nk regions began to stomp their way into the civilization, adding another threat along with the zombies. The desire of the neutral was the annihtion of the whole of civilization, so it abided by their dying desire, and "everything" moved in full force to grant the neutral''s dying wish. * It wasn''t long before we arrived at the heart of the empire, where the capital which was in ruins could be seen. I left Isha, who had cried a river, on Erebus''s back together with the others as I floated up into the air, before I crouched down mid-air and lunged myself towards the imperial pce, where 30 undead dragons floated. BOOOMMM-!! A strong ring of wind pressure exploded back as I shot forward, because I couldn''t bear to hear Isha''s pained cries anymore. Though she had calmed down subtly, it wasn''t like she stopped entirely; her expression, her tears-stained face, red eyes, and nose¡ªeverything about her current state pained me, and that feeling was increased due to Pyre''s overwhelming emotions, which also had calmed to a certain extent. And soon I arrived near the pce and noticed emotionless soldiers defending the pce and its surroundings as they fought against the zombies without much effort, but everybody began to slowly understand why the undead were called the "undead." ''What are those? They don''t seem human.....'' I muttered inwardly, but since they seemed to be protecting the pce, I didn''t bother with their work much, as they''ll be useful after we, the Veil, havepleted our purpose. "Should I help them out a bit?" I mumbled under my breath and raised my right hand behind my back as ck aether seeped out of my palm, which in turn covered the entire wooden broadsword that had materialised into my palm, creating a sword aura as thin threads of aether began to swirl around the sword, hissing in overwhelming imperial power. "Authority of the ck Ink." As soon as those words left my mouth, pitch-ck hands like ink monsters materialised in my palm that held the wooden broadsword that was already covered in ck-coloured aether, but the ink which was darker than ck climbed up the sword, seemingly devouring its way up, and it wasn''t long before the whole sword was devoured by pitch-ck, light-devouring ink. THUD Inded on the ground, amid the zombies and "Chapter 2. Horizontal sh." I mumbled under my breath and shed without a moment of hesitation. And a perfect, pitch-ck arc shot out from my sword and reached a whole ten metres in front of me, slicing through hundreds of zombies in the way. BOOOMMM-!!! And I didn''t stop there and continued to sh in different directions as loud booms resounded throughout the area before I kicked off the ground and shot up towards the dragons. From there, I used my title Marite, pause-y, and dark devourer skills to end the lives of the dragons. [The user has devoured the soul of a Dragon!] [The user has devoured the soul of a Dragon!] [The user has devoured the soul of a Dragon!] [The user has devoured the soul of a Dragon!] [The user has devoured the soul of a Dragon!] ... ..... [The user has devoured the soul of a Dragon King!] [Unbelievable achievements acquired!] [Rewards are being calcted!] [Experience points acquired!] [Calcting acquired experience points....] DING [MAX LEVEL] [Experience points are being divided into different factors!] [All stats increased by 1] [All stats increased by 1] [All stats increased by 1] [All stats increased by 1] .... ... [Stats maxed out] [Experience points are being absorbed by a different source....] ["System" is willing to be the user''s sponsor.] [Y/N] "You too?" I mumbled and clicked yes before focusing on the notifications in front of me. [Papa!] And it was then that I heard a cheerful, slightly robotic voice in my head, which made me smile lightly. [Eunomia] I called out my cheerful daughter telepathically. [Papa! I have much to talk about, but first, thank you for the experience points! Thanks to you, I healedpletely from the damages I contained due to sister Frostine''s actions, and now I can focus on upgrades and updates of the system.] Eunomia spoke in a cheerful manner. [That''s fortunate.] I said. I hadn''t been using my own "head admin" authority because I was afraid that my actions would hurt her, but after hearing Frostine''s story, I was thankful that I hadn''t used it. [Papa! What rewards do you want? I already gave you the highest quality set in the yer shop; you have an absurd amount of achievement points, which I know you won''t use; I don''t know what I should give you anymore.] Eunomiained, to which I could only smile lightly. I again thought that I did a good job not using the head admin authority because I couldn''t have borne to hear her hurt voice calling me "papa" in a cheerful, lovable manner and learn that I was the reason she was hurt. [I want nothing but to hold you in my arms and spoil you like crazy.] I said and chuckled at my own words; that sounded too much like that of a father who loves his daughter too much. [Talk to your mother, if possible, Eunomia. She''ll need you right now, and close your eyes and ears when we meet a certain someone, because things are going to get ugly pretty quickly.] I said, though Eunomia might have already seen things like those that are going to take ce now many times, I still didn''t want her to see this one situation that both of us, I and Isha, will have to pass soon enough. [Alright!] Thankfully, Eunomia agreed in a heartbeat, without arguing. ''I really don''t deserve these lives in my life.'' I mumbled inwardly, thinking of my soon-to-be wife, daughter, and friend, who had be my daughter''s sister without my knowledge. Though I thought that I didn''t deserve them, I wouldn''t ever let go of them, no matter what. "Huuuu..." Exhaling grimly, I descended down to meet the mid-boss, whose trait was his smart mind, unlike my smart yet brutish mind. Chapter 335 334. An Alchemys Miracle. ? "The great one" descended right in front of them, and Godred, who was beside the emperor, Ortharious, instantly knelt with his head facing downward. "I greet the great one!" Godred eximed in a delighted tone. After a brief moment of eerie silence, ".... You may rise." The great onemanded with a hint of confusion hidden deep within his tone. "Thank you. Thank you!" Godred stood back on his feet with a delighted sigh as he looked at the great one in front of him. And yet another series of silence descended upon them as Godred nced at Ortharious from the corner of his eyes and noticed the hunt of disgust in his fiery gaze that screamed defiance. But abruptly, his gaze widened and turned lustrous, which made Godred shudder at the ominous feeling that crept up his heart. "Eshwar! How could you just run off like that?" A sweet woman''s concern-filled voice sounded behind the great one, whose name seemed to be Eshwar. It was at that exact moment that Godred realised why he had just felt ominous. A gorgeous woman with ck hair and obsidian ck eyes jogged towards Eshwar, who nced at her over his shoulder and smiled lightly before his gaze shifted to Godred with a hint of killing intent enveloped in his gaze. Before his gazended on Ortharious, it was the moment when Godred felt time stop as he didn''t even dare to breathe in front of a being whom he saw in his visions, destroying the world without a change in his expressionless expression, both in the past visions and the future ones. * As soon as Ortharious'' gazended on the goddess in front of him, his mind diverted to the things he would do with the woman in front of him in his room; for a split second, his mind even reced his "toy''s," the dragon princess''s, or the "tainted" saintess''s, face with the woman in front of him. His lust had dove so deep that none of his senses, except for the thing in his pants, were active. And abruptly, Ortharious'' eyes dted as he noticed Eshwar''s hand swung horizontally at his neck, but before whatever was in his hands even reached the emperor''s neck, he felt his neck being cut off as his body was vertically slit in half at the same time. THUD-! Without breathing, Ortharious gazed to his left and saw a zombie''s head rolling on the ground while its headless body stood beside him, frozen. "You should be careful where your gaze wanders, your majesty." Eshwar''s cold, nearly emotionless voice sounded in front of him, snapping the literal daylights out of him as all the blood in his face drained, turning him as pale as paper. This was the first time he had actually felt the threat to his existence, and absent-mindedly, he nced back at his most trusted aide, Atman, who was ring at Eshwar with an unsheathed sword in his trembling hands. GASP-! With a loud gasp, Ortharious began to breathe again, though his breathing was extremelyboured. He was able to "see" the swing that was aimed at his neck, but he could neither see nor feel the swing that threatened to cut him in half. Earlier, he had dared to threaten Godred, exactly because he had his aide, who was the strongest existence Ortharious had ever seen, behind him, but now, looking at how he was trembling, Ortharious'' mind gears began to spin at top speed as he tried to find ways to deal with being, Eshwar, whose moniker was the great one. ''He isn''t an existence that I can afford to oppose "here."'' Ortharious thought, and before his mindpleted its nning, his mouth moved and "Thank you for saving me, Sir?" Ortharious expressed his gratitude and questioned the name he was already aware of. "Eshwar. And you?" Eshwar introduced himself arrogantly and asked back bluntly, without an ounce of respect in his tone, in which he hadn''t even bothered to hide his annoyance as he spoke to the one and only emperor, "Ortharious!" Ortharious introduced himself in a heartbeat, not bearing the disrespect in Eshwar''s voice. He found it harder to hold back at theck of respect in Eshwar''s tone because previously, the same person had called Ortharious "your majesty," meaning Eshwar knew who Ortharious was, yet that was his attitude towards a person who was respected by all from the moment he was born. "Is that right?" Eshwar asked nonchntly and looked back at the footsteps that sounded behind him, and Ortharious followed his gaze and noticed the arrival of a few familiar faces walking towards him. "Father!" Charlie eximed loudly and jogged excitedly towards Ortharious, but instead of hugging his father like one would expect, he stopped a few steps in front of Ortharious and bowed politely. "I have returned, your majesty." Charlie reported with his right hand ced on his chest. "Your majesty!" In a soldiered tone, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, and Hannah knelt with their heads down and eximed in unison, in an overly respectful demeanour. "You all may rise." Ortharious spoke in an authoritative but satisfied tone. ''!!!'' With an ingenious idea in his mind, "We shall speak in the pce." Ortharious said and walked towards the pce without waiting for their response, which was to be expected from the emperor. ''Come, I''ll make sure you learn how to kowtow in front of the authoritative.'' Ortharious thought, gritting his teeth. * In a 20-foot-wide room, Atman walked into the room with many pairs of bands floating beside him. "Please take two pairs each. They are mana suppressors, for both your and the emperor''s safety. Since the world is thrown into chaos, we don''t know who or what form one would try to attack the emperor due to their greed to take over the throne; hence, these are for safety purposes. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS, offensively." Atman said. He said those words slightly louder at the end, purposefully indicating other intentions, but unfortunately for them, none caught on to it. "..... Understandable." Eshwar said, gazing at Atman fixedly before wearing them as he nodded to himself in understanding. "....." After everybody wore the suppressors, they gazed at Atman with a fierce gaze that demanded exnations. "Why are we unable to use any of our abilities?" The ck-haired woman asked with a deep frown after confirming that the wristbands and anklets weren''ting off. "I apologise; it was an order from the emperor. You will be unable to use, absolutely, any of your abilities; of course, that includes the skills granted to you by the system." Atman said as he gazed at panic breaking out in front of him, yet Eshwar stood calm, noticing his calm, the ck-haired woman calmed down, and for whatever reason, the others that noticed Eshwar''s and the ck-haired woman''s reactions also calmed down. "Lead the way." Eshwar''smanding, power-filled voice resounded throughout the room, to which Atman subconsciously turned and led them towards the door, which took them to the "room," an alchemy''s miracle, a room that was devoid of mana or any natural energies. After arriving at the room, Atman knocked and announced their arrival before taking them into the room, which was devoid of any natural energies that naturally existed from ancient times on the Antino¨¹s. Atman walked and stood behind the throne, on which Ortharious sat with a disgusting, twisted grin on his face. On a step below the throne, Godred, Zu''e, Marcia, Okisada, and Alexandru stood while Zu''e and Marcia fidgeted with violent blush adorning their adorable yet fierce warrior-like faces as they gazed at Atman from the corner of their love-struck gazes. "Kneel!" Orthariousmanded resentfully, and unexpectedly to those gazing at the figures, the first to kneel was Eshwar, who was the most rebellious type from what they had witnessed earlier, outside the imperial pce, which caught them off guard and made them flustered for reasons unknown. "It''s over, it''s over, it''s over....." Godred''s loud enough mumble sounded. They nced at Godred from the corner of their eyes and noticed that he was pale as paper, and he was seen sweating profusely with a despair-filled face. No, the expression on his face looked like that of someone who was on their death bed. Although Atman reacted to everything happening in the room, he hadn''t had a single change in his expression that seemed to indicate that he was analysing everything that was happening or was about to happen in the room. "Well, aren''t you obedient now? What happened to your arrogance that you showed outside the pce?" Ortharious asked in a mocking and satisfied tone, and it was then that a sh of realisation shed on the faces of those present, except for Eshwar''s and the ck-haired woman''s faces. "....." No answer. No response came, and Ortharious'' index finger began to tap on the throne''s right armrest. The more silence extended, the more restless Ortharious became, and before long his index finger was tapping on the right armrest non-stop. "Hey, you." Ortharious abruptly called out at the ck-haired woman, who nced at Ortharious with a cold and indifferent gaze in response. "Strip." Orthariousmanded bluntly with a lustrous grin, widening his face. At that moment, the room''s temperature dropped by several degrees, and though not an ounce of reaction was seen on the woman''s face, Eshwar''s slightly visible face was now devoid of anything. SCRI-! SCRIBBLE-!! With a strange scribbling sound that resounded throughout the room, an ever-increasing eerie feeling befell the room. Even now, there weren''t any noticeable changes in those in front of Ortharious, yet the eerie scribbling sound continued to resound. "Why did you have to?" Unexpectedly, the ck-haired woman spoke with a pity-filled look on her face as she gazed at Ortharious. Though it was an unexpected question that caught everybody off guard, instead of answering her question, their gazes shifted to Eshwar, who was kneeling on the ground, since they expected a reaction from him, naturally. Nothing, except for the darkness dyeing his faceless face, nothing else was visible on what was supposed to be Eshwar''s face. Chapter 336 335. One Minute. ? (AN: Omniscient POV) No reaction could be found in Eshwar, yet the eerie scribbling sound continued to resound in the room, even though the royals present in the room knew that the shackled could do nothing that defied Ortharious'' will in the room; they too could do nothing else but stand still in spot, not because they didn''t want to act out, bloating their pride, or anything along those lines, but because the eerie feeling that increasingly turned terrifying forced them to stand still. Even Ortharious, who had a resentful expression just seconds ago, had a terrified expression on his face now. They could understand that something eerie was happening, but they couldn''t really put their fingers on what it was. [What are you going to do now?] A mortifying voice resounded throughout the room, in a room where nothing even simr was possible. ''How is magic resounding within the room?'' The royals, except for Godred, thought in unison; they couldn''t figure out the kind of power that was being used; hence, they just stuck to the basic power and assumed that whatever power was being used was magic. [This is the first time I''ve gotten angry in a long while.] The voice continued to resound in the room. [Because of you, I''m forced to hear her being called all kinds of things that not even the gods dared utter in my presence.] The voice said, speaking with somebody that existed in the room and understanding the words, they could figure out that the voice was talking with none other than Eshwar. [Because of your ipetence.] The voice said it in a cold tone that almost made the royals faint in fear. ''Who was the naive vessel?'' Eshwar asked in his mind. [Ha! You want answers? Fine, then I''ll give it to you. The naive vessel was me; who else would it be except for me?] The voice said in a mocking tone that Eshwar wanted to ask why the voice, his original self, had called him naive, but understanding that Eshwar himself was nothing but a mere part of his original self, he swallowed back his question. [And before you voice your other questions, you can stop. I only answered that question because you deemed the situation you are in to be funny.] The voice said. [I will not help; whatever may happen to you, I won''t lend you a hand because.... No, why should I exin myself to your pitiful existence? Ha!] The voice scoffed and turned silent. For a few minutes, except for the eerie scribbling sound, nothing sounded. "Atm-Atman! Go and make that woman-" Orthariousmanded his aide, but before his words continued, bones cracking sounds resounded throughout the room. CRA-CRACK-!!! "Argh!!!!" Ortharious screamed at the top of his lungs due to his arms being crushed. [I only said that I wouldn''t interfere with the things you do with that man.] The voice said it in an amused tone and turned silent again, snickering. "Atm-Atman, make that son of a bit*h grovel at my feet!" Orthariousmanded after taking a healing potion from his inventory. "By your order!" Atman, who stood behind the throne, said this and walked towards Eshwar to carry out the orders given to him. BAM-! Without any warning, Atman straight up kicked Eshwar''s kneeling face, which seemed to be positioned just for Atman to kick it. Eshwar''s body flung to the side like a wet rag before colliding against the wall with a boom. BOOM-! "Uchk!" Eshwar groaned in anguish as blood trickled down from his head and mouth, while his left eye turned bloody due to the force he was kicked with. "Eshwar!!!" Isha eximed in shock and looked at the scene in disbelief. "Uckh.... argh..." Eshwar stumblingly sat up and shook his head as he tried to get rid of the pain in his ringing head. But unfortunately for him, Atman wasn''t done with him yet; he strode towards Eshwar, lifted him up by his hair, released him, and reverse kicked him in the face, which was soon dyed with blood. BAM-! "Uck!" Eshwar groaned as he supported himself in all fours, licking his lips that were dyed in his own blood. Eshwar felt his own body weight bare down on him; he felt heavy and weak, weak like a normal human, which gave him a sense of Deja Vu. As he nced around in his blood-dyed view, his gaze soon found what it was looking for, Isha, and a bright smile shed in his eerily, blood-dyed face. He felt extremely weak; he felt he was a human again, a normal, weak yet strong man who wanted nothing but to have strong enough shoulders to bear the responsibilities and burdens of his loved ones, and also a weak man who had no other choice except to bow his head to the strong as he abided by the things as somebody else willed. He, a brute that knew nothing but how to brute force his way through the difficulties that came his way, was now being thrashed around as he stumbled across here and there, bleeding, while his fate deemed him unable to do anything and unworthy of doing the things that he could easily and effortlessly do just a few minutes ago. [You couldn''t protect Anuke because you weren''t strong enough!] His original self''s voice sounded in his head. BAM-! [Due to which Isha was thrown into a state that I was unable to bear.] ''Stop your bullsh*t; it was my life and my life alone; what I did had nothing to do with you. I, a mere part of yours, have been protecting Isha, who was stronger than me, while you on the other hand, could do nothing even though you were stronger than her, even though she is right in front of you!'' Eshwar yelled inwardly. "If.... I had... known what and all had happened to her.... before I was alive again, I would have done everything in my power to destroy your existence, even if it meant I would disappear with you!" Eshwar abruptly yelled in outrage while gasping for air. ''You are nothing but an ipetent, arrogant, and ignorant a*shole; don''t you dare try to make me feel guilty; that was bound to happen one way or the other!'' Eshwar yelled inwardly since he didn''t have enough time to breathe as he was still being thrashed around. His ribs, shoulder bones, arms, which he used to defend, legs, and knuckles had cracked due to the strong mana-less hits he was receiving from a stronger person. If mana was used, then he would have undoubtedly died at the first hit. [Hahahaha] With an ominous chuckle, his original self''s voice disappeared. BAM-! With a punch to the stomach, Eshwar wasunched at the throne. After hitting his back on the stair beneath the throne, Eshwar groaningly looked around and soon found Ortharious looking at him with a bright, mocking smirk on his face. Smiling back at him, Eshwar nced around and soon found Isha, who was looking at him with tears streaming out of her eyes, and again SN-AP-! Eshwar felt something snap. This was the second time he had that feeling;st time his rage clouded his mind, but this time his sanity itself snapped. "Kill me." Eshwar''s mumbled words resounded throughout the room; his body was wreaked beyond healing, and the pain would be so intense that dying would be better, which was the reason Eshwar asked them to kill him. Or so those gazing at him thought. "I''ll give you one minute." Eshwar''s eerie voice sounded, which made those present shudder in fear, including Isha, who was gazing at Eshwar, whose eyes seemed dead while being locked at her tears-filled eyes. "You have one minute to kill me if you don''t," It was only then that his dead gaze finally moved, and soon his gazended on Ortharious, who flinched in response. "I''ll kill you." Eshwar dered. "..." Silence. An absolutely eerie silence descended upon the room, as even Eshwar''s original self was gazing at the scene in amusement. [ept me] Eshwar''s original self''s hollow voice resounded in Eshwar''s mind. Time seemed to slow down yet move at a fast rate, because "50 seconds remaining." Eshwar reminded them. "Huzmmmm....mhzmmmm~" Eshwar began to hum an eerie melody that sounded eerie only because of his hoarse voice. He hummed a melody that no one seemed to have the leisure to enjoy except for him. They didn''t know what gave him the confidence to assert those words¡ªno, assert that im¡ªbut his humming sounded like a requiem in the ears of those present, including Isha. She had never, not once in her life, been afraid of Eshwar, but now she was. Isha, the goddess of death, was afraid of Eshwar, and in a corner of her heart and mind, Isha felt like she was looking at Eshwar''s real self for the first time ever since their time spent together. "E-Eshwar?" Isha called out, unsure if she was looking at the same person whom she loved dearly. "Yes?" Eshwar asked back as he gazed at Isha with no sign of life in his eyes. "I''ll be done soon enough; don''t worry." Eshwar spoke with lifeless eyes and gazed at Atman and Ortharious with a cold gaze. It was then that Isha remembered that Eshwar had survived all by himself by killing the strong that came his way. "30 seconds left." Eshwar reminded them, and this time, without wasting time, Atman shot out towards Eshwar like a bullet with the intention to kill. BAM-! Chapter 337 336. Im Back. ? (AN: OMNISCIENT POV) Eshwar rolled to the side, following his instincts, and avoided the blow that would have killed him for sure, yet not a single change was seen in his dead expression. BAM-! Atman''s punch connected to the stair and shook the room slightly as the mana concentrated on his first dispersed upon contact with the room. Eshwar nced at Atman''s fist as he rolled to the side and noticed mana being sucked into the ground, more precisely into the material from which the room they were currently trapped in was made. Calcting his next course of actions instinctively, Eshwar continued to roll until he was only a few steps away from the wall. Since the room was smaller than the normal crown room, Eshwar had nned to use the terrain to his advantage, but whatever he wanted to do, he had to do it before they realised his n. As soon as Eshwar nced in front of him, he found Atman zooming at him. By the next instance, before Eshwar even blinked, Atman had arrived in front of him and kicked at his head. Even though a blow that could easily kill him was fast approaching right in front of him, Eshwar didn''t even flinch as he ducked lower to avoid the kick, and he did. BOOM-! Atman''s mana, which was concentrated in his kick, formed an arc that shot out from his leg and dispersed upon contact with the wall, making the room tremble violently because, even though the attack wasn''t physical, the mana was dense enough to hold in the power of a cannon ball. 25 seconds remained. Without wasting any moments, Atman swung down his leg, which was still in mid-air due to the missed kick. Eshwar pressed his arms down and lunged himself forward, towards Atman''s crotch, with the intention to burst them. Shuddering due to the instinctive warning he received, Atman halted his attack and jumped, covering his crotch with both hands, forgetting about the fact that Eshwar was currently weaker than the Rank-F yers in the world. Only after his retreat did Atman realise that fact, gritting his teeth in displeasure and shame, Atman''s re intensified as he realised the reason he was forced to retreat. ''His intent....'' As Atman thought, it was Eshwar''s intent that forced him to take a step back. Eshwar''s intention to burst Atman''s genitals was so clear that it oozed through his actions, forcing his opponent to believe that nothing except retreat was an option. Eshwar''s intention was so clear that Atman and the others were having a hard time believing that Eshwar was currently weakened. "20 seconds. Humzmmmm...uzhummm~~" Eshwar reminded them and began to hum his ominous-sounding melody again as he swayed, dancing to his own ominous rhythm as he stood back up, ignoring the broken bones protruding from his forearms. Due to him applying a strong force to his already broken arms when he pushed himself at Atman, the bones bent at an unnatural angle and protruded from his forearms, as a few shattered pieces of bones pierced his muscles internally. "Humzmmm~" The hum that sounded like a requiem began to resound in the heads of those present as Eshwar danced with unsteady steps like a drunkard. Hmmmmumhmmm~~ The time slowed down in their sights as they gazed at Eshwar''s each and every unsteady step as he danced, swaying back and forth as the cracking sounds of his bones resounded subtly in their ears. "HummmmmMMMM!!!" And abruptly, a high-pitched, intentional hum resounded throughout the room and jolted them awake from their stupor, as their minds were filled with the thoughts of their deaths. When Atman refocused on Eshwar, he noticed Eshwar''s broken arms touching his ankles and wrists in a rhythmical manner as he danced to his ominous melody. "10 seconds." Eshwar reminded them again as he continued to hum. Atman clenched his fists and gritted his teeth before ncing at Ortharious, who was gazing at Eshwar''s ominous dance with cold sweat piled up over his forehead. "Your majesty, he is nothing but a weak pest. I suggest we amuse ourselves as he attempts to kill you, futilely." Atman said it in a confident tone with a smirk on his face. Such profound confidence oozed out of him that it made the others, who were counting seconds till their deaths, weaver as they, the royals, too, smirked as they gazed at the pitiful state Eshwar was currently in. Except for Isha and Godred, whose faces were pale due to fear, the royals and the others that came together with Eshwar had different varieties of expressions on their faces. Grace, Neal, Reynolds, and Hannah were pitying Eshwar, while Charlie gritted his teeth because he felt extremely sorry, guilty, and weak, considering the current predicament, as he was ming himself for not warning Eshwar and others about his father''s astute and uncouth character and for not warning them about the existence of such a room, which even he didn''t know until now. Zu''e, Marcia, Okisada, and Alexandru had strange, expectant, and disappointed looks on their faces. Expectant because if Eshwar seeded in what he said he would do, then the empire woulde under their control, disappointed because Eshwar was in such a wreaked state that seemed beyond healing, as his state also destroyed their hopes of him even being able to do anything since it seemed like it was going to be one hellish experience for him to even move from the spot he was dancing ominously. "Your one minute is up." Eshwar spoke in a cold, hoarse tone that made it impossible for those who heard it not to shudder in fear. "HUMZZMMMM~" Eshwar''s high-pitched, hoarse hum resounded throughout the room as he casually walked towards Ortharious in a peculiar gait. "You don''t believe I''ll let you through now, did-" Atman blocked Eshwar''s way with his right hand, while the smirk on his face widened until it seemingly reached ear to ear. CRACK-!! "AAARRRGGGGH!!!" Atman''s anguish-filled scream resounded throughout the room as he held his unnaturally twisted right arm as he screamed, which forced those present to gaze at the scene with their eyes widened. Was what had happened just now hard to follow? No. Was it an attack that was too strong for Atman to avoid? Absolutely not. Then what really happened? No one, except for the one who experienced it and the one who made it that way, knew what had just happened. As soon as Eshwar was in front of Atman''s right arm that blocked his way, Eshwar simply ced his wrists on Atman''s arm, pressed them on it, and twisted them with a force that a normal, mana-less person would be able to exert fully. As soon as Eshwar''s shackled wrists came into contact with Atman''s arm, he felt as if all the strength in his arm had left, and before his mind derived an understanding of the situation he was in, a strong, excruciating pain assaulted him, and when he nced at his arm, which was the source of the pain, he noticed that his arm was twisted in an unnatural angle. The shackles that tethered each and every natural energy using ability were used in such a manner that none, not even their creator, could imagine using them in the way Eshwar had just used them. Eshwar had ced his shackled wrists on Atman''s right arm and forcibly cut off the connection between his arm and his mana core, temporarily bringing Atman''s arm to the state his entire being was currently in, a normal, mana-less human''s state, which made it easier for Eshwar to twist it entirely, though he had exerted all of his strength that he could as a mana-less, normal human being. As Atman continued to scream in anguish, Eshwar had already lunged himself towards Ortharious, who was dazed by what he had just witnessed, and without wasting a single thought, Eshwar ced his shackled wrists on Ortharious'' neck, leaned forward, and bit Ortharious'' Adam''s apple without a hint of hesitation in his actions. CRACK-! SPIT-! THUCK-! "Grogle...g...." After spitting Ortharious'' Adam''s apple aside, Eshwar gazed at the gurgling, dying man with a cold expression on his face as the horror-filled expression on Ortharious'' face became temporarily permanent. Everybody, including Isha, shuddered in fear when a cold grin crept up on Eshwar''s blood-dyed face as Ortharious'' blood dripped from his mouth. Godred, who seemed to have aged by decades in thest few minutes, rushed towards the throne where Eshwar stood and knelt on one knee with his head down. "Glory to the great one!" Godred eximed, his voice dyed in fear and awe. Eshwar simply turned around, ignoring Godred as his gaze flitted on the fear-dyed faces before he walked towards Atman with a noble, imperial gait and stopped a few steps away from him. "I ept you." Eshwar said in a cold, lifeless tone, to which, in response, Atman stopped his anguish-filled cry. "Tch!" Atman clicked his tongue in displeasure as his right arm healedpletely, and with a snap of his fingers, the shackles binding Eshwar, Isha, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, and Charlie shattered into a million pieces. And following the gesture, Eshwar''s body also healedpletely but was still dyed in blood. Isha was dumbfounded by what was happening, which was the same with everybody in the room, but since to "him" only Isha was important, he only cared about her. Atman turned to face Isha and winked at her with a smile before opening his mouth to answer her unvoiced question. "I have created an entire; creating a body isn''t that big of a deal for me." Atman said before his existence exploded into miniature golden particles with ominous ck energy in the middle and disappeared into Eshwar''s blood-dyed body. Eshwar closed his eyes as he looked up, relishing the feeling of bing aplete existence, and by the time I nced back at Isha, "Eshwar" had be "I." With a bright smile, I gazed at Isha lovingly and "I''m back." Chapter 338 337. His Persona. ? As soon as I retrieved thest piece of my soul, the first thing I heard were what kinds of thoughts my other self had, and I was slightly shocked to find out that he was d to have epted me because he thought that instead of our love for Isha being separated, it was just the love of one person that was split in two, so if he epted me, it didn''t mean that he lost to my love, but instead he was making over love for her whole. Smiling at the revtion, I nced around, and soon, my gazended on the one who was the most important for me. "I''m back." I smiled brightly as I nced at Isha, who had a terrified expression on her face as she denied what she had just witnessed, thinking, ''That isn''t Eshwar,'' and things along those lines. Even I hadn''t expected my other self to show that side of him....me. To this day, not once have I ever shown that side of mine¡ªno, instead of saying "that side of mine," I should say my real, original self. There are, namely, three stages to my character: Enraged Instinctive, and finally My given-up self¡ªno, it''s more like "I don''t really care anymore" self. I would have gotten extremely angry at things that I do not like; I would have left things to my instincts if things were getting out of hand; and the given-up self was developed after my third regression. There wasn''t much to see and do after dying two times and watching things repeat themselves again and again. After quite a long time, I understood the state I was in but was unable to get out of it, so from then on, I began to create my cheery, selfish, and slightly clumsy kind of persona, as I hid my real self behind the persona I created. It''s just that, I was afraid of being alone. Only after experiencing it first-hand did I really understand that I was just a scared and cowardly basta*d who was afraid of facing real, proper feelings. Although I too had thought that I could be alone and do everything alone if I was strong enough, and it was true, but the more stronger I got, the more scared I became of facing real feelings directed at me. It wasn''t as if I hadn''t thought of showing my real self to Isha after I understood that I loved her, but the more afraid I became to show my real self, the more I realised how much I loved her. What if she runs away? What she finds my real self ugly and unsightly? Just what if she leaves me? These questions haunted me and prevented me from revealing my real self. And now that I''m facing the terrified expression on her face, Should I think that I did the right thing that time? Should I run away? How could I bear to hear the words that woulde out of her mouth at the revtion? These questions filled my thoughts, which terrified me; hence, I enclosed my omniscience before I heard anymore of her thoughts. Thoughts can easily be changed; if I hear her thoughts, get hurt, and run away, then even after she calms down and thinks that she was wrong to have thought so, I won''t be able to face her. There will be many things that will cruise in one''s mind in the spur of the moment, and even if they voice their thoughts in a hurtful manner, one should have enough courage to hold in the raging emotions that scream inwardly, asking to run away because many things will happen in that certain moment, which could be both an eye-opener and hurtful. There could be many thoughts that may be their true feelings, many mes that they held back, many reasons thate out of their mouths that we aren''t really aware of, thoughts that are running in their minds at certain moments that are different from what we think, and theplete answers for those can only be known after they calm down enough to talk properly. If we assume things and connect things with our own situations that arepletely unrted to the situations running in their minds, those are things that give life to situations that are unwanted, unsightly, and uncouth. "They say you should always be grateful; I too should try to be grateful in every situation from now on." I mumbled to myself as my gaze turned misty the more I gazed at her terrified expression. I gaited towards Isha and crouched down, to which she flinched in response. With the heart-clenching pain held in, I picked her up into a princess carry as I strode towards the throne, which Ortharious had sat on previously. ''Ah...'' Realising that I was still covered in blood, head to toe, which could have a multiplying effect on the negative, unwanted thoughts Isha could be having now, so ''Cleanse.'' I muttered inwardly, and a pure white, warm me engulfed us whole, which had a calming effect on Isha, whose shivering body slightly calmed down. "Thank you." I said to my mes with a smile and continued my gait towards the throne: I had just thought of being grateful to everything, so I should abide by the things I say. The blood on my body burned until nothing was left, and the mes that engulfed us died down before I arrived at the throne. I gently and carefully made her sit on the throne, picked up the crown from Ortharious'' dead body, and melted it, with white mes, until nothing of the crown remained before taking out a crown of my own from my sub-space. A pitch-ck crown made from the bones of different kinds of gods, while their cores were used in the creation of Eunomia, of course, there were exactly three ck, polished crystals, with thergest one in the middle. Though it was an unexpected gain while creating the crown, it had be a bound artefact, meaning that Isha became bound to it, and then it was hers and no one else''s, not even mine, who created it. "Isha...." I called out gently, before adorning her with the crown because I wanted her to ept it with her own free will. "Huh?" Isha looked up at me with a terrified and dazed expression. With the pocket system worn as a chocker and the terrified expression on her face, it was giving life to a certain kind of fetish in me, which I somehow managed to kill before it bloomed entirely. Whew, that was a close one. It would be different if she epted it, but the fetishes¡ªahem, these kinds of desires can be born at any moment, but now certainly wasn''t the time. "May I crown you?" I asked with a small smile. "W-why? Wha? M-me? O-ok?" Isha muttered while nodding in a daze. "Huuu...." With a gentle breath blown at her dazed face, I made her look at me, and "Can I kiss you?" I asked, staring at her in the eyes. I don''t know why, but tears began to stream out of her eyes, forcing me to stiffen. "P-please...." She pleaded, and with a pang in my heart, I dropped the crown, which disappeared into my sub-space. With my hands supporting her head, I leaned down and kissed her. Finding it ufortable to kiss in that position, I ced my right knee on the throne in the middle of her thighs and made myselffortable as I continued to kiss her. Understanding that she too was trying to hold back her negative emotions for running rampant as I was, tears involuntarily streamed out of my eyes as I felt Isha''s trembling hand clench onto the clothes on my chest as she pulled me towards her. She was struggling to breathe, yet she showed no signs of breaking the kiss. As slightly hupping, pained, muffled moans were released in my mouth, it was only a few more secondster that she broke the kiss as she gazed at me with a tear-filled gaze, gasping for air, making my heart clench. With a small, relieved smile, I bumped into her forehead and loosened my neck, gazing into her eyes and, "Thank you." I said, feeling grateful from the bottom of my very being due to her daring to not push me away. It was then that I felt a familiar presence, the owner of something I was holding on to. "Are you done?" A hoarse, soothing man''s voice sounded behind me, in response to which I smiled and nced back at the familiar figure. A dark, deep ocean blue-skinned, handsome man was seen leaning against a wall near the door; he had long ck hair, which was tied up into a bun, with a crescent moon floating next to his bun; he had a bump on his forehead, which was, if you didn''t know, his third eye, socketed vertically. He had a godly physique that was the dream of all men; he had worn a designer red embroidered three-piece tuxedo suit, which was proudly made by me. "Not yet," I said, looking at the suited figure with a bright smile. My favourite existence of all¡ªfor what reason I liked him, I didn''t know, but I grew up drawing a symbol that represented him, the lingam. "Lord Shiva." Chapter 339 338. Significance. ? As Isha gazed at Eshwar with a ratherplicated gaze, she also couldn''t help but be surprised at the sudden intruder. WHOOOOMMMmmmm-! ''Lord Shiva...'' Isha muttered inwardly as a suffocating ambience began to ooze from Lord Shiva, as if he were challenging Eshwar for a territory battle. Of course, Eshwar didn''t lose to the presence in the slightest, but he had only released enough to nullify the suffocating ambience that oozed through Lord Shiva. Her gaze flitted across the room, and she noticed that except for her, Eshwar, and Lord Shiva, none had their heads up. Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Charlie, Zu''e, Marcia, Okisada, Alexandru, and Godred were seen trying their best to hold on to their consciousness; if Isha released even a bit of divine presence, they would copse, along with the imperial pce they were currently in. Still, ''They are strong....'' Isha thought inwardly; the ambience oozed through Lord Shiva, and Eshwar was rather suffocating even for her. CRA-CRACK-!! The prides of two major gods shed against each other as Eshwar began to gait towards Lord Shiva, with his "Eshwar"-ly character disappearing entirely. Isha needed but a nce to tell that the current Eshwar was different; the one in front of her wasn''t the lover boy Eshwar, nor was he Eshwar the human, but a God. The one Isha was currently gazing at was a god, and a stronger one at that. Isha nced to her front, where Grace, Neal, and Reynolds were seen kowtowing, and gently tapped her feet on the ground, which had majorly cracked due to the suffocating aura. A golden ripple shot out, but before it reached her target, the ripple dispersed, and as if understanding her thoughts, an ominous snap resounded throughout the room. SNAP-! CRA-CRACK-!! BOOOMMM-! With a loud boom, the unnatural room exploded into pieces as the debris shot out, but a translucent box that was exactly as big as the room from before held them in ce. As the dense dust cloud surrounded the now translucent room, Isha''s gaze soonnded on the one responsible, and gazing at the broad, strong, and dependable back of Eshwar, Isha sighed inwardly, feelingplicated, before she tapped her feet on the translucent room. TING-! A golden-coloured ripple shot out from her feet until it covered the entire room. Groaning, the pride-shattered royals, a royal fanatic, another three pride-shattered God hunters, and a protagonist gazed at their surroundings in fright. [I do not know what it was like when you fought against the minor gods, but this is the subtle presence of the major gods.] Isha stated this to everybody, except Eshwar and Lord Shiva, telepathically. And Grace, Neal, and Reynolds trembled violently at Isha''s mention that the presence they were feeling was a "subtle" one. Of course, the others too trembled, but since they didn''t know what it felt like to fight against a god, their reactions weren''t as fierce as those of those who had experienced first-hand. Since the ambience that bore down on them mostly resided, their gazes were obviously drawn at Eshwar''s imperiously gaiting figure, and they instinctively felt that they shouldn''t make eye contact if they didn''t want to die. The aura Eshwar and Lord Shiva oozed continued to increase as seconds passed, and exactly as they expected, a fight seemed to break out as the atmosphere around Eshwar twisted dangerously before a bright golden trident materialised in his right hand. ZZRRRROOOOMMMMM-!!! A seemingly eager tremble was seen in Eshwar''s trident, Trishul, held in his hand, and HISSSSSS-!!! A loud, ominous hiss sounded as a ck king cobra manifested on Lord Shiva''s right arm before it slithered up to his neck as it red at Eshwar dangerously. Simrly, an ominously beautiful, pure white snake with bright orange eyes, simr to Eshwar''s, manifested around Eshwar''s neck as it snuggled close to his neck before a joyful hiss sounded. Leaning his head and snuggling back slightly in response, Eshwar gazed at the ck snake and Lord Shiva gloatingly. Eshwar loosened his grip over the trident and held it right below its head before passing the staff to Lord Shiva, who took it with a serious expression on his face. ''Damaru'' materialised below the trident head as soon as the trident was handed to Lord Shiva, the rightful owner of the artefact. Though there weren''t any words exchanged between the two, somehow Isha felt like they had talked a lot in that short brief as a suffocating yet friendly atmosphere filled the now translucent room. Suddenly, lord Shiva gaited towards Isha, who absent-mindedly sat on the throne, but noticing that she was being approached by lord Shiva, her heart palpitated with different emotions, fear being one of them, but startling Isha and dumbfounding everybody present, lord Shiva took her hand gracefully and nted a kiss on her knuckles, making Isha jump on her feet with a soft, low yelp, and before they understood what was going on, Eshwar appeared next to her and hugged her in a heartbeat, without behaving too disrespectfully as yanking Isha''s hand out or doing something like that. "You can always call me if he, your husband, doesn''t treat you right and ask me to beat him up; this is an offer only exclusive to you." Lord Shiva smiled gently, and a low, jealous "grrr" sounded in Isha''s ear as she gazed at everything happening in a daze. "Look after her well. She is named after my wife, Parvathi, as you are named after me." Lord Shiva said this to Eshwar and disappeared from the spot. "I would have done that even if you didn''t say so." Eshwar''sint sounded like a ring and snapped Isha and the others out of their daze before their dumbfounded gazended on Eshwar, who was seen pouting lightly. * DING [Trishul was released from the user''s possession!] "Haaa...." I sighed deeply, relieved, but I still couldn''t help but feel bitter since, without the damaru, Trishul was basically only half as powerful as it was when it was with the damaru, but it wasn''t like I hadn''t tried to obtain it; it was just that it didn''t recognise me as worthy at that time, though I don''t know what the results would be if I tried now. And well, that aside, I gazed at Isha, who was in my arms, still dazed due to what had just happened. These were the actions that I hoped he wouldn''t learn from me, but well, the result of my hopes and expectations shattering unfolded before you. Initially, before my first regression in this world, I was honestly extremely surprised to learn that Lord Shiva had turned into a fallen, but it wasn''t long before it turned into excitement, thinking of how I could fight not a fake but a real "God of Destruction." Later, after a few regressions, I had roamed everywhere in search of things that could help me sever my strings of fate that were determined by the divinews, and since Lord Shiva was the only higher-ranking god present in the world as a fallen, I had managed to pass his trials in return for a wish, using which I was able to "borrow" Trishul, his artefact. Later, since Lord Shiva wasn''t interested in influencing this world, he hadn''t really done anything except meditate, so with an absurd thought in the heat of that moment, somehow, even though I don''t really remember how, I became his friend, and we roamed the world as I showed how things worked here, in the mortal realm. Well, if one spends a lot of time with the other, they subconsciously gain the habit of the other, and that, flirting, was a habit Lord Shiva gained due to me, although even I hadn''t realised that I was flirting before I saw him do the same. It wasn''t really flirting; it was more like he learned the human''s sugar coating way of speaking. Since we were mostly surrounded by women, he learned the gentle and Casanova-ic manner of speech when talking with women. Again, putting that matter aside, many regressionster, after I had the perfect theoretical and practical experience in creation, I umted everything needed before putting it all in ce. I then ced it, the Trishul, as a dungeon reward on the Earth I created, a reward that I managed to obtain in each of the regressed lives on Earth. Since my other self was ignorant about weapons and matters simr, I had to forcibly make him remember the location of the dungeon in each and every regression, since the regressed memories weren''t remembered by my other self while I did, as I enticed his emotions to grab hold of the weapon. (AN: that happened in ch10 Assistant Professor (3)) And from then on, you know what happened. Sighing inwardly, "Isha." I called out. "H-huh?" Isha slightly gazed down at me as I clung on to her, hugging. "E-Eshwar?" Isha called out, stuttering and trembling. Hurt by her involuntary actions, I took a few steps back. Since I had more things to do, I walked to the middle of the room without ncing back at her. "Two birds with one stone...." I mumbled under my breath. What I am about to do will have two significant changes in two significant lives that are extremely and equally important in my life. They would be there for each other, while I''ll take the hard way and made up with Isha, who doesn''t really hate me but still needs her alone time. She was thinking of many things, with me deceiving her being one of them, which was also the reason I had chosen to not show the real side of myself. Haaa.... There is nothing I can do right now except give her the answers, which would sound like nothing but excuses to the current Isha. I waved my hand as I drew two half circles mid-air using both of my hands, and soon a golden ring manifested in front of me. With a tap of my index finger in the middle, cracks formed mid-space before I started to initiate themands to the system, whose owner was me. <[Create: Body]> I spoke in an indescribable series of words and a hollow voice, as those around me winced and covered their ears at the unexinable hollow, ominous sound that leaked out of my mouth. [Command initiated...] [Creati....] ZZZT-ZZT-!!! [CREATING BODY....] A bright, miniature orb of blinding light materialised in the middle of the ring as the cracks in space healedpletely. <[Soul search: Eunomia]> [Command initiated...] ZZZT-ZZT-!! [SOUL SEARCH INITIATED...] [SOUL FOUND] <[Coalesce]> I muttered with persistence clearly sounding in my voice. [ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR] ... ..... [ERRO...] ZZZT-ZZT-! [COMMAND INITIATED....] [COALESCE COMPLETE] <[System: Manifestation]> I initiated themand under the entire authority of the system, and the reality twisted dangerously as I could see the stars, multiverse, 4th dimension, and many other phenomenal things that I shouldn''t have been able to see normally. The entire Antino¨¹s trembled violently, the after effects of which were culled by the magic circles surrounding the world, before, with a snap resounding in my consciousness, she manifested in reality in front of me. Knowing that she would manifest naked, I waved my hands hurriedly,pleting what I was making in thest moment. A little angel, a loveable little girl, adorably gazed around with profound confusion; she had ss-like pure white hair that glimmered brilliantly under the warm orange sun shine, making her hair seen warm orange; her big, round, simrly ss-like, bright sky-blue-coloured shone with cuteness overloaded, confusion and curiosity, with absolute innocence visible in her profound gaze; she had two sets of detached ss-like wings floating behind her shoulder des; and finally, she was dressed in a cute fairy-like bright white dress. "Eunomia." I called in a low, gentle voice since I wasn''t sure how sensitive her hearing currently was, and noticing her wince, I was d that I spoke in a low tone. With a tap of my index finger mid-space that was hidden behind my back, I made those present shut up so that Eunomia could adjust herself to her current body. "?!!??!?!?" With her big, round eyes widened, she frantically gazed around, with her expression changing by the second. Finally, seemingly after she calmed down her frantically beating heart, she gazed at me with tear-filled eyes that made my heart churn, but the next words that came out of her mouth made my heart skip a beat. "P-papa...." Chapter 340 339. Accelerating The Inevitable. ? "P-papa..." Eunomia called out, gazing at Eshwar, who stood in front of her with a small but bright smile on his face. Eunomia''s senses were gradually adjusting to her physical body without her knowledge, so when she finally noticed that she now had a physical body, to her bewilderment, she used her knowledge as her omniscience began to act, and in an instant, she got "used" to her physical body. Curiously, she nced around and saw her mother, Isha, and other beings named Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Charlie, Zu''e, Marcia, Okisada, Alexandru, and Godred. Of course, she knew their names because she "knew" "everything," and she could even "see" a white, grief-stricken soul''s energy blocking their vocal cords, rendering them unable to speak. "Control your omniscience and omnipresence." Eshwar said in a gentle voice, to which Eunomia gratefully nodded her head and controlled her omniscience and omnipresence since she wanted to innu enjoy the current moment, and before she rushed towards the mother, whom she had only been able to converse with until recently, she wanted to "feel" the warmth of the person who created her. "Papa." Eunomia eximed and gently pushed off from the ground and wrapped her small hands around Eshwar''s neck as tears began to stream out of her eyes, grateful for the fact that her father, no, her papa, had thought about her and made her manifest in reality after literally bending it. "You can live your dream now." Eshwar''s gentle, emotion-filled whisper sounded in her ear, to which she began to sob uncontrobly yet cutely, which wasn''t on purpose. She had only ever mentioned her dream of living peacefully and physically with him and Isha, whom she had heard about only in Eshwar''s stories filled with sadness, once, but as soon as those words left her energy-formed mouth, she regretted it, because now that arguably nigh-impossible wish would itch in her consciousness as long as she existed, but not once had she thought that Eshwar remembered her ever-so lightly yet wishfully mentioned dream and would even make her dream a reality. SNAP-! After a snap of Eshwar''s fingers, "Eunomia...." Isha gently called out as soon as her vocal cords were free to voice, but before rushing towards them, unable to take in the surprises she received in thest few minutes, she, who was standing on her feet to rush towards Eunomia, whom she had been calling daughter, slumped back on the throne that Eshwar had left intact after blowing up everything in the room. Receiving a few gentle taps on her back, Eunomia disappeared from Eshwar''s gentle, love-filled, and protective embrace and appeared on Isha''sp as she looked up at her mother with big, round, love-craving puppy eyes. "Haha..." Isha chuckled pitifully as tears streamed out her eyes, hugged her daughter, whom she had yearned to meet, and pleaded with her soon-to-be husband to make her wishe true, ever since she had spoken and learned that she had a daughter who was an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being. Eunomia didn''t like the way she was united with her mother and subconsciously used her omniscience against Isha. She gazed at her father after learning about the situation and noticed a heartbroken, pitiful smile on his face, but instead of calling out for him, understanding the words hidden in his eyes, Eunomia shifted her gaze to face her mother and hugged herpassionately. But, Just because she didn''t call out her papa, it didn''t necessarily mean that she wouldn''t voice her concerns. [She is hurt badly, papa.] Eunomia stated this telepathically. [I know.] And Eshwar''s hurt voice sounded in her consciousness in a heartbeat. SNAP-! ZZWOOOSH-!!! With a snap of Eshwar''s fingers, nine nk status windows appeared in front of each of them, including Eunomia. Understanding that Eshwar was going to start the end game, Eunomia nodded her head in agreement, since it would be better to end things quickly than gaze at the devastation gradually spreading and devouring the world. ZZZT-ZZT-!! With a few glitches, the nk screen in front of them flickered before all nine screens disyed different locations but the same scenarios: all nine screens disyed a city or a forest in ruins, but each one of the spots disyed had a humongous, city towering poles nted into the ground, seemingly waiting for them to be hammered into the ground. "Eshwar, we are done!" All nine of them said in unison. The nine of them on the screens were none other than the Veil''s; Frostine, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, Belinda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, and Amanda. "Please, release "them" out." Eshwar''s cold voice resounded, and Eunomia could feel a subtle shudder cruise through Isha''s, her mother''s, body. With a wave of her left hand beside "her" throne, arge, 7-foot-tall portal appeared, and soon, it spat out familiar people, namingly: Seo Hana, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Jiwoo, Henry, Core, Arngrim, Louie, and finally, Heath Walker, who stumblingly walked out and gazed around in an understanding yet confused gaze before shuddering violently in fright when their gazesnded on Eshwar''s back. Henry and Heath fell butt first on the ground as they trembled violently. Though the rest were also trembling, they hadn''t lost their footing, which made the scene look like only the guilty were trembling uncontrobly. The portal was Isha''s personal "God Domain''s" subspace, where even living beings could be kept, just as non-living things were kept in a separate sub-space, simr to the system''s inventory. Of course, like a few MCs in the novels, that skill was exclusively Isha''s; not even Eshwar could do something even close to what she can. "Omnipresence: World Breaker." Eshwar mumbled under his breath, and his body just crumbled into minute pieces, the numbers nearing billions. Which seemed to have brought back memories that Isha never hoped to see again, as she began to tremble uncontrobly and clenched onto Eunomia, who sat on herp. Of course, if Eunomia wasn''t as strong as she was, her body would have busted like a bubble, but thankfully all her powers were still with her, instilled into her new physical body. But, "Mumma, it hurts." Eunomia said in a hurt voice, and jolting Isha out of her trance, but before Eunomia said that she was alright and voiced her words that said she simply stated those words to distract Isha from her trance, Isha waved her hand around Eunomia as multipleyers of her dense, pure divinity enveloped Eunomia, as Isha began to mumble under her breath, "What have I done? I''m sorry, I''m so sorry, ..." which continued like a chant as more tears began to stream out of Isha''s eyes, making Eunomia feel guilty for speaking out those words. Of course, no matter how strong or how omnipotent she was, she was still a five-hundred-year-old kid who wanted her mother''s attention. But, Isha''s state definitely wasn''t optimal, and it would continue to distort if she didn''t grab onto her courage and speak with Eshwar and speak her mind out. [Please, stop!] Eshwar''s enraged and hurt voice abruptly sounded in Isha''s mind, and since Eunomia still had her omniscience slightly active on Isha, she too was able to hear her papa''s voice. Isha, who heard Eshwar''s voice in her mind, froze before looking down with her head on Eunomia''s shoulder, crying. [Eunomia, turn it off.] Eshwar''s first ever "father"-like words sounded in Eunomia''s consciousness, and understanding that she was intruding on their private talk, she concealed her omniscience with a pout since Eshwar''s head had gotten angry at her. * [Isha, please....] Eshwar''s pleading voice sounded in Isha''s mind; she had never heard him so hurt, which instead of calming her down as she tried to stop sobbing, made her sob out even louder because all the moments where Eshwar had been hurt shed in her mind, as those memories were crossed off as fake or emotions he "decided" to deliberatly show her, making her believe that nothing he "showed" her was ever true, maybe even his love.... THROB! Her heart clenched at the mere thought of that, and again, her mind drifted to the moment he had proposed to her in his consciousness. It was such a beautiful day for her, and just the thought of them being fake made her feel like her heart was being shredded into pieces. THROB "Huk.....ah..." Isha began to hup as she sobbed, and at that exact moment, her consciousness drifted, and before her blurred, teary eyes cleared up, her consciousness had already appeared in an extremely familiar yet unfamiliar ce. She could tell with a mere, teary, nce that she was in Eshwar''s consciousness; that was unlike what it had been before. There was a never-ending, ever-expanding ss-like crack above with nothing but void seen inside. In his consciousness, that seemed like outer space with hundreds of Earths spinning in their own respective directions, with their own unique sides where moonlight and sunlight shone on them. And in front of her was a figure who was d in ck, with light-devouring smoke oozing out of his formals. The figure was, of course, none other than Eshwar, the original Eshwar. But the weird thing Isha was exposed to was that his figure had the right, upper half of his head exploded, as more and more ss-like pieces were seen flying off of his head into the void above, and a simr scene was seen on his chest; the spot where his heart existed had exploded with a void visible inside of it. Eshwar took a simple step forward towards her but froze when he saw Isha take a step back... And at that scene, the void in his heart darkened, and another small piece of his upper, half exploded head began to float up into the void above. "Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha...." Eshwar''s pained, hysterical, and hollowughter resounded throughout his consciousness as pitch-ck shackles materialised out from the void above before they chained Eshwar''s neck, but they halted before the others reached the rest of his limbs and ethereal divine organs. "Isha, please, don''t be like this.... A few minutes of talk is all it takes for me to exin myself...." Chapter 341 340. The First And Last Quest. ? "All I need is five minutes after all this is done, please." I pleaded and sent her back, fearful to hear her rejection. It wasn''t that I couldn''t understand her feelings, but I still needed a chance to make things right, though I know things wouldn''t be the same until a long time even after our conversation, as I need to build back all the trust she lost in me. But, I still couldn''t just give up, when I know she is also trying her hardest to hold on to even the minutest part of trust and hope which continued to break apart regardless of her will. Since the time "gap" in my consciousness was near infinity, so not even a split second would have passed in reality. With a deep sigh, which caused strong winds to blow across Antino¨¹s, I, who was under a state of omnipresent, gazed down at "everything." A volley ball sized globe of Antino¨¹s materialized in front of me, as I, too, began to manifest. A dense cosmic energy concentrated around the globe and gradually, I began to manifest out of nothingness. This time, instead of ck, my hair was white, that glittered due to the sunlight as it fluttered under a strange urrence. Soon, I, a celestial being, floated mid-space while holding the globe of Antino¨¹s, as the chains that shackled my neck, and the others that weren''t able to chain me, dangled around me and the globe, mid-space. My bright orange eyes with vertical ck slits glimmered under a cold glint as I gazed at the globe that was rotating respectively in its orbit with three of its moons glimmering brightly in my cosmic energy-formed body. Currently, I had my eyes on everything and felt everything happening in the world, such absurd amount of information brainstorming somebody would make the brain explode before they "understood" or evenprehend everything, but that''s where my hard earned title of a God came into y, and if a "God" couldn''t even look after a, single, mere, then he/she would be quite pathetic, won''t he? But, Currently, my mind was thinking of two different kinds of scenarios, on a certain corner, I was thinking about what would happen after I took this step and elerate the inevitable, while on the other corner, I was thinking if things would have been different if I had been myself from the start, But I dismissed that thought because I knew of the oue if that really was the case, and no matter what I did, if I was myself with Isha, She would have gotten hurt, quite badly to be honest. And that was a fact that I wouldn''t ever be able to deny or refute. My pupils slightly dted as I cleared up my thoughts and decided to act on the what I nned for now. Andplying with my will, the nine, city towering, pir-like spikes nted into the ground, abruptly pierced deeper into the ground until the t end was sheathed into the ground, making it look like a humongous door that covered an building sized underground facility. Of course, that wasn''t the end of it, as ripples, both under and above ground, shot out from the spikes from the speed they were integrated into the ground. Each of the underground ripples uprooted everything in its path and left everything in ruins, killing almost everyone and everything in its way, which was true to all nice of those spikes, of course, I took caution and protected the living beings that were still alive. And, as I began to dematerialise, the cosmic energy dispersed without disrupting anything that flowed in its respective order. And then it happened. DING-! A extremely familiar chiming sound sounded in my consciousness, and [WARNING] [WARNING] [WARNING] ... .... [The strong scent of blood has engulfed the entirety of Antino¨¹s!] [Here forth, The Fallen shall enter the state of "Frenzy" due to the scent of blood dyeing the world!] [The Fallen, influenced by the scent of blood, shall dive into the "Frenzy State" for an hour, every 36 hours!] ["Areas" are being assigned to The Fallen by the system''s relentless efforts to protect and nurture the survivors!] [The assigned areas will trap the Fallen, as yers raid and clear the areas for Godly treasures remaining in the "Areas."] ["Quests" function has been added!] [Quests are being updated!] DING-! ==== [Final Quest!] == Title: The First And Last Quest. Clear Condition: Kill "the Fallen" gods. Progress: 0/8 Difficulty: ??? Time Limit: --- (Time will be updated at the first raid) Rewards: Survival of Antino¨¹s. Penalty for failure: Death and ration of the destruction of Antino¨¹s. == Additional rewards will be provided to those who contribute the most. For fair analysis, system shall keep constant records of the contributions of the yers. ==== DING-! [Few Gods and Goddesses are furious at the actions of the "????"] [Few Gods and Goddesses are spewing profanities, exasperated!] I smirked at them because they were exactly the ones that I had killed cold blood, previously, and even drank the blood of few while they were still alive, it wasn''t that I had some kind of strange fetish, but a few gods'' gazes just infuriated me at times. ''How brutal.'' I thought with a small smile, while another series of emotions wrecked havoc in my mind. ''But I couldn''t do anything about it now..... So instead of regretting everything, I should stop thinking about it and be truthful while speaking with Isha.'' I concluded and soon manifested back in the translucent room, while everything below was in ruins, with ground upturned. I nced at Isha only to notice her averting her gaze as she, sneakily, made contact from time to time. With a pitiful smile crept up on my face, I nced at Heath as my gaze turned cold before my bright orange eyes glimmered ominously. If gazes could kill, Heath would have died at least a thousand times in the bear minimum. Well, it wasn''t that difficult to make it happen, I just needed to put intent into my gaze and nothing of him, not even his ashes would remain. "Can I kill him?" I asked. Understanding I was asking for her permission, "N-no, I''ll do it." Isha said and got up from her throne with Eunomia still in her arms. Eunomia''s gaze turned cold, slightly colder than mine, as she gazed at her mother''s half-brother. [Restrain yourself] I said to Eunomia telepathically, and her gaze turned misty in an instant. "Mama, that uncle''s gaze is scary.... Hic." Eunomia hugged Isha and trembled in her arms as she hupped in Isha''s neck, hugging Isha tightly as if she, an omnipotent being, was scared of an insignificant half-blooded undead. At Eunomia''s words Isha''s eyes glimmered coldly and before Heath voiced out his disbelief and unfairness, SLASH-! Isha waved her hand and her Ice Blood Katana materialized out of her inventory and floated mid-air before it slit through Heath''s neck in an instant, killing him. Heath''s now decapitated head slowly slid off from his body, with a subtle thud, as blood splurted out like a fountain, Isha, in her current state, hadpletely forgotten about the requirement to destroy the heart of a vampire to kill it, well, she had two strong people always covering her back, so both, me and my daughter readied ourselves to flick our fingers as a miniature translucent needles materialized in front of fingers which we flicked. I flicked from Heath''s right and Eunomia flicked from his front, behind Isha''s back as she walked back towards her throne like a tyrant empress. And the needle pierced through his heart without a drop of blood leaking from either side. After Isha sat back on the throne, she busied herself with Eunomia, uncaring of the things happening around her, as I coldly strode towards Henry, as my omniscience specifically enveloping him. The more I learned what had happened, the more my gaze turned colder. "You disgust me." I said with disappointment, and I was also able to learn about how it looked like from Isha''s subspace. It had no actual difference except for them being inside a ck translucent cover, that hid them away from the outside, and also left them at Isha''s mercy, since she was the only one who could use it, and if she didn''t want them alive, then they wouldn''t have been to breathe until Isha herself allowed them to do so. Henry''s entire body shuddered when he heard the words that came out of my mouth. "Should I bring "him" here, or should I let him enjoy the few moments of his life?" "I''ll just leave him be, for now." * While Eshwar was continuously mumbling to himself, Core, coldly, red at Henry, whom she had loved until a few weeks ago. Everything had begun a few weeks ago, when Henry had suddenly be "active." He began to "show" his love like never before, which was far too strange, because it had always been ''Core seducing and clinging onto Henry, for his attention, love, and care,'' but then on the day, they were transported into this world, Antino¨¹s, while they were selecting their desired weapons and pocket systems, Henry head disappeared for a long while, and when he returned, the tables had turned, it was then ''Henry seducing and clinging onto Core, for her attention, love, and care.'' Who would find it strange if one''s lover begins to take care and be attentive towards the other? Core did. She began to grow suspicious of Henry, and it wasn''t long until she dared and asked him if something was going on with him, it was from then on, Core''s bad days began. Chapter 342 341. Judgement. ? ''Locate Vinny.'' Imanded inwardly. [Task initiated...] [User: Vinny Grover found.] And, of course, as I expected, he was alive. ''Omniscience: Scrutinised Evocation'' I muttered inwardly; my vision sense lowered until it matched Vinny''s, and now I was back to the time when we were still on Earth. In the tournament that took ce in the Elven Kingdom, I gazed at things from Vinny''s perspective. Vinny walked towards the Elven Kingdom with the intention of participating in the tournament with his identity hidden. "Status." Vinny mumbled under his breath and gazed at his old status window, which had reverted back to being filled with question marks in his stats, titles, skills, and ss, but his race had turned into [Demi-human], a fiend inmon words. The reason his system has turned like that is because he merged with Vassago under their master and ve contract, which Vinny signed hot-headedly without thinking much of it. (AN: since calling Eshwar from Vinny''s perspective "my other self" all the time will be annoying, I''ll call Eshwar from Vinny''s perspective Eshwar, and if current Eshwar''s interference is required, I''ll use first person.) And soon, days passed, and the devastating destruction descended upon the Elven Kingdom, as a mere stomp of my other self, caused absolute devastation in the kingdom. It was also the moment when Vinny realised that Eshwar was too far out of his reach, and it was also the time when Vinny realised Eshwar''s identity as White Swan and in that perticr instant, he connected all the dots and inwardly swore that he would make Eshwar feel as much pain as he felt when he lost his friends and killed his own father andter his mother, since he didn''t want to leave out any possible threats. Vinny was somebody who got no opportunities for himself before he regressed, and following which, his new life also provided him nothing much, or so he thought, due to his previous life''s pathetic self, he had developed a nature of creating his own opportunities at certain times, from wherever and whenever he saw a gap between people. And exactly like in his previous life, he was going to create opportunities for himself as he nned Eshwar''s ruin, and after he was teleported to another world, where they were to pick their best-suited weapon and a pocket system, it was at that moment that Vinny found the "gap," which he could use to hurt Eshwar, and that "gap" was none other than Henry, who seemed to be wary of Core''s attention diverted at Eshwar whenever they were in their presence. Vinny then called out Henry and began to entice negative emotions, putting a dent in Henry''s and Core''s rtionship using Eshwar as a scapegoat, and the most blissful information he dug out of Henry was Eshwar''s and Core''s previous rtionship, so it was more easier to entice more and more negative emotions in Henry, ying him within his grasp. And from what I read from Henry''s perspective, Henry was extremely convinced by the false fact that Core was still in love with Eshwar and that he was just a middleman who was being used by Core to make Eshwar jealous. And from then on, he began to be more "active" as he used Core to satisfy his lust. At first, since Core enjoyed it, it became a passionate intercourse. Slowly but surely, Henry began to get rougher, hurting her in the process of lovemaking as her painful groans began to satiate his lust. Even when Core rebuked Henry, Henry blurred out his suspicions about her and Eshwar''s rtionship. Core was dumbfounded at first, but soon she felt she was done with Henry, and when she began to walk away after quick, short words of breakup thrown at his face, he involuntarily pped her strongly and knocked her unconscious, and that p made him gloat and be satisfied when put in motion, so from then on, he began to iste Core in his room and began to abuse her. Of course, it started with ps until it reached hits and punches, which left Core bruised and bleeding. By the time he realised what he was doing, he was addicted to the feeling of being superior; her pained cries brought him satisfaction, and he had long cut off his rtionship with Eshwar. Now, he was scared of nothing, a p to her face and Core would be forced to shut up, so as long as she was kept shut, nothing would happen to him. Or so he thought. After weeks spent in the academy, on the day of the event, Isha and Eshwar approached them and kidnapped them. From the inside, they could gaze at everything outside; of course, only things Isha saw, but since her vision was far broader than others, they were literally able to see everything, and everything they saw made them despair until no turn back, as they realised the extent of a "God''s" strength. And now that he was in front of me, facing me face-to-face, he was scared sh*tless, as piss, snot, faeces, sweat, tears, and saliva oozed. Basically, Henry had each of his holes, except for his ears, ooze something out. His gaze soon wandered around as he forgot Eshwar''s existence as his friend as he searched for somebody with even a hint of pity, sympathy, or concern in their eyes that gazed at him, but except for one, he found none, and the one was none other than Isha, who was gazing at Henry with a pity-filled gaze. "M-ma-madam, please, please, save me!!!" Henry crawled towards Isha and pleaded desperately. The hint of emotion in Isha''s cold and indifferent gaze was a lifeline for him¡ªnothing except that he saw had a possibility of his survival. "Mumma... this uncle is disgusting...." Eunomia really mumbled with her tone twisted in disgust. Isha ced her hand on the back of Eunomia''s head and pulled her close into her neck, hiding Henry''s disgusting existence from her daughter''s eyes. "Unfortunately for you, I showed everything that happened in thest few weeks, just like I had disyed how I made the world be what it is at this very moment." I said in a cold tone, shattering all hopes for his survival, before ncing at the victim in question. Of course, I had hidden everything inappropriate about Core. "I''ll give you two options, Core. Although it hurts me to do this, I don''t want to let him live. So, first, I''ll dye my hands with his blood, like many others. Two, I''ll erase his memories from thest few weeks and let him live; you can do whatever you want to with him afterwards." I stated that, though I had a more crueller option, I didn''t voice it because I wanted to give Henry the most painless way out possible, but if Core is as smart as I remember, even without me voicing that option, she would voice it, of course, only if she has no lingering feelings for Henry. "I''ll choose the third option. I want you to make him remember every moment we spent over thest few years, so that it would break his brainwash and itch thest few weeks of what he did to me into his soul, so he won''t ever dare to forget what he did to me and live his life drowning in guilt and dread." Core stated it coldly and turned her back on Henry without an ounce of mncholy in her tone. ''He died for me the moment he doubted me....'' Core thought, and satisfied by her thoughts, I stopped intruding into her consciousness before turning to face Henry. "You seriously disgust me, Henry. Not once have I behaved that way with Core ever since we broke up; though it was awkward at the beginning, it died down as time passed, and since then, hers and your lives have been just as important in my life as they had been for Louie and Arngrim. You just.... disappoint me." I said this to Henry, who was gazing at me with a lost look on his face. SNAP-! With a snap of my fingers, "Uck..." With a subtle groan, Henry''s head snapped back as he gazed up with his eyes and mouth wide open as a bright white, eerie glow glimmered through his mouth and eyes. Tears began to stream out as the glow died down, and when the lightpletely died down, Henry''s head hung low as tears streamed profusely out of his eyes with a lost look stered on his face. "I''m so... sorry, Core...." Henry''s mutter sounded, and Core''s face slightly distorted in pain, but she pressed her trembling lips and walked towards a corner of the floating, translucent room. Complying with my will, the corner opened out, and stairs that led her down materialised. Gradually, as time passed, everybody left the room, leaving only Isha and Eunomia in the room with me. "C..." I wanted to speak up, but the stutter and my painfully dry throat prevented me from doing so. Pressing my quivering lips together, I sighed. And the exit shut offpletely as Isha tried to walk away with Eunomia in her arms with a deep sigh. "I want to...." I mumbled, but closed my mouth again before "Can we talk?" I asked. "Mumma, I''ll be ying with brother Pyre and brother Erebus; pleasee back soon." Eunomia said this and jumped off of Isha''s arms before walking towards me with a small smile on her face. "Haha..." I chuckled and summoned Pyre and Erebus before making her sit on Erebus while Pyre sat on top of Eunomia''s head. "Our daughter is very smart." I said this after Eunomia teleported out, together with Erebus and Pyre. She had left the room under mymand without my consent; of course, I would have allowed it if there was some force fighting against my powers, but there was absolutely no resistance whatsoever, as if she were using my powers. Well, she is such an existence, so there was nothing to be surprised about. "She indeed is...." Ishamented under her breath as she stared at Eunomia running around the ruins with her arms crossed as if she were uninterested in my existence. "I''m sorry." I apologised with my head down. "For what?" Isha asked in a heartbeat, as if she had expected this oue. "For not showing my so-called "real"-self to you...." "Why is that so?" "Because even I was afraid of myself while I was like that, if that wasn''t the case, then why would I even bother to create a new persona of myself?" "And? That''s your problem." "Yes, that''s why I didn''t show it." "Hmm.... Ok. Alright. Okay, then, is it over? Please open an exit for me; I need to look after my daught-" sha said, but I cut her short by appearing right in front of her. Not once from the beginning had she even spared me a nce. "Look at me, Isha." I held her chin and forced her to look at me, as I said in a stern tone, ring into Isha''s cold, indifferent gaze that was staring back at me. "....." I leaned in, captured her soft lips, and was thoroughly rejected by Isha. Since I had no ns of letting her go, the kiss wasn''t broken, as huffs of hot breath were released in between. Her hands pushing against my chest weakened noticeably as I continued to kiss her while holding her chin so that she wouldn''t turn her head away. "Seal....our abilities.... for five minutes...." Imanded the system in her mouth while huffs of hot breath escaped in between. [Task initiated...] [Taskpleted!] Isha instantly turned weak, and now she was nothing but a normal human, like I was currently, but the control over the translucent room was now lost, yet the room hadn''t fallen apart as Eunomia took control over it as soon as themand left my mouth. "Don''t listen, Eunomia." I said it in Isha''s month, and though I could feel nothing, I trusted Eunomia, so I didn''t think too much of it. "Get off me!" Isha pushed me off amid huffs; tears were seen streaming out of her eyes. Though her state and actions hurt, I decided to endure. I had fallen butt first on the ground due to her push, but I got back up and rushed towards her since she was yet to get used to her now "normal" body. "Look at me!" I said, held her chin, and kissed her again, as a salty and sweet, almost addictive, heavenly taste tasted in her mouth. "Look....at....me..." I mumbled and bit her lower lip painfully as blood trickled out of her lip and hot huffs escaped our mouths into each other''s. I gazed at her eyes as her blood dyed my lips red and her lips quivered before sobs and hups were released into my mouth. THUMP-! She punched against my chest weakly as her body trembled. THUMP-! "Who.... Are, hic... You?" "...." "Huh? Who are you?!!!!" "...." "Why...are you doing this to me?" Chapter 343 342. The Only Light To Shine In His Darkness. ? Isha''s cheeks hurt under Eshwar''s strong clench; it had been minutes since they, no, he decided to speak, and not a single sentence was uttered. "You are hurting me!" Isha yelled loudly, though they hadn''t spoken. Eshwar was still holding her chin; the kisses had stopped just a few seconds ago, and though it hurt, she was grateful that he held on to her. She knew she was behaving like a bratty, spoiled princess, but she couldn''t help it; he had hidden himself behind a mask all this time! And two lives¡ªtwo decades and three and a half years¡ªwasn''t a short time, and not once had he revealed himself to her, whom he imed to have loved with all his heart! And with a lighter feeling, her powers returned to her, since their powers were sealed at once, his powers had also returned, and exactly when Isha wanted to storm out of the translucent room, Eshwar held her wrist, halting her in her steps. Outraged by his actions, Isha snapped her head to re at him, and her pitch-ck-coloured, feathered wings shot wide open from her shoulder des, and her ck-coloured hair began to float mid-air as if she were under water. FLAP-! FLUTTER-!!! Due to her rage, killing intent exploded out of her, and an ominous, gold-dyed ripple shot out from her, shattering the translucent room. SHATTER-!! Yet Eshwar hadn''t moved an inch from the spot where he stood. Due to her killing intent, the atmospheric structure and space around them began to twist dangerously, as the mana in the air began to tremble violently. Such a huge mana fluctuation was bound to cause extremely troublesome troubles, but right now, Isha didn''t care. "You should just die for all I care!!" Isha abruptly roared in rage; the eardrums of those still standing below them would have imploded if not for Eunomia, who protected them from her roar. And it was only after a few minutes that realisation dawned upon her as her head hung low, trembling violently, with extreme guilt devouring her consciousness. ''It''s over.'' She thought inwardly and bit her lips painfully. Though she didn''t really want to say such things, she couldn''t help herself when her mind became dangerously clouded with terrifying thoughts that were picking on her consciousness and she drifted off of reality. "Isha....." A calm voice sounded next to her, which instantly soothed her worries and dragged her back to reality. Isha snapped her head to face the handsome white-haired man with bright orange eyes with vertical ck slits gazing at her with a small pitiful smile on his face. Her tear-stained face winced in pain as tears began to stream out of her eyes again. Yet she did nothing but sob as she hung her head low, scared to hear what he had to say. She was hurt. She was seriously hurt; she had just experienced how it felt when the person whom she loved ever so dearly turned out to be a fake. A fake who gave her hopes and dreams only to push her off of a cliff after she reached the top with him. She was on top of her world with warm emotions and fantasies about how her life would always be filled with warmth, only to have a bucket of cold water sshed at her face! Only recently did it dawn upon her that her thoughts were "fantasy"¡ªlike exactly because it was a fantasy! And she, who had created a "perfect" image of her future self, felt like her perfect life had shattered into pieces as if it were made upon a thinyer of ice. And the person responsible for all that was standing in front of her with a pitiful smile on his face¡ªa goddamn smile! But, "I''m sorry. I''m sorry for saying such words." Isha apologised because she knew and felt that if her pride got the best of her, she wouldn''t even get to keep whatever remained of their rtionship, and just from Eshwar''s loosened, trembling grip around her wrist was enough for her to understand many unspoken words. ''If I pull out my hand from his grip, then he wouldn''t stop me from walking away....'' She understood. In a rtionship, it''s a matter of two different hearts; it won''t work if only one heart is beating. The wills of two different people are bound together in a rtionship; without that.... You can just say that that rtionship is running on a thin line drawn upon the abyss; a single misstep is all it takes to drown deep into the abyss. And currently, Eshwar is holding on to their rtionship, while Isha is also holding on to their rtionship, albeit loosely. If it wasn''t for him, the rtionship would have been shattered into pieces, and it would have taken lifetimes just to get back to the stage they were currently in. Though she too didn''t want to let go, it was hard¡ªa bit too hard for her¡ªa rtionship built on a fake wouldn''tst, and she knew that if she let go now, no one¡ªnot even Eshwar¡ªwould me her, but the problem was that she would, she would me herself, no matter what. The only reason Isha was hesitating so much was because she knew the truth about him and would be patient enough to hear his reasons; forgiving him about the matter at hand was almost nonexistent. "Who.... What am I to you, Eshwar?" Isha asked after a sharp exhale, looking down as she floated mid-air with Eshwar floating with her, holding her wrist. FLAP-! With a strong p, Eshwar''s bat-like, humongous wings protruded out of his shoulder des. His wings then extended up until the moons glimmering behind him were covered. Isha, confused by his actions, gazed up at him and noticed his wings cast a shadow upon him, rendering her unable to see his face. She wouldn''t have been able to see the smile on his face if not for "her" glow that shone on his face. Isha red at him with teary eyes as her brows knitted into a deep frown in confusion. "You are the only light to shine in my darkness." Chapter 344 343. What Happens If He Doesnt Hold Back. ? "You are the only light to shine in my darkness." Eshwar said with a calm face. Isha felt a strange chill around her heart before a warm feeling engulfed her whole being because she was able to understand the deeper, greater meaning of his words. "Isha...." Eshwar suddenly called out sorrowfully and arduously. "It..... It''s hard, Isha." Eshwar spoke with great pain hidden behind his pitiful smile as he looked at her. "It''s hard being a stronger person." Eshwar said, though his words were something that could dumbfound many, his hurt, broken voice killed all the mood for jokes. "I have to hold back on doing anything and everything. I have to focus on my walk so that I don''t identally crack my footing on the ground. I have to be mindful of holding a spoon, my pants'' zip, a mug, ab, utensils, food, drink, everything, so that I don''t break or squish them. I have to be mindful of everything, every goddamn thing." Eshwar said in a broken tone; not once had he raised his voice as he exined himself as if he were talking with a child. "Finally.... even my emotions." Eshwar said, and it was then that his voice abruptly turned emotionless, as if all the emotions he disyed previously were an act. "You know, there is nobody more pitiful than a strong person. He can''t mingle with anyone; he can''t be intimate with his loved ones¡ªno, ignore intimate; that''s too far-fetched¡ªthey can''t even make physical contact with others." Eshwar said and continued "Hahahaha. Just control your strength? Just control your strength, my a*s. You think controlling one''s strength is easy? That''s bullsh*t. You either hold back your everything and be a fake and a pushover, or don''t hold back anything and be a menace to society, which throws you out as an outcast if you break something that''s valuable for them." Eshwar said as heughed menacingly. "Isha, I''m a God! Do you understand that?" Eshwar abruptly zoomed towards her with his face twisted menacingly as he repeatedly hit the right side of his head, as if asking her if his words were entering her mind, in response to which Isha flinched and floated back, trembling. "Isha, am I sensitive to emotions?" Eshwar abruptly asked her, and as if his previous menacingly twisted face was a lie, his expression changed, and he was now back to being emotionless. "...." Isha stared at him fearfully, and there wasn''t a single part of Eshwar, whom she loved, in front of her. "Answer me. Am I? Or, am I not?" Eshwar asked, snapping her out of her stupor as she moved back, horrified by the person in front of her. SNAP-! With a snap of his fingers, a dark room isted them from the outside, in which, except for Isha, who was glowing, not even a hint of light was able to peer through. "Answer me." Eshwar''s, no, the demon''s, ominous voice sounded right next to her, scaring the literal lights out of her. "Kyaaaa!!!" Isha screamed in horror and pped her wings as she tried to fly towards the wall, but no matter how much she flew, she couldn''t find the end of the darkness that shrouded everything. "Answer me." Again, his voice sounded, fading away behind her. "Aaaaaa!!!! You are!! You are!!! You are, Eshwar; please stop doing this!" Isha screamed in horror; she had subconsciously used her divinity in there, but except for it fading away as soon as it was out of physical contact with Isha, nothing really happened. But, luckily CRA-CRACK-! SHATTER-!! The istion shattered into pieces, and they were back outside, under the moons that shone brilliantly, with Eshwar, the demon, in front of her. "Aaaaa!!!" Isha screamed and zoomed back, but was stopped by a grip around her wrist. She turned to face the source and found Eshwar holding her lightly, but this time, without caring for anything, she retracted her hand and zoomed back as she continued to gaze at him fearfully. "I''m sorry, that was my current emotional state." Eshwar said it apologetically, but this time she didn''t dare believe him. "Now, please answer me: how should I run away from that emotion?" Eshwar asked, and for whatever reason, Eshwar''s figure with a cracked, void-filled heart, which she saw while she was dragged into his consciousness, shed in her mind. "Without you, I do not know how to escape that emotion." Eshwar said truthfully, though she desperately tried her best not to trust any of the words that came out of his mouth, she couldn''t help but to believe them because she herself had experienced how horrifying being engulfed by nothing but darkness felt. "You agreed to the fact that I''m sensitive to emotions; then why did you think that everything I showed you was fake instead of thinking they were just the smallest part of what I wanted to show you?" Eshwar asked, and that put a halt on all of her thoughts. "You are strong yourself, Isha. So, hug a child without holding back; let''s see what happens afterwards." Eshwar stated, and due to children being dragged into the topic, she snapped out of her daze and "They''ll get hurt!!" She yelled. "Then, isn''t that just you being fake?" "How would I be fake? I''m just worried about them!" "Then why is it different when ites to me? Aren''t you just being a hypocrite?" "How am I being hypocrite? I''m strong! You can be you when you are with me!" "Are you stronger than me?" "Ye...." "....." "....." "....." "Isha, I have told you a lot of times that I love the world I have created." "...." "I''lle back to that. How would you feel if you hugged a child and it busted to death because you didn''t control your strength?" "I would be.... tormented." Isha answered after imagining herself in that scenario in her mind, due to which she shuddered violently. "I''ll give you a glimpse of what would happen if I felt an emotion without holding back." Eshwar said, and his words sounded ominous for some reason, and she understood why a few secondster. RUMBLE-!!! Thend began to tremble as if a strong earthquake were happening, and it wasn''t long until Isha understood the reason thend was shaking. The surrounding vegetation began to decay and thend began to turn barren; all the moisture in the surroundings began to dry out at a terrifying rate, and the cause for those happenings was none other than Eshwar, who stood gazing at Isha with a broken expression on his face. "Papa, stop! The whole world is turning barren!!!" Eunomia''s loud yell sounded from below, and ''I''m a God, Isha.'' Eshwar''s words from earlier sounded in her consciousness, and she shuddered violently. "STOP!!" Isha yelled, not because the world was being destroyed, but because her heart was clenching painfully as his strong emotions began to influence her. "It hurts, Isha." Eshwar''s sorrowful, near-tearful voice sounded and literally broke her heart, but soon, Eshwar controlled his emotions, and the tremoring world returned to normal, though it had be nearly barren. "This is what happens when I''m sad." Eshwar said, as Eunomia took things under her control with a snap of her fingers, STILL-! Absolute silence descended upon the world as "everything," except for Eshwar, Isha, and Eunomia, stopped. SNAP-! With another snap of her fingers, the time regressed back by a few seconds, before everything in the world was normal. And again, RUMBLE-! The world trembled violently as clouds multiplied hastily; this time, even the sky began to rumble as thunder and lightning began to sing in a symphony, as the moons began to glimmer radiantly, gleefully, as rain began to fall profusely under a jovial, vegetation around the world began to bloom buoyantly, and as the capiry waves filled the water bodies, almost instantly, the entire world was engulfed in a blithe. "You are happy...." Isha answered in a daze, mesmerised by the changes around her, which were filled with ruins previously, and that was also because of him. SNAP-! SNAP-! Again, with two snaps of Eunomia''s fingers, the world regressed back by a few seconds. "With me being so sensitive to emotions, what would happen to the things around me?" Eshwar asked. "It would either flourish or be destroyed...." Isha answered, but Eshwar''s answer caught her off guard. "No, either way, it would only bring destruction. Nature would take over and humanity will face its doom, if I''m happy. Isha, everything you just saw just now happened in a matter of seconds. What do you think will happen if I''m happy for a minute? Half an hour? An hour? A day? And that is if I''m happy. What do you think will happen if I''m sad? A few seconds, and the world will be doomed. You can''t even imagine what would happen if I were angry." Eshwar exined. "...." Hearing his words, Isha turned silent, not because she didn''t want to refute them, but because there was nothing she could refute about him. "Now, back to the scenarios. You are me, and now that you have hugged a child, will you hold back and be a fake, or will you kill that child?" "I''ll...." Isha stopped herself before shepleted her words. "And would you rather love me like a fake or love me while killing everything surrounding us?" "....." "Now, back to my case. I love the world I have created, Isha; I didn''t wish for it to be destroyed just because of a few measly emotions. I would rather be a fake instead of destroying my own creation." Eshwar stated. An abrupt thought shed in her mind: "But you killed the humans you created?" Isha inquired. "Isha, it was not the humans that protected me when I was by myself." Eshwar said with a bitter smile. "That was a world I created together with my mother, father, and little sister; why would I ever want to destroy such a world? While just a few memories of my people, whose faces I don''t remember, are enough for me to want to protect them, that was why I fought and killed the viins I created with my own hands, because they were a threat to the world, not because they were a threat to humans." Eshwar spoke with a voice dyed in mncholy. "And if you want to talk about humans, then I have no emotions left for humans; it seemed to have slipped your mind due to our heavy conversation. I''m a selfish man, Isha. There are only me and mine. I have been through many things, and you have seen and heard about them. In any of those, were there any moments of mention where humans empathised with me? Let alone empathy, I hadn''t even received sympathy until I began to detest myself for even expecting such a feeling from others. I always say this whenever a matteres up about this rose: regression. Regression carves bad luck onto your soul, which kills your loved ones and those you wish to protect right in front of your eyes. And I''m a literal walking, taking bad luck, but the difference I could and have made with my own strength is that I''m now able to fight against greater crises that may try to devour me, my loved ones, and those I wish to protect." Eshwar answered her question. "...." Isha began to ponder over everything Eshwar had just stated with mixed emotions raging in her. But, forgiveness was not one of them. It would have been a different matter if she knew about it, but learning about it only due to a forced situation wouldn''t ever be enough for her to regain her trust in him, which is absolutely understandable since no matter what, Eshwar was in the wrong. "I''m sorry. I know it may be hard for you to forgive me, as it is hard for me to gain back your trust, which I have lost. I''ll do my best, so please do your best to understand and forgive me. Again, I''m sorry, so please don''t push me away." "..... Alright." Chapter 345 344. A Year Later. ? Eshwar conversed with Jiwoo, Violet, Katharine, Seol So-Young, Katline, Seo Hana, Louie, Arngrim, Core, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, Belinda, Godred, Zu''e, Marcia, Okisada, Alexandru, and, albeit slightly, with Henry. Isha made it clear that she wouldn''t allow him to speak to her for a long time, so the distance between them hadrgely widened, but now they weren''t that stiff around each other; well, it was just Isha being stiff the whole time, as if she was afraid that if she got even a bit more closer, she would forgive him, and she didn''t want that, at least not yet. And Eunomia, who was introduced to everybody as Eshwar''s and Isha''s daughter, smiled contently and observed her parents yfully. She had scanned the world to check the current poption, and without a change in her expression, she noticed that the numbers were nearing a few billions,pared to before, when they were in tens of billions. The casualty was too much, and most of them were killed by Eshwar, her papa. She wanted to give him achievement points as a reward, but since he could also control the system, everything was meaningless, and though it only ever-so slightly surprised her, when Eshwarmanded the system to take his status window away and even the glitched system, which was the head admin authority, When Eunomia asked her why he did that when he could grow more stronger with the system, he just replied, "I was and can be stronger on my own, Eunomia. And the system hinders me more than helps me; with all the rules it has, how could I, the owner of the system, live under the rule of something I created?" Though she was slightly dumbfounded by his answer, since she didn''t truly have any other argument to refute him with, she just sighed and decided to act like the child she always wanted to be. And it wasn''t long before she understood that she would get spoiled rotten if they, Eshwar and Isha, continued to behave the same. Though they, no, Isha was maintaining a distance, that distance shattered entirely when Eunomia was involved, to which she didn''t know if she should be happy or confused. Later, Jiwoo, Charlie, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, and Seo Hana split up into one team; Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, and Arngrim split up into another; and the Veil continued to move as another separate team; while the royals went their separate ways. Three teams would move around the world and get stronger on their own, since the Eshwar didn''t really care about the royals, they were left to do anything they want, while Eshwar, Isha, and Eunomia would spend their quality time together in the countryside. Isha and Eshwar would mend their rtionship, and though they didn''t really know why, they felt like their rtionship would be far stronger by the next time they met. Soon, powerhouses grew across the world, and they hade to the understanding that they wouldn''t try to hunt a fallen since the timer might start, and they were naturally afraid that they wouldn''t be strong enough to face the fallen if they did things half-a*sedly; as they say, ''it''s better to be safe than sorry.'' Exactly a yearter. In a yer''s "physical" shop, a feature that can be used in the safe zone, today the rankings of the major powerhouses all around the world were being updated, so many yers were waiting for the results agitatedly. A seventy-five-foot-wide, open area, which was named a safe zone by the system, was upied by arge crowd, numbering in the hundreds, approximately. The main powerhouse in the current safe zone was the "ck Rain Order," whose leader was Samuel. He was a 6''1 tall, bulky man, donned in knightly armour with two battle axes attached to his back, as he looked down at the ground with dark brown eyes. He had a tannedplexion and a square face with bright brown hair, and a brutish aura surrounded him. Four people stood guard in four directions, protecting Samuel even though they were in a safe zone. Though it was called a safe zone, it only protected them from the outside monsters, not the humans who were inside, and deaths in the safe zones weren''t umon, so they didn''t dare to take unnecessary risks and decided to y it safe, as he already had a lot of enmity with the other powerhouse groups around the world, though not everybody was at odds as alliances were formed among the groups that saw benefits in each other. Suddenly, "Had there been any progress on recruiting White Swan and ck Raven?" Samuel asked his group''s prominent, founding members, who were with him currently as the rest of the group was spread out. "Those basta*ds have continued to ignore us even when they were offered the most beneficial contracts!" Richard, a grey-haired old man with dark brown eyes, grouched under his breath, speaking in a low but loud enough tone to let Samuel hear his words filled with discontentment. "There is no need to grouch about it; all that matters is that they stay an outcast if they don''t join us." Samuelmented with a sigh as an evil smile crept up on his face. "What about the other groups'' moments?" Samuel ignored that matter and focused on the more pressing matters. "The "Honour-bound Federation" has been moving rather suspiciously, while the same is true for "The Abominations." From what our spies have gathered, it seems like these two groups have formed a secret alliance and are cooking up something under the smokescreen of these rankings. We have news about many disappearances, and we are suspicious of these groups'' involvement in these disappearances." Garrick reported. He was a brutish-looking man; he had bright blue eyes and ember-dyed hair. "The Veil is simply moving at their own pace with nothing suspicious, which in itself is suspicious, and from what Garrick assumed, they seemed to be moving with a certain n, and he even suspected that the group had been moving in this manner since the apocalypse started." Bobby reported that he had a child-like face, a skinny body, and dark brown hair with honey-dyed eyes. "And the others¡ª" Bert continued but was cut short by Samuel, who stopped them with his hand raised. "Garrick, are you suspicious that the Veil knew about the apocalypse before it even started?" Samuel asked as he gazed at Garrick with his brows knitted into a frown. "....." Eerie silence descended upon the five, because if their suspicions were true, then things were going to take a wrong turn. "The only group that has the power to peer into the past and future is the "Forsaken Alliance," which that Godred guy is the leader of. Are you implying there is a secret alliance between the Forsaken Alliance and the Veil?" Samuel asked in a serene tone. ""The Freaks" and "The Gifted" are under an alliance that is known to all." Bert reminded them. "Seo Hana and Core were the names of their leaders, weren''t they?" Samuel asked them. "Yes." The four replied in unison. "Request a meeting with them; hopefully we can enter their alliance and talk about our suspicions." Samuelmanded, because with the current situation leaning towards the discussion of finally starting to attack the Fallen, these variables could be extremely troublesome and were definitely not something they could ignore. Even if they weren''t able to enter the alliance, if their suspicions were shared, they could find amon enemy and be close. The Veil wasn''t an easy group to mess with, and if they acted rashly, then things would go south real fast, which would simply lead to the entire group''s destruction. But the Veil wasn''t their top priority right now, since it had existed even before the apocalypse started. Their moments could have been a coincidence, but the problem was with the secret alliance between the Abominations and the Honour-bound Federation. These groups were the most hideous known groups currently with strange beliefs, so their suspicion about them doing something under the curtain of these rankings was too concerning. CHATTER-!! Gazing in a certain direction, a vertically long system window was seen floating with [00:37] disyed in the middle. It was the screen where the rankings were going to be disyed, and since only thirty seconds remained, the crowd was gathering at the screen even though it wouldn''t really go anywhere until two dayster. That was how much hype had been created for these rankings, and even Samuel of the ck Train Order was eager to see his group''s name in the top ten, but since he had an image to maintain, he helped himself stand his ground. "Hide those child-like twinkles in your eyes." Richard, the old man,mented, snickering gleefully. Which in turn garnered suppressed chuckles from Bert, Garrick, and Bobby. "Ghuk...." Samuel groaned in embarrassment. He was apetent and benevolent leader who knew when to be ruthless and when to be benevolent. Due to his character, he was liked by many, and his ck Train Order was the onlyrge group to exist in this apocalyptic world, with their numbers nearing hundreds with different branches. Of course, due to the same character, he also gained many enemies. Since his group wasrger, enemy spies'' infiltration was not umon, but they had yet to find a clear solution to this situation. Still, his group was a bright, warmth-filled ce even in the dark, cold, apocalyptic world. And there was one more rare scenario that had happened in the group over the year, and that was when a spy turned into a double agent after being in their group for too long. Due to how kindly the group moved in unison, many only faked it at first to gain Samuel''s attention, but began to like and get used to what they were doing. Chapter 346 345. Anubiss Undead Dungeon. ? [00:04] [00:03] [00:02] [00:01] [00:00] DING-! With a chime that had be extremely familiar, ===== [Worldwide Ranking] == ([Overall]) [Monsters Hunted] [Individual Contribution] (AN: Overall is bracketed because it is currently being disyed) == 1.ck Rain Order 2.The Veil 3.Miracle Confederacy 4.Red Moon Republic 5.False Prophet Association 6.The Freaks 7.Honour-bound Federation 8.The Abominations 9.Forsaken Alliance 10.The Gifted 11.... 12.... ... .... And so on, the list continued up to a hundred, but because Samuel wasn''t interested in it anymore, the ck Rain Order gaited out of the safe zone with a strong presence emitting from them, which pushed aside those who stood in their path. Though Samuel didn''t like what they were doing, he didn''t have a choice because if he appeared to be too weak, then he and his group would be pushovers, and that wasn''t something he would let happen just because he didn''t "like" something. And everything about him outwardly disyed how he was and how strong his group was, so he couldn''t be weak, since the belief was that "hurting the unknown is always better than hurting the trusted," so he lived up to his belief and acted like a tyrant towards the unknown and like a sovereign when amongst those who trusted him. "How much time will it take for us to arrive at the undead gate?" Samuel inquired. "If we rush without using our teleportation scrolls, then around 15 minutes, half an hour if he walked at our pace, and around five minutes, at maximum, if we ran." Bert replied. "Let''s use a wider-area teleportation scroll." Samuelmanded. "Yes, sir!" Bert eximed as Garrick took out a teleportation scroll from his inventory and ripped it before any yers gathered in the scroll''s AOE, area of effect. WHOOOOMMM-!! And all five of them disappeared in a blur, as those around them turned green in envy, because a teleportation scroll cost a fortune¡ª1000 achievement points¡ªand it was a normal scroll''s price, not a wide area scroll''s, which cost twice as much. * By the next instant, The five appeared in front of a gate that had formed in an abandoned area that was in ruins, like everything around the world. Though a year had passed, the survivors didn''t have the leisure to create everything from scratch while also learning to protect themselves. Everything that was razed to the ground and left in ruins continued to stay the same, while a few built themselves houses, which wereter morphed into a safe zone with the system''s acknowledgement. Resisting the urge to puke, all five stood their ground as they stared at fifty or more people standing in front of an ominous gate with small smiles on their faces, which reflected anticipation. Of course, it was only natural because they were informed that those five would go to the safe zone in their group''s premises to check on the rankings, and there was only one way to blow out the me of curiosity ignited in them, and that was by answering them. "We are ranked first." Samuel stated with a smile on his face, showing small hints of vulnerability and openings in his stance and defence, showing them how much he trusted them, those in his group, which warmed their hearts as they began to roar loudly and cheerfully. Though the results were as they expected, it didn''t mean that they couldn''t get excited upon hearing the news from Samuel, who was a literal angel and a star that shone in their pitiful, dark-dyed world, leading them in a right, righteous way. A few minutester, the cheers gradually died down, and Samuel announced that it was time to enter the undead gate after ordering them to gear up. The current group was more proficient in the arrowhead formation, which was the most basic yet efficient formation. Their formation contained tanks as the vanguard, an effective amount of damage dealers behind them, spear users, and sword users, with spearmen as the primary damage dealers since they could thrust their spears through whichever gap they could find to assist the tanks, but this didn''t mean that the sword users were useless because they were to protect both the tanks and the spearmen when enemies cornered them. Behind the damage dealers were only three healers, geared up with defensive and protective armours, mana usage reduction tinkering, and artefacts, with long-range damage dealers, archers and mages behind them,unching strong attacks from behind and keeping a keen eye out for all variables that could appear in their surroundings, and finally, at the rear-guard, a few tanks and damage dealers protected, defended, and fought against everything hostile that came from behind. [#;?!/ Undead Dungeon] Was what was disyed on top of the gate that oozed ominousness, and for whatever reason the strange marks were only visible to Samuel, and he was also the only one that felt an eerie feeling while in the presence of that gate. And no, he didn''t think that he was seeing or imagining things and other dumbsh*t along those lines; he discussed that with the others, and they have made preparations for the extreme oue; whatever was going to happen inside the gate was left upon them after this, and "things inside the dungeons are ALWAYS unpredictable," which is a fact that is to be kept in mind at all times. "March!" Samuel roared as he stood vanguard for the vanguard. "Rah!!!" With a loud roar of unison, the ck Rain Order stomped their feet before beginning to match into the dungeon. As soon as they all disappeared into the dungeon, [The ck Rain Order is attempting to clear Anubis''s Undead Dungeon!] [Affiliated God, Anubis, is notified!] * With solemn gaits, the group of fifty-four analysed the terrain, and before long "Monsters found in a 500-metre radius: None. Atmosphere: Damp. Terrain: Seemingly dead, rotten, and barren. Assessment is hard!" Bert reported his findings, Samuel thanked him, ced his left battle axe behind his back, and used his senses to detect even the slightest of abnormalities. It wasn''t because he didn''t trust Bert, but because he was far more sensitive when it came to detecting danger, and since everybody knew about that fact, none retorted. "Northwest, 370 metres!" Samuel roared, and understanding hismand, the long-range damage dealers casted spells and nocked their arrows before firing them as tanks stomped their shields on the ground, securing their Northwest defence. "Bert! Use your ability; I think it''s stealth!" Samuelmanded; he was only roaring because the undead didn''t have hearing perception, and even if they did, their fight against them was only going to get elerated; that was it. "16 stealth undead at Northwest!" Bert was now able to get a proper glimpse of the dangers lurking closely. A small number of thick streaks of bright green and orange lights flitted across the sky before BOOM-! THUCK-! CHICK-! ..... .... Arrows and fireballs soon annihted the threat. Bert apologised for taking it easy in the gate and was once again reminded that a gate was unpredictable and it was better to be safe than sorry. Of course, since it was the first time they were in an undead gate, a few who thought that undead were nothing but ignitable bones began to think twice after learning that they were using stealth, so they put up their guard, but none med Bert, and a few even apologised for taking it easy like Bert. [Thanks for that, Bert; thanks to you, we''ll be able to be more alert now.] Samuel thanked Bert telepathically. Bert always had an astute mind, which had always been helpful when dealing with their enemies or allies, and the "miss" just now too was a gig yed by Bert to alert those he observed and analysed to be taking it easy. If Samuel didn''t know about Bert, then he too would have fallen for Bert''s gig. ''The excluded killing intent was too strong for Bert to not notice....'' Samuel thought inwardly, and when he nced back and found Bert smiling while shaking his head, Samuel concluded that his thoughts were true and he had intentionally not warned about the stealthy undead since he trusted Samuel enough to take these minute risks. [No biggie] Bert responded back telepathically. Samuel began to analyse the terrain more closely, because when he had sensed the stealthy undead just now, an eerie feeling crept up his heart for an instant before disappearing. Though it was only an instant, it was enough to make Samuel get alerted, as he was responsible for approximately fifty lives, and it sure wasn''t a small burden bearing down on him. The sky was dark, while on the outside it was still afternoon, and the atmosphere felt sticky, sticky enough for them to want to create distance between each other. The ground, their footing, was hard yet squishy at times, as if it were waiting for a certain moment to devour them whole. This sensation was felt by many, and since their senses seemed to have dulled, they couldn''t figure out what was reality and what was their imagination. "!!!!" Samuel''s eyes dted at the realisation! ''The moisture in the air is poison!'' It was from then on, the real raid began. Chapter 347 346. Reality? ? After going a bit deeper into the undeath terrain with Samuel, Bert, Garrick, and Bobby inmand, the team was in the clear most of the time, as Bert reported all the abnormalities he sensed without veiling them in a gag. They had yet to encounter any undead, as except for the 16 in the beginning, none could be felt or seen. Of course, they didn''t even know if those 16 undead were killed or not. The team, which had been alerted about the poison in the atmosphere, was moving cautiously wearing strange mechanical, triangles-filled, abstract art-patterned ck masks, which reduced the poison in the air inhaled. Which meant that they didn''t have a perfect way to defend themselves against poison, but since they had healers, they didn''t worry about it too much, though it was only at the beginning when they didn''t know the effects of the poison. The weakest one of the groups was requested to take the risk, and understanding their situation, he agreed but soon came to regret it. "Huff.... Huff... Huff...." His huffs filled the solemn plight as severe exhaustion, muscle pain, headache, stomach churn, minor blindness, ki exhaustion, and many other debuffes assaulted the man. He was having a hard time keeping up with the rest of his group, who were walking like snails in their minds. Samuelmanded the group to take a rest, and surprisingly, but not by much, the group slumped to the ground as soon as those words left Samuel''s mouth, as if they had been waiting to hear that for years. Understanding that it was due to the low rate of breaths they were inhaling that the group was getting exhausted faster, Samuel too didn''t mind them as he walked towards a tanker and sat with his back facing the tanker''s back. * A few hourster, they recovered a bit of their stamina and got back on their feet; this time even the weakest one was wearing a mask. Again, strangely enough, they hadn''t encountered any undead even though they were still, in one ce. Wary about the terrain and the sense of dread, Samuel continued to take a step forward, with his guard up and his grip tightly gripped around his battle axes. The deeper Samuel peered, the more clouded his senses became. Before his senses were cut off, Samuel turned to face the group behind him, and Noticed that everybody had disappeared. "?!!!" Samuel shuddered before drifting back, as if to avoid an unseen threat. Before he realised it, Samuel was stuck in a dense cloud of some strange toxin¡ªa clich¨¦ plight that befell upon a protagonist in a few novels Samuel had read, but that didn''t mean he wasn''t terrified. [Took you long enough to reach here.] An extremely ominous voice resounded in the dense cloud, and by the next instance, WHOOOOSH-!! A strong gust shot out at his face, and without him even realising it, his mask was cut in half as it fell on the ground without a single sound. Doing his best to ignore the voice that had just sounded in his consciousness, "Everyone!!!??" Samuel roared, and an eerie silence responded to his roar, suppressing the anxiousness that had been wing at his consciousness. Samuel contained himself and began to roar and search for his group. Minutes passed, but he could see nothing, nor could he feel any presence near him, and at the right corner of his eyes, something zoomed, And an abrupt thought to kill emerged in his mind, because he thought that if what he had seen just now was indeed an enemy, if he left it alone, his teammates would be in danger, but if what he had seen just now was his friend, then ''he had no reason to run away from me,'' Samuel concluded, and with that thought engraved in his mind, "VALKYRIE RUSH!" Samuel roared beneath his breath, and since he couldn''t afford to waste any more time, he clenched his battle axes and spun! He spun continuously with a 360-degree swirl and continued to spin like a "top" as he cut through the dense clouds, which felt like cotton candy. His vision clouded at extreme levels as his senses dulled strongly, and he became dizzy, not because he was spinning like a top but because of the toxins in the cloud that engulfed him. A certain fear began to devour him whole, and soon, the cut chunks of the toxic cloud began to seem like undead beings. Assuming that they were the reason that the toxic cloud engulfed "them," Samuel began shing more fiercely. "Arrrr...." Dying groans began to resound in the cloud, as Samuel could see the "dispersing," undead clearly now. Though he was still trapped inside the cloud, due to his fierce swings and spins, the cloud seemed to be getting pushed back. Agitated and blinded by the rage about the fact that he fell into such a simple trap, Samuel, who was spinning like a top, gradually halted, tightened his grip around the battle axes, positioned himself with his right axe at the front and the left axe at the back, and channelled ki into his axes, which soon began to glimmer bright blue, and formed an additionalyer of more sharper des in front of the axes, which had extended out by 5 more inches, and tensed his muscles and core, nearly to his limit, SWING-! SLASH-! And spun, swinging his axes horizontally, as a ring of bright blue dyed ki shot out from his axes. SPLURT-! SPLATTER-!!! A loud yet subtle wave of sttering, of what Samuel assumed to be blood, sounded from every corner in the cloud, which satiated his ego and anxiety as he began to pace around in search of his teammates. Hourster. Samuel continued to pace around, yet he had stumbled upon no one, not even a bigger rock.... "!!!" Samuel finally realised that the small rock he had seen at the beginning was the only rock he hade across in a few hours, meaning he was either running in circles or he had been trapped in a strange phenomenon from which he wasn''t able to move or get out. Soon, he felt like his consciousness was trembling, and unable to take it anymore, he took out a recovery potion from his inventory and chugged it in an instant. His dulled senses began to recover at a stronge pace, and finally, he was able to think straight, and for a reason only Samuel knew, He began to tremble violently. Despair, at a level that Samuel hadn''t felt even when his parents passed away right in front of him, washed over him. A sense of dread, self-loath, grief, confusion, anxiety, fear, loss, and pain spiked with many dangerous thoughts and emotions surfaced in his consciousness as a single, soul-shuddering thought dragged Samuel to the depths of an abyss that even the devil might find terrifying. ''Undead....'' "Don''t have bloo..." Samuel mumbled under his breath, and exactly when his consciousness was on the verge of breaking apart, WHOOOOSH-!! "WOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!" A ghastly voice sounded as a dreadful, humanoid figure''s face zoomed out of the dense cloud and passed through Samuel''s face, which twisted into a strange, dreadful, and fearful expression. The face just now seemed like a ghost; it might be a Banshee, but he couldn''t figure out what it was as fear devoured his mind and rendered him unable to think meticulously. His fear was of two types; thetter was about the plight that had just swept past him, and he, for a certain reason, knew for sure that it was just the beginning, and whatever was going to be thrown at him next was going to be far more terrifying than what he had just witnessed. And the former was an emotion he wasn''t able to define clearly, but considering the plight, it may have been fear, which was about the fact that while he was clouded in the toxic cloud and when his senses were dulled nearly to a maximum level, He, the vanguard for the vanguard, the leader of the group, whose back many trusted with their lives itself, had reaped them of the very thing they trusted him with. Their lives. Under the illusion created by his fear and ego, the undead he hallucinated while in the toxic cloud Were his teammates! The group that had determined to follow him to the depths of hell, Was annihted by Samuel himself. At these thoughts, his mind ceased to function clearly, and "S...l!" A distant voice sounded from somewhere. "Sa...l!!!" The same voice sounded again. "SAMUEL!!!!" SLAP-!!! "!!!!" With a violent shudder, Samuel jolted awake with a stinging pain assaulting his right cheek and instantly stood back on his feet as he gazed around with tears filling his eyes. His gaze flitted across therge group of fifty in front of him, and he wasn''t able to hold back his tears as he rushed towards the closest one, Garrick. SPLASH-! SPLASH-! SPLASH-! He ignored the strange sounds trickling in his ears as he rushed towards Garrick and jumped on him, to hug him, with a bright smile on his face. WHOOM.... SPLASH-!!!! Strangely, he couldn''t feel anything as hended on the ground, summersaulting. Assuming Garrick had dodged his pounce yfully, while he wasn''t able to see because tears were blurring his vision, Samuel supported himself with his hands, trying to get back up, SPLASH-! "Huh?" Only then did Samuel notice that his hands were submerged in an inch-deep puddle of crimson-red blood, which had dyed his body and face simrly. "T-they m-mu-must have killed the undead.... Ha, haha, ha..." A strange, stoic chuckle escaped Samuel''s mouth as he unknowingly began to deny reality, Or what seemed to be reality. Chapter 348 347. Death Is But An Instant Relief. ? Samuel continued to mumble to himself like a madman with a dry throat, which spouted a hoarse, horror-filled voice. He was able to "see" all fifty-three people of his group in front of him; however, they.... He couldn''t feel any of their presences. They felt.... dead. As soon as his thoughts affirmed what he was seeing, all fifty-three of them began to tremble violently. As their faces twisted in pain, unable to stare at their expressions, Samuel lowered his head in guilt and dread at what he would have to hear. Due to his lowered gaze, he noticed that the people in front didn''t have feet as they just floated above ground as they gradually began to dematerialize. Shuddering violently at the mere imagination of losing them "again," Samuel rushed towards them stumblingly, yet he continued to move as he pushed himself off of the ground desperately. He reached the closest one, who was a damage dealer, and tried to hold on to her so that she wouldn''t disappear. He didn''t know if he had held on to her or not, but he moved towards each and every one of them and tried to hold them back from disappearing forever. ''No, no, no, no, no.....'' He denied reality as he tried to grab on to something ethereal, which, of course, wasn''t possible for him. But, "W...hy?" A hollow voice sounded in front of him, and he froze entirely, as if he were stuck in time. Gazing up at the source of the voice, he found Bert, no, a vengeful spirit, which was a ck-dyed silhouette, oozing light-devouring smoke that twisted around the being, who at the minute side looked like Bert. And he nced back, averting his gaze at the fear that crept up his heart, and he could see nothing more than vengeance-filled spirits ring at him with an ominous blood-red glimmer in their eyeless eye sockets. The light-devouring smoke oozing out their now-ethereal bodies began to tower over Samuel, who was circled by the spirits, and soon, an ominous light-devouring tomb of darkness was created around him, which ate away his sanity as fear and guilt, spiked with many other negative emotions, began to devour him whole. Tears were streaming out of his eyes, simr to an open valve, and "W...hy?" "Why...did...you kill us?" "We.... did so much.... for you..." "How could.... you?" "Why us?" "We were a....team...." "You killed....me." "You killed me." "You killed me." YOUKILLEDME!!!" ... ..... Voices as such began to resound in his mind while he was trapped in the tomb with no light peering through. Hourster. His eyes had lost their glow as his now-dead eyes continued to listen to the mes of those lives, he felt responsible for, yet he himself unknowingly reaped them of that. ''But.... even if it was unknowingly, it doesn''t change the fact that I killed them with my own hands...'' Samuel thought as he looked down at his hands, which weren''t visible in the dark. He brought them close to his face and began to gnaw at them, biting off his own hand that was dyed with the blood of those he felt responsible for. Gradually, he felt strong hands dragging his arms down as if they were trying to stop him from biting his hands off, but he didn''t care; the more lower his hands were pulled, the more lower he bent, and soon, hundreds of hands covered him and began to drag him down, somewhere deep as ming, hate-filled voices contained to resound in his consciousness, that was on the verge of copsing. Then again, He didn''t care. He didn''t care what happened to him. He only wanted to "erase" the existence that reaped the lives of those he was responsible for, which was none other than himself. So, he just wanted to kill himself. [Death is but an instant relief; it is something not everyone is worthy of.] A voice sounded in his head and his mind shattered, and his actions ceased as he was dragged into the depths of something painful yetfortable ce, with twisted reasons as to why he should die continuing to resound in his broken mind. The darkness that shrouded him seemed endless; any possibilities that came into his mind felt like nothing but a mere escape from what he was guilty for, even though one of the possibilities in his mind screamed at him that what he was experiencing was but a mere illusion, which would shatter entirely with just a hint of resistance. But, Those kinds of thoughts only worked on those who wanted to change, not on those who had already given up. And the current Samuel was thetter case. ''I... give up...'' Were thest words that resounded in "Samuel''s" consciousness. And..... * Somewhere far away from the gate which the ck Rain Order head entered. "Behind you!" Gang Jiwoo''s roar sounded amid the ruined streets. "On it!" Seol So-Young eximed and kicked off the ground, did a backflip, andnded behind a ten-eyed, zombified wolf that was twice as big as her. SLASH-!! With a pair of swift diagonal shes shed at the wolf''s face, it split in three pieces and fell to the ground with disgusting slumps. WHOOOOSH-! THUCK-! A zombified wolf that had crept up behind Jiwoo was shot down by an arrow that descended in a sh. "You should be careful, Mr. Jiwoo." Katharine spoke to Jiwoo in a seductive tone as she hung her broadsword on her shoulder and flitted around the battleground. "Yes, yes, you should listen to your lover from time to time, Mr. Jiwoo." Violet spoke in a teasing tone as both Jiwoo and Katharine flushed at her words. But with an abrupt snap of her head towards her right, Violet casted a barrier and a shield for So-Young to step on as she walked in the air. With Violet''s mini hexagonal-shaped barriers as her footing, she kicked off and spun as she came back down to the ground, with her sword shing through the air beautifully and killing wolves in the range of her sword shes. "Raining down!" Katline''s yell sounded from above, and understanding her call, Violet casted mini hexagonal barriers above the heads of her allies, and soon, a rain of hundreds of arrows befell upon them. While they were shielded from the arrows, the pitiful wolves in their surroundings were killed in mere seconds. And after the ughter around them halted, except for an arrow that had been embedded in the middle of the ruined street, the rest, which were the real reason behind the ughter, disappeared into nothingness as the duration of Katline''s skill wore off. "Good work, kids!" A praising voice sounded from above as a warm cloud of orange mes carried Katline and made hernd next to her friends on the ground, who then stared up at a woman who seemed like a kid who just left high school; she was none other than Seo Hana, who was the leader of the group named The Gifted. "You look more like a kid than us." So-Youngmented under her breath with a pout due to her being called a kid, but unfortunately for her, Seo Hana was a lot stronger than her even on Earth, let alone now; she too had gotten absurdly strong together with the Gifted, so hearing a mumble like such wasn''t even worth mentioning. "Ha, haha, is that so?" Seo Hana asked as she looked down at So-Young with a smile on her face, and due to being transmigrated into the worlds in difficult times, she had developed a sense that altered her at times of danger, and that sense was currently screaming at her to run! "H-Hana... I''m sorry. Huh? I''m sorry, hehe...." So-Young apologised as she took a step back, as Jiwoo, Violet, Katharine, and Katline took a step forward and began to walk away as if they weren''t rted to anything while looking around the ruins with profound curiosity. "Kyaaaa!!!" With a yelp, So-Young began to run away from a fireball that was chasing after her, threatening to burn her a*s. "Wow, look at that!" Jiwoo eximed as if he found a pile of debris fascinating as he subconsciously held Katharine''s waist and began to walk towards the pile, acting as if they were a tourist couple who were curious about every minute detail. It was a wless n to avoid getting his a*s burned, but there was a fatal w in his wless n, whose name was Katharine. "Eeep!" With a strange yelp, surprised by Jiwoo''s bold actions, she pped the back of his head, jumped back, and covered her upper body with a flushed face. "Geh!?" Jiwoo stumbled due to the p before he fell on the debris, as Katline and Violet snickered from behind. Soon, they felt something hot behind their buttocks, and ncing back, they found a pair of fireballs zing right behind them. and ""We said nothing!!"" Katline and Violet yelled and joined So-Young as all three of them began to run around, avoiding the fireballs. * After a few minutes. FISSSS... The Gifted, except for Seo Hana, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, and Jiwoo, sat on the cold ground to cool their burnt a*ses. "There he is." Seo Hana spoke as she gazed at a certain distance, from where, soon, Charlie could be seen jogging towards them. A minuteter, he was a few steps away, and gazing at him, Violet stood up and approached him with a smile on her face. "Wee back." She said and returned Charlie''s warm hug. "I''m back." Charlie said as he kissed her forehead and nced at Seo Hana. "ck Rain Order is requesting a meeting." He reported, and everybody frowned upon hearing his words. "Why?" "They are asking for an alliance." Chapter 349 348. Lich King. ? After a few days, Samuel was no longer fearful of the voices, not because he regained his courage, but because even without the voices, he continued to me himself, while the light that enabled him to bring together the vast number of hunters from all over the kingdoms had been extinguished entirely. The current Samuel was nothing but a lump of flesh, blood, and veins without any essence in him. He was dead inside. ming himself for their deaths that he had caused unknowingly, and since there was nothing left for him anymore, Samuel finally moved. He stood back up on his feet and fell face first on the darkness-dyed ground due to his numbed senses, but it wasn''t long before he regained his senses and began to walk. WHOOSH-! With a strong gust of wind pping his face, he walked out of the tomb with dead eyes that flinched at nothing. The tomb was just ethereal, as it didn''t pose any resistance even though Samuel was passing right through, but Samuel didn''t pay any heed to that fact. As he just gazed at the undead, which began to spawn at a terrifying rate, yet he didn''t flinch as his body moved and killed off almost all of the undead with one swift moment, but it wasn''t like he was an all-mighty existence, so wounds had began to pile up on him, too. Yet Samuel''s moments didn''t tter, as he moved heedlessly. [He is already broken.... Tsk, tsk, I guess, I should have believed it when my God told me that humans were extremely weak creatures, hmph.] The voice sounded in his consciousness again, but Samuel paid no heed to it as he moved towards where the boss resided. Lower jaws, some twisted, some broken, some dangling, some ripped off¡ªall kinds of disgusting-looking undead were rushing at him; they excluded a certain stench that could potentially make one run away in utter disgust, but Samuel cared for none of it. Their ribs were seen protruding, while some had their chests ripped off as they showed off their ribs, few had missing limbs, while some didn''t even have a lower or upper half of their bodies, yet they moved as they rushed to kill Samuel. Then how had he been killing all those undead previously? He had killed none. He just didn''t care as he moved forward, away from the still-alive.... Alive? He just moved away from the still undead, undead! Though his axes had sliced them into halves, they were still undead, and they continued to move. Currently, Samuel had an army of multiplied undead behind him, and he continued to expand its size as he continued forward. Banshees, ghosts, zombies, skeletons, Derkavacs, mummies, wights, wraiths, revenants, lichs, ghouls, and fexts were included in the list of undead appearing in front of him, and of course, Samuel moved swiftly and shed them in half as he moved forward, uncaring of the consequences of his actions. Soon, he found himself in front of a lich that seemed to have evolved into a lich king due to the ominous pair of small wings protruding out of its back. And its orb of life was in the middle of its skeletal chest. The lich king was sitting on a bone throne as he gazed at Samuel with bright electric blue blobs of light in its eyeless eye sockets, which had arched, indicating the unseen smile on its skull face. Samuel had yet to notice, but the terrain he had walked into had long changed. The current terrain had skeletal limbs and bodies spread apart, with various rusted weapons nned into the ground or simply thrown around on the barrennd that had several pitfall-like spider web cracks filling it. The sky was thundering as dense ck clouds covered the skies, yet not a drop of rain had fallen, at least not yet. [You are finally here, human.] The lich king''s eerie voice sounded in Samuel''s consciousness, and even though he had found the source of the voices singing in his head since the beginning, Samuel didn''t seem to care, nor did he flinch at the chills that enveloped him when the lich king spoke. But, A hint of rage flickered in his already dead eyes, because Samuel knew in his shattered consciousness that the reason he lost everything was because of the basta*d in front of him. The lich king, who noticed that flickering in Samuel''s eyes, seemingly smiled in amusement as its eyes arched, indicating the emotions the lich king was feeling. Then, the lich king waved its hand, and a staff materialised in its bony hand out of nowhere, and when it ced the staff''s end on the ground, TINK-! An eerie, poison green ripple shot out with a chime, and after a brief moment of silence, PITTER-! PATTER-! SHOOOMMM-!!! Rain began to fall profusely, and soon Samuel felt burning sensations all over his body, yet he stood uncaring as the acid rain continued to rain down on him. [You are beginning to amuse me, human.] The ted voice of the Lich King sounded in his consciousness once again, but he just stood there, like a puppet without any strings attached, unmoving. [It is a pity that I cannot have fun with you currently;e back with stronger force and amuse me more, human; only then shall I let you live!] The lich king said in a saddened, but amused tone and tapped his staff at the ground again. TINK-! With a simr chime, another ripple shot out, and crumbling sounds resounded in the area for a brief minute. Samuel''s dead but curious eyes gazed back and noticed that the army of the undead that were following him had copsed. Confused by what was happening, Samuel continued to gaze at the strange halt of everything. CREAK-! CRUMBLE-! SHATTER-! ... ..... With a series of bones being crushed and reconnected sounding in the area, Samuel gazed at the utterly absurd phenomenon taking ce right in front of his eyes. The undead began to crawl, and before long, Samuel was able to notice a strange pattern, and he understood that they weren''t moving unintentionally. He began to try to make sense of what was happening, and soon the undead began to crawl in circles, swirling around andbining with the towering spiral that continued to extend. The undead were merging with the strange structure that was being born under the Lich King''smand, and as if to affirm his thoughts, [Behold, my greatest creation!!!] The lich king''s ecstatic voice sounded. The undead continued to extend until it reached the skies, and shattering Samuel''s hopes and thinking that it would stop at the skies, the undead began to extend, peering into the skies. Soon, what remained of the undead also merged entirely with the newly born undead, and RRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR-!!!! [Ktakl! The Asian Dragon!] Ktakl announced its birth, and with strong gusts of wind pressure shooting downwards, the rest of the newly born, undead dragon''s body flew up into the sky even though the dragon didn''t have any wings to help it fly. [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!] The lich king''s euphoria-filled, hystericughter resounded throughout Samuel''s consciousness, and the Asian Dragon flew towards the lich king and floated behind him, ring at Samuel, whose body had begun to tremble violently. The Asian Dragon was zombified as it red at Samuel with massive crimson-red orbs zing in its eyeless eye sockets, as if it were able to see everything Samuel had in store. Now, Only now, Samuel was absolutely horrified. He was so terrified that he forgot about everything for a split second. Not because of the dragon, no. But because of the ambience that the lich king oozed. It was far more terrifying than what the dragon excluded, but whatever the reason, he was absolutely traumatised; he even forgot his recent trauma, but unfortunately for him, it returned at twice the speed it left. He had thought that he had a chance against the lich king, who was just sitting without doing anything, but when he felt a strong presence, which was more stronger than that of the dragon''s, his hopes were shattered almost instantly because he had already be too weak to hold on to any kind of hope. [Devour him.] The lich kingmanded, and wanting to do its best and prove its worth to its master, it acted upon its first order almost instantly and zoomed at Samuel and appeared right in front of him before he finally understood the words of the lich king. And another mumble resounded in his consciousness as he held onto hisst breath. ''It is a pity that I cannot have fun with you currently;e back with stronger force; amuse me more, human; only then shall I let you live!'' The lich king''s voice sounded, and as if something were being engraved, Samuel felt a strong burn and stinging pain in his right armpit. ''Why would that even matter when you justmanded your pet to devour me?'' Samuel thought as he took hisst breath in thends of the undead. And, Samuel died, broken. * GASP-!!? "Samuel!" Chapter 350 349. Unstable. ? GASP-!! "Samuel!!!" With a loud gasp, Samuel jolted awake as he gazed around frantically. He gazed at the scene before in utter disbelief. "You monsters, haven''t you tormented me enough?" Samuel roared and released an unbelievable amount of killing intent, and those gazing at him could instantly feel the difference in his killing intent. The current killing intent oozing out of Samuel was far more terrifying than what he had released when he enraged at himself, by the fact that he let a few of his group mates die. The current killing intent was horrifying as it felt like Samuel was somebody who had fought off armies, and he was the only survivor of whatever he had been through. And all fifty-three of those who entered the gate together with Samuel felt suffocated. A while back, when they were moving with their guards up, a puff of smoke covered Samuel''s head out of nowhere and by the next instance, Samuel had lost consciousness entirely, and he hadn''t woken up no matter what they did, and after exactly a hour and eleven minutes passed, Samuel jolted awake and began to act strange, and they could tell that even though the being in front of them was Samuel, he wasn''t Samuel at the same time. The being in front of currently was a war hero, who survived alone after he fought off against armies, and had lost all hisrades in the process. Of course, it was strange that they wereparing and drawing conclusions about Samuel fighting against armies, when they didn''t even know how it felt to fight against an army, but the ambience Samuel oozed as certainly simr, as the image of a war hero standing in the middle of blood dyednd and piled up bodies had formed in their minds as they felt his aura. "Samuel! Snap out of it!!" Garrick roared. "Shut up! You think those words will work on me anymore? Ha!" Samuel roared back as he scoffed at Garrick''s face, after he abruptly zoomed towards him. PAT-! With a thunderous pping sound resounding, they gazed at Garrick, who had just pped Samuel with everything he had, in disbelief. But none retorted his actions and some even found Garrick''s befitting. "A child shall be hit if he continues to throw his stubborn tantrum, no matter what!" Garrick roared as his saliva spat out on Samuel''s unfazed and uncaring face. "....." Samuel''s re, gradually turned moist as he looked around in disbelief. "You are all real?" Samuel asked in a squeaky whispering tone. His squeaky tone could''ve been made fun of, but their plight wasn''t optimal for such things, even though they were used to making puns at every moment they found, Samuel''s current state..... just didn''t seem to sit right with them, and soon, their eyes too turned misty, they didn''t know, nor could they feel what Samuel was feeling, but seeing him get hurt.... It pained their hearts, as they gathered around and gave a big group hug with Samuel in the middle. * After a few moments, after Samuel epted the reality, though not entirely. Bert began to exin what had happened, and after exining everything, everybody asked him what had happened with him, concerned, but Samuel just smiled at them in response. "Are you guys really real?" Samuel asked. "Yes." Garrick answered. "Are you guys really, really, real?" "Yes." It was Bert who answered this time. "Are you guys really, really, really, really, real?" "Yes, we are really, really, really, really, really, really, real!" Richard replied this time. ... .... That exchange continued for a few more minutes, but none made fun of him and answered his questions calmly, as if they were dealing with a child. And Samuel began tough pitifully, as tears began to stream out of his eyes as he hugged the one closest to him, cried on her shoulder before losing consciousness in exhaustion, of course, he jolted awake by the next instance with terrified expression stered on his face. "W-we, we should leave!" Samuel muttered as he stood up and began to force everybody to stand back up hurriedly. "What happened? Hey, what happened?" Bobby roared with a frown as his elbow as clenched by Samuel, who was making everybody stand back up on their feet, fearfully and hurriedly. "Hey!" Bobby yelled, and SLAP-! "You goddamn son of a bit*h! Answer! First answer us! If we don''t know what the f**k is up with you, then how and why would we even co-operate with you and your sh*t!? Huh?" Bobby pushed Samuel back harshly and roared, he could understand that Samuel needed time to snap out his the sh*t he was going through, but that gave him no right to be pushy around them, and definitely not with him! "Answer us, or f**k off!" Bobby roared at Samuel''s dread dyed face and walked back in a huff. "Just because we have been with him for a long time, it seems like we are being underestimated a bit too much...." Bobby mumbled under his breath, but his mumble was loud enough for everybody to hear. "OI!" Samuel''s hoarse voice sounded behind him, but before he turned around to face him, he felt a strong grip on his shoulder as he was forced to turn to face Samuel, and before he retorted, SLAP-! With a thunderous p, Samuel clenched Bobby''s cors and red into his eyes, with his killing intent focused entirely on Bobby. "Then die here! All by yourself, if not then, die with those around you!" Samuel''s cold voice rang like thunderbolts in their minds, and they could only stare at Samuel''s walking off figure in daze. "You can follow me if you want to live!" Those were thest words they heard as Samuel''s figure disappeared from their sights, which was gazing back at the direction from where they had entered the gate. Tears gathered up in Bobby''s eyes, but he didn''t let them fall out as he clenched his teeth and fists, hold back his tears. TAP.... A firm grip was felt on his shoulder, as Bert walked next to him, and "We''ll talk to him about his worries after we get out of here." Bert said. "My conclusion is that Samuel had seen something dreadful which included us, and he is acting cold because he still hasn''te in terms with his real reality. You too can understand his current state if you remember what he has been speaking ever since he woke up from his unconscious state." Richard muttered, and the rest of them too began to think that Samuel was strange, a bit stranger than they had expected. With a reluctant nod, Bobby followed his friends back outside, and he was sure he wasn''t going to forgive Samuel anytime soon. * WHOOOOMMM-! "Hm? Oh! You guys are out, too!" Seo Hana said as soon as she saw the rest of the ck Rain Order groupe out of the gate, which clearly stated [Anubis''s Undead Dungeon], meaning that the dungeon could be influenced by the fallen god, Anubis, the Gifted were slightly surprised to see that the ck Rain Order even dared to attempt to raid this dungeon, which was influenced by a god. All fifty-three in the group that had just walked out of the gate were gazing at Seo Hana in disbelief, while some bluntly released their killing intent which was clearly directed at her. "Hana...." Katline whispered from behind, Seo Hana nced at her over her shoulder and noticed Katline pointing downwards. "Ah, right." Seo Hana muttered under her breath as she realised why killing intent was directed at her. Beneath her footid Samuel, knocked out. He had rushed out of the gate like a raging bull, when she has attempted to talk to him politely, he had yelled at her spewing profanities and calling her things which included words like, little girl, or like little girl, or like little girl, you know? She was hurt hearing such absolutely, utterly, absurd profanities, so she didn''t have any other choice but to try to calm him down "calmly," but with a "soft," strong hit at the back of his head, she knocked him out and asked him to calm down right after, extremely politely. So politely that even the emperor would have shied away from such politeness. "He was spewing profanities at my kids, when all we asked was to discuss about the alliance that was brought to my notice, so I tried to calm him and somehow things came down to this at the end. Haaa....." Seo Hana exined her own version of the story with a deep, regretful sigh as she gazed down at Samuel and gradually took her foot off of his head. A hint of understanding shed in the faces of the core members of the ck Rain Order, which Hana didn''t miss and concluded that something head happened with Samuel, the leader of the group, and decided to hold the upper hand in the alliance that was going to bind both of their groups together, Seo Hana smirked inwardly and the face of a certain handsome man shed in her mind that had a smirk simr to hers stered on his face. ''Goddammit, I can''t believe I still have lingering feelings for him! Hmph!!'' She strongly snorted inwardly and gazed at the group as her irises glimmered with warm mes. "And...." Seo Hana mumbled coldly, garnering herself all the attention of the people in front of her. "We....are here to discuss about the alliance, that "you" guys proposed...." She said as her fiery gaze flitted upon each and everyone of them in front of her, before her gazended on Garrick, Bert, Bobby, and Richard. "I think, you should properly teach your group on how to behave first, or....." Hana muttered coldly, and he tone turned fierce as it neared the end, and BOOOMMM-! A strong amount of ming killing intent nketed the hundred metre wide area, forcing the few people in the ck Rain Order on to their knees, if noticed properly, one could tell that those kneeling were the only ones that released their killing intent directed at the Gifted. "Are you looking down on me because I''m a woman?" Seo Hana asked and her words rang like thunderbolts in the heads of those present, including the Gifted, worse gazes gazing at the ck Rain Order turned fierce. Chapter 351 350. Declaration Of A Massacre. ? The prejudice between men and women had long died down, since strength decided what was right and what was wrong in the kingdoms and empires. It would be a foolish thing to do if they acted the same when both men and women were stronger than each other in many ways. But, Women of this world were raised with the teaching of "women must seduce the men" and things along those lines; even though many women were stronger than the men, due to such upbringing, they were often looked down upon by many, at least until they "proved" their worth to the world, umting achievements for themselves to be acknowledged. Though it was the same for men, it was applicable only when a "talented" moner" was involved, while noble young masters had money to get what they wanted, be it achievements, women, fame, ranks, position, or skills. The barrier of strength between men and women had broken entirely after the beginning of the apocalypse, but the women were still looked down upon because of the way they had grown up. Seo Hana had learned about these things while they were still in the academy. Though there wasn''t any verbal exchange between the Gifted and the ck Rain Order groups currently, she felt ufortable because of the stares she was receiving from the ck Rain Order group. One mistake, she was waiting for that one mistake, and she would massacre the entire group without a shred of mercy. She grew up in a different environment with authority and authoritative strength, and being looked down upon didn''t sit right with her; even "that" man hasn''t ever looked down upon her, even though he was a god-like being. ''These mere ants dare....'' Seo Hana gritted her teeth, irked. Her killing intent intensified, and soon a few cracks resounded with wiles following them, but of course, Hana had no intention of stopping anytime soon. "Stop! Please stop! We''re already on the verge of breakdown; please stop!" Richard eximed with difficulty. [That''s not how an alliance holder should handle things.] A calm, hypnotic, unrecognisable voice sounded in her mind, and shuddering at the abrupt voice, Hana calmed down and looked around with a frown adorning her face. Her friend deepened in confusion as the face of a certain man shed in her mind again, and "Ahem....I apologise. I went too far." Hana apologised for the formality. "I-it''s ok." Bert quickly tried to take control of the situation. * After a few minutes of "rearrangement," the leaders of the ck Rain Order and the Gifted sat on opposite sides in an abandoned building, gazing at each other as they tried to assess and gain the upper hand in the alliance, but still unbeknownst to the ck Rain Order, Seo Hana already had the upper hand the moment she decided to act, and that act of hers was enough to gain the upper hand in this so-called alliance, which was only about ring at amon enemy rather than a proper, formal alliance. It was more of a temporary cease-fire in a war between kingdoms as they tried to suck in all the recourses of the third-party kingdom, which was poking around them and reaping benefits amidst the chaos that the two kingdoms were facing. The information exchange took ce after they shook hands at a deal that was more favourable to the "victims" of the ck Rain Order''s prejudice. The information exchange contained a lot of informative and curiosity-enticing news, which was well received by the gifted and also confirmed their suspicions about the Honour-bound Federation and the Abominations. After taking a deep, sharp breath, Seo Hana, whose vibe had morphed into a terrifying one, gazed straight at Samuel''s almost lifeless eyes. "Human experiments." Hana stated, and the entire room turned silent. "..... What?" Samuel asked as if he didn''t understand her words. "Huuu.... "We suspect" that these groups are involved in human experimenting. We have news about a certain man speaking about "testing the limits of a human''s potential."" Seo Hana stated. They were nning to attack these groups'' locations in a matter of a few weeks, which was the reason they were fighting against monster hoards beforeing here. They too wanted to enter the dungeons to fight against hoards, but the dungeon they currently had a hold of in their "territory" had a huge time difference, and the difference was currently notpletely calcted, so, since they couldn''t take risks in times like these, they held off from going into the dungeons. And it wasn''t the time nor the matter that allowed them to have the leisure of taking a break, because the more they dyed, the more people they would have lost by the time they initiated a proper attack. "Where did you get this information from? Is the source even reliable?" Samuel stated vaguely, implying many hidden queries clouded in distrust. And that was thest straw; Seo Hana''s respectful demeanour shattered in an instant, reced by a cold demeanour that chilled the atmosphere in the room. "Mr. Samuel.... this so-called alliance was something you f**kers wanted; I couldn''t care less if you believed me or not, but you have dared to underestimate us twice since the beginning; it seems like you didn''t initiate this alliance with propermon sense on how an alliance works, so....." Seo Hana spoke slowly, eerily, and coldly, forcing the ck Rain Order to take an unconscious step back, both mentally and physically. "We''ll call off this alliance since I don''t really see the use of being allied with a group full of sh*t heads." Seo Hanamented and walked off, uttering everything she wanted to. The ck Rain Order group, which ranked first in overall world rankings, had lost her respect the moment they underestimated and discriminated against her and her group, and Samuel''s distrust was thest string of respect she held towards them, and when it snapped, her attitude towards them changed a whole 180 degrees. "Halt!" Samuel eximed loudly as he red at the Gifted, who were walking off of the table without even ncing back once. "Ha...." With a sigh of exhaustion, only Seo Hana halted as she red at Samuel over her shoulder, eerily. "I guess I should change my opinion of the ck Rain Order; these dumb f**ks don''t even understand the situation they are in....." Hana spoke to herself, and when she heard somebody unsheathing their sword.... "Incinerate." With a soft mumble escaping Hana''s small mouth, "ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" Anguish-dyed screams resounded in the room as a man in the middle of the group began to burn under a strong me like a matchstick, and before long, nothing except for his ashes and witnesses remained as proof of that dead man''s existence. [Hahahahaha!!] A cold yet amusedughter sounded in her consciousness as she just ignored theughter and red at the group, which now had an expression with which Hana was satisfied. The expression of utter horror had dyed the ashen faces of the remaining fifty-three people. "What were you saying, f**k head?" Hana asked as she gazed at Samuel, whose expression was changing unnaturally at a terrifying rate. She, until today, never knew that a human''s face could change so many different expressions in such a short time. SNAP-!!! With a few snaps of her fingers, Hana garnered their attention and "From this day forth, I, no, we the Gifted, are going to be in control of the gates in the ck Rain Order''s territory. If you dare to block our paths, then it will be a war." Seo Hana stated, thinking that if the alliance was going to break anyway, why should she hold back her demands, and why not gain something inpensation for all the exhaustion they had caused? So, she decided that she would rip them off..... Ahem, she would get a "proper," and "adequate"pensation. Thepensation she mentioned was also one of the reasons she had epted the alliance in the first ce, so getting the same results by piging wasn''t that bad, Or so she felt. "Wha-" Samuel was about to roar at the outrageous demands due to a simple matter of offence, but was cut short by Hana. "No, war is when two equal forces fight, I think? But if it''s one-sided, then it has another moniker for it...." She muttered and continued. "A massacre." She stated, and they shuddered, as if they felt like the massacre she mentioned was going to take ce right at that moment. "The ck Rain Order will cease to exist the moment they dare to halt us, the Gifted." Hana stated in an authoritative tone and began to walk off, as [Hahahahahahahaha!!!] A certain man''s hysterically amusedughter sounded in her consciousness. ''At least, the benefits we were aiming for haven''t changed....'' She thought. Of course, if she wanted, she could make things right even now, but she chose not to. Working with another group without any trust was like leaving their backs open to their enemies, which was just another way to die sooner. It was a bit, only in the slightest bit, of a shame since she couldn''t obtain arge number of "troops," but well, not everything goes as nned. From her talk with the core members of the ck Rain Order¡ªBert, Garrick, Bobby, and Richard¡ªat the start, she could tell that Samuel was currently extremely sensitive and unstable, which was the reason she had tried to talk as softly as possible, but once she snapped, it was over; she cared for nothing, and this time too, she didn''t care about Samuel''s state whatsoever and literally piged their source of survival, the gates. And she felt no remorse for what she did; her world had always been a dog-eat-dog world, and that didn''t change even on a new, so except for making her more mentally and physically stronger, the new had no influence on her. "Is it over?" Katline, who stood just out of the room, asked as soon as Hana walked out rubbing her forehead. Noticing Hana nod her head in agreement, "You did great." Katline said and hugged Hana as they walked down the stairs. "Katline, do you think I''m boring?" Hana abruptly asked, her thoughts wandering elsewhere. "Huh?" "....." Chapter 352 351. Prototype-X26. ? In an abandoned building on a floating ind. A countable crowd of people were seen walking around calmly yet sternly as they gazed at the humanoid figures floating in the humongous cylinders that were scattered around the room randomly, in curiosity, as a load of research materials and tools for experiment purposes were scattered ordingly, with one old, bald man working vigorously. The humongous cylinders were filled with blue-green gooey liquid to the brim, with the humanoid figures floating in it with extreme numbers of stiches counting on them, some even had two pairs of additional limbs attached to them, with masks and many thin pipes connected to them, through which some strange brownish liquid was seen cruising. The crowd in the room only existed to gaze at the progress of the experiments, as Sir, no, Dr. Ecrirn carried out his ns to create a perfect existence. The crowd were the people from Honour-bound Federation and the Abominations which had came into contact with Ecrirn due to their end goals assigning in simr paths. These groups wanted stronger forces, to bring their apocalyptic world under their control, while Ecrirn wanted to be a perfect existence, that was human yet wasn''t human at the same time. And if Ecrirn''s n bore fruits, then the core members of the groups would also get experimented on, to be the so-called perfect existences. And the reason they even had gotten the idea of contacting this crazy doctor was because they heard the voice of their God, who advised them to awaken to the maximum limit of their existences as humans, so as they searched desperately for the means and methods, one certain day, their God took pity on them, and gave them the location of Ecrirn, who had made a certain level of progress on the limits of human capabilities and potentialities. After leading them to the path they searched for, their God''s voices disappeared, and their assumption¡ªthat their God would speak to them if they were every strayed from their destined paths¡ªwhich soon turned into to a strong belief continued to spread under their influence, which, soon after, gave birth to arge enough but strong group of fanatics. And gradually, after their contact with Ecrirn, he too was influenced and had be a part of this group of stubborn, headstrong fanatics. That had destroyed arge number of survivor groups, to make up theirck of "materials" required for their experiments, and currently, they had killed at least a thousand people, without a shred of remorse. "How many more days until the release of these prototypes?" A man with dark red hair asked Ecrirn, who red at the man in response, even hissing at him a bit. "Three days at max." Ecrirn replied in a huff and turned towards a prototype floating in a cylinder and made way towards it, pushing aside piles of important, ground breaking information containing documents. Shrugging his shoulders at the crowd behind him, the red-haired man gazed around curiously and this time being careful to not disturb the crazy old man, fully knowing that if he annoyed the old man too much, then it would him in one of those containers. Slight shudder cruised through the red-haired man when he imagined himself in the position of those humanoids. Ecrirn gradually appeared in front of a humanoid figure in the cylinder as he gazed at the prototype with an expectant vigour burning fiercely in his gaze. The figure had three arms, and two legs, a head, and stiches filled body, if you think it couldn''t get worse, then you''re about to be enlightened, because the insides¡ªorgans of this certain prototype were reced by those of the beasts roaming in their apocalyptic world,patibility and many other things that had to taken into ount had been done so, and this was the first, still breathing, prototype. Its name being Prototype-X26. He then gazed at a red button at the cylinder''s right side, and mmed it hurriedly. The liquid in the cylinder drained, yet the figure floating in it continued to float even without any liquid that seemed to have been keeping it afloat, then Ecrirn''s fingers flitted across the keyboarded control panel which prompted the cylinder to be filled with reddish gooey liquid this time, which was soon filled to the brim. The brownish liquid cruising through the vein-like pipes also drained, as Ecrirn manually reced them with eight bottles of blood, with the pipes still connected to the prototype, and he walked back towards the keyboarded control panel and his fingers flitted across it again, this time, blood began to flow into the prototype as its old, dead blood came out of the other side, a few of the dead blood was released into the reddish liquid, but it was soon, dissolved entirely. And just like that, the now ashen body of the prototype, began to be filled with blood again, profuse amount of dead blood was seeping out of the stiches, but due to being in the reddish liquid, the unfortunate, was halted. But that still didn''t change the fact that the liquid was being contaminated rapidly and if the same continued, then it would certainly cause problems with the prototype, which would only garner failure, so Ecrirn''s fingers flitted across the control panel rapidly as many series ofplex calctions were being solved in his mind at terrifying speeds, as his flitting fingers brought life to the calctions in his mind, though theputer speed hadn''t entirely caught up to the speed of his mind. And soon, a newly createdmand was used, and the cylinder blinked a few code reds, but with a blink of green, theputer carried out the newly createdmand, as the reddish, contaminated, liquid was being drained at a corner, while pure reddish liquid was being released back into the cylinder, which increased the purity of the contaminated liquid as the process of blood recement continued on. This was the one method that Ecrirn was able to carry out currently without destroying our damaging the prototype, if he seeded this time, then he would have taken the longest and hardest step forward, towards one small, final step towards the sess he ever-so eagerly yearned for, for the past 33 years! Soon, with a vigorous thump, Ecrirn mmed at the red button again, and soon, the cylinder was devoid of the reddish liquid, which had forced the prototype to turn red under its strong concentration. A bright smile broke out in his face, but he managed to control his emotions soon enough, because the prototype had only survived the easiest step, which was the third step, and now, it was time was the final step. Ecrirn''s fingers flitted on the control panel again, as the cylinder with a floating prototype turned to his left side, and began to shift horizontally, after the shift neared its end, Ecrirn''s active fingers tapped across the panel as the dense magic powerpressed inside the cylinder was gradually oozed out of it, and now, the prototype wasying down in the cylinder which was lowering down. Pulling the dense mass of experimenting cylinder, Ecrirn went into a strong, reinforced room and left the cylinder in there, with all of its functions cut off, walked out of the room, sealed the door and walked towards the dense ss wall, from which he, together with the crowd, were able to gaze at the horizontallyying prototype with stern expressions dyeing their faces. With a click of the button in Ecrirn''s hand, the fate of that prototype would be decided, because now, the cylinder would release the atmospheric structure and pressure into it, the results of which could be explosion, if the experiment was a failure, but a violent trembling, a strong bounce, and an abrupt jolt of an unknown consciousness being forced into the body were expected to take ce if the experiment was a sess. Praying to their God excessively, they red holes into the consciousness less body, CLICK-! "....." "....." Expectations filled atmosphere was responded with eerie silence, which was making them anxious, and "Haaa...." Ecrirn sighed regretfully as he gazed at the red-haired man with a shame and disappointment dyed face. He opened his mouth to announce the result of his experiment, "My apologizes, the experiment was a failur-" BOOOMMM-! "!!!!!" Their eyes widened in surprise, because it was the loudest explosion they head ever heard, and even the vibrations of the explosion could be felt, and this wasn''t supposed to happen even if it was a failure, but..... It exploded. Meaning? The experiment failed, and there were many changes that required to be made in the documents that were recording everything about his prototypes. The current one was Prototype-X26, so the next one was going to be Prototype-Y1. Mumbling hisints to himself, Ecrirn ignored the crowd that had utter shock dyeing their faces and walked towards the records, to note down and recheck if there were any problems that he hadn''t taken into ount yet. "E-Ecrirn...." The red-haired man called out, and with a hiss, Ecrirn tuned to face the man, noticing that the man wasn''t gazing at him, he followed the man''s gaze and his eyes dted in shock. Behind the dense wall of ss was a standing, expressionless man with three arms and stiches covered body, which was gazing around in child-like curiosity and soon, its face twisted menacingly, it gazed before clenching an handle of sorts on the cylinder, and yanked it off, before beginning to feed on it. These were the characteristics Ecrirn observed, the prototype he created was an extremely curious being, and had Catastrophic level of hunger. * In a certain cosy house, a white-haired couple wereying on afortably fluffy couch as they cuddled with each other, gazing at a many system windows that disyed stomach churning scenes with smiles on their faces, which either meant that they were used to such gory details and they didn''t affect them, Or, They were so invested in each other that they cared for nothing else and nothing more. Chapter 353 352. Confrontation. ? A weekter. WHOOSH-! WHOOSH-! ... ..... Six figures were seen jumping across the branches of the tall trees in the middle of a dense forest, that had a thick nket of leaves covering thend from the sunlight, which still had managed to peer through, like light peering through the bullet holes. Seo Hana, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Jiwoo, and Charlie zoomed towards a certain direction, as they cut through the winds, leaving behind trails of strong wind gusts, hurriedly, jumping from one branch of a tree to another. "Hurry!" Seo Hana roared from the front and sped up again. "Yes!" A loud man''s yell came from below, Hana gazed down from the corner of her eyes and scoffed before speeding up again. The figure "running" below, in between the trees was none other than Samuel, behind whom were Richard, Bert, Garrick, and Bobby, who were barely keeping up with the speeds of those above. Two days after the exchange between the Gifted and the ck Rain Order, Samuel, who had calmed down and came in terms with the reality, notified and personally went to find the Gifted and apologized with his head bowed, though he wasn''t forgiven, he was given a chance to prove himself to be someone who was worth forming an alliance with. Since the mistakeid with him, he gratefully epted the chance with the resolution of proving himself. Now, the unknown source of information the Gifted were affiliated with, had notified them that the Honour-bound Federation and the Abominations had began to move, so now, they were rushing to disrupt or possibly destroy everything those groups had nned. ''He, at least, is good enough to be considered apetent subordinate.....'' Hana thought, and an horrifying memory of Elise, her best friend, being crushed to death shed in her mind, making her shudder and miss her step. "!!!" Her pupils dted, but she quicklyposed herself as if she had missed the step intentionally, and stood straight as she dove down. As she neared the half-end mark of the tall tree, she strongly flexed her shoulder des, FHHOOOOM-! FLAP-! WHOOOOSH-! With a strong p of her wings of mes, Hana rose up into the skies, without damaging the trees or their leaves which were lit in her mes as she flew up. Her phoenix mes were one with from the nature itself, so unless she intended to, her mes would hurt no one, but if she did, then her mes would burn everything until nothing except ashes would remain as the proof of their existences. Those below gazed up at the warmth filled mes in horror as they remembered how mercilessly those very mes had incinerated one of them. "....." With a deep breath of fresh air, Hana forgot every bit of her tension and lived the second of her life in peace, as she gazed at the nature disying its beauty at its fullest. The thick nket of leaves, the small birds flitting around, the bright sunlight glimmering down upon the world, the fresh air, cool breezes of calming scented gusts of wind, the shapelessly shaped dense clouds that were floating around as some tried to cover the blinding lights of the happily burning sun, and her, floating and gazing at every bit of the beauty she could see to its fullest, and enjoying the brief moment of calmness that she would remember for as long as she lived. "Haaaaa...." Hana exhaled sharply and slightly folded her wings, diving down into the cushion of leaves with a smile on her face. The moment she enjoyed without a single thought in her mind ended as soon her gazended on the figures rushing ahead, yet she wasn''t worried about it too much, but was worried sufficiently enough, because she knew the abilities of hers and her team''s, of course, ignoring the group of petent subordinates." She was confident in defeating those that stood in her way, and she was confident in her team''s abilities, so she knew they would return home alive, but ''Prepare yourselves fully and expect a war.'' Were the words of warning, of a certain someone whom she trusted, so she couldn''t help but feel slight uneasiness and ominousness. ''Something is wrong....'' Seo Hana finally put a halt on her stupidly naive thoughts of trusting "him," and finally began to think for herself. FLAP-! With another strong p of her phoenix wings, Hana made her way through the densely packed trees, towards her group. "Prepare for a war!" Hana yelled, authoritatively. ''He has no reason to warn us futilely, that means he lead us to the main group!'' She assumed and affirmed her thoughts at her institution, and steeled her resolve to return alive. "Hah! It seems like youcked entertainment!" Hana yelled at the sky, and fully knowing her words had reached the person she yelled at, she focused on the more concerning things in front of her, because in a way, it was her own fault for ignoring a serious warning. * A few hourster. Noticing Hana''s fist raised into the air, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Jiwoo, and Charlie quickly hid behind the tree, as those below noticed them and they too hid behind the trees. ''An enemy?'' Katline thought, but no matter how wide she spread her senses, she could feel no one. But she still hid because she knew how strong Hana was, even though the time to see her use her full strength hasn''t appeared until date. So, Katline felt like it was an honour to witness Seo Hana fight at full strength at a corner of her mind [I feel strange presences at Northwest.] Hana''s telepathic voice sounded in their head. ''Northwe-'' Katline pondered, but before her thoughts werepleted, SHIIIING-! BOOM-! "!!!!" Katline instinctively leaned back and avoided a deathblow, precisely aimed at her head. She gazed at the tree truck she hid behind, that had shattered from the blow and Katline, whose subconscious mind head jolted awake in surprise, jumped back towards another tree in fright. Making a mistake right at the beginning. Her jump revealed their location, the blow just now could have been considered a coincidental shot but due to Katline''s actions, their location was revealed clearly, and as if to prove their thoughts right, BOOM-! BOOM-! ..... .... With a series of deathblow aimed at the trees they hid behind, Katline and the others were relentlessly attacked as they began to ponder a way out of their current plight. The power and force behind whatever was fired at them felt like bullet shots, but guns usage had significantly reduced because of the world being nketed in dense mana or ki, so another assumption they could derive was that the blows that seemed like bullets were mana or ki bullets. ''Since unlike on Earth, ki or mana always existed in this world, they must have been ustomed to it, it isn''t that strange that they formted a blueprint to create a gun that fires mana bullets, but their new weapon introduction timing is extremely bad!'' Katline thought. Since she had already wasted enough time, Katline took out her bow and quiver out of her inventory, nocked an arrow and aimed it up into the air, felt the air and calcted the direction the mana bullets were being fired, she soon assessed the distance, approximately, and "Hana!" Katline eximed and released her arrow into the air. ZZWOOOSH-! BOOM-! The bullets continued to be fired at them, as they persistently dodged the bullets hearing the sounds of the bullet cutting through the winds before it even reached them, and avoiding all of them out of pure calctions and instincts. Though the bullets were slow for people as strong as them, they still had densely packed explosive power in them, which cued at their instincts that screamed them of deadly threats. "100 more!" Hana''s loud voice sounded, and Katline nocked three arrows and pulled back the string of her bow as Charlie rushed to tank off the bullets fired at them, and before long ZZWOOOSH-! ZZWOOOSH-! ZZWOOOSH-! After peering through the nket of leaves, the arrows aimed down in a certain direction, "Fire arrow." Katline mumbled while standing on a tree branch, and unlike hermand, the arrows weren''t lit in bright fire or anything. Instead, The arrows turned bright orange as subtle smoke began to rise, which instead of blowing away, concentrated behind the arrows, forming concentrated blobs of smoke. "BOOM!" Katline mumbled andplying with her currentmand, PUT-!!! With three small bursts, the arrows shot down towards the destined direction and BOOM-!!! The arrows finally reached their targets and the explosions just now confirmed the hit, which brought a smile onto her face. BOOM-!!! Yet, the bullets being fired at them didn''t lessen even for a bit, frowning in confusion Katline nced at Seo Hana, and noticed that she also had a strange expression on her face. [The arrows connected and exploded just like what was expected, but not a scratch is seen on the bodies of those monstrous basta*ds, who are firing sh*t load of bullets at us!] Hana''s panicked voice, that was unable to hid the hint of thrill and excitement, sounded in their minds. "Let''s take them on head-on..." Hana spoke but quickly stopped herself. "Katline, fire more of those arrows, Samuel and group, its your turn, confront and retreat in five minutes! Do whatever you can to find out about them, any kind information, whether minute or major, every bit of the information is vital. Focus, and move!" Hana''smanded. "We will cover you from behind, so fight without worrying about your backs!" Handsmanded again, and Samuel, Richard, Bert, Garrick, and Bobby happilyplied as they roared in affirmation and rushed towards the enemies. WHOOOOSH-! "Katline, your role is just as vital as theirs! So focus, and fire!" Chapter 354 353. Confrontation (2). ? Katline continued to fire arrows from a distance, without using much of her skills, as Seo Hana, Katharine, and Jiwoo rushed and closed in on the hostile entities. While Violet, Seol So-Young, and Charlie stayed back, as Violet buffed them, Seol So-Young and Charlie protected her and Katline from any harm that could potentially ambush and damage them, both mentally or physically. These hostile entities were none other than the experimented beings, prototypes, who were armoured up to the teeth, as they fired ki bullets with guns at the sight of an enemy or their energy fluctuation. They had additional limbs attached to them, unlike human''s, and were unnaturally strong like beasts of the apocalypse, and their moments seemed to be instinctive. There were 7 of them standing out with an hatch behind them, through which they expected more toe out, and there was also a possibility that the hatch led to an underground facility, aboratory of sorts. It didn''t take long for them to understand that their assumptions and suspicious were true, but that realisation didn''t help them even a bit. Bobby, the tank, of the group took the lead as he rushed towards the enemies with Samuel, Garrick, Bert, and Richard behind him. Garrick had a rapier in his hand, Bert had a staff, Richard had a sword and shield, while Samuel held a battle axe in each hand. They gazed at the near perfect coordination between the Gifted, whose supports, attacks, and defences that were at a strangely perfect harmony, Samuel felt envious. The main attack team had closed in on the enemies, the support team stood in the back with a long-range damage dealer and a few rear damage dealers, acting as both attack and defence, which was the simr case with the main attack team, where the damage dealers were also defending. ''They are cing their trusts in each other to protect themselves, and have a significant distance between them which would easily allow them to use skills while also being able to provide support if needed.....'' Samuel assessed and realised that if not for the Gifted not caring about the rankings, then the world rankings would have been different, and at the same time, they weren''t the only group that didn''t care about the rankings. Seo Hana pped her wings and flew up, she red down at the prototypes and flexed her shoulders strongly, opening her wings wide, through which fist sized balls of fire shot out at the prototypes. Who continued to attack, without even flinching at the fireballs. ''Fire is useless against them.....'' Hana pondered as her fireballs exploded upon impact with the prototypes, except for them being pushed back from the explosive power, they had no reaction whatsoever. She was searching for a weakness, a weakness that they could use to kill those prototypes, who seemed absurdly strong even though they were using nothing except for ki bullets. Katharine clenched her broadsword hung on her shoulders, kicked off of the ground, she took a deep breath with her sword behind her back and swung it down at the enemies, with a loud roar. BOOM-! The ground caved at the tip of her sword, as Jiwoo, who was following behind her quite closely, zoomed out of her shadow and swung his sword at the enemies, which garnered him "tings" upon impact with the necks and limbs of the prototypes in front of him. "Their skins are strong! Metal like!" Jiwoo roared, reporting his finds and jumped back, avoiding the blow directed at him. WHOOOM-! Series of winds swirling strongly, sounded, as the Gifted began to use ki to fight against their enemies. If they had fought against the prototypes with ki from the beginning, and the prototypes died, then they wouldn''t have found a "proper" weakness, which they could use even in their exhausted state. So now that they understood that their enemies were robot-like, they began to use ki. Light blue coloured ki was the most natural and basic ki, which hadn''t reached the level of adding intent, garnered around Jiwoo, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Katline, and Charlie, while bright orange hue glimmered around Hana, whose ki was on a different levelpared to those of her group. The five from the ck Rain Order also had light blue hue surrounding them, at they neared the halfway mark, behind the Gifted. And for a strange reason, realisation dawned upon Samuel and, ''Anubis''s Undead Dungeon.....'' He thought inwardly, he didn''t know why he abruptly remembered that, but he realised that the dungeon hadn''t been cleared yet, meaning there existed a possibility of a dungeon break urring. But, "Make haste!" Samuelmanded, because he felt like if they didn''t speed up and join the fight, the fight would reach a conclusion before they even include themselves in the so-called fight. Seo Hana alone was more than enough to clear up the mess made by the Honour-bound Federation and the Abominations, but real reason they were here was because Samuel had promised to prove himself and his group, to be people worthy of forming alliances. STOMP-! With a strong stomp, Samuel shot forward, towards the prototypes who were disgusting to look at, and now, the battle axes in his hands glimmered bright blue, before he shed at the prototypes! TANG-! BING-! CRACK-! "Argh!!" Due to the abrupt halt of his swing, his axe held hand bled profusely, due to the crack of his thumb bone. Samuel could even be considered lucky because he had swung only one axe, if he had swung both of them, then without a doubt, both of his hands would have broken. "Heh!" A faint, ridiculing scoff sounded behind him, when he nced behind, the sight he gazed at left him dumbfounded. Behind him was Hana, who had a mocking smile stered on her leisure looking face. "Too weak!" A mumble were thest words he heard as Hana''s body flitted around and across the trees as her fire slowly began to spread at an fifty meter radius around the prototypes, yet they felt a strange warmth envelope him instead of burning hot, heat. ''Too weak!'' Those words lingered on his mind for a long time. And a domain, an iplete domain to be precise, began to be itched into the surroundings, and with a violent tremble swept past the vicinity, warmth dyed mes began to move in strange patterns before they soared up, and FHOOOMMMM-! With a loud enough sounds of me fluttering, the mes that rose up, fell down in an instant and BOOM-! With a subtle boom, the warmth dyed mes engulfed everybody in the 50 meter radius, after confirming that they were the only ones inside, an iplete domain was initiated. "Ever-burning Sun!" Hanamanded and the sky-like, far away, crimson ceiling covered everything their sights could meet, with burning footing beneath their feet. They gazed down and found themselves on a globe, the sky-like crimson ceiling they thought was space that had dyed crimson ordingly to the domain initiator''s will. Of course, except for the caster herself, none really knew that what they were witnessing currently was nothing but a poor imitation of a domain, an illusion in more simple terms. As along as those trapped in it weren''t stronger than her, they wouldn''t be able to differentiate between a real domain and her illusion space. She had learned what a domain is from a certain ck-haired woman, whom she had gotten closer with, and ording to her, ''a domain was bringing out the world we have imagined it to be, in the depths of our consciousness, and if brought out into reality, everything we, the caster, will''s will be the reality in itself. But things like that is only possible in a domain which does not affect the real reality in anyway.'' She, Seo Hana, hadn''t even realised what she imagined the world to be, so she consciously imagined and formed the so-called domain, which was a domain only in name. The closest and the strongest source of her attributed power was the sun, hence, she chose the sun as a significant part of her domain. So ording to her imagination, the current "domain" was supposed to be a sun in a crimson space, it wasn''t that creative, but not that shabby either. And if she determined enough and put in enough effort, one day a literal sun could be a part of her domain, one day. A day which wasn''t today. And, Fire isn''t their weakness. "But.... everything either burns or melts under fierce enough fire!" Hana roared and her roar turned into her will, and her phoenix trait busted out and oozed extremely hot mes, that burned everything in its way. Of course, with the exception of those she didn''t wish to harm. Yet, "Ack...." Pained groans sounded. It was difficult. A lot more difficult than she thought it would be! She was having hard time pouring out her will into the oozing mes, which were beginning to hurt those she deemed allies! And, when she was trying to control the fire, [Let it burn!] A hypnotic voice sounded in her consciousness, and her gaze dulled as she involuntarily began toply with the receivedmand. Dancing to the tone of the hypnotic voice. [The more hotter the better!] ''The more hotter the better.....'' The voice sounding in her consciousness began to be hers own. And, her mes began to burn unrestrained. Burning everything in its path, which were dyed in screams of her allies. BOOM-! BOOM-! ... ..... Ki bullets fired by the prototypes continued to burst, which were aimed at the flowing mes, and like flowing water, it soon reached the prototypes and even made way into the hatch. No groans, nor screams sounded from the prototypes, yet those, who were Hana''s allies were shrieking in agony. A single, lonely, tear rolled off Hana''s eye and vaporised. "Exterminate threat." A apathetic voice sounded in Hana''s ear, jolting her awake, but the next thing she could see in front of her was a scaled fist, that struck her face before she could dodge it. BAM-! Chapter 355 354. Prototype-Ace. ? The so-called domain shattered into pieces when a first struck Hana''s face, and everything returned to normal, or what was supposed to be normal. The tall trees in the surroundings were burned to the ground, the ground head turned ck from the intensity of the fire, the robot bodied prototypes were nowhere to be seen, the hatch still had, lit mes burning within while its metal parts were bright orange, as if they were going to melt soon. Third degree burns were seen on Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Jiwoo, Charlie, Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, and Bobby. Violet was doing her best to heal while drinking mana replenishing potion like water, they weren''t burnt to death thanks to Violet casting barriers, mana shields, reinforcements, and strengthening spells quickly. Since her support ss type differed from a normal kind''s, she didn''t have resistance spells, with healing spell in its ce. If she had resistance spells the current oue could have been different, though since it had been like that from the beginning with her, it wasn''t time to fret over it. They didn''t even nce at Hana, who was at fault, meaning that they trusted her enough to know that she wouldn''t things like that intentionally. This was a kind of trust Hana was grateful for, but that didn''t mean she wasn''t feeling guilty for losing control. It happened too quickly. Everything happened so quickly that she hadn''t even realised what she was doing except for willing for her mes to burn more and more strongly and fiercely. And, All these observations and thoughts took ce in Hana''s consciousness in matter of seconds. Which wasn''t able to continue, due a fist flying at her from her right, this time she was awake enough to dodge the iing punch. BAM-! A ring of wind pressure exploded when the fist came to an abrupt halt in front of her face, her gazed snapped to find the source and found Charlie in his dragonoid form with unfocused eyes gazing at her as if she was his archenemy. STEP-!!! SLAP-! And, an abrupt p resounded throughout the area. Violet, who had rushed towards them, pped Charlie across his face, who in turn froze, before rity returned to his unfocused eyes, which began to gaze around with a deep frown adorning his face, when he found Violet ring him, he under stood the situation and lowered his head in shame. "I lost control, again." Charlie muttered with a regretful and tired sigh. FHUMP-! Violet hugged him when she heard his sigh and ruffled his hair, kissing his neck before she pushed him back and gazed into his eyes. "It''s alright, you snapped out of it sooner this time, there is much improvement, cheer up." Violet said, sweetly. Looking at them like that, the guilt bubbling up inside Hana got bigger and heavier, she bowed extremely and "I''m sorry." She apologized, she knew that an apology won''t fix what she had done in daze, but it was something she had to do because she made a mistake, whether she was forgiven or not is an entirely different matter. But, instead of receiving an earful, as what one would expect at moments like this, "..... Are you alright?" A tone filled with concern was what sounded in Hana''s ears. After a few seconds, Hana breathed heavily and stood straight, looking at them with a not understanding gaze. "I do not know....." Hana said. The matters about the prototype had left their minds as the concern for their friend garnered the most priority, it was involuntarily and subconsciously done, but even if the situation has reversed where Hana was hurt due to them, a simr scene would have unfolded, it definitely was an heart-warming scene, if only it wasn''t for the hindrance. "....Huff, please, heal us too...." Samuel and the others, who weren''t yet healed muttered, gasping for air. "Ah, right....." Violet muttered under her breath and rushed towards the code members of the ck Rain Order. * A pair of hooded figures, who stood atop a tall tree, were gazing at the scene unfold at a distance, where the Gifted and the ck Rain Order were talking about their follow up ns. "Pity. I can''t believe they interfered so soon." A hooded figure muttered under his breath, which almost sounded like growling. "T-ture. B-but, wouldn''t "they" know that we are behind it? I-If "they" know, then this time, it''ll be an end to our lives!" Another, rather timid, hooded figure voice his concerns. FHIP-! The hooded figure snapped his head to face the timid hooded figure and red at him under the hood. His crimson blood dyed eyes glimmered with killing intent, making the timid figure shudder subtly, but the ring hooded figure knew that the timid figure wasn''t shuddering due to his killing intent. "You are but a mere pawn. You do just as I said, just like you did before. Do not question anything, this time, I''ll kill "them" before they even know what struck them!" The figure growled literally this time, yet his voice only lingered around them, no matter how loud he spoke as if some kind of strange force was holding their voices in ce. ''You''ll die by my hands of I put my mind into it, you dare think that you can kill "them?" they say ignorance is bliss, but I didn''t think that there would be somebody with his ignorance defining his existence....'' The timid figure thought inwardly and "Heh!" Scoffed at the growling figure, who instead, gritted his teeth as his killing intent intensified. Again, the force didn''t leave the strange blob-like power surrounding them, and the timid figure, who was shuddering at a mere thought of "them," stood unfazed as he faced the strong killing intent that surrounded them. "I''m sure, he is looking at us from somewhere,ughing his a*s off." The timid figure, who trembled at the thought,mented. Sounds of teethes grinding fell into the timid figure''s ears, who grinned under his hood and shifted his attention back to the groups'' discussion. "We''ll attack in a few days time." The timid figure stated, turned around and disappeared from the spot he stood. The growling figure gazed at the spot where the timid figure stood and at the groups'' discussing, back and forth for a few times before disappearing with a grin and an enlightened look stered on his face. * In an abandoned facility. A young man, who seemed to be in his twenties, was standing in front of a series of monitors, the most noticeable thing about the young man was another pair of arms beneath his arms which were present like how they were supposed to be. The name he gave himself was Prototype-Z26. Or, Ecrirn, which was given to him by those that birthed him. Ecrirn gazed at the rows of monitors in front of him with a frown, with Prototype-X26 standing next to him. "Prototypes, Y7, Y12, Y16, Y19, Y24, Z1, Z15, Z19, and Z25 have been exterminated." Ecrirn muttered under his breath. As a frown shed on his, now, young face. Though he wasn''t showing it openly, he was quite dissatisfied about the fact that his creations lost, But still, A few losses were eptable. But it still left a bad taste in his mouth upon noticing that the alphabet "Z" had died, and that too at the hands of mere mortals. "X-26! Activate "Hive Mind!"" Ecrirn, or, Prototype-Z26manded Prototype-X26, who nodded in response before activating hive mind asmanded. The memories of those that died at the hands of the mortals, their fighting techniques, and their ki control shed in the minds of all 53 of them, and they could see it as if they themselves had been in the fight, and in matter of minutes, they learned those techniques, to improve themselves. It seems like they are immortal and can grow indefinitely, doesn''t it? You are wrong if you think so. Because, their bodies still follow the naturalws of the world and within a year or two, their bodies would begin to decay, no matter how desperately the ki cirction and life preservation takes ce, and they have to go through the process of exchanging their consciousness'' from one body to another would have to continue, again after reaching their time limits. But, there were a few exceptions..... The method of recing consciousness was hard, much harder than Ecrirn thought, and you could say that currently, Ecrirn wasn''t really "living" in the body of his prototype or anything, he was just suppressing the consciousness of the body he possessed to get adjusted to the new feeling, and if his mental strength is drained, he would wake up in his own, old body. And that wasn''t something, he, who got the taste of how he could finally achieve his dream of living as a perfect existence, liked. At this thought, Ecrirn''s gaze shifted towards a certain direction, where a humanoid body with four arms was seen floating in an humongous cylinder, which had greyish liquid filling to the brim. That body was named Prototype-Ace. A PERFECT body for Ecrirn. If he had that body, he knew for sure that he would stand on the apex of the predators in the apocalypse. A battleground made for him to y around and get stronger indefinitely. A body that didn''t age, just like Prototype-X26. He had studied and improved with each and every new prototype he created, hence, the bitter taste when he found out that the alphabet "Z" were dying, the expectations he had on them led to a let down, so he knew that he would have to change the way he approached his enemies, So.... Chapter 356 355. Lifestyles. ? By lowering the number of alphabets the groups following their tracks would encounter, they would have chance to learn about new techniques and methods, that they themselves could improvise and utilise, far more efficiently than those that actually used those skills, because no matter what, their, the prototypes, minds were connected. A single mind cannot defeat a group of minds. It was right to think so, because a mind is unique from person to person, and if their thoughts and ideas are brought into one, it leads to a group of sessful people, and in the case of these prototypes, a group of sessfully strong monsters. ''My sess is waiting a foot away from me, teasing me to grab hold of it, do I dare?'' Ecrirn muttered in his mind. The answer to his question would only be answered if there didn''t exist something called hesitation..... So, would he hesitate? "of course not!" He was a researcher, and a proud one at that. If something like hesitation ever existed in him, he was better of being a dead man! Whatever he was today, was thanks to the fact that he never hesitated to get something if he wanted to, and it was going to be like that until however long he lived! [Prototypes! We''ll implement "Reverse Attrition" tactic, I do not know if it really exists, but we are going to fight a losing battle. You will die to the enemies, so that I can get the data, which shall be imnted into Prototype-Ace!] Ecrirnmanded inwardly, and without thinking¡ªwhich they were unable to¡ªor hesitating¡ªa feeling that was removed with the rest¡ªexcept for Prototype-X26, all the other prototypes moved,plying with themand of their creator. He cut off themunicative link between him and prototypes, he nced back at the only "child" he was fond of, Prototype-X26. "My lovely child, with this, we''ll rule the world that has fallen to the apocalypse!" Ecrirn muttered while stroking Prototype-X26''s haired head, as drowsiness drowned him. And, THUD-! With a loud thud, Prototype-Z26''s body fell on top the ground, and Prototype-X26, who "understood" what had happened, moved towards a certain, armed, room and entered without a care in the world, soon his gaze fell on a old, bald man''s figure,ying naked on a bed, covered in perspiration. Prototype-X26 walked towards the old man as his second right arm creeped up to the old man''s neck, GRIP-! The old body shuddered while unconscious when Prototype-X26 gripped the old man''s neck without a single expression on his creepy face, but before he really killed the old man, the prototype loosened his grip. "You''re lucky, I still need you, geezer...." * In a room lit with candles and adorned withrge reverent portraits. In a bit more easier words, it was a room that screamed "I''m a fanatic!" And at the end of the room proudly stood a statue, with its head held high as if it was looking down at everything in exasperation. Of course, it was made from the description of a certain someone''s thoughts, so if one judged the figure as they judged the figure''s statue, the consequences would be dire, no, catastrophic! And in front of such a statue, a figure was kneeling with his head rose up, gazing at the statue''s face in pure euphoria and utter horror, the kinds of emotions that shouldn''t, no, couldn''t the disyed in an expression, but the fearful and the happy expression on the kneeling figure''s face said otherwise. "Everything for the great one." The kneeling figure was none other than Godred, who recently had a vision of the future and had been in that state ever since. It was a shameful state for someone, who was once hailed as a king, but he didn''t care, because he knew, from those visions of his, how insignificant of an existence he was, in a world that was no different from being ruled by the absolutes. And the one he reverenced was none other than a celestial being! To Godred, understanding his insignificance wasn''t that hard, all it took him to realise of that fact was a vision of a certain future. A vision which portrayed a battle between the gods, but that world destroying battle ended with a single snap of the celestial being''s fingers, and Godred lost his will to evolve into a stronger person. How could he not? He saw a battle in which the worlds were being destroyed with a wave of one''s hands, and such a battle ended with a single snap! A mere snap of his fingers! He was but a mere ant ifpared with a world, while such WORLDS, not one nor two, but thousands of worlds were being destroyed with a waves of one''s hands! In such grandiloquent delineation of embodiment of an absolute destion, how was his mere existence of any significance? He didn''t even dare to find a meaning to his insignificant existence, as he gave up on living entirely, he was still alive only because he thought even his death was too much of an insignificant endeavour. So, after everything, the only thing remaining for him was his absolute reverence for the great one. "Everything for the great one." He muttered again, well, it wasn''t like it ever ended after he saw that vision. He even disbanded his group, Forsaken Alliance.... At that thought, a soulless chuckle escaped Godred''s mouth, as a smile crept up on his lips, creakingly. "A forsaken, Forsaken Alliance." He muttered under his breath. * In a peaceful ce, that seemed to have been cut off from reality, a figure was working in a muddy, damp,rge patch ofnd, ready to cultivate rice. Of course, as if ignorant of the worldly seasonal changes, the surrounding patches ofnd had golden brown paddy, flitting at the pleasant wind breezes, ready to be harvested. The figure had glimmering white, shoulder length, hair that fluttered at the slightest of the pleasant breeze, his bright orange eyes with vertical ck slits as pupils glimmered, profoundly, ordingly. He wore a loose, modest white t-shirt that had smudges of mud, with a modest dhoti, that was half dyed in mud from the rice field, he was working on. TAK-TAK-!! Hearing the small footsteps, he slightly raised his head and nced in the direction of a small approaching, with a bright, world warming, smile on his face. "Papa!! Ma is calling for you! Uncle has already arrived home with aunty!" A sweet little girl''s hurried yet content voice sounded, which felt sweet, like honey dripping, in the man''s ears, who rose and stood with his mudded hands on his waist and a bright smile on his face. "Wait for me!" He replied as began to walk out of the field, without much difficulty. "Hehe." The little girl¡ªwhose hair was simr to his, but ss-like, shone brilliantly under the bright sunlight, ordingly with her blue, ss-like, innocence filled eyesughed heartily upon hearing the man''s response. Within a matter of seconds, the man was out of therge field and with a strong flick of his hands, the mud stuck onto his arms sttered on the ground, without even leaving a smudge on his arms, as he walked towards the little girl, picked her up and made her sit on his shoulders. As the most modest and lovely, daughter and father pair walked towards their home, chatting heartily. A few minutester, they arrived at a house, that seemed to be of a cosy nobleman''s love nest in the countryside. CQIIKK-!! With a strange sound, the gate opened, creakingly, as the father and daughter pair walked in with smiles on their faces. At the sound, a long, white-haired beautiful woman, walked out of the home with a small smile on her face that crept up on her face when she saw the pair. Her obsidian ck eyes shone for a split second as she gazed at the white-haired handsome man, who lifted up his daughter off of his shoulders and let her run towards her mother, giggling. After a tight hug, the little girl rushed into the house and the door shut behind her, as the woman walked towards the man with a small smile. "Hmmm~" She hugged him tightly, feeling secure in his arms as she rested her head on his chest, listening to his calming heartbeat, that began to speed up at her actions. A soft, elegant giggle escaped her soft lips as she looked up at his eyes, resting her chin on his chest. "Shouldn''t you be used to these actions by now?" She asked with a content smile and a subtle blush adorning her cheeks. "Says you, who is blushing at her own actions?" The man asked back with a teasing smile, as his arms slid across her waist and rested on her back. "Hmmm~" The smile on the woman''s face widened ever-so slightly, but that was enough to make the man shudder subtly. "No.... Let me enjoy it while I can, please?" He asked but, it was all due nought, as the woman''s middle, index, and thumb fingers joined behind his back, and SNAP-! With a snap of her fingers, the man, who was taller than her, shortened and red "up" at the woman resentfully. But soon, his re softened and with a smile on his face, he leaned in on her neck and inhaled her scent deeply. And, "I''m back." He muttered, kissing her neck as his right hand held the back of head, right above her nape. With a soft giggle, the woman pushed him back and gazed into his eyes, "Wee back. And no." She rejected him, understanding his naughty intentions. "Later." She muttered as she opened the door and walked into the house, followed by the man, who was smiling expectantly. Chapter 357 356. Exhausted. ? Inside the house. The house had its lower floor parted two ways, main hall and dinning hall namely, the main hall had a couch, a table, carpeted floor, multipurpose tables, a few decors, and a touch of warmth added to the cosy and homely atmosphere dyed love nest. The major part of the partition was the dinning hall, that had a kitchen that contained an adequate amount of utensils and necessaries, and on a dinning table that was tted for five, two people were seated, as the ck haired man with blood red irises spoke to the golden haired woman with golden irises, trying to make herugh, but by the looks of it, it was to no avail. The woman hadn''t even smiled, much less sh augh. "Haaa.... Nobody should experience the same difficulties that I''m experiencing." The ck-haired man muttered under his breath with a sharp exhale, but unbeknownst to the man, there was a subtle change in the golden-haired woman''s mood, a subtle, slightest, pout to be precise, which except for the white haired woman, none were able to notice. And in response to the man''s words, the white haired man, who walked in with the white haired woman, smiled. It was a smile that irked not only the grumbling man, but also the white haired woman, who was walking ahead of him. "Cancelled!" The white haired woman muttered as she walked towards the dining table where her child sat, giggling as she gazed at the depressed face of her father, who was the only one that was able to understand the meaning behind his wife''s word. "No.... What did I do? I''m innocent!" Her father eximed as he took a seat as he gazed at his wife, no, his judge, to change her judgement of him to not guilty. "You are annoying." She answered in a huff and sat next to him before she started serving the tes of the others, starting with her daughter and ending with her husband, who asked her to te food for two, in one. The man rested his right leg on the right armrest, sitting, as he turned to face his wife, pushed his te towards and opened his mouth, his eyes twinkling in expectancy. "Hmph!" His wife snorted at him, yet picked up the te and began to feed him as she ate from the same te, looking at this scene, her daughter also jumped off of her seat, rushed and sat on his thigh as she pushed her te towards her mother, who sighed and began to feed both of them, as they chuckled softly. While the other couple gazed at them in envy and it wasn''t long before the ck-haired man took the golden-haired woman''s te and shifted her food to his own te, and gestured her that he would feed her as she wouldn''t do so, even if he asked her. "Aaah...." The man hummed, indicating his woman to open her mouth, but instead, the woman turned way with a scarlet blush adorning her face. With a sigh, the man looked down and felt his hand get lighter, at which he gazed up and noticed that the food he held out had been eaten, so with a bright, wide smile the man also ate and fed his woman. Noticing how they were copying the family of three, theyughed slightly and continued on with the meal. Unbeknownst to those present, the white-haired man''s hand dangled behind the chair, he joined his fingers and flicked then open in a subtle gesture, and with a flicker, a system''s notification window popped up, disying a scene where the Gifted and the ck Rain Order were seen rushing towards a certain direction, and an ominous, subtle grin crept up on his face which disappeared before the others noticed. * Amid the towering trees. A group of wounded people were seen rushing towards a certain direction. They were none other than the Gifted and the ck Rain Order''s members. Seo Hana, Seol So-Young, Jiwoo, Charlie, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Samuel, Garrick, Bert, Bobby, and Richard were rushing towards the same direction they entered, to exit the forest. They had ran into a group of prototypes after a long search into the forest, but now, when they were rushing out of the forest, they were running into more and more of them. At least 6 more had ran into them, dying by their hands. Their prototype kill count was now at 13 and they knew for sure that; there aren''t only this many of them. ''What was their motive?'' Was the first question that popped up in the minds of the leaders, no matter how much significance they currently held. The answer to that question unexpectedly came from the one that held the least significance, Samuel, who answered with a single yet overbearing word. "Conquer!" He said after pondering deeply, at first it was a mere guess, suspicion, and a spection, but now, he was sure that the motive of these groups, Honour-bound Federation and the Abominations, were to conquer, and to create an empire where they reigned over the yers. ''If that truly is so, what are they doing in the middle of the forest?'' Was the second question that made the groups'' members quiet flustered as their hearts began to beat violently. The next thought was, ''What if they, just like us, knew of our ns, and lured us here?'' Jiwoo was the one who voiced this question, response to which came with palpitating, anxious hearts. ''Where would they need to be if they need to fulfil their true motives?'' Was a question Bobby posed, increasing their palpitations. ''Amidst survivors!'' Was the answer Katline muttered under her breath, and they rushed back, to the exit of the forest and noticing the prototypes they ran into on their way, they understood that they were going on the right direction and continued on. "isn''t it strange? How these prototypes are getting stronger and using more abilities the more we''re fighting against them?" Was a question Seol So-Young voiced right then as they rushed outside. Her questions struck the thoughts they were trying to suppress, with a hint of fear of the unknown creeping up into the hearts of those present, their pace increased by a notch. ''I cannot order them not to use their abilities, due to a mere spection, while the prototypes we are currently facing are clearly stronger than the previous ones....'' Hana pondered on their plight, and with a deep, exhausted sigh Hana''s slightly hazy eyes glimmered in conviction as she decided unanimously that she had to take responsibility for them, and "I''ll smite them! Focus on moving forward, if our spection about their motive turned out to be true, then you guys will have to deal with the situation by yourselves!" Hanamanded, if the numbers of prototypes were more then they expected then she was sure to be exhausted before they exited the forest, she was tired even now, due to uncontroble use of her phoenix mes. Since she knew her own body the most, she knew that if they stopped now, her pent up exhaustion would wash over her and she would be unable to move, most likely even copse. Her mind was cloudy as her eyes, that had cleared up only now, none really noticed her state because she was behind them with the excuse of standing back and looking at how they would take care of things. ''An hour or two at max.'' Hana concluded inwardly. Though there was an hour gap between the time she concluded, she didn''t have enough leisure topletely analyse her state, so ''An hour and a half....'' She settled with that much time in daze. She sensed a prototype rushing at them with her dispersing senses, and "Phoenix Helix." She muttered. The approaching prototype felt something hot in its sr plexus, and by the next instance, it felt hot gusts of wind swirling around it, and with a loud WHOOOOMMM! A miniature vortex birthed from its sr plexus and engulfed it whole, incinerated and disappeared in the form of a miniature vortex. Its ashes rose from the ground due to the wind and dispersed, leaving no trace of its existence. And the same repeated itself as they moved forward. Hana''s eyes clouding more and more as she moved forward, male and female, beast-men, elves, dwarfs, and humans, she came across all kinds of prototypes and she incinerated then all, without a shred of mercy. Well, why would she feel anything when she wasn''t even able to see them clearly? Her phoenix trait had been overexerted, which burdened her more than she had expected. Since there wasn''t a time when she needed to use her powers for such a long time, she didn''t know what the consequences and bacshes would be, until date. More and more prototypes continued to rush towards them, even a hint of unknown moments, aside from those caused by her teammates, Hana felt with her dispersing senses were incinerated, so she didn''t know how many she had actually killed, maybe due to the goddess of luck taking pity on her, they neared the exit, the news was announced loudly, but she wasn''t ableprehend their mumble, nor could she see anymore, her vision blurred extremely and mind felt light, RUSTLE-! THUD-! With a rustling thud, Seo Hana copsed on to her knees as she drifted forward, And lost consciousness, falling face first on the ground. Chapter 358 357. Five Minutes. ? There was a scent of ashes, cooked flesh, and hot blood, heat of zing mes with subtle annoyingly stinging pain, crumbling sounds of the rocks crumbling down, distant wails of people, muddy and irony taste of the ashes and blood lingering in her mouth, and darkness clouding the sight. These were the things Seo Hana felt and noticed as soon as she regained consciousness, yet she wasn''t able to open her eyes, as if something was forcing her eyes to stay shut. BA.....THUMP She heard a loud yet weak heartbeat as soon as she gained a bit rity of her dulled senses, soon, sounds of gasps also trickled her ears, the breathing sounds, of the being who was next to her, sounded so weak, as if it was a life burning thest of its lustres. ".....!" Hana tried to speak, but her lips didn''t separate, nor did a sound leave her throat. Her confusion soon turned into fear, as she could neither understand nor feel what was going on, except for the heat and pain, she was able to feel nothing. "It....looks like.... you are awake....." The life next to her spoke wheezing. Hana shuddered slightly, though she knew that there was somebody next to her and that the person would talk to her upon noticing, she didn''t expect the person''s voice to be so hoarse(?). "Don''t fret..... because your face is burnt.... just like the rest of your body....." The figure stated, only then did she understand her state, but she was neither scared nor worried, she simply took out a healing potion from her inventory and sshed it on her face, Or so she tried. But, she couldn''t move! Not even lift a finger. It was only then that her fear began to settle in. ".....!!!!" She tried to scream, yet again, no voice came out. The pain she should be feeling from being burnt all-over began to slowly creep in as her senses regained their rity, except for shuddering uncontrobly, she could do nothing, absolutely nothing. "I''m sorry.....but, I have used.....my potions on myself..." Her mind finally recognised the, now, hoarse voice. Hana was certain that the voice was Katline''s. The sweet voice that had turned alluring, had now turned hoarse as if her throat was burnt. As soon as that possible thought shed in Hana''s mind, she shuddered again, but misunderstanding her worries Katline began to speak. "Ah! Maybe....you....want to know....the condition you are currently in? ....." From there forth, Katline began to state Seo Hana''s state. And from her words, Hana realised that, Her limbs were amputated by the prototypes behind their backs while they were fighting other prototypes, and after a while, thends that were in ruins exploded, as fire nketed over the entire territory. Katline, who was a long range damage dealer, was tasked with finding a shelter while also looking after Seo Hana, whose limbs were amputated. As soon as Katline finished her words till there, hoarse sobs began to trickle Seo Hana''s ears, but The worst had yet toe. After finding a shelter which Katline assumed to be safe, she left Hana in there and went in search for the rest, but by the time she arrived there, none Jiwoo, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Charlie, Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, and Bobby, none of these people had survived! To find the shelter, Katline took 3 minutes, and to make it back to them, she took two minutes, evading and fighting off the monsters and prototypes that rushed towards her.... Five mere minutes! After exactly five minutes of her departure and arrival, those that had been with her since childhood, since academic days, and since a year, all of them were lost! Her present had be her past! Her moments had be her memories! How long did it take for these things to happen? FIVE MERE MINUTES! It was only after she, Katline, calmed herself, that she began to exin properly, since Seo Hana fell unconscious. After Seo Hana fell unconscious, they rushed towards the closest "territory" and found absolutely nothing wrong there, in that location! After that, an emotionlessly grinning prototype, who followed their trial and reached them, "informed" them off the location they were nning to start their conquer from, while also confirming their spections and suspicions. They rushed towards the other side of the forest, since circling around the forest was going to be harder even if it was easier, they discarded their ns and zoomed through the forest, after killing the prototype, of course. Charlie''s umted points came into y there, as he was forced to pour his points into increasing his stamina as much as he could, and after he was done, he was forced to use his dragonoid form and was asked to bulldoze through the forest as fast as he can. Like that, they reached the other side of the forest in the matter of five hours without a stop, and everything began only after they reached their designated destination! The exhausted group gasping for air, a vulnerable territory and people, and the undying prototypes that threatened to raze everything to the ground, met! And the war-like battle began between the exhausted group and the prototypes, their shes itself brought ruin upon the territory and the people, and the exhausted group seemed to gained an upper hand, and That was it! That was when, the prototypes began to use their abilities, the abilities those who fought against them had used! But, More efficiently and more effectively! And then, In an instant! In an absolute instant! The situation had changed! Things had taken a turn for the worst! The tables had turned in the favour of the prototypes! Yet, the yers defended themselves to a certain extent, their casualties amidst of everything continued to pile up, but, they were still holding their ground, until THAT prototype appeared! It was as if a boss monster had entered the brawl, and then it happened, something they never expected to happen, happened! THAT prototype used Seo Hana''s phoenix mes! A stomp from that prototype, the ground would be upturned! With spider web-like patterns marring the ground, through which absolutely horrifying mes erupted. So hot that even the atmosphere turned hotter by the seconds, until they felt like they were being cooked alive, they even gained fire resistance skills, yet that changed nothing, as only those that gained that skill survived. But, that alsosted only for a few minutes, before it got so hot that the ground began to breathe visibly, and it took them an instant to understand that the ground wasn''t breathing, but instead in was bubbling from the inside. And that instant was when the ground exploded! It was also then that a nket of mes descended upon them, nketing over the entire territory they were in. A few prototypes burned, melted down, but the stronger ones survived, just like the yers. The survivors of that mes were Jiwoo, Katharine, Charlie, Katline, Seo Hana, Samuel, and Richard. They didn''t even have the time to grieve for there friends, as they continued to fight endlessly, it was then that they noticed Seo Hana''s state. Her limbs were amputated, with bubbling blood oozing profusely with a bright orange zing armour of her own mes enveloping her, lightly. When Katline was asked to take away Hana and look for shelter, she understood that she was being a burden on them, so she didn''t hesitate and rushed to rescue Hana, but when she looked around in search of Hana''s amputated limbs, she found none. Assuming they should have melted away, she hugged Hana''s limbless body and rushed in search of a shelter, and those things happened. She herself and Seo Hana were the only survivors currently with the rest of them dead, without even a trace of their existences, except for Katline''s, Hana''s , and a few others'' memories! "Hic....uvag.....hic... aaaaaaaa!" Katline sobbed uncontrobly, her cries were now tearless from crying for so long, but then abruptly, upon remembering that she hadn''t yet exined the state Hana was in, she, who had her tears dried up, stopped herself, hupping. "Y-you''re.... your face.... and the remaining of your.....body has melted.... quite deeply (?), with you.... looking like a survivor of a...fire attack!" Katline described Hana''s state, but the person in question cared for none of it. ''T-th-they died? Ji-Jiwoo, Kat-Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, C-Charlie, Sam-Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, and B-B-Bobby all d-d-died?'' Hana muttered inwardly. ''W-why?!'' She questioned inwardly. But, she knew whom she was talking with, and even if she had already gone crazy, she cared for none of it, she, now, wanted nothing more than answers from that son of a bit*h! TAK-TAK-!!! Loud footsteps resounded in the abandoned, zing territory, or what remained of the territory. The presence that entered Hana''s sensed seemed to have sensed them too, as they rushed towards them without looking for anything else. TAK-TAK-!!!! The footsteps continued on for a few seconds before a familiar voice trickled their ears. "F**k!" It was Core''s. The presence that approached them were none other than the Freaks group! Members of which were Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, and Arngrim, a familiar group of people! The first one to move among them was Arngrim, who zoomed towards them, took outrge sks of healing potions and sshed on them. They gritted their teethes and endured the pain, with only Katline''s groans and wails sounding. Hana just stayed silent the whole process, trembling. And as soon as she was healed, while stillying upon a thick green liquid with a limbless body, blood trickled out of her eyes which shot wide open by the next instance, and the first words that came out of her mouth shocked those present! "Why!?" "Why!??!!!" "Why didn''t you protect us!" "ESHWAR!!!!" Chapter 359 358. Agathokakological Being. ? Seo Hana knew he wasn''t obliged to protect them, not even look after them, but...but....but.... "He... could have...." Hana muttered under her breath, sobbing and trembling. He had an option to protect them yet he chose not to, or so she understood, it was also the reason it, her heart and mind, hurt so much, her heart was clenching as painful hups marred her throat, she was in such a pitiful state that even those around her felt saddened, and Katline''s eyes that were devoid of tears, welled up in tears as she crawled towards, now, limbless Hana, hugged her tightly and sobbed on her shoulder, while trembling together with her. Hana had her arms only above her elbow, it was same with her legs which were above her knees. Seo Hana was hurt even more even she realised and understood that she could now do nothing but me Eshwar, who wasn''t even there, because he wasn''t there when she, no, they needed him. [I can give you strength to stand on your own feet.] It was then, a voice, she wanted yet didn''t want to hear at the same, sounded in her consciousness. A voice devoid of any emotion, that was what she felt upon hearing his voice. She wanted to see him right this instance, hug him and cry on his shoulders, but At the same time, She wanted none of those. She wasn''t ashamed to admit that she hadn''t been able to move on from him, and even though it wasn''t something to be ashamed about, she felt that way. If he was in front of right now, she would have done everything and anything to reach out for him and would have cried like a kid in his arms, no, not like a kid, but as a woman who loved him and also as a woman who wanted to feel his warmth for herself. She yearned for him, but she despised him the most, and she was even more distrusted when she heard those words of his in her consciousness. She felt myriads of emotions as the seconds passed by. And by the end of it, "Ha... hahaha... hahahaha...." Herughter resounded throughout the room. ''You want to grant me power? Power to stand by myself? Hahaha, I am asking you why you didn''t protect them, but you want to grant me powers? Now? For what? So that I have enough strength to kill myself? Hahahaha.... I can''t believe I ever loved a person like you!'' She muttered in her mind, her gaze head turned hazy as madness began to cloud her mind. "Hahahaha, you know what? Fine! Fine, I ept your offer! What do you want in exchange? Do you want me to be your ve, and suck your d**k? Huh? What do you want from me!? You had just left me alone without dating me, wouldn''t I have been able to live a better life? Hahahaha, yeah, yeah, I understand now.... But, wait, what "am I" asking, no, yelling at you and what are "you" taking about? Do you think our words and thoughts match? What I want right now isn''t your f**king power, but those lives that you ignored! Bring them back for me!! Please, please..... Please....just....please... Please, being them back...." Seo Hana wailed, hupping. "Hahahaha... What am I even asking you for? If you wanted to bring them back, you would have protected them before something like that even happened to them.... Hahahaha...." "You know what? I regret loving you! Yea...yeah, I regret ever loving you, oh my, oh my, how pitiful Isha must''ve been to have loved someone like you, poor woman, I can''t even imagine how much she must be despairing, hahahaha....!! I hope she leaves you, and I also hope that you will be alone, lonely for life! I hope you live all of your life without anybody ever loving you!!!" [Pfft....] "....." Hana turned silent. She was sure, a 100% sure, that she just heard a chuckle, an infuriating chuckle escaped from his mouth, whom she was cursing at with all her being, A chuckle.... That was what she received for all her cursing. She was sure that he deliberately made it so that she would hear his chuckle, if he didn''t want her to hear that, he could have done so. He was too strong, so strong that a mere thought was enough to make it so that she wouldn''t hear his chuckle, yet she heard it, quite clearly actually. She heard hisughter in response to her curses. It was then a thought struck her consciousness like a lightning bolt, He was strong. Strong enough to kill her with a mere snap of his, maybe even that was excessive, but why had he been hearing to her curses? She.... Her patheticughter and unsightly behaviour ceased, with one her sobs continuing to sound in the room, shadowing over the hups and moist breaths of those around her. "Please, help me, Eshwar...." Hana asked properly this time. ''I take back everything I just spoke....'' She muttered in her mind, she wasn''t thinking like that because he was hearing, but she genuinely felt so wrong and so bad for muttered out those words, which were so unlike her, and with that thought, her clouded mind regained its rity and her hazy gaze lit up with a hint of vigour in them. [I will grant you enough strength, so that you will stand on your own feet....] He said, and by the next instance Hana felt something burning deep within herself, it felt like a zing hot me right before it died out, but Seo Hana didn''t resist whatever was happening and epted whole heartedly, because her instincts screamed at her that whatever was happening to her, she needed that, desperately. Her phoenix trait that had been itched deep within her very existence was being brought out, bright back to life, upon sess, they were going to witness the birth of a phoenix, a half-phoenix to be precise, but a phoenix nheless. Though none except for Eshwar himself knew about how strong a half-phoenix could be. A phoenix was a righteous and good Godly beast, if so then what about an Halfling? It was an agathokakological being, with agathokakological''s meaning being: aposition of both good and evil. While such a phenomenon was taking ce within Seo Hana, she was feeling dolorous, yet ted. Her mixed emotions were getting more and more annoying to be described in proper words, but wasn''t in a state where she would care, because ever since her awakening back on Earth, this was first time she was feeling so.... Complete. Her body slightly darkened as her resistance against the elements increased unnaturally, her limbs which were amputated felt warm, while softened ends felt warmer, until she felt hotter, but soon she felt as if her limbs were melting, but she didn''t care, she just felt soplete. A empty feeling, which she never mentioned elsewhere nor did she feel that she would ever be able to feel whole, but She was feeling it now, at that very moment. Unbeknownst to her, her amputated limbs were growing, but just not physically(?), her phoenix mes were roaring out of the softened ends of her limbs, forming new limbs from them, as the pair of her wings had already protruded out as they covered her whole. Her mes formed wed arms and legs, but the heat that one would have expected for her new limbs to exclude was felt nowhere, Katline''s poking fingers had passed through Hana''s new limbs as if they didn''t even exist, but the most surprising fact of them all was the fact that they didn''t feel hot, not even when there hands were in her new ming limbs. Hana gradually opened her eyes and gazed around herself in disbelief and pushed her ethereal limbs through Katline''s body, back and forth, gazing at the unbelievable phenomenon in disbelief, and after a few minutes, Seo Hana learned that if she didn''t have the intent, her limbs would act like they didn''t even exist in the first ce, simr to her mind sending signals to her limbs which would move as she intended to. After calming down, Hana''s tion died down but her dolorous remained. She then began to sob aloud, not even bothering to thank Eshwar, who granted her the privilege of standing back on her own feet. Later, she together with Katline, spoke to the Freaks, who had appeared out of nowhere, and understood that the Freaks had onlye there when they saw the dense burnt, ck cloud raising from the ground, they were hear to rescue any survivors, but hadn''t expected to learn about so many things. The Freaks had been briefed on the prototypes, alliance, suspicions, and why Hana called out at Eshwar and what he had to do with whatever was happening and why did Seo Hana yell at him. "I know that I don''t have any say in this matter, but I want to state something that''s a bit too obvious. Hana, Eshwar is a God, a goddamn God, and not your friendly neighbourhood but*h, who''ll give you everything, just because you asked for!" Arngrim stated after hearing Hana''s exnation. ''A God....'' Seo Hana repeated inwardly, feeling fearful now that she thought about it. "Anyway, Kat, what was the number of the prototype you just described?" Grace asked as she looked at Katlinez who stood next to her. "Prototype ¨C Ace..." Chapter 360 359. Smart And Curious Beings. ? Upon hearing the name of the newly appeared prototype, Seo Hana, who now had zing, wed, ethereal limbs, Katline, who had a new sets of scars marring her lust enticing body, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, and Arngrim frowned, feeling something amiss. No, they weren''t feeling scared nor were they getting an ominous feeling, but it was just that something.... felt out of the ce. "I need a dead prototype''s body." Arngrim stated, and continued when he saw the members of the Freaks nod their heads. "So it''s safe to assume that they have an hive mind and can copy the abilities they see?" Arngrim asked while also voicing his findings upon hearing the exnation from Katline and Seo Hana. "Huh?" Katline nced at Arngrim strangely, wiping off the tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. "... Why do you think so?" Hana asked, sniffling. "Huh?" It was Arngrim''s turn to be confused now. "Wha.... don''t tell me, that you couldn''t even conclude such an open secret? You guys were the ones who narrated the story to me, how could you guys have not realised such simple clues and connect them?" Arngrim asked, he was dumbfounded upon learning that he was surrounded by so many dumb, no, muscle heads. "....." "....." "....." "Ha-haha, O-of course, w-we realised that, we were just testing you." Reynolds said, but his profuse stuttering gave him away, as Arngrim''s deadpan expression faced each at a time. "You-" Arngrim was about to curse at them uncouthly, but ".... Shhhh.... it''s alright, it''s not that we are dumb, you are just too smart...." Louie hugged Arngrim, forced him shut up and stroked Arngrim''s back gently, trying to calm his anger. "....." "....." ".....Get off!" Arngrim abruptly roared and wiggled in Louie''s arms. "It''s alright. Its alright...." Louie muttered, consolingly. "Arrrrrggggghhh!!!" * A few minutester. Arngrim''s frustrated tantrum ended and Neal rushed out to get a prototype''s body. "Ahem...." Arngrim cleared his throat, under burdeningly weird gazes of those around him. "Listen. First, the prototypes were using the same abilities when you guys first met them, and as you guys rushed towards the exit, you noticed that the prototypes were using familiar yet unfamiliar but strong abilities, and due to how dumb you are, you ignored them thinking they were stronger than those from before. And, on your way out of the forest, the prototypes continued to pop up in front of you, didn''t you find it strange that they knew the exact path you guys were taking to get out of the forest? No, I''m dumb for asking you this question, since you guys are clearly too dumb." Arngrim stated, taking to himself in the middle which irked those around him, but they couldn''t refute him as they realised that he was only stating quite obvious facts. "And,stly, the most annoyingly dumb part, how the flip did you guys not realise that they were copying your fighting abilities? Seo Hana''s ability is one and only! Her ability is one of a kind! They copied her abilities because she was the one his fought against the most!! You d-" Arngrim, who was about curse at them again, was stopped by Hana. "Wait. But from what I heard from Katline''s exnation, there ability is just a mimic, and not an exact copy like Jiwoo''s...." Hana stated, but became depressed when Jiwoo''s name left her mouth, her fully bloomed phoenix kin trait acted up, as her overwhelming emotions boiled within her, but remembering that was not the time for that, she steeled her mind while ignoring the pangs in her heart. "I can, with my current strength, burn everything..." Hana stated. "You mean too say that, "that" prototype''s stomp wasn''t anything significant, with your current strength?" Arngrim, who observed, derived, and understood the implications, asked with his brows raised in surprise. ''Well, ifpared with Eshwar, things like these are definitely insignificant....wait!Have I been too influenced by Eshwar''s strength? Why does myparison scale seem so messed up?'' Arngrim pondered as a frown marred his face. "..... Yeah...." Hana confirmed Arngrim''s words with a nod and a sniffle, though she looked adorable at this point, they kept such thoughts to themselves. "Huuu....." Arngrim sighed. ''That prototype guy is strong, though the timer to kill the fallen hadn''t started yet, it won''t be too long before people begin to get over confident and do something stupid.... I guess, I should be thankful for these prototypes, who have caused havoc and brought back caution amongst the survivors....'' Arngrim pondered. "And the are uncleared dungeons too...." Arngrim mumbled out loud involuntarily, but his words brought caution amongst those present. * In the middle of nowhere. A four armed, maroon haired man was seen walking towards an assigned "territory" of a fallen. He was none other than Prototype-Ace, or Ecrirn, who had seeded in transmigrating his consciousness into a prototype permanently. His prototype body had absolutely no weaknesses and if not for the presence of the fallen-s, he would have been an almighty being, like THAT existence! Although his prototype body didn''t have a single, even a minor, weakness, his old body which was currently a literal dead body was his weakness, a single, strong damage on the old dead body was enough to force his consciousness back into his old body. Which meant that if the body rotted ording to the naturalws, Ecrirn would die together with his body, hence, Ecrirn created an artefact which had the effects of preserving whatever was under its effects, but its durability was 1, meaning a single flick was enough to shatter the artefact. With these heavy, burdening conditions applied for him to be an almighty being, Ecrirn came up with a absurd but brilliant idea. He adorned his body with the preservation artefact, ced the body in a coffin, sealed it and asked the other prototypes to bury his body minimum 100 metres deep into the ground. Of course, the prototypes, who neither had a will nor a consciousness of there own,plied with Ecrirn''smand. Now, as long as no damage urred to his old body, he would be invincible! And all of this, all of his efforts, and all of his persistent will that kept him moving forward, everything, Absolutely everything about himself was thanks to the god, who always believed in him. Even now, the reason he was going towards the territory assigned to a fallen was because his god advised, saying that the survivors will take him and his creations more seriously if there was a time limit for their existences, if there was a limitation ced on them, their wills would break soon and would willingly(?) submit to Ecrirn. These were the words of the god he believed in the most, but he wasn''t dumb enough to follow every advice, because they were merely advices, meaning he had an option to refuse, but While his rejection and eptance mattered, he wasn''t dumb enough to refuse advices that he knew would benefit him on both the short and long term, and currently, the benefits he could see were just too true and too alluring to refuse, hence the reason he epted his wise god''s advice. [You just need to walk in and walk out, as I do not want to lose my precious believer.] The God''s hypnotic, genderless, voice sounded deep within Ecrirn''s consciousness. [New Hidden Quest Initiated!] ==== [God''s mission] [Difficulty: Easy] Clear Condition: Walk in and out of a Fallen''s territory and active the timer! [Reward: Marite (Rank-???)] [Time limit: 15 min] ==== ''Oh my god.... I can''t believe my god is offering me an unknown ranked skill for such an easy mission! My god is such a pushov-'' Ecrirn mumbled in his mind, but as soon a thosest words shed in his mind, he ceased his thinking entirely, and "My God is the best!" He muttered under his breath with a sigh of relief escaping his mouth. Though him thinking about "his" god was too arrogant, since none would know of his thoughts, he didn''t mind his thoughts, but he still believed that he should be grateful for "his" "pushover" god, so he would cease his thoughts if something unwanted thoughts about "his" god shed in his mind. Arge smoky dome had marked a territory, and ording to Ecrirn''s knowledge, the dome covered about an entire kingdom. As soon as he appeared in front of the done, he felt a shiver that felt ominous, but was soon reced by a pleasant shiver, which made him tremble as he reached out to touch and feel the smoky dome. His hands were extended out to touch the dome without his knowledge, but he wouldn''t have stopped it even if he was out of his trance. Everything about the dome felt is surreal that Ecrirn couldn''t stop himself as he reached out. He was a researcher, and a proud one at that, once he was curious, he needed to dig deeper, into the depths of whatever made him curious, and he wouldn''t leave it alone until he had satisfied his curiosity. His curiosity was like an undying me, thirst for knowledge that would lit up in the very depths of his very being, and it was so addictive that he wouldn''t be able to think of something else if his curiosity wasn''t satisfied, though his traits could be considered dangerous, it was what made him who he was today, so he had no regrets in the way he lived, nor would he ever have a regret about his life, that was filled with curiosity and satisfaction of satisfying his curiosity. With these thoughts clouding his mind, he had already arrived in front of the dome, feeling the ethereal barrier enveloping the assigned territory or area. Chapter 361 360. Thoughts. ? As soon as Ecrirn came in contact with the dome, a hazy feeling struck him, making him feel extremely lethargic, so lethargic that he literally just wanted to slump on the ground to sleep, he could hear a soothing rhythm ringing in his consciousness while make him feel want to fall asleep, forever if he could. DING-! [A user is recognised to have started a raid on the a Fallen''s area!] [Time limit for the first andst quest has begun!] [Time limit: 00Y: 179D: 36H: 59M: 59S] As soon as the timer started, rewards were issued to Ecrirn even though he had yet to get out of the dome to reallyplete the quest given to him, and without his consent, "Marite" skill got activated and behind him a humongous ckish red arm materialized and reached out towards Ecrirn, who was dazed,zily. The arm that materialised out of nowhere from behind Ecrirn, soon, reached out at him and picked him up by his head which was held between the arm''s thumb and index fingers, with a subtle flick, Ecrirn''s body shot back out of the dome which had began to devour him. THUD-! With a loud thud, Ecrirn''s prototype body fell on the ground out of the dome and without even flinching in the slightest, Ecrirn slept soundly, as the arm behind him dematerialised. [Good work....] His god spoke again, but Ecrirn wasn''t able to hear. *** The warnings of the time limit activation chimed across the entire world, rming every existence that had even the slightest hope to live! While also igniting thest embers of their dying down yet raging desires to live! While the world was thrown into a chaos, the one who was the cause was looking intently at the long, white-haired beautiful woman in front of him. "W-what?" Isha asked stuttering, the longer she stared at Eshwar''s intently gazing and glimmering gaze, the more she was getting embarrassed. ''Wh-why am I getting flustered? We have done it a bit too many times for me to be getting embarrassed!!'' Isha pondered inwardly while her face flushed crimson with a puff. "Once? Just once! Pretty please?" Eshwar asked, knowing what he was asking for, Isha''s fluster increased by a notch. "Don''t "pretty please" me! You are not Mia!" Isha yelped at him as she avoided his adorable gaze. ''W-why is he so adorable!!!? Ghaaaaa!!!'' Isha thought, screaming inwardly. "He! He! He! Of course, Mia will learn from her father!" Eshwar muttered, pumping out his chest as he gloated in pride. "Hmph!" Isha snorted and began to walk towards the door behind him. "!!!" Her pupils dted when Eshwar''s hands slithered around her waist like a snake, which he was, and picked her off of the ground, and dropped her off on the bed before she even put up a struggle against his actions. "W-wa-wait!" Isha yelped but it was too no avail as Eshwar leaned down on her, reaching for her lips with his, just as she was about to sigh and give up on putting up an act of resistance against his actions, she noticed Eshwar''s body stiffen. "??" Isha tilted her head to the side, cutely. "Don''t do that, I''ll bite you for real." Eshwar muttered gazing at his adorable wife. "What''s wrong?" Isha asked, ignoring his words which he meant for real. "Haaa.... Having worshipers sure is annoying...." He muttered under his breath, understanding his words Isha loosened her involuntarily wrapped arms around his neck with a pout. ".... Come back soon." Isha muttered as she supported herself with her elbows as she pushed herself up, intending to get up, but the grip on her shoulders pushed her back onto the bed and before confusion dawned her mind, she felt something soft on her lips which she lost herself in when she realised what the softness on her lips was. * After their minutes long, passionate kiss that got both of them heated up at the extreme, Eshwar finally, albeit extremely reluctantly, broke the kiss, he gazed into Isha''s tear-filled gaze, but before he spoke; ".... Go," Isha muttered on his lips and felt a hot sigh on her lips. "..... Bute back soon...." She said and turned away, somehow managing to escape from his clutches as she rolled up in the bedsheets. Chuckling at her actions, Eshwar''s nodded and stood back up, "I''ll be back." He said and disappeared from the spot where he was. "Mhmn...." Isha nodded under the bedsheets after he had left. *** Minutes ago. Seo Hana, who had received the notice of the time limit being active just like everyone else, stood dazed in shock and confusion. ''Wha....'' Just as she was about question reality and begin to analyse all kinds of information to make sense of what was going on, Eshwar''s cold and indifferent face shed in her mind, making her shudder involuntarily. ''I-it can''t be, right?'' Hana thought inwardly. Many disastrous scenarios happened in her presence ever since Eshwar made his presence, as a stronger being, known to the world, Antino¨¹s! ''It could have been a coincidence. Somebody could have framed him behind his back.'' Or any other thoughts even simrly to that shed in her mind. ''No.... Everything happened after he came to this world with all the others!'' Seo Hana concluded extremely quickly as if she trusted her conclusion to be too true. There was a situation where an entire city was razed to the ground, and it was at the exact time when "coincidentally" Eshwar''s presence wasn''t known to the world Antino¨¹s at that time, but his presence and name was revealed at the academy in the matter of a week after that plight, just like that. The culprit hasn''t been found till date, nor did anybody try to find who the culprit was in the first ce, even when so many lives were lost in a day. ''This....'' Seo Hana had seen him disappear for days when they were still dating back on Earth, she didn''t think much of it as dungeons existed and Eshwar seemed quite rich, due to which she concluded that he was clearing dungeons for a living, only now did she began to connect the dots, with another peculiarly standing out dot, named White Swan! She had noticed that whenever Eshwar disappeared, White Swan made his presence know, she had thought that it was a coincidence, which was the reason she had been ignoring that. ''This..... Why didn''t it dawn upon me when he revealed himself to the entirely of the Earth that he was White Swan?'' Of course, she, together, with the very few that Eshwar kept alive, knew that he was White Swan, but until today, the fact that Eshwar was White Swan hadn''t registered in her mind because at the time when he revealed his identity, the situation didn''t really allow them to understand what was happening, and since she hadn''t pondered on Eshwar''s identity till now, she wasn''t able to connect the remaining dots in the other ignored dots, which led to the formation of an iplete picture about Eshwar in her consciousness. Which was a Eshwar''s, Eshwar-like image instilled in her consciousness before. Now, another Eshwar''s picture formed in her consciousness.... It was that of a demon''s, or so she felt. Eshwar''s, Eshwar-like image, but his soft, yful gaze from before was now visible in a re. A re that seemed to look down at each and every existence in the world, or so it felt like to her, but if she broadened her view of the worlds, then his re felt to be looking down upon every existence and the universe itself. That image of his made her tremble uncontrobly while she also felt that somehow, for whatever reason, that image fit perfectly with Eshwar. She''ll ept the fact that she doesn''t know about himpletely, she''ll even ept that Eshwar was a anti-hero like being in her mind, but she couldn''t and wouldn''t ept the fact that he was reason that THAT many were dying. At the same time, she also wouldn''t ept the ring fact which she knew in her consciousness, that was roaring at her that he, Eshwar, was the one that killed those around her, and he was also the reason that the time limit got activated. Her phoenix trait that had merged entirely with her existence was sending tremors of negative emotions and thoughts, each and every one of which were against Eshwar. ''..... Eshwar....'' She called out inwardly, because she believed that he would be looking and listening to her, though she couldn''t speak through telepathy in such long distances like Eshwar, she believed that if she called out for him, he would respond. Now, She merely wanted an yes or a no from Eshwar, nothing more, nothing less. She wanted to know whether her were thoughts were true or not, and her belief didn''t go unnoticed, [You can visit me.] Eshwar''szy yet hypnotic voice sounded in her consciousness, which shuddered in response as her agathokakological consciousness began to reject everything that involved Eshwar. [Tell me when you are ready, I''ll summon you.] Eshwar said and cut off the telepathic link between them, only after that could Hana stop trembling as she responded and assured those around her that nothing was wrong and she was alright. The decision she would be making would influence everything around her, so she couldn''t hesitate nor could she have other thoughts distracting her, and currently, even if her emotions are being masked, The concerns she was receiving were nothing but merely distractions that could potentially force her to procrastinate her decision. ''No, please invite me.....'' She muttered in her mind after assuring them¡ªKatline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, and Arngrim¡ªthat she had somewhere to go, and Seo Hana disappeared. Chapter 362 361. Unvoiced Questions. ? In a sh, Seo Hana found herself in a dark domain, pitch-ck of you will. She squinted her eyes as she gazed around in search of "him," and it wasn''t long until she found what she was looking for. In front of her was a dark silhouetted figure with ring bright orange eyes with vertical ck slits, with his pitch-ck sclera which made it nearly invisible, while his white-hair glimmered in a profound light while fluttering, with no wind nor any light to cause such exaggeratedly fitting effects. From the approximate gauge of his eyes, Hana derived that he was sitting, on a throne maybe. Although his face, no, except for his eyes and hair, nothing about him could be seen, due to which she couldn''t see his expression which put up a certain domineering pressure on her, making her extremely anxious. Soon, another pair of big, round cat eyes opened behind him. The eyes were crimson, blood red coloured with vertical ck slits as pupils, its irises were so red that it felt like blood would leak at any moment now. The blood red irises which had an innocent look for a split second turned into a fierce re, which made Hana flinch involuntarily. These eyes were almost bigger than "his" whole head, whose size she gauged in approximation. Again, another set of eyes opened behind the "his" and the cat eyes. The new pair of eyes were bigger, bigger than him and the another being behind him, its eyes were muchrger, like those that of a giant''s. These pair of eyes had all elemental colours glimmering and fiercely zing in its bright golden irises, as if these elemental colours were....alive(?), with its vertical pure white slits expanding out of the "pupils" in strokes. These three sets of eyes indifferently red at Seo Hana, who was gazing at the bright golden irises in awe. She was awestruck, there was something about those eyes that made her unable to take off her eyes from them, but unbeknownst to her, her eyes were also lit in zing phoenix mes, that were itching themselves into her eyes without her knowledge or consent. While gazing into the golden eyes, Seo Hana involuntarily and subconsciously kneeled and paid her respects, to whom? She didn''t know, nor did she care. She just did what she felt was right. "Long time no see." Eshwar''s casual voice sounded, snapping her out of her trance due to which she jumped back up on her feet, flustered. "....." Hana silently stared at Eshwar in perplexion. ''What happened?'' She asked herself inwardly, and got an answer, albeit in a slightly unexpected way. "You just greeted your new monarch, so, no need to be so surprised." Estate stated casually. "Wha.... You know what? Nevermind." Hana sighed, and her fear which had buried under her initial surprise pounced back inwardly. Shuddering, "..... P-please answer me, are my thoughts true? Or are they something that''s closer to the truth?" Hana asked, but she wasn''t really asking nor did she want an answer, she knew that her thoughts were right, hence she wanted.... She just.... Wanted an excuse. His excuse for all the things he deliberately caused. "Mhmn." Eshwar.... ''Did he just....'' Eshwar just hummed in agreement as a response. ''A hum of agreement is all I get?'' "I am White Swan, so delete that assumption of a "coincidence" from your mind." Eshwar stated, answering one of her unvoiced questions. ''.... I-it''s alright, he saved many people....'' Seo Hana instantly created another excuse. "How annoying." Eshwar muttered at which Hana flinched and took a step back, halting all of her thoughts. "I razed that city to the ground, while fighting against a demoness. Wait.... Wha...." Eshwar abruptly stopped himself. * No? Wait, wha? Huh? Haven''t I been acting like a protagonist until today? Of course, there were a sh*t tonne of casualties caused by my actions, but if you think of me as a "protagonist" or a "hero," I''m not that different am I? The one difference is that things like gets unnoticed if a protagonist is involved, but you guys noticed because it was an "assumed" antagonist that was involved. Hmmm.... Wow, that''s quite a revtion? I have only killed and reacted against those that did something to me, directly or indirectly, isn''t that what a protagonist would do? "Have I ever even acted like an antagonist?" I muttered under by breath. Ah! To my relief, there was a time. It was when I used Faye. She was the only poor woman that didn''t really deserve to die, not that I regret killing her or anything, but from my perspective, some measly act such as that doesn''t make me viin, but from a certain angle it does make me a third-rate viin that bullies the weak. "Wow, Hana! You have enlightened me! I am only realizing now that I am actually a protagonist, since I''ll be thest to survivor, if any living existences lived, they''ll have no real im but to praise me as a "HERO," do you understand what I''m saying?" Hero or a viin, these things don''t really matter if you are the survivor, it takes but a tinkering which could turn around the entire story which willter on determine who was a hero and who was a viin. If you want to be a hero, you gotta understand that you are merely living for the recognition of the insignificant. The recognition you recieve here will be like a tower built on stick which could crack at any moment, but when you live as a viin, you''ll one then understand the insignificance of recognition of the insignificant, while also understanding what you are really worth to yourself. A hero can only be satisfied with himself when those around him praise him and te his ego as a hero, while a viin, whose kind and good natured ego is started of, cracked, due to which he/she only strives for self, and ismonly known to be selfish. No, you do not have to be cold-hearted or a cold blooded murderer to be a viin, you just have to be calctive. The one who possess a calctive mind which instead merely calctes one''s own benefits, ignorant about the opponent. He/she can then be called a viin, which is merely another kind of recognition and an opinion of the others. "An anti-hero protagonist would be right...." I muttered under my breath, as an ominous smile crept up on my face. "..... But now, that too is changing...." "Why are you doing this Eshwar!?" Seo Hana abruptly asked in a roar. "Whoa, whoa, calm down, birdy." "But," I muttered as the grin on my face widened. "That''s the right question actually." * As Eshwar continued to ramble on to himself, Hana couldn''t hold in her raging emotions, so "Why are you doing this Eshwar!?" She asked. "Whoa, whoa, calm down, birdy." He casually nicknamed her, annoying her even more. "But, that''s the right question actually." Eshwar muttered and for whatever reason, Eshwar''s smile which shed his fang-like teeth made her shudder. "It is because," Eshwar muttered, as Hana''s heart began to beat like war drums in anxiety of the future and fear of the unknown. "You are the only entertainment left for me, but you guys were making a bit too boring by halting the progression." Eshwar remarked, at which Hana''s mind nked. ''Entertainment?'' We, who were putting out lives on the line just to survive another day, were nothing but mere entertainment? He.... He is being entertained by looking at our lives being lost and being put on a cliff end? Those...how many lives were lost just hours ago? How hurt I was from loosing Jiwoo, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Charlie, Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, Bobby, and all those lives that confronted against those prototypes? How many losses urred at the beginning of the apocalypse? Ha, haha, wasn''t he also the reason this apocalypse started in the first ce? Why were such obvious facts about him being overshadowed by things that are much less of any real significance? Shouldn''t we just ally with each other and kill this son of a bit*h? Isn''t he just a f**king psychopath? Why is he talking bullsh*t about being a protagonist? Anti-hero protagonist? And what''s with him not being an antagonist? ''since I''ll be thest to survivor, if any living existences lived, they''ll have no real im but to praise me as a "HERO"'' His words resounded in her consciousness and she understood what he meant. Why go as far as "survived existences," as if the world was going to end soon? If he said that he had just been joking since the beginning, she herself would believe him in an instant. "Ha, hahaha....." A deadugh leaked out of her mouth. Isn''t this funny? She thought as tears began to stream out of her eyes. But then abruptly, ''You just greeted your new monarch, so, no need to be so surprised.'' His words sounded in her consciousness again. Despairing, "What about a new monarch?" Hana asked, lifelessly, not really expecting an answer, nor hoping to listen to what answer she would receive in response. "Pyre." Eshwar''s mutter sounded and it was then, WHOOOOMMMMMMM-! The domain lit up, as the being''s, who had bright golden irises, dragonfly wings opened wide and lit up in a bright, blinding neon green colour, while the pulchritudinous, all elemental coloured fur on its back also lit up beautifully. She stared lifelessly at the now visible figures. Eshwar was seen sitting, majestically and domineeringly, on a pitch-ck throne, behind which stood a Bengal Tiger-like pitch-ck beast with blood red irises, behind this beast was a massive head of a green furred wolf which rested its head in between its front paws, gazing at Hana curiously. The scene in front of her demonstrated such majesty that Seo Hana would have fainted just by being in their presence, but due to her soul sucked out state, her mind wasn''t really able toprehend anything. "He is the new monarch of this world, of course, the world itself chose him. Consider it an honour as you are the first "beast" that''s able to witness the being you are destined to protect, while also being under its, no, his constant protection." Eshwar revealed a chaos ensuring fact as if it was just another unimportant talk. "..... Is that so...." Seo Hana nodded her head, absent-mindedly. ".... What is your purpose, Eshwar....." Chapter 363 362. Voiced Answers. ? "..... What is your purpose, Eshwar...." Hana muttered under her breath, while she gazed around the domain with a ashen, lifeless face. "To kill all of you." Eshwar''s answer was heard in a heartbeat. At that, Seo Hana''s eyes finally shot wide open. Why kill them? She wanted to ask but she couldn''t as her vision blurred for a split second and by the time she blinked her eyes to clear the blur, she found herself ring down at Eshwar. She was now standing on the throne''s armrests as she red down at Eshwar, who was calmly gazing back at her with a soft smile on his face, her bright orange, zing wings were already out of her shoulder des, but were much longer and lighter than she remembered them to be. Her 8-foot-wide wings were now at least 13 feet wide, and her back had long, de-like phoenix feathers; she now had a feathered bird''s tail, while her legs too had turned into those of a bird''s, but with phoenix mes. Her fingers and toes had turned into zing ws, and her hair turned zing orange halfway through. She now literally looked like a phoenix kin, no, a half-phoenix that had been influenced by the phoenix side strongly then that of the human''s. "..... Why...." She mumbled, did she wanted to ask that question? No, not really. She had a myriad of thoughts cruising through her mind right now, but she didn''t dare to voice even one of them. All while, Eshwar was gazing up at her calmly, with a smile on his. "As I said, you are the only entertainment left for me." Eshwar replied. "..... But why?" Hana muttered again, she didn''t even know what she was speaking at this point of time as she just muttered whatever felt right to her, in her mind. "Hana, you want to know a particrly harsh truth?" Eshwar asked, though the way she called her sent chills down to her very core, she nodded. "I created you. Not just you, but everybody on the Earth you know of." Eshwar casually stated. Ignoring Seo Hana''s astonished, despairing, and devastated figure, "I created you guys with a pencil on a paper, you guys are significant "characters" in my "novel," do you understand?" Eshwar stated, gazing at the trembling petite, pitiful figure in front of him. "What does that make me? An author! And what job do I have? I create. Viins, heroes, side-characters, supporting characters, and an outline of the story which is filled with difficulties that a hero has to go through, walk, run, get stronger, stumble, fall, kicked around, yet stand back up stronger than before, these are the significant things a "hero" has to go through, don''t you think? So you have to understand that I, as an author, have to make you, the hero, go through everything, meaning I just have to throw a sh*t tonne of hardships at you, of course, these hardships should at least have basicmon sense, thoughmon sense doesn''t really work when writing stories with HEROES included, but it should at least have some of it, and then these hardships should follow a flow too, do you understand?" Eshwar exined his own hardships. "Ah, among these sh*t tonne of hardships thrown at you, you "will" lose many important "characters," though it hurts me too, I should make the story progress, right? And when the story ends, it just, for whatever reason, doesn''t feel right to have all the characters still alive and kicking. So, sacrifices must be made for your, the hero''s, character development, so I''m currently just doing my job, wouldn''t the readers be bored if the story suddenly changed to that of a slice of life instead of what they came here for? We can always have a slice of life in the side story, so no one will be disappointed." Eshwar ranted, and Seo Hana, who heard everything in a daze, snapped out of it when a tear rolled off her cheek. ".... So, you are going to kill everyone? You have been sticking around with them for so many months, don''t you feel anything? Didn''t you feel any significance of their lives? This is not how a novel should go, even if the author himself is in the novel! He too will get hurt while growing together with those "characters," as you mentioned, experience hardships while also experiencing the lives of those he himself created, and finally when a choice is ced in front of him, he chooses the world he created, protects the world he created when if he has to sacrifice something significant, I also have read many novels, none of those I have read had anything like what you are doing and speaking about!" Seo Hana yelled at him, ignoring many important facts Eshwar casually stated, as tears streamed out of her eyes, like a broken tap. Facts that she absent-mindedly glossed over were; first, he was an author that created the world that they lived in, meaning everything that had ever happened to the world they lived in could be med on him. Second, he was the creator of the system. Third, he had experienced death. Fourth, there existed a world without mana, different from the one they were living in. Fifth, her life which was filled with thrones beneath each step she took was because he wanted it to be so, because she too was a "character" born from his imagination, and a few more facts that could be derived if she pondered a bit. "Wow, Hana! You should be an author yourself, what a story you created in an instant. Sorry, you are expecting too much from me while forgetting the most important part, me. Hana~ I''m a selfish person, with you guys gone, the world I created will be safe, I can just create a new cycle of life, where souls go through constant rebirths, after forgetting their previous life''s memories, with no loopholes like those from the novels you have read." Eshwar stated, eximing. "Hmmmm, Ah! You can just think of it like this, ''It just a story written by a newbie author, he just killed off the characters with no one except for the main character remaining in the end,'' since that''s quite true because I have only written three, no, four actually, and all these four are just another perspective of the surviving characters, who know of the future, and have changed it after being transmitted or regressed or rebirthed." Eshwar shrugged while sitting on the throne. However, Hana didn''t react, because she understood her significance which was quite insignificant, this realisation calmed her mind dangerously as the box of reality that she had built in her mind shattered entirely, showing the true dangerous reality. In her eyes, the Eshwar in front of her had changed, he was now merely a faceless figure that had circuit like lines and strips covering the entirety of a crystallized light blue coloured being without any facial features defining him, and the most shocking part of it was the fact that the current being in front of her was grandiosely humongous. He was just a simple humanoid, crystal-like light blue figure, who was filled with pitch-ck light-devouring circuit like patterns all over him. She was just an ant gazing at such a being from a side, while his eyeless gaze was gazing down at something. Suddenly, "!!!!" Seo Hana shuddered when she noticed the being turn to gaze at her, but by the next instance, she snapped out of whatever she was gazing at, huffing and gasping for breath. She looked around and found herselfid t on the ground, with blood oozing from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, while her body was covered in cold sweat with her heart beating like crazy. "How intriguing." Eshwar''s cold, nearly emotionless voice trickled Hana''s ears, forcing her to shudder uncontrobly. ''Now, it doesn''t matter.....'' Hana thought inwardly, and the words that came out of her mouth next shocked not only Eshwar, but also herself. "I.... I will protect everyone!" Hana dered. "....." ".... I''ll kill you and.... Protect everyone and everything!" "....." "I''ll protect everything from you!" "....." "I.... I, I will....." "... Really?" Eshwar''s voice and breath trickled in her ear. "!!!!" Shuddering, Hana''s eyes shot wide open as she gazed above from the corner of her eyes and noticed Eshwar''s face which was leaned down, closer to her ear, while he still sat on his throne. His pitch-ck slits expanded ever so slightly as they began to turned white as he, seemingly, red into her very soul as she soon felt something get a hold on her, she managed to p her wings once with great difficulty as she shot back and crashed down on to the floor of the domain soon after. THUD-! "Aurkh!" Groaning, Hana nced towards Eshwar''s throne and noticed him holding onto something, which glimmered in a blinding orange light. Whatever it was, it oozed domineering absolute strength, and ''What is that?'' As soon as that question shed in her mind, a notification window popped up in front of her, making her eyes widened in pure horror. DING-! ==== [Exclusive Quest] == [Protect yourself, your people, and your world] [Reward: Control over your own soul] [Time limit: Decided by the [God With A Shotgun]] [Failure Penalty: Destruction of everything you tried to protect!] ==== "You are right, this is your soul." Eshwar said as he showed Hana her own soul that was in his hands while she was still alive. "Hmmm.... More like a control panel. This is a control panel that is directly connected to your soul, so even though your soul is yours, I''ll be the one controlling it. Let''s see how interesting you''ll make this story, for me." Eshwar said in rejoice. "KHEK, KHEK, KHEK, KHUHAHAHAHA!!!" Chapter 364 363. In My Domain. ? Looking at hystericallyughing figure in front her in horror, Hana''s gaze subconsciously fell on the "soul" in Eshwar''s hand, the more she gazed at the blob of concentrated blinding bright light, the more she felt her familiarity with it grow. Of course, it could also be her own delusion which could be caused by Eshwar''s strong words from before, but she couldn''t shake off the feeling about his words being true. Yet, her gaze didn''t tter. "I''ll kill you!" She mumbled. "But you can''t, because," Eshwar muttered, but before his words werepleted, she was thrown out of his domain which had stretched to the oblivion. *** In my domain. "But you can''t, because," I muttered and sent her away withoutpleting my words. Only after I kicked her out of my domain, did the words I wanted to say left my mouth. "You love me too much." I sighed as I nced back at Erebus and Pyre, who had solemn looks on their faces that broke down as soon as they felt Hana leave. I simply tossed the "control panel" into my sub-space, as it wasn''t the time to fiddle with it, at least not yet. MEERRROOWWW~ Erebus''s growling "meow" sounded, which made him look cute unreasonably. But, even though they, Erebus and Pyre, had grown excessively over the year, their habits had yet to die, as I gazed at Pyre turn smaller with a puff and slump downfortably on Erebus''s head, as he, instead, walked towards me and hugged me, stroking his head against mine while purring in delight. Soon, my expression too crumbled as I smiled softly while strongly ruffling Erebus''s fur, making him purr again. "You gaddamn cat, you have grown too big to act like this!" * I took a step forward after cuddling with Erebus and Pyre a bit, as soon as I felt a footinge into contact with my foot, the space in front of twisted ominously before shattering, opening up a path for me to walk through, which I did, without hesitation. The crack was big enough for me to pass through without anything hindering me, although the crack itself oozed ominous dark purple hued smoke, it didn''t bother me even a bit, but what was disyed in it, certainly did. [Your counted time:] [1,722 Years] [20,664 Months] [619,920 Days] [22,137,120 Hours] [1,339,027,200 Minutes] [80,341,632,000 Seconds] [Counting: 1,722Y: 3MN: 29D: 28H: 35M: 56S] "Alright, alright, I get it, I''m old, as old as a fossil, I get it, so can you just stop? For.....sakes!" "This stupid.... No, aren''t I too old to be a fossil? I mean, I''m like at least, in a minimum approximation, a billion years old, unofficially." I muttered, and a billion meant, ones, tens, thousands, ten thousands, onekhs, one millions, one crores, and finally, one billions, which was 1,000,000,000pared to these numbers, 1,722 years didn''t feel that big of a deal, due to which I didn''t feel that odd feeling anymore, unbothered by the number of years counted, I stepped into the crack, that oozed ominous dark purple hued smoke. Upon passing through the crack, I arrived at another, significant side of the domain, where a humongous clock, coupled with a pair of Earth-likes with Saturn-like rings surrounding it came into sight, which you guys too should be familiar by now, which were of course, Earth and Antino¨¹s. The golden, healed, clock was ticking properly as it counted the years of my life and recorded ording to its own significance, but that didn''t bothered me, as it was the only thing it could only, if it was inside my domain, while it was under my control even when on outside, then I gazed back and noticed a few sets of humongous system windows disying different scenes with many known people, who were "also" being monitored. Looking at everything still in ce without much major changes, I took a step forward again. And again, a crack opened up in front of me, in which I stepped in, traversing to yet another significant side of my domain. This side of the domain was filled with soothing, countryside vibes, with a pair of small houses which had a single, merged,rge vegetable farm in front of it with various vegetables ready to be harvested, while at a certain distance, paddy was seen flitting around, swaying rhythmically to the calming breezes of the unnaturally blowing winds. Though everybody present in here had the authority to move in and out of here, none really bothered to go outside as everything in here was peaceful, in stark contrast to the things outside. Feeling my presence, four figures walked out of the houses, 2 beautiful woman, a handsome man, less handsome than me, of course, and a little girl. No, I''m not narcissistic or anything, it was just something I had written about "Max," the viin of my novel, "he was most handsome man," and after a bit of exaggeration, "he was the most handsome man in the entire world," was what I had written, a living piece of art that died early due to the atrocities he hadmitted was what Max was created as, but now that I''m living in his body, there is no way I''d want to die. Ahem! Again! Feeling my presence, four figures walked out of the houses, a beautiful woman, a handsome man, my stunningly and breathtakingly gorgeous wife, and my breathtakingly adorable daughter. The handsome man, my wife, and my daughter, smiled visibly upon noticing me, while the other woman, who stood next to the man, smiled inwardly with a slightly brighter face, enough to make one understand that she too was happy to see me. Not much time should have passed, at least in my domain, but looking at them greeting me this warmly, made me smile naturally. Who would dare reject affection? If one did then it''s just that that they are afraid of losing them "again," but it, the wall they built around themselves, could be broken by the persistence of the giver. Floating towards them, I first gaited towards the other pair with my arms wide open, though we are neighbours, we barely see each other as they don''te out as often as we do, which is understandable as they have "things" to do while we can''t do the same as we have a daughter, though she is understanding and "that" is nothing much in the eyes of the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent being such as herself, it is too much in the eyes of our daughter. Or so, my beautiful wife decided. Which I had no other choice but toply as a husband. "Zephyr~ taking a break?" I asked teasingly and hugged him. (AN: "Zephyr" introduced in ch 322: Monsters) "Of course, why else would Ie out to meet your a*s?" Zephyr grumbled yet returned the hug. He was my friend, or, Eshwar''s friend, if you understand what I mean. Well, he was a demon with a likeable character, whose fate has also been twisted due to my interference, just like that of my novel''s. (AN: a friend is mentioned in ch 137: ???(cursed), that friend mentioned there is Zephyr.) "Why?~ you shoulde out to meet me, after all I didn''t hold you back from going back to the demon domain, back when we were still in sector one." I said, still teasingly, but the fact that he did leave me behind amidst monsters when I was only a five year old kid seemed to have pricked deeper into his consciousness that he winced every time I spoke about it, which made him feel guilty for whatever reason. I got the reaction I expected, "Guhk...." Zephyr groaned under his breath, in response to which, I smiled teasingly and backed off before walking towards his woman. I bowed adequately, in response to which, the woman held out her ungloved right hand, I nted a peck on her knuckles before standing straight and looking into her eyes which had gained back a bit of their lustres thanks to Zephyr. "I can still erase ''those'' memories, if you want, ask me anytime you feel reluctant to ept Zephyr." I said and backed away upon noticing her nod. Her name was Jewel, as Zephyr named her, she was none other than the dragon princess, whom the emperor had "kept." I had "regressed" her body to the time she was still a young and pure, beautiful princess of the dragon domain, but she still had all of her memories, which she wished to bravely confront before epting Zephyrpletely, though she had opened up for him, making love was still a bit too hard for her to bare, mentally, but she had taken steps gradually and they were enjoy each other''s embrace and cuddle, which were the "things" I said previously. If you thought of something else, then..... You naughty, naughty, hehehe. I then gaited towards my family, picked up Eunomia, Mia for short, hugged, threw her up, not by much of as much as I wanted, into the sky trice, and spun her around before kissing her forehead which made her giggle, and she soon rushed towards Pyre and Erebus, who were running towards us from a distance. I nced back at Mia''s rushing back and noticed her throw a subtle thumbs up at me, which made me feel extremely touched. ''Your father won''t let you down, my daughter, and will work hard to get you a younger brother or a younger sister soon enough!'' I swore inwardly and resolutely turned my back at her. "Why am Ist? Shouldn''t I be your first and get your first priority?" My beautiful wife grumbled with a pout. "I always save my favourites for thest!" I replied in a heartbeat, and smiled perversely when my gazended on the violent blush adorning her face. Chapter 365 364. He Wants Us Dead. ? A weekter. Seo Hana, who had disappeared abruptly, reappeared in front of them¡ªKatline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, and a few more familiar figures that Hana hadn''t expected to gaze at, at least not yet. These figures were none other than Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda, who had gotten acquainted with each other before they parted. And before their bewilderment, together hers own, subsided, Hana felt a strange feeling, a certain familiarity with Frostine, who seemed to have already figured out why, as her curious gaze flitted all over Hana, who felt as if she had been stripped naked under Frostine''s gaze. "You..... You be a divine beast." Frostine muttered under her breath with a curious smile, of course, her words were mere mumbles that only Hana was able to hear, due to her newly assimted powers. A subtle shudder swept through her body, but she didn''t show it on her face or her actions, but merely gazed at Frostine intently. "Listen!" Abruptly, a roar sounded right next to her, startling her back to reality. Only then did Hana began to gaze at her surroundings, which felt like some sort an underground, evil organisation''s hideout, where most heinous and atrocious ns were being made. Which wasn''t that far off from the truth. The one who had just yelled was none other than Arngrim, who had a frustrated expression marring his face. "We...." Abruptly halting his words, he red at Hana, who was still gazing at the tattered and unclean state her friends were in. The gentle aura that surrounded them had turned fierce, as there mere gaze felt like daggers. If one word could describe them, then it would be; survivors. War survivors to be precise. ''What happened in a matter of minutes....'' As soon as that thought swept past her consciousness, as if reading her mind, "It has been a week since you disappeared." Louie said. "!!!!" Hana''s eyes widened in shock, but they paid no heed to it, as their focus wad soon dragged by Arngrim, who gave a stern gaze. STAB-! SHIIICK-! Drawing a rough circle on the stone table with mana imbedded finger, Arngrim poked a dot in the middle. "We are here...." Arngrim said, pointing at the dot. "And are currently surrounded by the Prototypes...." He continued, pointing at the rough circle. POKE-! He poked a few more dots ,which seemed random, in the circle. "These are the bases of the other survivors.... ording to our findings from a day before." Arngrim muttered. ''The situation is more dire then what one could expect....'' Seo Hana thought, she could tell that much even though she had "intruded" "their" base. "Except for these, we know nothing. They clearly aren''t killing the survivors indifferently, meaning they want us to submit to them, which we do not want to, after surviving for so long." Arngrim mumbled, with uncertainty oozing out of his spitefully spat words, as he red at Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, and Hannah, who seemed clearly dissatisfied with receiving such a gaze, which left Hana baffled not really understanding what was going on. "What?!" Neal asked, roaring spitefully. "Nothing, you guys are just soooo~ used to living under somebody, that I just can''t being myself to trust you guys after hearing your "suggestion" from "that day," phhh....." As Arngrim continued to belittle them, Louie, who still had a warm aura surrounding him, covered Arngrim''s mouth. "Hahaha, don''t take it to heart, it has been too long since he has been outside to actually socialize with people, and upon witnessing "those" scenes, his mind seemed to have twisted strangely...." Louie made up a usible excuse in an instant. "!!!, I dissect living people you son of a @?#?#?!!!!" Arngrim began to spew profanities, but Louie came to the rescue, as he covered his mouth, forcibly. [The Freaks suggested a surrender a few days ago when the prototypes put up an unimaginable pressure upon us, the survivors.] Just as Hana''s bewilderment grewrger, Frostine''s telepathic voice sounded in her mind, clearing the subtle cloud of their current situation, which strongly leaned towards a split up. After nodding thankfully at Frostine, Seo Hana focused on the plight that she was forced into, while keeping in the absurd information she found out to herself. ''He''s trying to kill us, while here, they are at each other''s throat.... Looking at things, it won''t be long before they killed each other...." She thought and at that thought, as if on a cue her phoenix trait made her shiver at an ominous conclusion that formed in her mind. "He did it...." Hana muttered. Eshwar was manipting them, in every direction, in a way that they wouldn''t even know they died because of him! "What!?" Arngrim snarled at her. "He is manipting you guys....." Hana muttered with a horrified look on her face. "Who?" Core asked, while Louie covered Arngrim''s mouth. "Eshwar...." Hana muttered, and at those words a strange deafening silence descended upon them, as their strange gazes stared daggers into her. Their eyes were full of doubts, contempt, and dangerous glimmer of rage in them made her feel suffocated for a split second, as the mask named "Seo Hana" soon seemed to slip off of her face, which turned emotionless in an instant. She, who had always felt her emotions stronger than others, had gotten nauseous of emotions themselves, soon after her realisation, she had began to cut off as many emotions as possible, yet it was impossible, because no matter what, she would feel her emotions at least 10 times stronger than normal. The emotions she thought to have cut off felt 20 times more stronger, because her consciousness had assumed that she hadn''t ever felt that emotion before, such was the reason, she put up a mask of "Seo Hana" that was "normal" enough to allow her to interfere and live in the world with humans. Her emotionless face twisted menacingly as her gaping expression turned stronger,. Her subtly opened mouth, eyes, and raised brows erged, with her mouth turning into arge, lip corners tearing "O," eyelids widening as if her eyes would pop out, and her forehead churning due to her stretched brows. The astonishment visible on her face seemed so exaggerated that it made those around her extremely ufortable, forcing them to throw different kinds of disgusted expressions at her, which, of course, hurt her. It was slightly cute at the first few seconds, turned disgusting by the next few, and turned horrifying the longer her face disyed the same emotion. They shuddered in disgust, but before somebody spoke her out of it, Frostine moved faster, as she appeared above the table, crouched, and before a second even passed, SLAP-!!! A loud p rang, snapping Hana out of it, this was what would happen if her mask shattered, her cute face turned horrifying, enough make one traumatized for life. Yet, ''These emotions were that HE wanted to see, if I wanted him with me forever....'' Hana thought, and as soon as she realised what she had just thought, her face turned bitter. "You were asking for the impossible, Eshwar....." She muttered out loud, involuntarily. "What are you talking about?" Frostine asked. "Eshwar wants everybody dead...." Hana muttered in whisper, which only Frostine, who was still crouching on the table, could hear. [Is that so?] Frostine''s telepathic voice sounded in her mind. "....?" Seo Hana, who was startled by the calmness in Frostine''s tone, looked up, only to find a smile itched on her face. "As expected, well, that''s Eshwar, alright....." Frostine muttered, as her smile turned bitter as she nced back at her friends, who had been with her for the past 2 decades. "Huuuu....." Frostine exhaled sharply and she gritted her teeth, which made cracking sounds. "F**k...." Frostine cursed under her breath, loud enough for everybody to hear. "What''s going....no, just get out." Arngrim muttered, as he pointed at a separate room. "Exin the situation to her while you are at it." He muttered, without lowering his pointing finger or hand. "..... I''ll be back, shortly." * In the room, that was silenced by Frostine''s magic, she and Hana, stood face to face leaning against the walls on the opposite sides. "He wants us dead? Why?" Frostine was the first to break the silence. She.... She bit her lip as many thoughts shed in mind. She had been with him for a decade, round figured or in approximation, but many lives of she took Eshwar''s words into ount. Hence, she didn''t need to be told separately that even she was involved in the "us" she just spoke off. A persistently bulldozing young man she met two lives ago had grown so much that he didn''t even hesitate to want to kill her. She had thought of many happy memories they could create now that they reunited, she was just waiting for these things to end, but she never thought she would ever hear the fact that he, the one whom she helped to grew up, was ready to slit her throat. ''.... Master would stop him if she knew....'' Frostine thought, which was a fact, but the plightid in how she would convey this message to HER. Then, Seo Hana muttered as she was pondering. ".....bored." "Huh?" "He said he was bored looking at us, and also said that, as an author, it was his duty to put his characters through tough, life-threatening situations....." "..." "..." "..... Haha, hahaha, huhhahuhaha...." Chapter 366 365. A Raid. ? ---------- A weekter. The brutish n to push back the prototypes had worked, as only not-much-stronger prototypes were present to fend them off, who rushed at them like roaches. Meanwhile, Seo Hana had developed a strange phobia of being terrified of THAT gaze, she assumed to be gazing down at her always. The world from her eyes had distorted with a ring eye in the sky, whose pupil seemed to have stretched to however long her eyes could see. The eyes gazing at her in her surroundings too had began to bother her, though she tried her best to calm her anxiousness, she couldn''t and would always cover behind Frostine, who had teamed up with Hana to kill their loved one, who instead loved another. First, it was the prototypes, whom they barely managed to push back and scatter all over, without actually killing their head, who could copy the skills he saw, understanding which, they----Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda----used the least amount of strength, and when theycked enough strength, they used their abilities, limited to which they assumed to have already been revealed. And when with their conditions being as such, they seeded and broke through the encirclement of the prototypes. Though, the rest of the survivors scattered, most of them remained with the [Hunters], a moniker they gave to themselves, as their group had gotten bigger. They allowed no new member to enter their group and were very sophisticated with their rules, so they, rest of the survivors, just became side characters, with support characters and main characters already being in the group. From then on, when they took a breather of relief, without any forewarnings, the dungeons----the un-cleared dungeons to be precise----broke. The now broken dungeons oozed absurd amount of high ranked monsters, culling the numbers of the survivors again. The numbers which were in a very few, two or three, billion head culled to half or three fourth of a billion. The monsters were persistent in their endeavours to cull the number of survivors, due to which the saying "whatever doesn''t kill you, makes you stronger" was proved to be right, as the survivors, who were being named "survivors" again and again, became absurdly strong, which, unfortunately for them, was the same with the monsters, who were getting stronger as the days passed, a few stronger monsters even upying their own territories, as if imitating the gods themselves. The survivors who were getting stronger with each passing day, one day resolved to try hunting down a god, no, a Fallen. They contained the strongest of the survivors, of course, they didn''t have any of those from the [Hunters], but they were confident that they could defeat a fallen, hence, they neared a Fallen''s dome. "Huuu..... Now that we are actually here, I''m feeling kinda nervous ~" A man amid the group of 500 muttered, which was agreed unanimously by those around him. They could feel the pressure, a certain kind of pressure bore down on them, which increased the closer they got to the dome, or an "area" assigned to a fallen. "... We will move as nned!" With a mana infused voice, a man at the vanguard roared, confidently. Boosting the morale of the group he managed to gather, while attempting to solidify his own. He soon touched the dome because he thought that if they spoke outside the dome anymore then this, their morale will tter due to the pressure which would leave them with no other option, but to retreat, even he was nervous and anxious, if he spoke trying to boost more of their morale, his own would tter, and he wasn''t sure if he could keep his tone strong and smooth, without a tremble or a stutter, hence he chose the most optimal solution and directly touched the dome, which transferred them into it by the next instance. Solidifying his trembling heart, he opened his eyes when his feet came in contact with something. TIP-! PITTER-PATER-! WHOOOOSHMMM-! And it was downpour. The moment they stepped onnd there was a downpour, due to which the time they needed to adjust themselves to the terrain was longer than intended. Foiling their scouting n as soon as they entered, but they didn''t have time to care about things like that, as they positioned themselves as they gazed around, asserting their terrain, which was blurry due to the harsh downpour. ''It''s.... The rain drops....'' The raindrops that rained down on them were as hard as the rocks, which only pricked them due to the strength cruising through each and every one of them, which was only natural, because they too were survivors, and they were proud of that fact. "An ind!" A roar was heard from behind, which was clouded by the downpour, but the words travelled from him and soon reached the vanguard''s ears, to which he nodded in affirmation. They were on a strange Ind, whose surroundings were filled with water, from the scent of which, they could understand that it was salt water, seemingly an ocean, which had stretched to the horizon. The ind seemed to be able to hold at least 5000 people, of course, it was only an assumption and an approximation, but they had no other choice but to ept that assumption as it is. Many received encouragements , gifts, blessings, and even quests from their gods, epting which in gratitude, they focused on the things ahead of them. DHOOOOM-! The ind abruptly trembled as an ominous boom resounded throughout the ocean as an humongous, immobile silhouette was seen at the northeast cover of their gazes, and just as one would expect, they stiffened, their irregr breathings trembled as they nearly halted. With cold sweat dyeing their backs and foreheads, they moved their eyes as they stared at the silhouette in a distance, as their breath involuntarily got stuck in their lungs, as they didn''t even dare to breathe, which a natural, and to be expected, reaction. DHOOOOM-! Again, the ind trembled, and they understood the reason for that. The silhouette in a distance, It was moving! With each step it took, the world tremored. DHOOOOM-! They didn''t know before, but now they could feel it, just like the world, they assumed to be trembling with each step it, the silhouette, took, their existences themselves were trembling in front of such an ambiguous existence, which they assumed to be a Fallen. * They were breathing through their mouths in utter fear of being discovered, the first to snap out of their daze was the one, who gathered them, regretting his actions, whose responsibility was much bigger than his small broad shoulders, that clearly couldn''t really bear the responsibility of his actions. But, He didn''t intend to run away, so He gathered courage and turned to look for the portal which they entered to get here, and he found, Nothing. Absolutely nothing! His body trembled violently, but this fear dyed gaze still hadn''t lost their vigour of life, that seemed to be too strong to burn out by a feeble amount of fear. Oveing his fear, WHOOOOSH-! With a strong, vigour filled body, he stretched up his sword held hand, garnering the attention of all 500 of them. Their gazes naturally followed and found him, a person whom they could pin all the mes onto, without a shred of care about his feelings. But, Just as they were about to spew curses at him in everynguage they knew, "Everyone!" He, who gathered them together, roared! "That thing is the cause of our families being fallen to the ruins!? Should we let such an existence live any longer!?" He roared again, much more vigorously then before. His words carried a certain hint of confidence, forcing their consciousness'' to shut it and listen to him! * After a few seconds of speech, he gazed at people in front of with fierce, zing, eyes! "... We shall! Exterminate this monster and avenge our families, rtives, and friends!" """"Yeah!!"""" With a roar of unison, he turned to face the silhouette which was facing his back just a few moments ago. "Mages! Assemble!!!" "Tanks! Guard!!" "Archers! Positions!!!" Hemanded the numbers, thinking of the most efficient route to clear the predicament they were "forced" into. His tactic was the most basic yet effective one. If the impact was bigger than that of their expectations then they would gain a huge boost in their morale, of not, then they would call their death, Begging for death toe to them sooner than for the one next to themselves. Insane amount of mana concentrated behind him as different coloured, power packed blobs dyed the dull, gloomy world with magical colours, but he couldn''t and didn''t have any leisure to be mesmerized by such a scenery. He nced back, noticing thest mage nod his head in affirmation, "FIRE!!!!" With a series of dense streaks of lights dyeing the dull world in colours, the moment before the wave of an absolute destruction was spent in a trance of amaze, excitement, enthusiasm, and anticipation. Though they could feel it, they couldn''t tell that their actions could lead to an awake of the devastation itself. --------- Chapter 367 366. Behemoth. ? ------- DHOOOOM-! DHOOOOM-! Streaks of dense , different light trials were left behind as the magic spells were casted at the still unidentified behemoth, which was making its way across the ocean, as the survivors, who had dared to attack such a being were trembling, fear-stricken, but they didn''t dare stop their attacks. They didn''t even know if the being they were attacking was a Fallen or not, but since it was a dome which held a Fallen, there mere ignorant assumption that they had to kill the being in the dome to get out of there, was what lead to the plight they were clearly stuck in, and one of them, the one who gathered them, knew that they wouldn''t the able to get back out in one piece. And in a corner of his mind, he also knew that unless a miracle rued they wouldn''t even be alive, let alone returning in one piece. And due to the strong bursts of lights, they could see the figures features, which had long kraken-like tentacles slithering down from its, clouds covered, face, it had a pair of arms and legs, but the palm of its hands were covered in tentacle holes, which went the same for its shoulders and back, while dense moss covered the body of the behemoth, that gaited towards them in calm, unbothered manner, even as it took their, the survivors, strongest magic spells head-on. Its light shing face was enough entice fear into the beings, who were proud of the fact that they survived till date. "S-s-stop! Freeze the water!" A man in the vanguard roared, fearfully. Understanding that the spells casted by them had not even a ounce of effect on the behemoth. The already trembling people, flinched at his roar, red at him hatefully, butplied with hismand. The water in front of the group froze, creakingly, as they walked on it, continuing freeze the water as they made their way towards the behemoth,pletely concentrating on the water, which subtly helped them to forget about the existence of their predestined deaths. But, BHOOOM-! A mere step forward of the behemoth shook their wills, as tears streamed out of their nearly lifeless eyes, that had subtle, merely hints, of hope flickering in them, as if they too were about to die out. "Aaaaaaaaaahh!!!" The vanguard howled, of course, his trembling body wasn''t moving even an inch, but his roar was loud, which he did so that he didn''t lose his spirit to fight. Yes, it was his desperation dyed war howl! His roar screamed his will to live, which was still ignited, but in mere flickers. "You goddamn giant a*s bit*h!!! I''ll kill you!!! Aaaaaaaa!!!!" He continued his yell, igniting the dying embers of their fighting spirits of those around him, involuntarily. He received blessings, rewards, and achievement points by the gods that were enjoying his desperation, which had buffing effects on the howling vanguard. But, BHOOOM-! A single step forced their fighting spirits to die down, again. CRA-CRACK-!! Due to the ripples caused from the steps of the behemoth, the frozen waters began to crack and split apart, as the thinneryer shattered entirely, sending strong, cold gusts of winds mming against their faces. With the situation being like this, where everybody would know of the oue, is there really any meaning for them to continue? Wouldn''t it be better for them to kill themselves instead of waiting to be killed by the behemoth, who would use methods unknown? Whatever may happen, it won''t change of the fact that if they didn''t die by themselves, they''ll die a horrifying, fear-stricken death, which would be as pitiful as one could imagine. The vanguard thought, inwardly. A orotund, singsong like voice resounded in the dungeon the survivors had entered. They listened to the voice and calmed down abruptly as if the voice casted some sort of magic spell on them, and before they could understand, What was that? Where did the voicee from? Who was mortal in question? What was the wish? And other questions that shed in their minds, The mortal mage, who stood at the end of their formation, abruptly rushed towards a damage dealer, who stood close by, pulled out his dagger and the mage abruptly slit his throat, without even a shred of hesitation. "....." "....." ... ..... The world seemed to be drowning in silence, as not even the behemoth acted after the voice resounded. "KYAAAAA!!!!" A woman covered her ears and screamed in horror. "!!!!!" The survivors too snapped back to their senses hearing her shrill, horror dyed scream. "Wind de." A mage casted in the middle of group, aiming forward. "me arrow." Another casted, aiming at the sky. SHICHK-! FHOOOURT-! The casted wind de was aimed at the caster, while the me arrow aimed up, simply turned around after reaching a certain distance and dove back down, and pierced through the caster. Another two killed themselves with their own magic. But, This time, They didn''t have the leisure to be worried about the dead, as more and more people among their group began to kill themselves with a lifeless look on their faces, that shed on their faces before they killed themselves. As if, ''A-a-as i-if, somebody is controlling them.....'' The vanguard thought and shuddered violently, as the realised that, he was one who had the thought of killing themselves instead of waiting and dying to the behemoth, shed in his mind. At that instance, he got the answer for one of the many questions in their minds, He was mortal the voice had just talked about! At the revtion, the lustre of life in his eyes died outpletely. Unmoving, he gazed at his fellow survivors kill themselves due to him. Unbelievably, unbeknownst to him, a lifeless smile crept up on his face, which would have been considered horrifying if not for the absurd phenomenon taking ce right in front of him. Yes, he lost his mind at that instance and began tough like a maniac he was. "Hue, huehuehuehehehuehehuehue....heh....." After everybody, except for him head died, realising it was his turn now, he fanatically unsheathed his sword and aimed at his own neck, and when he tried to push in the sword with a smile on his, he frowned in confusion, because His sword remained unmoving, stuck in mid-air. While he struggled to pull in the sword, that didn''t budge even an inch, a strong mana fluctuated and before long, a portal had opened up next to him, in which he was thrown by an extremely strong gust of winds. * After arriving outside. Dazed, he, the vanguard, watched a strange white sh disappear into the dome, due to state he was in, he wasn''t able see any features that could describe whatever he had just seen. Thinking that he was hallucinating due to the extreme levels of pressures he had been in a short time, the man shook his,ughed lifelessly like a maniac as he made his way towards the [Hunters] group, which seemed to be the only salvation for the current him. It didn''t take long for him to reach them, and narrate every bit of the short term story that made him lifeless, while the same story had also reaped of the lives of his teammates and friends. Then, after narrating every bit of it, the man asked them for a favour, which he didn''t name before they agreed to it, of course, if the request was too unreasonable, they could have refused, but it was in their limits, they wouldn''t hesitate to fulfil his request, due to which, though sceptical, they, the leaders-----Frostine and Seo Hana, agreed albeit hesitantly. But, After hearing the request, Seo Hana stiffened. What was the request that caused her react as such? "Please, kill me...." The man literally, pleaded, in pleasant sounding words, begged, in blunt words. "....." ... ..... The atmosphere in the base of the [Hunters] chilled when they heard his plea, but none had the courage to kill somebody that was begging for their own death. "Haaaa....." Abruptly, an exhausted sigh sounded, but before they turned to face the emotionless being who just sighed, BAM-! SPLATTER-! CHUP-!! The man, who had just pleaded to die, was granted his wish, by a being that was cruel enough to do so without a shred of emotion clouding him/her. His head had exploded as the chunks of his head, together with minced flesh and blood sttered around. Before more confusion and horror spread across their group, a slender, pale arm was raised up into the air, as the wandering gazes peered through the crowd to identify the being. "Frostine?" Hana muttered with a subtle gasp. "Mhmn." Frostine nodded unfazed and walked towards the headless body of the man. "Yo-" A man among the crowd snarled, but abruptly halted when Frostine''s cold, chilling re fell on him. Here, she, Frostine, owed an exnation to none. And it wasn''t like they could even ask her why she killed the man, when the man himself asked to be killed. He had lost his teammates. He had lost his will to fight. He had even lost his will to live. Such a person was better of dead. "What? You have anything to say?" Frostine asked with a re that seemed to be peering into the man''s very existence. "N-n-nothing, ma''am." "I do!" Chapter 368 367. [Time Limit: 00Y: 31D: 09H: 12M: 08S] ? "I do!" Seo Hana abruptly spoke up. "If that so?" Frostine asked in a mumble. "Yes! Why-" Hana spoke up again with a frown marring her face, but "It''s alright, keep it to yourself, I don''t really need to know, nor do I care." Frostine said, shutting Hana up. Frostine could feel a re burning through her back, but she ignored it as if the one ring was someone insignificant and continued her stride out. Aftering out of the sophisticated, suffocating room, Frostine leapt into the sky, as her frozen, crystallized 6 meter wide flung open. FLAP-! WHOOOOMMM-! With a single p, the apocalyptic sceneries she saw changed, at least thrice. But, she didn''t stop. She felt suffocated, as if somebody or something was choking her ever since she learnt of the fact that Eshwar had been manipting things around them to kill them. She wanted to know, why? What did they do to receive his indifference? What could possibly be the trigger? Were they in the wrong? Or, were they.... Had they just out lived their usefulness? Is that why he wanted them dead? And why was it that woman, who deserved an answer and not herself? And that stupid bit*h, does she even know what she was taking about? She wanted to kill him? HIM? He was God for f**ks sake! Does, no, do the people of this world even realise what kind of existence a God is? Can''t they still understand, that the so-called demi-gods of this world, who had yet to show themselves, could have been killed cold blood? Of course, since they hadn''t publically shown themselves it could have been understandable, but a lot of the survivors were those that had at least heard of their rumours at least once our twice in their insignificant lifetimes! Ignoring them! Seo Hana knew of the existence of the demi-gods, but shouldn''t she use at least a bit of her mind, to conclude that they could be dead, killed by a stronger being? Someone like Eshwar? Frostine felt like these kinds of thoughts of hers, revolving around her mind for a week long were ravaging her consciousness, she felt so suffocated that she herself didn''t mind killing those around her, just to get herself freed from all their bullsh*t! If only everything was just razed to the ground, she could finally be free! If nothing existed to bother him, he definitely won''t kill her, no, she was sure that he wouldn''t kill her even now, she wasn''t all that stupid to be clouded by merely one-sided spection or conclusion. She also knew that he, Eshwar, wasn''t someone who liked to destroy "his own world." *** [Time limit: 00Y: 171D: 12H: 34M: 53S] It seemed like there was a lot of time but there were also a lot of stronger beings they had to defeat. [Time limit: 00Y: 158D: 01H: 09M: 48S] [Hunters] gathered many survivors from around the domes, as they were asked to fight against the monsters to increase their levels, which seemed to increasing limitlessly. [Time limit: 00Y: 141D: 11H: 18M: 23S] Their motivation being the truth about the strength of the Fallen in the dome, that was recently raided, with their situation being this harsh, they had no choice but to face the reality, which seemed to be so bleak that it would shatter entirely within a matter of days. [Time limit: 00Y: 136D: 23H: 33M: 48S] After a while, their, the people''s, natural instincts took over, under which they cared for nothing and began to do whatever they desired, such as stealing, rebelling, fulfilling their lusts, forcing their ways, hoarding,zing, and many other hidden desires were brought out from within when they learned of their nearing doom. [Time limit: 00Y: 100D: 00H: 01M: 00S] The [Hunters], who were busy with hunting down the monster to grow stronger, were notified of these disgusting acts, which forced them to set up an Order, which protected the victims while executed those at fault, how did they find out who was who? By using, Seo Hana''s, divine beast''s, [mes Of Judgement] which incinerated the guilty, while devoured and healed the unseen and seen wounds of the not guilty. That''s an absurdly broken skill, isn''t that right? [Time limit: 00Y: 81D: 05H: 30M: 12S] These Order brought them back to control, not by much but enough to keep their hidden desires, hidden. The [Hunters]manded the people to grow stronger in their limited times, again, though a bit rebellious that was suppressed with force, the people finally began to regain their sanity and hope to live, as their mental strength grew stronger with their strength. [Time limit: 00Y: 31D: 09H: 12M: 08S] Finally, they felt like they were ready to hunt down the Fallen, of course, they hadn''t be narrow-minded enough topletely believe that they could defeat a God, but with their strengthsbined, they believed that to be a possibility, which was warm weed belief. At night, which felt like just any other day, that was filled with a tense atmosphere. Arge, guarded, building surrounded by smaller ones, that could easily home a family of four, was seen by a man, who was running towards it, panting for air, with a slightly shocked look on his face. Reaching the fences of the man-made safe zone, the huffing man gazed at the guards that saw him, and threw his ID card at one of them, who then scanned with a scanner which then required his retinal and biometric data toplete the process. The guards faces became serious after they confirmed the identity of the man, and were more shocked to see his hurried state, from a guard post, a man with a moustache peeked out with a stern face, "Level of urgency?" He asked. "High!" The huffing man replied and soon a red rm shed twice near therge guarded building, as the gate opened, giving him ess. "Thank you!" He yelled as he rushed in, not taking back his ID card. * He, Dale, was a guard, posted near one of the domes, which was the first raided and failed dome that was opened months ago, and today he gazed at an unbelievable phenomenon, in which a pair of masked figures walked into the dome, with fearless expressions on their faces. People going to the dome was rare, but not umon, so there shouldn''t have been even a single weird thing about it today too, but the nearly forgotten identities of these pair was what alerted him, though he hadn''t once seen them, he could almost immediately grasp who they were, hence his reason to rush all the way here to the safe zone, which was kilometres away. Upon arriving at therge guarded door, he went through the simr but stricter security check again, and was soon let in. Inside the building, there was a reception, a bulletin board, a few people adorned in armours and weapons, guards, staff, and a few shops in which potions, scrolls, weapon, armours, and food were being sold, it was an adventures guild from a fantasy novel. But his destination wasn''t this floor, nor were the lower floors, where guards'' tests and trainings would take ce, his destination was the top floor, which was the second floor. The lower floors were for trainings and simr purposes, the ground floor was the main guild hall, first floor was for managements, and thest floor was the guild masters'' hall, where all the leaders and the core members stayed. "Dale! Here! Guild masters'' are waiting for you!" A loud men''s yell sounded near the spiral staircases that lead both ways, up and down. "Coming!" Dale replied and rushed, though fatigued, it wasn''t an appropriate time to stall. * Upon reaching the top most floor, he was lead to a meeting room, that was lit up in a set mood of the leaders, Seo Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda, were seen, riddled in scars that had already healed, but still made Dale stiffen. Seo Hana and Frostine were the main leaders, so first, Dale gazed at them, and bowed politely at them, and gave the others a simr bow soon after. "Dale, thank you for your hard work, as always. Thanks to you, we don''t really have to worry about something going wrong with the remaining survivors." Seo Hana said, formally praising him for his daily hard work. ''Something going wrong'' was nothing too concerning, as it was just about the survivors, who were weak willed, trying tomit suicide that was masked in honour. His job was to identify the [Notice] given to the survivors by the guild, which affirms of them being a legitimate hunter and not just some suicidal maniac, who instead would be stopped no matter what they do or what reasons they give, mostmon if them ming the guild and talking sh*t about them being free to do whatever they want and avenging their family or friends, well, there are many more, and would literally take a page to be listed, so we''ll ignore that for now. Now, back to Dale bring praised. Of course, he knew that it was only a formality, but he still couldn''t help but feel happy when thinking that the one praising him was none other than the Malevolent Saintess, that was said to have never lied, and thinking about his work being recognised. "Let''s her straight to point, ignoring the pleasantries, what was the high leveled emergency?" Asked Frostine, in response to which Dale tensed up. If Hana was named Malevolent Saintess, then this woman was literally called Lady Violence among the survivors. "Y-yes!" Dale muttered, thinking he should just get straight to the point, and "I, I saw White Swan and ck Raven enter the Oceans!" Chapter 369 368. The Oceans. ? With an audible gasp, that startled not only Dale, but also others around Hana, which she paid no heed to, as she jumped back on her feet as her gaze glimmered in a dangerous glint before being set aze. An horrifying aura exploded out of her petite body, as she flexed her shoulders and kicked off of her chair, busting through the ceiling as her 3 meters long zing wings shed on her shoulder des. FLAP-! With a strong p, she shot out towards the dome which they had named "Oceans" due to the dungeon theme being an ind surrounded by an ocean that stretched to the ends of the horizon. She left a series of circr wind bursts as she flew towards her destination, like a rocket, without a care in the world. Her already zing gaze busted out circr me bursts a few times, as it killed the de-like winds mming against her face and eyes which red into the clouds clouding her gaze from reaching their destination, she gritted her teeth in displeasure because she could do nothing without destroying things around her, ring at the innocent clouds hatefully, she sped up, helplessly. ''I''ll kill you!'' She thought inwardly, ignoring the clenching pain in her heart that seemed to want to stop beating. A tear welled up in her eye, but the next burst of me evaporated it. It took her a few minutes to reach her destination as she subconsciously ttered in her speed of flight as the thoughts of how she would face him, and what she would upon facing him shed in her mind, while also weakening her resolve. Upon reaching there, she was dumbfounded to find Frostine already standing in front of the dome with azy expression on her face, yawning uninterestedly. "You, how.... Forget it!" Hana muttered in a huff while still floating mid-air, then she dove right into the dome, ignoring Frostine, who followed her in soon after. WHOOOOMMM-! With a loud hum of them passing through the dense barrier of clouds, they arrived at the ind, they gazed around in search of them, and GIGGLE.... Gazing in the direction of the soft angelic voice''s giggle sounded, they found a white-haired couple, who instead were gazing at the beautifully itched ocean''s never-ending horizon as they chatted, rxingly, with their feetid out towards the ocean, whose waves caressed them gently, as the woman sat in front of the man, who in response had hugged her from behind, lovingly. Gazing at such a beautifully love dipped scene, hers and Frostine''s stomachs churned, while thetter felt confused at her nameless emotions, which should have been reced by her happiness. Though she didn''t know what to call them, she knew that it definitely wasn''t happiness, as she didn''t really feel happy by looking at her master in "his" arms, at all. "Esh.... Isha...." Hana called out. She wanted to call out Eshwar, but she forced herself not to, while she kept her jealousy at them and her confusion dyed hatred at him well-hidden within herself. GIGGLE..... But, She was ignored. SHE WAS IGNORED! She calmed her raging emotions, gritted her teeth, and "..... What are you doing here?" She mumbled under her breath, knowing they could clearly hear her. "Waiting...." H...He said. ''Why did he have to speak out....?'' Hana lowered her head, trembling, while she kept her thoughts to herself. "... Waiting for who?" Frostine, who had came in terms with her nameless emotions, asked. "Who else but you?" Eshwar''s voice, which had been sounding from behind since their arrival, answered her with a question. Hearing his answer, they turned silent, as both of them felt a subtle hint of butterflies in their stomachs, Frostine found it funny that her stomach was ticklish, while Seo Hana was annoyed at herself for feeling happy and anticipating something, as he answered. "..... What are you here for?" Seo Hana asked in a hoarse, cold tone. "Hmm? Hahahaha, why would one ever enter a dungeon? To hunt the beasts in it, of course." Eshwar replied, chuckling as if he was one stating the obvious. Hana gritted her teeth, which in response made a creaking sound as if they would shatter. "..... You have entered unauthorised, please get out." Hana muttered, formally. "And why would I do that?" Eshwar''s sarcastic remark sounded, rippling in Hana''s consciousness, which seemed to be on thest rope. "..... Please get out, if you do not have the [Notice]...." Hana repeated herself in a roundabout way, still speaking formally. "Say. Why do I need one again?" Eshwar''s voice sounded in front of them this time, where Isha''s and Eshwar''s physical bodies were seen. "..... You have to get one, if you want to ente-" Hana began to exin, but was cut short by Eshwar. "Haven''t I already entered? There didn''t seem to be any requirement like that." Eshwar rebuked, just as Hana was about to react to his words, he continued. "And by the looks of it, I''ll just have to wait for a bit, and it wouldn''t be long before they wander out of here anyways." He said, as if he disappointed about something. "... Wha-" Hana spoke out in outrage, but just as she was about to roar at him, he continued to speak. "You alone, sadly, won''t be enough to even put up a fight against a God, even in "that" form of yours." "Even I myself wasn''t able to defeat a God, back when I destroyed the Elven Kingdom." Eshwar stated, and that put a full stop on Hana''s uproar, that had yet to burst out. She could clearly understand what he was saying. Considering the level of his strength back then, which was on a different level of its own, Hana was a bit sceptical now, the level of urgency and danger had increased by whole another level from the information she just received. There were only a very few people that could reach Eshwar''s that level of destruction''s output, and remembering his words again, she understood that he wasn''t able to defeat a God even though he was that strong. But, was there any God at that time..... While that thought shed in her mind, as if reading them without them even being voiced, A voice answered her query, "It was me. He''s talking about me." An angelic voice from before sounded right next to her, which made her shudder in reflex and forced her to jump back. Seo Hana gazed at Isha warily, who instead pouted as she gracefully walked towards Frostine, who stood dazed ever since Eshwar answered her, cheekily. "Frosty!" Isha called out delightfully as she rushed and hugged Frostine, as Hana''s gaze abruptlynded on the "divider" that seemed to separate both of their bodies, from hugging each other entirely. Of course, it was merely her own insecurity which involuntarily made her look down, at her own figure, under the gaze of someone she wanted to kill ever since that Q and A, if it could even be called that in the first ce. "I can help you with that~" A polite voice sounded next to her, although the voice was polite, it made her soul shudder in horror. The scenery of Frostine slightly bowing her head to get a love dipped patting instantly changed to that of an devilishly handsome, white-haired man''s face, as his bright orange eyes with vertical pure white slits expanding out into the irises zed at her, smiling. Taking a step back as her mind gears spun at top gear in search of an excuse that let her escape the situation, he forced her into. "What about the behemoth!!" Seo Hana asked in loud roar as her breath turnedboured. "Oh! Him?" With an understanding nod, Eshwar raised his hand, and SNAP-! With a snap of his fingers, CRA-CRACK-!!! SHATTER-!! What seemed to be a beautiful reality, shattered, as dense, chunks of pure and strange power broke down and fell onto the ind''s ground. DHOOOOM-! DHOOOOM-! It was then that the sounds of the behemoth''snd trembling steps began to be heard ear deafeningly. ''You alone, sadly, won''t be enough to even put up a fight against a God, even in "that" form of yours.'' Her own version of Eshwar''s "mockery" dyed voice sounded in her mind, she her back leaned back with her shoulders flexed. "RAAAAAA!!!" With a loud yell, Hana shot out towards the behemoth, as her wings sprung out of her shoulder des as her hair turned golden, set aze in the mes of the phoenix, a divine beast, which she had be thanks to Eshwar, whom she hated with the entirety of her being. She closed the distance between herself and the behemoth in an instant, the disgusting stench of the behemoth was enough to make her dizzy as her magic power began to circte violently, but was still under her control, due to which she understood it won''t be long until she lost it. "AAAAAAAA!!!" She pulled back her right hand, which had clenched into a fist, "HAAAAAAP!!!" With a thunderous roar, Hana punched at the behemoth, hoping to relive her rage upon beings such as the behemoth, because she couldn''t do the same to those, who her rage was directed at. An ear deafening, wind pressured explosion clouded the entire upper body of the behemoth who was target of the rage that should have been directed at someone else. With a satisfied smile on her face, she nced back to notice the disbelief dyed expression on his face, but noticing the calmness in his face, she finally understood that something was wrong, and it was revealed before long. The cloud clouding the behemoth''s upper body disappeared, revealing the unscathed monster that had a bright, undamaged, blue mana skin above its already thick skin. It brought its face closer to the woman, who had not only dared to approach it, the woman had even dared attack it! With a sharp, deep inhale, "OOOUUAAA... OOOOUUAA.....OUUUOOAAA!" The behemoth''s rippling howl resounded throughout the dungeon. "Rippling" because yers weren''t built to be able to clearly hear such a high pitched and loud voice. Chapter 370 369. The Oceans (2). ? The behemoth''s rippling howl resounded throughout the dungeon. "Rippling" because yers¡ªor any humanly existence wasn''t supposed to hear it''s voice for that matter¡ªweren''t built to be able to clearly hear such a high pitched and loud voice. But as a "Divine Beast," Seo Hana could, and extremely clearly at that. Her ears rang while her consciousness felt like it was about it shatter like a thin piece of ss, she clenched her ears, gritted her teeth as she tried to endure the screech, of course, it was soon proved to be impossible, because the howl which was causing the reality to ripple, hence it was only natural that it wouldn''t be silenced merely by closing one''s ears. While Eshwar stood at the ind, gazing at the events take ce, humming. He had poked holes into the reality right next to his ears, which allowed him to get by, unfazed. He had also helped Frostine, but not Isha, since he knew she didn''t need his protection. His woman was strong, stronger than him when he didn''t want to be "that" stronger person. What''s "that"? You know, the one who bares "everything" alone and still strives to stand tall, that kind. * ''Hmnmhmn~ hmmmnnm~'' Ihummed as I swayed, dancing. My hum was a trillion times better than that atrocious screech of that being from the Divine Realm. They are too disgusting to be from the divine realm? Heh. If you are disgusted by only this much, then you are better of staying where you are. This could be considered the most least part of the disgustingness in the divine realm. Since I''m not nning to go there in this life, you will more likely be spared from THAT level of disgust. You better thank me! "________" I muttered, but nothing was heard back to my ears. ''That must''ve hurt....'' I thought, gazing at the devastated, anguish dyed expression on Hana''s face. Why am I not helping her? Because she is the protagonist of my story of this world. Why would I help her so openly when she is THE protagonist? Aren''t I still here, as the plot-armour? I''ll save her by granting her a new ability or by be a tsundere antagonist character. If they had brought in somebody else, I would have turned him/her into a sacrificialmb, but it isn''t that big of a deal since nobody else is really here.... Wait! I nced back at Frostine, thinking of making her into a character who jumps into the battlefield to save the protagonist, which would in turn lead to..... Character development! ''But Frostine seems to hate Hana a bit too much, she might notice if her emotions abruptly take a turn for a worst/best....'' What a dilemma, haaaa..... ''This is taking longer than intended.....'' SNAP-! With a snap of my fingers, reality rippled which stopped upon reaching the octopus-head. The screech halted, together with everything else, with only Isha and myself being able to move. With a flick of my fingers, Seo Hana was swapped with a mud grain next to me, while the octopus-head was forced to shut up. And with another flick of my fingers, reality returned to "normal," if it, or anything for that matter, could be considered to be "normal" anymore. But one thing I''m not able to understand is that; I could understand that I was able to bend reality on Earth, because I was the creator, that world was a world strongly influenced on my novel, even though that too wasn''t really understandable, but it was considerably understandable if I take into ount of the fact that I am the creator of that novel-like world, hence it muste with some privileges, that also included the control over reality. Now the question is, Why is this world, Antino¨¹s, being influenced by that privilege? I''m not its creator, then why is it bending ording to my wishes? Well, isn''t that something to ponder over? But first, "Isha, please." I muttered, and Isha, who understood and remembered what we came here for, got into action. We were here to clear this dome, of course, it was her idea. She wanted to lend some help to the survivors, whom she too was gazing at through the same system windows as I was, slightly unaware of me influencing their actions. My lovely wife too kind hearted! Goddamn! She is toooooo lovable! Ahem, ahem! "Wha..... Why? What''re you-" Seo Hana roared, trying to act tough as she pretended to be unaffected by the mind-numbing pain, that assaulted her due to the octopus-head''s screech. "Please, shut up. We are not here to entertain you, we are here to clear this dome, if you act out like this, I''ll force this dome to break." I casually threatened Hana, gazing at her dumbfounded face from the corner of my eyes. These human-like actions of mine were irrelevant, but to hold in the wanting-to-explode emotions within myself, these small exhibition of expressions was made habitual. And I had also noticed that she, Isha, likes it when my emotions are visible on my face. "How''s the adventurer guild going for you?" I asked, trying to start a small talk. "..... Good." Hana replied, ending the small talk, with a literal small talk. ".... Out!" Isha''s mumble sounded in a distance, as her white-hair glimmered under the brilliant moonlight. Which was due to dome''s day and night cycle, that had stayed the same, night time, since the creation of this dome. ''Rage out, huh....'' That was hermand phase to let her shadow creatures out of her shadow domain. A literal shadow "army," of thousands rose, scattered out of her upturned palm, which acted as the initiated domain''s portal, as she floated mid-air with an indifferent expression on her face as she gazed at the octopus-head. ".....Brace yourself, she''ll clears this dome in a matter of minutes." * Eshwar''s pride dipped words sounded right next to Hana. Whose ringing ears and mind-numbing pain had subsided considerably, thanks to her natural regenerative abilities that had came as a plus with her trait, which had been unlocked to its full potential currently. Hana gazed at Isha''s miniature figure in front of the behemoth standing tall without a momentary hesitation or a second thought, while an army of seemingly thousands stood behind her. They were undead, or at least were supposed to be, but noticing how they walked out of the divine domain, Hana didn''t know what to name them. Divine Shadows? Holy undead? Unholy divine beasts? Unholy Divine Shadows? That rolls off the tongue.... Then, the Unholy Divine Shadows it is. SNAP-! With a snap of Isha''s slender fingers, the ground beneath the behemoth darkened. SPLASH-!!! ZUUUOOMM-! Millions of miniature pitch-ck hand sshed out of the ocean, which increased in numbers as they continued to climb up, and before they reached the behemoth''s inverted knees, the number of hands had multiplied by at least twice, and showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon. FLUTTER-! Isha''s clothes fluttered when she stretched her hand out, and a few of the shadow creatures rushed towards Isha''s hand, stretched out in a straight line andpressed themselves, forming a light-devouring, knightly longsword. And with a flickering swing of her sword, Arge light-devouring arc shot out, shing the behemoth in half..... Or so Hana expected to see, but nothing even close to her expectations took ce. As her, Isha''s, sword swing didn''t even cause the disturbance in the air around herself, which slightly disappointed Hana, who wanted tough at Isha''s seemingly futile attempt, but fully knowing that she would die the moment she put her thoughts into actions, Hana stopped herself. And then, something unexpected happened. The shadow creatures behind Isha condensed into arge boulder-sized blob and exploded, all while not even a winds'' breezes sounds sounded. The shadow of nothing but divinity nketed the sky above the ocean as it devoured the moon, or so it seemed to Hana, whose vision had been stolen. Her mes burned from the inside and soon armoured Hana, who began to glow like a torch, as a pair of bright orange irises next to her were seemed to be gazing into the sky, where Isha stood previously. By the next instance, the nket of darkness cracked in lines, and slowly took the shape of a broadsword, by the time Hana figured out the form of the cracked darkness, almost the entire sky was covered with humongous but different kinds of swords, through gaps of which moonlight peered through, forming a mesmerizingly beautiful scenery, which was soon went uncared for, as the shadowed swords in the sky began to hum in a strange but somehow familiar rhythm. She understood why it felt familiar soon after! Because Eshwar, who stood next to her, also began to hum the rhythm yed by the swords, no, it was the swords that were humming his humming rhythm. Isha gazed down at Eshwar and shed a bright smile that seemed to lit up the whole, glumness crowding dome. She refocused on the behemoth, raised her hand up, pointing her light-devouring longsword at the skies, and shed down her sword at the air in front of her, which instead made way for her sword to cut right through. At what? Hana didn''t know. WHOOOOSH-!!! All the humongous swords in sky shot out towards the immobile behemoth, instead of piercing through the monster, they, the swords, rounded it up, circled over it''s octopus-head ominously and elegantly. And before the long second passed, they aimed and shot down at its body, piercing through every bit of its humongous body, without even the sounds of the swords piercing through sounding. Which to be brutally honest, left Hana dumbfounded as she gazed at Isha float back towards Eshwar, unfazed and unaffected, as if the battle, no, the one-sided hunt didn''t even affect her in the slightest. That, the now porcupine-d monster, was the behemoth that had killed many of the strong survivors, who could be said to be around Eshwar''s Elven Kingdom''s devastation incident''s time''s strength. Such a behemoth, was killed so beautifully and effortlessly that Hana, who realised the slightest extent of a God''s strength, had no choice but to be left dumbfounded. Chapter 371 370. The Divine Devil. ? Isha flew down towards Eshwar after killing the behemoth, kissed him and nced at Seo Hana, who was staring at them, oozing an odd aura of jealousy mixed with hatred, in response to which Isha narrowed her eyes at her. ''And of course!! Haaaaa...'' She, Isha, thought with a deep sigh when she noticed that there were two sources of the nearly same kind of feelings directed at her and Eshwar, but the second source was somewhat stronger, which were not-so-unexpectedly from Frostine, who had hidden them pretty well, unlike a certain someone, but Isha trusted their, hers and Eshwar''s, rtionship enough to ignore them. She was just slightly astounded and amused that their focus was on them even though there was a in behemoth in front of them, chuckling inwardly, Isha intently stared at Eshwar, who understood the reason behind her gaze and avoided eye contact, in response to which Isha began to tease him with her eyes arched. This sight of their unvoiced but lovey-dovey acts irked both Seo Hana and Frostine, while thetter tried to explore her own feelings in confusion. What''s that about "unvoiced?" Isha was teasing Eshwar, but words weren''t being exchanged, while Hana and Frostine thought that they were talking telepathically, but no, the tease was happening with her eyes, which held many unvoiced voices that Eshwar was reading with mere nces. They had gotten intimate enough to understand each other''s thoughts with their eyes alone, they had a kind of rtionship many would dream for. Anyway, Though annoyed at the sight they, Hana and Frostine, were being forced to watch, they couldn''t utter their dissatisfaction. Why would they, how could they even utter any words of dissatisfaction, what right do they have to meddle in their rtionship? With those questions shing in their consciousness, Hana and Frostine kept their mouths shut. "Let''s return.... since the Fallen is already dead...." Hana muttered as she walked back, towards the spot where the portal through which they entered should be. Suddenly, "Who said so?" Eshwar''s voice sounded from behind. Scoffing at him inwardly, Hana continued to walk, but soon stopped in her tracks as she raised her head to gaze at the spot. ''Why....'' "Are you wondering why there is no portal?" His annoyingly indifferent voice sounded again. As he said, there was no portal, there should be a portal that leads them outside, the dungeon boss was already hunted, why wasn''t there a portal leading to the outside? ''Unless....'' ''Who said so?'' Eshwar''s mutter shed in her mind, she didn''t think about it when she heard him say those words, she just told herself that he was only speaking to mock her, but "..... That wasn''t the Fallen?" Hana muttered, disbelief dyeing her face, which soon began to turn ashen in fear, at the realisation of the behemoth not being a Fallen even though it was so hard to even stand against. Eshwar and Isha merely shook their heads in unison, in response to Seo Hana''s fear driven query. "T-then?" She asked, and noticed Isha pointed at the ground in response. ''Beneath the ind?'' Hana thought, slightly relived that the Fallen was smaller than the behemoth from before, which was turning into particles of ck matter that was being sucked into the sword piercing it. "No! The ind itself is merely a patch of "dust" gathered on the Fallen~" Isha informed. ''A patch of dust?'' "It" spoke, but as it continued its ramble, sensing what Eshwar and Isha were, it shut its mouth, metamorphically. "What''s wrong? Cat guy your tongue?~" Isha asked. It muttered in a slightly strange tone, and just as Isha opened her mouth to agitate and tease the Fallen, Eshwar tapped on her palm and stopped her. "You.... Are you from the outer regions of the Divine Realm?" Eshwar asked, with a hint of mockery hidden behind his words, which slightly baffled Hana and Frostine, who couldn''t understand what there was that Eshwar was mocking it about. Even Isha was baffled at the mockery "hidden" behind his words, she could tell that he was faking it, but she didn''t know why or how much significance it held as she had yet to be to the Divine Realm. It roared in outrage and the ocean began to tremble, producing nearly tsunami-like waves, that were dyeing out before they even reached the ind. "Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!" Eshwarughed out loud, clenched his stomach and leaned forward, as if to express how funny "it" was, but if one heard hisughter clearly, there wasn''t anything ughter"-like in hisugh. But, "it" was too agitated to care, hence * Divine Realm was a "Resourceful" world to say in a word, as even merely a mouthful of air there could be used to create a mana-less world, that could live for at least a few thousand years. Of course, none of that mattered to the Gods, who were bound to Divine Laws from birth, they were so restricted that they needed permission to even utilise the same mouthful of air. But, if they are merely living by breathing in air, which simply goes in and out without being filtered nor polluted, they were free to do so, but of course, they too can die under special conditions if they are not breathing any air, but that isn''t really needed to be known for now. The entirety of the Divine Realm can be considered a single, massive city that had three regions; Core region, inner region, and finally the outer region. Core region is where you can find most of higher ranked gods roaming around, uncaring for anything and everything around them. Inner region is where you can find the mid ranked gods, and finally the outer region where unranked or rank-less gods are seen mostmonly. The gods from the outer region were treated exactly like the nobles of the Antino¨¹s treatmoners, since the gods from the outer regions were exactly that,moners of the Divine Realm. It was matter of pride and ego that they, the gods, hold since their birth that they tend to naturally not like bowing their heads to the others, and which region they belong to us also decided at birth, due to which they have no other choice but toply with the rules andws set by the strong and the Divine Laws. Anyway, back to the dome. * "It" which had just roared at the mockery, was just about to jump out of the ocean and face off against the guy who had dared to mock it, but its body stiffened under the water. "It" was a God named The World Devourer. It was an ancient looking Whale, with golden rings surrounding its body, flippers, and dorsal ridge-----a pair of rings on the each part mentioned-----and there was another pair floating away from its right flipper holding an humongous trident. The ind which Isha said to be merely a patch of dust was in between the dorsal fin and the blow holes. Many scriptures, written in the Divine Language, shed into its mind, a phenomenon that was said to be of the greatest honour for the Gods because the scriptures were a one-sidedmunication initiated by the Divine Laws, and it wasn''t any less for the whale too, as it recorded every, even the minor-est bit of what the scriptures said. [The veil evil that tormented the Gods of the Divine Realm, even driving the Realm closer to the phase of absolute annihtion is once again standing in front of the Divine Bring, A God. You, The World Devourer, are chosen by the Divine Laws as the Scourge, the range of achievements shall be recorded and if the conditions are satisfied, The World Devourer shall be "moved" to the inner regions.] Were what the scriptures that yed out in his mind head recorded. That was the most honourable and the most desirable thing a God from the outer region could ever want, though the Divine Laws could merely order the whale to do it, this method that held clear rewards was more usible from the whale''s point of view, which was pretty insignificant to be honest. Maybe rewards were there merely to make it so that the Divine Being focuses more on the job, but whatever. Another scripture with a very few words flooded into its mind which was a revtion that literally made its existence shudder. It said that the annihtion that had taken ce in a certain past had forced the Divine Laws themselves to intervene, and it could only defeat him after stacking the powers of a million Core Region Gods, and even in that stacked state, he wasn''t defeated until the Laws themselves and the Final God was in the brink of death. That past had also garnered him an eternal title, [The Divine Devil!] Chapter 372 371. The Divine Devil (2). ? Now, upon receiving a bounty request on the [The Divine Devil], the World Devourer didn''t know what to do, metamorphically. It knew that it had no other choice but to fight against the being mentioned by the Divine Laws, but at the same time, it also knew that it would really die if it fought off against the being, if he is as strong as the scriptures had mentioned. Due to how the being mocked and belittled it, it didn''t consider the being was worth allying with, hence it had no choice but to take the easier way out, which was to defeat all the other opponents around the being mentioned by the scriptures and try to intimidate the being into giving up. While it was considering what to do and how to bring to situation where it wouldn''t have to go against the being mentioned by the scriptures first, as if an higher being sent boon upon the whale, the being imed that he wouldn''t fight, what''s not what he said exactly, he said that his wife would be the one to fight against the whale, but it took how it wanted to hear and jumped out of the ocean, feigning rage of being looked down upon, while grinning inwardly. It disyed its majesty by raising up into the sky, its colossal sky covering size was put on full disy as the miniature figure of a white-haired beautiful woman was seen in front of it, floating near the skies, looking like a literal ant in front of an adult human, but one could feel absolutely no fear from the woman even while she was being looked down upon as if she was an ant. The whale tried to have a mental battle before the physical and started to provoke the woman, who finally showed a reaction when her husband and kid was involved in the curses thrown at her, satisfied by the reaction the whale continued on with the cruses, after a while, noticing that its curses garnered no more reaction than her re, it lunged its trident at the woman, trying to take her by surprise, but the woman dodged the humongous trident as if she had expected it and do not counter attack. Thinking that she didn''t dare to attack due to its massive size, as someone who took pride in the celestials level of size, the whale was ted and began to attack more seriously, though it hadn''t underestimated the woman that didn''t mean it knew how strong the woman exactly was, and the woman dodged its trident like a rat, soon, without it even being aware, it let its ted emotions get to its head. It soon began to swim in mid-air, right below the clouds which acted like the foam on the water surface. The wind around the dome began to respond to the white-haired woman''s call, as it began to condense behind her back and began to shape like a ck hole, but instead ofunching that attack at the whale, sheunched it down at the ocean which exploded up and out with a loud ''boom.'' Rain began to pour down soon after, the whale who watched the actions of the woman was confused with what just happened, but the woman simply floated around like a fairy with a pair of pitch-ck feathered wings protruding out of her shoulder des. She left behind a light-devouring trail as she flitted across the sky, enjoying the rain and called the [Divine Devil] to herpany soon after, to which he simply responded with a p of his bat-like humongous wings, joining his wife in an instant, as they flitted across the skies without a care in the world. The whale was outraged by the fact that he was being ignored, but he didn''t dare distract them, who knows? What if the [Divine Devil] lost his sh*t and killed the World Devourer in a sh? You never know. The petite woman who stood below yelled at them with a snort, asking them to end the fight before acting all lovey-dovey with each other, though reluctant, the white-haired woman let go of her husband after a light kiss. "End it, we''ll continue this back at home." Was what the [Divine Devil] said before he backed away from her, but continued to fly mid-air. The white-haired woman gazed at the women below, who were floating upon a an ice b, and narrowed her eyes at them, and with a snort she nced back at the whale, who was ring at the woman in rage, but the woman''s gaze which asked "you heard that right?" seemed to readying herself to end the fight soon enough. SNAP-! With a snap of her fingers, a dense shadowy smoke spread out of her joined fingers and soon devoured the woman whole. Noticing what was going on, "as if I''ll let you" the whale muttered and zoomed towards the now big lump of shadows, and ate her. With a big, cloud eating, chomp, the World Devourer ate the lump of shadows, and shed a baleens filled grin at the [Divine Devil], who stood calmly without even a hint of concern in his face, noticing which the whale began to jeer at him and out of pure curiosity, it asked him why he thought his wife could kill it, to which he simply responded with "because she''s strong" with a hint of pride in his tone as he said that, but that answer of his caused the whale tough out loud, as it thought he had killed his wife because of his overconfidence in his wife. [Spike Bomb] Then suddenly, an alluring voice rang from its blow holes, the whale unsurprisingly shuddered in response and before it could even understand what was happening, it felt a wave of excruciating pain swept past its body, as something of many were digging through its body. [Spike Bomb] [Spike Bomb] ... The voice rang for a few seconds more before it stopped entirely, while golden coloured blood oozed out the whale''s mouth as its body lowered to the ocean gradually, but the unwilling whale continued to hold itself afloat as the water in the ocean began to turn into holy water with its level of purity increasing with the more divine blood dripped into it. Soon, a golden-coloured blood dyed woman floated out of the whale''s mouth, her clothes were melted and shaped erotically on her hourss figure, covering most of her body yet making her look so s*xy in that state. She soon noticed a strange look on her husband, who soon voiced his confusion, "why... were you ying around in its stomach?" He asked with a strange expression that indicated that he was even confused at what questions he should ask. Of course, she was strong enough to be not affected by anything and the next words that came out of her mouth affirmed his doubts and cleared up her reasoning, "it helps you take them off more easily after we reach home." She said, dumbfounded not only the whale and the women below, but also her own husband, who responded with a strange grin on his face, "the kink...." The woman smiled brightly, flew towards the whale and stood in front of the bleeding whale, held out her hand and muttered, [Spike Wall]. The shadows expanded out of the woman and formed a nearly see through wall in front of her, atop which smoky shadow spikes materialized, aimed at the whale''s head, the woman peeked through the see-through wall and flicked her hand with a smirk. The wall rippled and the spikes in front of that wall shot out at the whale and pierced through its head soon after, but the damage wasn''t enough to kill itpletely, as the woman didn''t want to kill it so painlessly and she wouldn''t dare to kill it without inflicting this measly amount of pain, it was too lesspared to the curses it spewed at her family. She wanted to go berserk right that instance, but since she might attack her husband in that state, she threw that idea to the back of her mind, and continued to torture the World Devourer that dared to curse at her husband and daughter, they had given her a reason for existence and had given a fairy-tale-like life which she had only dared to ever dream of, they were far too precious of an existence to allow someone as measly as gods to curse at them. They don''t even amount to a grain of mud whenpared to the both of them, how dare she let scot-free of those that cursed them? Hence, she wouldn''t kill the World Devourer until it begged her to die. [Spike Wall] [Spike Wall] ... .... Sheunched the series of repetitive spells, as if spamming them, and had turned the whale into an existence with the most blow holes. Though it was dyed with its own blood from head to tail, it hadn''t affirmed its will to die, as it createdyers uponyers of defensive magic on itself only to have them broken by the relentless and merciless shadow spikes that pierced through theyers as if passing through tissue papers. But soon, as there existed a limit to certain things, it couldn''t hold on to its will to endure and it let its sanity slip away, Going berserk, which was the same as letting go of the pride as a God, a fact that was scorned upon the Divine Realm and a fact that garnered the respect of the [Divine Devil] himself. Chapter 373 372. The Battle. ? The baleens in the World Devourer''s mouth morphed into razor sharp teeth, that seemed to be shaper than that of a shark''s, its small eyes turned bloodshot, not red but golden, and one had to know that a berserker state of a God''s is different. Not like that of human''s where they exchange their sanity for strength, gods exchanged their divinity for strength, it was a kind of a trade off between the gods and the Divine Laws, of course, another god too can trade for the divinity, but since it was method that was scorned upon in the Divine Realm, these kinds of trades didn''t happen among gods. But now, the were a pair of gods in front of the World Devourer whale, who could ept the trade, but no sane or even a savage God would do so while they were up against one that wanted to trade their divinity for more strength. That would be in foolish. But, Fortunately for the World Devourer whale, there was an insanely savage God in front of it, who epted the trade. Trade was for every bit of its divinity for unbelievable amount of strength. With inevitable death right in front of it, it didn''t really have any hesitation in epting the trade. "System, grant status [Greater Frenzy] to the World Devourer Whale." Eshwarmanded the system after absorbing an absurd amount of divinity that the Whale had umted over its entire life to be, one day, promoted to the Core region, that had no rtion with the quantity of divinity whatsoever, but was ruled under the purity or the quality of the divinity possessed. [Task initiated.....] [Initiated taskpleted!] Golden coloured bloody aura surrounded the now frenzy whale, whose size had shrunk considerably until it seemed like any other whale in the ocean, but its razor sharp teeth and the raging aura was unlike what one could ever get to see, even if the whale was evolved under mana in its vicinity. "Booo, that''s cheating." Isha pouted, but didn''t seem that concerned. "No, my dear, it''s a fair trade." Eshwar said, chuckling. "Hmph." "Hahahaha~" The World Devourer whale began to shrink in size again, it had shrunk so small that it seemed to an human sized figure and morphed to mirror the shape of an humanoid existence. It now had an humanoid scale-armoured, gooey body that was as slippery as that of a fish''s. It had a ear to ear wide razor sharp teethed mouth, while another wide mouth opened on its waist. It had now turned into a monster that gave off boss monster vibes. It waved its hand and magic circles began to manifest behind it, soon nearly almost all of the sky was covered in magic circles. "Magic circles" were an inherent traits of the gods, of course, the magic circles could be granted to humans, but it was a extremely rare case, as even Eshwar had an hard time learning it in the Divine Realm without a actual teacher. He had the knowledge but didn''t know how to apply it in reality, merely learning how to apply it made it possible to create a world itself, you could imagine what he''d do if he knew how to use them, but unfortunately for him, none taught him as everybody was an enemy in the Divine Realm nor did he stress too much about that. But now, he had to gaze at those very magic circles that annoyed him, but since it wasn''t him facing against those, he backed away sneakily. "That basta*d escaped." Isha muttered after gazing around, unable to find Eshwar. The now humanoid, whale said, pointing at Isha. Blobs of fire shot out from the magic circles, but each of these were unlike any fireball Isha head ever seen. They are hotter, denser, and more power packed. The air sizzled as the balls of fire made their way towards Isha at a speed of sound, she just stood there since even though they, the fireballs, were stronger than what she had seen, she hadn''t really felt anything threatening about them. Still, She created dense mana shields in front of her since Eshwar had escaped from being a target of those magic circles. Of course, he hadn''t run away because they were any threatening to him, nor was he worried about them doing any damage to him or his wife, he had merely got out of its range to give Isha an element of surprise. She would think that it could be a potential threat since Eshwar had escaped, only to find out that those fireballs were nothing THAT amazing nor were they really worth mentioning. And as she unexpectedly expected, the fireballs were not that strong, but were strong enough to make a deadpan expression appear on her face. While she was standing mid-air with a stupefied expression, the now humanoid whale zoomed and appeared behind Isha, and struck at her back, catching her off guard. Isha shot out towards the fireballs while groaning in the pain that spread across her body by a mere punch. Imagining how it would have cost her if her opponent was using a weapon, her expression turned serious, together with her mental state. ¡¤?¦Èm "Summon." She muttered and the night sky darkened. As if a shadow of death loomed over the dungeon, the entire dungeon darkened considerably, until those with normal vision weren''t able to see past an arms length. The now darkened sky began to spew out shadowy creatures, in numbers that was uncountable mere momentster, each creature ate the other next to it, growing stronger as they devoured one other, and by the end of this cycle of devouring, merely ten summons remained behind Isha, those too continued to feed off the other next to them, but due to them bing too strong, the one biting was having a harder time. And finally within the matter of mere seconds, a single humanoid creature remained behind Isha, that oozed an aura stronger than its summoner herself, yet it obeyed its creator. "Eat it." Isha then pointed at the humanoid whale that was gazing at Isha without an ounce of fear in its hesitating eyes, hesitation because it was subconsciously scared of her, but since it held superior strength it also subconsciously denied its emotions. The creature behind Isha disappeared from the spot it stood and abruptly appeared behind the golden blood dyed humanoid figure and knocked it down at the ocean of holy water before it could even react. The holy water shot up due to the impact and the creature dove deep into the water before the humanoid figure appeared out of the water. Deep inside the water, an unbelievably pressures filled, fierce battle was taking ce, yet neither the humanoid figure nor the creature seemed to have any intentions of getting out of it any time soon. Blows upon blows were being exchanged between the figures underwater, strong tremors were being swept past the ocean surface and the depths of the ocean floor, yet the figures fought just as fiercely as they did at the start, without getting tired even for a bit, since both of them knew, the first one to tter was the first one to die. But, The match between them was rigged from the beginning. Because, The creature that the humanoid figure was fighting wasn''t alive, though it had sentience, it wasn''t alive. Hence, it would never get tired, at least, until there was a constant supply of mana or divinity, or whatever its source of existence was, and Isha was pretty confident in the quantity and quality of the divinity she held. The humanoid desperately held on, its massive body of a whale was damaged extremely before it took a humanoid form, so even though it seemed to be doing quite well on the outside, it was riddled with strong damage that wasn''t visible in the outside. Had it been healedpletely before the fight started, it would have easily defeated the shadowy creature, the level of damage it contained inwardly was also the reason it stood still as the shadow creatures devoured each other until there was only one left, it had been trying to buy time so that it could heal at least a bit before the fight really started, but unfortunately for it, the fight started sooner than it expected. Now, it was looking for something to turn around the battle, it didn''t care what tricks it had to use, it wanted to turn around the battle in its favour. But it wasn''t as if though there would appear something that could turn around the battle just because it wished for it to happen, and then it happened, The worst happened. It felt a strong blow connect on its chest, before it groaned in agony, Another blow was felt on its chin. And as if it was merely the beginning, the barrage of blows struck every part of its humanoid body, as golden coloured blood began to leak out its scale-armoured body. And finally, as if having mercy on its soul, the creature bit off the humanoid figure''s neck, and ripped off its chest, slowly but surely, it felt dense muscle fibres snapping due to the creatures merciless rips, and finally, it ripped off the humanoid figure''s head, and ate it soon after. "That''s actually gross to look at from third person." Chapter 374 373. T - 18 days. Chapter 374 373. T - 18 days. Eshwarmented as he gazed at the sight of the shadowy creature ripping apart the whale that held grandiose name as the World Devourer. Since he or a part of his used to do the same a few years ago, looking at the simr scene from another perspective seemed disgusting and distasteful. The notifications of ck Raven and White Swan hunting one of the Gods spread to everybody in an instant, while Seo Hana, who understood the significant level of strength difference between her and the being called God, felt helpless upon remembering that she swore to kill Eshwar, who was also a God. And understood that if she wanted to kill him, she had prepare herself to fight both, Eshwar and Isha, at once because Isha wouldn''t let Eshwar hurt, while the same applied even if it was the other way around. Little did she know that as long as she grew stronger with the help of the system, she could never hurt even a strand on Eshwar''s hair, let alone kill him. And Eshwar too was ying around instead of killing off the gods bymanding the system, his actions will soon make him understand the dire consequence of his carelessness. Anyway, The situation had taken a turn for the better now that there was somebody who could defeat the Gods, now, only seven more Gods remained. After a few minutes, Isha and Eshwar flew out of the gate, after Isha devoured the World Devourer''s core that was almost cracked, while Eshwar gave her all the divinity he traded with the whale, since the quantity or quality of the divinity he held head ceased to hold any meaning to him, he didn''t even bat an eye as he gave an insane amount of divinity to his wife, who didn''t hesitate to take something her husband gave. Seo Hana and Frostine returned after Eshwar left with his wife, they went to the territory they had made an haven on, and soon felt something wrong with the gazes directed at them, that held contempt, disgust, hate, resentful, and many other emotions, though they didn''t really understand what was going on, since the values of their lives were being determined by the achievements they made, it didn''t really matter what they did as long as they became strong enough to take upon a significant role in the battle against the Gods. * A week passed, and two more Gods had been killed by the same pair that killed the first one. 24 more days remained until the Antino¨¹s faced utter destruction. It was also the day the rumour of the discord spreading in the haven Seo Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda had banded together to create. And it also finally came to light that it wasn''t only Seo Hana and Frostine who were receiving the weird gazes, everyone of the core members of the haven were under the same defiance dyed gazes. Rumour merely stared that the core members had contact with the White Swan and the ck Raven, but they weren''t inviting them to join their haven because they were afraid of there being another powerhouse beside them. Then Frostine, who had pent up a lot of emotions she wasn''t used to expressing busted out as she announced, acting purely on impulse that whoever has any problem with how they were doing things were free to leave the society-like guild hall they had created, and though her announcement culled the uproar that shouldn''t have even existed at times where they should be busy getting stronger. The dissatisfaction of the survivors began to howl at the guild hall, as the core members controlled themselves and held back those that wanted to wipe out everyone of those insignificant bugs. The discord continued to spread throughout the territory, then one day, one of the core members followed back a suspicious group that were gathering nearly at the end of the wide spread territory, instead of infiltrating alone, the core member, Katline, rushed back to the adventurers guild hall and informed the other core members that were focusing purely on getting stronger at Hana''s and Frostine''s words. Since the were busy, dealing with matters that really mattered, they didn''t care about the insignificant gathering of the rebels, as Core volunteered to help Katline to get rid of the bugs that were being an annoyance. Upon finding and stalking the group for a few days, they attacked on the seventh day, when every rebel had gathered and when their numbers neared thousands among the merely millions of survivors. Core and Katline ughtered every single one of them without a shred of mercy or hesitation, after culling nearly everyone of those rebels that had gathered in arge enough underground facility, the members of the rebels got stronger as the lesser they numbered, ignoring the mental fatigue, the stock pile of the variety of potions they held in their inventories came into clutch, enabling them to hold on for days, before the other core members that were worried about their disappearance, joined them after following the obvious trails left behind. Though concerned about the blooded states of Katline and Core, the rest of the core members fought against the rebels without a single rest, hoping to erase the rebels, but surprisingly, they gained experience points upon killing the people, also gaining titles called murderers in the process, but since it strengthened them, they cared for nothing and continued on with their culling, uncaring for the scars they themselves were umting amidst of the war that had started before they even knew it. The more stronger they got, the more of their hesitation they lost, and after days of "hunting" down the rebels, they finally reached the ones behind them. They were merely two men, whose identity startled nearly all of them. They were none other than, Vinny and Henry. ¡ï T ¨C 18 days. Chapter 375 374. Vine. Chapter 375 374. Vine. They were merely two men, whose identity startled nearly all of them. The ones behind the rebels were none other than, Vinny and Henry. If you still couldn''t guess, they were also the ones that had been gazing down at them----Seo Hana, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Jiwoo, Charlie, Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, and Bobby----from above the trees when they walked into the trap set up by the prototypes. They were the hooded figures from that day, with the timid one being Henry, who was still terrified of Eshwar. (AN: From ch354: Prototype-Ace) Vinny soon confessed that it was also his voice that enticed Seo Hana''s emotions that day, which she had med on Eshwar, who didn''t deny her usation, of course, only she knew of those facts and she kept it to herself, as she felt guilty for ming Eshwar, for somebody else''s doing. She pondered over why Eshwar did what he did, and it didn''t take her long to reach a conclusion, it was too give her a drive to get stronger than the her of that time, since he knew how strong the Gods were, at those thoughts and conclusions clouding her mind, she was reminded of the moments when they were together which were all happy moments and she had enjoyed every bit of being with him, every bit of it was an happy memory for her, but now, they were merely memories which brought her nothing but pain of the reality in which she could never be with him again. Though they brought pain, they were her most cherished memories and he, Vinny, had coloured those memories darker, a colour that seemed to nevere off. Those thoughts filled with rage she never thought she was capable of, that fuelled her desire to rip Vinny Grover to shreds and nearly drove her insane. But, the gap between Hana reaching a conclusion after his confession was enough for Vinny, who had ced his palms on the blood streaming ground with a crazed grin on his face. "I offer these lifeless bodies as a sacrifice, unleash the power kept between the gap of our already merged souls! This time, let''s be one for real, help me unchain us," Vinny chanted as he kept the crazed grin stered on his face, his raised his dagger held hand as if he was going to stab himself and stabbed Henry beside him. "Your use has ended, pawn." Vinny or Vassago muttered as he turned into a half-demon state, as Henry died with a pitiful smile on his face, which managed to entice absolutely nothing in any of them. With the numbers of sacrificing bodies meeting the essential conditions, "Now," "Vassago!" Vinny growled in a deep demonic voice as their souls merged into one. Dense, never-ending amount of demonic energy oozed out of them, bringing those present in front of them to their knees, as the space around Vassago and Vinny, who were now a single being, twisted ominously as a Demon God, who should have never even existed, manifested into reality where Gods were already wreaking an havoc on. VV, or Vinny x Vassago, grew taller and turned into a 7 foot tall handsome white-haired man with utterly ck irises that matched his sclera, a pair of bat-like humongous wings protruded out of his shoulder des, as a suit made entirely of demonic energy adorned the tall, pale handsome man, who descended on to the ground and gazed at the people in front of him with a amused smile on his face. "Wow, I never knew I could be this strong." VV muttered in many distinct voices that sounded as one, as he looked down at himself. The horns on his forehead had turned ethereal as only ends of his horns and arrowhead-shaped tail end had manifested into reality, of course, he merely had to will of her wanted them to manifestpletely. But, since VV was a person who was different from Vinny or Vassago, his preferences had also changed as he became an existence that was neither Vinny nor Vassago, and those in front of him could tell the difference. "How intriguing." Suddenly, a hypnotic unrecognizable voice resounded around them as their vision grew darker, until those kowtowing could see nothing but darkness clouding their sights, as the pressure VV unconsciously oozed disappeared without a trace, as if erased by something stronger. "It indeed is~" VV spoke up as he remembered from Vassago''s and Vinny''s memories on how horrifying the being speaking could be, but he wasn''t afraid of THAT exact being. "Hehehe~" A creepy voice resounded in their consciousness, and this time even VV shuddered. VV looked around in search of the being named Eshwar and found what he was looking for and was absolutely horrified in what he had found. He found what he was looking for above his head, where a humongous head with a ominous grin and arched pitch-ck eye slits was seen gazing down at them. But of course, since only VV saw that, only he was frozen in absolute horror. The face soon disappeared into nothingness as a humanoid, pitch-ck light-devouring figure with bright artic blue circuits engraved on him, was seen walking towards them as his hand morphed into ws and fingers, back and forth, continuously. The figure was none other than Eshwar, or his celestial form that was only visible to beings stronger than the human race, and it was also a form Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda could see with clear-cut rity. And were astounded to notice how he had no presence even though he was so close to them. "Rejoice, Vine, you can see a state, none of those that ascended to godhood could see, of course, except for my wife. Ah, and daughter... and Zephyr... and Jewel..... Hmm, Seo Hana too? No, she doesn''t count since she hadn''t ascended to godhood at that time..... That''s it? I think?" Eshwar, who walked out extremely coolly, became Eshwar soon after, but after his muttering ended, he shed a ethereal artic blue smile that was seen above his pitch-ck, blue circuit filled face, horrifying VV or Vine as Eshwar had just named him. But for those except for Vine, Eshwar''s smile was visible gently, which seemed to warm their souls, while the same smile engraved horror in Vine''s soul. Chapter 376 375. Vine (2). ? Horror. That was what Vine could feel as he gazed at the ethereal smile on Eshwar''s celestial form. ''Ah, f**k....'' Vine thought as he decided to go all out, he didn''t even think he would be able to stand against Eshwar if he started off without using all of his strength, and he was right to think so. Mobilizing his demonic energy at his feet while the excessive energy was channelled throughout his body, he tightened his leg muscles as his left hand gripped the demonic energy next to his waist, as the demonic energy stretched out and formed a rod of pure demonic energy. FLAP-! BOOM-! A circr wind pressure exploded out when he kicked off of mid-space as he pped his bat-like wings strongly, lunging himself towards Eshwar, who held a calm ethereal smile on his circuits filled faceless face. The extended rod behind Vine''s grip expanded out and morphed into a arm-width broad sword, which he swung diagonally upward upon noticing Eshwar in his range, forgetting about the most obvious fact about he himself being in his opponent''s range too. But, Fortunately for him, Eshwar didn''t move, Or it seemed to be so. "Hap!" Vine eximed as his hands pointed upward. His sword swing left behind a thin ck line, that had covered Eshwar''s celestial form from head to toe diagonally, yet The ethereal smile on Eshwar''s hadn''t disappeared, while those around him simply gazed at whatever was happening happen without even a peep leaving their throats. Not because they didn''t want to call out, but because they couldn''t. They felt that if they made even the slightest of sounds, whatever was going to happen next, wouldn''t happen, hence involuntarily, they had even stopped breathing. At that moment, when reality seemed to have begun to move, Eshwar also moved; his right leg sunk down, as they stood mid-space, he leaned left with his shoulder scrunched inwardly, while bending his left knee. Dodging the sword swing with perfection. ''That''s possible?'' Vine wondered inwardly, though reality seemed to have paused for a brief moment, it didn''t really feel like it at the same time, so even though confused as to what had happened, he just thought that the time seemed to have slowed down due to him being immersed in the desire to sh through the absolute monster in front of him. Little did he know that reality really had paused due to Eshwar using his skills that were still a part of him even though he asked the system to remove his status window. And since the thought process is continued even when the skill is active, none would realise why the reality seemed to have stopped if Eshwar himself didn''t announce his skill activation phrase. ''It''s not over yet!'' Vine thought as he clenched his broad sword which was pointing upward, and swung down at Eshwar, vertically, connecting his current swing with his previous one. But, he didn''t stop even after he swung down vertically. Her soon swung horizontally left, vertically upward, swung right diagonally downward, vertically upward, and horizontally left upon reaching Eshwar''s waist length, it was systematic basic swordsmanship that was perfected over time, since he didn''t have much skills as Vinny, who merely had a defective status window. His sword swings had perfectly trapped Eshwar in a box with "X" shaped strike and a horizontal sh in the middle. Again, reality seemed to have been stopped. ''?!!!'' Vine''s pupils dted when he saw Eshwar''s celestial figure casually walk out of the thin threads drawn by his sword swings. He calmly inspected the thin threads and hummed in satisfaction, before casually walking back and standing behind the stretched threads. With his ethereal smiles still stered on his faceless face. Threads of Vine''s began to shoot out at Eshwar, who began to lean to the sides, dodging the thin threads one after another. With perfection. Eshwar had managed to pull off that stunt upon spamming his [Pause-y] skill. And this momentary stunt was enough for Vine to understand that he was being yed around with. Upon reality returning to normal, "This basta*d...." Vine cursed, in response to which Eshwar bowed as if he was bowing at the audience after a perfectly portrayed well-nned act. The fear in his consciousness wavered at his agitating rage that seemed to explode at an given moment. "Boo!" Eshwar abruptly eximed as if trying to scare a child, but Vine, who stood in front of shuddered in utter horror that assaulted him out of nowhere. ''Wha....'' Vine momentarily became unable to think as his eyes lost focus and drool began to trickle down his mouth, which he had involuntarily lost control of in an instant. All of Eshwar''s actions seemed to be cheerful and heart warming to the audience, but every single bit of the same actions instilled deep inerasable fear in Vine''s consciousness. Vine, who regained his senses, barely managed to control his dder, as he gritted his teeth in horror and rage, unable to understand what was really going on. Vine pushed his hands in front of his chest as his broad sword drooped down in the middle, he gripped the grip of his sword with his right hand and spun his sword with a loud roar. "HAPP!" His sword formed a thin, perfect, threaded circle right in front of him, it wasn''t anything special and wouldn''t be if that too shot out towards Eshwar, like his previous sword swings. The circle was big enough for Vine to pass through, and that''s exactly what he did. As if an action hero was walking in slow motion, living his moment, Vine stepped "out" of the threaded ring, and CRA-CRACK-!!! CRACK-! SHATTER-! Spider web-like cracks appeared, spreading outwardly from the ring in which Vine, who had stepped out, stood still in the middle. Large wed palms pierced at the edges of the ring as they ripped out the space, while the space inside the ring remained the same. These ws seemed to rush towards Eshwar, who was recognised as Vine''s enemy. The cracked space''s insides were darker purple in colour, while the hands that stretched out of them seemed to those of demons that were massive in size, while Vine stood in the middle of the ring his sword drew with a twitching smile on his face. Chapter 377 376. Vine (3). Chapter 377 376. Vine (3). Seo Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda were gazing at Vine''s back that was merely seen standing, gazing at Eshwar, who also merely stood with a warm ethereal smile on his faceless face. The ring Vine created continued to exist, but seemed to be doing nothing except for staying in ce, But soon, Disgusting but massive arms began to appear out of nowhere, of course, to them, these hands were only visible inside Vine''s ring, as they stretched towards Eshwar. They couldn''t understand where those hands wereing out from, hence they merely thought that those hands were materializing out of the ring Vine''s sword drew. Since space wasn''t cracked from the angle they saw things, it was only natural they try to conclude things based on their experience andmon sense. Althoughmon sense had left the chat since a while ago. Ahem. From Eshwar''s perspective. The hands rushing towards him oozed strange aura that was prickly. His celestial form also felt pricked as the aura oozed, of course, since Vine was already a God, it wasn''t that strange to know that his aura felt prickling. That didn''t mean it felt threatening, it was merely annoying. The same kind of feeling you would feel when a bug is buzzing in your ear persistently. ''It has been a long time since I have stretched without actually getting beaten up.'' Eshwar thought inwardly. * One day, After a long consideration upon whether he should do it or not, he finally decided and understood that it was essential, so he spoke with his wife, Isha, and asked her whether he could awaken her soulpletely. After days of silent treatment, and a steamy, dreamy day and night, Isha had agreed and asked him to awaken her soul, he couldn''t really understand what was going in her head at that time, since she had suddenly acted as if she was going somewhere far away and never return, but, he understood her thought process after he awakened her soul and she remained the same Isha, but stronger. Yes, she had thought she would die, no, she wouldn''t be the Isha Eshwar knew, which was the reason all those steamy activities took ce, but upon noticing that she was still herself, she was embarrassed, like to the limits. That day was concluded to be the most embarrassing day of her life and persistently persisted Eshwar to forget about that day, and as a best husband ever, Eshwar told her that he forgot about it, yet teased her about it from time to time. Though she remained the same, she had shown behaviour of bing excessive at times, but Eshwar didn''t dislike it. Since Isha-----whose soul has awakened entirely strengthened her whole existence ordingly-----was much stronger than any Gods Eshwar had faced, hence he would ask her to spar from time to time, and would always get beaten up by her. He had only beginning to actually put up a fight against her, only recently. * Hence his thoughts about how he had got to stretch without being beaten up by his own lovable wife. Anyway, that''s besides the matter at hand. Eshwar frowned slightly, because no matter what, ''It''s annoying.'' His ethereal skin felt prickling, as if he was bit by a group of mosquitos all over. "How annoying." Eshwar muttered under his breath and raised his dark ink dyed palm that was devoid of the circuits that were engraved on his body. He willed for a circuit to climb up to his index finger and the circuit that had ended on his wrist stretched out and his index finger turned frost blue, before the back of his index finger stretched out and sharpened, turning his index finger into a mini de made of hard frost. He drew a horizontal line after pausing reality, after the line wasplete, he tapped the middle of the bright frost blue thread that remained mid-space as a gap formed in between the thread that had now split into two. It only after that was done, he unfroze reality, returning it to normal. The pair of threads in front of Eshwar disappeared in an instant, and reappeared on Vine''s sides, shing through the arms that were stretching out from the shattered space around him. The horizontal linear line of massive arms next to Vine disappeared into thin air after being shed by Eshwar''s horizontal thread of frost that had stretched wide, and was expected yet was also unexpectedly strong. But that wasn''t all, before Vine snapped out of his shock on understanding what had just happened, horizontal and vertical frost blue threads manifested in front of the arms stretching out of the crack, as Vine looked at them in bewilderment. The near uncountable number of arms stretching out of the crack in space had culled into numbers that were countable with both arms, in response to which Vine bit his lip until it bleed and began to swing his broad sword frantically while muttering ''it wasn''t over yet,'' repeatedly like a chant. He was sweating profusely with frantic expression marring his face, he was so agitated that he had even forgotten the existence of his own wings and millions of kinds of magic spells he could use, he was perfect example on how a Demon God should never be. From what Eshwar could tell as he dodged every swing thrown at him, it seemed like "Vine" was still being influenced by Vinny''s and Vassago''s emotions, even though Vine himself was a newer existence with two egos merged into one. ''He is such a unique being, it is such a waste....'' Eshwar thought, but didn''tplete his thoughts upon noticing how Vine had began to stop trembling. Vine''s agitation seemed to have ended, as his frantic expression cleared up soon after. "Self Heal." Vine muttered, and for whatever reason, divinity oozed from his palm and enveloped Vine, a demonic being, and began to affect him positively. ''Good....'' Chapter 378 374. Vine (4). Chapter 378 374. Vine (4). Vine. A character that was supposed to be the final boss of my novel of I ever wrote another part as a closure of that series. I had, of course, only remembered that name as a sense of Deja Vu pped me in the face. Simr to those that were increasing upon me returning to this world, more so after I started the arc of the apocalypse. I have a, what to say....a condition? If there was something that managed to incite my curiosity, then it better be satiated without dy, if not then, I would annoyed the more it got dyed. It was also due to this I would intervene the moment I got curious, of course, I would ignore it entirely if it seemed like the answer Vine just felt so natural that it was strangely strange. And he just fit the description I had thought of if I ever wrote the character Vine, would be too boring, the same reason I would use the whole of my strength in fights after a few moments of ying around. The reason I hadn''t gotten enough leisure to y around with "Eshwar" was also because he too, just like me, began to get irritated and though coincidentally, brought Isha together with him to meet me upon the time I had called for him with the clock of fate. ''Well, it is irritating to not know of something you only know half of.'' I thought and nodded to myself. And Vine, I gazed at the existence I had named Vine that had gotten his sh*t together. It was only for a split second, but that name abruptly shed in my mind when I saw VV, as he previously called himself. Vine just felt so natural that it was strangely strange. And he just fit the description I had thought of if I ever wrote the character Vine, so perfectly that it was just..... Weird. ''I need answers.'' I muttered as spiritual energy flickered in my consciousness. I focused the spiritual energy on my senses and the world that was being sensed upon, changed, since the authority of the ck Ink, and the ability of Frost had merged with my existence, the world in my domain flickered with an unseen ripple and the world changed as I sensed it. The world I was currently in had turned ck, pitch-ck, with not even a hint of light seen around. But, it wasn''t long until a humongous blob of blinding white light manifested in the pitch-ck world that I was sensing, that couldn''t be felt no matter how much I tried as if that humongous blob didn''t even exist. ''It is either too strong or it really doesn''t exist....'' ''Well, I had learned that the world is vast in a hard way, I shouldn''t think that I am the strongest, nor should I think that Isha and Eunomia are, who are clearly stronger than me, to be the strongest.....'' That thought wasn''t me underestimating them, it was me not overestimating them, there is a difference. "Huuu...." I exhaled as thin lines of simr blinding light manifested in a sh and ceased to move. ''Light speed....'' I thought as I gazed at those thin lines that had extended out from all around the pitch-ck world which I could sense, and seemed to be numbering to the infinite. What were these? Soul links. Or at least that''s what I call them. All of those lines were souls of everything to ever exist. If you want a practical answer in a world where "practical" didn''t really apply nor matter. Then, they were the energies of every existence to ever exist. As Einstein said, "Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, it can only be changed from one from to another." Everything I was looking at was pure, absolute energy. If I want to make one feel a pain they would want to never ever want to feel even in however many lives they are destined to live, I merely have to grab hold of their soul link, and it is literally game over for them. But, To merely grab hold of their soul link ''I have to find it first.'' If I could find one whenever I wanted so easily, wouldn''t I be the most threatening existence to ever exist? Now that I think about it, it certainly does sound cool be called as such. ''Should I try if it works?'' ''System?'' ZZZT-ZZT-! ''!?'' [Here.] My glitched system that I thought to have already been merged with the system responded. [Waiting for the orders of the creator.] And the system too appeared. ''Search for ''Vine''s'' soul.'' Imanded the system, I didn''t know if it could see where I was, or whether it could interfere with this ce where I had managed to arrive, but whatever it was, I''ll knew soon enough. [User ''Vine''s'' soul is existing in a physical body of flesh, blood, and veins.] The system responded as if it was something only it could tell. ''Seems like I expected too much....'' ZZZT-ZZT-! [Searching.....] ''!'' ''Wow, finally something is starting to go my way, without me forcing it to!'' I eximed inwardly. Soon, with a system prompt of thepletion of the given task, a thin soul link came into sight as those around it seemed to disappear from my sights. ''This.... Is Vine''s soul?'' I muttered in my consciousness. It too was a circuit-like link that seemed to be connected to two different things (?), but it was thin, so thin that it almost even made me discard the idea to grab hold of it. But, I needed answers. If I grab hold of it and send my own spiritual energy into it, I might figure out the source of his creation and the history behind it. With those thoughts, I discarded my hesitation and reached out to grab hold of the soul link, BAM-! ''Whistle~'' I whistled when my body jolted awake as my ethereal eyes focused on Vine''s figure that had punched my chest with one of the many humongous arms reaching out from the cracked space. ''Well, well, well, look at my carelessness ~'' I muttered in my consciousness, but by the next moment, those very words resounded throughout my domain in a hoarse, unidentifiable, genderless and hypnotic voice. The voice was loud enough to force Vine to cover his ears and nearly squash his own head in between his palms, as he trembled violently, while the group behind him giggled and nced around the domain in awe, since they merely heard yfulness in my voice while Vine heard the most domineering voice of absolute strength. "You aren''t relying on the memories of Vinny and Vassago, I see." I eventually spoke out loud as I stared at Vine with a curious gaze that unveiled my desire to learn his reply. "....." Vine, who seemed to have understood my gaze, nodded his head without a single change in his expression even while his body "You would have been desperately trying to escape instead of fighting me." I rified as I simply gazed at him, curious to know of shuddered. "Well, it''s merely an advice, but you should make use of such informative memories, because if you were smart enough and knew how to make use of those memories," "You would have been desperately trying to escape instead of fighting me." I rified as I simply gazed at him, curious to know of his next course of actions. "Why-" Vine spoke, but as soon as that word came out of his mouth, "Haaaa...." I sighed in disappointment. [What did I expect from a new-born, anyway...] My thoughts resounded in the domain even without me doing so voluntarily. I noticed Vine furrow his brows at me in confusion,unable to understand the "new-born" part. Which I muttered since he, who had be a new existence after both Vinny''s and Vassago''s souls merged, technically (?) was a new-born. "Because if you did as I advised, you would have known that in a domain its creator is the absolute." SNAP-! ZWOOP-! Before Vine''s mind understood the meaning behind my words, the snap of my fingers erased the existence of the cracks mid-space around Vine without even a momentary dy. "!!??" Vine pped his bat-like wings and shot back as if the distance would buy him time, while fear enveloped him as understanding dawned upon him. [Where are you going?] With a flick of my fingers, Vine was brought back in front of me as he abruptly pped and joined his palms together and stretched out wide open by the next instance. "DOMAIN OF THE NEWER!" He roared atop his lungs as his chest pumped up. ''Ho?'' I weakened my domain enough for his domain to meet with enough resistance before overpowering my domain, since everything existing in my domain would still remain within thanks to Eunomia, who would take control as soon as I release my control over it, nothing should be noticeable to Isha, Zephyr, and Jewel. CRA-CRACK-!! SHATTER-! "Hehehe!!'' Vine''s not funny enoughugh resounded, creepily. As a pink coloured domain enveloped me, Seo Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, and Belinda, of course, its creator, Vine, included. ''... Pink?'' Why is it pink? Chapter 379 378. Pink. ? Everything in Vine''s domain was pink, like pink PINK. And what was that about the "NEWER," when he initiated his domain? The word to initiate the domain just shed in his mind when he thought about how desperately he needed a technique to either attack Eshwar or escape from him, and upon pondering over the words in his mind and the words Eshwar had muttered about him bing a new, unique existence, Hebined both of them and concluded that it was because he was a newer, unique existence, hence his domain was named after. Though he too was weirded out by the most pinkest world he had ever seen. It was fluffily disgusting. Disgusting enough to make anybody''s stomach churn. ''What in the actual f**k?'' Vine thoughts as his expression shed utter disgust at his own domain. SHING-! ''?'' Confusion marred his face upon gazing at the bright blue line manifest mid-space. SHING-! Another thin line manifested with an end connected with the previous one, and as they gazed at the phenomenon, hundreds of thin lines manifested, each connected with the one materialized before it, until thest one connected with the one that had materialized first. Upon gazing up at it, from whichever angle, it had formed into a circle, aplex, abstract circle with millions of octagonal shapes found, if tried to find one. With the abstract circle together with the different coloured, skins and armoured clothes of those in the domain, nothing seemed to be unique in Vine''s pink dyed world. Katline, among the other core members of the adventurers guild, opened her mouth toment, but closed her mouth without voicing any of her thoughts, it was a strange sight and action, but nonemented anything against her as they too were going to do the same if they hadn''t noticed how strange her actions seemed from third person. CLACK-! "!?" Vine''s pupils dted when he heard and felt something intrude his domain, but he soon understood that it wasn''t "intruding" if it was a part of his own domain. With a series of cking sounds of heels, a two legged creature''s footsteps resounded throughout the pink domain until a humanoid woman''s figurine appeared next to Vine, ced it''s arms around his neck as it hugged him while swaying sensually. ''I-it''s soft....'' Vine, who had expected the figurine to feel hard like a mannequin, was surprised when he felt how soft the woman''s figurine. "Master~" It spoke in a breathy voice, as puffs of hot breath was felt on Vine''s neck. It didn''t feel strange nor foreign to Vine, maybe it was because he was the creator of the domain, while it was an existence created within his domain. His arms involuntarily wrapped around the figurine''s slim waist as he pulled the doll closer, while it was adorned in a pink ribbon gown. Vine gazed down at the figurine''s back and defined things about the figurine as a single thought shed in his mind. ''Barbie?'' Vine thought. If it was what he thought it was, the pink world could be exined(?), Or so he concluded since he didn''t want to think about it. He pushed the doll back and cupped its cheeks gently, and it wasn''t long until he saw an horrifying scene which could potentially make him piss his pants without a second thought appeared in sight. Its eye sockets were empty as something pitch-ck upied them, and same went for its month and nostrils, but he couldn''t fear nor hate the figurine as he gazed at it as if he was captivated by the most alluring woman''s sensual gaze he had ever seen, and unconsciously and involuntarily, he leaned in and kissed its plump, soft pink lips. While, ''That''s the most "healthy" image and figure the "void" could have chosen.'' Eshwar thought, gazing at scene that was as creepy as it could get. "DOMAIN OF THE DREAMER!" Vine eximed into the doll''s mouth as he broke the kiss that disgusted everyone present around him. CLICK-! With a clicking sound, the pink domain rippled and settled upon being given an appropriate name for its existence. "House Of The Fool." Vine initiated his domain''s unique skill. POING-! PING-! BOING-! POP-! With party poppers, ping-pong sounds, trampoline bouncing sounds, together with the festive pops sounds, arge circus house popped out of the pink coloured tform that materialised behind its creator, while a creepy head of a joker hung atop the house''s cone head. FLUTTER-! The house''s cloth-door unveiled with a flutter, as a pitch-ck carpet rolled out of the opening, from where nothing inside was seen, upon ending after rolling out till a certain distance, dense threads stretched out of its end and wrapped around Vine''s and the doll''s waists, binding them together as they began to kiss again, before they were dragged back atop of the pitch-ck mat, And it wasn''t long until, Vine and the doll disappeared into the circus house that had different coloured strips stretched vertically. "Hmm~ shall we follow him?" Eshwar asked as he turned to face, Seo Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic and Belinda, who wore terrified expressions on their faces. "Y-you crazy? That''s creepy as f**k!!" Arngrim shouted as he trembled, hugging Louie while crushing Core, who was tapping Louie''s shoulder, in the middle. "Maybe~" Eshwar simply shrugged with an ethereal, yful smile on his face, that unveiled his curiosity to follow Vine into the clown''s house. "I am scared of clowns too, but isn''t the horror house kinda exciting?" Eshwar''s ethereal smile widened at that point. "And it has been a long while since something really scary has happened~" Eshwar muttered as he closed his eyes for a brief moment, as nobody spoke to him, though he had appeared in front of them after a long while, it wasn''t as if they had forgotten that he wanted to kill them, or at least that''s what they heard from Seo Hana, the only one who had met with him after he started the apocalypse. "Hmmm~" Eshwar''s smiled brightly for no apparent reason, but the reason behind his smile soon manifested in front of them. ZWOOP-! Isha, his wife, had appeared next to him out of nowhere as soon as Eshwar flicked his fingers. She smiled warmly and clung onto Eshwar''s arm not resisting his offer to escort her, it wasn''t long until they heard him ask her not to use any of her abilities until he asked for her to, and he would do the same, his wife shed a bright smile as she nodded to his words. SNAP-! With a snap of his fingers, Eshwar''s, handsome white-haired man''s figure reced his celestial form, as he began to walk towards the clowns'' house that remained unmoving. And it wasn''t long until he disappeared into the house. Secondster, "Ummm...." Amanda hummed in hesitation before shing a pitiful gaze at Frostine, who sighed deeply in response and offered her a hand to escort her into the horrifying clown''s house. It wasn''t long until they followed after the pair, in pairs; Seo Hana & Katline, Grace & Neal, Reynolds & Hannah, Louie & Arngrim, Frostine & Amanda, Gerry & Greg, Simon & Ash, Core & Dominic, and Clifford & Belinda walked into the house. BOUSSH-! With a strange sound, the pairs disappeared into the house, and got separated by the next instance, they were d that they decided to enter in pairs, without even wondering what would have happened if they entered by themselves as they followed after each other. The first four of the separated pairs----Grace & Neal, Reynolds & Hannah, Louie & Arngrim, and Simon & Ash----stood in front of a mirror room that reflected everything and even multiplied their own reflections. They, the pairs, weren''t the only kind of pairs in the room, but that didn''t matter as they didn''t even about their own friends roaming in the same room. Another pair ended up on a creaking wooden bridge that seemed to never ending on either sides, there were nothing to stop them from falling if they leaned too much on which were side, but the figures hugged each other instinctively, they were none other than Hana and Katline. While another pair, Clifford & Belinda, had appeared in an endless hallway that resounded of ominous giggles of a child, as a few horrifying calls for them to walk towards them, the children, sounded in both sides as they even took the names of the pair in the lightless hallway. Frostine and Amanda were in an wide, open spread circr hallway that had many thick threads lowered from the ceiling that wasn''t visible, and when they tried to walk around in curiosity, the ground beneath them disappeared into nothingness as abyss seemed to cover the depths, they quickly understood that they had to move using the ropes and reach wherever they lead them in the path they took, Frostine kicked off of the footing that had began to crumble and offered her hand to Amanda, as they decided to y along with whatever was thrown at them. And the other pairs, Core & Dominic, Greg & Gerry, had ended up in the a strange room filled with mannequins that seemed immobile, the scene was a bit too scary that they tensed up and raised their weapons, as both pairs were unaware that the other existed. Since they had their abilities they weren''t too worried, but their hopes shattered the next moment when the system prompts that stared that their mana was sealed and they were under a state of fear appeared in front of them. While another pair, Eshwar and Isha, appeared trapped in maze room, that was dark and revealed nothing but the walls next to them, Isha tightened her grip around his arm with a excited smile on her face while Eshwar ced his palm on her grip in assurance that everything was alright. He wasn''t assuring his wife; He was assuring himself that his wife was next to him, so he didn''t need to worry. Chapter 380 379. Return Of Chaos. Chapter 380 379. Return Of Chaos. There were no need for any irrelevantly insignificant conversation, neither did any one even bother trying to start one, and as if they had reached an agreement with that silence, Vine waved his arm as hemanded the doll clinging onto him. The doll merely grabbed her left bicep and threw her now detached arm onto the ground as it detached from every joint that held the forearm, wrist joint, palm, fingers, and their joints, everything came loose as they detached themselves before rolling on the ground. With a rippling void energy in the detached parts of the arm, the pieces bounced off of the ground before each part turned into a doll that held the power of the void ording to the size of the detached pieces. It was strange sight of see, but it was nowhere near to entice disgust from the group. Eshwar gazed at the numerous clones of the doll next to Vine, who had its detached limb regrown or reattached. Although the clone formed from the detached pinky fingertip was the weakest of the group due to the detached piece''s size, it was far stronger than the strongest of the yers present in the domain. And by the looks of it, it was yet another time where Eshwar had to bother himself in saving their weak-a*s a*ses. Eshwar walked in front of Isha, bowed elegantly with his hand stretched out towards her as he voiced "Can I have the honour of requesting a dance, Mdy?" Politely. Isha''s expression brightened up at the gesture as she epted with a polite bow and a bright smile after voicing "The pleasure is all mine." With a yful suppressed giggle. Eshwar and Isha then began to waltz as the dolls pounced on the pair without a single warning, of course, the pair were ready for such actions against them, hence they continued to waltz without even bothering to pay attention to the attention given to them. The attacks soon began to hinder their dance as it began to get messier yet the couple didn''t stop dancing. Punches, kicks, grabs, and grapples flew towards them as they dodged every single one of them as they continued dance to the fight''s rhythm instead of any other forms of music. Their dance was far from graceful or anything even close to that, but the dance seemed strangely fun. And Isha''sughs highlighted that fact. The loving smile on Eshwar''s face and Isha''s hearty giggle was enough to entice envy in those surrounding them, but the couple seemed to be in their own worlds as they dodged every threat while ignoring the burdening gazes of the acquaintances. But, GLOW-! An abrupt golden glow enveloped the punch throw down at Isha''s head from a doll that had kicked off of the ground, it was at that sight a change urred in Eshwar''s expression as he abruptly shifted Isha, who had appeared in his embrace before even realising. BAM-! Eshwar''s back where the blownded had turned into his celestial form that disyed light-devouring darkness with bright light blue circuits carved upon it. His face shed a pensive expression that turned the cheerful mood into a cold one in an instant. Eshwar''s gaze glimmered in a bright orange ominous glint that seemed to send chills down to the very cores of whoever noticed that, with Isha being no exception. After the abrupt gap that had opened up in their rtionship an year and a half ago, Isha hadn''t even spoke to the being called Eshwar, after months, in real time, of apologies in his domain''s time extension that stretched time''s ratio between the reality at least 50 times, Isha gave him a chance with the condition of him being as honest as he can afford to be. She had learnt every face he held so she wasn''t surprised to noticed that expression on Eshwar''s face, but Nothing, none of her efforts to be unbothered about "that" side of his, mattered when she was in front of Eshwar''s colder side, she didn''t want to gaze at the colder side of the existence she loved the most, forever if possible, but her hopes were shattered at "that" face''s return. She didn''t feel d that he had gotten cold due to the actions that had threatened her, not even in the slightest bit. There wasn''t even a trace of threatening or domineering ambience that oozed out of Eshwar, but his gaze indicated that everything about him had be a threat, and it won''t change anytime soon. Eshwar slightly flexed his shoulder des with Isha in his arms and without a single sound, de-like tips extended out of his spine and turned the doll, whose punch had yet to slide off of his back, into dust that scattered without even a lingering hint indicating that the doll had existed once. That action surprised Vine, but he didn''t show it on his face as he merelymanded the doll next to him to increase the numbers of clones, all-while Isha''s gaze that hid fear deep within continued to linger on Eshwar''s face. She was strong, far stronger than Eshwar with whole of soul''s powers unsealed, but the cold and detached face on his face had managed to scare her every time, she was only thankful that "that" expression of his wasn''t and wouldn''t ever be directed at her. Involuntarily, Eshwar''s grip around Isha waist tightened as a slight pain began to seep into her body, and she found it strange that Eshwar seemed so pensive about a minor blow, which wouldn''t have hurt too much even if it hadnded after somehow managing to pass through her natural divine mana''s armour that had always adorned her like a veil. Isha hissed in pain that spread across from her waist due to Eshwar''s tightened grip, snapping him out of his trance as he snapped his head to gaze at her in his arms. "Isha...." Eshwar called out in a serious tone instead of his apologetic that she had expected as a natural course of action. "Return." Eshwar abruptly ordered her in a solemn tone and turned to face Vine and the hundreds of clones that began to surround them, but involuntarily, he still held Isha protected in his arms as she was the most fragile existence that had ever existed while her hesitant, worried, fearful, and hurt mixer of expressions continued to gaze at Eshwar''s cold unrecognizable face. Maybe it was done involuntarily, but Eshwar had ordered Isha to return without adding any words sugar coating them and though he hadn''t said it out directly, Isha felt as if he was calling her an hindrance without any proper exnation, and that fact had began to frustrate and annoy her when she pondered over it. She felt as if Eshwar was overreacting over nothing while the doll''s blow didn''t even seem to hold any actual threat that could potentially hurt her, she then began to evaluate what had happened since ming him without any reason would be uncalled for and she also knew that he wouldn''t act all cold out of nowhere when she had already made it clear that she didn''t want to see his cold side. endurance was at an unfathomable level as nothing seemed to affect him, but the 00:12 same Eshwar had an unhidden tremor cruise through his body when the blow had Then abruptly, She realised that the blow hadnded on Eshwar. Considered the doll''s strength, it was feat that should be impossible since he could merely dodge it even without really meaning to. She had even felt the tremor on her shoulders when the blownded. Eshwar was like an imposing irredeemable mountain that faltered at nothing. And his endurance was at an unfathomable level as nothing seemed to affect him, but the same Eshwar had an unhidden tremor cruise through his body when the blow hadnded on his back. Added with his cold and indifferent expression, the gravity of the situation twisted to a dangerous degree and it was at that realisation that made his previous "order" sound, sound. But, She couldn''t merely back out and hide behind Eshwar every time, she had to get hurt and push herself to the limits like Eshwar would, only then would she be able to get stronger. "I," Isha spoke up. "No." But, Eshwar interrupted her before she could evenplete her words as if he already knew what she would ask for. "Not now." Eshwar stated as the clones rushed towards them. "But," "Isha." Eshwar eximed as he pulled her by her waist and rushed to escape out of the range of the swarming clones. "Not...." He stopped himself from continuing his words while under stress since his words could potentially hurt Isha even if he didn''t mean to. "... F**k." It was the first time Eshwar had cursed in a long while, "..... Alright, you can fight if you can "see" or even "feel" the divinity surrounding the clones." Eshwar stated his condition to let her stay as he picked her up again and began to disappear into the darkness that surrounded the area whole holding the aggro of the clones as he rushed away from their acquaintance. Isha, who felt nor saw anything, wondered if he was asking for something that didn''t exist because he wanted to send her away, but the pensive expression on his face stated otherwise. Still, "I, I can help." She basically pleaded. The change in the mood had been so drastic from moments before when everything was fine and cheerful, Isha felt strangely suffocated, but a smile involuntarily appeared on her face at the sight of the chaos that had returned without any forewarning. Chapter 381 380. Luckless Beings. Chapter 381 380. Luckless Beings. Divinews. Or luck as I call it. It is an unfathomable power which could be exined as nothing but LUCK. The same power that helped the Gods to corner me at times and even inflict life-threatening damages when I went to war against the Gods. Going to war against Gods may sound as if it isn''t that big of a deal, but one needed to be utterly insane to even think about wanting to stand against a God, and I went to a war against such beings. One could understand how messed up my mind had been at those times. Messed up isn''t even a right word; I wasn''t even thinking as not even a single thought had managed to cruise through my mind in the first three or four wars, my mind regained some rity only when things began to feel pointless. Maybe it is only me as my thoughts and emotions run on extremes, or maybe it merely was a spell casted upon me by Isha''s soul involuntarily to keep me close, whatever it was, her existence had managed to drive me crazy. Crazy enough to dere war against the Gods for her. Not that it has changed even now. And, It was faint. That disgusting feeling of something unfathomable had seeped into me when I had absorbed The World Devourer''s Divinity, it was extremely faint, hence I couldn''t connect that feeling with the Divine Laws'' connection even though it was an extremely familiar feeling. But now that I was gazing at it as it swirled shily, I was sure that Vine, whose existence had be a "Demon God," had involuntarily created a connection with the Divine Laws, whose restrictions and benefits were out for him to use. It was only when it shed brightly around the clone''s fist that I manage connect Vine to the Divine Laws, if it, the blow that shook me, had managed tond on Isha, her spine would have cracked due to Isha "unexpectedly" letting her guard down even when she had already realised that there was a fist iing, and it wouldn''t have ended with only that, the cracked spine would have "somehow" managed to cause life-threatening internal injuries and Isha would have "somehow" died "unexpectedly." That''s how things would have turned out. And that''s precisely what one should expect when "luck" is involved, nothing less would do "luck" any justice. Even I''m not immune to the Divine Laws'' luck. As my spine discs had even jerked when that clone''s weak blownded on my back, which was the reason I was forced to flex my shoulders as my body readjusted my spine. That sh of luck on Vine''s side, the contained damage, and finally, Isha''s existence in my arms forced my mind go cold as my thoughtless mind-set I held when I was at war managed to take over my mind. Only Isha''s pained hiss managed to bring back a part of sanity back to my mind, but I knew I couldn''t hold on long enough to reassure her, but at the conclusion, that smile, That damn smile on her face killed the sanity that her pain had managed to hold on. That crazed smile that could easily mirror mine at times appeared on her face, and it was enough to understand that my sanity was useless now, as it bore no fruit, so "You''re on your own, I''ll help you if it seems too deadly, but I will not step in even if you began to bleed." I stated coldly while the sane part that ruled the back of my mind hoped to scare her and send her back, but that hope soon died down when I noticed her smile broaden instead. A sharp pain assaulted my mind that killed the sounds, emotions, and almost everything that separated a sentient creature from a senseless beast. My teeth sharpened as my back hunched, my spine curled as razor sharp des protruded out of my spine while light-devouring darkness with bright light blue coloured circuits dyed them, human-like features faded on my forearms together with my legs as my celestial form took over, fingers and toes turned into ws, half of my body still retained human-like features, but I was far from resembling one. My eyes faded as a strap of my celestial form enveloped my face, removing any traces of eyes or eye sockets, as the roots of my hair turns ck while light-devouring smoke began to rise from them. My senses covered everything in Vine''s domain, while I noticed thin golden threads stretching up into the heavens from everything about Vine and his domain. The clones, the doll, and Vine himself had a thread connected to them, and the thread was nothing but the link between them and the Divine Laws or luck in general. Clones were still rushing towards me as I still held the aggro, and they still held the golden swirl enveloping them, disying the levels of luck they held, depending on which, they could actually pose a threat to me and Isha, as we are basically luckless beings due to us cutting off the links that connected us to the Divine Laws, but It didn''t matter. Nothing mattered when I knew it was war. Threads of spiritual energy began to seep out of my wed fingers, those from my right swirled and turned into a bright, pure white whip while those from my left shot out and pierced into the ground, holding onto which I leaned back before pulling myself forward, strongly. The tense threads reacted strongly as they pulled me towards them, I hindered with them with a flick of my fingers and managed to detach them from the ground while I continued to get flung towards the clones. I pulled back the whip and snapped it at the group of clones, instead of wrapping around the group like what was to be expected from a whip, the whip passed through the clones without even meeting with the slightest of resistance. A sh of relief shed on Vine''s mind at the sight, but that crumbled when clones'' torso''s began to float mid-air while their legs continued to rush towards me, a pitch-ck thin arc shed in between them for an instant before disappearing. It wasn''t my attack that had cut them in half, my whip isn''t supposed to nor can it do that. It was Isha''s attack from behind that had cut through them, due to the shocking sight many could have missed it, but I didn''t miss theyers of shadows that continued to linger on the cut parts as if to prevent the clones from attaching themselves back into single piece. Since the doll and the clones were basically soulless, my whip that snatched away the souls of those it touched was basically useless in the fight against them, as I calcted instinctively while sliding on the ground while the wave of cut off clones fell onto the ground with subtle THUDS and TAKS. The ground creaked as my ws dug into the ground, but it wasn''t long until the ground began to freeze ording to my will and a rink began to manifest. Another wed toe protruded out from my heel and acted as the ice skates, while I slid across the rink as my back straightened and my wed fingers elongated. I felt Isha''s shadowspressed swords shooting out at the clones that began to rise up from the detached parts of the cut off clones, their numbers had multiplied but unlike before, their prowess hadn''t waned. That phenomenon forced my senses to focus on the doll that continued to stand tall without without even showing any signs of its own power diminishing, it was to be expected considering that the doll''s core was the void itself. But the matter of concern was different. The "luck" enveloping the clones also retained the levels they held previously which meant that the things would get troublesome if the same continued. Their numbers shouldn''t expand. That was the instinctive realisation that had struck my consciousness and I would act on it, but the one hindering my execution that I could proudly call perfect would be none other than my own wife; but nothing mattered as long as she was fin.... WHOOOOSH-! With a strong gust of wind blew past me even though it shouldn''t exist, I noticed Isha zooming towards the clones that had began to find bnce as they stood on the rink. I too strode forward, sliding across the rink, I reached the group before Isha could and a clone''s figure shed golden, garnering my attention as its right arm flickered before a palm appeared in front of my face. Why and how did I only notice a flicker? Because my senses had "somehow" remained focused on its expressionless face while it attacked me. But, My right arm seemed to disappear as I flung my arm at its arm which was already in front of my face, my wed fingers pierced its forearm had shattered its whole arm before its lucky attacknded. That attack from my side initiated the uing brawl. Chapter 382 381. Divine Laws. ? Divinews. Or luck as I call it. It is an unfathomable power which could be exined as nothing but LUCK. The same power that helped the Gods to corner me at times and even inflict life-threatening damages when I went to war against the Gods. Going to war against Gods may sound as if it isn''t that big of a deal, but one needed to be utterly insane to even think about wanting to stand against a God, and I went to a war against such beings. One could understand how messed up my mind had been at those times. Messed up isn''t even a right word; I wasn''t even thinking as not even a single thought had managed to cruise through my mind in the first three or four wars, my mind regained some rity only when things began to feel pointless. Maybe it is only me as my thoughts and emotions run on extremes, or maybe it merely was a spell casted upon me by Isha''s soul involuntarily to keep me close, whatever it was, her existence had managed to drive me crazy. Crazy enough to dere war against the Gods for her. Not that it has changed even now. And, It was faint. That disgusting feeling of something unfathomable had seeped into me when I had absorbed The World Devourer''s Divinity, it was extremely faint, hence I couldn''t connect that feeling with the Divine Laws'' connection even though it was an extremely familiar feeling. But now that I was gazing at it as it swirled shily, I was sure that Vine, whose existence had be a "Demon God," had involuntarily created a connection with the Divine Laws, whose restrictions and benefits were out for him to use. It was only when it shed brightly around the clone''s fist that I manage connect Vine to the Divine Laws, if it, the blow that shook me, had managed tond on Isha, her spine would have cracked due to Isha "unexpectedly" letting her guard down even when she had already realised that there was a fist iing, and it wouldn''t have ended with only that, the cracked spine would have "somehow" managed to cause life-threatening internal injuries and Isha would have "somehow" died "unexpectedly." That''s how things would have turned out. And that''s precisely what one should expect when "luck" is involved, nothing less would do "luck" any justice. Even I''m not immune to the Divine Laws'' luck. As my spine discs had even jerked when that clone''s weak blownded on my back, which was the reason I was forced to flex my shoulders as my body readjusted my spine. That sh of luck on Vine''s side, the contained damage, and finally, Isha''s existence in my arms forced my mind go cold as my thoughtless mind-set I held when I was at war managed to take over my mind. Only Isha''s pained hiss managed to bring back a part of sanity back to my mind, but I knew I couldn''t hold on long enough to reassure her, but at the conclusion, that smile, That damn smile on her face killed the sanity that her pain had managed to hold on. That crazed smile that could easily mirror mine at times appeared on her face, and it was enough to understand that my sanity was useless now, as it bore no fruit, so "You''re on your own, I''ll help you if it seems too deadly, but I will not step in even if you began to bleed." I stated coldly while the sane part that ruled the back of my mind hoped to scare her and send her back, but that hope soon died down when I noticed her smile broaden instead. A sharp pain assaulted my mind that killed the sounds, emotions, and almost everything that separated a sentient creature from a senseless beast. My teeth sharpened as my back hunched, my spine curled as razor sharp des protruded out of my spine while light-devouring darkness with bright light blue coloured circuits dyed them, human-like features faded on my forearms together with my legs as my celestial form took over, fingers and toes turned into ws, half of my body still retained human-like features, but I was far from resembling one. My eyes faded as a strap of my celestial form enveloped my face, removing any traces of eyes or eye sockets, as the roots of my hair turns ck while light-devouring smoke began to rise from them. My senses covered everything in Vine''s domain, while I noticed thin golden threads stretching up into the heavens from everything about Vine and his domain. The clones, the doll, and Vine himself had a thread connected to them, and the thread was nothing but the link between them and the Divine Laws or luck in general. Clones were still rushing towards me as I still held the aggro, and they still held the golden swirl enveloping them, disying the levels of luck they held, depending on which, they could actually pose a threat to me and Isha, as we are basically luckless beings due to us cutting off the links that connected us to the Divine Laws, but It didn''t matter. Nothing mattered when I knew it was war. Threads of spiritual energy began to seep out of my wed fingers, those from my right swirled and turned into a bright, pure white whip while those from my left shot out and pierced into the ground, holding onto which I leaned back before pulling myself forward, strongly. The tense threads reacted strongly as they pulled me towards them, I hindered with them with a flick of my fingers and managed to detach them from the ground while I continued to get flung towards the clones. I pulled back the whip and snapped it at the group of clones, instead of wrapping around the group like what was to be expected from a whip, the whip passed through the clones without even meeting with the slightest of resistance. A sh of relief shed on Vine''s mind at the sight, but that crumbled when clones'' torso''s began to float mid-air while their legs continued to rush towards me, a pitch-ck thin arc shed in between them for an instant before disappearing. It wasn''t my attack that had cut them in half, my whip isn''t supposed to nor can it do that. It was Isha''s attack from behind that had cut through them, due to the shocking sight many could have missed it, but I didn''t miss theyers of shadows that continued to linger on the cut parts as if to prevent the clones from attaching themselves back into single piece. Since the doll and the clones were basically soulless, my whip that snatched away the souls of those it touched was basically useless in the fight against them, as I calcted instinctively while sliding on the ground while the wave of cut off clones fell onto the ground with subtle THUDS and TAKS. The ground creaked as my ws dug into the ground, but it wasn''t long until the ground began to freeze ording to my will and a rink began to manifest. Another wed toe protruded out from my heel and acted as the ice skates, while I slid across the rink as my back straightened and my wed fingers elongated. I felt Isha''s shadowspressed swords shooting out at the clones that began to rise up from the detached parts of the cut off clones, their numbers had multiplied but unlike before, their prowess hadn''t waned. That phenomenon forced my senses to focus on the doll that continued to stand tall without without even showing any signs of its own power diminishing, it was to be expected considering that the doll''s core was the void itself. But the matter of concern was different. The "luck" enveloping the clones also retained the levels they held previously which meant that the things would get troublesome if the same continued. Their numbers shouldn''t expand. That was the instinctive realisation that had struck my consciousness and I would act on it, but the one hindering my execution that I could proudly call perfect would be none other than my own wife; but nothing mattered as long as she was fin.... WHOOOOSH-! With a strong gust of wind blew past me even though it shouldn''t exist, I noticed Isha zooming towards the clones that had began to find bnce as they stood on the rink. I too strode forward, sliding across the rink, I reached the group before Isha could and a clone''s figure shed golden, garnering my attention as its right arm flickered before a palm appeared in front of my face. Why and how did I only notice a flicker? Because my senses had "somehow" remained focused on its expressionless face while it attacked me. But, My right arm seemed to disappear as I flung my arm at its arm which was already in front of my face, my wed fingers pierced its forearm had shattered its whole arm before its lucky attacknded. That attack from my side initiated the uing brawl. Chapter 383 382. The Liabilities. ? Eshwar had somehow ended up in the middle of the encirclement as kicks, punches, and grapples thrown at him. He, of course, dodged then without much major concerns, he certainly had taken damages as he fell prey to his opponents'' luck, but that didn''t and couldn''t stop or hinder him. But, the levels of threats increased when spells were added to the fray, a humongous vortex of different coloured mes had devoured him, thin wind des were shot at him while he was being burnt alive, a water dome enveloped the vortex as it continued to increase the heat and smoke inside it, earth walls and much more earth rted spells shot at him, as many of those spells glimmered golden, damaging him greatly, under Eshwar''s persistent gaze that remained unwavering. Damages seemed to continue to umte within him as his body showed no actual changes outwardly, but those present could understand that Eshwar was merely hiding the actual facts behind his healthy unhuman form. None of the initiated spells seemed to run low on mana even after minutes passed, instead they even showed signs of getting stronger while new spells were added to the fray. The ground turned intova which Eshwar remained standing on, the smoke in the dome turned poisonous which acted as a catalyst that burned the mes stronger. It was low like a mumble, but they, the voices that were rendered unable to be heard due to number of bombarded spells, soon began to be heard clearly. Names of the spells began to sound in Eshwar''s spread consciousness. "Magma torrent!" A spell thatunches molten hotva at the target; it is also a spell that can melt through physical and magical defence, an appropriate spell to beunched at Eshwar, whose plight could potentially begin to threaten him. "Pressure!" A spell that causes the air around the target to dense heavily or thin out until it bes a vacuum of space. In the Eshwar''s case, the gathered hot and already dense air thickened even more up to an unbearable degree as all the mist in the dome mmed down onto the ground and forcing Eshwar to kneel on theva nketed ground. The fire rted spells were exhausted and the air attributed mana in the water dome was dragged along the pressure spell, breaking down the dome in the process. All while Isha continued to swing her shadow sword at the clones that had managed tond a diagonal sh on her chest, which bleed reddish-gold blood; and unsurprisingly, that wasn''t the only attack that had managed tond on her. There was even a sh on her right cheek that indicated a dodged attack''s gaze, her shoulders, thighs, and her left forearm also had deep enough cuts on them, and if one could see Eshwar peering through the dense cloud around him, they would notice how his gaze had never left his wife''s figure. The liabilities; Seo Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Louie , Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Dominic, Core, and Belinda, were able to do nothing but merely gaze at things happening in utter horror and unfocused gazes, while twenty or so clones surrounded them, oozing a dreadful aura which they didn''t even seem to have really noticed. Thoughts filled their minds, as even dangerous thoughts of losing more of their friends shed in their minds upon gazing at Eshwar''s and Isha''s figures which forced them to focus on the situation, but their unnoticed situation rendered them unable to do anything. Only after noticing they weren''t able to move, did they notice the dense aura of dread surrounding them. Seo Hana snapped instantly, rage flood her mind at the thoughts of somebody else forcing her to stay put, as the thoughts of making things right with Eshwar dominated most of her consciousness, and she didn''t like even a bit of how mere clones were forcing her to stay still. Unbeknownst to her, her rage fuelled her agathokakological mind, her phoenix mes tuned crimson as they busted out of her petite body, the whole of her body turned into a zing torch that forced those around her to take a step away. The temperature around them rose sharply to insane degrees, under the effects of which, the mannequins began to melt subtly and unnoticeably. "Nova congration!" A growling roar escaped her throat and a wave of extreme heat rippled out of her zing body, melting the mannequins around them in an instant while also enveloping her allies in a mes that boosted their overall abilities. "Don''t torch my bony pets!" Katline roared strange words as she lunged herself towards the new toon of clones rushing towards them. "Rise from your eternal slumber," Katline spoke as mana enveloped her words. "My bony puppies~" Katline muttered as her face gained a bright blush as her gaze shone in excitement. She, who had understood the influences and consequences of her trait and skills after her awakening, thought of never using those skills if possible, which strongly influenced her resolve to master her archery, but she hadter learnt the limitations of her actions, but she still hesitated to use her trait which had continued to level up and increase in levels without her consent. But she had thrown away her hesitation when hers and her friends'' lives were in danger, though she couldn''t protect the lives of her friends, she survived, an oue that resulted in her not wanting to use her trait ever again even more, but now, she couldn''t find a reason to hesitate anymore. Hence her reason for finally using her strange trait that influenced her behaviour. Necromancy. A perverted trait in her case. Her eyes gained a perverted glint as strong excitement marred her face, while her figure felt behind a trail of ckening gust, through which shadowed skeletons poured out. She neared the toon of clones which had swung their fists and legs at her, but she jumped at them without even bothering to think of dodging any of the iing attacks. Her head, biceps, forearms, and knees became prey to the clones'' kicks while her face, chest, and abdomen became prey to the punches. Each blow threatened to blow off the crimson mes that enveloped her as circr wind pressures exploded out of her back, but she remained standing as her bow, which had remained in her inventory appeared in her hand while an arrow in an other. She nocked the arrow and pulled the bow string with trembling hands while the kicks and punches remained on her. The mes enveloping her did wonders as the damage she took healed to a certain degree, enabling her to move as she wanted without trembling. It wasn''t long until the shadowed skeletons rushed next to her and pushed back the clones that began to fight against them, but Katline didn''t give them any chance to fend off her skelies. The pulled arrow gained threatening power as her necromancy trait''s "masochism" skill got activated under hermand. A wild pleasurable grin shed on her face as a pair of blood trails flowed from her nose marred her beautiful face with a wild gothic appearance. "Masochism" skill granted her a strong boost in her prowess the more damage she sustained, with the penalty of her body sustaining damages normally even though the pain resistance yed an active role in lowering the pain she experienced. The arrow which was her selected target of the boosted power began to brim in absurd power as the power''s concentration at one spot increased the threat the arrow held. The damage would be disastrous in any situations, except the current one; where her opponents were mere clones of the original, which was stronger than all the clonesbined. But, None mattered to the current Katline as she released the arrow with a wild grin on her face, as Seo Hana''s crimson mes followed after the arrow and enveloped a wide range of the area while the arrow pierced through the clones while a violent trail of a sideways cyclone shredded the clones into pieces that dispersed into nothingness before Seo Hana''s mes could affect them. Of course, Katline''s skelies weren''t unaffected either, they too were shredded to pieces, but were healing at an unbelievable rate. Seo Hana''s and Katline''s actions snapped the rest of group out of their daze, as they too rushed to the battlefield with their bodies set aze in Hana''s crimson mes. Grace stood behind with Louie, as she began to employ magic while Louie stayed to defend her. "Gaia''s Chosen!" Grace muttered as green veins grew from her feet to envelope her body while also spreading all-over, her range spread wide before Seo Hana''s mes stopped her spell''s advance, but that didn''t discourage her as she rose over the veins that stretched beneath her feet apanied by Louie, who stood with a shield and a sword in his hands. "Divine deployment!" Louie roared as a dense golden hued shield manifested in front him, big enough cover him and Gaia''s chosen behind him. As if on an unvoiced understanding, Grace pointed forward as her body leaned forward, the veins around her began to crawl, pushing her forward with Louie in defending in front of her. Hana''s mes climbed Grace''s veins but didn''t damage them, instead boosted their prowess as they had done with the others. The reason behind the halt of the roots and veins'' growth and expansion was due to theck of natural nature in the domain, not the mes as the spell caster had been set aze even before the spell was brought to life. The forces of opposite sides shed as the spell initiators pulled out the big cards in their arsenals, while half of the forces on Eshwar''s side remained still under a petite woman''s, Core''s, orders. Waiting to analyse more of Vine''s and his doll''s battle prowess as they had yet to use more than a mere cloning ability, while their group had been forced to pull out big cards even though it was merely a start of their battle. Chapter 384 383. The Liabilities (2). Chapter 384 383. The Liabilities (2). A circr hue materialized in front of Core''s right eye which targeted those she intended to target. She had literally managed to keep an eye on her allies and her enemies at the same time thanks to her skill, brainstorming everything to use and make it so that it would be her team that woulde out on the top, while she rested upon Frostine''s horizontally manifested Frost attributed wall that was set afloat. Neal, Arngrim, Amanda, Dominic, and Belinda also rested atop the b of ice, before a visible cold sigh escaped Arngrim''s mouth as stood up ignoring Core''s orders to stay still. Core merely red at him which he shrugged and jumped off of the b; he took out his scythe from the inventory as he neared the ground, just as he was about tond, he swung his scythe vertically downward as if to cut off the force umted, and it worked. The force that pulled him down was cut, allowing him tond on the ground without a hitch before he lunged towards Grace''s veins marred back, while the mes on his body flickered as if scared of something, but since Hana was focused on lowering the number of clones marching at her and masochistic Katline, who bulldozed at the clones uncaring for the injuries sustaining, she didn''t notice her mes'' strange behaviour while enveloping Arngrim. Arngrim soon passed Grace and Louie, while the former seemed to be immersed in casting a difficult spell. Arngrim stepped into Hana''s mes dyed domain in a matter of seconds, but he halted at nothing. It wasn''t long until he reached the masochistic Katline and began to berserk-ly swing his scythe, uncaring for the clones that fell apart as soon as his scythe touched them. The numbers that remained in hundreds dropped down to tens in a matter of mere seconds. His prowess shocked Vine and the doll who couldn''t figure out what kind absurdity his swings were causing, but they knew he was a threat as soon as they understood that he was cutting through mana itself. And to Vine and the doll, who had inextinguishable amount of mana but amounted to not much without it, he was the worst kind of enemy. The doll channelled void''s mana in her body upon Vine''s unvoicedmand, right as her body was about split into pieces, Arngrim pointed his freehand at them, making them shudder at the uncertain. "Mana Drain!" Arngrim eximed under his breath with a grin on his face; Yet, The doll''s body still split into parts, but they didn''t turn into clones as Vine had willed to, while he felt as if all the mana that cruised through the doll which was taken from his void was drained without even a hint of it remaining in the doll, making him shudder at the understanding that dawned upon him. Arngrim was the second person to scare Vine after Eshwar, but none of the Arngrim''s teammates were surprised to know that; since they knew that even though he only had one ability, he could be as terrifying as one could expect in a world of mana. "Well, I didn''t expect that." Vine leisurelymented under his breath, but soon regained his calm, as his vigorous mana poured out from the depths of his existence, helping in manifesting his domain''s manager, the doll, who was adorned in ribbon ball gown. The doll hugged Vine like a dog that hadn''t seen its master for seven hours straight, uncaring for the strange expressions directed at it and him. Well, no matter what, since Arngrim''s attack merely affected the doll, thetter''s clones were still engaging against Hana''s, Katline''s, and Arngrim''s constant bombardment. Katline''s skelies were hindering Arngrim''s scythe swings, but since she didn''t even nce at him when he shed through them, Arngrim too stopped minding his swings. "Root + Vine control + Nature Servant!" WHOOOOSH-! "GAIA''S WRATH!" Grace roared as her greenish mana exploded out of her body, with exhausted huffs puffing out of her mouth. While in the state of concentration, Grace had spread her "Roots" skill''s range underground while Seo Hana''s mes raged on aboveground; her vine control skill caused the roots underground to form spikes that pierced out of the ground at her will, while her nature servant skill made humanoid figures of vines to manifest and fight for her or ording to her will. And finally, her Gaia''s wrath called upon a guardian of nature to fight for her. The guardian was a nearly 20 feet humanoid figure purely made out of vines, with a bright bluish green core at the centre of its chest. Hana''s mes raged upon the guardian and set aze a gigantic beast which was considered to be an ally, but before long, it absorbed the fire elemental mana, making Hana''s mes its own without affecting Hana, those mes'' original owner. "Onest spell....." Grace muttered under herboured breath before taking a deep breath, "Gaia''s Maidens!" Grace cried out loud, as her greenish mana exploded out of her body again, split into four ethereal figures which then manifested into reality as leafy and rooty armour adorned figures, that had greenish hue zing in their eyes as they gazed ahead at those that were a threat ording to Grace''smands, as leaves and roots exploded out into existence out of thin air and merged, forming swords and shields that the maidens held before rushing towards the hostile entities. While Louie nced behind and noticed a cocoon of vines securing Grace''s now exhausted and unconscious body, while the rest of the overgrown vines continued to hold the ball of vines high, aboveground. As Louie contemted upon what to do with that ball of vines that held Grace within, "She should be ok!" Core''s voice sounded in affirmation which killed Louie''s hesitation to leave Grace behind as he rushed towards those that needed him. And the one who needed him the most currently, turned out to be an unexpected person, but he didn''t hesitate to rush towards her once he assumed that she would bleed to death if not given a time to breathe. "Do not, Louie!" Chapter 385 384. Party Pooper. Chapter 385 384. Party Pooper. "Do not, Louie!" Frostine''s loud roar sounded and halted him in his steps as he was about to reach Isha, who seemed to be bleeding a bit too excessively. Louie opened his mouth toin, stopped himself, gazed at Isha''s state and finally managed to notice how her expression indicated joy instead of anxiety, a shiver crawled over his spine, but managing to shrug off that nearly overwhelming feeling, Louie rushed towards Arngrim, Katline, and Hana, who seemed to be closing in on Vine and his doll, thanks to the domain quacking support of Grace''s summoning skills. "Can I help them now?" Amanda asked Core with a cute smile on her face. "Go all out or stay out of it." Core bluntly stated. "Alright~" Amanda''s smile only widened at Core''s words, as she jumped off of the b and jumped into the fray. "Warp!" Amanda muttered as soon as her foot left the b and her body electrolyzed and disappeared from the spot before she reappeared directly above Vine and his doll, with tongues of lightning stretching wide from her body. With her arms stretched out wide, "Mj?lnir!" She roared. A threatening tempest was unleashed in an instant, riddled with powerful and wild lightning that converged at one point before being struck down at her, instead of her enemies. By the next instance, she had disappeared from the spot she stood, reappeared right in front of Vine and his doll as her arms flickered with wild tongues of lightning enveloping her whole; "Boltz!" She cried out while her arms touched Vine and the doll without them even noticing it happen before strong lightning bolts struck them, and the skill even managed to form an arc that lead them to be stunned by lightning constantly. Noticing her spell working as she intended to, Amanda pulled back her right hand, clenched it into a fist coated by lightning, "Shock pulse!" She muttered and punched at the doll''s chest. With a loud lightning p, a pulse imploded within the doll and dismantled the doll into pieces in an instant. Knowing the stun effect on Vine wouldn''tst much longer with a link''s target lost, Amanda pulled her fist back and punched at his chest this time, employing the same skill that destroyed the doll. "Shock Pulse!" The same imploding phenomenon unfolded within Vine, who was pushed back ever-so-slightly, but her for sure kill skill failed her as she was unable to kill Vine. ''I need to get aw-'' As she was channelling her mana to get away, her consciousness shuddered in fear, breaking her focus when her gaze inadvertently caught Vine''s palm reaching out at her face, at that instance, she knew for sure that she would die the moment his palm touched her and there was no stopping that certain death. BAM-! With a subtle bam, something hit Vine''s abdomen at its centre and pushed him back right when his palm was about to touch Amanda''s face. Noticing a regr tree trunk-sized pir of ice stuck onto Vine''s abdomen, pushing him back, Amanda thanked Frostine inwardly and disappeared from her previously standing spot, only to reappear next to her saviour, trembling. "That was scarier than the horror house....." Amanda muttered in a trembling tone and disappeared before Frostine and the restmented at her reckless actions. Of course, her words managed to entice unsavoury memories in Neal, Dominic, Core, and Belinda, but it wasn''t an appropriate time to get all emotional. "Core, how much longer do we have to wait?!" Frostine asked, frustration apparent in her tone. "And won''t we have to help Eshwar!!?" She asked. After a momentary silence, "You want to help Eshwar?" Core asked in mocking tone, without even turning to face Frostine, who frowned upon hearing her words. "Wha-" "How do you think you are able to use mana when Vine''s domain was supposed to have sealed them?" Core asked and Frostine couldn''t help but turn silent as she pondered over something that was supposed to be obvious. "Don''t think too much, none of us are strong enough to do something so absurd, the answer should be quite obvious actually." Core stated. "..... Is that why Eshwar is kneeling? Because he used too much power to lift the seal?" Frostine questioned under her breath with a deep frown on her face. "How much is "too much?" And is your "too much" really too much to Eshwar? Do you really think he would have to use too much power to undo this measly seal?" Core stated with a scoff. At those words, Frostine couldn''t help but shut her mouth, she wanted to question what was going on and why was Eshwar kneeling like that even while Isha was getting hurt to an extreme level, but she knew that she would only sound stupid if she voiced her questions even after remembering that he, Eshwar, was supposed to be an absolute being, at least in their views. But, Even then, There was a question that pricked in her consciousness, "..... Why are standing still and doing nothing?" Was a question Frostine wanted to know an answer to, but she wasn''t the one that posed that question, instead it was Belinda. "Because," Core muttered as she continued to gaze at Vine, who was in the middle of Hana''s, Katline''s, Louie''s, Arngrim''s, Amanda''s, and Grace''s summoned guardians'' encirclement. "It is impossible for us to win." Core stated, and as if on cue; "Alright, enough ying around." Vine muttered coldly. His mana swirled next to him before his doll materialized in that spot, while he raised his hand in front of his head and SNAP-! With a mere snap of his fingers, fear got etched within them----Seo Hana, Katline, Frostine, Amanda, Dominic, Core, Arngrim, Neal, Louie, Belinda, and even in the unconscious Grace, who was jolted awake, trembling. Their active skills and spells, together with the clones summoned by the doll dissipated into thin air, but the pressure on a certain man hadn''t been lifted, instead was intensified. The pressure was so strong that it could be felt even by those that stood far away from his location. While Isha, who was having fun after a long while, had a dissatisfied expression when she noticed the clones dissipating; she ignored her bleeding state that was healed with a huff by the next instance. She appeared next to Seo Hana and the others, before Frostine and the rest who were quite far away were forced to appear next to her with a flick of her wrist. "You''re no fun~" Ishained with a pout as she red at Vine, who frowned in confusion. ".... Can she not understand the situation she is in-" Vine questioned gazing at her before his gazended on Hana, whom his question was directed at. But, His words got stuck in his throat when he noticed that the gazes of those in front of didn''t disy any fear even though their bodies were trembling in utter fear, thanks to them standing near him. "Well, he is a kind of party pooper; don''t me him too much." "!!!" Chapter 386 385. Its Time To End This. ? "Well, he is a kind of party pooper; don''t me him too much." "!!!" Vine''s, together with everyone else''s, including Isha''s, eyes widened in surprise when Eshwar''s voice sounded from everywhere. Vine, who felt everything happening in his domain, felt nothing. But then, abruptly, he saw what was different. The domain was covered in minute, dust-like particles, a few of which were right in front of his line of sight. It wasn''t long before Vine felt as if what he could see and feel were made to be so. Eshwar! He was ying around with Vine! Of course, it wasn''t strange since he was strong, and the thought of him being underestimated didn''t sit right with Vine, but instead of rage, it was fear that overwhelmed him. What could he do? Against Eshwar? Vine nced at where Eshwar was kneeling under the pressure that could potentially push a off of its orbit, and as if been waiting for Vine to gaze at him, Eshwar''s figure turned into merely another dust particle with a puff and disappeared from sight. "Eshwar? Where are you?" Isha asked after noticing him disappearing in a puff. Of course, she could see and feel those dust-like particles in the entirety of Vine''s pink domain, but the reason for her eyes widening was the fact that each and every dust-like particle oozed the same presence only Eshwar could. Each particle held the same power Eshwar, who was always with her, held, and that was what shocked Isha. "Me? I''m everywhere." Eshwar''s answer sounded from everywhere as he appeared right next to her out of nowhere and held her waist. Another Eshwar materialized right in front of her and kissed her forehead, another manifested in her left, pulling her cheek yfully. It was only after three of them manifested that she understood that it the dust-like particle in front of her that manifested into him. As if to prove her thoughts right, the dust-like particle right in front of Vine''s gaze turned into Eshwar, whonded right in front of him without any expression on his face. And before a second passed, millions of Eshwar''s materialized everywhere in the domain, overwhelmed by the presences he was feeling, Vine clenched his head and screamed in agony before his domain broke apart. Beginning from a crack in space, the domain shattered as if it was made out of ss and pushed out everything in the domain back into the real world. In the underground facility that was dyed in blood, hundreds of Eshwar''s crowded the ce, together with Isha, Seo Hana, Katline, Frostine, Amanda, Dominic, Core, Arngrim, Louie, Belinda, Grace, and Neal, who couldn''t make sense of what was happening, but what they knew was that they didn''t need to worry about their safety for now. Of course, Eshwar was all around the world, even in ces one had yet to be explored. Well, it wasn''t that surprising or strange since he could literally feel and sense the entirety of Antino¨¹s. It was as if an entire poption of Eshwars was spread around the Antino¨¹s like parasites. In front of his overwhelming powers, none, not even the gods were a match for him, let alone the monsters that could potentially threaten one''s life or gold-like beasts inhabiting the unexplorednds. "... This is annoying. Can''t you justbine into one?" Isha asked with a pout. Looking at the sight in front of them, one couldn''t help but question her state of mind due her being calm at her husband doing something impossible! You want him to merge into one?! Can''t you feel each of them oozing the same level of strength?! What would happen if he merged into one?!! Were the questions that horded into the minds of those around Isha. And Eshwar''s answer made them understand that the truth was much worse and ominous than they could ever expect! "If I merge into one, this will disappear without any trace of it ever even existing." Eshwar, in front of her, answered with a bright smile which made those around them shudder. "Why do you think I was in the domain most of the time?" It was the Eshwar who held Isha''s waist, that spoke this time. "And why do you think I am keeping you locked up in there with me?" Eshwar who was pulling her cheek, spoke this time, as an obsessive and dangerous glint shed in his eyes, making Isha shudder, but not in fear but delight; which was for whatever reason was even felt by her soul, that seemingly made her entirely happy. Her obsession, which hadn''t yet risen to such heights was delighted at the thoughts exploring the new heights set by, the reason for her obsession, Eshwar. "Ummm.... Before you start doing whatever you are going to, can you do something about him?" Hana muttered while oozing envy which was understood by even those who weren''t sensitive to such emotions, while also pointing at Vine who was surrounded by Eshwars. "That''s right, that''s right!" Louie eximed under his breath as he stood cross-armed and nodded his head continuously, while Arngrim mirrored him. "Can you get yourself together, like literally? We have been in a life-threatening situation, so we can get intimate easily to vent out stressful emotions, and I don''t want to miss this chance." Coremented while ncing at Dominic, yfully, as a subtle blush crept up on the cheeks of thetter. They-----Louie, Core, Arngrim, and the deceased Henry, always felt at ease whenever they were in Eshwar''s presence, didn''t matter what situation and from their current expressions and actions, it was clearly disyed that that feeling won''t change whatever may have happened between them. "I agree." Isha nodded her head as she pulled the Eshwar in front of her and whispered in his ears; "Core with Dominic, Neal with Belinda, Arngrim with Amanda, Louie with Grace; these are the pairs that are going to end up together, aren''t they?" Isha whispered, but, well, her whispers where clearly heard by the pairs mentioned, making them blush slightly while inwardly questioning themselves whether their feelings were that obvious. And Eshwar, who understood that Isha didn''t really want to hide the fact that they knew of the couples'' feelings, decided to y along with her, because if she really wanted only him to hear it, she could have easily spoken to him through their telepathic connection. "Of course." Eshwar whispered back while his lips tickled Isha''s earlobe. With a soft giggle and yful smile, Isha asked a question that froze Eshwar. "Then what about Hana, Katline, and Frostine?" "....." Without answering her question, Eshwar bit her earlobe and leaned back and turned to face Vine, who was wondering where he was and what he was doing there. SNAP-! With a snap of his fingers, except for the one in front of Isha, every other Eshwar disappeared in a puff. Of course, Isha and Vine could feel the dust-like particles which Eshwar had turned into, still lingering around in the atmosphere, but it wasn''t long before they shot up at a speed of light and disappeared from their senses, to be never sensed again. "Oi." With a bone-chilling yet hypnotic voice sounding in front of him, Vine shuddered before ncing at Eshwar''s face which was inches away and jerked back in utter horror, falling butt first on the ground. "Thank you for letting us experience something exciting in a long while. Since you let Isha enjoy her time for a few minutes, I''ll send you off, peacefully." Eshwar stated. ''He''s letting me go?'' Vine thought, before; ''He''s letting me go!'' He eximed inwardly and jumped back to his feet and ran off. ''I better leave!! That crazy basta*d can change his mind at any given moment!!!'' He thought. In a matter of seconds, he was kilometres away from the spot he had been, yet he didn''t stop running even for a second. [Bye-bye~] He heard Eshwar''s bone-chilling voice in his consciousness and turned to dust, without understanding what had happened before the lingering dust was blown away by the wind. Back in the underground facility; the group strode out of facility, heading to their very own Adventurers Guild. "Eshwar...." Isha called out while she and Eshwar walked in the back, hand in hand. Her voice made the rest of the group turn their heads back at them. After a few seconds of unwavering eye contact, Eshwar kissed Isha and disappeared without a trace while Isha smiled cheerfully as she walked towards Frostine and ruffled her hair before pulling her to walk with her. A few minutester, Hana and Katline, who couldn''t hold back their curiosity hastened their steps and reached Isha and Frostine who were walking in the front. "..... What was that?" Hana asked. Even though Isha understood what she was talking about, she still decided to y dumb and questioned Hana back with a confused tilt, "What was what?" A vein popped up on Hana''s, Katline''s, and even Frostine''s forehead which made Isha let out a yful giggle. "I told him my decision to stay here, with you guys, while my obsessive "husband" protested before giving up on changing my mind and warned me that he''ll really lock me up next time, and he went home to spend his time with our daughter!" Isha eximed with a beautiful smile on her face. "Wha...." ''All this happened in a few seconds? And they understood each other without even speaking?'' They thought in unison even though they were unaware that all of them were thinking of the same question. "Let''s go! It''s time to end this~" Chapter 387 386. The Naive Heroes. ? Now that Isha had joined them; Seo Hana, Katline, Frostine, Amanda, Dominic, Core, Arngrim, Louie, Belinda, Grace, and Neal, their hunts were far easier. They hunted and cleared dungeons in extreme haste, their levels sky rocketed, but they didn''t seem to be any close to catching up to the strength Isha could wield by herself. As the dungeons were getting cleared, people began to rejoice and call upon the team of dungeon hunters'' Heroes, which was a nostalgically heart-clenching word that made them remember the lives that they couldn''t protect back on Earth. That moniker ced a certain pressure on the naive, namely; Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Amanda, Dominic, and Belinda, while the rest ignored everything and everyone only focusing on themselves and their team. Of course, many who had brains knew that the title they gave to the young ones were burdening, but they didn''t care, none did. Why would they? When they have a chance to survive? If it meant that they would survive for sure by merely pressuring a few young ones, why should they hesitate? Their teammates exined what these people were doing by calling them Heroes, but the naive said that they too understood that fact, but continued to shoulder the burdening responsibility of the people subconsciously while consciously reminding themselves that they shouldn''t give in to such sweet words. Then, after a few days of sleepless nights in the dungeons that had their times multiplied, merely seven days remained until Antino¨¹s faced its end; they felt confident enough to challenge a god by themselves and went to raid the domes. Of course, Isha went with them. The fallen gods fell again to ascend to the Divine Realm under the measly but enough strength of the Demi-God hunters. Days continued to pass as they continued to hunt down the gods; the team of 12 took turns as teams to hunt down those fallen gods but when facing the Anubis, only Katline and Isha fought, well, it was right to say that only Katline fought since Isha merely supported her from the back. Since Katline''s and Anubis'' powers were simr, except for Katline''s perverted trait, the battle was unpredictable. Katline was a long-range fighter with a bow while Anubis was a mid-range fighter with a spear, the distance they wanted to maintain between each other slightly made the fight look like a child''s y in Isha''s eyes, making her giggle from time to time. Both of them wanted to hold their higher ground andmand their army of the dead to fight for them as their fight neared its end, and that was a stance that made it easier for Katline who used a bow to attack. While Katline''s arrows wereunched as if they were bullets fired from machineguns, Isha, who stood below, helped her army of skelies overpower Anubis'', they, her skelies, devoured their opponent''s divinity infused skeleton army before converting them into hers own. As the fight prolonged, Katline''s army of skelies grew while Anubis'' lowered thanks to Isha, and before long Anubis was holding onto hisst few bursts of divinity, And Exactly when they thought it was over, Anubis used every bit of his divinity to crack open the space, connecting a gate to the dome that trapped him and summoned his precious devotee, the Lich King, who had broken a man to the point of never return. The name of the man he broke was none other than Samuel. After blessing his loyal devotee, Anubis fell from grace mere moments before ascending again which shocked him to the core and a question as to why he had to fight so desperately if he was going to ascend upon death shed in his divine consciousness, but his ascension wasplete before he could receive an answer to his question. That was also the reason the fallen gods who were trapped in the dome fought so desperately: because they were unaware of the fact that they would merely ascend again upon death. The Lich King----who had received his God''s blessing and call to bring death to the ungrateful beings, who dared to go against his God----immediately summoned his own army of the dead, caused the dome''s skies to turn greenish ck witch oozed poison, caused a poison rainfall before he made the dome that could trap a God into his own domain where nothing but the scent of death lingered. It was at that time, the rest of the team couldn''t merely stand still and unleashed their powers to the limits. Hana''s mes enveloped everything in sight, boosting the abilities of her allies while damaging her enemies. Grace''s Gaia''s powers dug into the ground and spread out wide and made the underground her domain. Louie stood proud and tall with his unbreakable shield as he nimbly rushed around the dome, protecting his team from blows which he deemed deadly and could potentially slow down their overwhelming momentum. Arngrim had jumped into the fray as he dealt with the army of skeletons that had arrived too close to his team''s long-ranged damage dealers. Amanda zapped around the terrain as if she was trying to dominate the domain. Dominic controlled the still untouchednds underground and made it difficult for the Lich King and his army. Belinda, who had learned a few new wind elemental spells in Vine''s pink domain, unleashed them with forces she could control. While, Neal held a sword made out of pure mana as ran wild with Arngrim all while their near reckless actions was covered by Katline, who was using only her bow. And almost every bit of their actions, what they should do, how they should move, everything was controlled by Core, who had her eyes on the battlefield from a higher ground that also inhabited Katline, Frostine, and Isha. With every element, including the element of surprise, being in the control of the Lich King''s opponents, he understood that he had take these kids seriously and summoned his pet. The mummified Asian dragon''s bony imitation was summoned as it lunged its colossal snake-like body towards the team of 12 with a fierce and hungry re. To the team, the moments of the dragon seemed like a blur and its actions felt like they could actually threaten them, but with the undead army in the ground and acid and poison rain in the skies, it was hard to focus on the dragon that flew mid-air without any actual wings. Before BOOM-!! Chapter 388 387. The Last Fallen. ? BOOM-! With a violent shockwave that pushed both forces aside, Frostine, who was in her Frost Dragon form, kicked the Asian dragon to the ground. Their sizes were metres apart; of course, Frostine was the smaller one. Though she was as small as an infant whilepared to the Asian dragon that looked like a 7 foot tall adult, her small body was packed with powerparable to none of the beasts of her race. While she nimbly dealt with the dragon mid-air, the rest dealt with the things on the ground while being protected by Isha from the dot damages from the skies. It wasn''t long before the Lich King was dealt with; the spoils of war, the Lich King''s undead body, his army, and his pet went to Katline, who was only one that could make use of those thingspletely. Of course, Isha could use them far more efficiently and effectively, but the spoils paled inparison to what her lowest ranked shadow summon could do. ** ==== [Final Quest!] == Title: The First And Last Quest. Clear Condition: Kill "the Fallen" gods. Progress: 7/8 Difficulty: ??? Time Limit: --- (Time will be updated at the first raid) Rewards: Survival of Antino¨¹s. Penalty for failure: Death and eleration of the destruction of Antino¨¹s. == Additional rewards will be provided to those who contribute the most. For fair analysis, system shall keep constant records of the contributions of the yers. ==== Now, there was onest god left. And only a day was left; before the world''s end or its new beginning would be known to each and every survivor. Now, only the most highest ranked God among the Fallen remained. Lord Shiva. The native Heroes stood in front of the dome with serious expressions, since they were told that they would die the moment Lord Shiva moved by the being who was as strong or stronger than the said God. The Heroes were being sent off into the dome by survivors gathered from every part of the world. And amidst of the crowd was the fanatic who had somehow survived against all odds. This fanatic was none other than the only noble alive, Godred. CRA-CRACK-!! The space next to the ck-haired and obsidian ck eyed woman cracked, making the crowd shudder and take a step back in horror of facing the unknown. When the space had cracked enough to let in/out a human, a beast, or a monster, the ck-haired woman smiled lovingly and jumped into the crack as a bone-chilling aura of dread enveloped the area, freezing many on spot, before an handsome white-haired man whose lips were locked by the ck-haired woman walked out of the crack. The charming man walked out of the crack with his hands gently ced on the woman''s waist while thetter had her legs and arms wrapped around him. Secondster, the woman broke the kiss reluctantly andnded back on the ground; standing taller than the man. "..... Why are you here?" Louie asked after they stopped being intimate. "Because we''re going to meet him!" Eshwar casually answered and began to walk towards the dome holding Isha''s hands. The rest quickly followed behind him before he waved his hands and made the crowd walk away from them in daze, as he halted in his steps, right before entering the dome and turned around to face the team of 11 that excluded Isha, who stood next to him. "I''ll warn you guys on what to except inside." Eshwar stated and continued before they spoke up. "First: if he moves, you die. Second: if he opens his eyes, you die. Third: if he speaks without controlling himself, you die. Fourth: if he is meditating by the time we enter, bad timing, you die. Fifth: if you do anything unwanted, you die." Eshwar warned with a calm near-expressionless expression. "Do you understand?" He then asked afterpleting the list of warnings. "Then, do nothing?" Frostine asked. "No, then you die." "....." "....." ".... Then, what do want us to do? Do nothing and stay here?" "Hmm.... That would be your best option actually." Eshwar said with a thoughtful expression. "Ow! What was that for?" He asked Isha, who pinched his bicep. "Shut up. Let''s go. He will do something, that''s what he is here for in the first ce." Isha said and dragged him into the dome. "....." After a few seconds of dumbfounding silence, they walked in, prepared to die. WHOOOOIIINM-! With the strange sound that resounded in their minds, their feet registered a touch and they opened their eyes. HISSSSS-! Only to see a humongous ck-snake''s wide open mouth lunged at them to devour them. And before a second passed, their consciousness which was devoured by the snake became blurry while they felt as if experiencing death. Before they actually believed that feeling thanks to Eshwar''s warnings and deliberately relinquished their lives, a familiar feeling they felt whenever they were forced into another''s domain enveloped them and their blurry consciousness regained rity. They soon felt a strange kind of pressure enveloping them from all sides and opened their eyes, only to find themselves standing mid-space, in front of an unfathomable existence, who sat on nothingness while his entire being was enveloped in cosmos. They all felt their existences being suppressed while their bodies trembled as they stood at the very depths of the abyss with no way out. "Haaa.... They''ll die before even knowing what''s going if you are like this...." Eshwar''s emotionless voice sounded with a sigh before everything around them turned cold, as if the eternal winter had abruptly enveloped them. Since the extremely suppressive aura disappeared, notpletely but enough to let them stay awake, they raised their involuntarily lowered heads and gazed ahead of them. There sat a Yogi with his legs crossed. He was sitting on a bed-like, eternal and crystallized block of ice on the peak of a snow covered mountain that had its surroundings dyed in white due to the chilly atmosphere of the domain. The man had dark blue skinplexion, while his upper body was naked with "rudraksha m" and a snake, which was simr but smaller to the one that devoured them, adorned around his neck. Simr "rudraksha m"s were seen adorning his biceps, wrists, and ankles, while the lower-half of his body was adorned by the hard skin of a tiger that oozed an iprehensible aura as another of the kind was nketing the ice block. The man had a his long hair coiled over his head, seemingly trapping something in them, while a crescent moon adorned his hair as if it was merely an ornament, but the light it gave off said otherwise. He had a vertically socketed and closed eye on his forehead while his throat was seemingly dyed in blue. Next to him hovered a glimmering golden Trishul while on the other side Nandhi seemed to be resting. The being in front of them was none other than, Lord Shiva. Chapter 389 388. The Last Fallen (2). ? While the rest stood dazed in utter fear devouring their souls which made them kowtow, tremblingly, Eshwar had a respectful yet casual conversation with a God, finally forcing upon them to ept a reality shattering fact that Eshwar too was a God. After a few seconds of subtle, short yet respectful conversation that felt like an eternity in their minds, "I do not have much time before ''that'' affects my consciousness..." Lord Shiva stated meaningfully. "Let''s fight then!!" Eshwar eximed in a excited, childlike, and understanding tone. He stretched his palm out at Lord Shiva and clenched it, casing a shockwave to explode out as pitch-ck light-devouring dust-like particles descended upon the domain before getting sucked into his clenched palm. The overbearing pressure that made them kowtow instantly turned tyrannizing; the pressure was so strong that even Isha was forced onto her knees. "Stay still for a few seconds." Eshwar''s tyrannical voice resounded in their consciousness before a pitch-ck globe trapped them before turning transparent, granting them the privilege to watch what was happening outside. They, the team of eleven-----Hana, Katline, Frostine, Amanda, Dominic, Core, Arngrim, Louie, Belinda, Grace, and Neal-----were now in Eshwar''s domain without the tyrannizing pressure upon them, but for whatever reasons, they didn''t find Isha in the domain, upon searching they found her still kneeling under the pressure outside Eshwar''s domain. Though they were worried about her, they didn''t dare even breathe out loudly. "Get used to the pressure." Eshwar coldly stated and reverted back into his spiritual form that had pitch-ck body with circuit-like patterns moderately adorning his body. Isha nodded her head with tears involuntarily streaming out of her eyes while a crazed grin was seen stered on her face. She just couldn''t help but smile at the thought that Eshwar didn''t send her away; she had a chance to fight with him, against an enemy Eshwar was eager to fight against. It might not be an enemy, but he was still eager to fight! And he was willing to let her join! That was enough to make her happy! Even though he hadn''t said it out loud nor had he disyed any emotions on a fact that bothered her, she had involuntarily thought that maybe she was unworthy of fighting next to him, but his actions just now felt as if he had acknowledged her. Which was enough for her, currently. Eshwar slightly extended out his right hand to his right, flexed his wrist and grabbed reality. From what they could see, it seemed as if Eshwar had grabbed a curtain which were folded, wrinkling, in his hand. But, What he seemed to have grabbed was reality. CRACK-! Loud cracks filled the domain as a humongous chunk of reality was torn apart, revealing a pitch-ck space and Before they snapped out of that logic defying shock, the world lost its colour. Only Lord Shiva, his Trishul, and Nandhi retained their colours as Eshwar had lost his body''s colour, which had ever-scribbling scribblings as outlines that defined his body. Of course, Isha too had turned into a scribbled sketch. With a world shaking boom, sun-sized orbs dyed in different colours exploded out behind Lord Shiva when he flexed his shoulders. Orb of harmony. Orb of fire. Orb of water. Orb of wind. Orb of earth. Orb of nature. Orb of shadows. Orb of time. Orb of divinity. Orb of cosmos. Orb of lightning. Orb of blood. Orb of poison. Orb of psych. Every natural and unnatural elemental orbs revolved behind Lord Shiva as another pair of arms manifested behind his back which held the Trishul on the right while wielding fire elemental magic, origin ckish blue mes on the left. All while the original pair of hands held Gyan Mudra. Under the watchful gaze of Eshwar, Lord Shiva grew bigger and turned into a celestial form that somehow didn''t exceed out of the domain. "Hehehe!!!" Eshwar chuckled under his breath and in a blink of an eye, he too turned celestial of the simr size. Eshwar''s right palm held a thin thread which seemed to be being constantly rewritten at least a million times per second. While Hana and the rest gazed at Eshwar''s and Lord Shiva''s celestial figures, they unknowingly knelt and joined their palms together, praying as they gazed up at the Gods. And under their revering gazes, both Eshwar and Lord Shiva disappeared from their spots. Eshwar swung the ever-scribbling thread in ever possible angle and ever swing and sh was met head-on by Lord Shiva, who intercepted them as he counter attacked. Each of the intercepted swings drew an evigheden sword shes that seemed to have extended out to the ends of world, while magic spells were thrown at him by Lord Shiva in verity of colours. It was an wind elemental attack at times, then fire, then earth, and so on, all the natural and unnatural elemental orbs'' spells were used by Lord Shiva which was either nullified entirely by Eshwar''s shes or were erased out of existence, so that they wouldn''t hit him and damage him to the extent he couldn''t continue to fight. Of course, it meant that the spells Lord Shiva wasunching at him were too strong to tank. Origin mes dyed in ckish blue enveloped Lord Shiva as he continued to stab and sh his trident in a choreographic and elegant manner. Whenever Eshwar managed to slip past the trident strikes and swings, he met with Lord Shiva''s fists. In the eyes of those trapped in the domain; they saw nothing. Everything was absolutely silent. Before, A gxy shattering boom, a shockwave which was formed bybining millions more simr shockwaves, exploded out from the centre of the spots Eshwar and Lord Shiva had previously stood in. The domain trembled together with the mana, the divinity, the elementals, and the atmosphere that made the domain. But, Eshwar''s and Lord Shiva''s celestial figures were yet to be seen. In Isha''s gaze. She could follow their moments, but not their attacks. She could see them as they rushed at each other and met at points, but she couldn''t see them exchanging blows. But, She could see the rings of blue origin mes exploded behind Lord Shiva''s body, while scribbled sketches of simr explosions exploded behind Eshwar''s back. Meaning they certainly were trading deadly blows, but it was just that that she couldn''t see. Even though she couldn''t see them properly, She could tell; She could tell that neither of them were giving their all! And the result of both of them not giving their all, Was reality shattering. Literally and metaphorically. Before long, the domain they were in began to tremble as shockwaves spread from all directions, before; With a zap and a snap of Lord Shiva''s fingers, The team of eleven and Isha were teleported somewhere amidst of cosmos. Lord Shiva''s body turned ethereal and cosmic immediately, but Eshwar''s remained the same. Again! Blows were seemed to have been traded as mere shockwaves began to destroy gxies and universes amidst the cosmos. They couldn''t even tell if they were still in the domain or if they were really in outer spaces where the exchanged blows destroyed mesmerizing things they were yet to learn if something unimaginable that they actually saw really existed. Or if everything unimaginable they were seeing was merely an imagination of a being called God. In the middle of nowhere, Eshwar''s ever-scribbling scribblings defined body was seen standing in front of Lord Shiva, who extended his palms out while his Trishul floated next to him. All the sun-sized orbs behind him slowly revolved forward as they merged into an blinding white orb that was concentrated in the middle of Lord Shiva''s palm which was aimed at Eshwar, who felt a chill run down his consciousness as he prepared to dodge. Just as Lord Shiva''s attack was about to beunched, DING-! [State "Frenzy" has affected the Fallen!] Chapter 390 389. Shes Gone.... ? Just as Eshwar stated at the beginning, ''Stay still for a few seconds,'' in a matter of mere seconds, the state of frenzy that they had ignorantly forgotten, affected the highest ranked God among the Fallen, giving them their worst possible nightmare. As soon as the notification of Lord Shiva being affected by the state of frenzy popped up, Lord Shiva''s concentration waned ever-so-slightly but the golden light that only Eshwar could see, which had been trying to make its way into Lord Shiva''s consciousness ever since he stepped into the domain, snapped around violently before diving deep into Lord Shiva''s consciousness. It was at that moment, For the first time in a while, Eshwar felt an ominous premonition. Lord Shiva''s eyes lost their focus and lustre of life as an ominous grin crept up on his face before he disappeared. Shuddering, Eshwar, who could feel where Lord Shiva was going to reappear, immediately reacted. [Immediately attack in front of you with everything you got!] Was what hemanded in a .00001 second. He had noticed that the concentrated, binding white orb of magic was intercepted and dispersed by Lord Shiva a moment before his consciousness was devoured by ''that!'' The Divine Laws. Or, Luck! Isha, who was focusing what was happening, instantly jolted awake out of her daze, and with Eshwar''s words in her mind, she concentrated every bit of her strength onto a single point, on her right fist, employed every muscle fibre and punched right in front of her. BAM-! It was then, Lord Shiva''s human sized figure manifested in front of her as she red at him, and before long, A gaping hole was punched through Lord Shiva''s chest. Killing him! And after that, everything was silent. Notifications of [The First and Last Quest] beingpleted, congrattions of survivors'' survival, rewards for the most contributed yers, and simr notification windows popped up in front of them, but they paid no heed to them as they stared at Eshwar and Isha, in daze. Eshwar appeared behind Isha and sighed in relief as he gently floated towards her. Lord Shiva''s consciousness ascended at that moment and reached the Divine Realm before Lord Shiva''s expression of absolute regret was seen by Eshwar. "That was great! This was the first time I managed to defeat the Divine Laws! Of course, even though it wasn''t actually me that defeated that bit*ha*s luck, I can say for certain now; we are free!" Eshwar announced with deep sigh. "Now that you, me, Eunomia, and the worlds we have been in, have been cut off from the influence of the Divine Laws, we can do whatever we want." He continued, looking as if it was the first time he had actually had enough time to take a breather. At that thought, he remembered how the umted luck had influenced the final God when he was at war with them, the Gods, in their domain, the Divine Realm. Now, the same had happened with Lord Shiva. He was holding onto his consciousness and had intercepted the umted luck from corroding his consciousness, but the moment his consciousness dazed, he was thrown off focus and the corrosion spread wide like a forest''s wild fire and devoured his consciousness, bringing him to a daze, which seemed near lifeless. ''The forgotten past repeated itself.....'' ''Fortunately, I warned Isha-'' At that thought, an hollow premonition washed over him. "Hahahaha, no, no, no, this is a joke, hahaha...." Eshwar chuckled hollowly. Causing Hana, Katline, Frostine, Amanda, Dominic, Core, Arngrim, Louie, Belinda, Grace, and Neal to furrow their brows, noticing something was amiss. Lord Shiva''s body had almost disappeared into divine particles thanks to which Eshwar was able to directly teleport in front of Isha. And at that moment, His heart sunk for reasons unknown. "Isha, let''s go. Eunomia is waiting for us." Eshwar said as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead, which rolled back scattered into ashes. Now, in the middle of nowhere, In front of a semi-transparent globe that held eleven people, stood a pair. One, whose face they could see was Eshwar''s. Two, whose back they could see was Isha. Rather, The back of her headless body. Before long, maybe due to the "disturbance" caused by Eshwar''s actions, Isha''s body that stood intact, Scattered into mere dust particles. Her body was mere ashes that were held in ce thanks to the pressure in space. The reason? Lord Shiva''s third eye, that shed open right before he was killed; and thanks to Isha ring at his eyes which were open, the effects of his third eye was amplified and her body was burned till nothing except ashes remained. The only reason her body even had their ashes was because her soul''s prowess and divinity were a bit too strong to be burntpletely; meaning her soul had yet to cease existing. ZAP-! With a zap, they were teleported back to Antino¨¹s and stood in the middle of the territory, Lord Shiva was trapped in. Eshwar''s ever-scribbling body remained ck and white even as the colour returned to the world. The whole of Antino¨¹s was trembling under his tyrannizing pressure, due to the world being unable to house Eshwar''s entire power, without the help of the system. In that near silent world that had nothing but whooshing sounds of the wind, rustling, and crumbling sounds, a deep sigh resound throughout the entire world. "Haaaaaaa..." "Damn." Eshwar mumbled as he controlled his ambience and made it as if he didn''t even exist, because if his already tyrannical aura turned even more tyrannical and exploded wildly, erasing the entire existence of the gxy, Antino¨¹s was in... ''The consequences would be devastating'' would be extremely mild, undermining, and unbefitting words to exin the destruction his mere aura could cause. If they, the team of eleven, didn''t keep their eyes on Eshwar, they would have forgotten that he was right in front of them in a matter of seconds. "I did everything possible to be with her, yet," "..... When everything seemed to be over, she''s not here...." It was at that second, "Ah...." Eshwar had a sh of realisation. ''Isha is gone.'' Reality dawned upon him. "I.... Had severed her soul''s connection with the Divine Laws." "That means...." "..... She''s gone..." "Forever?" Chapter 391 390. [Break] Eshwar mumbled hollowly as he disappeared from the spot he pondered, before he did something irreversible, involuntarily. He reappeared at the spot he fought with Lord Shiva. He opened his domain in the size of his fist, in front of his chest, before he made it expand, far and wide, till he couldn''t expand out anymore. He enveloped everything around him in his domain, in hopes of finding anything that had Isha''s will. A trace, a wisp, a particle, anything! Anything that held a connection with Isha! If he could find it, he could and would do anything to secure it, and maybe even bring her back to life with that wisp of will as an existence''s foundation! He exerted every bit of his strength and expanded his domain as much as he could before his mind drew an actual conclusion for his meaningless actions. Universes were sucked into his ck hole-like domain yet he didn''t stop. Soon, he was forced to face the burden of housing millions of universes in his domain, making him feel as if he had used every ounce of his powers, yet he didn''t stop what he was trying to aplish. He forcibly converted the energies inhabiting the universes within his domain, to keep on going. *** Hundreds of years had passed on Antino¨¹s, yet there wasn''t even a trace of Eshwar, who was only remembered by the team of eleven, who had seemingly be immortals and were running the world from behind the scenes. Except for Hana, Katline, and Frostine, who remained single, the rest bore kids, nurtured, made them rulers, and watched them die with pained hearts. They, their kids, couldn''t be as strong as their parents no matter what they did as the part of Eunomia, the system, had stopped supporting the world as she too had disappeared without a single trace, with her father. While the years because decades, whichter became centuries, which then became millenniums; the team of eleven became ancient beings that existed only in the past, forgotten by the world''s poption, even though they had yet to cease existing. While they saw theirs or their friends'' generations pass while they lived after bing a thing of the past, Eshwar finally seeded in his endeavour! After devouring universes into his domain for millenniums, he finally sucked in a wisp of will that felt extremely familiar and made it appear above his still scribbling stick-like palms. He currently had a stickman''s body, sunken eyes and cheeks, almost chipped off lips, and lifelessplexion, but his face bore a brightest smile that could even overshadow the light of the sun! The wisp in his palms had a subtle hint of consciousness, and that was it. Of course, the consciousness was none other than Isha''s. "Y...ou dare....thi...nk....." "you....can....esca...pe....from....me?" He mumbled. His current state was the consequences of expanding his domain which exerted every bit of his strength while also made him bare the burden of housing trillions of universes. "H....ey.... Devour....eve...rythi...ng and re-create....ever...ythin...g....that....beca..me.....my.....stren...gt... soon af....ter..." ZZZT-ZZT-! [Aye, aye. Mr Bony Sage.] ZWWOOOOP-! The domain that had devoured trillions of universes shrunk in an instant, all while the consciousness'' of every universe merged into one before they themselves gave birth to an existence named Eshwar. While the consciousness that held the ego of Eshwar, dominated the consciousness'' of the universes'' with the help of his system. All while, the will holding wisp lingered on his palm, as if being held in ce by an unknown force. Eshwar now stood in the middle of pitch-ck nothingness with stars and universes glimmering within him while a cosmic glow defined his existence. Stars became his eyes which became the only feature that unveiled his face. Under the cosmic glow, Eshwar seemed to have a metres wide wings that held stars and universes simrly to his body; of course, the "meters" mentioned were only applicable in case he was still in the size of a human. With an zwooooping sound, everything: every star and universe devoured by Eshwar was recreated as if they weren''t even devoured to begin with, while the lives they housed also carried on with their lives as if nothing had even happened. "Now, you are the only one remaining...." Eshwar mumbled as he nced somewhere in the ends of the nothingness he stood in, before he ced his cosmic glow defined palm on his chest, as a distant, Deja Vu like echo shed in his consciousness; ''Papa! Do you know that the so-called "private skills" you hold, the "Wish" and that "Break" skills, they aren''t recorded anywhere in my records? That means that their powers goes beyond anything and everything in existence! Doesn''t matter what it is!!'' Those were the words of his precious daughter, whose name he remembered as Eunomia thanks to his consciousness constantly reminiscing his moments with his wife and daughter. Who knows? Thanks to millenniums in nothingness, who knew how crazier he became? It wouldn''t be that surprising if he forgot his own name as their existed none who would call him by his name. But, He remembered a few things. Things that affected his life. For the better or for the worst, He remembered his name, his wife''s name, his daughter''s name, and his nemesis'' name. Eshwar, Isha, Eunomia, and finally, Divinews! Luck! ''.... after I deal with you, I''ll do everything I possibly can to live my life with my wife and my daughter!'' Determined, Eshwar plunged his palm into his cosmic body and destroyed his core! That was unnamed and hidden condition to active his skills. ''Break!'' As soon as he muttered that phrase, something fragile and ethereal cracked and shattered within himself. As Eshwar''s cosmic body was forced to change its form into something familiar yet forgotten; SCRIBBLE-!! With a familiar yet distant sounds of scribbling, the form he had turned into was scribbled upon, starting from his head till his feet, a white inked scribbles began to be drawn upon his cosmic body before a rough sketch began to define his body shape. Chapter 392 391. Ultimate Attack. ? As soon as his "core" cracked, unrestrained and limitless power surged within him, but he didn''t have enough to leisure to relive that feeling since he knew within in a matter of minutes, his existence would cease to exist. But, He now possessed the consciousness of his loved one and the will to live with her, hence he wasn''t foolish enough to want to sacrifice himself to kill his enemy. He had a n. A n that would make it so that none were above him. With that n within his consciousness, Eshwar disappeared from the spot he stood, and reappeared somewhere that didn''t exist within the universe nor did it follow the rules of the universe. There was nothing in front of him, but he knew that what he was finding was within that nothingness. There existed anotherwless universe where his enemies, the gods, lived. In his scribbling sketch-like form, Eshwar crouched mid-space as if peering at something small in front of him, as he stretched out his right index finger and pointed at nothing in front of him. Before, Something stopped his finger, which continued to push forward until everything around his finger began to ripple as if he had ced his finger on a calm ocean. There wasn''t enough time till he ceased to exist, so Unceremoniously, Eshwar pressed forward until the point he pressed at cracked and created a small opening into which Eshwar disappeared before the crack was repaired. Trapping him with his enemies. No, that doesn''t sound right; Trapping his enemies with him. Hmm, that''s much better. And soon, he arrived at a golden grass nketed field that extended out far and wide, until there wasn''t anything it could spread into, but even that seemed to be an illusion as the field continued to expand. In front, weing him was an endless army of gods; each and everyone in that endless army had their faces masked by a golden veil which couldn''t be peered into, no matter what. ''Luck!!'' Eshwar roared within his consciousness as a violent and destructive tremor cruised throughout the space. Feeling his raging emotions, the veil gained a glowing white eyes which held nothing in them, before an ominous grin crept up on the veils that had upied each and every God''s consciousness, which are said to be absolute consciousness'' that could be peered by no power, ability, nor any kind of energy. Well, the sight in front of him proved that belief wrong. The veil was none other than the embodiment of Luck, the Divine Laws, itself. ''I don''t have much time.....'' Eshwar thought and decided to finish everything as fast as he can. He waved his hand with wed fingers, tearing apart the space around him and the endless army of gods; the torn space had taken a shape of a beast''s w swing. Through which stars which seemed have been sized to be mere meteorites fell out, onto the army of Gods. It wasn''t the stars, whose sizes have been shrunk, it was just that the his and the Gods'' figures were exaggeratedlyrge. The golden field didn''t even flinch when the stars fell on it, as even the star''s zing glimmer didn''t spread out enough to even dimly light the dark space where nothing except for the Gods and the golden field excluded enough light to make a few around them visible. Eshwar was the only weird one in that space as he could clearly be seen even in that space which was dyed in true, pure darkness. Noticing his attack did nothing to the golden field, Eshwarnded on it as he continued to summon stars to cull the numbers in the army of Gods. A ck inked spike protruded out his scribbles marred feet and pierced into the golden field; his actions seemed to have made no real significant sense, because nothing changed from it. It seemed as if he was simply wasting time. But, No! The golden veils on the Gods'' faces slightly flinched. It was subtle enough to go unnoticed but, Eshwar, who was observing everything to find such a reaction, could easily spot it. A scribbling grin crept up his face as his dotted eyes red at the army of golden sh*ts! BOOOOOOOOOOOM! With a world shuddering boom, his body exploded into particles as a massive pir of zing lightning descended on his figure. Sea of crimson mes set the golden field aze, before a literal sea manifested into reality out of nowhere. The endless sea drown the golden field which continued to burn in crimson hellish mes. The sea turned green as extreme poison merged with it, amplifying the deadliness of the mes and the sea''s pressure. All-while the pir of lightning continued to descend upon the field. Reality defying magic spells formed from millions of magic circles were thrown at the spot where Eshwar''s scribbling figure wasst seen. The figures of the Gods multiplied in numbers, their divinity surged far greater than what they had been housing in their existences, their godly abilities were amplified and multiplied in efficiency and proficiency in a matter of seconds. Stars sized weapons, of all kinds, of light and darkness upied the space, magnified figures of Gods, warships, armoured puppets, ghastly figures, supernatural and mythical being from legends passed down in the Mortal worlds, alternate space species, their technology and weapons, everything that was beyond worldly and unworldly existences and weapons were brought into existence in that space which was crowded by such things. The golden veil flickered subtly and everything brought into existence wasunched at the golden field which turned pure white for a split second, right before the same darkness that upied that whole space, dyed the previously golden field in itself. The Divine Laws or Luck thought that its attack was too absurd hence the space lost and regained its colour at the same time. Of course, its thoughts were true. But, Only to a certain point. The golden veil suddenly lost its control over the army of Gods, who had lost all of their divinity, due to using a summoning technique that was considered a taboo, by the one controlling them, since it was none other than the rule creator that had broken the rule, the consequences shouldn''t be that dire, except for a few millions of universes ceasing to exist. Hence, Luck or the embodiment of the Divine Laws was confused as to what had happened. It began to ponder and wonder if the attack was simply that strong, as it had never tried to estimate the damage its ultimate attack caused. Within that space which housed nothingness, a golden figure was seen floating. It was none other than the Divine Laws which was the only survivor of its earlier attack. Chapter 393 392. Regression. Suddenly, Without any noise, a white inked, scribbles marred figure appeared in front of it, flickering in and out of existence. "You... are thest one left...." The figure stated, making the golden figure shudder due an unknown emotion that suddenly assaulted it. The white figure''s mouth opened like a lid of kettle and devoured the golden figure which began to merge with the white inked figure which was flickering as if its slowly moving time had began to run out. While the golden figure merged with the scribbled figure, it experienced thetter''s life first-hand until it relieved the point its own attack had destroyed everything it controlled. And it instantly realized that everything it had thought and seen in thest few moments was nothing but its own arrogant delusion. As soon as the spike beneath Eshwar''s feet pierced the golden field, he understood that the source of the gods was this golden field, hence he deliberately made his own body explode into particles which then peered into the ground, devouring everything from the inside. Thanks to its one shot, universal scale attack, the powers the gods used increased, making it easier for Eshwar, who was devouring everything from the inside. The speed at which he could devour divinity increased exponentially, making the process almost instantaneous. Within a matter of seconds, he devoured the whole field and the source that birthed Gods themselves, forcing their, the gods'', existence''s to cease existing since their very source had changed in an instance. With what minor, almost devoured, ego it held, it also understood that it could survive if the link that bound Eshwar to continue existing, ended before it was devoured wholly. It resisted being devoured for a split second to waste enough time for Eshwar''s existence to cease existing. At that moment, Eshwar''s almost non-existent body was barely holding onto his existence and almost waned when he felt the Divine Laws'' ego resist being devoured. Without much strength to do anything to persist existing, Eshwar''s dim, ghost-like figure, closed its doted eyes. ''I want to be with that feeble existence....'' He thought for onest time as he remembered the fragile consciousness that was still within his grasp. His n was a reckless and baseless one, and he knew it, but there wasn''t much he could do. His n was merge Luck with his existence, after which he would use [Wish] where he hoped the merged luck to act up and create a miracle for him. But, that n seemed to be failing quite miserably.... ZZT-ZZTZZ! A strange static chime suddenly sounded in what remained of his consciousness. It said, [Don''t you dare forget me!] And disappeared without a trace which Eshwar could tell when his head suddenly felt extremely light. BING-! A violent electric static abruptly forced his almost dissipated body back into existence and everything once again turned silent with only a scribbling sketch-like, white inked figure floating amidst of nothingness. Feeling a strange sense of invincibility, he understood that he had sessfully devoured Luck and made it his own; Eshwar wanted to test his prowess, but held back due to being unable to take any chances till he was done with what he had to. [Wish] he muttered under his breath, wishing to experience life with his loved ones, once again, while inwardly thanking "his" system for its sacrifice, which had brought him an hour''s time. His skill [Wish] had the ability to grant him "any" but one single wish, which he decided to use to the fullest when he made a wish that hid many wishes within a single one. As the wish acted on fulfilling what he asked for, a golden glimmer busted out of his scribbling sketch-like figure and his existence itself disappeared from the space. *** An orb of extremely concentrated iprehensible energy floated in the nothingness as it was drawn by an alluring bright light, seemingly at the end of the tunnel. The calm orb-shaped energy abruptly rippled as if enthralled by the warm light it was zooming towards, and in a matter of minutes that felt eternal, it had almost reached the light before a blinding light blinded the energy orb. It felt its shape morphing in a haste, it gained an infant''s body right before it felt its head being grabbed by a pair of humongous hands while warmth flushed its head that seemed to havee out of the darkness that trapped it. Soon, its whole body was puked out of the darkness as if the darkness and the nothingness it was trapped in, had enough of it. With a numb pain on its sr plexus, something or someone grabbed its ankles and turned it upside down while it''s consciousness was still confused as to what was going on. SLAP-! With another slightly numb but sharp pain on the blind consciousness'' rear, ''You dare!!!'' "Uwaaaaa!!!!!!" A loud ear deafening infant''s cry resounded throughout the whole operation theatre! "Wow.... that''s the loudest cry I have ever heard...." The doctor who held the infant upside down eximed, not noticing the child''s father walking towards him menacingly as he rolled his shirt''s sleeves. "You.... beep! How dare you beeping hit my son!" The father eximed in a low voice as if he was scared of scaring the baby, while also mumbling "beeps" whenever he wanted to curse. "Ummm....." The doctor and the nurses were slightly dumbfounded and awkward at thement, their awkwardness only increased when they noticed that even the woman who had justboured was also ring at them with a tired face, but they soon handled the infant with extreme care, scared of getting hit before the bills were paid. Of course, that didn''t mean they would get hit after the bills were paid; they just wanted to send home the scary couple home as soon as possible! * Minutester; They brought the infant to its mother''s side, tightly wrapped in a soft cloth, while the infant wrapped was feeling as if it was in a sushi roll. The doctor, interns, and the nurses soon vacated the maternity ward, leaving the harmonious family behind. Again, after a few minutes of harmonious giggles and funny baby sounds, "Honey, what should we name him?" Asked the mother. "Hm? Haven''t you already decided on his name?" Asked back the father. "Then....." The mother mumbled gently as she leaned in on the babyying next to her and "Eshwar..... Eshwar Hayer..." As soon his mother muttered his name, he felt them being engraved on his very soul, and Eshwar understood that he was back. He had regressed! Again! But! This time, It was to before anything even began! "Uwa." Hemanded and made his parents sleep. His sushi roll body floated and turned to gaze at the faces of his parents. His father Vishnu Hayer, his mother Elena Hayer. ''I remember myst name.....'' WHOOOOSH-! With a subtle gust of wind, Eshwar''s body turned to that of an adult''s. He was 5''9 feet tall, with handsome facial features, ck hair, pitch-ck light-devouring sclera and bright star-like white irises with vertically dted diamonds-like, glimmering pupils. His naked body was instantly coated in pitch-ck darkness with stars and universes glimmering within. "..... I still own my power..... and I''m not affecting the world even by a bit...." Eshwar Hayer muttered as he understood that the Divine Laws or Luck which had merged with him, had something to do with his return with his powers and memories. At that understanding, a thought shed in his consciousness; ".... I can.... meet her..... again..." He eximed under his breath when he felt her damaged soul''s unique signature within the same world. But, A concerning question lingered within his consciousness because he had seen how much damage her consciousness had contained; ''Will she remember me?'' Chapter 394 393. A Sweet Beginning. ? 9 yearster. I, Eshwar Hayer, met a girl named Isha! She was the girl, who had moved, next door! I could instantly tell that she was my Isha! My wife! ''Thankfully her soul has healedpletely; will she remember me?'' I gazed at the cute and sweet girl in front of me, hopefully. But, "Hi!!! I am Isha Green! What''s your name, brot- Umph!!?" The little girl spoke cheerfully, while her parents stood behind her, introducing themselves to my parents as today was the first day they had free time after shifting their house from abroad! It was extremely painful when she asked for my name as if she was speaking with someone unknown, but There was another pressing matter!! ''S-she was about to ca-call me b-b-brother!!?'' I stuttered inwardly as I covered her mouth without realising. CHOP-! "Hey! Eshwar! You shouldn''t do that!" My mother scolded me from behind in a whisper as she lightly chopped my head. "But, maaa!!" I eximed while turning to face her, begrudgingly. ''I should make my intentions clear!'' "Pa! Help me with this! What would you do if your wife, no, ma suddenly called you brother!?" I asked my father, instead of talking to my mother since I knew men understand each other better! "I would stop her of cours-" My father mumbled subconsciously as he puffed up his chest, but stopped himself frompleting his words as if he realised something. He gazed at me with aplicated yet funnilyical gaze, while my mother smiled awkwardly! "Hahahahaha!!" "Little boy, you want to marry my daughter?" Isha''s mother asked as she leaned in towards me and ruffled my hair. "Of course!" I agreed shamelessly! Of course, I would marry her! She is my wife! Who''d dare think of her while I still exist! Hmph! While everybodyughed as they took my words as a child''s naive words, Isha''s face burned scarlet, maybe because she felt that I was serious. ''Argh!! How is she so cute!!'' Wait! ''..... does she understand the meaning of marriage? Isn''t she still a kid?'' ''Meh, aren''t I also understanding things that none of my age should? What''s the big deal?'' "Isha." I called her out. I didn''t intend to but my voice sounded loving. "I am Eshwar! Eshwar Hayer! Don''t call me brother, you can call me Eshwar or darling if you want!" * 11 yearster. In a cosy bedroom with messy outlook, an athletic young man''s topless, ck haired figure was seen sleeping soundly on afortable queen-sized bed. "Eshwar!" An angelic voice sounded behind the door before a pair of knocks sounded, but thezy figure simply turned,ying on his belly as he pulled his nket to a hug before he covered his head with it. With another set of knocks, a beautiful woman barged into the room, eximing "Eshwar! You need to get ready to leave! Ma, pa, uncle, aunty, and even Luna is ready!" She had ck silky smooth hair and big round obsidian ck eyes with a perfect hourss figure. She was adorned in ck baggy pants, ck turtle neck full-sleeved top, sneakers and a sling bag. She stomped her way to his bed as she clenched the nket, but Before she flung open the nket. The nket snapped open, revealing Eshwar''s topless figure which moved like a snake, held Isha''s waist and somehow managed to drag her into the bed with him before the nket perfectly hid them both on the bed. "Kyaaaa!!" Isha yelped cutely with a bright blush, hearing which, their parents and Eshwar''s adopted little sister Luna, who sat on the couch downstairs chuckled with a series of helpless sighs before Vishnu cleared his throat as he stood up. "You guys! We''ll be leaving first!" He stated and they made their way out of the house after hearing an "aye" from Eshwar upstairs. CLINK-! Hearing the sound of the main door closing, Eshwar tightened his grip around Isha''s waist as he pulled her closer. "G-good morning...." Isha stuttered as her breathing quickened together with her heartbeat. "A very good morning indeed..." Eshwar mumbled as he leaned closer to her face. ".....w-we sh-should le..." Isha said but her words got stuck in her throat when she felt his breath on her lips. "Should I brush first, my love?~" Eshwar asked yfully. "....." Isha didn''t answer but Eshwar took her gulp as an answer to kiss her. He poured every bit of his love as he kissed her as passionately as he could, releasing her only when he felt she needed a breather. "Mnmn~ mnmhpha!? Haaa.... haaa..." "Happy birthday love....." Eshwar said as a tear trickled out of his eyes which were locked onto hers. "..." Her own eyes also held tears, but for different reasons. She gently wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "What''s wrong?" She whispered down in his ears as he buried his face in her neck while hugging her by her waist. "It''s just a bit of a shame you don''t remember our past life, though not everything we have been through was sweet, they were still our moments and memories that hold much significance for us, being the only one remembering everything is kinda sad...." He whispered as he snuggled closer. "Is that so?" Isha mumbled. Though she didn''t know or understand his words entirely, she didn''t want to deny anything he had said to her, therefore, even though she couldn''t really remember their past life as he said, she still felt that his words were true, so she had just epted them to have held some kind of connection, whether it in their past life or something else entirely, nothing mattered as long as they were with each other. "Maybe it''s for the better...." Isha suddenly mumbled. "Wha-" Eshwar gazed up at her, but shut his mouth when she gazed down at him. "You said not every memory was sweet, since you remember, we can have a fresh life, no, you can make it so that we have many new sweet memories, maybe without much saddening memories, in the process of enjoying my fresh life...." She said as he leaned closer to his lips, slightly tilting her head; "With me." She whispered and kissed him, as her heart thumped against her chest while a bright blush dyed her beautiful face. ''Experiencing your fresh life with you, huh.....'' Eshwar wondered how he could make their lives much sweeter inwardly as he pulled her closer by her nape, to kiss her much more passionately. Beginning their much sweeter lives with a passionately sweet kiss. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!